There are nice reconstructions of miltary facilities of the period in Canada - is that where you are living? One is, of course, Fort Henry in Kingston. Ont; the other in the Citadel in Halifax, NS. Chris ----- Original Message ----- From: "Irene Marlborough" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, January 09, 2012 2:12 PM Subject: Re: [SOG-UK] SOG-UK Foundlings in the Army > Hello Blair: > > Thank you seems to be an inadequate response to your helpful findings. I > am > amazed at this information. How interesting it all is. It certainly puts > Joseph's service into perspective. I think I can now assume that Joseph > was > not a teenager when he married in 1819. He was probably in his early > twenties at Waterloo (from your quoted statistic from Mark Adkin). I think > he may well have been a similar age to his wife and therefore born about > 1790 +/- 5 years or so. > > The info about carrying the lash and wielding it is very surprising. It is > nice to have confirmation that he may well have continued his drumming > duties well after Waterloo until the job description changed. > > The description of the battle is terrifying but Joseph seems to have come > through OK. All this has got me fired up for really finding out more about > him. I had already learned quite a bit about barracks life for British > soldiers in Canada during and after the War of 1812. I visited several > forts > in Ontario a couple of years ago and realised that this lifestyle probably > applied to Joseph in the years spent in Nova Scotia in the 1820's. > However, > the wartime experiences must have defined the man - how could it be > otherwise? > > Many, many thanks for your help, > Best wishes, Irene > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message

Hi Chris: No, I live in Texas - quite a long way. But 18 months ago we drove from Texas to a family reunion in Niagara on the Lake and Toronto. It was a wonderful trip. We visited forts in Niagara on the Lake and at Fort Erie. These were well worth the trip. The staff were knowledgeable and helpful. There were demonstrations of musket firing at both places. This was quite impressive. One of the demonstrators managed to fire every 15 seconds. I can't quite imagine what the squares of troops at Waterloo must have felt when facing musket fire like this plus heavy artillery - from both sides, it sounds like! Of course, the Canadian perspective was quite different from Waterloo. There was much more attention paid to the War of 1812 for obvious reasons. Still Joseph BOY would have experienced these kinds of frontier forts in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. I was quite fascinated at the prospect of family life for those women and children permitted to accompany their husbands. Typically only 10-15% of wives managed to make the trip and life must have been hard. However, it may have been less difficult than the wife of an ag lab in rural England or a mill worker in the Industrial revolution. The sons would often follow their fathers into the army. If anyone is having a holiday in Ontario, do visit these forts. It's quite educational. Best wishes, Irene