It might be about six or seven o'clock in the morning of the 3d of
January 1814, when an orderly sergeant burst into our chamber and
desired us to get the men under arms without delay, for that the enemy
were in motion. In an instant we sprang from our beds, dressed and
accoutred forthwith, ordered the trumpeter to sound the "assembly," and
our servants to prepare breakfast. The last of these injunctions was
obeyed in an incredibly short space of time, insomuch that whilst the
troops were hurrying to their stations we were devouring our morning's
repast; and, in little more than a quarter of an hour from the first
signal of alarm, the regiment was formed in marching order upon the
highroad. Nor were many moments wasted in that situation. The word was
given to advance, and we again pressed forward towards the mayor's
house.
When we reached the post or common, of which so much notice has
elsewhere been taken, we found, indeed, that the whole of the left
column was moving, but that the old battle-ground about the chateau,
and in the woods and enclosures near it, was left entirely to the
protection of the ordinary pickets. Of the enemy's forces, not a single
battalion showed itself here; and our own were all filing towards the
right--a route into which we also quickly struck, as if following the
natural current of the stream of war. In this journey we passed over a
good deal of ground which was already familiar to us, skirting the brow
of the ravine which had separated the hostile armies during the pauses
in their late contest, till, having reached the meadow where our camp
had formerly been pitched, we were turned into a new direction, and
led upwards till we gained the top of the hill on which the church of
Arcanques stands, and round the base of which the village of Arcanques
is scattered. In the maintenance of this post we relieved a section of
the light division, which immediately took a rightward course--thus
indicating that the strength of the army would be mustered at one
extremity, and other points of the line left to the protection of a few
scattered brigades.
It was evening before we reached our ground, and as yet no provisions
were issued out to us. Of course, our appetites were excellent; indeed,
the appetites of men who have nothing to eat are seldom sickly; and
this we amply demonstrated as soon as an opportunity of proving the
fact was offered. Little time, however, was given for the enjoyment of
social intercourse or bodily rest; for we had hardly swallowed a hasty
meal when the better half of the corps was sent forward to occupy a few
cottages in front of the village; and the remainder of the night was
spent in that state of excitement and anxiety which necessarily waits
upon such as form the outposts or advanced-guard of an army.
My own station this night was not exactly at one of the most forward
posts, but in a ruinous building at the outskirts of the village, where
I was placed with a body of men to support the pickets. The thing into
which we were ushered had, no doubt, once upon a time, been a habitable
mansion: at present it consisted of little else than the shell, and
a very wretched shell, of a farmhouse. Not only were the doors and
windows gone, but the ceilings and partitions which used to divide one
apartment from another were all broken down; the roof was in a great
measure stripped off, and the fragments which remained of it were
perforated in all directions. The night was piercingly cold. The frost
had of late set in with renewed severity; and a sharp northerly wind
blowing, swept with a melancholy sound through our dilapidated mansion.
But we were on little ceremony here. Large fires were lighted in
different places upon the earthen floor, round which we crept; and an
allowance of grog being brought up, and pipes and cigars lighted, we
were soon as merry and light-hearted as men could desire to be. It is
true that at intervals--every half-hour, for example--a party of six or
eight of us sallied forth, to patrol from picket to picket, and to see
that all was right between; but we returned from such excursions with
increased predilection for our fire-side; and the events of the ramble,
be they what they might, furnished food for conversation till another
was deemed necessary.
So passed the night of the 3d; and on the morning of the 4th I
expected, as an ordinary matter, to be relieved, and to be withdrawn
to the rear; but it was not so. Men, it appeared, were scarce at this
part of the line; and hence those who formed it were called upon to
perform double duty. Instead of being removed to some place where a
sound night's rest might be enjoyed, I and my party found ourselves, on
the morning of the 4th, ordered to advance, and to occupy the foremost
chain--from which we had the satisfaction of beholding the enemy, in
very considerable strength, at the distance of little more than a
quarter of a mile from our sentries. This sight, however, only gave a
spur to our exertions, and hindered us from repining at what we might
have been otherwise tempted to consider as an undue exercise of our
powers of watchfulness.
The particular picket of which I was put in command happened to be
detached from all others, and to be nearly half a mile in front of the
rest. It occupied a sort of sugar-loaf hill, separated from our own
regular chain of posts by a deep and rugged glen, and kept apart from
the French lines only by an imaginary boundary of hedges and paling.
So exposed, indeed, was the spot, that I received orders to abandon
it as soon as darkness set in, and to retire across the hollow to the
high grounds opposite. The reader will easily believe that, in such a
situation, little leisure was given for relaxation either of body or
mind. During the entire day, my occupation consisted in prying closely,
with the aid of a telescope, into the enemy's lines, in considering how
I could best maintain myself in case of an attack, and retreat most
securely in case I should be overpowered.
The view from my picket-house was, however, extremely animating.
Beneath me, at the distance of only two fields, lay the French
outposts; about a quarter of a mile, or half a mile, in rear of which
were encamped several large bodies both of infantry and cavalry. Of
these, it was evident that vast numbers were recruits. They were at
drill, marching and countermarching, and performing various evolutions
during the greater part of the day--a circumstance which at first
excited some uneasiness on my part, inasmuch as I expected every
moment that my post would be disturbed; but as soon as I saw a target
erected, and the troops practising with ball, I became easy. "There
will be no attack to-day," thought I, "otherwise so much ammunition
would not be wasted."
I had scarcely said so when I observed a mounted officer advancing from
the enemy's camp towards the base of the hill which my party held.
He was followed by a cloud of people in apparent confusion, but not
more confused than French skirmishers generally appear to be, who lay
down behind the hedges in the immediate front of my sentinels, as if
waiting for an order to fire and rush on. I had just ordered my people
under arms, and was proceeding towards the sentries for the purpose
of giving a few necessary directions, when the French officer halted,
and a trumpeter who accompanied him sounded a parley. I descended the
hill immediately, and causing my trumpeter to answer the signal, the
Frenchman advanced. He was the bearer of letters from such British
officers and soldiers as had been taken in the late actions; and
he likewise handed over to me several sums of money and changes of
clothing for some of his countrymen who had fallen into our hands.
This being done, we naturally entered into conversation touching the
state of Europe and the events of the war. My new acquaintance utterly
denied the truth of Napoleon's reverses, and seemed to doubt the idea
of an invasion of France by the armies of the north. He assured me that
the whole country was in arms; that every peasant had become a soldier;
that bands of partisans were forming on all sides of us; and that it
was vain to hope that we should ever pass the Adour, or proceed farther
within the sacred territory. He spoke of the desertion of the German
corps with a degree of bitter contempt, which proved--the reverse
of what he was desirous of proving--that the event had shaken the
confidence of Soult in his auxiliaries; and, above all, he affected to
regard the whole of the recent operations as mere affairs, or trifling
contests of detachments, in no way capable of influencing the final
issues of the war. Yet he was not displeased when I laughed at his
style of oratory; and, after gasconading a good deal, both the one and
the other, we shook hands, and parted the best friends imaginable.
I had hardly quitted him, at least I had not reached my station on the
top of the hill, when I heard myself called by one of the sentinels,
and turned round. I saw the individual with whom I had been conversing
sitting in the midst of a little group of French officers, and watching
the progress of an old woman who was coming towards our lines. She
held a large bottle in her hand, which she lifted up to attract my
notice, and continued to move forward, gabbling loudly all the while.
Obeying her signal, I returned and met her a few yards in front of the
sentries, when she delivered to me about a couple of quarts of brandy,
as a present from the French officers, who had desired her to say,
that if I could spare them a little tea in exchange, they would feel
obliged. It so happened that I had brought no such luxury to my post.
Of this I informed the female mercury; but desired her to offer my best
acknowledgments to her employers, and to add that I had sent to the
rear in order to procure it. With this message she departed, having
promised to keep in sight for at least half an hour, and to return as
soon as I should make a sign that the tea had arrived.
My bugler made good speed, and soon returned with about a quarter of a
pound of black tea, the half of the stock which remained in my canteen.
In the meanwhile the French officers continued sitting together, and
all rose when I waved my cap to their carrier. The old lady was not
remiss in taking the hint. I handed over to her the little parcel,
with numerous apologies for its tenuity, and had the satisfaction to
perceive that, trifling as it was, it proved acceptable. The party
pulled off their hats as an acknowledgment--I did the same; and we each
departed to our respective stations.
There is something extremely agreeable in carrying on hostilities
after this fashion; yet the matter may be pushed too far. Towards the
close of the war, indeed, so good an understanding prevailed between
the outposts of the two armies that Lord Wellington found it necessary
to forbid all communication whatever; nor will the reader wonder at
this when I state to him the reason. A field-officer (I shall not say
in what part of the line), going his rounds one night, found that the
whole of a sergeant's picket-guard had disappeared. He was, of course,
both alarmed and surprised at the occurrence; but his alarm gave place
to absolute astonishment when, on stealing forward to observe whether
there was any movement in the enemy's lines, he peeped into a cottage
from which a noise of revelry was proceeding, and beheld the party
sitting in the most sociable manner with a similar party of Frenchmen,
and carousing jovially. As soon as he showed himself his own men rose,
and wishing their companions good night, returned with the greatest
_sang froid_ to their post. It is, however, but justice to add, that
the sentinels on both sides faithfully kept their ground, and that no
intention of deserting existed on either part. In fact, it was a sort
of custom, the French and British guards visiting each other by turns.
At the period of which I have spoken above, however, no such
extraordinary intimacy had begun. As yet we were merely civil towards
one another; and even that degree of civility was for a while
interrupted, in consequence of the surprisal of a French post by a
detachment from General Beresford's division on the river Nive. Not
that the picket was wantonly cut off, or that any blame could possibly
attach to the general who ordered the proceeding. The outpost in
question occupied a hill upon the allied bank of the stream. It was
completely insulated and detached from all other French posts, and
appeared to be held as much out of perverseness as because it commanded
to a great extent a view of the British lines. Lord Beresford had
repeatedly despatched flags of truce to request that the picket might
be withdrawn, expressing great unwillingness to violate the sacred
character which had been tacitly conferred upon the pickets; but Soult
was deaf to his entreaties, and replied to his threats only by daring
him to carry them into execution. A party was accordingly ordered out,
one stormy night, to cut off the guard; and so successful was the
attempt, that an officer and thirty soldiers, with a midshipman and a
few seamen, who had charge of the boat by which the reliefs were daily
ferried over, were taken. Not a shot was fired. The French, trusting
to the storm for protection, had called in their vedettes, leaving
only one on duty at the door of the house; and he found his arms
pinioned, and himself secured, ere the roar of the tempest permitted
him to detect the sound of approaching steps. The unfortunate subaltern
who commanded sent in a few days afterwards for his baggage; but the
reply was, that the general would forward him a halter, as the only
indulgence which he merited.
But to return to my own personal narrative. After the adventure of the
tea, nothing particular occurred so long as I continued in charge of
the post. As soon as darkness set fairly in, I proposed, in obedience
to my orders, to withdraw; and I carried the design into effect without
any molestation on the part of the enemy. It was, however, their custom
to take possession of the hill as soon as the British troops abandoned
it; and hence I had not proceeded above half-way across the ravine when
I heard the voices of a French detachment, which must have marched
into the courtyard of the house almost at the moment that I and my
men marched out of it. But they made no attempt to annoy us, and we
rejoined the corps from which we had been detached in perfect safety.
The next day was spent in a state of rest in the chateau of Arcanques.
It is a fine old pile, and stands at the foot of the little eminence on
which the church is built. Like many mansions in England of the date
of Queen Elizabeth or Henry VIII., it is surrounded by a high wall,
within which is a paved court leading up to the main entrance. But it
too, like all the buildings near, bore ample testimony to the merciless
operation of war in its crumbling masonry and blackened timbers. There
was a grove of venerable old firs round it, from which all the late
firing had not entirely expelled the rooks.
Of the church I have a less perfect recollection. I remember, indeed,
that its situation was highly striking, and that the view from the
churchyard was of no ordinary beauty. I recollect, likewise, several
statues of knights and ladies reposing in niches round the walls--some
with the cross upon their shields, and their legs laid athwart, to
show that they had served in Palestine; others in the more ancient
costume of chain armour; but whether they were worthy of admiration as
specimens of the art of sculpture, I cannot now take it upon me to say.
I remarked, however, that the devices on the shields of most of these
warriors, and the crests upon their helmets, resembled the coat and
crest which were emblazoned over the gateway of the chateau; and hence
I concluded that they were the effigies of the former lords of the
castle, and that the family which owned it must have been at one period
of some consequence.
It was not, however, exclusively in examining these buildings that I
found amusement for my hours of idleness. From the churchyard, as I
have already stated, the view is at all times magnificent, and it was
rendered doubly so to-day by the movements of our army. The tide of war
seemed to have taken a sudden turn; and the numerous corps which had
so lately defiled towards the right could now be seen retracing their
steps, and filing towards the left. It was a magnificent spectacle.
From the high ground on which I stood, I could see very nearly to
the two extreme points of the position; and the effect produced by
the marching of nearly 120,000 men may be more easily imagined than
described. The roads of communication ran, for the most part, in the
rear of Arcanques. They were all crowded--cavalry, infantry, and
artillery were moving; some columns marched in echelon; others paused
from time to time as if to watch some object in their front; whilst a
grove or wood would now and again receive an armed mass into its bosom,
and then seem to be on fire, from the flashing of the sun against the
bayonets. Happily for me, it was a day of bright sunshine, consequently
every object appeared to great advantage; nor, I suspect, have many
of our oldest soldiers beheld a more striking panorama than the
combination of the objects around me this day produced.
I stood and watched with intense interest the shifting scene, till
it gradually settled down into one of quiet. The various brigades,
as I afterwards learned, were only returning from the point towards
which the appearance of danger had hurried them, and now proceeded
to establish themselves once more in their cantonments. The French
general, either awed by the state of preparedness in which he found us,
or satisfied with having called us for a few days into the field at
this inclement season, laid aside the threatening attitude which he had
assumed. It suited not the policy of our gallant leader to expose his
troops wantonly to the miseries of a winter campaign; and hence rest
and shelter were again the order of the day. But in these the corps
to which I was attached had as yet no participation, our march being
directed, on the following morning, to the vicinity of Fort Charlotte,
where the charge of the pickets was once more assigned to us.