The Thomson Monument
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On the site of Forres Castle stands an obelisk
commemorating James Thomson, who served as a surgeon in the Crimea and
saved many lives. The Monument was erected in 1857 and is made of Peterhead granite.  The monument is 56 feet tall, weighs 100 tons and bears the following inscription:- |
| "To the memory of Assistant-Surgeon
James Thomson, born at Cromarty on the 8th March, 1823, and deceased in
the Crimea on the 5th October, 1854. He was with the 44th
Regiment in Malta in 1850 when the cholera broke out and shortly proved
fatal to all surgeons of the corps, himself alone excepted. The skill, fortitude, and humanity displayed by him in arresting the progress of that disease gained for him the praise of the Commander-in Chief. He was present with the same regiment at the Battle of Alma in 1854, and a few days afterwards, when the British were leaving the field, he volunteered to remain behind with seven hundred desparately wounded Russians. Isolated from his countrymen, endangered by the vicinity of large bodies of Cossacks, ill supplied with food, and exposed to the risk of pestilence, he succeeded in restoring to health about four hundred of the enemy and embarking them for Odessa.  He then died from the effects of excessive hardship and privation. This public monument is erected as a tribute of respect for the virtue of an officer whose life was useful and whose death was glorious" | |