Hi John,

Tom has kindly posted the two main citations for this practice. As you rightly say in your reply, the idea that the British were deliberately taunting the Rebels indicates a total ignorance of the function and purpose of hunting calls. Clearly, the modern authors are trying to create some idea that the British "got what they deserved for being cocky", whereas the call would have indicated nothing more than that the pursuers had lost track of the pursued, and that the pursuing formations should halt and rally.

I understand that specific calls are common to all hunts today, but was this always the case? I suspect a few officers might have ridden with the same hunts, and therefore known the standard calls of those hunts; presumably, it would not have been difficult to acquaint other officers with them. As I understand it, horns would have been used to alert troops on a battalion-wide basis (there were several companies of the 2nd Light Infantry Battalion involved) - as well as men in other battalions - whereas whistle and hat signals were used by an individual officer in controlling his own men. Somewhere, I have a Brigade of the American Revolution newsletter with a list of hat signals - I shall try and find it if anyone is interested. Were cap flourishes still being used as signals in the Napoleonic era?