Brown

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 15 October 1857


First published in The New American Cyclopaedia, Vol. III, 1858
Reproduced from The New American Cyclopaedia
Source : Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 18
Collection(s): New American Cyclopaedia

The article "Brown" was asked for in Dana's first request for articles beginning with B, of which Marx informed Engels on August 26, 1857. On September 17 and 21 he asked Engels for his opinion of Brown and other military leaders, probably intending to begin writing this article. Soon after, Marx made the relevant extracts from The English Cyclopaedia (Vol. V, London, p. 948), and edited and used them extensively in his article; he left out the laudatory comments on Brown's role in the Crimean war and added an account of Brown's military qualities that made him popular among the soldiers (probably based on a letter from Engels which has not survived). On October 15, according to the entry in Marx's notebook (see Note 182), the article was dispatched to New York. However, the original was probably lost and, as can be judged from Marx's letter to Engels of February 1, 1858 and from the entry in his notebook on April 17, Marx had to send either a copy or another version, and it was this that the Cyclopaedia published.

Brown, Sir George, a British general, was born in August, 1790, at Linkwood, near Elgin, Scotland. He entered the army Jan. 23, 1806, as ensign in the 43d regiment of foot, and, as lieutenant in the same regiment, was present at the bombardment of Copenhagen[1] ; served in the peninsular war, from its beginning in 1808 to its close in 1814; was severely wounded at the battle of Talavera, and one of the forlorn hope at the storming of Badajos.[2] He was appointed captain in the 85th regiment, June 20, 1811; in Sept. 1814, he was a lieutenant-colonel in Major-General Ross's expedition to the United States, and took part in the battle of Bladensburg, and the capture of Washington.[3] He was appointed commander of a battalion of the rifle brigade, Feb. 6, 1824; colonel, May 6, 1831; major-general, Nov. 23, 1841; deputy adjutant-general in 1842; adjutant-general of the forces in April, 1850, and lieut.-general in 1851. During the Crimean campaign, he led the English light division at the battle of Alma[4] and the battle of Inkermann, and took the command-inchief of the storming party in the first unsuccessful attack on the Redan.[5] Among the allied armies he became distinguished as a martinet; but, by his personal prowess, and the strict impartiality with which he held the young aristocratic officers to all the duties of field discipline, he became popular among the common soldiers. In 1855 he was created a knight commander of the Bath, and April 4, 1856, gazetted "General in the army for distinguished service in the field."[6]

  1. ↑ The British bombarded Copenhagen in September 1807 to prevent Denmark from joining the Continental Blockade (see Note 106).
  2. ↑ At the battle of Talavera (Toledo province, Spain) on July 27-28, 1809, the allied Anglo-Spanish forces under Wellington and Le Cuesta repulsed the attacks of the French, who suffered heavy losses and were compelled to abandon their positions. On the storming of Badajos on April 6, 1812, see Note 12.
  3. ↑ The events mentioned belong to the final stage of the Anglo-American war of 1812-14 (see Note 35). In August 1814, an English detachment 4,Q00-strong, under Major-General Ross, landed in the Chesapeake Bay. At the village of Bladensburg, six miles from Washington, they routed an American volunteer corps defending the capital and temporarily took possession of it. They set fire to the Capitol, the White House and other government buildings, and returned to their ships.
  4. ↑ See this volume, pp. 14-18.— Ed.
  5. ↑ On the battle of Inkerman see Note 149. When referring to "the first unsuccessful attack on the Redan" (the 3rd bastion of Sevastopol's defences) Marx has in mind one of the major battles of the Crimean war fought at Sevastopol that ended in defeat for the Allies—their full-scale assault on the southern (Korabelnaya) part of the city on June 18, 1855 launched on the fortieth anniversary of the battle of Waterloo (see Note 30). The assault was repulsed at every point. Marx gave a detailed account of the battle in his report "The Mishap of June 18.—Reinforcements" and Engels described it in his articles "From Sevastopol" and "The Late Repulse of the Allies" (see present edition, Vol. 14, pp. 297-301, 313-19 and 328-32).
  6. ↑ "War Department, Pall-Mall, April 4. General Order, No. 665", The Times, No. 22334, April 5, 1856.— Ed.