Almost everybody interested in the Napoleonic Wars will be familiar with Bernard Cornwell’s fictional rifleman, Richard Sharpe. However, the first fictional rifleman was probably from the 5th Battalion of the 60th Regiment, and not from the more famous 95th.
In 1845 prolific Victorian novelist James Grant published The Romance of War. The book was essentially a novelisation of Grant’s own father’s service in the Peninsular War with the 92nd (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment. Amongst the many colourful characters is Captain Blacier, commander of the rifle company from the 5/60th attached to the brigade which the 92nd were part of.
Blacier is described as a taciturn, pipe-smoking, sauerkraut-eating clichéd German:
Enveloped in a cloud of tobacco-smoke, which left no part of him visible but his twinkling grey eyes and red snub nose, Captain Blacier occupied the opposite corner, busy in preparing a luxurious German dish, the ingredients for which he produced from the havresack of glazed canvas which he carried with his blanket on his back. A large tin trencher stood before him, and into it he was shredding a cabbage, which he had picked up when skirmishing in the neighbourhood of Salvatierra the preceding day; and after sprinkling over it pepper, salt, vinegar, and garlic, he began to eat with infinite relish.
Blacier is also described as fearless in battle, and he and his company are often in the thick of the action. Grant had briefly been an army officer himself and, coupled with his father’s memories, this does give the book a certain authenticity, albeit heavily laced with Victorian melodrama.
The character of Blacier was clearly based on Captain Peter Blassiere, who commanded No. 8 company of the 5/60th for almost all of the Peninsular War and was attached for much of it to the same brigade as the 92nd. Captain John Patterson of the 50th, which was also part of the same brigade, gave a vivid description of Blassiere in his memoir:
There was a company of the 60th rifles attached to our Brigade, who were all Germans, They were commanded by Captain Philip [sic] Blassiere, a singularly active and zealous officer. Throughout the whole period of our warfare he never was absent from his station. With unwearied perseverance he braved the hardest weather and the roughest service; his athletic frame and iron constitution enabling him to withstand it all, holding out with stubborn tenacity while hundreds gave way around him. Undergoing all hardships in common with his men, he walked by their side, partook of the same fare, and shared not only with them the dangerous trade of fighting, but all the miseries of cold and famine with their attendant train of horrors. He was foremost on all occasions, where shot and shell abounded, and was at the rendezvous before a man of the brigade was assembled; and long before the march commenced, there was Blassiere ready with his Germans for any thing that might be wanted.
The external appearance of this man was well calculated to excite surprise, and corresponded with his character for self-denial. His wardrobe was of the most scanty nature; the jacket and other parts of his attire, the original colour of which could not be distinguished by the most microscopic eye, were worn out, patched, and threadbare, and were pierced in various places; and the whole of his costume seemed at least for the last seven years to have retained its original situation on the person of its owner. Thus accoutred he trudged along, indifferent about the elements; as fast as he got wet, he got dry again, for he never changed his clothes. His muscular neck was enclosed by a hard leather stock and brass clasp to match, and all his trappings were of the same coarse materials as those worn by his men. The haversack, manufactured of rough canvass, sometimes proved a treacherous friend, for through many rents and breaches, made by the hand of time, the mouldy and crumbling biscuit found its way, leaving but the fragments of his bare allowance. The blue canteen, well clasped with iron hoops, afforded him a source of comfort; its contents being to him a certain panacea for all evils.
With habits somewhat eccentric, he was never known to indulge in any thing beyond the rations; and having no desire for the society of others, he discussed his frugal meal in solitude, avoiding even the luxury of a tent. His good humoured though weatherbeaten countenance was the index of his mind, which was cheerful and contented.
Peter Frederic Blassiere was born in 1773. Despite Grant’s characterisation there is no evidence he was German and, given his Francophone name, he may have been born in the low countries or Switzerland. In 1797 Blassiere joined a chasseur company of the Hompesch Light Infantry when they were based in the Isle of Wight. It is probable that he had already served with one of the European armies. When the four companies of chasseurs were merged into the newly formed 5th Battalion of the 60th in February 1798 he was a lieutenant. The battalion was the first all-rifle armed regular battalion in the British Army and had been formed in Barbados in December 1797 from two other foreign units.
When rebellion broke out in Ireland the four companies on the Isle of Wight were some of the first reinforcements sent. Two companies of the battalion were included in a brigade commanded by Sir John Moore and Blassiere saw action at Lacken Hill and then at Foulksmills. After the rebellion had been defeated the four companies sailed to join the rest of battalion in the West Indies in time to take part in the capture of the Dutch colony of Surinam. In 1803 the battalion moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, before returning to the UK at the end of 1805, which is also when Blassiere exchanged into the 66th Foot and then back into the 60th to obtain a promotion to captain, without purchase, and was given command of No. 8 company.
The 5/60th moved to Cork and were included in Sir Arthur Wellesley’s expedition to Portugal in the summer of 1808. Sir Arthur thought highly of the battalion’s performance at the battles of Roliça and Vimeiro. When he returned in 1809 he distributed the companies of the battalion amongst his brigades to give as many as possible some rifle armed specialist light infantry. At the Battle of Talavera on 27 July 1809 Blassiere’s company was one of five from the 5/60th which helped save the day after the French mounted a surprise attack. In 1810 Blassiere’s company was one of three attached the Rowland Hill’s 2nd Division, where they remained for the rest of the campaign.
Blassiere appears to have occasionally been used on intelligence duties and the night before Hill’s attack on a French division at Arroyo dos Molinos he crept into the French camp and provided Hill with a detailed description of their position.
Surviving inspection reports of Blassiere’s company are highly complimentary with one praising ‘the perfect knowledge Capt. Blassiere appears to possess of the conduct and individual character of his men.’
In 1812 Major General Howard’s brigade was advancing to cover Wellington’s siege at Badajoz. The brigade had occupied Medellin and Howard sent Blassiere’s rfile company to check that the enemy had left the nearby village of Don Beneto :
Capt. Blacier had proceeded a little way down the second street he had come to, when he was attacked by a party of French cavalry, sword in hand. A sharp brush took place, but it was soon ended, by the enemy making the best of their way out of the town, with the loss of a few men wounded. Some of the rifle company received severe sabre cuts about their heads and arms.
In February 1814 when the 2nd Division were advancing deeper into France Blassiere and his company were involved in a brief skirmish near the Joyeuse river, during which Blassiere was severely wounded. He died of his wounds eight days later. Captain John Patterson wrote: ‘
After buffeting all the storms, roughing it through thick and thin, and standing out in the pelting of many a shower of bullets, this gallant veteran fell at last in battle when the army entered France.
In the novel Grant also included Blacier’s death:
When daylight dawned, Blacier was found lying dead. When last seen alive, he was sitting philosophically watching the pool formed by his blood; and thus he expired with his pipe in his mouth, an inveterate smoker to the last.
The Romance of War sold very well and Grant followed it up with The Highlanders in Belgium and then The Adventures of an Aide-de-Camp. He eventually wrote 56 novels, plus a few histories, but The Romance of War is probably considered his best work.
Sources:
James Grant, The Romance of War
John Patterson, The Adventures of Captain John Patterson
James Hope, Letters from Portugal, Spain and France.
My history of the 5/60th – Riflemen is available now from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and other book retailers, or direct from the publisher Helion & Co.
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