This day in History, Battle of Glen Shiel 1719: The Little Scottish-Jacobite Rebellion

On this day in History in 1719, the Battle of Glen Shiel was fought in the Northwestern highlands of Scotland between Jacobite rebels and their Spanish allies in support of the Jacobite pretender to the thrones of England, Ireland, and Scotland, James Francis Edward Stuart (b.1688-1766) and the royal army of King George I, King of Great Britain and Ireland. The only major engagement of the 1719 Jacobite Uprising, the Battle of Glen Shiel is notable for the presence of Spanish interventionist forces.

One of the major Jacobite Uprisings next to the Jacobite War in Ireland 1689-1691 and the Rebellion of 1745-1746 (notable for the Battles of Prestonpans in 1745 and Culloden Moor in 1746), led by Prince Charles Edward Stuart (b.1720-1788), ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’, the Battle of Glen Shiel was an utter, near catastrophic defeat for the Jacobites. The Battle of Glen Shiel itself was also the last battle to be fought in the first half of Jacobite uprisings of 1689-1721.

James Francis Edward, the Old Pretender. Had he ascended to throne he would have been King James III of England and Ireland and James VIII of Scotland

The first Jacobite War of 1715-1721 was decided primarily in 1715-1716, which ended major Jacobite resistance at the Battle of Sheriffmuir in 1715 until the Battle of Glen Shiel, the “Old Pretender” Prince James leading at the head of his Scottish-Jacobite army for just two months in early 1716. He would flee for France in defeat where he was denied refuge, moving to Papal territory soon after where the Jacobite pretender and his heirs would enjoy the hospitality of the Popes in Rome for the rest of their lives.

A major internal threat to British rule in the Scottish Kingdom and to the security of their nation as a whole, this “Little Rebellion” as it was known became famous for the relatively bloody Battle of Glen Shiel, the only battle fought during the 1719 Jacobite Rebellion. The Spanish became involved in this Jacobite uprising following the start of the War of the Quadruple Alliance which pitted King Philip V of Spain against a coalition of allied nations, principally Great Britain, France, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Dutch Republic. War was declared because King Philip, a grandson of King Louis XIV of France wished to claim the French throne and to avenge the loss of Spanish territories in Northern Italy and the Low Countries following the end to the War of the Spanish Succession, 1701–1714, and the Treaty of Utrecht (Netherlands) in April of 1713.

Scottish Jacobites ready for a Highland Charge in 1715

The impetus for Spanish involvement in the Jacobite cause came at the behest of the Italian cardinal and Spanish politician Giulio Alberoni, who believed that a Jacobite (Catholic) uprising in Scotland would forestall or even cancel British plans to attack Spain and its territories in upcoming war. It was cardinal Alberoni who promised "Five thousand men, of which four thousand are to be foot, a thousand troopers, of which three hundred with their horses, the rest with their arms and accoutrements, and two months pay for them, ten field pieces, and a thousand barrels of powder and fifteen thousand arms for foot, with everything necessary to convey them” to the Jacobites in November of 1718. [1] Storms either destroyed or waylaid the 29 Spanish ships sent to Scotland lead by James Butler, the 2nd Duke of Ormonde (b.1665-1745) in March of 1719; it by then already clear that the Old Pretender would not be joining his supporters in yet another war for his cause. Even into late May the Jacobites were unaware of the destruction of the Spanish fleet, counting on the armada of the Duke of Ormonde to raise a large Scottish-Spanish army to march on Inverness.

Opposing Forces, the Jacobites and their Spanish Allies vs. George’s Hanoverian army

Jacobite leadership in the field was led by several men all with similar roles and backgrounds including the experienced and ever-capable Lord George Murray, the Marquess of Tullibardine Lord William Murray, Lord George's eldest brother, William Mackenzie the Earl of Seaforth, and George Keith, 10th Earl Marischal. Robert Roy MacGregor (b.1671-1734), the famed highland folk-hero and one-time reiver was a committed Jacobite as well, a proscribed outlaw following the Risings of 1715. All of the leading Jacobites brought their kin numbering perhaps more than 1000 fighting men and their servants, tacksmen (retainers or vassals), and their manrent from clans Cameron, Keith, MacGregor, Mackinnon, and Murray and other cadet branches. The Jacobites base of operations during the Little Rebellion was at Eilean Donan castle which was later bombarded and partially destroyed by three Hanoverian warships, the Worcester, Enterprise, and Flamborough. [2]

Bombardment of Eilean Donan

 These pro-Jacobites warriors had fought as reivers (livestock thieves) and highland bandits previously, some may have been veterans of the previous Jacobite rebellions as Rob Roy had been, he and his father fighting in the First Jacobite rebellion of 1688-1689, when John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee known also ‘Bonnie Dundee’, revolted after the events of the Glorious Revolution in 1688 which deposed King James II and James VII of England & Scotland. In many of the ‘Wars of Three Kingdoms’ (England, Scotland, and Ireland) in 1639-1651 and into the later Jacobite era, the Highland charge of broadswords wielding Scots broke many infantry lines and won many battles for the sometimes outnumbered and frequently divided clans of the highlands and lowlands. One notable example of a successful Highland charge was at the Battle of Killiecrankie in July 1689 where Bonnie Dundee won the battle but lost his life in the process.

Lord George Murray, sixth son of John Murray the Duke of Atholl, who had supported King William III in the Glorious Revolution

The surviving Spanish contingent who fought with their Jacobite allies at Glen Shiel consisted of less than 230 marines of the Regimento numero 3 La Corona led by Don Nicolás Bolaño. On the government side loyal to Hanoverian dynasty ruling England, Scotland, and Ireland under King George I (r.1714-1727), the government army was led by Major General Joseph Wightman who commanded 850 infantry. These numbers includeded a considerable force of Dutch line, supported by six coehorn mortars, a company of dragoons, 200 well armed grenadiers, and more than 100 loyal highlanders from the Mackay, Munro, Ross, Fraser, and Sutherland clans. [3]

Portrait of King George I of Great Britain (b.1660-1727)

Battle of Glen Shiel June 10, 1719

The Battle of Glen Shiel was fought in a valley near the ‘drovers’ road’ by the River Shiel about half way up the valley where the Jacobites held the high ground with barricades, breastworks, and fortifications in the natural defensive of the slopes of the mountain across from the smaller, glen, essentially a deep valley or a crag with a river flowing through it. The greater area of mountainsides is called the Five Sisters Hills, the Jacobites holding the rode and the mountains north of the river before the battle.

General Wightman’s royal army, 1100 strong, made contact with Lord George Murray’s pickets’ first, skirmishing and exchanging musket fire whilst both armies scrambled into position. Eventually his mortars began to bombard the exposed Jacobite flanks whilst loyalist highlanders led by Sir George Munro of Culcairn attempted a charge up the hill at Murray’s men.

Battle of Glen Shiel, Major General Wightman in the center in blue

Munro was wounded and may have been killed had his own man not protected him; in a series of firefights which later ensued many of the Jacobites were wounded including Rob Roy, the Earl of Seaforth, and later Lord Murray as well. The Spaniards were eventually bombarded as well, remaining brave and unwavering despite the intense shelling, the location where they fought being known as the ‘Pass of the Spaniards’ there after. The Jacobite line broke, slowly at first but soon Seaforth and Rob Roy had fled field, the rebel army broken before 8 PM in the evening under the vicious government assault. [4]

King George’s army had won under Majr. Gen. Wightman suffering 21 men killed and 121 wounded, the Highlanders suffering perhaps double the number of British casualties though they fled in good order to fight again or to escape with their lives into the highlands for a life of hard scrabble living. The Scots-Jacobites war council escaped intact, the surviving Spaniards were captured and offered generous terms and were eventually allowed to return to Spain

Sharp notes that of “the men who had provided leadership in Glenshiel had mixed fortunes. After fighting in the last Jacobite rebellion of 1745, Tullibardine was executed in the Tower of London. The Earl of Seaforth was pardoned in 1726 and did not trouble the government again. Both Marischal and his brother, James Keith, served Frederick the Great of Prussia to good effect-the earl became a Prussian ambassador, and Keith attained the rank of marshal, dying in 1758 at the Battle of Hochkirch. Lord George Murray served for several years in the King of Sardinia's army before his brother intervened with the Hanoverian court to grant him a pardon in 1726. Although he had misgivings over the 1745 rebellion, he was appointed lieutenant general of the Jacobite army. He became the outstanding Jacobite commander in that rebellion, winning victories at Prestonpans and Falkirk and tactfully managing the retreat from Derby. He opposed the strategy leading to the ill-fated Battle of Culloden, where he commanded the right wing and retired in good order following that defeat.”

The Old Pretender learned too late the fate of both the failed Spanish expeditionary force and the defeat of the Scottish Jacobites at the Battle of Glen Shiel, June 10 1719, ironically on his birthday. Later in the same year the exiled prince was to be married, his wife Maria Clementina Sobieski, a granddaughter of King John Sobieski III (b.1629-1695) giving birth a year later in 1720 to the Young Pretender, known to history as Bonnie Prince Charlie. As a young ambitious man he would led they great but ultimately blundered Rebellion of 1745-1746, winning infamy at the bloody Battle of Culloden in 1746.

The Young Pretender in Highland Dress from a 19th century depiction

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[1] The Battle of Glen Shiel 1719 by David Sharp

[2] Sharp

[3] Sharp

[4] Inventory of Historic Battlefields, Glenshiel 10 June 1719 by the Government of Scotland

The Hawaiian Wars 1782-1795, King Kamehameha the Conqueror & the War of Unification

The Hawaiian Islands (Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) have a fascinating history as it relates to warfare and military studies at the turn of the 18^th century. A product of both the industrial revolution and the colonial/imperial age which was only just beginning in the late 1790’s throughout the Americas, Africa, and Asia, the Hawaiian kingdom was born in the earliest age of exploration and trade.

Kamehameha and his officers/chieftains prepare for battle 

by Herb Kawainui Kāne (b.1928-2011)

Kamehameha the Great (b.1758-1819), reigning as king of a united Hawaii from 1810 until his death in 1819, Kamehameha was a great conqueror and warrior as well as a benevolent peace-maker and diplomat. He created modern Hawaii by forging an empire out of a chain of scattered island-kingdoms long ruled by petty kings and chieftains. King Kamehameha unified all of the Hawai’ian islands by the time of his death, ruling Hawaii, Maui, O’ahu, Kauaʻi, Niʻihau, Moloka’i, Lana’i, and Kaho’olawe.

Through many years of battles and skirmishes with successful and failed campaigns waged throughout 1795-1810, Kamehameha became the first King of the Hawaiian empire through both diplomacy and war, beginning his rise to power as an ambitious young war-chief in the year 1782. Following his great victory in 1795 at the Battle of Nuʻuanu Pali, Kamehameha had conquered all the major islands of Hawaii save for Kauaʻi and Niʻihau which were finally united with the Empire of Hawai’i as a vassal state in 1810.

The Lonely One rises to power,

Kamehameha and the island of Hawai’i, 1775-1785

Born to the royal chieftain Keoua and his wife Kekuʻiapoiwa on the island of Hawai’i, the Big Island, in the year 1758, the young Kamehameha was raised from an early age to become a warrior and ali'i-'ai-moku, a regional or district chief on the island. As Hawaiian legend holds the birth of the young man Paiea (meaning hard shelled crab) took place sometime during or after the night that Halley’s Comet shot across the sky, when many chiefs and high priests were warned of the birth of boy who would grow up to be the “slayer of chiefs” and ruler of the Islands. 

The young Kamehameha (meaning the lonely one) lived in isolation in his adolescence which protected him from the threat of assassination from rival Hawaiian chiefs including chief Alapa'i (reigned c.1725-1755), who was perhaps more concerned with the ongoing conflict being fought against the chiefs of Maui. A long winded struggle dating back to before the 1650’s in which the Mau’i and Hawaiian chiefs raided and counter-raided each others districts for many years on end.

Raised by his uncle King Kalani'opu'u, Kamehameha was an imposing warrior at an early age. The young prince was tall, strong, and agile, well trained in the use of the island weapons; the javelin, the long and short spear, the shark tooth dagger, and war club, as well as in the arts of hand-to-hand combat. He was described as “[moving] in an aura of violence” in his younger years, certainly having fought against the warriors loyal to the Kings of Maui. [1]

The young chief, Kamehameha by Kāne

Kamehameha like many other men his age or younger was a koa (warrior), fighting for his ali'i nui (chief or high chief) whenever he called him to service against rival tribes (districts) or invaders from an enemy island. When the first European explorers came to Hawaii these same warriors were called to the coastal regions, gazing in awe upon the fair skinned, oddly clothed men who carried firearms and steel swords onto the shores of Kauaʻi and Kealakekua Bay in 1778 and 1779. These white men were sailors and Royal Marines of His Majesty’s navy, commanded by the navigator and explorer Captain James Cook (b.1729-1779. Cooks career as an explorer and Royal Navy captain would end in February of 1779, when he attempted to kidnap a chieftain to recover a stolen ship, the plan backfired and a skirmish ensued on the beaches of Kealakekua Bay. Cook was clubbed and then stabbed to death despite being a well respected figure amongst the islanders, several British sailors and marines were slain in the skirmish and a rifle volley or two were fired at the Hawaiians, who to the surprise of British did not waver. [2]

Kamehameha was present with his uncle King Kalani'opu'u when this infamous event took place, witnessing first-hand the power that musket firearms and muzzle cannons possessed against unarmed foes. In the chaos of the skirmish Captain Cook’s lieutenant Capt. Charles Clerke fired on the beach with the guns of his ship HMS Discovery, slightly wounding the young Kamehameha before withdrawing to the high seas.

Death of Captain James Cooke, 14 February 1779

Brown Bess muskets and 6 pound cannons could not have saved Captain Cook’s life that fateful day; though they were weapons technology which would prove decisive in the battles to come for control of all of the islands of Hawai’i. Kamehameha must have later realized that these weapons technologies importance was two-fold. He had to master them to not only defeat his enemies in the Islands and to unite the chiefs of Hawaii, but to prove to the outsiders eyeing his lands that his people, once united, could not and would not be so easily conquered by a foreign people.

Civil War on the Big Island and the Beginning of the

Battles for Unification, 1782-1791

Kamehameha’s first tests as a general and chief would begin after the death of King Kalani'opu'u in April 1782, when he pressed his claim as King of Hawai’i island against that of Kīwalaʻō, his cousin and the son of the deceased king, and chief Kiwalaʻo’s half brother, chief Keōua. In 1782 Kamehameha won his first major victory as a chief at the Battle of Moku’ohai dealing chiefs Kiwalaʻo & Keōua a crushing defeat. Kiwalaʻo was killed by one of Kamehameha’s officers in the melee but Keōua escaped with his life to the southern districts. He would resist Kamehameha’s attempts to conquer all of the Big Island for many years after.

War canoes off the coast of Waikiki by Kāne

After his great victory at Moku’ohai, Kamehameha led successive wars against the neighboring districts of Hilo and Kaʻū (where Keōua was being sheltered by relatives) from 1783-1790, fighting many battles against chief of Hilo, Keawe, and Keōua, who had allied themselves with the chiefs Maui, long at war with the Hawaiians since the 1750’s.  Chief Kamehameha won many battles in this period and lost several as well in his attempts to control all of the districts of Hawaii, though the results of both his victories and defeats were always short lived it seems.

Before he had defeated all of his enemies on the Big Island, Kamehameha would invade and subdue Maui, drawing the ire of King Kahekili II of Maui (b.1710-1794). An accomplished warrior-general and well respected chief throughout his life, Kahekili was exiled to O’ahu following the Battle of ‘Iao Valley sometime in 1790. Rumored to have been Kamehameha’s biological father, Kahekili was a most fascinating man. Tattooed from head to toe on one half of his body in the “cut-in-half” style, Kahekili means ‘Thundererr’, and the mans reputation seems to be that of an iron willed and unrelenting warrior.

King Kahekili II in a Western depiction from the 19th century

By the time of his death after more than a sixty year reign he had at one time controlled or had direct influence over most of the islands of Hawaii save for the Big Island. Kahekili fought in many battles before the Wars of Conquest including the First Battle of Wailuku in 1776, where he defended his capital from the invading Hawaiians in the Third Hawai’i-Maui War of 1775-1779. In this battle his warriors using the cover of sand dunes annihilated King Kalani'opu'u’s warriors on the beach before they could attack his lands. Great hostilities ensued and were only ended upon the arrival of Captain Cook on the HMS Resolution in January of 1779. From 1780-1783 King Kahekili warred with the chiefs of O’ahu becoming high chief of that island after the Battle of Kahei’iki in 1783.

King Kamehameha’s War of Conquest, 1790-1795

By 1790 Kamehameha’s men were already utilizing modern weaponry on the battlefield against their enemies on Hawaii and on Maui, with muskets being employed sporadically amongst their infantry and cannons being placed on their war canoes for battles at sea.  The training and consul provided by John Young (b.1742-1835) and Isaac Davis (b.1758-1810), two British sailors who helped introduce Western tactics and technology and to train his armies, was invaluable. Other chiefs received help from similar advisors though it was the traditional Hawaiian ways of warfare which ended up winning the war of unification of the Hawaiian Islands.

After a string of totally decisive victories, culminating in the series of battles fought in South-Eastern Hawaii near Hilo, Kamehameha finally ended the War of Succession when he captured Keōua in the skirmish at Kawaihae in 1791. The rebel chieftain was later sacrificed to honor the construction of a new temple as a tribute to the growing power of King Kamehameha and to gods who allowed it. After the death of the meandering rebel chief Keōua, the King controlled all of the districts of the island of Hawaii and held nominal control of Maui and its surrounding islands, though this was disputed by the chiefs of O’ahu and Maui.

O’ahu and to a lesser extent the islands of Maui & Kauai became the center of resistance to the rule of Kamehameha where the exiled Kahekili sought and received aid from numerous allies to defy the King until his death from natural causes in 1794. One of the most notable battle to be fought between Kamehameha’s army and the Kaua’i-Maui-O’ahu chiefs before the decisive Battle of Battle of Nu’aanu was fought in 1795 north of the Waipi’o coast in what was called the Battle of Red Mouthed Gun (Battle of Kepuwahaʻulaʻula). Several months after Kamehameha captured and sacrificed Keōua, chief Kahekili and the King of Kaui would organize a great fleet of war canoes to sail on Hawaii and to invade Kamehameha’s lands from the Northwestern coast.

Traditionally the battle at sea was rare and if fought a relatively small action occurred. The warriors of Hawaii traditionally preferred to maneuver their war canoes up close to their enemy to exchange spear thrusts and javelin casts on the open water, again this occurred less frequently as they often chose to meet in the open and on the beach to allow their enemy to prepare tactically and ritualistically for the upcoming land battle.[3]

In the unique naval action that followed at Battle of Red Mouthed Gun both sides exchanged musket and cannon fire from aboard their war canoes, certainly hundreds would have been engaged that day. A melee ensued not long after and many were killed or had their canoes by cannon fire destroyed. King Kamehameha watched from his European style sloop the Fair American as his ships armed with swivel mounted small bore cannons and defended by musketeers pummeled the enemy fleet.

King Kamehameha (left) directs his war vessels aboard the Fair American by Kāne

The action broke the invaders before they could come ashore and managed to turn back the expeditionary army comprised of Oʻahu, exiled Maui, and Kaua’ian warriors, bringing relative peace to Kamehameha’s kingdom for nearly four years thereafter. An opportune time for the next great campaign in his War of Conquest came following the 1794 Kuki’iahu War which was a war of succession fought on Oʻahu and later Kaua’i after the death of King Kahekili.

Battle at Sea by Kāne

Fought from November to December of that same year between forces loyal to the sixteen year old King of Kaua’i, Kaumualiʻi (b.1778-1824) , and other rival chieftains, the upheaval caused by this war made it possible for Kamehameha to land his army on Oʻahu unopposed in 1795. With an army perhaps as large as 10,000 to as many as 16,000 armed men and women supported by twelve hundred or more war canoes, the King first invaded and conquered the smaller island of Molokaʻi, fighting and winning the Battle of Kawela before invading Oʻahu in the spring of 1795. [4]

Battle of Nuʻuanu Pali 1795, Kamehameha becomes 'Master of Hawaii'

The great battle known as Nuʻuanu or the Battle of Nuʻuanu Pali (Ka-lele-a-ke-anae, the leaping mullet fish), is the most decisive and perhaps the largest and bloodiest battle in Kamehameha’s campaign to conquer all of Hawaii. Fought on the island of Oʻahu, historian and journalist Abraham Fornander states that he became “master of Hawaii” following his victory in the battle, the now powerful chief & king finally defeating any great or organized resistance to his rule. After his victory in the Battle of Nuʻuanu Pali, Kamehameha came to control all of the islands of Hawaii save for Kaua’i and its sister islands. [5]  The battle pitted King Kamehameha against King Kalanikupule the son of King Kahekili II and his allies including Prince Kaʻiana (b.1755-1795). [6]

The conclusion to the Battle of Nuʻuanu Pali by Kāne

Battle was offered near the foot of the Punchbowl in modern day Honolulu. It was a running fight more than 6 miles long, the army of Kamehameha chasing the army of Maui and O‘ahu toward the Tantalus crater into the Manoa Valley. Muskets were fired frequently and cannon were used by both sides the latter insufficient in effect. They fought their enemies in bloody hand to hand combat wherever they were with spears (polulu or ihe), the pōhaku newa or stone club, and pāhoa (dagger), Kamehameha’s men charging up the Nu‘uanu Pali ridge to silence the guns of Kaʻiana after taking fire from his cannons initially on their way to the strongholds of the allied armies of Kalanikupule.

Battle map of the valley and the mountain range of 

Nu'uanu by Jack of All Trades, Master of None

When this was accomplished the final stage of the battle began. Beforehand a brief melee occurred before the Punchbowl in which chief Kaʻiana and his brother were slain. By this point in the battle the army of Maui & O‘ahu led by a now wounded Kalanikupule was in full retreat, Fornander recounting that the battle of Nuʻuanu Pali had “become an accelerated rout and promiscuous slaughter” by the time the enemies of Kamehameha retreated into the valley and made their 'last stand'. Though multiple accounts offer an explanation of Kaʻiana’s death none can confirm the last moments of the globe trotting chieftain who had once fought for King Kamehameha until turning against him during the landings on O‘ahu. His wife fought for the King in the battle.

When Kaʻiana met his death the army of Hawaii stopped long enough for a priest to sacrifice him and perhaps several other warriors of note before chasing the remaining Maui-O‘ahu forces up into the highlands of the greater Koʻolau mountain range. It was here on the Nu‘uanu cliffs where the most iconic confrontation of the battle and indeed of Kamehameha’s War of Unification took place. Around 400-500 to perhaps no less than 800 warriors made a final stand in the defense and honor of last Mōʻī of Maui and Alii Aimoku of Oahu, King Kalanikupule.

This last stand was a rearguard defense allowing the chief and perhaps hundreds of his warriors to escape the army of Kamehameha. Many fought to the death preferring to be driven off the Nuʻuanu Pali or to jump off the cliffs edge rather than to be captured (and enslaved or sacrificed) following the defeat of their chief.

Archaeological evidence proves that some 800 warriors may have perished in this fashion though the near 990 foot drop off the Nuʻuanu Pali may have also served as a makeshift grave following the battles' conclusion. [7] Though Kalanikupule escaped death in the battle his fate was sealed and months later he was captured and sacrificed, Kamehameha solidifying his claim over the majority of the islands by the winter of 1795-1796. Two major expeditions to conquer Kauaʻi would fail, destroyed by storms & rough seas in 1796, the last major attempt quashed by pestilence sometime before 1800. Kamehameha would become ruler of all Hawai’i following chief Kaumualii’s relinquishing control of Kauaʻi  & Niʻihau to the King of Hawaii's rule in 1810.

King Kamehameha the Great from a portrait depicting him much later in life

Related Posts

The Honolulu Rifles during the Hawaii Rebellions 1887-1895

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[1] National Park Service History, ‘Kamehameha the Great’

[2] Dukas, Neil Bernard A Military History of Sovereign Hawaii (Mutual Publishing, Honolulu.) 2004

[3] A Military History of Sovereign Hawaii

[4] A Military History of Sovereign Hawaii

[5] Abraham Fornander (b.1812-1887), a Swedish born Hawaiian immigrant who become a writer, historian, and public/court official for Kamehameha and the Kingdom of Hawaii (1795-1893).

[6] Kaʻiana traveled to China with the Royal Navy including many months spent living in Portuguese Macau. He had begged his British Navy handlers several times to allow him passage to England.

[7] Hawai’i Council for the Humanities & the Hawai’i Geographic Alliance

Odd Fighting Units of World History-The Zouaves of Death in Poland's January Uprising of 1863

The Zouaves of Death (in Polish Żuawi Death) are perhaps one of the most ghoulishly named fighting units of the 19^th century conflicts which were fought in the buildup of empires, republican states, and commonwealths in the wake of the previous Napoleonic Age (c.1803-1815). Created by a former French army officer, François Rochebrune (b.1830-1870), the Zouaves of Death fought in the January Uprising of 1863-1864 against the Russian Empire, who had dominated (along with Austria & Prussia) much of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth since the Partitions of 1772, 1793, and 1795.

The Zouaves of Death and Polish scythmen brace for a charge of Russian cavalry during the January Uprising, in this dramatic and patriotic painting from the early 20th century

Formed in Ojców in Febuary of 1863, Rochebrunes volunteer and free lance militia was styled in the debonair attire of the French Algerian Zouave, a popular style of dress for infantrymen from the 1850’s until the end of World War I in 1918. They fought in many of the major battles of the Uprising in what was then known as the Congress of Poland, ruled by Tsar Alexander II of Russia (b.1818-1881). The Zouaves of Death fought attached to the peasant armies and cadres of Polish patriots led by a number of revolutionary leaders throughout the conflict.

François Rochebrune (b. 1830-1870) 

French army officer, Polish rebel, and Commander of the Zouaves of Death

A style of uniform as well as a French designation for their colonial light infantry of the period, the term Zouave originated from the infantry regiments first raised from the Algerian Berber population following the French invasions of Algeria in 1830-1831. The attire of the Zouave became known in Europe after the 1850’s when Zouave regiments fought bravely in the Crimean War.

Later Zouave infantry fought and died for France in the Italian War of 1859, the Mexican “Intervention” of 1864-1866, and in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. In the American Civil War, both commissioned officers, private officers, and amateur generals on both sides commanded Zouave units in the battles fought from 1861-1865.

Rochebrune and his volunteer Zouaves

Rising from a poor background, Rochebrune eventually became a sergeant in the French army, earning his first taste of battle serving with the Zouave 17^th line infantry regiment in the Crimean War. He was made an officer either before or whilst on campaign in the 1857-1858 Anglo-Franco expedition to China during the Opium Wars sagas. Eventually he left the French army in 1862, whereupon Rochebrune moved to Poland, spending time in both Warsaw and Krakow teaching French to Polish pupils as well as offering fencing lessons.

Rochebrune was a man of great enthusiasm and charisma, most certainly an expert swordsman, he was a man of iron will, a master of discipline who demanded that his men stand & fight, and charge with cold steel when he gave the order. One great hindrance to him as an officer throughout the January Uprising was that he did not speak Polish at all nor did he attempt to learn it during his time living in Poland in 1862-1863. He could often be heard yelling the same phrase over-and-over again in broken Polish as he urged his men forward in battle, shooting his Colt Navy pistol and brandishing his officers’ sword aloft.

François de Rochebrune, as he may have looked preparing the Zouaves of Death for a bayonet charge in February 1863

He most certainly began developing the framework and formation of the Zouaves of Death before the general uprisings in Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia in January of 1863. Recruiting amongst his former students and university students in Warsaw, Rochebrune based his regiment and its discipline on his own experience in the French army. Maybe he was inspired by the Foreign Legionnaires and German Hussars as well, who's regiments often used death (or the deaths head) as a badge, motif, or common rallying cry in the face of battle. His Zouaves of Death certainly borrowing their attitude, style, and élan from the French Zouaves whom he had fought for in the trenches and fields of the Crimea peninsula in 1853-1855.

Several other foreigners and Polish officers filed out the upper ranks of the Zoauves of Death, who before the Battle of Miechów numbered some 500-600 men and officers in total. His immediate officer corps included Emanuel Moszyński, his lieutenant of staff, and John Serafin Tomkowicz, one of his former students. They dressed in all black save for the white cross adorning their cloth undershirt and the white tassel dangling from their iconic red fez hats. The Zouaves of death armed themselves with a (by that eras standards) modern percussion rifle, the standard infantry bayonet of around twenty inches in length, and a large hunting knife for close quarters combat. Most officers carried a six shot pistol, the models made by Colt a favorite, and an infantry officers sword.

Period depiction of the Zouaves of Death, Rochebrune stands in the center

Baptism by Fire, the Zouaves of Death in the assault on Miechów

Rochebrune’s Zouaves received their “baptism by the fire” at the bloody Battle of Miechów in Febuary of 1863, attached to a Polish insurgent army commanded by Apollinaris Kurowski, which attacked the town of Miechów in the southern Congress of Poland. The assault on the Russian held town went poorly from the start and hundreds were killed, wounded, or fled due to the staunch defense put up by the Imperial army.

The Zouaves of Death made their presence known when Rochebrune personally led a bayonet charge into a cemetery located outside the town in an attempt to silence the Russian guns. The charge was fierce and many of the Zouaves did indeed meet their death fighting hand to hand with their Russian enemies. At least 150 were killed or seriosuly wounded, at least a dozen or more officers perished in the successful attempt to take the cemetery.

Period battle scene from the January Uprising in 1863

By the end of the battle the Russians had retired their guns  and had withdrawn from their cemetery positions however the Polish rebels had been defeated outright however. Over 200 Poles lost their lives in fight for the town. Many others, of whom most were most likely wounded, were executed following the conclusion of the battle. The Russians suffered fewer than 75 casualties defending the town from the 2500 Polish infantry, cavalry, and the Zouaves of Death attachment. The regiment had been severely maimed and Rochebrune injured as well in the charge on the cemetery. Both his top officers Moszyński and Serafin Tomkowicz were slain also. Angered by the Polish rebels attack on Miechów the Russians later set the town ablaze after having defended it earlier in the day. 

Zouaves of Death from insurrection to extinction

Bloodied after their personal victory but after an overall strategic defeat at Miechów, the Zouaves of Death regrouped and reformed. Rochebrune now calling himself de Rochebrune, recruited more men to replace those fallen in battle, drilling and instilling discipline in them awaiting their next campaign. Word of their unique dress and brave exploits in battle traveled fast and soon other units sprung up, clamoring to join the regiment and to fight the Russians. Some of these new recruits included entire cadres of scythemen, Polish farmers turned insurgents who were armed with scythes and the farm tools of their profession along with muskets as well.

Polish scythemen photographed during the January Uprising

With maybe more than 400 men in the regiment, the Zouaves fought under the dictator and revolutionary officer Marian Langiewicz (b.1827-1887) in a defeat of Col. Xavier Czengiery at the Battle of Chrobrzem. They would fight again a day later at one of the bloodiest battles fought in the Polish theater of the January Uprising at the Battle of Grochowiska. Combined with the losses they suffered the day before, the Russians lost over 300 or more men killed or missing in the bloody skirmishing that took place in the forests around the field of battle outside Pińczów.

Again the Zouaves of Death showed great courage and determination in charging their enemy no matter the cost, loosing perhaps 100 or more of their ranks in a deadly charge. The terrain must have played a major role in Rochebrunes attack, his men most certainly taking advantage of the dense trees and shrubbery in the forest. Once again they took the Russian guns, six of them to be exact, in a bayonet charge, silencing them in yet again another sanguinary display of dash and élan. Many believed it was Rochebrune who had won the day in this battle, leading the scythemen against the Russian infantry which broke the numerically and tactically superior Imperial line.

Following the Polish insurgent victory in the woods at Grochowiska, Rochebrune was promoted to General, soon after leaving Poland for France. Not long after both the Uprising and his regiment collapsed, the Polish insurgents defeated and scattered. Many of its leaders (save for Langiewicz) were later arrested, convicted of treason and hung by the Imperial army in the name of Tsar. Twenty or so Zouaves of Death veterans would continue to fight in the wars last battles or managed to escape to Austria.

A battle flag is being held by the middle soldier. The Zouave on the left is most likely an officer

Overall the regiment played a somewhat insignificant part in the January Rebellion of 1863-1864 which was fought in parts of not just modern day Poland but throughout modern Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, Russia, and the Ukraine from 1863-1865, the Zouaves are remembered as a strange band of renegades with a unique iconography and bloody record of service.

Though they do hold the distinction of being merely a curiosity among the foreign legions and mercenary armies of the mid 19^th century, the Zouaves of Death did show great courage in the face of grave dangers and seemingly impossible odds. Their fleeting accomplishments deserve most certainly to be praised alongside the other glory seeking regiments and fighting units of this age who sought to charge and to fight with the bayonet & sword to take the day.

The Zouaves of Death resolved and almost did fight to the death in every battle or skirmish in which they fought, loosing many of their number in the running battles fought in vain to free greater Poland from the imperialist yoke in February to May of 1863. Rochebrune would meet his death in November of 1870, killed by a Prussian bullet fighting for France in the Battle of Montretout during the Franco-Prussian War, laying expired in the field wearing the white cross on black and white tasseled fez of the Zouaves of Death.

General Francoise de Rochebrune