Note 157 — SIEGE OF CIUDAD RODRIGO.

General Mackinnon was the younger son of the chieftain of Clan Mackinnon. He was born near Winchester, and commenced his military education in France. At fifteen he entered the army, served three years as lieutenant in the 43rd, raised an independent company, and exchanged into the Coldstream Guards. In Ireland he was brigade-major to General Nugent, and served at the Helder, in Egypt, and at Copenhagen. In 1809, he joined Sir Arthur Wellesley, was present at the passage of the Douro, and had two horses killed at Talavera. At Busaco he received thanks upon the field—and after some sharp affairs with the French rear-guard during Massena’s retreat, led the last charge in person at Fuentes d’Onoro, which left the British in undisputed possession of the field.

In Mackinnon’s character there was no trait wanting to form the perfect soldier. To the highest intellectual endowments, he united, “a gentle manner, with a dauntless soul.” Married to a woman worthy of a brave man’s love, his passion for military glory had allowed him little space to enjoy that quiet happiness that generally waits on wedded life. His selected profession demanded the sacrifice—a command was offered—he accepted it, and left a happy home. At last his health declined—a change of air was recommended—he reluctantly consented to leave the Peninsula for a season—and, for the last time, revisited England.

Walking one evening in the garden, his lady led him to a spot where, with all a woman’s pride, she had planted a laurel to commemorate every action in which her beloved one had been victorious. Mackinnon, deeply affected, turned away, whispering, “Alas! love, the cypress will be the next!”

No leader was ever more deeply regretted. The brigade immediately under his command adored him; and those who survived the explosion, dug a grave inside the breach, and there hastily entombed the body of their gallant general. After the confusion ceased, the officers of the Coldstream Guards raised his honoured remains, and interred them at Espeja with military honours.

But this lamented chief found a mourner even in an enemy. During Mackinnon’s earlier residence in France, Napoleon, then a military student in Dauphine, formed an intimacy with the family of the deceased. Consequently, he became a regular visitor at their chateau, and it would appear, that in after-days of pride and power, he never forgot the hospitality offered to him, when he was but a nameless cadet. At the peace of Amiens he invited the family to visit France—and when he heard Mackinnon named among those who had fallen at Ciudad Rodrigo, it is said that Napoleon betrayed unwonted regret at the decease of a youthful friend, who seemed to hold a place in earlier affections, before war and conquest had “steeled his heart, and seared his brow.”