Pipe Clay

The following if from Roy Najecki, of the 40th Foot:

From: Standing Orders, Forms of Returns, Reports, Entries, etc. of the Queen's Dragoons Guards; 1795 -

"Take 6 pounds of the finest pipe-clay, pound it very small, put it in a tub, and put to it about 5 gallons of cold water. Let it remain for two or three days, stirring it now and then. Then take 6 ounces of gum dragon, and put it into 4 quarts of boiling water, and cover it up close for two or three days. When the gum is well dissolved, take a fine hair sieve, and strain it into the pipe-clay, and keep stirring the pipe-clay well all the time you are doing this. Then take half an ounce of stone blue, and dissolve it well amongst your colouring (this gives a clear gloss to the belts). Let it all remain one day longer, and it will be fit for use, putting it on lightly and evenly with a sponge."

From: The Discipline of the Light Horse by Capt. Hinde, 1778 (pg 559) -

"A Receipt for the White Belts. Take 1 ½ lb of Pipe-clay, 3 Quarts of Water, ¼ lb of Best Glue, ¼ lb of White Soap, Boil the Soap and Glue first, till dissolved, then Mix it with the Pipe-Clay, and Boil all together for a Quarter of an Hour; when Cold put it on a with a Sponge in the usual manner, and when Dry Rub it with a Glass-Bottle."

All these ingredients: pipe-clay, gum dragon, and stone blue, are still available. Pipe-clay is the white material used to make porcelain in your sink or toilet and is commercially known as Kaolin. Pottery supply firms sell kaolin. Harness makers know gum dragon by that name but it is sold as Gum Tragacanth. This mucilage substance is used to burnish the edges of harness leather. It is available from The Leather Factory, Inc.

(1-800-472-3306, item #2264) and other leather craft firms. Stone blue is hydrated copper sulfate and can be found in the plumbing dept of home centers such as Home Depot. It is used to eliminate roots in septic pipes. There are several brands and they vary in purity. Root Destroyer brand (made by Scotch Corp 214-943-4605) is 99% Copper Sulfate Pentahydrate and costs about $9 per pound. Yes, it looks like blue stones, and they can be easily crushed into a powder.

Buff faced units often would use pipe-clay with a buff tint. The tinting agent, buff ochre, is still available from jewelry manufacturing supply firms.

I've worked up the first recipe and tried it, but my results didn't meet my expectations. Perhaps my kaolin was not white enough, and the pipeclay came out very watery. So I put that project aside for when I have more time.

Ich Dien!

Brown Bess Poem

"Brown Bess"

In the days of lace-ruffles, perukes and brocade
Brown Bess was a partner whom none could despise--
An out-spoken, flinty-lipped, brazen-faced jade,
With a habit of looking men straight in the eyes--
At Blenheim and Ramillies fops would confess
They were pierced to the heart by the charms of Brown Bess.

Though her sight was not long and her weight was not small,
Yet her actions were winning, her language was clear;
And everyone bowed as she opened the ball
On the arm of some high-gaitered, grim grenadier.
Half Europe admitted the striking success
Of the dances and routs that were given by Brown Bess.

When ruffles were turned into stiff leather stocks,
And people wore pigtails instead of perukes,
Brown Bess never altered her iron-grey locks.
She knew she was valued for more than her looks.
"Oh, powder and patches was always my dress,
And I think am killing enough," said Brown Bess.

So she followed her red-coats, whatever they did,
From the heights of Quebec to the plains of Assaye,
From Gibraltar to Acre, Cape Town and Madrid,
And nothing about her was changed on the way;
(But most of the Empire which now we possess
Was won through those years by old-fashioned Brown Bess.)

In stubborn retreat or in stately advance,
From the Portugal coast to the cork-woods of Spain,
She had puzzled some excellent Marshals of France
Till none of them wanted to meet her again:
But later, near Brussels, Napoleon--no less--
Arranged for a Waterloo ball with Brown Bess.

She had danced till the dawn of that terrible day--
She danced till the dusk of more terrible night,
And before her linked squares his battalions gave way,
And her long fierce quadrilles put his lancers to flight:
And when his gilt carriage drove off in the press,
"I have danced my last dance for the world!" said Brown Bess.

If you go to Museums--there's one in Whitehall--
Where old weapons are shown with their names writ beneath,
You will find her, upstanding, her back to the wall,
As stiff as a ramrod, the flint in her teeth.
And if ever we English had reason to bless
Any arm save our mothers', that arm is Brown Bess!

Rudyard Kipling

Ich Dien!

Sam's Christmas Pudding by Marriott Edgar

Sam's Christmas Pudding

It was Christmas Day in the trenches
In Spain in Penninsular War,
And Sam Small were cleaning his musket
A thing as he'd ne're done before.

They'd had 'em inspected that morning
And Sam had got into disgrace,
For when sergeant had looked down the barrel
A sparrow flew out in his face.

The sergeant reported the matter
To Lieutenant Bird then and there.
Said Lieutenant 'How very disgusting'
The Duke must be told of this 'ere.'

The Duke were upset when he heard
He said, 'I'm astonished, I am.
I must make a most drastic example
There'll be no Christmas pudding for Sam.'

When Sam were informed of his sentence
Surprise, rooted him to the spot.
'Twas much worse than he had expected,
He though as he'd only be shot.

And so he sat cleaning his musket
And polishing barrel and butt.
While the pudding his mother had sent him,
Lay there in the mud at his foot.

Now the centre that Sam's lot were holding
Ran around a place called Badajoz.
Where the Spaniards had put up a bastion
And ooh...! what a bastion it was.

They pounded away all the morning
With canister, grape shot and ball.
But the face of the bastion defied them,
They made no impression at all.

They started again after dinner
Bombarding as hard as they could.
And the Duke brought his own private cannon
But that weren't a ha'pence o' good.

The Duke said, 'Sam, put down thy musket
And help me lay this gun true.'
Sam answered, 'You'd best ask your favours
From them as you give pudding to.'

The Duke looked at Sam so reproachful
'And don't take it that way,' said he.
'Us Generals have got to be ruthless
It hurts me more than it did thee.'

Sam sniffed at these words kind of sceptic,
Then looked down the Duke's private gun.
And said 'We'd best put in two charges,
We'll never bust bastion with one.'

He tipped cannon ball out of muzzle
He took out the wadding and all.
He filled barrel chock full of powder,
Then picked up and replaced the ball.

He took a good aim at the bastion
Then said 'Right-o, Duke, let her fly.'
The cannon nigh jumped off her trunnions,
And up went the bastion, sky high.

The Duke, he weren't 'alf elated
He danced around trench full of glee.
And said, 'Sam, for this gallant action.
You can hot up your pudding for tea.'

Sam looked 'round to pick up his pudding
But it wasn't there, nowhere about.
In the place where he thought he had left it,
Lay the cannon ball he'd just tipped out.

Sam saw in a flash what 'ad happened:
By an unprecedented mishap.
The pudding his mother had sent him,
Had blown Badajoz off map.

That's why fuisilliers wear to this moment
A badge which they think's a grenade.
But they're wrong... it's a brass reproduction,
Of the pudding Sam's mother once made.

Marriott Edgar

Ich Dien!

Napoleonic Articles

The 23rd Royal Welch Fusilier Napoleonic era re-enactment group has posted some articles relating to the British Army from 1800-1815. I recommend taking a look.

The articles can be found here: http://www.fusiliersinspain.com/research/articles/

I am still working on the after-action report from Anza. Expect it to be posted soon.

Ich Dien!