Battle of Friedland

‘…Mean while, the bridge and pontoons were set on fire, to prevent the French, who had forced their way into the town, from taking possession of them. The smoke rolling over the combatants, increased the horror and confusion of the scene; yet a considerable part of the Russian infantry escaped through a ford close by the town, which was discovered in the moment of defeat. The Russian centre and right, who remained on the west bank of the Aller, effected a retreat by a circuitous route, leaving on the right the town of Friedland, with its burning bridges, no longer practicable for friend or foe, and passing the Aller by a ford considerably farther down the river. This also was found out in the very moment of extremity,—was deep and dangerous, took the infantry up to the breast, and destroyed what ammunition was left in the tumbrils.

Thus were the Russians once more united on the right bank of the Aller, and enabled to prosecute their march towards Wehlau. Amid the calamities of defeat, they had saved all their cannon except seventeen, and preserved their baggage. Indeed, the stubborn character of their defence seems to have paralysed the energies of the victor, who, after carrying the Russian position, showed little of that activity in improving his success, which usually characterised him upon such occasions. He pushed no troops over the Aller in pursuit of the retreating enemy, but suffered Bennigsen to rally his broken troops without interruption. Neither, when in possession of Friedland, did he detach any force down the left bank, to act upon the flank of the Russian centre and right, and cut them off from the river. In short, the battle of Friedland, according to the expression of a French general, was a battle gained, but a victory lost…’

The Battle of Friedland took place on June 14, 1807.  Napoleon’s French forces won the day, as Walter Scott reports in his “Life of Napoleon”. 

Battle of Naseby

'Long and steadily did Sir Henry gaze on the letter, so that it might almost seem as if he were getting it by heart. He then placed it carefully in his pocket-book, and asked Alice the account of her adventures of the preceding night. They were briefly told. Their midnight walk through the Chase had been speedily and safely accomplished. Nor had the King once made the slightest relapse into the naughty Louis Kerneguy. When she had seen Charles and his attendant set off, she had taken some repose in the cottage where they parted. With the morning came news that Woodstock was occupied by soldiers, so that return thither might have led to danger, suspicion, and inquiry. Alice therefore did not attempt it, but went to a house in the neighbourhood, inhabited by a lady of established loyalty, whose husband had been major of Sir Henry Lee's regiment, and had fallen at the battle of Naseby. Mrs. Aylmer was a sensible woman, and indeed the necessities of the singular times had sharpened every one's faculties for stratagem and intrigue. She sent a faithful servant to scout about the mansion at Woodstock, who no sooner saw the prisoners dismissed and in safety, mid ascertained the Knight's destination for the evening, than he carried the news to his mistress, and by her orders attended Alice on horseback to join her father.'

The text above is from Walter Scott's "Woodstock".   The Battle of Naseby strongly impacted the outcome of the First English Civil War.  Charles I's forces, led by Prince Rupert of the Rhine were overcome by Parliamentarians, under Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell.  The Battle of Naseby took place on June 14, 1645.

Kentucky Bourbon

Today's entry represents a corollary to an important Scottish product; scotch.  Kentucky Bourbon was officially invented in the United States on June 14, 1789.  Credit for this invention is currently bestowed on Rev. Elijah Craig, from Bourbon County, Kentucky.

Craig was the son of Tolliver Craig, who settled in Lexington, KY, and fought in the Revolutionary War, defending Bryan's Station against the British and Shawnee (1782).  The Craig family name was taken from Tolliver's mother, a Scottish woman, who bore Tolliver after his father had left the scene.

Walter Scott was known to enjoy a good belt during his early years, but he was not a bourbon drinker.  The Glenlivet website boasts that when King George IV visited Edinburgh in 1822, Scott, who organized the event, procured Glenlivet for the king to drink.

Bourbon today has at least one important connection to its more more pedigreed cousin in the whisky craft.  Scotch today is often aged in barrels that have been used to age bourbon.