CAPTAIN CAREY'S BLUNDER - The Death of The Crown Prince Imperial June 1879 by Donald Featherstone. (5 1/2" x 8 1/4"; 240 pages; illustrations and maps. Leo Cooper - £ 3.50p Try to imagine the future had Prince Charles been allowed, at his own insistence, to go to Vietnam and been killed in an ambush there, apparently abandoned by an American officer. Donald Featherstone in "Captain Carey's Blunder" chills our blood by making this comparison with the death of the Prince Imperial in 1879 during the Zulu War. He does not much overstate the simile. Disraeli, the Prime Minister, "had never heard of anything more injudicious" than that the possible future Napoleon IV, in exile in England, should go to war in Africa. But his doting mother, the Empress Eugenie, at first much against the vanture, enlisted Queen Victoria's help. Out he went "in the capacity of a spectator." He at once showed an impetuosity which alarmed his superiors. They were in an awkward predicament. He could hardly be kept away from all danger. After all, the purpose of the exercise was to gain a military reputation. What was a Napoleon without one? On June 1 the Prince, attached to the Staff, accompanied by Captain Carey, went with a party to choose the army's camp-site for the next ni ght. Lord Chelmsford, the Commander-in-Chief, who had laid down that no such thing should happen without his knowledge, was not informed. Some of the much too small escort did not turn up, but 30 Zulus did. Two soldiers and the Prince were assegaied to death, while Carey and the rest managed to gallop off. Part of the Prince's saddlery broke as he grabbed at it in trying to mount his horse. Should Carey have gone back to share with him almost certain death? Had it been an ordinary mortal, no one would have blamed him for not doing so. Poor man! Poor Empress! Poor "wounded national pride." A Greek tragedy if ever there was one. Mr. Featherstone tells it most ably, quoting from a wide range of sources. The lives of the Prince and Carey are skilfully traced. The reader is left, wisely, to act as jury and judge. A number of original documents are not to be released till 1979. Will they shed new light on this fascinating, melancholy episode? Marquess of Anglesey (Sunday Telegrnphy - 30th December 1973). In March 1865 Ensign J.B.Carey sailed from Liverpool to join the 3rd Bn TheWest India Regiment, serving first in West Africa and then in the Caribbean. Placed on half-pay on disbandment of the battalion, he volunteered to perform ambulance duties during the Franco-Prussian War. This latter experience, prompted by a French education, almost certainly led to his eventual involvement with Louis, the Prince Imperial, son of the exiled Napoleon III. Louis, thirsting for military glory but denied a British commission, contrived to get to Zululand on the Staff of Lord Chelmsford where Carey, now detached from the 98th Foot, was also serving. The subsequent patrol action in which the Prince Imperial died and Carey escaped is an oft-told story but Mr.Featherstone submits that the odium which attached to Carey following the incident has been passed from mouth to mouth with scant regard for the facts. His evidence, supported by an extensive bibliography and reference to press files is that Carey, far from being sent to Coventry and hounded to a miserable death, became senior captain of the 98th and died in 1882 in India from a ruptured appendix. The Prince's death on the 1st June 1879 eclipsed even the news of Isandlwana earlier that year. --John Gaylor, Secretary, Military Historical Society Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter #143 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1974 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com