Difference between revisions of "John Egan"
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This tombstone stands in the same consecrated ground as the monument to the [[military]] who lost their lives at the Eureka Riots. However, John Egan did not die in the line of duty at Eureka. He survived the injury that he sustained on 28th November, and went on to be court martialled and to cause trouble in the 12th Regiment for many years. Despite the popularly held belief of the "death of the Drummer Boy", current research reveals that he was still alive and was in Tasmania almost six years after the events at Eureka. <ref>Dorothy Wickham, ''Deaths at Eureka'', 1996. </ref> | This tombstone stands in the same consecrated ground as the monument to the [[military]] who lost their lives at the Eureka Riots. However, John Egan did not die in the line of duty at Eureka. He survived the injury that he sustained on 28th November, and went on to be court martialled and to cause trouble in the 12th Regiment for many years. Despite the popularly held belief of the "death of the Drummer Boy", current research reveals that he was still alive and was in Tasmania almost six years after the events at Eureka. <ref>Dorothy Wickham, ''Deaths at Eureka'', 1996. </ref> | ||
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| + | == Notes == | ||
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| + | It is not known how the myth of the death of the drummer boy was instigated, but it could be due to reports such as the following: | ||
| + | :Martin Cusack, who fought with the regulars at Eureka, died at Ballarat the other day an inmate of the local Benevolent Asylum—too common an end for a British soldier to invite comment. A few days before his death he gave the papers an interview, in which he described how the soldiers were exasperated against the diggers by the action of a negro who killed their drummer with a stone as they were marching into Ballarat. They resolved to avenge themselves by showing no quarter, he says. This may explain a little of the savagery which, old diggers insist, took place within the Stockade after the rioters were routed. The soldiers, roused to fury by this one act—an act for which the white men of the field could not beheld responsible for one moment—forgot the long and. persistent tyranny that had exasperated the men they were marching against. These few words of Cusack's throw a little light on the history of Eureka. It is the first time I have met with a confession that the soldiers had actually agreed upon a no-quarter policy.<ref>Melbourne Punch, 24 October 1912.</ref> | ||
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==See also== | ==See also== | ||
Revision as of 17:41, 31 October 2015
Contents
Background
Drummer John Eagan, born Athlone, Ireland in 1839. He enlisted as a thirteen year old on 10 February 1852. He was promoted to Private shortly after the Eureka Stockade and re-appointed Drummer in May 1856. Between 1854 and 1860, Eagan had been confined to cells on a couple of occasions and had also been on Sick Report in February 1860.[1]
Goldfields Involvement, 1854
John Egan was a drummer boy with the 12th Regiment. As the regiment were passing through the Eureka Diggings on 28 November 1854 John Egan was shot in the thigh.[2]
Post 1854 Experiences
According to the Muster Lists of the 12th Regiment of Foot, John Egan, Regimental Number 3159, drummer, was in the regimental hospital for 21 days following his injury, during the period 1st October 1854 to 31st December 1854. (That is, the musters of the last quarter of 1854.) He was paid as a drummer at 1 shilling, 1 penny and 3 farthings per day to the 20th February 1855 during which time he spent one further day in the hospital. On the 21st February 1855 he was promulgated in Official Orders as Private. Later, in 1856 he was transferred with the 12th Regiment to Tasmania and was still there on 30th June 1860! [3]
The Grave
THE GRAVE OF THE DRUMMER BOY
In the Ballaarat Old Cemetery there is a gravestone, erected in recent years, to John Egan the drummer boy of the 12th Regiment of Foot. The inscription reads:
In Memory Of
Drummer Boy 3159
JOHN EGAN
12TH Regiment of Foot
Killed in Line of Duty 28TH November 1854
This tombstone stands in the same consecrated ground as the monument to the military who lost their lives at the Eureka Riots. However, John Egan did not die in the line of duty at Eureka. He survived the injury that he sustained on 28th November, and went on to be court martialled and to cause trouble in the 12th Regiment for many years. Despite the popularly held belief of the "death of the Drummer Boy", current research reveals that he was still alive and was in Tasmania almost six years after the events at Eureka. [4]
Notes
It is not known how the myth of the death of the drummer boy was instigated, but it could be due to reports such as the following:
- Martin Cusack, who fought with the regulars at Eureka, died at Ballarat the other day an inmate of the local Benevolent Asylum—too common an end for a British soldier to invite comment. A few days before his death he gave the papers an interview, in which he described how the soldiers were exasperated against the diggers by the action of a negro who killed their drummer with a stone as they were marching into Ballarat. They resolved to avenge themselves by showing no quarter, he says. This may explain a little of the savagery which, old diggers insist, took place within the Stockade after the rioters were routed. The soldiers, roused to fury by this one act—an act for which the white men of the field could not beheld responsible for one moment—forgot the long and. persistent tyranny that had exasperated the men they were marching against. These few words of Cusack's throw a little light on the history of Eureka. It is the first time I have met with a confession that the soldiers had actually agreed upon a no-quarter policy.[5]
See also
Further Reading
Corfield, J.,Wickham, D., & Gervasoni, C. The Eureka Encyclopaedia, Ballarat Heritage Services, 2004.
References
External links
