Bring forth the horse: the horse was brought;
In truth he was a noble steed,
A Tartar of the Ukraine breed,
That seemed as though the speed of thought
Were in his limbs.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think no part of a cavalry soldier's duty is so agreeable to him as a
long march during spring or summer weather. Apart from the change of
scene and a variation to the dull monotony of barrack life, the ride
through the country to some distant part, frequently of ten to thirty
days' duration, is always looked forward to with feelings of pleasure.
Country people, who seldom see soldiers, look upon the marching of a
squadron of cavalry through the small towns and villages as a sort of
pageant, especially if it be the head-quarters of a corps, which is
always accompanied by the band.
Young and inexperienced as I then was, the prospect of a sixteen days'
march in the merry month of May through the most delightful part of
England held out unusual charms for me. The dress of a soldier was my
sole weakness--I cared for nothing else; and I cheerfully endured all
the miseries of military slavery and short-comings of a comfortable home
for the sake of being thought something or somebody above the majority
of individuals in my walk of life. My sole object was to attract the
attention and, if possible, the envy of others--an idea too frequently
indulged by young soldiers, until dear-bought experience teaches them
their mistake.
I have stated before, that the costume of our regiment at the period to
which I allude included a "pelisse" or loose jacket, slung carelessly
over the left shoulder; but no man was allowed to wear this until he had
been dismissed from drill, and deported himself in such a manner as
became a smart, intelligent, and well-disciplined soldier. Those
recruits who had enlisted about the same time as myself, but who were
not yet proficient in horsemanship, etc, were told off to travel by
railway; but to my great joy, the sergeant of my squad read out my name
in orders at stable time the night before, to assemble with the
detachment in "complete marching order" the following morning at seven
o'clock.
I had a most beautiful, blood-like, dark-chestnut gelding for my
trooper: his coat shone like a mole, and his mane flowed from his
finely-arched neck almost to his knees. He was known by the general
appellation of "Number Seventeen, D Troop," but I gave him the name of
"Restless," from his habit of capering and prancing at every unusual
noise or object that presented itself. He was neither nervous nor
vicious, but impatient and anxious to be moving when he ought to stand
still; and though the slightest feel of the rein imaginable would
restrain him, he would champ his bit and throw the foam from his mouth
all over his breast and my uniform in flakes as white as snow. One tap
of the drum or a blast of the trumpet was a signal for "Restless" to
show off his splendid form in a succession of graceful capers, if on the
move; or if standing on parade, he would soon get up a shower of foam,
and bespatter the horses on each side, all the while paddling with his
feet and scraping the ground continually.
Notwithstanding that I was about the youngest "old soldier" in the
regiment, and but a short time previously only a common "clod-hopper,"
there was none more conceited or perhaps more vain than myself, when
mounted on "Restless."
Not content with the light sprinkling of _down_ which nature had planted
and was nurturing on my upper lip, I spared from my scanty pay a sum of
one shilling and sixpence for a bushy pair of false moustaches, which,
however, all my efforts to make stick proved futile: they only made me
sneeze; so I was obliged to fall back upon the old toothbrush and square
of Indian ink presented to me by Dorcas, wherewith to blacken my young
crop, to make believe that I was more of a man than a boy. The regiment
was divided into three detachments of two troops each, and I belonged to
the first that marched out of our old quarters, including the band. A
large crowd had collected to witness our departure. A deal of
hand-shaking and clinging to the stirrups was going on as we filed out
of the barrack-gate to the tune of "The girl I left behind me;" and many
a tear was shed by those who, having made a short acquaintance with some
of the men while they had been quartered here, were destined never to
see them again; indeed, I recollect that four of the number that marched
with me on that morning died, a few years after, of a fever that broke
out in the camp at Chobham; the bones of eight were left to whiten in
the death-vale, after the battle of Balaklava; and three were killed
during the Indian revolt, whither they had gone, transferred, at their
own request, to other regiments. Few, however, of the whole regiment
were left when actions, disease, and the short-comings of the
commissariat had done their work, at the conclusion of the Crimean
campaign. But of this I shall write in due course, and proceed with my
narrative and detachment on our line of march.
As is customary on a regiment leaving quarters, hundreds of the "tag,
rag, and bob-tail" followed us through the streets to the outskirts of
the town, the last to leave us being the girls; and they would have
trudged on, keeping our company as long as they could have held out, but
for the order to "trot," which the trumpet sounded directly on leaving
the street pavement.
"Good-bye, Mary!" "good-bye, Helen!" "farewell, honey, dear!" was
followed by a series of wild shrieks that could be heard for some
distance above the clattering of hoofs and the clanking of sabres. Our
first day's march was a distance of eighteen miles. The billeting party
had preceded us in the usual way on the day before, and quarters were
provided for every man, in numbers of from one to half-a-dozen,
according to the accommodation to be obtained at the various hotels and
public-houses in the town where we halted. All the inhabitants appeared
to have turned out to welcome us, and they lined the roadside for nearly
a mile ere we reached the market-place, where we formed up, surrounded
by a dense crowd, while the band played, after which we were dismissed
to our respective billets. I was particularly fortunate in having nice
comfortable quarters to myself, in a small public-house near the
outskirts of the town, kept by an aged widow; and she made a great fuss
over me.
"Deary me! why, he is but a child," she remarked, as my gallant
"Restless" capered into her stable-yard. The neighbours, such as were
left at home, collected about the place.
"Shame on the government for enlisting such a boy! I wonder how his
poor mother took it!"
Impudent and conceited though I had become, this allusion to my mother
broke through a little of my fortitude. However, I appeared not to
notice the running fire of remarks these good-natured people made from
time to time, as I dismounted and busied myself in cleaning my horse and
accoutrements, after which my kind hostess invited me into her private
parlour, to a nice dinner she had provided expressly for me, consisting
of a roast leg of lamb, with mint sauce, and a "rhubarb dumpling."
"I always make it a point to treat a soldier to the best I can afford,
because he risks his life to save others and their property," she said,
as she reached me a chair, and told me to be seated.
Now, I was particularly fond of pudding, but I had never tasted any
since I left home, and in reply to her question, as to which I would
prefer first, pudding or meat, I preferred the former. A little boy,
about six years of age (the old lady's grandson) sat on a stool in the
same apartment, and appeared completely absorbed in my every movement.
I was very hungry--soldiers are invariably hungry, and thirsty too,
after a long march--the nice rich dumpling, turned bottom upwards out of
an earthenware basin in which it had been boiled, was already on the
table, with the syrup oozing from a fissure in the side into the clean
willow-pattern dish.
"Help yourself," said this kind old woman.
I did help myself, with a will too, and she assisted by sprinkling sugar
and pouring rich thick cream over the portion I had taken to myself.
She then took her seat in the corner, and the manner in which her
dumpling disappeared evidently gave her as much pleasure as it did me;
but the little boy--Tommy she called him--appeared, as I thought, rather
spiteful in the frowns he gave me from time to time, as the demolition
of the dumpling continued.
The old lady said that "puddings did not agree with her so well as they
formerly did." So I took it for granted that she intended the whole of
it for myself, and I forthwith commenced to denude the dish of the lot.
Tommy could hold his thoughts no longer.
"Granny, is the souger goin' to eat it aw?" said he.
I at once dropped my fork, abashed and disgusted with myself for what
might appear selfishness; however, as an act of reparation, Tommy had
the satisfaction of clearing up the remnant, after which he appeared in
better humour. After doing justice to the lamb and mint sauce, I
completed my stable duty, and dressed for a walk until stable time in
the evening. For several days nothing occurred that would interest the
reader beyond the usual events incidental to a march, such as a few men
misconducting themselves in being late for roll-call, not cleaning their
appointments to suit the whimsicalities of a sergeant, for which they
were reported to the commanding officer and ordered to _walk_ from town
to town behind the light-baggage cart, under escort of the "baggage
guard," their horses being led by their more fortunate, but in many
instances more culpable comrades. Walking with high-heeled boots,
leather stock, and tight-fitting clothes, with a heavy dress cap on the
head in a blazing hot sun, is considered heavy punishment for a cavalry
soldier, yet I have known men compelled to walk ten days successively
for no other crime than being two minutes late for parade. During this
march I came in for my first quota of punishment since I had been a
soldier, which was administered in the form of a couple of days' walking
in the order I have described, twenty-two miles the first day, and
sixteen the next, under a fearfully hot sun; the distance was nothing if
I had not been encumbered with a costume totally unfitted for the
purpose, and under restraint too, kept up to the pace of a horse's walk
so as not to lag behind the escort; and this punishment was awarded to
me through no fault of my own.
It was on the seventh day after leaving barracks. Thirty of us were
billeted at one house, and the rest upon private houses, in consequence
of there being but one public-house in the village. The landlord of
this was a farmer and maltster; we had to sleep and stable our horses as
best we could; indeed, many of the animals were picketed in the open
fields, the men were turned into the malt offices to clean their
appointments, etc. The malting season being over there was plenty of
room for them to do this. On the day we marched in we were at dinner
all together in a "club room" adjoining the house; a loud report was
heard, which every one knew to be from a carbine, being much louder than
from a common gun. Every cavalry soldier carries ten rounds of
ball-cartridge in his pouch on the line of march; these pouches and
cross-belts to which they were attached had been left in the places
where we had been cleaning them.
On sallying forth in the direction of the report we found four or five
boys, apparently from ten to fourteen years of age; each was armed with
a carbine, and adorned with a cross-belt. They had stuck a piece of
white paper on an apple-tree in the garden behind the house, and were
firing away our ammunition at the target, no doubt calculating upon a
fine afternoon's sport. Every carbine was loaded (one with the
cartridge the wrong end downwards), and when we arrived another
youngster was just taking up a position to "present" and fire in
addition to the one that had already "let fly" and missed his mark.
Whither the ball stopped it was perhaps lucky that no one knew, as both
horses, cattle, and people were moving about within range.
One of these ammunition pouches was found to belong to me, and with the
rest of the owners of carbines and pouches, I was at once taken before
the commanding officer, and we were all ordered to walk a couple of days
each. One of the men whose duty it became to lead "Restless," came in
for treble the amount of punishment by his failing to keep my horse
within bounds. On one of these days the route lay along the road that
skirts the ruins of Kenilworth Castle. Across this road runs a wide
brook, which has to be forded by travellers. "Restless" seriously
objected to be led through this water, and tugged at the bridle to such
an extent as to pull the man off his horse plump into the middle of the
brook, the result being that both his own horse and "Restless" got
loose, and were with difficulty caught. For this accident, the man was
ordered to walk the remainder of the march to barracks. I well remember
the scene that occurred on the arrival of the poor fellow in barracks
after seven days' walk.
"This," said he, "shall be the last day's duty I will ever do in the --
th Hussars; not that I care a straw for the walking, as I can walk as
well as any man in the regiment, but because I have been punished
undeservedly by a man _who is a deserter from another regiment_," this
was alluding to the sergeant who had reported him to the commanding
officer for "carelessness" in letting the horse loose, although the poor
fellow had stuck to his hold on the bridle of "Restless," until actually
pulled out of his seat. There was a dogged determination about David
Mason (for that was his name, and a better soldier never threw his leg
over a saddle) as he uttered these words, while sitting on the edge of
his bed and stripping his worsted socks from his blistered and bleeding
feet, having limped into the barrack-yard with one hand resting on the
rear part of the baggage cart, about half an hour after the arrival of
the detachment.
"This is the last day's duty I shall ever do in the --th Hussars," he
repeated to a lance-corporal who had heard a portion of his first
ejaculation.
"You had better make haste and get down to stables," said the corporal.
I was grooming my horse when David entered the stable, and he at once
walked up to the sergeant and confronted him. "Sergeant D--," said he,
"you are a _tyrant_, a _coward_, and a _deserter_ from the 52nd Light
Infantry!"
The sergeant trembled like an aspen leaf, and his face turned as pale as
a sheet: turning to me and a comrade in the next stall, "Take this man
to the guard-room," and poor Mason was at once escorted to confinement.
They were _both_ deserters: Mason from the 82nd foot, and the sergeant
from the 52nd; but by some means or other, never explained to me, Mason
knew the sergeant while the sergeant did not know Mason, although it was
said that he had more than once hinted that the latter had the
appearance of a foot soldier in some peculiarity which he probably
better understood than any man in the regiment.
Both men had joined our regiment in fictitious names, but Mason had the
advantage of knowing the sergeant's real name, and, when taken before
the colonel on the following day, he made a clean breast of it by
telling the sergeant's name and the date of his desertion, also stating
that he was himself a deserter, having enlisted in our corps only two
days from leaving his own, solely because he thought he should like to
be a cavalry soldier better than serving in an infantry regiment.
The adjutant of the 52nd was communicated with at once, and Mason's
story found to be correct. The sergeant was put under arrest, until an
escort arrived from his own regiment to take him to head-quarters, where
he was tried by court-martial and flogged. Mason also left our corps
under an escort of the 82nd sent to fetch him; and I afterwards heard
that, although he was tried by court-martial, he got off with a light
punishment.