The regiment refitted with clothing and provisions at St. Jean de
Luz -- Comments by Lawrence on the shameful behaviour of certain
sergeants of his regiment -- Marches and countermarches in the
mountain passes -- Lawrence temporizes as cook in behalf of his
officers, and is rewarded with an extra allowance of rum -- A wet
night -- Fall of San Sebastian -- Lawrence acts as medical
adviser to his captain and gets more rum -- Battle of the Nivelle
and the French driven well into their own country.
Very shortly after my promotion we were ordered to St. Jean de Luz,
where we received new clothes, and high time it was that we did so
too, for our old ones were scarcely worth owning as rags and fearfully
dirty, the red of them having turned almost to black. I ought to have
received a sergeant's suit, but owing probably to the quartermaster's
obstinacy I only got a private's, the same sort as I had had before.
Here we likewise received a good supply of bread and rum, which seemed
to us like a new and even a luxurious diet.
I may as well here give the details about the sergeants of our
regiment. I was the only one in my company where there ought to have
been six when I was promoted, so the whole duty fell heavily on me.
The rest had been wounded at some time or other before, and then never
pushed on much to get back to their regiment; many when recovered
preferring to skulk in the hospitals in paltry situations such as
doorkeepers or ward-masters, so getting a little extra pay, and then,
as I shall again have occasion to show, being too ready to make their
appearance when the war was over. Fortunately, however, they then met
with no great encouragement. They had really plenty of opportunity to
follow up the regiment if they had chosen, but I suppose they thought
they were best off out of the smell of powder, and probably they were,
but still that does not throw a very creditable light on them.
After we had received our clothes and provisions, we did not lie long
at St. Jean de Luz, but again started on our marches, cruising about
in the Pyrenees. For some time nothing of any particular note occurred
until we again fell in with the enemy, who were stationed in huts
which they had erected in the various valleys. We attacked them, and
some sharp work ensued, for they did not seem to like the idea of
abandoning their houses, which were much more comfortable than the
open winter air, but we at last drove them off and took possession of
their habitations, which a part of our army occupied. As for our
regiment itself, we marched up the side of a mountain and encamped
there.
We again found ourselves very short of provisions there, and besides
that the rain was falling in torrents all night. We had nothing over
our heads at first to cover them, so we set to and gathered a quantity
of grass, sticks, stubble, and like things, and made a kind of wall to
keep off a little of the wind and beating rain; and then we tried to
make up our fires with anything we could get together, but owing to
the wetness of the substances, they were not very lively, and it was a
long time before we could get them to burn at all.
Our captain asked me if I could boil him a piece of beef, so I told
him I would try and see what I could do to make the best of the bad
circumstances, and accordingly I and a corporal of my company at once
set to work, first placing our hanger over the fire and then swinging
the kettle on it with the beef. The beef nearly filled the kettle, and
though it was pouring with rain, it was a very awkward place to get
water, as there were no springs near and no tanks to catch the rain
in; consequently we had only about a quart of water in the pot, which
had all boiled away before the beef was done. However, the captain was
impatient for his supper, so it was taken up to him as it was, the
pot-cover serving as a dish and a wooden canteen as a plate. I put it
before him with salt on the edge of the canteen, and I likewise got
him a piece of bread, which by the time he had it was nicely soaked by
the rain--indeed we had not a dry thread on us by this time. The next
bother was for a fork: I had a knife myself, but had lost the fork, so
I got a stick and sharpened it at one end and gave him that as a
substitute, and was rewarded by his praising me for my good
contrivance.
Colonel Thornton coming up meanwhile, he was invited by the captain to
partake of some of the beef, and he gladly accepted, as he said he was
very hungry; so another plate, knife, and fork were wanted. I borrowed
my comrade the corporal's canteen and knife, and manufactured another
fork like the former to serve for the colonel, and they both said the
beef was very good, but not very well done, which it certainly was
not, for though it went down sweet like most things in those times,
the inside was certainly hardly warm.
The colonel sent me to the quartermaster for a canteen of rum, which
was equivalent to three pints, for which purpose another canteen had
to be borrowed, but when I returned to him with it he said, "That's
right; now go and drink it." I took it off to my comrade, and we both
sat down under our artificial wall close by our fire to try and enjoy
ourselves as best the inclemency of the weather would allow us,
keeping, however, near our officers' green-carpeted nature's
dining-room, so that if we were wanted we could hear them call. But
when they did so, which was in a short time, it was for us to clear
away, with orders at the same time to keep the remainder of the beef
for ourselves; so we removed our dinner traps, passing a good many
remarks in a jocular spirit on our green pasture, wet cloth, and our
scientific dishes, plates, knives, and forks, much to the amusement of
the colonel and captain who were looking on, and then sat down to our
own supper, which we very much needed. I remember remarking to my
comrade that we had not done so badly over our cooking after all, but
perhaps it was only the hunger that made us think so. After finishing
our supper and drinking the greater part of our rum, which no doubt
got to a certain extent into our heads and served to keep out the cold
and wet and make us generally comfortable, we curled ourselves into
our blankets and lay down on the wet ground to rest.
The rain descended in torrents all night and completely soaked us,
but the morning broke out clear, and after we had disposed of the rest
of our beef and rum, we joined all hands at work in wringing and
shaking the water out of our blankets before putting them up into our
knapsacks. We were obliged to do this while they were damp for fear of
an attack from the enemy, it being a general rule to keep all in
readiness; and, indeed, on this occasion it was not more than an hour
after these preparations that the French assailed us. Not being
willing to show fight, we retreated on that occasion, having nothing
to attend to but ourselves and our kit, for we were without baggage
and cannon. After a ten miles' journey or so we again halted expecting
to be attacked again very soon, for which emergency we hastily
prepared, needlessly, as it proved, however, for we eventually stopped
here quietly for a month.
During this time that I have been speaking of the siege of San
Sebastian had been going on, the town having up to this time been
already attacked twice, but without success. Lord Wellington now
ordered twenty men out of each regiment of our division to act in
conjunction with the besiegers, and soon after they arrived, the order
being given to attack, after about two hours' fighting they succeeded
in capturing the town and driving the garrison into the castle, which
was likewise obliged to surrender in about a week. Though there were
many deaths occasioned in this siege, strange to say the whole twenty
men of our regiment returned unhurt.
I remember during our stay here, our captain was fearfully troubled
with the toothache. At last one night, after trying in vain to endure
the pain, he came to me and said, "O sergeant, I am still troubled
with the pain! What can you advise me for it?" I recommended him just
to take a pipe of my tobacco, for I knew that would be a good thing
for him, but he never could bear tobacco, so that it wanted a good
deal of persuasion to at last make him consent to prefer the remedy to
the pain. As he had no pipe of his own, I supplied him with the
implement and some tobacco, and he began to smoke. But he had not been
at it long before he said, "Why, sergeant, this will never do! The
place seems whirling round. Here, take the pipe, for I feel precious
queer; but my tooth is much better, and after all you are not such a
bad doctor." He gave me half a pint of rum, and for a long time I
heard nothing more of his toothache.
We stayed here, as I said before, about a month, and then again moved
on after our enemy, our cavalry, pontoon bridges, and artillery coming
on by the most convenient passes of the mountains. While on the march
we often had slight skirmishes with the enemy, but no regular pitched
battle until we came to the Nivelle, where Soult had taken up a strong
position. There our army halted in line, determined to attack and
proceed if possible into France, as nothing more remained to be done
in the Peninsula, Pampeluna having been obliged, owing to shortness of
provisions, to surrender on the last day of October.
The Third, Fourth, and Seventh divisions, under Marshal Beresford and
their respective generals, occupied the right centres of the line. We
commenced the attack early on the 10th of November on a village which
was defended by two redoubts. One of these our division took under
General Cole, driving the enemy to some heights in the rear, where we
again attacked them and drove them over the Nivelle.
After this we went into cantonments for a few weeks, but owing to the
unsettled state of the French army who had attacked our left, and
then, having failed, had proceeded against our right which was
commanded by Sir Rowland Hill, Lord Wellington ordered the Sixth and
our division to reinforce the right. We only arrived there, however,
just in time to hear that the action was all over, the defeat of the
enemy and their enforced retreat still further into their own country
having been accomplished without our assistance.