RAGLAN, Lord. FITZROY JAMES HE SOMERSET, Field-marshal, G.C.E., eighth son of the fifth duke of Beaufort, was b. Sept. 30, 1788. He entered the army in his 16th year, and in 1807 served on the staff of the duke of Wellington in the expedition to Copenhagen. He went to `the Peninsula as aid-de-camp to the duke, and in 1812 became his military secretary. As lord Fitzroy Somerset, his name became a household word. He was present at all the great actions of the Peninsular campaign which illus trate the career of the great commander. He was among the first to mount the breach at the storming of Badajoz, and it was to him that the governor gave up his sword. On the return of Napoleon from Efba, he served under the duke in Flanders, and lost his sword-arm in the crowning victory of Waterloo. The very next day he was seen prac ticing writing with hiS For his brilliant military services he was made K.C.M. and received orders from several foreign potentates. He was minister-plenipotentiary at Paris in 1815, and secretary to the French embassy from 1816 to 1819. The duke was appointed in 1819 master of the ordnance, and Raglan again became his secretary. In 1822 he went to the congress of Verona in attendance on the duke, who was the English plenipotentiary. In 1827 the duke was appointed commander-in-chief of the British army, and called _Raglan to the horse-guards as his military secretary. This office he held until the death of his chief in Sept., 1852. He was then made master-gen. of the ordnance, and in October was called to the house of peers as baron Raglan of Raglan, in the co. of Monmouth. He had previously sat in the lower house during the parlia ments of 1818 and 1826 for the borough of Truro. While of the ordnance, he was appointed, with the rank of gen. while so employed, commander of the English forces which were dispatched to Turkey in Feb., 1854. The allied armies of Britain and France, under Raglan and marshal St. Arnaud respectively, made good their
landing in the Crimea. The victory of the Alma, the flank-march to Balaklava (q.v.). the cavalry charge which has made that place immortal, the sanguinary and desperate infantry-battle of Inkermann (q.v.) (which obtained for Raglan the baton of field.marshal), and the siege of Sebastopol. are too well known to need description. Unfavorable com ments began to be made, as the campaign proceeded, upon Raglan's conduct of the war. During the winter, 1854-55, his soldiers suffered unspeakable privations, and hundreds perished in camp and on 'board transports for want of the food, clothing, and medicines which were in store, but could not be found in the confusion and mismanagement that prevailed. Supplies arrived: but the siege continued without much apparent success until June 18, when a general assault was ordered, and when Raglan's troops, as well as the French, received a terrible repulse. Raglan had been suffering from a slight attack of cholera, and the disaster of June 18 weighing upon his mind, he suddenly became worse, and died of exhaustion, June 28. 1855. His remains were brought to 1:na,land, and buried in the family cemetery at Badminton. Raglan was an indefatigable and He proved himself to be a skillful tactician, although it may be doubted whether he had the qualities of a great general. Ik was undeniably gifted with many qualities that shoneVith great luster in the, field as well as in council. His demeanor in action was so calm that it excited the admiration of the French, and marshal St. Arnaud declared that his bravery rivaled that of antiquity. His courteous and noble bearing, his gentleness of temper and firmness of mind, and his constant wor ship of "duty," invest his character with something of the chivalrous. See Kinglake's Invasion of the Crimea.