- Joined
- Mar 21, 2012
This beloved Brit had an America request for his funeral. As royalty and dignitaries gathered, the powerful organ and the voices of attendees sang with passion as this great American classic reverberated throughout the famous London landmark cathedral. It was said as the mourners sang the refrain “a shaft of sunlight broke through the clouds, beamed through the cathedral's windows and fell on the Union Jack cloaking the casket”. Of course he had ties to America and the Civil War (that had ended one hundred years ago) for his grandfather [a rather flamboyant and successful New Yorker] during a mid-summer day in 1863 once held a gun against rioters as he saved a company in which he had a significant investment.
1. Who is the Brit?
2. Who is his Grandfather?
3. What gun was he reportedly firing to protect his investment?
4. What is the American hymn that reverberated through the rafters?
Credit: @DBF
Bonus:
He was born in Ireland June 11, 1781. In 1804, when he was 23 years old, he would enlist in the Royal Navy, signing on as an Ordinary Seaman aboard the HMS Spartiate. A little more than a year later, he would find himself in the middle of the Battle of Trafalgar serving Lord Horatio Nelson. Surviving that, he went on to serve in the War of 1812 and The Crimean War. When the Crimean War ended, he migrated to the United States (at age 75), eventually settling in a small rural town in southern Missouri.
When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he offered his services to the new Confederate States Navy (at age 80, the oldest man to enlist). This apparently did not transpire, as he served during the war in three different Missouri cavalry regiments. When the war ended, he retired from a military life and returned to his adopted town in southern Missouri (he was now 84), where he lived peacefully for another 41 years. He passed away on December 18, 1906 at the ripe old age of 125 years.
Who am I ? What three Missouri Cavalry regiments did I serve in? Where am I buried ?
credit: @warbird43
1. Who is the Brit?
2. Who is his Grandfather?
3. What gun was he reportedly firing to protect his investment?
4. What is the American hymn that reverberated through the rafters?
Credit: @DBF
Bonus:
He was born in Ireland June 11, 1781. In 1804, when he was 23 years old, he would enlist in the Royal Navy, signing on as an Ordinary Seaman aboard the HMS Spartiate. A little more than a year later, he would find himself in the middle of the Battle of Trafalgar serving Lord Horatio Nelson. Surviving that, he went on to serve in the War of 1812 and The Crimean War. When the Crimean War ended, he migrated to the United States (at age 75), eventually settling in a small rural town in southern Missouri.
When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he offered his services to the new Confederate States Navy (at age 80, the oldest man to enlist). This apparently did not transpire, as he served during the war in three different Missouri cavalry regiments. When the war ended, he retired from a military life and returned to his adopted town in southern Missouri (he was now 84), where he lived peacefully for another 41 years. He passed away on December 18, 1906 at the ripe old age of 125 years.
Who am I ? What three Missouri Cavalry regiments did I serve in? Where am I buried ?
credit: @warbird43