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SOLDIERS AND SAILORS.
LONDON:
S. & J. Bentley, Wilson, and Fley,
Bangor House, Shoe Lane.
[Illustration:
TIPPOO SAIB.
]
SOLDIERS AND SAILORS;
OR,
ANECDOTES, DETAILS, AND RECOLLECTIONS OF NAVAL AND MILITARY LIFE,
AS RELATED TO HIS NEPHEWS, BY
AN OLD OFFICER.
WITH MORE THAN FIFTY ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD, FROM DESIGNS BY JOHN GILBERT.
LONDON:
JOHN HARRIS, ST. PAUL’S CHURCH-YARD.
1842.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Soldiers and Sailors.—Recruiting sergeant, officer and Jack-
tar.—Generals and Admirals.—Which is the braver, the Red-coat
or the Blue-jacket?—Cavalry and Infantry.—Engineers,
Artillery, and Marines.—Not all sunshine with soldiers and
sailors.—The old Soldier.—Different opinions about war.—When
are sailors most steady?—A standing rule for a soldier. Page 1
CHAPTER II.
A general rule for the conduct of a good soldier.—The beginning
of sailors.—The origin of the British army.—The oldest
regiment in the service.—Description of the life-guards.—
British soldiers and sailors the best in the world.—The
Flemish brig and the Deal galley.—The French sloop and the
British fisherman.—The black trumpeter and the bold soldier.—A
soldier should attend to his own duty. 12
CHAPTER III.
British sailors.—A hearty cheer.—Seamen are sad clumsy fellows
in some things.—The pretended sailor.—Jack in the wherry.—A
squall.—The chain cable.—The sailor’s marriage.—The arrival.—
Banns.—Disappointment.—Doctors’ Commons.—Licence.—The church
gates.—The robing-room.—The ceremony.—The Prayer Book.—The
Bible.—Jack happy. 24
CHAPTER IV.
Discipline.—Standing in a proper position.—Young soldiers for
the East Indies.—The Articles of War in the army and the
navy.—The Sentinel and St. Paul’s Cathedral.—Mutilation among
foreign troops.—The reckless Irishman.—His mad freak.—His
lighthearted observation.—His sentence.—Discipline on board
the Atalanta.—The selfish severity of a sea captain. 37
CHAPTER V.
Alexander the Great.—Frederick the Great.—Charles XII.—Peter the
Great.—Buonaparte.—Duke of Marlborough.—Hastings.—
Bannockburn.—Cressy.—Poictiers.—Agincourt.—Bosworth Field.—
Blenheim.—Culloden.—Prague.—Quebec.—Battles of Marathon,
Thermopylæ, and the siege of Troy.—Preparation for a battle.—
The battle array.—General De Zeithen.—Monument of Peter the
Great.—Duke of Marlborough. 51
CHAPTER VI.
Uniforms.—Old Admirals in the Naval Gallery at Greenwich.—
Admiral Forbes and the Duke of Bedford.—Dress of an admiral of
the fleet.—Captains and commanders.—Full dress of the officers
of the life-guards.—Dragoon-guards.—Light dragoons.—Lancers.—
Hussars.—King George the Fourth and the life-guardsman.—Full
dress of the officers of the foot-guards.—Infantry of the
line.—Light infantry.—Fusiliers.—Highlanders.—Riflemen.—Sir
Samuel Hood and the new-made boatswain. 65
CHAPTER VII.
Weapons of war.—Artillery.—Train of artillery.—Chevaux-de-
frise.—Bows and arrows.—The old archer.—The musket.—The
bayonet.—Captain Von Selmnitz.—Broad-swords.—Highlanders.—
Artillery and stores sent to Spain.—James II. of Scotland.—
Buonaparte and Colonel Evain.—Wooden cannon.—Brass twenty-
four-pounder from the wreck of the Royal George.—The brass
sixty-eight-pounder in the Tower, called the ‘Great Harry.’—A
beautiful mortar.—The new destructive power. 80
CHAPTER VIII.
The passionate soldier.—A blue-jacket paying his debts.—A monkey
on board.—A ship.—Keel.—Decks.—Masts.—Sails.—Rigging.—Life-
boat.—Cables.—Anchors.—Capstan.—Buoys.-Blocks.—Knotting.—
Quadrant.—The Indian and his fine clothes.—His return home.—
His relation of his adventures.—The indignation of his tribe.—
His tragical end. 95
CHAPTER IX.
An engineer.—Mining.—Sappers.—Gunners.—The Surveillante.—Loss in
the British army.—Furlough.—Muster-roll.—Punishment.—Poor Jack
sent aloft.—Captain Hall on naval punishments.—Instance of
injustice to a seaman.—The captain proved to be in the wrong.—
Tribute to the brave.—Letter of a private soldier.—The Tenth
and the Imperial guards. 112
CHAPTER X.
Fortification.—Surprise of Bergen-up-Zoom.—Six hundred British
troops lay down their arms from a want of knowledge of
fortification.—Fortified places in England and abroad.—On the
origin of fortification.—The battering-ram.—Parapets.—
Embrasures.—Square towers.—Terraces or ramparts.—Bastions.—
Horn-works.—Curtains.—Maxims in fortification.—Old plan of
fortifying a place.—Modern plan.—Periods of attack.—Investment
or blockade described.—Parallels.—Circumvallation and
countervallation.—What is necessary to ensure the reduction of
a fortress.—Blockade of Pamplona.—A bombardment, siege, and
storming party described. 125
CHAPTER XI.
The tale-telling captain.—The heroic and kind-hearted officer.—
The standard-bearer.—Flags.—The royal standard.—Flag of the
lord high-admiral.—Flag of the admiral of the fleet.—Colours
in the army.—Day signals.—Night signals.—Fog-signals.—Cipher
flags and substitutes.—Telegraphs.—Alphabet for field
signals.—Description of a sailor on shore. 138
CHAPTER XII.
Pillage.—Military surveying.—Tippoo Saib.—His armour and
mantle.—Tippoo’s treachery.—Seringapatam attacked by British
and native troops, commanded by Major-General Baird.—Colonels
Dunlop and Sherbrooke.—A shot breaks the chain of the draw-
bridge.—Terrible carnage.—Tippoo Saib killed.—Seringapatam
taken.—The storming of Ghuznee.—The forlorn hope.—The gate of
the fortress blown in.—Colonel Dennie leads on the stormers.—
The mistake.—A retreat sounded.—Brigadier Sale advances.—
Desperate struggle.—The place taken. 155
CHAPTER XIII.
Tactics and stratagems of war.—Captain Bentley and Captain
Baines.—The defiance.—Scaling the rock.—The stratagem of the
boat.—Battle of Actium.—Duke of Saxe Weimar.—Breaking the
line.—The Prussian General.—Ibrahim Pasha.—The old Dervise.—
War terms.—Actions.—Attacks.—Attempts.—Battles.—Blockades.—
Bombardments.—Descents.—Defeats.—Engagements.—Expeditions.—
Invasions.—Sea-fights.—Storms.—Sieges.—Surprises.—Skirmishes.—
Repulses.—Explosions.—Three-fingered Jack. 168
CHAPTER XIV.
Motto for a soldier.—Glory.—Reply to a challenge.—The
caricature.—Discharges.—A picquet, sentinel, vedette, advanced
guard, and flag of truce.—Crossing rivers.—Presentations.—
Camps of instruction.—Comfort of a cigar.—Tribute to the
brave. 181
CHAPTER XV.
Algiers.—Admiral Keppel and the Dey.—The expedition of Lord
Exmouth against Algiers.—The Christian slaves are set free,
and such slavery abolished for ever.—The French at Algiers.—
The taking of Jean D’Acre by Sir Robert Stopford.—The
explosion of the powder magazine.—The mistake made by the
garrison.—The operations of a siege.—The daring young
soldier.—The siege of Antwerp, by Marshal Gerard.—Desperate
defence of General Chassé.—The surrender. 197
CHAPTER XVI.
The Duke of Wellington.—Remarks.—The Waterloo banquet at Apsley
House.—Salter’s celebrated painting.—The names of the generals
and officers at the banquet.—Anecdote of Apsley House.—George
the Second and the old soldier.—The old apple-woman and the
lord-chancellor.—The legacy.—The Duke of Wellington’s
generosity.—Major-general Macdonnel’s noble conduct.—Sergeant-
major Frazer. 212
CHAPTER XVII.
Buonaparte.—His principal plaything.—Napoleon’s grotto.—
Buonaparte’s gratitude to his mother.—He goes to the Military
School at Paris.—Made a lieutenant.—His first military
service.—His address to the men under his command.—His conduct
to poor tradesmen.—Reproof to his generals.—The Jaffa
massacre.—Murder of the Duke d’Enghein.—Legion of honour.—
Buonaparte threatens to invade England.—French invincibles.—An
instance of generosity.—Napoleon’s bravery.—Battle of the
Pyramids.—The battle of Lodi.—Napoleon’s return from Elba.—
Campaign in Russia.—Allusion to Waterloo.—Buonaparte dies at
St. Helena.—The 18th of October a remarkable day. 225
CHAPTER XVIII.
Captain-general of the army.—Commander-in-chief.—Lord high-
admiral of the navy.—Field-marshal.—General.—Lieutenant-
general.—Major-general.—Brigadier-general.—Colonel.—
Lieutenant-colonel.—Major.—Adjutant.—Sergeant-Major.—Captain.—
Lieutenant.—Ensign and cornet.—Sergeant and corporal.—A round-
robbin.—Quarter-master.—Military saying.—Officer’s daughter.—
Officers of the navy.—Marines.—Catamaran.—Crew of a first-
rate.—Royal George. 240
CHAPTER XIX.
Regimental bands.—Drum.—Trumpet.—Bugle.—Kettle-drum of the life-
guards.—Kettle-drum of the royal artillery.—Qualities in
British soldiers.—The Rhine! The Rhine!—Love of country.—
Cowardice.—Death of Admiral Byng.—Native cavalry in India.—
Daring intrepidity of a seaman.—Preparations for an
engagement.—Battle of the Nile.—Superstitious seamen.—
Saragossa.—Missolonghi. 254
CHAPTER XX.
Admiral Nelson.—The loss of his eye and his arm.—Struggle
between Nelson’s barge and the armed launch.—Sykes the
coxswain.—Nelson’s thanksgiving for his recovery.—His coolness
in danger.—Battle of Copenhagen.—Hewson the seaman.—Battle of
the Nile.—Nelson’s prayer before the battle of Trafalgar.—His
signals on board the Victory.—His wound.—His death. 267
CHAPTER XXI.
De Ruyter.—Van Tromp.—Columbus.—Vasquez da Gama.—Villeneuve.—Tom
of Ten Thousand.—Hawkins, Drake, Blake, Hawke.—Rodney.—A
female soldier.—Vincent, on the 14th of February.—Duncan, off
Camperdown.—Admiral Howe, and the glorious First of June.—
Maitland’s generosity.—Viscount Exmouth, his courage and
humanity.—Codrington and the battle of Navarino.—The flag of
old England. 278
CHAPTER XXII.
French generals.—Desaix.—Ney.—Lasnes.—Soult.—Suchet.—Augereau.—
Berthier.—Rapp.—Macdonald.—Beauharnois.—Maret.—Jourdan.—
Grouchey.—Vandamme.—Bertrand.—Gourgaud.—Junot.—Massena.—
Davoust.—Moreau.—Lefebre.—Marmont.—Mortier.—Dupont.—Victor.—
Oudinot.—Bernadotte.—Murat.—Soldiers of the army of Italy.—
Battle of Marengo.—The Napoleon Pillar. 293
CHAPTER XXIII.
Personal courage.—Heroism.—A life-guardsman.—A corporal.—Private
in Bland’s dragoons.—Lewis de Crillon.—Wolfe.—Abercrombie.—
Colonel Gardiner.—Major André.—General Picton.—Sir John
Moore.—Marquess of Anglesey.—Sir John Elley.—Colonel
Colborne.—Colonel Ponsonby.—General Baird.—Sir Thomas Picton.—
Sir James Macdonnel.—Lord Edward Somerset.—Sir Henry
Hardinge.—Sir Colin Campbell.—General Evans.—Lord Hill.—The
regimental surgeon and Sir William Carr Beresford. 305
CHAPTER XXIV.
Sailors must strike their colours, and soldiers surrender when
they have death for an enemy.—A court-martial.—Shooting a
soldier.—Naval execution.—Soldier’s burial.—Funeral at sea.—
Battle of Waterloo.—First attack.—Second attack.—Third
attack.—Defeat of Buonaparte.—Consequences of the battle of
Waterloo.—Chelsea College.—Greenwich Hospital.—Old England for
ever!—Conclusion. 327
SOLDIERS AND SAILORS.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER I.
Soldiers and Sailors.—Recruiting Sergeant, Officer and Jack-tar.—
Generals and Admirals.—Which is the braver, the Red Coat or the Blue
Jacket?—Cavalry and Infantry.—Engineers, Artillery, and Marines.—Not
all sunshine with Soldiers and Sailors.—The old Soldier.—Different
opinions about war.—When are Sailors most steady?—A standing rule
for a Soldier.
“Well, boys, though I am your uncle, so busy has my life been, that I
have seen but very little of you. During my present visit we shall
become better acquainted with each other. You want to hear about
soldiers and sailors. You have seen privates on parade, a recruiting
sergeant with stripes on his arm, and an officer with epaulettes on his
shoulder. You have seen, too, a jolly Jack-tar just come home from a
cruise, rigged out in his holiday clothes, check shirt, blue jacket, and
white trousers. You have read, perhaps, a little about engagements and
sea-fights, and remember the names of a few famous generals and
admirals, and now you want to hear more about soldiers and sailors. You
shall know all that I can tell you; but, mind! let us have no confusion.
Do not all of you ask me questions at once! Speak one at a time, or, if
you like it better, let one of you be spokesman for the rest. You shall
have all the information that I can give you.”
“Thank you!—thank you, uncle! That will be the very thing; for we know
that you can tell us a great deal.”
“I am, as you know, neither commander-in-chief of the army, nor lord
high admiral of the navy, nor do I see any likelihood at present of my
being appointed either the one or the other; but having seen a good deal
of the land and sea-service, and noticed the habits and conduct of men,
from the raw recruit to the general officer;—from the sailor before the
mast to the ‘Red Flag at the Fore,’—I must have been dull indeed to have
picked up nothing. It becomes no man to be vain of his knowledge, and,
therefore, I will not boast of mine; but ask me what you will, and I
will answer to the best of my ability.”
“Please to tell us which are the bravest men, soldiers or sailors.”
“The bravest! That is a puzzling question, which the seven wise men of
Greece, were they here, could not answer. Never yet did a red-coat go
where a blue-jacket was afraid to follow, nor a son of Neptune brave a
danger that a son of Mars would not, willingly, have faced before him.
Weigh one golden sovereign against another in a pair of scales, and they
will not give a more even balance than the bravery of a soldier weighed
against that of a sailor.”
“How many kinds of soldiers are there?—for some are very different to
others.”
“Why, let me see, in the cavalry there are life-guards, horse-guards,
dragoon-guards, heavy dragoons, light dragoons, lancers and hussars; and
in the infantry there are foot-guards, infantry of the line, light
troops, fusiliers, highlanders, riflemen, and the staff-corps. I have
said nothing of the engineers and artillery, nor indeed of the marines,
who have more to do with the navy than the army.”
“They say that one Englishman can beat ten Frenchmen. Is it true?”
“Not a word of truth in it. A brave man is a match for a brave man of
the same size all the world over, if he have equal skill. It is skill
more than strength that enables one man to overcome another, and tactics
more than bravery, (though both are necessary,) that enable an army or a
fleet to obtain a victory. I will try to make this clear to you before I
have done.”
“Now do tell us, uncle, all about soldiers and sailors, from the
beginning to the end.”
“That would take me a month to do. I mean to give you anecdotes in
abundance about military and naval commanders, that you may see the
advantage of knowledge and skill; at the same time I will try to mingle
with them many details that will be interesting to you, of the navy and
the army.”
“Yes! That will be a good plan. Now for a little about soldiers.”
“If I were giving you my own history, I might be tempted to dwell on my
own exploits, but as that is not the case I shall try to keep close to
my subject,—Soldiers and Sailors. When a recruit is enlisted and sworn
in before a magistrate he is put into the awkward squad for a time, and
then he enters the ranks. He has much to learn before he becomes a
thorough soldier, from standing at ease to the charge; from the single
file to the battle array.”
“The sergeant must have something to do with the recruits that come from
the plough-tail?”
“Indeed he has, but he very soon effects a change in their appearance.
The first thing the recruit has to learn is to stand in a proper
position. Then come facing, stepping, and marching, filing, wheeling,
and with the manual and platoon exercise, forming; and, if in the
cavalry, saddling, bridling, mounting, riding, and leaping, with the
manœuvres of troops and squadrons, companies, battalions and regiments.
What with carbine and pistol exercise, sword exercise and lance
exercise, with parade, mounting guard, and keeping accoutrements, and
perhaps, a horse in order, a soldier has many duties to perform.”
“And have sailors as much to do as soldiers?”
“Ay, that they have, and every change of wind brings them a change of
duty. For some time I was in the marines, and saw a good deal of the
wooden walls of old England. Officers, seamen, ordinary men, servants
and boys, were all alive from stem to stern; from keel to sky-scrapers
all things were in order. There were no skulkers among the blue-jackets.
Everything was attended to; the decks were swabbed, the anchor weighed,
the yards manned, the sails reefed, and the decks cleared for action.”
“Sailors seem to work hard and play hard then, for no people enjoy
themselves more when they are away from their ship.”
“True. They work hard, play hard, and fight hard; but, say what you
will, it is not all sunshine with soldiers and sailors. A soldier, on
parade or on a review day, looks like a man of leisure, and in time of
peace he is not overdone with his duty; but see him in war, marching
through miry roads, panting with heat or numbed with cold, up early and
late, sleeping on the bare ground in his wet clothes:—hunger pinches
him, fatigue wears him, and the stormy fight with all its dangers awaits
him,—yet, on he goes without a murmur.
“Neither does honest Jack lead a life of ease, or sleep upon roses. See
him in the north, when the rigging of his ship is hung with icicles; in
the east and west, when the deck is almost as hot as a baker’s oven;
holding his weary midnight watch in the calm, and reefing the fluttering
sail in the storm.
‘Jack never despairs—see, his bosom ne’er quivers
Though hurricanes cause every timber to start;
The tempest may rend a proud vessel to shivers,
But nothing can conquer a firm British heart.’
“Waves may dash and lightnings flash, but Jack flinches not from his
duty. Aloft, below, at the mast-head or in the cockpit, he endures
dangers and pain, and stands by his gun in the roar of the battle!”
“A great deal may be said about soldiers and sailors?”
“Yes,—and they have generally a great deal to say about themselves: the
one fighting his battles over again, and the other spinning his yarns
about cruises and privateering, and cutting out ships, and the winds
blowing great guns in the Bay of Biscay. Soldiers are soldiers
everywhere, and sailors keep up their character for courage, whether on
the sea or in harbour, in a storm or a calm, in a battle or a breeze.”
“What was it that made you list for a soldier?”
“A thoughtless prank, my lads. In my youthful days I was fond of reading
of knights armed cap-à-piè, mounted on fiery steeds,—lance in the rest,
helmet on the head, vambrace on the arm, cuirass on the breast, cuisses
on the thighs, greaves on the legs, and sabatynes on the feet. I loved
to read, too, of ancient arms, clubs and slings, bows and arrows,
swords, falchions, javelins, maces, battle-axes and battering-rams; and
the portable arms when gunpowder came into use,—hand-gun, arquebus,
haquebut, wheel-lock, caliver, petronel, dag, dragon and hand-mortar;—
and these things led me on to a soldier’s life.”
“Ay, ay! Like us, you wanted to know everything.”
“Very true. My curiosity was excited, and I wished to hear all I could
about modern arms, from the poniard to the pike, from the cutlass to the
carbine, from the hand-grenade to the Congreve rocket, from the six-
pounder to the big brass cannon at Bejapoor in Hindoostan, and from the
horse-pistol in the houlster of a dragoon to the monster mortar used at
the siege of Antwerp.”
“And we wish to hear all about these things, too.”
“There was another circumstance, too, that did much towards leading me
into the army. I chanced to form an acquaintance with an old soldier who
knew everything about fortification, engineering, and gunnery. He had
had his share of sieges and storming-parties, and seemed as familiar
with trenches, ditches, fascines and scaling-ladders, as a schoolboy is
with his peg-top and his kite. He used to describe to me the whole
affair, from first breaking ground to the taking of a garrison, the
glacis, scarps, and counter-scarps, ramparts, lunettes, bastions,
batteries and citadel.”
“No wonder that you should listen to a man like him.”
“He was, indeed, wondrously interesting, and we talked together by the
hour of Soldiers and Sailors. ‘Forward,’ and ‘Off she goes,’ were our
mottoes. We advanced in double quick time with the red-coats, and only
halted in a case of necessity. We shared the birth of honest Jack when
buffeted on the billows, nor left him till he put into harbour, mingled
his prize-money with his pig-tail tobacco, and sang ‘Britannia rules the
waves.’”
“Did the old soldier describe a battle to you?”
“He did, and many of them, too. The plan of an engagement was unknown to
me, and I had formed strange notions of one army attacking another. He
explained to me the movements of the advanced guard, the main body, the
wings, the reserve, and the artillery; and discoursed freely of
sentinels, vedettes, patrols, piquets, and the general arrangements of
an army in the field.”
“He would be quite at home there!”
“Such conversation as this led me to read of celebrated military and
naval commanders, with the battles they had fought, and the victories
they had won. Of Frederick the Great, of Prussia; Charles of Sweden;
Peter the Great, of Russia; Buonaparte of France; and Marlborough and
Wellington of England; with Hawkins, Drake, Frobisher, Rodney, Howe,
Duncan and Nelson. At that time I knew nothing, or next to nothing, of a
sea-fight, of the order of battle, of ships taking their stations, of
signals, and the several duties of officers and men during the action;
and of broadsides, raking, and boarding; but since then I have picked up
some information on most of these points.”
“That old soldier must have known a great deal!”
“He did know a great deal, for he had mingled among sailors as well as
soldiers, so that he could talk freely of actions, attacks, and
attempts, battles, blockades, and bombardments, descents and defeats,
engagements and expeditions, invasions, reductions, sea-fights and
storms, sieges, surprises, skirmishes, repulses, and explosions.”
“We do not wonder at your having entered the army, but a battle must be
a terrible thing.”
“That is true, sure enough. It is one thing to hear or to read of a
battle, and another to fight in the ranks. War is no child’s play, as
every one knows who has seen service. There are different opinions about
war: one man sees in it nothing but what is honourable and glorious;
another maintains that it is in no case to be justified. It is not for
me to decide between the two, seeing that I agree with neither, for
while on the one hand I hold it wrong to plunge into war on light
grounds when it can be avoided, or when it inflicts a greater evil than
it undertakes to remove; on the other, I cannot see how war can be
always evaded. If to oppress others be wrong, to allow ourselves to be
oppressed can hardly be right; and though conquest and national glory
will not justify those who draw the sword, yet, as a nation, we must be
other than we are before we could give up what is dearer than life
without an effort to defend it. However, my object is not to turn your
heads with false notions of honour and glory, that you may long to
become Wellingtons and Nelsons, but simply to give, according to your
desire, what information I can about soldiers and sailors, and to
explain to you the way in which they carry on war.”
“Ay, those are the very things! We want to know everything about them.
We saw a sailor yesterday; and the road seemed hardly broad enough for
him, he reeled about so much from one side to the other.”
“Jack-tars too often fall into this error; they are too often _half-
seas-over_ before they are out of _port_, and they are usually the most
_steady_ when being _tossed about_ on the ocean.”
“That sounds comical, however.”
“Perhaps it does, but I wish to be pointed in my remarks, that there may
be some likelihood of your remembering what I say. The army, from the
commander-in-chief to the men in the ranks, should aim at
respectability. A _general_ should never be without a good _private_
character, and a _private_ should be _generally_ acknowledged as a man
of courage and sobriety. As a standing rule, a soldier _under_ arms
should not be _above_ doing his duty: though he wears a _red coat_ he
must be a _true blue_, and _peacefully_ preserve, in every situation,
the articles of _war_.”
[Illustration]