Narrative of a Private Soldier in His Majesty's 92d Regiment of Foot
NARRATIVE OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER IN HIS MAJESTY'S 92D REGIMENT OF FOOT.
WRITTEN BY GEORGE BILLANY.
DETAILING
MANY CIRCUMSTANCES RELATIVE TO THE INSURRECTION IN
IRELAND IN 1798; THE EXPEDITION TO HOLLAND IN
1799; AND THE EXPEDITION TO EGYPT IN 1801;
AND GIVING A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF
HIS RELIGIOUS HISTORY AND EXPERIENCE.
WITH A PREFACE
BY THE REV. RALPH WARDLAW, D. D.
_First American edition._
PHILADELPHIA:
PUBLISHED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE UNITED FOREIGN
MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
1822.
PREFACE.
Long prefaces to Narratives have seldom, I believe, the honour of being
read through. If the Narrative possess interest, a tedious
recommendation only detains the reader from his enjoyment; and if it
possess none, it aggravates his disappointment.--I shall, therefore, be
very brief.
The subject of the following Memoir has been connected with the church
under my pastoral care, nearly since its formation, in the year
1803:--and, from this, as well as from a circumstance in his religious
history, which the reader will discover towards the close of the
narrative, it may perhaps be thought, that my recommendations are, in
some degree, dictated by feelings of partiality. I hope I shall never be
so dead to Christian sensibility, as to feel nothing of the peculiar
interest which the circumstance alluded to, is fitted to produce. Yet I
may say with truth, that the very consciousness of this interest has
made me the more jealous and scrupulous in giving the advice to publish;
an advice which I never should have given, unless from a sincere
conviction, that the Narrative is fitted both to please and to profit;
to gratify curiosity, and, through the blessing of God, to impart
instruction and spiritual benefit.
The remarks of a private in the ranks, when he is a man of any
shrewdness and observation, on the incidents that come within his
notice, in the campaigns in which he is engaged, have in them a
particular interest.--Whilst we are pleased with the degree of
intelligence which they discover, we at the same time feel a satisfying
confidence, that they contain 'a plain unvarnished tale;' unaffected by
any temptation, either 'in aught to extenuate,' or 'to set down aught in
malice.'
The _religious experience_ of the writer, I consider as especially
instructive.--It sets before us, I believe, in honest simplicity, the
workings of a sensible and thoughtful mind, and of a conscience, which
had never entirely lost its early impressions;--the convictions, and
distresses, and reasonings,--the self-righteous and self confident
resolutions, and the necessary failures and inconsistencies, of an
awakened but unrenewed state;--the natural reluctance of man to part
with _self_, to plead guilty, and to depend on grace; and yet the entire
inefficacy of every thing but this grace either to impart satisfactory
and steadfast peace to the conscience, or to produce in the heart a
principle of vigorous and cheerful, consistent and persevering
obedience.
Of this grace, although, like every other good thing, it has been too
often perverted and abused by the self-deceiver and the hypocrite, the
native tendency is, to "teach" all who receive it, to "deny ungodliness,
and worldly desires, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in
this present world,"--I feel the delicacy of saying any thing in praise
of one, whose living eye the commendation is to meet, and who is still,
like all others, the subject of remaining corruption, and in danger of
injury from its evil propensities; yet, as it is not _himself_ I
commend, but the _grace_ that has made him what he is, and to which he
owns himself an entire and humble debtor, I feel at liberty to say, that
the subject of the following Narrative, since he was led to embrace the
doctrine of the cross, has been enabled,--amidst imperfections and
failures no doubt, of which he himself has been much more sensible than
others have been observant,--to "walk in newness of life," and to show,
that "the gospel of the grace of God" has been "the power of God unto
salvation," when every thing else had failed, and had led only to
despair.
With the exception of occasional corrections in the use of words and in
the structure of sentences, unavoidable in revising for the press the
manuscript of one unaccustomed to composition, the _style_ is the
writer's own; the work, throughout, having been printed from his
autograph, without transcription:--and I pledge my word to the reader,
that a single additional _sentiment_ has not been introduced.
I commend the little volume to the candour of the reader, and to the
blessing of God;--not without a pleasing hope, that while it may
benefit, in a temporal view, the family of one, whose wound received in
the service of his country, confined him again, even very recently, from
his daily occupation, for nearly four months; it may, at the same time,
produce higher and more valuable effects, in the instruction,
admonition, and salvation, of those who peruse it.
RALPH WARDLAW.
_GLASGOW, June 14th, 1819._
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION.
The very kind reception which the public have given to the first
edition, has encouraged the Author to improve and enlarge the second.
The additions chiefly consist of a more detailed and combined account of
the Insurrection in Ireland, and the Expeditions to Holland and Egypt.
These additions, he hopes, will make the reading of the Narrative more
pleasant, particularly to young persons. He has divided it into
chapters, and inserted the number of the regiment he served in; but his
name can be of no consequence to the reader.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Cause and design of writing the Narrative. Author attends the Sabbath
School of Dr. Balfour in Glasgow, in 1790. Enlists into the 92d foot, in
1796, and joins the regiment in Gibraltar in 1797. Behaviour while
there. Returns to England in 1798.
CHAPTER II.
Regiment lands at Dublin, in June, 1798. State of that city during the
insurrection. Conveyed in coaches to Arklow. Surprises the insurgents on
the White Heaps, 5th July. Particulars of the pursuit and arrival at
Gorey. Instances of the ferocity of civil war. Kind behaviour of the
regiment to the inhabitants. Deserted state of Gorey, where the Author
is much in want of provisions. Distressing state of the surrounding
country. March to Blessington, and join the brigade of Sir John Moore,
and encamp in the glen of Eimal. Orders against swearing. State of the
insurgents in the Wicklow Mountains. March to oppose the French who had
landed at Killala. Lie in Athlone during the winter. The Author's
religious experience while there. March to Cork, and embark for England,
June, 1799.
CHAPTER III.
Join the expedition under Sir R. Abercrombie, and sail for Holland, 6th
August. Land near the Helder on the 27th. Action among the sand-hills,
and capture of Helder. Surrender of the Dutch fleet. Advance to the long
dyke; with a description of it, and the surrounding country. Dutch
method of churning butter. Action on the long dyke, 10th Sept. Repulse
of the Duke of York and the Russians on the 19th. Action on the 2d
October, near Egmont. Lord Huntly wounded. Sir J. Moore wounded.
Singular action of cavalry. Spectacle of the dead, and severe loss of
the regiment. Singular death of a Highlander and Frenchman. March to
Alkmaar. Action of the 6th. Author escorts prisoners on the 7th. Army
retreats to the long dyke on the 8th. Armistice and convention for
leaving Holland. Author takes the ague. Regiment arrives in England, and
goes into Chelmsford Barracks. Religious experience of the Author while
there.
CHAPTER IV.
Regiment embarks at Cowes on board the Diadem, 64, and Inconstant
frigate, 27th May, 1800; and sails for the coast of France. Anchors at
the Isle of Houet, 2d June. Singular occurrence on the 4th. Intended
attack on Belleisle. Religious seamen on board the Terrible, 74. Sails
for the Mediterranean. Arrival at Minorca on the 21st July. Regiment
leaves Minorca on board the Stately, 64. Intended attack upon Cadiz, 6th
October.--Dangerous storm in Tetuan bay. Touches at Minorca and Malta.
The fleet anchors in Marmorice Bay, preparatory to landing in Egypt.
Some account of that bay and the surrounding country. Author's state of
mind during the passage. He is seized with an infectious fever. His
religious experience during his sickness, and after his recovery. Sails
for Egypt. Objection against the truth of the Scriptures.
CHAPTER V.
Account of the landing in Egypt, 8th March, 1801. Author seized with
night-blindness. Action of the 13th. Scarcity of water. Account of the
position of the army and Pompey's Pillar and Cleopatra's Needles. Battle
of the 21st, at which the Author is wounded and sent on board an
hospital ship. Condition and behaviour of the wounded. Author removed to
an hospital at Aboukir. Lord Hutchison goes with a part of the army to
Cairo. Author's wound gets worse. Troublesomeness of flies and vermin.
Sirocco, or hot wind, and rapid increase of the plague. Account of
several interesting cases. Behaviour of the wounded in Aboukir hospital,
and the Author's religious experience.
CHAPTER VI.
Author embarks for Rosetta. Dangerous passage of the bar at the mouth of
the Nile. Rosetta hospital. Author dangerously ill. Death of his
comrade, &c. Inundation of the Nile. Skin bottles. Surrender of
Alexandria. Dress of the Sepoys and Egyptian peasants. Manner of eating
their meals. Mahomedan mosques. Gun fired at mid-day in Cairo by the
rays of the sun. Explosion of a powder chest kills several of the 13th
foot. Remarks on the state of mind in which many died. Produce and
manner of cultivating the Delta. Immense heaps of grain. Wretchedness of
the peasantry. Extracts from Sir R. Wilson and Dr. Clarke, on the
diseases and plagues of Egypt. The unavoidable evils of War. Author
leaves Rosetta, and sails for England.
CHAPTER VII.
Arrival at Cork. Marches to Kilkenny. Proceeds to London and admitted an
out-pensioner of Chelsea. Arrives in Glasgow. Retrospect of his military
life. Distressing state of mind. Obtains peace of conscience by hearing
the gospel in Albion-street Chapel, and joins the church under the care
of Dr. Wardlaw.
POSTSCRIPT.
Consists of an Address to readers in general, and to those in the army
in particular, of what the Author wishes them to learn from the
Narrative.
CHAPTER I.
DEAR PASTOR,
I shall now, according to the best of my ability, attempt to gratify the
wish you several years since expressed, that I would arrange into one
connected narrative, the various particulars I then communicated to you,
of my previous life, and the exercises of my mind; its various workings,
and conflicts, until the period when I was brought to the knowledge of
Jesus, as the only and all-sufficient Saviour.
In drawing up this account of myself, my motive is, to record the
loving-kindness of the Lord to me a sinner; and if you deem it proper to
be brought before the public in any shape, the only object I would have
in view, is the good of my fellow sinners, particularly such as have
been, or are, in situations of life, similar to those I have been in, or
have experienced similar exercises of mind.
Into the minutia of my early life, I do not intend to enter; and I would
make this general remark in the outset, that my chief object is, to give
a history of the workings of my mind, during the past part of my life,
rather than the particulars of my life itself; but I shall narrate as
much of these particulars as is necessary to account for, and
illustrate, the history of my mind. I will also notice, briefly, such
other things as may serve to entertain or inform the reader.
I was born in Glasgow, in the year 1779.--When I was very young, the
belief of the omniscience of God, was frequently strongly impressed upon
my mind, and the thought of his all-seeing eye, often checked my
conscience and restrained me during early life, from gratifying my own
inclinations, to the extent I otherwise would have done. I pretty early
learned to read; and as I grew older I became increasingly fond of it,
even indeed to excess. I read whatever came in my way; but the Psalms of
David in metre, in use by the church of Scotland, and the Bible, being
the first books in which I learned to read, and having the benefit of
godly instruction and example at home, religious knowledge was that with
which I was most acquainted. When I was about eleven years of age, I
went to the Sabbath school, belonging to the Outer High Church parish,
Glasgow, then taught by Mr. Begg, (now minister of New Monkland parish,)
and superintended by the parish minister, the late Rev. Dr. Balfour. The
chief exercises of the school were, reading the Scriptures, and
repeating the Assembly's Shorter Catechism. Dr. Balfour frequently
visited the school, after the afternoon's service was over, and staid
sometimes an hour, and sometimes even to the conclusion at six o'clock.
When the Catechism was repeated, he interrogated us on the meaning of
the questions, and instructed us in their import. He questioned us upon
the sermons we had been hearing, and gave us doctrines to prove from
scripture, by collecting all the passages, that we thought contained
these doctrines. The doctrines were the fundamental articles of the
Christian religion; and as we read the passages, he would tell us when
they were in point, and when not. I was an adept at repeating the
Catechism; but as I had no margin Bible to point out the references, I
had to range through the whole scriptures, and exercise my judgment,
which of course was sometimes right, and sometimes wrong. When I was
shown that I had brought forward a passage that did not apply, it made
me think better next time; the passages I found out I remembered where
to find again; and those that were brought forward by others, I added to
my own stock. This was an exercise that did me more good, than all the
other exercises of the school: for, in after life, when I had forgotten
the Catechism, and the other things I had committed to memory, I did not
forget how to find in the Bible, those passages I had formerly known;
and if I happened to be reading the Bible, and came to any of those
passages that had been read in the school, it awakened in my mind the
remembrance of what had taken place there. I would then recollect
something of the impressions that had been made at the time on my mind,
and endeavoured to remember what was said by the minister on these
occasions; but I shall notice this again; in a future part of the
narrative. There were rewards sometimes given to any who repeated
chapters, psalms, or hymns. The most remarkable instance of this kind
that took place while I was in the school, was a present by a gentleman,
of Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, and Sermons to
Young Persons,[1] to be given as a reward to the boy (it was a school
for boys only) who repeated best, from memory, Dr. Watts' Divine Songs
for Children. We received copies of the hymns, and a time was fixed for
the trial. I was very eager to obtain the prize, and even made it a
matter of prayer. I wished to have the book, because I had conceived to
myself, that it would teach me how to get to heaven. When the day of
trial came, the minister was not present, but we were heard by one of
the elders. The greater part of the children were very young, and most
of them had learned only a few of the hymns. There were only four that
could go any length in them, and only three that could go completely
through them; and their merit was so equal, that it could not be said
which was best. I was one of those three; but as it could not be
determined who merited the book, it was deferred until next Sabbath
evening, when it was expected that the minister would be present. He
came, and we repeated the hymns to him with such equal accuracy, that he
declared he could not give the prize to one more than another; and to
make us equal, he procured other two copies of Doddridge's Rise and
Progress; but, as he could not find copies of his Sermons to Young
Persons, he bound in Boston's Fourfold State in their place, and I was
put in possession of one of them.
I continued in the school about two years.
In 1796, being about the age of seventeen, I enlisted as a soldier in
the 100th regiment of foot, or Gordon Highlanders, commanded by the
Marquis of Huntly,[2] then lying in the island of Corsica. When that
island was evacuated by the British, the regiment came to Gibraltar, and
I, along with the rest of the recruits, left Scotland and went to
Chatham, where we joined other parties of recruits belonging to
regiments lying in Gibraltar, for which place we embarked at Gravesend,
in Nov. 1796. But the convoy with which we sailed, was forced, by stormy
weather, to take shelter in Falmouth for six weeks; after which we
proceeded to Lisbon, where we lay ten weeks, because the Spanish fleet
was at sea, and ours inferior in number, was watching it. The battle of
Cape St. Vincent, was fought while we lay there, in which the Spanish
fleet was defeated, and four sail of the line taken, which were sent
into Lisbon. The British fleet soon followed, except a squadron left to
watch the Spanish fleet in Cadiz. As soon as the fleet had repaired its
damages, it set sail for Cadiz, and we went along with it for
protection. We left them when we came off Cadiz, and were escorted by
some frigates, through the straits to Gibraltar, where we landed in the
beginning of April, 1797, and joined the regiment.
The general character of the army, for the profanation of God's holy
name, is well known: and the temptations a young man has to encounter,
from the very general practice of this vice, are very great. The
religious instructions I had received, and the knowledge I had of the
Scriptures, deterred me from acquiring a habit of swearing: I frequently
reproved my comrades for it; and having done so, pride of heart also
operated to prevent me from swearing myself, lest my comrades should, in
ridicule, retort my reproofs upon me; and this they did not fail to do,
if at any time I was guilty of an oath, or any thing approaching to it.
During the time I had been a recruit, and the time I was in Gibraltar, I
neglected the reading of the scriptures. In the regiment, I met with a
variety of characters; amongst others with Deists, who attempted to
shake my belief of the truth of the scriptures. I was greatly disturbed
and perplexed in my mind by their arguments; but I was not drawn into
their opinions. Yet I still neglected my Bible, and continued gradually
losing the knowledge of it I formerly had. There was an argument, which
had a powerful effect upon my conscience, and with which I met all the
pleas and excuses for swearing;--I argued, that if there was no God, it
was an absurd thing to swear by the name of a being who had no
existence: and if there were a God, he certainly would punish the
dishonour done to him, by the profanation of his name.
There was a society of Methodists in Gibraltar, chiefly composed of men
belonging to the different regiments in the garrison. They had a small
place, where they had stated meetings for prayer and exhortation; there
were a few of these Methodists in our regiment. Shortly after I joined
it, the commanding officer gave out an order for none of the regiment to
attend any of their meetings. What effect this order had in deterring
any from attending at the time it was issued, I know not: it had not at
least a permanent effect, for I know that several did attend afterwards,
and no notice was taken of it. I went to this meeting place only once
all the time I was in Gibraltar, and I was nearly a twelvemonth in the
place. This shows what a careless state of mind I was in; for I may say
it was the only religious exercise I was at, all that time. There were
indeed prayers read to the garrison, every Sunday morning on the grand
parade, when the weather was dry; but the chaplain was always at such a
distance, that I never heard a word he said. There was a chapel at the
governor's residence, where service was performed through the day, but I
never was in it.
I began to fall into company which led me frequently to get intoxicated;
I did not indeed fall into a habit, nor acquire an inclination for
intoxicating liquors for their own sake; but had the same circumstances
continued, I have great reason to fear, that an appetite for them would
have been formed, and that I might have turned out a habitual drunkard.
Gibraltar has, indeed, peculiar temptations to produce a habit of
drunkenness. The wine is cheap; the place is warm; and in time of war
with Spain, there is very little fresh provisions, and what is fresh, is
very indifferent. There is a great deal of hard labour for the soldiers,
for part of which they get extra pay: by the evening, many of them are
fatigued, and actually need a refreshment beyond their ordinary
provisions; but those who need the refreshment, are not content to go
and get what they require for themselves; they often take one or two of
their comrades with them, and having once sat down in the wine-house,
they generally sit until either their money is exhausted, or their time;
(for the moment the gun fires for the men to be in their barracks, the
wine-houses must be emptied and shut, until after the new guards are
marched away to relieve the old ones next morning, that no soldier may
have it in his power to get drunk before guard mounting.) Those who are
treated one night, treat in their turn those who treated them, when they
get pay for work.
Many of the barrack-rooms are uncomfortable on account of their size,
containing sixty or more men. This greatly destroys social comfort: for
one or two individuals can molest all the rest; so that select retired
conversation can not be enjoyed. Any thing of that kind is always ready
to be interrupted by the vicious and ignorant, who do not fail to scoff
and gibe at what they do not understand or relish themselves. Among so
many men too, there will always be found some who take a malicious
pleasure in making their neighbours unhappy. This renders the
barrack-room quite uncomfortable during the evening; which, as the
greater part are employed at work, or otherwise occupied during the day,
is the principal time when they can be together. This, along with other
things, induces those who have a little money, to spend the evening in
the wine-house with their more select companions. Different sorts of
vermin are very plenty in the barracks; and it is a common excuse for
drinking, that they can not get a sound sleep, unless they be half
drunk. It was customary at that time to settle the men's accounts once
in two months; and, as very little pay was given to the soldiers over
their rations during the intervals, the greater part had a considerable
sum to receive: and then drinking was so very common, that to prevent a
multiplicity of punishments, it was found necessary to have no parade,
excepting those for guard, in order that the money might be the sooner
done; and the different regiments in the garrison, had to take different
days to settle their men's accounts, that the garrison might not be
involved in one general state of intoxication at the same time. But I
hear that matters are differently managed now; the men are oftener
settled with, and get a larger proportion of their pay weekly, which
prevents them from having so much money to receive at once. The most
comfortable time I had, was when I was upon guard. There are many very
retired guard stations; some of them in elevated situations, on the very
summit of the rock, 1300 feet above the level of the sea, from which the
view is truly grand, and where a fine opportunity is afforded for
meditation. I sometimes took my Bible to guard with me, but I never made
much use of it.
We left Gibraltar, and embarked for England in the beginning of March,
and landed at Portsmouth, 18th May, 1798, and went into Hilsea barracks.
During the voyage I read something more in my Bible, but much more still
in any other book I could find; sometimes it was a novel, sometimes a
history or play: sometimes it was a book of a religious cast; but this
was rare: I read any thing I could get, to the neglect of the Bible.
Footnote 1:
I have learned since the publication of the first edition, that these
Books were the gift of Mr. Auchincloss, a gentleman who took a very
lively interest in the Sabbath schools. He was constantly employed in
visiting them, and in giving rewards of various kinds to those who
behaved well, and repeated, from memory, psalms or chapters.
Footnote 2:
The number of the regiment was afterwards changed to the 92d, which is
the number of it at present.