Colonel Herbert De Haga Haig

Captain Herbert De Haga Haig R.E. and the 1885 Rebellions

Posted by willsswords on June 1, 2016

This Royal Engineers sword was Capt H de H Haigs used in the Canadian 1885 rebellions. With a career spanning 34 years his sword was re hilted to the 1897 pattern therefore removing the beautiful brass ancathus guard and replacing it with a plated steel 1897p with VR cypher. The swords blade has the initials H de H.H. and the Haig family crest. The sword made by Pillin and purchased when Haig became an officer in 1872 and retiring in 1906.

Captain Herbert De Haga Haig R.E. was in Halifax when the rebellions of 1885 broke out. He volunteered his services to Major General Middleton and proceeded west.

Haig was a good artist and the Illustrated London News published many of his illustrations of the rebellion.

Major boltons book “On The Rebellions” mentions Haig 14 times, mentioned in dispatches, Battle of Fish Creek ” Captain haig R.E., my A.Q.M.G., was very useful to me, and cool under fire; he is a most energetic and willing officer and has been of much service to me all along, especially in rendering the zareba safe from the enemy’s dropping fire, and all other work requiring an engineer’s knowledge.” page 484.. He was responsible for designing the zereba, a fortified field perimeter and fortifying the steamer the Northcote.

He was present at the Battle of Fish Creek and Batoche.

When hostilities ended Haig was sent back to halifax by Middleton as there was tension between him and a Canadian reporter.

Haig had one son, Rollo Amyatt Wolseley de Haga Haig and two daughters. Rollo was a gifted pilot and joined the RFC in 1916 (having previously been a Captain a Territorial Field Artillery regiment). He served throughout WW1 and became a noted test pilot (he was the only man ever to put a Vimy bomber through a loop-the-loop manouevre!). Tragically Rollo was drowned in 1936 while yachting. He left a daughter and also had a sister.

Shown in this photo of Haig, he wears winter clothing and his sword has the brass ancathus guard.

Haig received the Canada 1885 medal with bar. He retired a Colonel.

source https://willsswordsblog.wordpress.com/

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Herbert de Haga Haig

1. Commissioned Lieutenant 11th Sep 1873

2. Promoted Captain 8th Jan 1885

3. Promoted major 1st July 1893

4. Promoted Lt Colonel 1st Oct 1900

5. Promoted Colonel 10th Feb 1904

6. Removed from Corps 10th Feb 1904 but still on active list

7. On half pay 1st Oct 1905

8. Ditto 1906 list

9. Does not appear in the 1911 List

The 1895 Army List shows him as being the Adjutant of the Newcastle on Tyne Engineer Volunteers – date 24th May 1892.

The 1900 List shows him as being in Bengal.

The 1903 List shows him as being Garrison Engineer, Military Works, Madras.

Hart's list of 1903 has this entry –

"Lt.Colonel H. de H. Haig served during the rebellion in the North West. Territories of Canada in 1885 as Assistant Quarter Master General, and was present in the engagement at Fish Creek and at the capture of Batoche (mentioned in despatches, Medal with Clasp).

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Herbert de Haga Haig was a Royal Engineer and Quarter Master to Maj. Gen. Middleton during the Northwest Canadian Rebellion by Native Americans in 1885. He was also a friend of Roosevelt and a fellow-hunter.

Typed letter signed, on his New York Governor's letterhead, Albany, March 30, 1899, to Major Herbert de H. Haig in Agra India, assessing the qualities that made the Rough Riders a success, criticizes the U.S. military leadership in the conflict in Cuba, opines on the caliber of the Spanish soldiers fighting against them, and offers his own intentions on governing in New York, and ends by saying he looks philosophically on the future. "My dear Herbert, I envy you being in India. Heavens and earth! I don't believe I shall ever shoot at game again. I am by no means certain that I could hit it anyway, unless it stayed very still and was very close up. I am delighted to learn that you have children. I now have six. I am sorry that Mrs. Haig does not like India.

"I am having great fun now and I had even greater fun last summer. I had a great regiment for a volunteer organization. Indeed its fighting record would have done credit to any raw organization. I have always believed that with proper leadership there were no better natural soldiers in the world that those hunters, cow punchers, and miners of the West, and that if one paid attention to the essentials instead of the non-essentials of discipline, it would be very easy to turn them into a body which could do excellent work in fighting.

"The Spaniards were a queer lot. They possessed no initiative, and yet they stood and fought with extraordinary courage when behind cover. They did not like standing in the open much. The country was extremely difficult and on our side the battle was not delivered with very much judgment, so we lost heavily. The fever was what laid us up, however.

"New York politics are too kaleidoscopic for a man to have much chance to keep on in it, but I am having a good run for my money and I am going to make a pretty decent Governor, and then accept with entire philosophy whatever comes afterwards."

This is the broadest assessment we have seen from TR of the Rough Riders, and the conflict in which they played so crucial a part and which made his career. Moreover, this is the only letter of TR that we can recall seeing directly criticizing his military superiors during the Spanish-American War. Just over two years after writing this letter, TR was President of the United States. - See more at: http://www.raabcollection.com/presidential-autographs/theodore-roos...

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Unfortunately most of the links in the forum are broken

More info on capt. Haig can be found in "Telegrams of the North West Campaign 1885" by Morton & Roy. This book has the actual correspondences by Middleton, A.P. Caron and many others.

Capt. Haig illustrating for the Illustrated London News was bound to cause tension between him and the other illustrator/reporters. I believe that Middleton and Haig were the only two serving British officers of the campaign, some of the other officers were formerly British but were now Canadian Militia. Haig as an engineer contributed very well for organizing where the forces zareba, a base camp for attack and a place of retreat and for protection at night. Fortifying the steamer Northcote was also a important measure. Many illustrations by Haig can be at the Glenbow Museum

Herbert de Haga HAIG, Middleton's AQMG 1885 Canada

Post by Will Mathieson 09 Aug 2012 06:34

Hello Michael, great to have established a foundation that helps students. It seems that the exciting events of 1885 , the North West Rebellion, can be linked through family up to current times.

Major Boultons book noted that Capt. H de H Haig was cool under fire! Hopefully one of the family holds Capt H de H Haigs North West Canada medal. I have searched for it through the web, emailing dealers etc. but no sign of his medal. One other possibility is that he never had his name engraved on the medal, but I would think that unlikely. This link: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/copi ... hrulr22qc4 can help you order a copy of Capt. Haigs picture, it is also found in the book "The Battle of Batoche" by Parks Canada 1985, page 55.

I would greatly appreciate any additional info or photos of Capt. Haig. He has been an interesting character to research, one who purposely decided to join the action out west rather than stay in Halifax.

Source http://www.victorianwars.com/viewtopic.php?f=82&t=2078&start=15