Percy Wyndham (soldier)
Sir Percy Wyndham (22 September 1833 – January 1879) was an English soldier and adventurer who served in the armed forces of several countries and saw active service during the Italian Risorgimento and the American Civil War.
Life
The son of Colonel Charles Wyndham, a regular soldier of the British Army, Wyndham was fifteen when he began his career, fighting in the French Revolution of 1848.[1] Later he was commissioned into the French Navy as a "marine ensign", a form of midshipman, before briefly serving in the Royal Artillery of the British Army. After that, he spent two years as a junior cavalry officer in the Austrian Army, before travelling to Italy to serve under Garibaldi. As a result of his successes there, Victor Emmanuel I of Italy gave Wyndham an order of knighthood, which is why he is commonly given the title of "Sir" in English.[2]
Next, Wyndham travelled to North America to serve in the Union forces during the American Civil War. Taken prisoner by Confederate forces on 6 June 1862, he was exchanged for prisoners of the Confederacy only a few weeks later. On 9 June 1863 he was severely wounded at Brandy Station, and thereafter he served in Washington, D. C. until retiring from the Union's service on 5 July 1864. Wyndham next commanded a military school for boys.[2]
In 1866, Wyndham returned to Italy to continue his military service in the Risorgimento. That completed, after several failed business ventures he went out to India, where in January 1879 he was killed in an accident with a hot air balloon.[2]