Garrison cap of L.J.W. Beeckman (1812-1831). Cloth, leather and silk, 1831. When William I called for volunteers to take part in the struggle against the rebellious Belgians the 19-year-old Leiden theology student Lodewijk Beeckman enroled immediately. He entered the `Leiden Hunters' a volunteer student corps. A month later the 248 Leiden Hunters (around a third of all Leiden students) left for Belgium. Three were never to return alive. Beeckman died on 5 August 1831 during the Ten Day Battle. A bullet struck him in the head near the Flemish village of Beringen. The cap he was wearing was preserved as a relic. The Leiden volunteers were fêted as heroes when they returned in September 1831. A memorial was erected for Beeckman in St Peter's church in Leiden in 1832.