Annotation:Highland Brigade's March to Waterloo (The)

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HIGHLAND BRIGADE'S MARCH TO WATERLOO, THE. Scottish, Pipe March (2/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Composed by William Ross, piper to Queen Victoria for several decades in the latter 19th century. Among the stories of bravery of the several Highland regiments at the battle of Waterloo is the tale of one of the pipers of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, one Kenneth Mackay, whose brigade formed a defensive square (according to the tactics of the day) when faced with a French cavalry charge, bayonets facing out. Mackay stepped outside the massed Camerons and continued to play his pipes, marching around the square while skirling "Cogaidh no Sith" (War or Peace) to encourage the troops.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 123, p. 163. William Ross (Ross's Collection of Pipe Music), 1869; No. 42, p. 76.

Recorded sources:




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