E10 G RAP H I C AL S K E T C HE S. 225
Eo. CCXLVI.
MAJOR CHARLES JOHNSTONE,
WHEX AN ENSIGN IN THE HOPETOUN FENCIBLES.
THEl ate MAJORJ OHNSTwaOs dNesEce nded from the Johnstones of Poldean, in
the parish of Wamphray, an old family in that district. His great-grandfather
was 'CVilliam Johnstone of Granton, a property situated at the head of the vale
of Annandale, but which is no longer in possession of the family. His grandfather
was an officer in the Scots Greys, and at one period aide-de-camp to John
Duke of Argyle. His father had also been in the army-had held the commission
of lieutenant in the third Buffs-and was an officer in the Hopetoun Fencibles
at the same time with his son.
When the Print was executed by Kay, in 1795, the Hopetoun Fencibles
were quartered in the Castle of Edinburgh. Johnstone was then only in his
fifteenth year, but had much of the soldier in his manner and appearance.
Fired with the ambition of militaryglory, the young Ensign did not long remain
in the Fencibles. In 1796 he obtained an ensigncy in the second battalion of
the Royals, and with that regiment served with much ardour and gallantry in
the expedition to Holland in 1799. During one of the actions in which he
was engaged, having incautiously advanced too far in front of his men, he was
separated from them among the sand hills, and taken prisoner by the enemy,
who proceeded to plunder him. On his sword being demanded, he presented it
with the scabbard ; but at the moment the Frenchman took hold of it, the painful
thought shot across his mind, of the grief his revered father would feel on
hearing that he had delivered up his sword, and actuated by a sudden impulse,
he quickly drew it out of the scabbard, disengaged himself with it from his
enemies, and safely rejoined his companions, who were advancing at no great
distance, with no other injury than a musket-ball, fired at him in his retreat,
having struck the heel of his boot. In the course of the campaign, howeven
he received a severe contusion on the breast, from a spent ball, the effects of
which, it is believed, he never entirely recovered
In the beginning of the year 1800 he was promoted to a lieutenancy in the
fourth Regiment of Foot; and, at his own request, was again removed to the
second battalion of the Royals. With this corps he served in Egypt during the
campaigns of 1801. At the landing, on the 8th of March, a grapeshot passed
through the crown of his hat, without injuring him; but, at the battle of
Alexandria, fought on the 21st, he was severely wounded by a musket-ball,
which lodged among the small bones of his foot, and was not extracted for six
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