Collection search - A Journal of the Nile Expedition, 1884 [textual record] by Charles Alexander MacRae

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1
A Journal of the Nile Expedition, 1884 [textual record] by Charles Alexander MacRae

Hierarchical level:

Item

Date:

1884.

Reference:

R15537-0-2-E, Volume number: 1

Type of material:

Textual material

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

4818421

Context of this record:

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A Journal of the Nile Expedition, 1884
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Record information – Details

Date(s):

1884.

Place of creation:

Ontario

Extent:

0.2 cm of textual records (35 pages).

Language of material:

English

Scope and content:

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This is a diary kept by Captain Alexander Charles MacRae, 7th battalion, Fusiliers, London Ontario, while he served with the Nile Expedition to relieve a military force commanded by British Major General Charles George Gordon that was besieged at Khartoum. The diary begins in Ottawa on 4 September 1884 as MacRae is despatched by Lord Melgund, the Governor General's military secretary to Caughnawaga to enrol 50 First Nations boatmen. The diary then describes the men's recruitment, the sea passage from Montreal to Alexandria, Egypt aboard the steamer "Ocean King," including descriptions of stops at Sidney Nova Scotia, Gibraltar, Malta and the North African coast. MacRae recorded impressions of his fellow officers and many of the men throughout the diary. MacRae's final entry, on 9 October 1884, describes the men embarking onto barges for the trip up the Nile towards Khartoum.

Researchers should note that pages 5-6 are missing from the journal.

Provenance:

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MacRae, Charles Alexander, 1938-1921

Biography/Administrative history:

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MacRae, Charles Alexander, 1938-1921 : Captain Alexander Charles MacRae Alexander Charles MacRae was born in about 1838. He joined the militia as a young man and served in the 1870 Red River expedition under Major-General Sir Garnet Wolseley, who also led the Nile Campaign. MacRae was the third officer appointed to the Nile Campaign. He was chosen for his experience with river work, striking Lord Melgund (who as Earl of Minto, served as the Governor General of Canada from 1898 to 1904) as a "rough hard looking fellow & thoroughly accustomed to the work." MacRae was hospitalised with sun stroke in January 1885. He was hospitalised and took no further part in the campaign. He served at Militia Headquarters, Ottawa from 1916 to 1919. He died in at the Ottawa General Hospital on 29 October 1921 and is buried in Ottawa's Beechwood Cemetery.

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Textual records

[Consultation90 Open]

Volume [R15537] 1

[Consultation 90 Open]

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Date modified:: 2024-07-24