Hi Everyone in the RCS,
Thank for your wonderful comments about the War of 1812 Trivia Page.
Lt. General Pakenham was the commander in charge for the British side during the Battle of New Orleans. He died during the battle. The most convenent way to preserve the body for burial was to place it in alcohol (rum), for transport back to England.
I prefered Sandy's answer it is much more picturesque.
He died during battle. Back in the early days wealthy people who traveled overseas did not want to be buried on foreign soil. The bodies were placed in barrels of rum, wine, etc for preservation and shipped back to their homeland for burial in the family cemeteries. There are lots of tales about sailors tapping into the barrels with straws and drinking part of the alcohol, and about people buying old mansions years later and finding barrels in the cellars with preserved bodies in them.
Because of the encouragement I have received from the RCS I plan to continue scrapbooking my webpages.
Thanks, Bill_O william_o snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com