A wrong direction—An affair with the enemy's cavalry—Bivouac
in a wood—A ludicrous mistake in the dark—Arrival at St.
Sever—Welcome supply of bread—The Duke of Dalmatia leaves
Bordeaux unprotected, to preserve the communication with
Toulouse—Reception of the English at Mont de Marsan—A dancing
scene and other amusements at the village of Brinquet—The
disappointed purveyors—The author regains his corps—Adventure
gained over the enemy by General Hill—Gascon peasantry—Various
movements of the opposed armies—The French driven through the town
of Vic Bigorre—An agreeable march.
It was now eight o'clock in the morning, and finding little probability
of gaining the requisite intelligence of the route of the light
division, without seeing the adjutant-general, I made direct to his
_maison_, and, being ushered up stairs, I found him in bed, comfortably
reposing with the curtains drawn tightly round him. Whether he was half
asleep from over-fatigue, or from some other cause, he gave me the
route of the _fourth_ division, by the road leading towards the town of
Sault de Navailles.
On overtaking the tail of that division, we fell into a slow pace, owing
to some obstacles and the broken bridges over the various tributary
streams, which were very much swollen at this time of the year.
On this day, our hussars had an affair beyond Sault de Navailles with
the enemy's cavalry; and, in the afternoon, I saw one of their officers
on horseback, deadly pale from a wound in the abdomen.
After nightfall, we bivouacked in a wood to the right of the high
road on the river Louts, within a short way of the town of Hagetman.
Our baggage did not come up; the night was miserably cold, and the
whole of the officers of our regiment took possession of a tumble-down
shed, or forsaken cow-house, where, having spread out some stalks of
Indian corn, some of us began to roast potatoes, when an aid-de-camp,
appertaining to a General, came up to the door-way (for _door_ there
was none), and said, halloo! halloo! who's here? who's here? when one
of our majors coolly replied, "Officers and pigs," which created a
general laugh; and the General sent elsewhere to put up his horses.—In
the middle of the night, one of the officers, having suddenly awoke
out of his sleep, called out with all his might, "come up, come up,"
fancying that a French cart-horse had got amongst us. A ludicrous scene
took place—every one for himself! till at last a heap of living heroes
were piled together, each scrambling on the top of the other, and all
bawling out "lights! lights!" At last, by main strength, I managed to
extricate myself from a pressure nearly as bad as that in the black
hole of Calcutta. The soldiers and servants, hearing such a hullabaloo,
flocked into the hut, which added to, rather than diminished the
disorder of the scene. At length a lighted wisp of straw being brought
in, every one stared about, with the greatest astonishment; for the
object of terror had vanished, or rather had not appeared. Some crawled
out from their hiding places, demanding who had taken away the horse,
while the respectful and confounded servants protested, one after the
other, that they had not seen a horse, nor taken any away. The alarm
took place from some one kicking against the shed, which was mistaken,
by the officer who created the alarm, for the hoofs of a horse shod by
a French farrier, within an ace of his head! Sleep was banished, and
roars of laughter continued throughout the rest of the night.
On the 29th, we got under arms very early, to give the two divisions
the "go by;" but our movements had been anticipated, and we received
strict injunctions not to stir from our ground, but to follow in the
rear, as on the preceding day. We, therefore, again found ourselves
creeping along the road as before. When we were within four miles of
the river Adour, Field-Marshal Wellington rode up (he had received
a blow on the hip from a spent ball at the battle of Orthes, while
directing the last attack on the heights,) and said, "Forty-third, what
do you do here?" upon which the senior officer told the Field-Marshal
that the officer commanding the column would not let us pass. In the
short space of ten minutes, the whole of the troops in our front were
halted, and we marched forward, and soon after ascended a hill, and
formed column in the grand place of the town of St. Sever, immediately
overlooking the left bank of the river Adour. Here we found a baker's
oven full of hot bread, which a commissary (with a _val_ in his hand,)
had laid an embargo on; and it was with the utmost favour that we were
permitted to purchase a few loaves, or rather, having taken forcible
possession, we were permitted to retain the bread, paying for the same;
as they might have found an attempt at a re-capture rather a difficult
matter from men suffering from hunger, and out of humour, on a cold
hazy spring morning. To whom the bread was afterwards served out I
cannot pretend to say.
The rear divisions, with drums beating, were passing near the town,
and at last increased into a dense column, while forming up opposite
the _wooden bridge_, which the enemy had set fire to. As soon as the
flames were got under, and ladders placed close together to facilitate
the passage of the infantry, General Sir Thomas Picton, with his usual
ardour, pushed forward his division, the head of which crowded the
ladders with all haste.
Our regiment now debouched from the town, with orders to cross, and
Lieut.-Col. Ross's brigade of horse-artillery forded the river below
the bridge, to accompany us, for the purpose of taking possession of
the stores in the populous town of Mont de Marsan, distant twelve
miles, situated on the high road to Bordeaux.
When we reached the foot of the bridge, General Sir Thomas Picton
declined halting the third division; and it was not until he had
received the most _positive instructions_ to halt, that he did so. His
troops were standing up and down the ladders as we passed them, when
a variety of curses and imprecations took place; all the battles of
Spain and Portugal were fought over again, with a mixture of rage and
good humour: some vociferated that they could always lead the light
division, whilst the older soldiers were satisfied, voluntarily, to
follow them: "Let us follow the _Lights_, it is our right; no division
is entitled to bring up our rear except the fourth; we are the takers
of fortified towns, and the General-in-chief's _three lucky divisions_!"
The Duke of Dalmatia now left the high road and the fine town of
Bordeaux to its fate, and retired, with his principal force, up the
right bank of the Adour, to support his left flank at the town of
Barcelone, and to meet General Hill's corps, which had branched off
to the right, and was moving in the direction of Air, to threaten the
French Marshal's communication with Toulouse; a point he could not give
up, it being the pivot of his defence on the formidable river Garonne.
All the way to Mont de Marsan the road is straight and sandy. Instead
of being received with hostility at that place, as we anticipated, we
were agreeably surprised to see the people flocking without the town
in vast crowds, to see _les étrangers_. Our clothing was old, and
almost the whole of the men wore blanket trousers. The French expressed
much wonder at seeing the troops of the richest nation in the world
so threadbare[22] and poorly clad. The band struck up, and the women
exclaimed, "_Ma foi! les Anglais ont de la musique! et voilà de beaux
jeunes gens aussi!_" The shops were open, and the inhabitants proffered
their merchandize with an easy assurance of manner, as if we had been a
century amongst them: so much for a divided nation; so much for honour
and glory, and the extreme _bon ton_ of civilization!
The seventh and our own division entered the town, where we halted two
days, and then our division shifted its quarters into villages two
leagues distant from it. Our regiment took possession of the large
village of Brinquet. The senior officer was quartered in a château,
and invited us all to a dance; the _salle à manger_ was lighted up,
and the reflection shone on the highly polished floor.[23] The band
was in attendance, but unfortunately there was only one _demoiselle_;
therefore, making a virtue of necessity, we waltzed with her turn and
turn about, until she was quite exhausted; and we finished by partaking
of an excellent supper, consisting of the choicest viands, sweetmeats,
champaign, and other delicious wines. An officer was indiscreet enough,
in the warmth of the moment, to propose to the young lady to send for
a few _grisettes_ from the village, assuring her that in Spain the
village maids failed not to attend on such occasions. She started with
horror at such a monstrous proposal, saying, "_Dans la campagne, à la
bonheur: mais des grisettes dans un salon, c'est affreux!_"
We halted some days at this village, and for a while the war
was forgotten; and convivial dinner parties were given in this
plentifully-supplied country, where provisions might be purchased for
a trifle: fine capons a franc each, while turkeys, geese, ducks, eggs,
bacon, milk, butter, excellent wine, and all articles of consumption,
were to be had at proportionably low prices.
One fine morning myself and messmate mounted our capering, snorting
steeds, their ears cocked, and their carcases swelled out with
good provender, to pursue our way towards Mont de Marsan, with the
laudable intention of making a few purchases for an intended dinner
party. Having made our selection of pastry, sweetmeats and desert,
we directed the whole to be carefully packed and forwarded to a
certain wine merchant, who was busily packing up, in a large hamper,
several dozens of his choicest wines and liqueurs; and it was agreed
that the whole was to be paid for at our quarters, to insure their
punctual delivery by a certain hour—to which the wily merchant and
confectioner complacently and readily assented, not having failed by
the bye to charge English prices on all the commodities, that is to
say about a hundred per cent above the market price. We escorted the
cart the greater part of the way to show the driver the right road,
but when within a short distance of the village, we pointed it out,
exhorting him to use all speed, and rode on to superintend other
little preliminaries. Upon reaching the _maison de logement_, the
people told us that the regiment had marched off three hours before
towards Grenade, and not a vestige of any thing belonging to us was
left behind. The people begged and entreated that we would take some
refreshment, which we would have assented to, (for our appetites were
as keen as the wind), but the cart and hamper were momentarily expected
at the door. What was to be done? To pay for that which we could not
consume, or carry away, would be the height of folly; therefore,
confiding our predicament to the good-natured host, he embraced us,
and, setting spurs to our steeds, at a hand canter, we quitted the long
village at one end, as the cart drew up at the other; nor did we relax
our pace, until the shades of evening brought us to a town crammed
with cavalry, artillery, tumbrils, baggage and commissariat.
Here we gained some tidings from one of the heavy German dragoons of
the route of our division, and alighting at a hotel, we got our horses
well fed, and rubbed down, and, having partaken of an excellent bottle
of wine, and a dish of stewed veal, we resumed our journey.
At eleven o'clock at night, we entered another town, filled with
infantry soldiers, who were standing round the fires they had kindled
in the streets, whilst others were fast asleep, sitting on the stone
steps, or lying under the threshold of doorways. We would fain have
passed the night here, but admittance was nowhere to be gained,
although we dismounted and kicked, and thumped with all our might at
the several doors. These noises had so repeatedly occurred during the
night through the troops outside striving to gain an entrance, that
such salutations were unattended to. Thence wandering onwards amidst
darkness and uncertainty we issued from the town by a broad road,
enveloped in a thick fog, for not a soul could now give us the least
clue to the division; and it is impossible to convey an idea of the
uncertain information in rear of an army. I have often been within half
a mile of the division, without meeting a person who knew any thing
of its march, and, without the least hesitation, people would give a
totally opposite direction to that followed by the troops.
In half an hour, we heard a buzz of voices to the right of the road,
and through the dense mist could see the glimmer of fires, and in a
few minutes more found our corps, encamped in a fallow field, where we
passed a shivering night. Often is the cup of happiness dashed from the
lip; but certainly the conclusion of our intended _fête_ was quite the
reverse of what we had anticipated, when briskly and gaily starting for
Mont de Marsan on the preceding day!
During this short suspension of hostilities with us, General Hill had
been engaged with the enemy, on the 2nd of March near the town of Air,
and, after a sharp affair, succeeded in driving them to the right bank
of the Adour, and also in a southerly direction towards the large town
of Pau.
From this place, we moved into wretched villages, situated on muddy
cross roads in the neighbourhood of Cazeres. The weather continued
frigid; the atmosphere was overcast with either miserable fogs, or
heavy rains.
The peasantry in Gascony speak a sort of _patois_, or broken French.
The women tilled the fields, harnessed the horses, drove and loaded
carts, and handled the implements of husbandry—such as the plough, the
long spade, and dung-forks—just like the men: their appearance is ugly
and coarse; many of their statures are of Herculean proportions. They
wear wooden shoes, and a bundle of short coarse woollen petticoats,
with a piece of coarse cloth, or sack wrapped about their heads, the
flaps of which hang on their shoulders, or down their backs, to keep
off the inclemency of the weather, altogether giving them a most
uncouth appearance. The wives and daughters of the _gros fermiers_
possess a little more life and animation, and were pretty well attired;
but they are a plain, innocent, plodding people, over whose morals
the _Curé du Village_ exercises a gentle sway, apparently more by the
superiority of his education, than by spiritual exhortations.
These pastors reside in comfortable houses, decorated with the vine,
the rose tree, odoriferous plants, &c. Their garden is generally well
stocked with vegetables, or otherwise prettily arranged by some fair
hand under the designation of _ma nièce_. An entrance was never gained
to these abodes, unless all the other houses were crammed to excess by
the soldiery.
While in this neighbourhood we frequently moved towards the high road,
and stood to our arms the whole day. On the 12th General Beresford
with the seventh division entered Bordeaux, where he was received with
acclamations by the populace, who hoisted the white flag, and the
_cocarde blanche_, crying, "_vivent les Bourbons! vivent les Anglais!_"
The Duke of Dalmatia, finding our left flank extended as far as
Bordeaux, moved forward, and on the 13th made a feint by the roads of
Conche, and Castleneau, (on the left of the Adour), to turn General
Hill's right flank. The general-in-chief, to counteract this movement,
threatened the town of Plaisance on the right bank of the river, by
this means countermanœuvring, and threatening the enemy's right flank,
and also their communication with Tarbes.—General Beresford now
quitted Bordeaux, leaving the seventh division at that place under Lord
Dalhousie, and the army closed up in three columns, for the purpose of
ascending both banks of the Adour, towards Tarbes:—our division moved
in the direction of the town of Plaisance with the hussar brigade.
One day we were with the 15th hussars on picquet at a mill to the
right of the great _Chaussée_. The soldiers laid themselves down under
the sheds with the horses, and the officers reposed on some sacks of
flour, just over the wheel of the water mill, which kept up an eternal
clattering noise throughout the night. In the morning we came out as
white as millers!
On the 17th the weather cleared, the roads dried up, the atmosphere was
warm and genial, the hedges and young trees were clothed with a spring
verdure, and the country looked most inviting, presenting a similar
face to that of England.
On the 19th having finished our march, we encamped on a ridge of hills,
about five miles East of Vic-Bigorre which lay in a valley. About two
o'clock P. M. we were ordered to stand to our arms, and on reaching the
summit of the hill, we saw the third division attack that town. The
sun shone forth in full lustre, and a vehement fire of small arms and
cannon almost enveloped with volumes of smoke, the scene of contest. We
moved on the verge of the hills in a parallel line to turn the right
flank of the enemy;—a heavy brigade of cavalry during the middle of
the combat, turned the right of the French through the meadows close to
Vic-Bigorre, and they were finally driven through the place.
I hardly ever recollect a more delightful march than that we enjoyed
towards the evening. The sun was sinking behind the western hills,
the surrounding country was wrapped in tranquillity, the din of war,
had died away. The soldiers were tired, conversation ceased, and no
sounds broke on the ear except the tread of the men's footsteps, or the
planting of the horses' feet of the hussars, who were riding along in
single files, or going off to the side of the road, so as not to retard
our march.
[Footnote 22: The soldiers carried their new clothing, which they had
lately received, and which was not yet altered and made up, on the top
of their knapsacks.]
[Footnote 23: The floor and stairs are polished in France, as in old
fashioned gentlemen's houses in the interior of England.]