358 No. XXVII. MAJOR-GENERAL SIR NEIL CAMPBELL, KNT. C.B. K.S.G. K.S.A. K.S.W. CAPTAIN-GENERAL AND GOVERNOR-IN-CHIEF OF THE HAVING ING been disappointed in an expectation which we had been led to entertain, of receiving a number of interesting particulars respecting this gallant and able officer - another lamentable sacrifice to the support of a settlement in a climate, a residence in which Providence seems to have forbidden to Europeans we must content ourselves with the following brief notice of him, which originally appeared in the “Gentleman's Magazine.” Sir Neil Campbell was appointed Ensign in the 6th West India regiment in April, 1797, from which he exchanged to the 67th, October 29. 1798; and, August 23. 1799, was appointed, by purchase, Lieutenant in the 57th. After serving three years in the West Indies, he returned to England, and joined the 95th rifle corps, on its formation in April, 1800. He was promoted, by purchase, to a company in the 95th, June 4. 1801. From February, 1802, to September, 1803, he was at the Military College, and subsequently appointed Assistant Quarter-master-general in the southern district of England; in which situation he continued until promoted to a Majority, by purchase, in the 43d foot, January 24. 1805. He was removed from the second battalion 43d to the first battalion of the 54th foot, February 20. 1806. He accompanied that corps to Jamaica, and returned to England in January, 1808. He was appointed Deputy Adjutant-general to the forces in the Windward and Leeward Islands, with the brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel, August 20. following; and for a third time, proceeded immediately to the West Indies. He served in that capacity with the expedition which captured Martinique, in January, 1809. In April following he accompanied Major-General Maitland, as senior officer of the staff, in the expedition against the Saintes, near Guadaloupe, which were captured; and from whence a French squadron, which had taken refuge there, was thereby forced to put to sea, and the French line-of-battle ship, Hautpoult, captured. Major-General Maitland remarked in his despatch, "Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, Deputy Adjutant-general, has been always forward: he is an officer who must rise by his merit." In January, 1810, he served as Deputy Adjutant-general with the expedition which terminated in the capture of Guadaloupe; and, during those operations, was detached with a column under the command of Major-General Harcourt, in whose despatch to Sir G. Beckwith the following observation occurs: "Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, Deputy Adjutantgeneral, merits my warmest acknowledgments, by his zealous services, which have been unremitting, and particularly for his exertions and able assistance in the affair of the 3d." The operations in the West Indies having expelled the French from those islands, Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell returned home in the end of 1810, proceeded to the Peninsula, and resigned his staff situation as Deputy Adjutant-general in the Windward and Leeward Islands. In April, 1811, he was appointed Colonel of the 16th regiment of Portuguese infantry. Brigadier-General Pack's brigade, to which this regiment belonged, was not placed in any division with British troops, but was invariably detached where the service was most active. In 1811 and 1812, this regiment, while under the command of Colonel Campbell, was employed in the blockade of Almeida, which formed the left of the position during the battle of Fuentes d'Onor; also at the sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, and Burgos, and the battle of Salamanca. Upon two of those occasions his name was particularized by the Duke of Wellington, viz. after the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo: "The 1st Portuguese regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Hill, and the 16th, under Colonel Campbell, being BrigadierGeneral Pack's brigade, were likewise distinguished in the storm, under the command of the Brigadier-General;” and, in a despatch from Burgos, "As soon as it was dark, the same troops, with the addition of the 42d regiment, attacked and carried by assault the horn-work which the enemy had occupied in strength. In this operation, Brigadier-General Pack, Lieutenant-Colonel Hill, 1st Portuguese regiment, Colonel Campbell, 16th, Major Williams, 4th Caçadores, Major Dick, 42d regiment, and the Hon. Major Cocks, 79th, distinguished themselves." In January, 1813, the army retreated from Burgos and Madrid to the frontier of Portugal, where the troops were dispersed in winter quarters; and Colonel Campbell, in consequence of illness and the decision of a medical board, returned to England. In February he proceeded to Sweden, and from thence to the head-quarters of the Emperor of Russia, in Poland, to join Lord Cathcart, the Ambassador at the court of Russia, who accompanied the Emperor Alexander in that capacity, but who was also a general of the staff, and as such employed Sir R. Wilson, Colonel Lowe, and Colonel Campbell, to be detached to the different corps of the Russian army, in order to report upon their force and military operations. By the Gazette it appears that Colonel Campbell served in that capacity with those armies (chiefly with the corps d'armée commanded by Count Wittgenstein) from that period until their entry into Paris, March 31. 1814. During August, September, and October, 1813, he was detached to the siege of Dantzig, where a corps of 30,000 men was employed, under · Prince Alexander of Wurtemburg. On March 24. 1814, he was severely wounded at Fere Champenoise, in France. Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Stewart, now Marquis of Londonderry, observed in his despatch to Lord Bathurst, "Your Lordship will, I am sure, lament to learn that that very deserving officer, Colonel Neil Campbell, was unfortunately wounded by a Cossack in the mêlée of the cavalry, not being known." And Lord Burghersh, in a despatch dated March 26., observes, "It is with the greatest regret I have to announce to your Lordship, that Colonel Campbell was yesterday most severely wounded by a Cossack. Colonel Campbell, continuing that gallant and distinguished course which has ever marked his military career, had charged with the first cavalry, which penetrated the French masses. The Cossacks, who came to support this cavalry, mistook him for a French officer, and struck him to the ground." In April, 1814, Colonel Campbell was appointed, by the British government, to accompany Napoleon from Fontainbleau to the island of Elba. General Kolla, General Count Shuwalloff, and Colonel Count Truchsess were respectively appointed by the sovereigns of Austria, Russia, and Prussia, to accompany Buonaparte from Fontainbleau, in the quality of commissioners. The two latter left him upon his embarkation at Frejus, whilst General Koller and Colonel Campbell proceeded with him to Elba, and established him in possession of that island, in conformity with the treaty which the Emperor Alexander had entered into at Paris. Colonel Campbell obtained the rank of Colonel on the Continent of Europe, and the island of Elba, April 14. 1814, and received the brevet of Colonel in the army, June 4. following. The Gazette of the 2d of June announces his Majesty's licence to Colonel Campbell to accept and wear the insignia of the order of St. Anne, of the second class, and the Cross of St. George, of the fourth class, conferred upon him by the Emperor Alexander; and the Gazette of the 2d of October, that his Majesty had conferred upon him the honour of knighthood; also certain armorial distinctions, in consideration of his able and highly-distinguished services upon various occasions, more especially at the conquest of Martinique, Guadaloupe, and their dependencies; in the Peninsula, at the assault and capture of Ciudad Rodrigo, and the brilliant action of Salamanca; as also in consideration of the zeal and ability manifested by him while attached to the Russian army, in the campaigns terminating in the restoration of peace to Europe; and the signal intrepidity displayed by him in the action fought at Fere Champenoise, on the 25th of March, 1815. Colonel Campbell was subsequently appointed, by the Emperor of Russia, a Knight of the order of St. Wlademir, of the third class. It appears from official documents, and from the debates in Parliament, that Sir Neil Campbell was directed by the British Government to remain in Elba till further orders, after establishing Buonaparte in territorial possession, if he should consider that the presence of a British Officer could be of use in protecting the island and his person against insult or attack; that he did, therefore, continue to remain there at the request of Buonaparte, prolonging his residence until the Congress should terminate, occasionally passing to the adjoining parts of Italy, for the benefit of his health, and to communicate with other persons employed by the British Government, and our allies. It is not necessary to enter further into the details of the extraordinary circumstances connected with the mission upon which the deceased was employed, and the evasion of Buonaparte, on the 26th of February, 1815, during Sir Neil Campbell's absence from Elba, between the 17th and 28th of February, which were the days of this officer's departure from Elba, and of his return to that island. But thus much is necessary in recording his military career; and it is but justice to him to add, that his Majesty's Ministers distinctly expressed, in 1814, in both Houses of Parliament, that they had every reason to be satisfied with the activity and intelligence manifested by Sir Neil on every occasion, and more particularly during the delicate and very difficult charge imposed upon him while residing near the person of Napoleon. Sir Neil, after his return to England in April, 1814, had, upon the prospect of hostilities, joined his regiment, the 54th, in Flanders, and served with the Duke of Wellington's army, from the beginning of the campaign until their entry into |