Autograph letter signed by Major John Rose about The Crimean War 1854

[CRIMEA WAR] ROSE, Major John Baillie (1808-1854, 55th Regiment, killed aged 46 at the Battle of the Alma). Autograph letter signed to Sir Robert Gardiner, written from Scutari, 3 June 1854, with a contemporary manuscript copy and memorial manuscript concerning his death.
 
Autograph letter signed J. B. Rose to Sir Robert Gardiner, eight pages, Scutari, 3 June 1854, written on his personal stationery bearing the Rose family crest and motto Constant and True. The main autograph letter in excellent state, with an old central fold, clean and legible; the contemporary manuscript copy, and memorial text letter both well preserved. A modern photocopy of a biographical page about Major Rose and modern typescript of the letters is added for contextual information. A very good set. 
 
A long and vivid letter written from the Crimea shortly before the Battle of the Alma, describing the Light Division’s arrival under Sir George Brown, the constant drills and preparations, and the review of the British forces by the Sultan on 1 June. Rose writes with calm confidence of the men’s condition and the invincibility of the British line: “A more magnificent display of infantry could not have taken place … The Sultan’s retinue was poor in the extreme and our soldiers were heard remarking as they marched home ‘Well if the Turks can face the Russians, what will we do with them?’” as well as reporting “The British Force here is invincible.” He reports that a recent general order has given him an independent command in the field and refers affectionately to his horse Bautarbuick, “already trained to crop a Turkish country”. The tone is composed and professional, the optimism of a seasoned officer unaware that within months he would fall mortally wounded at the Alma.
 
With a neat contemporary manuscript copy of the same letter, probably made for family circulation after Rose’s death, preserving the original text with minor variations in a different hand, and a further manuscript memorial address in a clerical hand, written to be used as the inscription for the tablet later erected at Kilravock Church by Rose’s widow. This text, beginning “Sacred to the memory of Brevet Major John Baillie Rose,” praises his character and service in India and China, and closes with the family motto “Constant and True.”
 
John Baillie Rose entered the army in 1826, serving with distinction in India and China before joining the 55th Regiment for the Crimea. A close friend of Sir Robert Gardiner, he was widely admired for his gentleness of manner and zeal in duty. His death at Alma in September 1854 was widely noted; the memorial tablet at Kilravock was erected by his widow, who also arranged for his charger Bautarbuick to be brought home and kept by General Sir Edward Warde until the horse’s death many years later.
 
A small archive documenting Major Rose’s thoughts as he arrived, his death, and commemoration in the Crimean War.