— 
2 CHARACTERS. 
individual, therefore,belonging to it, 
feel proud of the prospect held out 
to him, and to endeavour to display 
in every part of his conduct, all the 
characteristics of the genuine High- 
land soldier. 
Lieut.-Col. M‘Leod’s Letter to Maj. 
Gen. M. Fraser, giving an Ae- 
count of the Battle of Mazda, dated 
July 7, 1806. 
Camp near Maida, Calabria, 
7th July, 1806. 
My dear general, 
It is now only that I have been 
able to obtain a leisure moment, to 
retrace in my memory the different 
particulars in the progress of an 
enterprise undertaken by maj. gen. 
sir John Stewart, to relieve this 
province of the Neapolitan kingdom 
from the tyranny and oppression of 
our boasting and insolent foe; and 
although extreme fatigue and con- 
sequent lassitude render me at this 
moment unequal to the task, | will, 
nevertheless, exert myself to convey 
to yousuch a view of the whole as is 
immediately present to my recollec- 
tion. Your 2nd battalion may, pro- 
bably, be frequently introduced in 
the recital, owing, in the first in- 
stance, to my naturally interesting 
feelings in respect to them; and 
next to a conviction, that a faithful 
representation of their proceedings 
in particular, cannot fail to excite 
in you an equal degree of interest. 
Dispatches being now preparing, I 
must not delay longer, although 
sensible that my narrative will bear 
upon it the appearance of hurry. 
Soon after I wrote you of our 
review at Messina, stating my gra- 
tifying feclings, in the favourable 
impression it excited among the ~ 
several general officers of the army ; 
we were ordered, with two other 
921 
regiments, to march to a flying 
encampment at Milazzo, about 26 
miles N. W. of Messina : the dissi- 
pation of Messina had augmented 
the number of our sick list to about 
100 rank and file, whom I was 
obliged to leave there; so that our 
effective number at the camp did 
not exceed 700. Brigadier-general 
Acland commanded the brigade, and 
I must here state, how strong my 
feelings of obligation are to him for 
forwarding, at head-quarters, such 
objects as [ proposed for the good 
of the battalion, and the distinguish- 
ed manner in which he has uniformly 
treated us. 
We were suddenly apprised of an 
embarkation of the brigade on the 
morning of the 27th June; and it 
took place accordingly in the bay 
of Milazzo, on the same evening ; 
the regiments being ordered to put 
up their packs in store, and embark 
in light marching order : The extent 
and destination of the enterprise 
was, at this time, matter of the most 
anxious, nay irksome, speculation, 
in my mind, under the impressions 
and opinions I had formed, together 
with all the information I céuld 
obtain, onthe circumstances of the 
enemy in the neighbouring conti- 
nent; I therefore did not conceive 
it to have so formidable an object as 
an invasion of these provinces, with- 
out any apparent co-operation or 
support beyond our own very limit. 
ed means. ‘The expedition from 
Milazzo and Messina united in the 
course of the following evening, and 
came to an anchor close in shore, 
in a bay in the gulph of St. Euphe- 
mia, being the northern boundary © 
of Lower Calabria. In the evening 
of the 30th of June, at half past one 
o’clock in the morning, the debark. 
ation of the army commenced under 
the 
