British divisions pressed the pursuit vigorously by Roncesvalles, Mayo,
and Donna Maria. Nothing could equal the distress of the enemy,--
they were completely worn down; and, fatigued and disheartened as
they were, the only wonder is, that multitudes did not perish in the
wild and rugged passes through which they were obliged to retire.
Although rather in the rear of some of the columns, the British light
brigades were ordered forward to overtake the enemy; and, wherever
they came up, bring them to immediate action. At midnight the bivouacs
were abandoned,--the division marched,--and, after nineteen hours’
continued exertions, during which time a distance of nearly forty miles
was traversed, over Alpine heights and roads rugged and difficult
beyond description, the enemy were overtaken and attacked. A short, but
smart affair, ensued. To extricate the tail of the column, and enable
the wounded to get away, the French threw a portion of their rear-guard
across the river. The rifles instantly attacked the reinforcement,--
a general fusilade commenced, and continued until night put an end to
the affair, when the enemy retreated over the bridge of Yanzi, and the
British pickets took possession of it. Both sides lost many men, and
a large portion of French baggage fell into the hands of the pursuing
force, who had moved by St. Estevan.
“That night the British light troops lay upon the ground; and next
morning moved forward at daybreak. Debouching through the pass at Vera,
the hill of Santa Barbara was crossed by the second brigade, while the
rifles carried the heights of Echalar, which the French voltigeurs
seemed determined to maintain. As the mountain was obscured by a thick
fog, the firing had a strange appearance to those who witnessed it from
the valley, occasional flashes only being seen, while every shot was
repeated by a hundred echoes. At twilight the enemy’s light infantry
were driven in; but long after darkness fell, the report of musketry
continued; until, after a few spattering shots, a death-like silence
succeeded, and told that the last of the enemy had followed their
companions, and abandoned the heights to their assailants.”--_The
Bivouac._
[238] “The enemy had no success on any other ground, and were terribly
beat after I joined the troops at Sorauren. Their loss cannot be less
than 15,000 men, and I am not certain that it is not 20,000 men. We
have about 4,000 prisoners. I never saw such fighting as on the 27th
and 28th of July, the anniversary of the battle of Talavera, nor such
determination as the troops showed.
* * * * *
“I never saw such fighting as we have had here. It began on the 25th,
and, excepting the 29th, when not a shot was fired, we had it every
day till the 2nd. The battle of the 28th was fair _bludgeon_ work. The
4th division was principally engaged; and the loss of the enemy was
immense. Our loss has likewise been very severe, but not of a nature to
cripple us.”--_Letter to Lord William Bentinck, Lisaca, 5th August,
1813._
[239] On the night of the 28th, Soult took the precaution of sending
his artillery into France, or there is no doubt that many of his guns
would have been added to the immense parc already captured from Joseph
at Vitoria.
[240] “The peculiarity of the prospect was heightened by a long train
of Spaniards, carrying officers and soldiers to the rear, who had been
wounded in the late engagements, and who were always removed to proper
hospitals as soon as it could be done with safety.
“The care of the sick and wounded necessarily employed a number of men;
and they could nowhere receive such able attention as in the general
hospitals established within the Spanish frontiers.
“The rugged mountain-road was not passable for spring-waggons, on which
the wounded are usually conveyed to the rear, and they were therefore
carried in blankets fastened at the sides to a couple of poles, and
thus borne on the shoulders of the peasantry.
“This mode of conveyance on bad roads is far preferable to that of
spring-waggons; but, as it required four men to carry one sick person,
the transport of the small number of them gave the train a formidable
appearance when seen extended for so great a length along the windings
of the mountain track.”--_Batty._
[241] “The Bivouac.”
[242] “Sailors were employed in constructing batteries, and never did
men more thoroughly enjoy their occupation.
“They had double allowance of grog, as their work required; and at
their own cost they had a fiddler; they who had worked their spell in
the battery, went to relieve their comrades in the dance; and at every
shot which fell upon the castle they gave three cheers.”
[243] “The French lost many men by our spherical case-shot; and they
attempted to imitate what they had found so destructive, by filling
common shells with small balls, and bursting them over the heads of the
besiegers; but these were without effect.”
[244] “Men were now invited to volunteer for the assault, such men, it
was said, ‘as knew how to shew other troops how to mount a breach.’
When this was communicated to the fourth division, which was to furnish
four hundred men, _the whole moved forward_.”--_Southey._
[245] “A mortar battery was erected to shell the castle from across
the bay,--while a storm of round and case shot was maintained so
vigorously, that in a short time the fire of the enemy was nearly
silenced.”
In a tempest of thunder, lightning, and rain, and amid the uproar of
elemental fury, three mines, loaded with sixteen hundred pounds of
powder, were sprung by the besiegers, and the sea-wall completely blown
down.
[246] The storming party was composed of volunteers; and they were
given by the light, first, and fourth divisions, the brigades of Hay
and Robinson, and the caçadores of General Spry. Robinson’s brigade led
the storm, and General Leith commanded the division.
[247] “The enemy still held the convent of St. Teresa, the garden of
which, enclosed as usual in such establishments with a high wall,
reached a good way up the hill toward their upper defences, and from
thence they marked any who approached within reach of fire, so that
when a man fell, there was no other means of bringing him off than by
sending the French prisoners upon this service of humanity.”
* * * * *
“The town presented a dreadful spectacle both of the work of war and of
the wickedness which in war is let loose.
“It had caught fire during the assault, owing to the quantity of
combustibles of all kinds which were scattered about. The French rolled
their shells into it, from the castle, and while it was in flames the
troops were plundering, and the people of the surrounding country
flocking to profit by the spoils of their countrymen.
“The few inhabitants who were to be seen seemed stupified with
horror,--they had suffered so much, that they looked with apathy at
all around them, and when the crash of a falling house made the captors
run, they scarcely moved.
“Heaps of dead were lying everywhere, English, Portuguese, and French,
one upon another; with such determination had the one side attacked and
the other maintained its ground.
“Very many of the assailants lay dead on the roofs of the houses which
adjoined the breach. The bodies were thrown into the mines and other
excavations, and there covered over so as to be out of sight, but
so hastily and slightly, that the air far and near was tainted, and
fires were kindled in the breaches to consume those which could not be
otherwise disposed of.
* * * * *
“The hospital presented a more dreadful scene, for it was a scene of
human suffering: friend and enemy had been indiscriminately carried
thither, and were there alike neglected. On the third day after the
assault, many of them had received neither surgical assistance nor
food of any kind, and it became necessary to remove them on the fifth,
when the flames approached the building. Much of this neglect would
have been unavoidable, even if that humane and conscientious diligence
which can be hoped for from so few, had been found in every individual
belonging to the medical department, the number of the wounded being
so great; and little help could be received from the other part of the
army, because it had been engaged in action on the same day.”
[248] San Sebastian was won. Would that its horrors had ended with
its storm! but the scenes that followed were terrible. The sky became
suddenly overcast--thunder was heard above the din of battle--and
mortal fury mingled with an elemental uproar. Darkness came on; but
houses wrapped in flames directed the licentious soldiery to plunder,
and acts of violence still more horrible. The storms of Badajoz and
Rodrigo were followed by the most revolting excesses; yet they fell
infinitely short of those committed after San Sebastian was carried by
assault. “Some order was first maintained, but the resolution of the
troops to throw off discipline was quickly made manifest. A British
staff officer was pursued with a volley of small arms, and escaped
with difficulty from men who mistook him for the provost-martial of
the 5th division; a Portuguese adjutant, who endeavoured to prevent
some atrocity, was put to death in the market-place, not with sudden
violence from a single ruffian, but deliberately by a number of English
soldiers. Many officers exerted themselves to preserve order: many
men were well-conducted, but the rapine and violence commenced by
villains soon spread, the camp-followers crowded into the place, and
the disorder continued, until the flames following the steps of the
plunderer put an end to his ferocity by destroying the whole town.”
“This storm seemed to be the signal of hell for the perpetration of
villany which would have shamed the most ferocious barbarians of
antiquity. At Ciudad Rodrigo intoxication and plunder had been the
principal object; at Badajoz lust and murder were joined to rapine
and drunkenness; but at San Sebastian, the direst, the most revolting
cruelty was added to the catalogue of crimes. One atrocity, of which a
girl of seventeen was the victim, staggers the mind by its enormous,
incredible, indescribable barbarity.”--_Napier._
[249] “A plunging shot struck the ground near the spot where Sir
James was standing, rebounded, struck him on the chest, and laid him
prostrate and senseless. The officers near thought that certainly
he was killed; but he recovered breath, and then recollection, and,
resisting all entreaties to quit the field, continued to issue his
orders.”--_Southey._
[250] “I am quite certain that the use of mortars and howitzers in a
siege, for the purpose of what ---- calls _general annoyance_, answers
no purpose whatever against a Spanish place occupied by French troops,
excepting against the inhabitants of the place; and eventually, when
we shall get the place, against ourselves, and the convenience we
should derive from having the houses of the place in a perfect state
of repair. If ---- intended to use his mortars and howitzers against
any particular work occupied by the enemy, such as the cavalier, their
use would answer his purpose. If he knew exactly where the enemy’s
intrenchment was situated, their use _might_ answer his purpose. I say
_might_, because I recollect that, at the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo,
our trenches were bombarded by eleven or thirteen large mortars and
howitzers for ten days, in which time thirteen thousand shells were
thrown, which occasioned us but little loss, notwithstanding that our
trenches were always full, and, I may safely say, did not impede our
progress for one moment.”--_Wellington’s Despatches._
[251] General Rey.
[252] “On the 10th, the Portuguese were formed in the streets of the
ruined city, the British on the ramparts. The day was fine, after
a night of heavy rain. About noon the garrison marched out at the
Mirador gate. The bands of two or three Portuguese regiments played
occasionally, but altogether it was a dismal scene, amid ruins and
vestiges of fire and slaughter,--a few inhabitants were present, and
only a few.
* * * * *
“Many of the French soldiers wept bitterly; there was a marked
sadness in the countenance of all, and they laid down their arms in
silence. The commandant of the place had been uniformly attentive
to the officers who had been prisoners. When this kindness was now
acknowledged, he said that he had been twice a prisoner in England;
that he had been fifty years in the service, and on the 15th of the
passing month he should have received his dismission; he was now
sixty-six, he said, an old man, and should never serve again; and if he
might be permitted to retire into France, instead of being sent into
England, he should be the happiest of men. Sir Thomas Graham wrote to
Lord Wellington in favour of the kind-hearted old man, and it may be
believed that the application was not made in vain.
* * * * *
“Captain Saugeon was recognized at this time, who, on the day of the
first assault, had descended the breach to assist our wounded. These,
said he, pointing, ‘are the remains of the brave 22nd;--we were two
hundred and fifty the other day, now no more than fifty are left.’ Lord
Wellington, upon being informed of his conduct, sent him to France.
Eighty officers and one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six men were
all the remains of the garrison, and of these twenty-five officers and
five hundred and twelve men were in the hospital.”
“The French general continuing obstinate, a flight of shells, exactly
at the hour indicated, following each other in rapid succession,
was perceived sailing through the firmament. In the darkness that
prevailed, nothing could be more fallacious than the impression
created, as our eyes followed them, by the fusees in their rotatory
motion. Instead of passing through the air with the velocity and
impetus they in reality possessed, in appearance they were majestically
and slowly pursuing their course.”--_Leith Hay._
[253] At noon, the French garrison marched out of the castle gate
with the customary honours of war. “At its head, with sword drawn,
and firm step, appeared General Rey, accompanied by Colonel Songeon,
and the officers of his staff; as a token of respect, we saluted him
as he passed. The old general dropped his sword in return to the
civilities of the British officers, and leading the remains of his
brave battalions to the glacis, there deposited their arms, with a
well-founded confidence of having nobly done his duty, and persevered
to the utmost in an energetic and brilliant defence.”--_Leith Hay._
[254] “The best of the story is, that all parties ran away. Maurice
Mathieu ran away; Sir John Murray ran away; and so did Suchet. He was
afraid to strike at Sir John Murray without his artillery, and knew
nothing of Maurice Mathieu; and he returned into Valencia either to
strike at the Duque del Parque, or to get the assistance of Harispe,
whom he had left opposed to the Duque del Parque. I know that in his
first proclamation to his army on their success, he knew so little what
had passed at Tarragona, that he mentioned the English General having
raised the siege, but not his having left his artillery. He could
therefore have had no communication with the place when he marched; and
he must have known of the raising of the siege afterwards only by the
reports of the country.”--_Wellington’s Despatches._
[255] “The valley through which this boundary river passes, may justly
be considered as affording some of the most romantic and beautiful
scenery, perhaps, in all Europe, uniting, in a remarkable degree, the
various characters of the sublime, the beautiful, and the picturesque.
At every bend of the river, the road along its banks brings us suddenly
on some new and striking feature. The pleasing combination of wood and
rock, overhanging the beautifully winding stream, contrasted with the
barren grandeur of the mountain summits which tower above them, present
an infinite number of delightful prospects. The oak, the chestnut, and
the walnut are the most conspicuous trees along the valley and the
slopes of the inferior hills; whilst among the crevices of the rocks,
the evergreen box-tree grows with surprising luxuriance, and by its
deep verdure relieves, while it contrasts in a very beautiful manner,
the bright silver tints of the surrounding rocks, clothed with lichens.
“A small chapel stands on this hill, and the French fortified it, and
continued the line of intrenchments from thence to the sea. The most
vulnerable points of the enemy’s position, if any might be called so
on this part of his line, were strengthened by abbatis; and as the
country was well wooded, and had numerous orchards, these defences were
multiplied upon every part of his line. The cutting down of whole rows
of orchard-trees was a serious evil to the unfortunate inhabitants,
who, however, had almost to a man fled the country.
“The buildings, though thinly scattered over the country, are
picturesque, and, like most of the Spanish houses, have large
projecting roofs. Glazed windows are rarely seen, shutters being
almost everywhere the substitute. There are but few vineyards in this
vicinity, excepting on the slopes of Jaysquibel, near Fontarabia, but
about the houses the vine is everywhere reared. The inhabitants are a
strong and well-proportioned race, having jet-black hair, black eyes,
and deep brown complexions. The women, many of them tall and with
handsome features, wear their hair in a huge plait, which hangs down
the back below the waist; but neither sex were observed to have those
“ears of uncommon size” which Buffon says Nature has given to the
inhabitants of the banks of the Bidassao.
“The evenings generally were remarkably beautiful: the splendid
colouring of the immense amphitheatre of mountains in the glowing rays
of sunset, is beyond description.”--_Batty._
[256] When Downie’s brigade betrayed a dangerous indecision, and
declined to go forward, “there happened to be present an officer of the
43rd regiment, named Haverlock, who being attached to General Alten’s
staff, was sent to ascertain Giron’s progress. His fiery temper could
not brook the check. He took off his hat, he called upon the Spaniards
to follow him, and putting spurs to his horse, at one bound cleared
the abbatis and went headlong amongst the enemy. Then the soldiers,
shouting for ‘_El chico blanco_,’ _the fair boy_,--so they called
him, for he was very young and had light hair--with one shock broke
through the French, and this at the very moment when their centre was
flying under the fire of Kemp’s skirmishers from the Puerto-de-Vera.”--
_Napier._
[257] In October, the garrison were put upon an allowance of four
ounces of horseflesh each man. In a week that too failed; every
domestic animal had been consumed; rats were eagerly sought for, and
weeds supplied the place of vegetables. A feeble sally was made upon
the 10th, but it was repulsed with a loss of eighty men. Disease
generally accompanies famine--scurvy broke out--a thousand men were
reported to be in the hospital, as many were wounded, and death and
desertion had lessened the garrison by six hundred. In these desperate
circumstances, Cassan, the governor, sent out to offer a surrender,
provided he was allowed to retire into France with six pieces of
artillery. A peremptory rejection of this condition was followed by a
proposition that the soldiers should not serve for a year. This, too,
being refused, it was intimated to the Spanish general, that after
blowing up the works, Cassan would imitate Brennier, and trust to
fortune and gallantry for the deliverance of his exhausted garrison.
This proceeding on the part of the French governor was so repugnant
to the rules of war, that a letter was conveyed to his advanced post,
denouncing the attempt as inhuman, involving in a desperate experiment
the destruction of unfortunate beings who had already borne the
horrors of a siege, with an assurance that, should it be attempted,
the governor and officers would be shot, and the private soldiers
decimated. Most probably the threat of mining the city had been merely
used to obtain more favourable terms, and neither the abominable
experiment was made, nor the terrible retaliation which would have
followed was required. On the 31st the garrison surrendered, and the
finest fortress on the Peninsula became thus a bloodless conquest.
[258] “The cattle brought for the consumption of the troops through a
great part of Spain, arrived in a jaded and lean condition--those who
lived to reach the place of slaughter--for the roads along which they
had been driven might easily be traced by their numerous carcasses,
lying half-buried or unburied by the way-side--sad proofs of the
wasteful inhumanity of war! The weather had been more stormy than was
usual even on that coast and at that season. The transports at Passages
were moored stem and stem in rows, and strongly confined by their
moorings; yet they were considered in danger even in that land-locked
harbour: some were driven forward by the rising of the swell, while
others, close alongside, were forced backwards by its fall, so that
the bowsprits of some were entangled in the mizen-chains of others.
The cold on the mountains was so intense, that several men perished.
A picket in the neighbourhood of Roncesvalles was snowed up: the
parties who were sent to rescue it drove bullocks before them as some
precaution against the danger of falling into chasms, and the men were
brought off; but the guns could not be removed, and were buried under
the snow in the ditch of the redoubt.”--_Southey._
[259] “The successful result of the battle was owing in no
inconsiderable degree to the able direction of the artillery under
Colonel Dickson. Guns were brought to bear on the French fortifications
from situations which they considered totally inaccessible to that arm.
“Mountain guns on swivel carriages, harnessed on the backs of mules
purposely trained for that service, ascended the rugged ridges of the
mountains, and showered destruction on the intrenchments below. The
foot and horse-artillery displayed a facility of movement which must
have astonished the French, the artillerymen dragging the guns with
ropes up steep precipices, or lowering them down to positions from
whence they could with more certain aim pour forth their fatal volleys
against the enemy.”--_Batty._
[260] During the short term of inaction which the inclemency of the
weather had occasioned, one of those periods of conventional civility
which not unfrequently occurred during the Peninsular campaigns, took
place between the French and allied outposts. “A disposition,” says
Quartermaster Surtees, “had for some time been gaining ground with both
armies, to mitigate the miseries of warfare, as much as was consistent
with each doing their duty to their country; and it had by this time
proceeded to such an extent, as to allow us to place that confidence in
them that they would not molest us, even if we passed their outposts.”
Lord Wellington, however, discountenanced those friendly relations,
where the arrangements were so perfectly amicable, that the parties
not only took charge of love letters, but even “plundered in perfect
harmony.”
“Before this order was issued, the most unbounded confidence subsisted
between us, and which it was a pity to put a stop to, except for such
weighty reasons. They used to get us such things as we wanted from
Bayonne, particularly brandy, which was cheap and plentiful; and we in
return gave them occasionally a little tea, of which some of them had
learned to be fond. Some of them also, who had been prisoners of war
in England, sent letters through our army-post to their sweethearts in
England, our people receiving the letters and forwarding them.”
“The next day, there being no firing between us and those in our front,
three French officers, seemingly anxious to prove how far politeness
and good breeding could be carried between the two nations, when war
did not compel them to be unfriendly, took a table and some chairs out
of a house which was immediately in our front, and one which we had
lately occupied as a barrack; and bringing them down into the middle
of the field which separated the advance of the two armies, sat down
within a hundred yards of our picket, and drank wine, holding up their
glasses, as much as to say, ‘Your health,’ every time they drank. Of
course we did not molest them, but allowed them to have their frolic
out.
“During the day, also, we saw soldiers of the three nations, viz.
English, Portuguese, and French, all plundering at the same time in
one unfortunate house, where our pie, our pig, and wine had been left.
It stood about 150 or 200 yards below the church, on a sort of neutral
ground between the two armies; hence the assemblage at the same moment
of such a group of these motley marauders. _They plundered in perfect
harmony, no one disturbing the other on account of his nation or
colour._”
[261] “The mist hung heavily; and the French masses, at one moment
quite shrouded in vapour, at another dimly seen, or looming sudden
and large and dark at different points, appeared like thunder-clouds
gathering before the storm. At half-past eight, Soult pushed back the
British pickets in the centre; the sun burst out at that moment, the
sparkling fire of the light troops spread wide in the valley, and crept
up the hills on either flank, while the bellowing of forty pieces of
artillery shook the banks of the Nive and the Adour. Darricau, marching
on the French right, was directed against General Pringle. D’Armagnac,
moving on their left and taking Old Monguerre as the point of
direction, was ordered to force Byng’s right. Abbé assailed the centre
at St. Pierre, where General Stewart commanded; for Sir Rowland Hill
had taken his station on a commanding mount in the rear, from whence he
could see the whole battle and direct the movements.”--_Napier._
[262] “This glorious battle was fought and won by Sir Rowland Hill
with his own corps, alone and unassisted. Lord Wellington could not
reach the field till the victory was achieved, and as he rode up to his
successful general, he shook him heartily by the hand, with the frank
remark, ‘Hill, the day’s your own.’ He was exceedingly delighted with
Sir Rowland’s calm and beautiful conduct of this action, and with the
intrepid and resolute behaviour of the troops.”--_Sherer._
[263] “A Frankfort officer now made his way to the outposts of our
fourth division in the centre of the allies, and announced the intended
defection, requiring a general officer’s word of honour that they
should be well-received and sent to Germany: no general being on the
spot, Colonel Bradford gave his word; means were immediately taken to
apprise the battalions, and they came over in a body, thirteen hundred
men, the French not discovering their intention till just when it was
too late to frustrate it.”
[264] “During this period of mutual repose, the French officers and
ours soon became intimate: we used to meet at a narrow part of the
river, and talk over the campaign. They would never believe (or
pretended not to believe) the reverse of Napoleon in Germany; and when
we received the news of the Orange Boven affair in Holland, they said
that it was impossible to convince them. One of our officers took _The
Star_ newspaper, rolled a stone up in it, and attempted to throw it
across the river; unfortunately the stone went through it, and it fell
into the water: the French officer very quietly said, in tolerably good
English, “Your good news is very soon damped!“--_Batty._
* * * * *
“During the campaign, we had often experienced the most gentlemanlike
conduct from the French officers. A day or two before the battle, when
we were upon our alarm-post, at break of day, a fine hare was seen
playing in a corn-field between the outposts; a brace of greyhounds
were very soon unslipped, when, after an excellent course, poor puss
was killed within the French lines. The officer to whom the dogs
belonged, bowing to the French officer, called off the dogs, but the
Frenchman politely sent the hare, with a message and his compliments,
saying, that we required it more than they did.”
* * * * *
“A daring fellow, an Irishman, named Tom Patten, performed a singular
feat. At the barrier there was a rivulet, along which our lines of
sentries were posted. To the right was a thick, low wood, and during
the cessation of hostilities our officers had again become intimate
with those of the French, and the soldiers had actually established
a traffic in tobacco and brandy in the following ingenious manner. A
large stone was placed in that part of the rivulet screened by the
wood, opposite to the French sentry, on which our people used to put a
canteen with a quarter-dollar, for which it was very soon filled with
brandy. One afternoon about dusk, Patten had put down his canteen with
the usual money in it, and retired, but, though he returned several
times, no canteen was there. He waited till the moon rose, but still
he found nothing on the stone. When it was near morning, Tom thought
he saw the same sentry who was there when he put his canteen down;
so he sprang across the stream, seized the unfortunate Frenchman,
wrested his firelock from him, and actually shaking him out of his
accoutrements, recrossed, vowing he would keep them until he got his
canteen of brandy, and brought them to the picket-house. Two or three
hours afterwards, just as we were about to fall in, an hour before
daybreak, the sergeant came to say that a flag of truce was at the
barrier: I instantly went down, when I found the officer of the French
picket in a state of great alarm, saying, that a most extraordinary
circumstance had occurred (relating the adventure), and stating, that
if the sentry’s arms and accoutrements were not given back, his own
commission would be forfeited, as well as the life of the poor sentry.
A sergeant was instantly sent to see if they were in the picket-house;
when Patten came up scratching his head, saying “He had them in pawn
for a canteen of brandy and a quarter-dollar and told us the story in
his way; whereupon the things were immediately given over to the French
captain, who, stepping behind, put two five-franc pieces into Patten’s
hand. Tom, however, was not to be bribed by an enemy, but generously
handed the money to his officer, requesting that he would insist on the
French captain taking the money back.
“The Frenchman was delighted to get the firelock and accoutrements
back, and the joy of the poor fellow who was stripped of them may be
conceived, as, if it had been reported, he would certainly have been
shot, by sentence of court-martial, in less than forty-eight hours.”--
_Cadell._
[265] This general statement must unfortunately be qualified--for
never was a commander more sadly perplexed for want of money. “We are
just as bad as the Spaniards. _I yesterday wanted to send off a courier
to General W. Clinton in Catalonia, and the money for his expenses was
borrowed from those who happened to have a little to lend._”
[266] The Adour, like the Gave, is a name common to many rivers in
the Pyrenees, both simply meaning water in some of those primeval
languages, the remains of which are still widely preserved in the
appellations of rivers and mountains. The greater and noted stream,
into which the others are received, has its sources in the county
of Bigorre, under the Pics du Midi and d’Espade, two of the highest
mountains in the chain; it passes by Campan, Bagnères, Montgaillard,
and Tarbes, and begins to be navigable near Grenade, a small town in
the little county of Marsan. Having been joined by the Douze on the
right below Tartas, it inclines to the south-west from its junction,
passes Acqs, and then holds an almost southerly course to meet the Gave
de Pau, which brings with its own waters those of the Gave d’Oleron,
into which the Gave de Mauleon has been received. The Adour is then
joined by the Bidouse, and lastly by the Nive.
[267] “A halberd was set up, with a handkerchief fixed to it, and upon
this point the chasse-marées boldly stood in for the river. Mr. Bloye,
the master’s mate of the Lyra, led the passage. His boat was lost, and
the whole of the crew drowned: several others shared the same fate.
Captain Elliot, of the Martial, with the surgeon of that vessel and
four seamen, and two belonging to the Porcupine, were amongst those who
perished. Three transport-boats, with their crews, were also lost. All
eyes were turned to witness the vessels plunging through the huge waves
that rolled over the bar. A Spanish chasse-marée had nearly struggled
through the surf, when an enormous wave was seen gradually nearing
the vessel; and, just before it reached it, raising its curling ridge
high above the deck, with one fatal sweep bore it down to the bottom.
A moment after parts of the shattered vessel rose to the surface, and
exhibited the wretched mariners clinging to its fragments: some were
drifted till they actually got footing on the shore, and, as it was
flood-tide, hopes were entertained of saving them by means of ropes
thrown to them; but another tremendous wave rolling majestically on to
the beach, in a moment bore them away for ever.”--_Batty._
[268] It consisted of six-and-twenty chasse-marées, lashed to each
other, and moored by the bow and stem to resist the current that
changed at ebb and flow. Heavy guns were occasionally substituted for
anchors; and cables were strained by capstans across the centre of
the decks, with strong oak planks laid transversely, and sufficiently
secured to form a platform, at the same time pliant and substantial--
calculated to rise or fall with the tide--and strong enough to support
the weight of artillery. Immense stone piers had been erected by the
French to contract the channel of the stream, and, by an artificial
current, prevent the sand from accumulating on the bar. These, from
their breadth, formed an admirable causeway, while they lessened the
space of water to be bridged to an extent of two hundred and seventy
yards. It was supposed by French engineers impracticable to secure
pontoons so as to resist the ocean swells and mountain floods to which
the Adour was so constantly exposed; but a fortunate shifting of a
sand-bank formed an excellent breakwater; while a boom was laid above
the bridge to arrest fire-ships or floating timber, which it might have
been expected the enemy would employ for its destruction.
[269] “A few rocket-men were hastily sent across the river, and posted
on the sandhills to aid in repelling the enemy; and two guns of the
troops of horse-artillery were so placed on the left bank of the river,
as to be able to flank by their fire the troops coming on to attack the
front of the guards.
“The enemy came on a little before dusk of evening with drums beating
the _pas-de-charge_, and driving before him the pickets sent out by
General Stopford to reconnoitre. The guards awaited the approach of
the French columns till within a short distance of their front, and
then commenced a well-directed fire; the guns on the left bank began
to cannonade them, and the rockets on the sandhills were discharged
with terrific effect, piercing the enemy’s column, killing several
men, and blazing through it with the greatest violence. The result was
the almost immediate rout of the French, who, terror-struck at the
unusual appearance, and at the effect of the rockets, and the immovable
firmness of the little corps, made the best of their retreat back
towards the citadel, leaving a number of killed and wounded on the
ground. This gallant little combat closed the events of the day.”--
_Batty._
[270] “There was a prejudice in the army against this weapon, which had
hitherto not been used in the field; the opinion seems to have been,
that if it had been an efficient means of destruction, it would sooner
have been borrowed from the East Indian nations. Lord Wellington,
however, was willing that they should be tried; and some experiments
which were made at Fontarabia gave reason for supposing that they
might be found useful on the Adour. The direction of this new arm was
assigned to Sir Augustus Fraser, but the trial was to be made under all
the disadvantages of inexperience; for the corps was composed of men
hastily brought together, and entirely ignorant of the arm they were to
use; and the rockets themselves were equipped in five different ways,
and consequently liable to as many failures.”--_Southey._
A twelve-pounder rocket laid on the ground, and discharged without a
tube, by simply applying a match to the vent, will run along the ground
four or five hundred yards, seldom rising higher than a man’s head; and
then, alternately rising and falling, will continue its course with
such effect, as, after ranging 1200 yards, to pierce through twenty
feet of turf, and explode on the other side, scattering the seventy-two
carbine balls, with which it was loaded, in all directions. No
barricade could for an instant retard its force; and should it by any
accident strike against a stone, or any obstacle which it cannot pierce
or overturn, it will bound off, and continue its terrible course.
They are of various dimensions, as well in length as in calibre, and
are differently armed, according as they are intended for the field
or for bombardment,--carrying, in the first instance, either shells
or case-shot, which may be exploded at any part of their flight,
spreading death and destruction among the columns of the enemy; and in
the second, where they are intended for the destruction of buildings,
shipping, stores, &c. they are armed with a peculiar species of
composition which never fails of destroying every combustible material
with which it comes in contact: the latter are called carcass-rockets.
The powers of this weapon are now established upon the best of all
testimonies--that of the enemy; a striking instance of which occurred
at the siege of Flushing, where General Monnet, the French commandant,
made a formal remonstrance to Lord Chatham respecting the use of them
in that bombardment.
The form of all the different kinds of these rockets is cylindrical,
and they are composed of strong metallic cases, armed, as before
stated, either with carcass composition for bombardment and
conflagration, or with shells and case-shot for field-service. They
are, however, of various weights and dimensions, from the eight-inch
carcass, or explosion-rocket, weighing nearly three hundredweight, to
the six-pound shell-rocket, which is the smallest size used in the
field. The sticks which are employed for regulating their flight are
also of different lengths, according to the size and service of the
rocket, and which, for the convenience of carriage, are stowed apart
from the rocket, and so contrived as to consist of two or more parts,
which are connected to it, and to each other when requisite, with the
utmost expedition.
They are divided into three classes, heavy, medium, and light,--
the former including all those of above forty-two pounds, which are
denominated according to their calibre, as eight-inch, seven-inch,
six-inch, &c. rockets; the medium include all those from the forty-two
pound to the twenty-four pound rocket; and the light, from the
eighteen-pounder to the six-pounder, inclusive. The carcass-rockets
are armed with strong iron conical heads, containing a composition as
hard and solid as iron itself, and which, when once inflamed, bids
defiance to any human effort to extinguish it, and, consequently,
involves in an inextinguishable flame every combustible material with
which it comes in contact. The forty-two pounder and thirty-two pounder
carcass-rockets are those which have hitherto been chiefly employed in
bombardments. The penetration of the thirty-two pound carcass-rocket,
in common ground, is nine feet,--and in some instances where they
have been employed, have been known to pierce through several floors,
and through the sides of houses: this is the smallest rocket used
in bombardment, and the largest employed in the field,--the more
usual size for the latter service being the twenty-four, eighteen,
twelve, and six-pounders. The ranges of the eight-inch, seven-inch,
and six-inch rockets, are from 2,000 to 2,500 yards; and the quantity
of combustible matter, or bursting powder, from twenty-five to fifty
pounds; and from their weight, combined with less diameter, they
possess a greater power of penetration than the heaviest shells, and
are therefore equally efficient for the destruction of bomb-proofs, or
the demolition of strong buildings.
The largest rocket that has yet been constructed has not, we believe,
weighed more than three hundred-weight.
The forty-two and thirty-two pounders are those which have hitherto
been principally used in bombardment, and which, for the general
purposes of that service, are found quite sufficient, as they will
convey from seven pounds to ten pounds of combustible matter each, and
have a range of upwards of three thousand yards. The thirty-two pounder
rocket may be considered as the medium rocket, being the smallest
used in bombardment as a carcass or explosion rocket, and the largest
used with shot or shell in the field; but as the twenty-four pounder
is very nearly equal to it in all its applications in the latter
service, being quite equal to the propelling of the Cohorn shell,
or twelve-pounder shot, it is, from the saving in weight, generally
preferred to the thirty-two pounder. The eighteen-pounder, which is the
first of the light nature of rockets, is armed with a nine-pound shot
or shell; the twelve pounder with a six-pound ditto; the nine-pounder
with a grenade; and the six-pounder with a three-pound shot or shell.
From the twenty-four pounder to the nine-pounder rocket, inclusive, a
description of case-shot rocket is formed of each nature, armed with a
quantity of musket or carbine balls put into the top of the cylinder of
the rocket.
[271] The citadel of Bayonne is a truly formidable work, standing on a
commanding hill upon the right bank of the Adour, and greatly elevated
above all the other defences of the city, nearly fronting the mouth of
the Nive. It is almost a perfect square, with strongly-built oreillon
bastions at the four angles. A double range of barracks and magazines
inclose a quadrangular space in the centre called the _place d’armes_,
the sides of which are parallel with the curtains of the citadel.
The north-east, north-west, and south-west bastions are surmounted
by cavaliers which appear to be well armed with cannon mounted _en
barbette_.
[272] The allied loss in this spirited affair was only twenty killed,
one hundred and thirty-six wounded and two missing.
[273] “They were not aware that a rather deep ravine separated them
from the enemy’s works; however, on they pushed, in a very disorderly
manner, till they reached the point the French intended they should
reach, when a fire was opened out upon them, such as they had never
witnessed before. Few troops would have remained unshaken by such a
reception, but to the Spaniards it was intolerable; consequently they
broke into a thousand parties, and, turning tail, it was who should be
first away from such unpleasant doings. I am told that Lord Wellington
at this moment ‘wondered whether the Pyrenees would bring them up
again, they seemed to have got such a fright.’ He did not indeed
depend on their valour, or he would have made a bad winding up of his
Peninsular campaign. The moment they left the height, every man took
the way that seemed to him best, and they soon after literally covered
the whole plain, and set to work with all expedition to plunder.”--
_Surtees._
[274] Return of the killed, wounded, and missing, of the army under
the command of Field-Marshal the Marquis of Wellington, K. B., at the
battle of Toulouse, April 10, 1814.
Officers. Sergeants. Rank and File. Total Loss.
Killed 31 21 543 595
Wounded 248 123 3675 4046
Missing 3 0 15 18
The above loss as under:
Killed. Wounded. Missing.
British 312 1795 17
Spanish 205 1722 1
Portuguese 78 539 0
Horses 62 59 2
_Wellington’s Despatches._
[275] What, let it be simply asked, were the relative objects of Soult
and Wellington? Was it not with one to hold a city that the other was
as anxious to obtain? And what were the results? Soult, after his
defeat at Tarbes, had made forced marches to complete the defences
of Toulouse, and garrison a place to which he attached such value.
His opponent advanced more leisurely; for, as the end was great, so
also were the means limited and the difficulties many. Were they not
surmounted? “He desired to pass the Garonne, and he did pass it; he
desired to win the position and works of Mont Rave, and he did win
them; he desired to enter Toulouse, and he did enter it as a conqueror
at the head of his troops.”--_Napier._
[276] The allied loss, according to official reports, was five hundred
and ninety-five killed, four thousand and forty-six wounded, and
eighteen missing.
[277] “The enemy erected a tall mast on the cavalier of the south-west
bastion, supporting a sort of round top, boarded at the sides, for the
purpose of placing there a sentinel, who was thus enabled to overlook
the positions of the allies all round. This was a subject of great
jealousy to our soldiers, who were anxious to see the first cannon
directed against so dangerous an overseer, whom they always designated
by the name of ‘Jack in the box.’ Many of them amused themselves in
drawing rude sketches on the garden walls and sides of the houses with
burnt sticks, apparently consoling themselves by representing ‘Jack
in his box,’ with outstretched arms, in the moment of expiring from a
cannon-shot, which was duly depicted: their animosity was, in fact,
very particularly directed against this, as they called it, unfair
advantage.”--_Batty._
“At Bayonne, occasional instances occurred which shewed the extreme
accuracy of the French artillery-men in pointing their cannon, and
afforded the most convincing proofs of the absolute necessity of
keeping our sentinels in places where they could not be discovered, and
where, through holes pierced for that purpose in the garden walls, or
through the hedges, they could observe the enemy’s movements without
necessary exposure. A soldier of the German Legion had been posted at
the angle of a large house, with directions to look round the corner
from time to time, but on no account to remain exposed. Unfortunately
he placed one leg beyond the angle of the building, and in a moment
afterwards it was carried off by a cannon-shot. This might have been
accidental, but a second and third instance immediately following
served to convince us it was not so. A soldier of the light infantry,
belonging to those stationed at St. Bernard under the command of Lord
Saltoun, was posted behind a breastwork dug across the road which leads
from the suburb of St. Etienne towards Bouraut, not far from the bank
of the Adour. This road was looked down upon from the citadel, and was
guarded with extreme jealousy by the enemy. The soldier was desired
occasionally to look over the breastwork, but always to conceal himself
again as quickly as possible; he, however, had the rashness to stand
boldly upright on it, and was instantaneously killed by a cannon-ball,
which literally cut him in two.
“A similar instance of their accuracy in firing occurred on the 23rd
of February, when Colonel Maitland’s brigade took shelter behind the
sandhills on the borders of the marsh in front of the intrenched camp.
A drummer in the 3rd battalion of the first Guards had got upon the
summit of the sandhill, but had not been there many moments before a
cannon-shot, fired from a battery of the intrenched camp nearest to the
Adour, pierced the ground directly underneath his feet, and brought
down the frightened drummer headlong amongst his comrades below, who
were much amused on discovering that he had not sustained the slightest
injury.”
[278] “It appeared that the French were only able to extricate Sir John
Hope by drawing his leg out of the boot, which was afterwards found
under the horse’s side.”--_Batty._
[279] “When the enemy were driven out of St. Etienne, a field-piece was
brought to bear on the retreating columns, and no less than thirteen
rounds of grape and canister shot were fired at them with effect as
they retreated down the great road to St. Esprit. The slaughter at this
point was terrific.”--_Batty._
[280] A shell by daylight is occasionally visible. “The twenty-four
inch mortar fired at intervals during the day. The shell was distinctly
seen making its curve, and alighting with great precision. In the air
it had the appearance of a huge cricket-ball, and had, apparently,
little velocity.”--_Siege of Antwerp._
[281] “At the close of the action, the dead and wounded, along the high
road and on the ground adjoining it, were lying thicker than perhaps,
in an equal extent, on any field of battle which took place during
the war, not excepting Waterloo, although the latter continued eight
hours, whilst this was over in three. Lord Wellington, in riding over
the ground, remarked, that he had never observed so large a number of
killed in so small a compass.”
* * * * *
Return of the killed, wounded, and missing, in the operation of the
army, under the command of Field-Marshal the Marquis of Wellington,
K. G., in a sortie made by the garrison of Bayonne, on the morning of
the 14th of April, 1814.
Officers. Sergeants. Rank and File. Total. Horses.
Killed 8 3 139 150 0
Wounded 36 28 393 457 1
Missing 6 7 223 236 0
_Wellington’s Despatches._
[282] “After the engagement was over, the outposts and their officers
freely met each other,--when the British expressed a becoming regret
at the unnecessary loss of life the night affair had so uselessly
occasioned. The French treated it with a levity that by no means raised
them in English estimation. ‘It was merely a light affair--nothing but
a _petite promenade militaire_;’ and not the slightest expression of
regret was uttered for the many of their comrades who were lying thick
upon the field.”--_Batty._
[283] Field-Marshal the Marquis of Wellington and the Marshals
the Duke of Dalmatia and the Duke of Albufera being desirous of
concluding a suspension of hostilities between the armies under their
respective orders, and of agreeing upon a line of demarcation, have
named the undermentioned officers for that purpose; viz. on the part
of the Marquis of Wellington, Major-General Sir George Murray, and
Major-General Don Luis Wimpffen; and, on the part of the Duke of
Dalmatia and of the Duke of Albufera, the General of Division Count
Gazin.
These officers having exchanged their full powers have agreed upon the
following articles:--
Art. I.--From the date of the present convention there shall be a
suspension of hostilities between the allied armies under the orders of
Field-Marshal the Marquis of Wellington, and the armies of France under
the orders of Marshal the Duke of Dalmatia and of Marshal the Duke of
Albufera.
Art. II.--Hostilities shall not be recommenced on either part without
a previous notice being given of five days.
Art. III.--The limits of the department of the Haute Garonne, with
the departments of Arriege, Aude, and Tarn, shall be the line of
demarcation between the armies as far as the town of Buzet, on the
river Tarn. The line will then follow the course of the Tarn to its
junction with the Garonne, making a circuit, however, on the left bank
of the Tarn opposite Montauban, to the distance of three-quarters of a
league from the bridge of Montauban. From the mouth of the river Tarn,
the line of demarcation will follow the right bank of the Garonne, as
far as the limits of the department of the Lot and Garonne, with the
department of La Gironde. It will then pass by La Reole, Sanveterre,
and Rauzan, to the Dordogne, and will follow the right bank of that
river, and of the Gironde, to the sea. In the event, however, of
a different line of demarcation having been already determined by
Lieutenant-General the Earl of Dalhousie and General Decden, the line
fixed upon by those officers shall be adhered to.
Art. IV.--Hostilities shall cease also on both sides in regard to the
places of Bayonne, St. Jean de Pied de Port, Navarreins, Blaye, and the
castle of Lourdes.
The governors of these places shall be allowed to provide for the daily
subsistence of the garrisons in the adjacent country, the garrison of
Bayonne with a circuit of eight leagues from Bayonne, and the garrisons
of the other places named within a circuit of three leagues round each
place.
Officers shall be sent to the garrisons of the above places to
communicate to them the terms of the present convention.
Art. V.--The town and forts of Santona shall be evacuated by the
French troops, and made over to the Spanish forces. The French garrison
will remove with it all that properly belongs to it, together with
such arms, artillery, and other military effects as have not been the
property originally of the Spanish government.
The Marquis of Wellington will determine whether the French garrison of
Santona shall return to France by land or by sea, and, in either case,
the passage of the garrison shall be secured, and it will be directed
upon one of the places or ports most contiguous to the army of the Duke
of Dalmatia.
The ships of war or other vessels now in the harbour of Santona,
belonging to France, shall be allowed to proceed to Rochfort with
passports for that purpose.
The Duke of Dalmatia will send an officer to communicate to the French
general commanding in Santona the terms of the present convention, and
cause them to be complied with.
Art. VI.--The fort of Venasque shall be made over as soon as possible
to the Spanish troops, and the French garrison shall proceed by the
most direct route to the head-quarters of the French army: the garrison
will remove with it the arms and ammunition which are originally French.
Art. VII.--The line of demarcation between the allied armies and the
army of Marshal Suchet, shall be the line of the frontier of Spain and
France, from the Mediterranean to the limits of the department of the
Haute Garonne.
Art. VIII.--The garrison of all the places which are occupied by the
troops of the army of the Duke of Albufera shall be allowed to return
without delay into France. These garrisons shall remove with them all
that properly belongs to them, as also the arms and artillery which are
originally French.
The garrison of Murviedro and of Peniscola shall join the garrison
of Tortosa, and these troops will then proceed together by the great
road, and enter France by Perpignan. The day of the arrival of these
garrisons at Gerona, the fortresses of Figueras and of Rosas shall be
made over to the Spanish troops, and the French garrisons of these
places shall proceed to Perpignan.
As soon as information is received of the French garrisons of
Murviedro, Peniscola, and Tortosa, having passed the French frontier,
the place and forts of Barcelona shall be made over to the Spanish
troops, and the French garrisons shall march immediately for Perpignan.
The Spanish authorities will provide for the necessary means of
transport being supplied to the French garrisons on their march to the
frontier.
The sick or wounded of any of the French garrisons who are not in
a state to move with the troops, shall remain and be cured in the
hospitals where they are, and will be sent into France as soon as they
have recovered.
Art. IX.--From the date of the ratifications of the present
convention, there shall not be removed from Peniscola, Murviedro,
Tortosa, Barcelona, or any of the other places, any artillery, arms,
ammunition, or any other military effects belonging to the Spanish
government. And the provisions remaining at the evacuation of these
places shall be made over to the Spanish authorities.
Art. X.--The roads shall be free for the passage of couriers through
the cantonments of both armies, provided they are furnished with
regular passports.
Art. XI.--During the continuance of the present convention, deserters
from either army shall be arrested, and shall be delivered up if
demanded.
Art. XII.--The navigation of the Garonne shall be free from Toulouse
to the sea, and all boats in the service of either army, employed in
the river, shall be allowed to pass unmolested.
Art. XIII.--The cantonments of the troops shall be arranged so as
to leave a space of two leagues at least between the quarters of the
different armies.
Art. XIV.--The movements of the troops for the establishment of their
cantonments, shall commence immediately after the ratification of the
present convention.
The ratification is to take place within twenty-four hours for the army
of the Duke of Dalmatia, and within forty-eight hours for the army of
the Duke of Albufera.
Done in triplicate at Toulouse on the 18th of April, 1814.[E]
(Signed)
G. MURRAY,
M. G. & Q. M. G.
(Signed)
LUIS WIMPFFEN,
Gefe de E. M. G.
De Campaña de los
Exercitos Españoles.
(Signed)
DE GAZAN,
Le Lieut. Général.
(Approuvé)
Le M. DUC D’ALBUFERA.
(Confirmed)
WELLINGTON.
(Approuvé)
M. DUC DE DALMATIA.
[E] Jones’s Account of the War in Spain and Portugal, page 433.
[284] It would appear, that to some unaccountable fatality that
sanguinary affair must be attributed. Rumours had already reached the
outposts, that Napoleon had abdicated--and although from these reports
the vigilance of the blockading army might have been naturally expected
to abate, the besieged should have remained merely on the defensive,
and Thouvenot’s sortie was unwarrantable. The result was not to his
advantage. His casualties were admitted to reach nine hundred men, and
the allied were nearly equal--both losing a general. The siege had not
commenced--for neither stores nor artillery had been brought forward--
hence, there was no immediate cause for apprehension; and, though
nothing was known certainly, it was generally believed that Napoleon
was either dead or dethroned. The operation, therefore, appears rather
designed to gratify bad passions than attain any military object. It
seemed to have been purely a work of slaughter--and to gain no end,
men were unnecessarily lost. “On both sides the troops, broken into
small bodies by the inclosures, and unable to recover their order, came
dashing together in the darkness, fighting often with the bayonet,
and sometimes friends encountered, sometimes foes: all was tumult and
horror. The guns of the citadel, vaguely guided by the flashes of the
musketry, sent their shot and shells booming at random through the
lines of fight; and the gun-boats, dropping down the river, opened
their fire upon the flank of the supporting columns, which being put in
motion by Sir John Hope, on the first alarm, were now coming up from
the side of Boucaut. Thus nearly one hundred pieces of artillery were
in full play at once; and the shells having set fire to the fascine
depôts and to several houses, the flames cast a horrid glare over the
striving masses.”--_Napier._
At best it was a sanguinary experiment. No object was gained or could
be gained--much blood was idly wasted--Thouvenot, in a few hours,
was as closely inclosed, as he had been before his sally--his loss
exceeded that inflicted on his enemy--and many of his casualties were
caused by the indiscriminating fire of his own guns.
[285] On the question of Peninsular distinctions now tardily conceded,
we will not touch, inasmuch as we fear that we could not do it
temperately. The subjoined is a record of the corps refused a medal.
“Well, if the breast be bare, thank God, they can proudly point to
their glorious colours!”
A list of regiments which served in the Peninsula _that were not
present at Waterloo_, with the number of honorary distinctions they are
permitted to bear on their colours for their services in that country
and the South of France:--3rd Dragoon Guards, 4; 5th, 4; 3rd Light
Dragoons, 4; 4th, 6; 14th, 6; 9th Lancers, 1; 2nd Foot, 8; 3rd. 7; 5th,
12; 6th, 8; 7th, 9; 9th, 9; 10th, 1; 11th, 7; 20th, 5; 24th, 8; 26th,
7; 29th, 5; 31st, 7; 34th, 7; 36th, 10; 37th, 1; 38th, 10; 39th, 7;
43rd, 12; 45th, 14; 47th, 4; 48th, 11; 50th, 8; 53rd, 7; 57th, 6; 58th,
6; 59th, 5; 60th, 16; 61st, 8; 62nd, 1; 66th, 9; 67th, 2; 68th, 6;
74th, 11; 76th, 3; 81st, 2; 82nd, 7; 83rd, 11; 84th, 2; 85th, 3; 87th,
7; 88th, 11; 91st, 9.
To the above may be added the 94th and 97th regiments--with others
disbanded before permission to assume the badges was conceded, but
equally deserving of distinction with those on whom they were conferred.
[286]
“Adjutant-General’s Office,
Bordeaux, 14th June, 1814.
“The Commander of the Forces, being upon the point of returning to
England, takes this opportunity of congratulating the army upon the
recent events which have restored peace to their country and to the
world.
“The share which the British army has had in producing these events,
and the high character with which the army will quit this country, must
be equally satisfactory to every individual belonging to it, as they
are to the Commander of the Forces, and he trusts that the troops will
continue the same good conduct to the last.
“The Commander of the Forces once more requests the army to accept his
thanks.
“Although circumstances may alter the relations in which he has stood
towards them for some years, so much to his satisfaction, he assures
them he will never cease to feel the warmest interest in their welfare
and honour; and that he will at all times be happy to be of any service
to those to whose conduct, discipline, and gallantry, their country is
so much indebted.
(Signed) “E. M. PAKENHAM, A. G.”
[287] It was a strange coincidence, that on that day twelve months, the
duke was employed in issuing orders for the concentration of his army,
to crush the second and last effort of him who, for so many years, had
swayed the destinies of empires.
[288] Appendix, No. 2.
[289] “‘I had,’ resumed the emperor, ‘combined a bold manœuvre, with a
view of preventing the junction of the hostile armies. I had combined
my cavalry into a single corps of twenty thousand men, and appointed it
to rush into the midst of the Prussian cantonments. This bold attack,
which was to be executed on the 14th with the rapidity of lightning,
seemed likely to decide the fate of the campaign. French troops never
calculate the number of an enemy’s force: they care not how they
shed their blood in success: they are invincible in prosperity. But
I was compelled to change my plan. Instead of making an unexpected
attack, I found myself obliged to engage in a regular battle, having
opposed to me two combined armies, supported by immense reserves. The
enemy’s forces quadrupled the number of ours. I had calculated all the
disadvantages of a regular battle. The infamous desertion of Bourmont
forced me to change all my arrangements. To pass over to the enemy on
the eve of a battle!--atrocious! The blood of his fellow-countrymen be
on his head! The malediction of France will pursue him!’”--_Voice from
St. Helena._
[290] “Stories of Waterloo.”
[291] “Paul’s Letters.”
[292] “To the left wing, under Marshal Ney, was assigned the dangerous
honour of encountering the British. The words ‘_Nous marchons contre
les Anglais_’ passed uncheered along the column, when its destination
became known. The ill-omened sounds checked not indeed the spirits of
the brave, but it was associated with too many fatal recollections,
to elicit even a single shout of anticipated triumph from the most
sanguine of that enthusiastic host.”--_Campaign of Waterloo._
[293] “And here we come to the first accusation preferred by Napoleon
against Marshal Ney. The exile of St. Helena charges that gallant
and intrepid officer with having lost many hours of valuable time by
delaying the attack on Quatre Bras till three o’clock in the afternoon,
though Napoleon himself, whose army had a shorter distance to traverse,
only began the attack upon Ligny at the same hour.”--_Campaign of
Waterloo._
[294] Stories of Waterloo.
[295] “The undismayed gallantry of the Guards was the more remarkable,
as they were composed chiefly of young soldiers and volunteers from the
militia, who had never been in action.”--_Mudford._
[296] Stories of Waterloo.
[297] From its immediate connexion with the battles of Quatre-Brass and
Waterloo, a brief sketch of the sanguinary engagement at Ligny will be
given.
Although burning to commence his attack upon his old and formidable
antagonist, the bad roads and inclement weather that delayed Bulow’s
march, prevented the completion of Napoleon’s dispositions until the
day was far advanced. Blucher’s[F] position embraced the heights
between Bry and Sombref, with the villages of Ligny and St. Amand. The
ground was well adapted for defence,[G] the surface being undulated and
broken, and covered with farm-yards and orchards. The villages were
naturally strong, standing on the crest of a ravine skirted by trees
and copse-wood.
At three o’clock Napoleon’s order of battle was completed, and
Vandamme’s corps commenced the engagement by attacking the village of
St. Amand.
The French leader’s judgment was correct in selecting the right of the
Prussians for his first effort. It was the more assailable, because
Blucher, anxious to secure his centre at Ligny, had concentrated his
best troops there; and from the Prussian position being considerably in
advance of Quatre Bras, had Napoleon effected his object, and turned
the right flank, he must certainly have succeeded in cutting off the
communication between the allied commanders, as he would have possessed
the great road from Namur to Nivelles. Napoleon’s calculations were
just; and the Prussian centre was materially weakened by sending
succours to the right.
At first the impetuosity of the French attack was successful, and Petit
Amand was carried by Lefol’s brigade with the bayonet. Blucher in
person re-attacked the village, and in turn the French were expelled.
These varying successes led to a murderous conflict. Girard’s[H]
division came to Vandamme’s support, and succeeded in gaining the
churchyard, while Blucher held the heights above the village in such
force as rendered any forward movement of the French impracticable.
From this conflict on the right the battle gradually extended, until
the opposing armies were generally engaged: Ligny was furiously
assaulted, while Grouchy endeavoured to turn the Prussian left at
Sombref.
Nothing could equal the fury with which every part of the position was
assailed but the obstinacy with which it was defended. Every orchard
and enclosure was only to be carried after a sanguinary encounter. The
villages were furiously contested; the combatants fought hand-to-hand;
regiment met regiment with the bayonet; and Ligny, within the space of
five hours, was six times won and lost. This seemed the chosen field
of slaughter; the streets were heaped with dead; reserves, coming from
either armies as battalions, one after another were annihilated. Two
hundred pieces of cannon poured their torrents of round and grape upon
the village. The French columns at last gained ground: the Prussian
charge of cavalry failed in repulsing them; and in attempting to repel
the cuirassiers, Blucher was dismounted, and escaped death or captivity
by a miracle.[I]
Evening came,--the battle raged with unabated fury--both armies
fighting with desperate fierceness, and as yet no decisive advantage
gained. The French were masters of the burning village; the mill
of Bussey and heights commanding Ligny were still occupied by the
Prussians.
These Napoleon determined to carry by a grand effort, and the Imperial
Guard, the reserve of the fourth corps, and a brigade of cuirassiers,
under a storm of artillery, traversed the village and assailed the
mill and heights; a desperate encounter ensued. The Imperial Guard
attacked the Prussian squares with the bayonet, while at the same
moment the rival cavalry were charging. Neither party would yield
ground; the ground was heaped with corpses, blood flowed in torrents,
and still the battle raged. Darkness, however, favoured the advance
of a French division, which had made a circuitous movement from the
village, the Prussians found their flank turned and the enemy on the
point of attacking their rear. Without a reserve, for that had been
already detached to strengthen the right, and having ascertained that
Wellington could hardly maintain himself at Quatre Bras, and that Bulow
could not get up in time, Blucher determined to retreat on Tilly and
unite himself with the fourth corps. At ten o’clock the order to fall
back was given, and the centre and right retrograded in perfect order.
Forming again within a quarter of a league of the field of battle,
they recommenced their retreat; and, unmolested by the enemy, retired
upon Wavre, while the French occupied the ground the Prussians had
abandoned, and bivouacked on the heights.
Zeithen, who commanded the right of the Prussians, evaded Vandamme’s
attempts to detain him, and fell back, keeping his communications
with the centre unbroken, while Theilman repulsed Grouchy’s attack
upon Sombref, and after holding the village of Bire during the night,
retreated at daylight and formed a junction with Bulow at Gemblaux.
“Blucher’s retreat was most judicious. He calculated that the English
commander must fall back from Quatre Bras, and accordingly by retiring
upon Wavre, his line of retreat was parallel with that of Wellington
upon Waterloo.
“It may be anticipated that the loss sustained in this long and
desperate conflict was on both sides tremendous. Buonaparte stated
his killed and wounded at three thousand men; but it has been clearly
ascertained that it amounted to double that number. The Prussians
suffered dreadfully. They left fifteen thousand men upon the field--
and they may be stated as having perished; for the unrelenting ferocity
with which both sides fought, prevented quarter from being asked
or given. Fifteen pieces of cannon, which Blucher had abandoned,
comprised the trophies of the victory, if a battle gained under such
circumstances, and unattended with a single important result, deserves
that title.”
[F] Blucher’s earlier career was in the service of the Prussian
monarch. He left it on his own solicitation, and his
discharge is curious and characteristic. Frederick wrote the
following note, and addressed it to the commandant of his
regiment:
“Captain Von Blucher has leave to resign, and may go to the
devil as soon as he pleases. “FREDERICK.”
[G] The entire position measured about four miles from right to
left, and was occupied by nearly 70,000 infantry and 9,000
cavalry, with 252 pieces of artillery: of nearly similar
strength were the forces of the assailants.
[H] From the similarity of sound, the names of Gerard and Girard
have been frequently confused. The latter commanded a
division of the reserve (2nd corps) under Vandamme; Gerard
had the 4th corps, or army of the Moselle. Girard was killed
in the attack on St. Amand: Gerard survived the campaign, and
subsequently was general _en chef_ at the siege of Antwerp.
[I] The French cavalry followed up their success, and then it
was that Blucher so narrowly escaped captivity,--a fate
that, to him, would have been worse than death itself. His
horse, a beautiful grey charger, the gift of the Prince
Regent of England, had been wounded: it broke down, and
fell just as the lancers turned to fly from the pursuing
enemy. “Now, Nostitz, I am lost!” said the gallant rider to
his aide-de-camp, at the moment that he sunk beneath the
dying steed. Count Nostitz, who, in the confusion, had alone
remained by his side, instantly leaped to the ground, and,
sword in hand, stood over his fallen chief, while the whole
body of the French cavalry passed on, totally unmindful of
the group. Before, however, the count could take advantage
of the calm, and extricate the general from beneath the
dead charger, the Prussians had turned upon their pursuers,
and forced the cuirassiers to retrograde as fast as they
had come: so that the whole of the broken rout again rushed
by the fallen marshal. As soon as the Prussians (who knew
nothing of what had happened to their leader) arrived,
Nostitz seized the bridle of a non-commissioned officer’s
horse, and, with the aid of the soldier, placed the bruised
and almost insensible commander in the saddle, and hurried
him from the field.
[298] “The wounded who had been collected during the night, were early
in the morning sent off to Brussels. Every attention was bestowed
upon them by the inhabitants. Wellington had taken the necessary
precautions to secure them rest and relief; and the reception of
the British wounded at Brussels, formed a striking contrast to the
abandonment of the French sufferers at Charleroi. Napoleon left them
to their fate; and such as escaped death among the ruins of Ligny and
St. Amand, perished, for want of assistance, in the deserted streets of
Charleroi.”--_Stories of Waterloo._
[299] Napoleon passed the night of the 17th in a farm-house which was
abandoned by the owner, named Bouquean, an old man of eighty, who had
retired to Planchenoit. It is situated on the high road from Charleroi
to Brussels. It is half a league from the château of Hougomont and
La Haye Sainte, and a quarter of a league from La Belle Alliance and
Planchenoit. Supper was hastily served up in part of the utensils of
the farmer that remained. Buonaparte slept in the first chamber of this
house: a bed with blue silk hangings and gold fringe was put up for him
in the middle of this room. His brother Jerome, the Duke of Bassano,
and several generals, lodged in the other chambers. All the adjacent
buildings, gardens, meadows, and enclosures, were crowded with military
and horses.--_French Detail._
[300] The eminence on which Buonaparte was while he gave his orders
during the battle is part of the territory of Planchenoit. It is called
the Field of Trimotio, and is the property of several individuals: it
is not far from the farm of Caillou. Buonaparte retired to this house
for a moment during the battle. After he had lost it, endeavouring to
avoid the crowd in the great road, he threw himself into the orchard
opposite this farm-house to get the start of the mass of fugitives. A
part of these, being closely pursued, sought refuge in the buildings
of the farm; they were set on fire, and several of them reduced to
ashes.--_Letters of a French Officer._
[301] “Hougomont[J] is comprised of an old tower, a chapel, and a
number of offices, partly surrounded by a farm-yard. It had also a
garden, inclosed by a high strong brick wall; and round the garden,
a wood of beech, an orchard, and a hedge, by which the wall was
concealed; in another part, there was a pond, serving as a moat.
Steps were taken to strengthen these means of defence by loop-holing,
or perforating the walls, for the fire of musketry; and erecting
scaffolding, to give the troops within an opportunity of firing from
the top of the wall. The enemy’s cannon could only be brought to bear
upon the upper part of the walls and buildings, and the great damage it
received was by shells.”
[302] The loss of the guards, in killed and wounded, in the defence of
Hougomont, amounted to twenty-eight officers, and about eight hundred
rank and file. The foreign corps (Nassau and Brunswickers) lost about
one hundred.
[J] Its name, according to ancient tradition, comes from the
circumstance, that the hill on which is at present the
neighbouring plantation, was covered with large pines, the
rosin of which was in great request. The place was hence
called Gomont, for Gomme Mont, or Mont de Gomme. This château
has existed for ages, and belonged to the family of Arrazola
Deonate.
[303] The proprietor of the ruins of the château of Hougomont has
caused all the woods to be felled. Those trees, torn by a thousand
balls, and that observatory, all the silent witnesses of so much glory
and so much suffering, have vanished for ever.
[304] The attack against the position of Hougomont lasted, on the
whole, from twenty-five minutes before twelve until a little past seven
at night.
[305] “Within half an hour one thousand five hundred men were killed in
the small orchard at Hougomont, not exceeding four acres. The loss of
the enemy was enormous. The division of General Foy alone lost about
three thousand; and the total loss of the enemy in the attack of this
position is estimated at ten thousand in killed and wounded. Above six
thousand men of both armies perished in the farm of Hougomont: six
hundred French fell in the attack on the château and the farm; two
hundred English were killed in the wood; twenty-five in the garden;
one thousand one hundred in the orchard and meadow; four hundred men
near the farmer’s garden; two thousand of both parties behind the great
orchard. The bodies of three hundred English were buried opposite the
gate of the château; and those of six hundred French were burned at the
same place.”--_Booth’s Narrative._
[306] Stories of Waterloo.
Probably the statement of an enemy will bear the noblest testimony
to the measureless bravery of the British infantry. A French general
thus notices them:--“We saw these sons of Albion, formed in square
battalions, in the plain between the wood of Hougomont and the village
of Mount Saint John; and to effect this compact formation, they had
doubled and redoubled their ranks several times. The cavalry which
supported them was cut to pieces, and the fire of their artillery
completely silenced, and generals and staff officers were galloping
from one square to another, not knowing where to find shelter.
Carriages, wounded men, parks of reserve, and auxiliary troops, were
all flying in disorder towards Brussels. Death was before them, and
in their ranks; disgrace in their rear! In this terrible situation,
neither the bullets (_boulets_, cannon-balls) of the Imperial Guard,
discharged almost point blank, nor the victorious cavalry of France,
could make the least impression on the immoveable British infantry.
One might have been almost tempted to fancy that it had rooted itself
in the ground, but for the _majestic movement_ which its battalions
_commenced_ some minutes after sunset, at the moment when the approach
of the Prussian army apprised Wellington that he had just achieved the
most decisive victory of the age.”--_Foy._
[307] “At this critical and awful moment, Lord Uxbridge galloped up;
the three regiments of cavalry were in the most masterly style wheeled
into line, and presented a most beautiful front of about thirteen
hundred men: as his lordship rode down the line, he was received by a
general shout and cheer from the brigade. After having taken a short
survey of the force and threatening attitude of the enemy, and finding
the Highland brigade, although still presenting an unbroken front, upon
the point of being on both sides outflanked by an immense superiority
of numbers, his lordship determined upon a charge, which, for the
wonderful intrepidity of its execution, and its complete success,
has rarely been equalled, and certainly never surpassed. The Royals
appeared to take the lead, while the Greys preserved a beautiful line
at speed; more to the left over the cross-road, near which spot their
brave chief, Colonel Hamilton, fell.”
[308] Stories of Waterloo.
[309] “The marshal told me, during the battle, that he was going to
make a great effort against the centre of the enemy, while the cavalry
should pick up the cannon, which did not seem to be much supported. He
told me several times when I brought him orders, that we were going to
gain a great victory.”--_Drouet’s Speech._
[310] Several remonstrances from general officers were sent in to the
Duke of Wellington, to induce him to retire the exhausted regiments.
His question was, “Will they stand?”--“Till they perish,” was the
reply. “Then I will stand with them to the last man.”
[311] “The declination of ground was most favourable to the infantry
who, under a tremendous cannonade, were thus, in a great measure,
sheltered by their lying down by order. On the approach--the majestic
approach--of the French column, the squares rose, and with a
steadiness almost inconceivable, awaited, without firing, the rush of
the cavalry; who, after making fruitless efforts, sweeping the whole
artillery of the line, and receiving the fires of the squares as they
passed, retired, followed by, and pell-mell with, our own cavalry, who
formed behind our squares, and advanced on the first appearance (which
was unexpected) of the enemy’s squadrons.”
[312] The preceding and subsequent details of the battle are chiefly
taken from _Stories of Waterloo_.
[313] Bulow died on the 25th of February, 1816, of an inflammation of
the lungs, at Koenigsburg, of which city he was governor. On his death,
the King of Prussia paid the most marked compliment of respect to his
memory, by ordering every officer of his army to put on mourning for
three days.
[314] “When the Imperial Guards, led on by Marshal Ney, about half-past
seven o’clock, made their appearance from a corn-field, in close
columns of grand divisions nearly opposite, and within a distance of
fifty yards from the muzzles of the guns, orders were given to load
with cannister-shot, and literally five rounds from each gun were fired
with this species of shot, before they shewed the least symptom of
retiring. At the twenty-ninth round, their left gave way.”--_Letters
of an Artillery Officer._
[315] “On a surface of two square miles, it was ascertained that
fifty thousand men and horses were lying! The luxurious crop of ripe
grain which had covered the field of battle was reduced to litter,
and beaten into the earth; and the surface, trodden down by the
cavalry, and furrowed deeply by the cannon wheels, strewn with many a
relict of the fight. Helmets and cuirasses, shattered fire-arms and
broken swords; all the variety of military ornaments; lancer caps and
Highland bonnets; uniforms of every colour, plume and pennon; musical
instruments, the apparatus of artillery, drums, bugles;--but good
God! why dwell on the harrowing picture of ‘a foughten field?’--each
and every ruinous display bore mute testimony to the misery of such a
battle.”
* * * * *
“Could the melancholy appearance of this scene of death be heightened,
it would be by witnessing the researches of the living, amid its
desolation, for the objects of their love. Mothers and wives and
children for days were occupied in that mournful duty; and the
confusion of the corpses, friend and foe intermingled as they were,
often rendered the attempt at recognising individuals difficult, and,
in some cases, impossible.”
* * * * *
“In many places the dead lay four deep upon each other, marking the
spot some British square had occupied, when exposed for hours to the
murderous fire of a French battery. Outside, lancer and cuirassier were
scattered thickly on the earth. Madly attempting to force the serried
bayonets of the British, they had fallen in the bootless essay, by the
musketry of the inner files. Farther on, you traced the spot where the
cavalry of France and England had encountered. Chasseur and hussar were
intermingled; and the heavy Norman horse of the Imperial Guard were
interspersed with the grey chargers which had carried Albyn’s chivalry.
Here the Highlander and tirailleur lay, side by side together; and the
heavy dragoon, with ‘green Erin’s’ badge upon his helmet, was grappling
in death with the Polish lancer.”
* * * * *
“On the summit of the ridge, where the ground was cumbered with dead,
and trodden fetlock-deep in mud and gore, by the frequent rush of
rival cavalry, the thick-strewn corpses of the Imperial Guard pointed
out the spot where Napoleon had been defeated. Here, in column, that
favoured corps, on whom his last chance rested, had been annihilated;
and the advance and repulse of the Guard was traceable by a mass of
fallen Frenchmen. In the hollow below, the last struggle of France had
been vainly made; for there the Old Guard, when the middle battalions
had been forced back, attempted to meet the British, and afford time
for their disorganized companions to rally. Here the British left,
which had converged upon the French centre, had come up;--and here the
bayonet closed the contest.”
[316] Buonaparte has been severely censured for daring to attack
Wellington and Blucher[K] simultaneously. Had different results
attended the battles of Quatre Bras and Ligny, probably military
criticism on Napoleon’s bold plans would have been more favourable. Ney
seems certainly to have pointed out a safer course, and his idea of
first overwhelming the British, and afterwards taking the Prussians in
detail, might have been more successful had it been adopted. But even
admitting, in part, that Napoleon’s “arrangements” were erroneous, they
still were worthy of the vigorous and martial spirit that planned them.
His great mistake may be traced to a mind that refused to be controlled
by cold calculation. He aimed at more than he could accomplish. With
limited means he acted upon a great and comprehensive scheme; and,
disdaining to recognise his weakness, he pursued an object demanding
ampler resources than he possessed. This was sufficiently proved by
the result; for he was unable to gather the fruits of his triumph over
the Prussians, whom he permitted to retreat without the slightest
interruption. His army contented itself with remaining upon the ground
it won so hardly, without even an attempt to harass the slowly retiring
columns of the enemy.
There have been conflicting statements as to whether Buonaparte did,
or did not know, that Bulow was in force in the rear of his right.
Ney says, that Labedoyère brought him a message from the emperor,
that Grouchy, at seven o’clock, had attacked the extreme left of the
Anglo-Prussian army, while Girard states, that at nine in the morning
Napoleon knew that a Prussian column, which had escaped the marshal
(Grouchy), was advancing in his rear. Gneisenau affirms, that the
fourth Prussian corps (Bulow’s) moved from Dien-le-Mont by Wavre
on Saint Lambert at daybreak. Certainly Buonaparte might have been
acquainted with its advance during the day; but whether he was or was
not, its arrival at Waterloo in the evening decided that day and his
destiny.
[K] General Berton, in what he calls his “Précis Historique
militaire et critique des Batailles de Fleurus et de
Waterloo,” says, that the French dispositions for the battle
of Ligny evinced “le chef-d’œuvre du coup-d’œil militaire,”
which he afterwards calls “le génie de la guerre.”
[317] An army hastily drawn together, composed of the troops of various
nations, amongst which were counted several brigades of inexperienced
militia, was the force the Duke of Wellington had to oppose to one
of the most formidable and best-appointed armies which France ever
produced.
Every officer and soldier, I am persuaded, did his duty; but the Duke
of Wellington alone was capable of giving union to such a force. No
other man living could have rendered the service which he performed
with an army so composed.
The British cavalry and artillery of this army were superb and
magnificent; superior, perhaps, to any force of the kind which the
world had ever seen; and Marshal Blucher, who reviewed the former a
short time before the opening of the campaign, declared that he had not
given the world credit for containing so many fine men. The infantry,
who, after all, carried away the foremost honours of the day, were
inferior in point of men; there were many second battalions, composed
entirely of lads and recruits that had never seen a shot fired.
[318] Return of killed and wounded, with an abstract of the disposal of
the wounded from the War-office, July. 1815.
Killed on the spot, non-commissioned and privates, 1715
Died of wounds 856
Missing, supposed killed 353
----
Total 2924
Wounded 6831
----
Total killed and wounded 9755
----
Abstract of the disposal of wounded:--
Wounded by amputation 236
Discharged 506
Transferred to the veteran battalion 167
Rejoined their regiments 5068
In hospitals, under cure, 10th April, 1816 854
----
Total wounded 6831
----
Return of French Artillery taken at Waterloo:--
12-pounder guns 35
6-pounder ditto 57
6-inch howitzers 13
24-pounder ditto 17
---
Total cannons 122
---
12-pounder waggons 74
6-pounder ditto 71
Howitzer ditto 50
--
Total 195
---
Spare gun-carriages.
12-pounder 6
Howitzer 6
6-pounders 8
--
20
--
Forage waggons 20
Waggons of Imp. Guard 52
--
Total 72
---
Grand total 409
---
[319] “After being informed of the loss of the battle of Waterloo,
Vandamme remained constantly with the rear-guard: it was under these
circumstances that he was severely wounded in the belly by a ball;
notwithstanding his pain and loss of blood, he still remained on
horseback. When he reached the village, where the army had just halted,
he dismounted from his horse; his breeches were full of blood, a
surgeon offered to dress his wound--‘Let me alone,’ said he; ‘I have
something else to do.’ He immediately began to examine the map, and to
write his orders.”
[320] To render _The Victories of the British Armies_ complete to
the present day, the Indian campaigns, occurring since the issue of
the first edition of the work, have been annexed, as supplementary
chapters, by the author.
[321] To an inquiry made by Napoleon of Talleyrand, “What do you
consider the extent of the British empire?” “Wherever a frigate has
water to swim” was the short, but comprehensive reply.
[322] 1814.
[323] In 1813, England gave to Portugal one million sterling--two
to Spain--one to Sweden. To other powers, she gave five millions--
and 400,000_l._ to Sicily. Half a million of muskets were sent to
the Peninsula--and nearly as many more to different parts of the
continent, with two million pounds of powder, and forty-eight millions
of cartridges!!
[324] Such was Napoleon’s opinion. In an address to his army, he says--
“Soldiers! I have occasion for you! The hideous presence of the leopard
contaminates the continent of Spain and Portugal. Let your aspect
terrify and drive him thence! Let us carry our conquering eagles even
to the Pillars of Hercules; there also we have an injury to avenge.”
[325] The drafts sent from home to one Irish regiment in the Peninsula,
from 1808 to 1814, amounted, in round numbers, to four times the number
of bayonets which, in its greatest strength, the battalion had ever
with the colours.
[326] 1838-39-42.
[327] “At this moment, the united influence of Persia and Russia would
seem to be established in all the Affghan dominions, with the single
exception of Herat, and the existence of that influence in those
countries, viewed in conjunction with the course which those powers
have recently been pursuing, and the measures that have resulted
from their joint diplomatic exertions, is so obviously incompatible
with the tranquillity of India, and even with its security, that no
measures can be more unequivocally measures of self-defence than those
which the British government is called upon to adopt for the purpose
of counteracting the evils with which India is threatened: Persia
has no provocation to complain of. The course pursued by the British
government towards this government has been one of uniform friendship
and forbearance; and it appears to me that it would be a hazardous and
costly line of policy to adopt, were the British government any longer
to permit Persia, under shelter of her treaty with England, to open the
way to India for another and far more formidable power.”--_McNeill’s
Despatch, 8th August, 1838._
[328] 1st October, 1838.
[329] “They now entered upon the passage of the terrible Bolan Pass, a
huge chasm, running between precipitous rocks to the length of seventy
miles, and rising in that distance to the height of 5,637 feet above
the plains below, which are here about 750 feet in height above the
level of the sea. The dangerous defiles which abound in these mountains
are infested by the poorest and wildest tribes of the country, who live
entirely by plunder; but they fortunately refrained from molesting
the troops to the extent which they might have done.”--_War in
Affghanistan._
[330] “Ghuznee, instead of being, as had been represented, almost
defenceless, was a place of remarkable strength, and was found by the
engineers to possess a high rampart in good repair, built on a scarped
mound, about thirty-five feet high, flanked by numerous towers, and
surrounded by a fausse-braye and wet ditch. The irregular figure of the
‘enceinte’ gave a good flanking fire, whilst the height of the citadel
covered the interior from the commanding fire of the hills to the
north, rendering it nugatory. In addition to this, the towers at the
angles had been enlarged, screen-walls had been built before the gates,
the ditch cleared out and filled with water, stated to be unfordable,
and an outwork built upon the right bank, so as to command its bed.”--
_Engineer’s Report._
[331] 23rd July, 1839.
[332] “At this crisis, Brochard, an engineer officer, devised a plan,
as remarkable for its ingenuity as it was perfect in success. His
project was to blow down the centre barricade, destroy the cord which
communicated with the Portuguese mine, and, in the confusion, which the
explosion would be certain to produce, carry the bridge by assault.
To place the powder close beneath the palisades, without its being
discovered, was both a doubtful and a dangerous attempt; but to the
brave nothing is impossible.
“The troops were quietly got under arms, and placed as near the head
of the bridge as their being concealed from the Portuguese guard would
permit; while, to call off the attention of the latter, some twenty men
were stationed to keep up a fire upon the intrenchments, so directed as
not to endanger the sappers, who had volunteered for the real service
of the hour. It was a service so hopeful and hazardous as to excite
the liveliest solicitude for its success. The barrel of powder was
covered with a grey cloak, that it might neither be heard nor seen, and
the man who undertook to deposit it in its place wore a cloak of the
same colour. The clear moonlight was favourable to the adventure, by
the blackness of the shadow which the parapet on one side produced. In
that line of darkness the sapper crept along at full-length, pushing
the barrel before him with his head, and guiding it with his hands.
His instructions were to stop if he heard the slightest movement on
the Portuguese side; and a string was fastened to one of his feet, by
which the French were enabled to know how far he had advanced, and to
communicate with him. Having placed the barrel, and uncovered that
part where it was to be kindled, he returned with the same caution.
Four barrels, one after the other, were thus arranged without alarming
the Portuguese. The fourth adventurer had not the same command of
himself as his predecessors had evinced. Possessed either with fear,
or premature exultation, as soon as he had deposited the barrel in
its place, instead of making his way back slowly and silently along
the line of shadow, he rose and ran along the middle of the bridge in
the moonlight. He was seen, fired at, and shot in the thigh. But the
Portuguese did not take the alarm as they ought to have done; they
kept up a fire upon the entrance of the bridge, and made no attempt to
discover for what purpose their intrenchments had been approached so
closely.
“Four hours had elapsed before the four barrels were placed: by that
time it was midnight, and in another hour, when the Portuguese had
ceased their fire, a fifth volunteer proceeded in the same manner
with a saucisson fastened to his body; this he fixed in its place,
and returned safely. By two o’clock this part of the business was
completed, and Laborde was informed that all was ready. Between three
and four a fog arose from the river and filled the valley, so that the
houses on the opposite shore could scarcely be discerned through it.
This was favourable for the assailants. The saucisson was fired; and
the explosion, as Brochard had expected, threw down the intrenchments,
and destroyed the apparatus for communicating with the mine.”
[333] 13th November, 1839.
[334] On the 12th of November, Sir Willoughby Cotton, who, before he
reached India on his return home the previous year, had, in consequence
of the troubled appearance of things, been again placed in command of
the forces in Affghanistan, moved from Cabool with a portion of the
troops to Jellalabad, to winter there, and Dost Mahomed was escorted
by him so far on his way to Loodianah. At Peshawar the ex-ameer waited
the arrival of his family, who had resided at Ghuznee since they had
been under the protection of the British. Of his numerous sons all now
had surrendered except Akbar Khan, who continued to hold out to the
last, and eventually took terrible vengeance for all that his family
had suffered. The residence first appropriated to the use of our
distinguished captive, was the same that Shah Shoojah had occupied for
so many years at Loodianah; but he was afterwards removed to Mussoree,
on the north-west frontier of our territories, where the climate was
better adapted for his health. The pension we allowed him was three
lacs of rupees, or £30,000 a year.
[335] “Monson was as brave as any officer in the English army; second
to none in undaunted valour at storming a breach, but he wanted the
rarer quality of moral intrepidity, and the power of adopting great
designs on his own responsibility. On the 6th of July, Holkar was
engaged in crossing the Chumbul; the fortunate moment of attack, never
to be recalled, was allowed to escape; and two days afterwards the
English general commenced his retreat. He did what ordinary officers
would have done at Assaye, when it was ascertained Stevenson’s division
could not come up; and what was the result? In a few hours the
subsidiary horse, now four thousand strong, which was left to observe
the enemy, was enveloped by clouds of the Mahratta cavalry, and after a
bloody struggle, cut to pieces with their gallant commander.”
Painful as the sequel proved, it may yet be briefly told. Colonel
Monson gained the Makundra pass, and afterwards retreated to Kotah and
Rampoora, after abandoning his artillery. Reinforced by two battalions
and three thousand irregular horse, he quitted the fort and marched
directly for the British frontier. Heavy rains fell; and on reaching
the banks of the Bannas, he found the stream impassable. The position
of this ill-fated corps was truly desperate. “In their front was a
raging torrent, in their rear twenty thousand horsemen, continually
receiving fresh accessions of strength in infantry and guns, as they
successively came up. The river having at length become fordable,
four battalions crossed over; and the enemy, seeing his advantage,
immediately commenced a furious attack on the single battalion and
pickets, which now remained alone on the other side. With such heroic
constancy, however, was this unequal contest maintained by these brave
men, that they not only repulsed the whole attacks made upon them,
but, pursuing their success, captured several of the enemy’s guns; an
event which clearly demonstrated what results might have followed the
adoption of a vigorous offensive in the outset, when the troops were
undiminished in strength and unbroken in spirit.”
Disasters followed fast upon each other. The sepoy guard who
accompanied the military chests was attacked by the cavalry of
Scindiah, their own ally; and when the Mahrattas were defeated, they
treacherously deserted to Holkar. The whole of the irregular horse,
which had reinforced Monson at Rampoora, followed the example; and
a few companies of sepoys--a rare occurrence among those faithful
people--quitted their ranks, and joined this enemy. Formed in oblong
square, the greater portion of the latter part of the retreat was
executed--fifteen thousand horse incessantly harassing in front,
flank, and rear, the retiring column--and only kept at bay by the
indomitable courage, and unbroken formation of the remnant of this
glorious division. At last, worn down by fatigue, and reduced by
casualties and desertion of twelve thousand men, scarcely a thousand
entered Agra, without cannon, baggage, or ammunition, and only fit for
the hospitals, and afterwards to be invalided.
[336] When the remnant of Bailey’s army were delivered up by that
truculent monster, Tippoo Sultaun, they were marched across the country
to Madras, a distance of four hundred miles. During the march, the
utmost pains were taken by Tippoo’s guards to keep the Hindoo privates
separate from their European officers, in the hope that their fidelity
might yet sink under the hardships to which they were exposed, but in
vain; and not only did they all remain true to their colours, but swam
the tanks and rivers by which they were separated from the officers
during the night, bringing them all they could save from their little
pittance; “for we,” they said, “can live on any thing, but you require
beef and mutton.”
[337] 1842.
[338] 1845-6.
[339] The region of North-Western India, known in modern times under
the name of the Punjaub, is remarkably well defined by geographical
limits. On the north, it is bounded by one of the Himalaya ranges. On
the west by the Khybur and Soliman mountains and the Indus. On the
south and east the Sutlej divides it from British India. Its area is
computed to inclose 85,000 square miles. The arteries of the Indus,
namely the Jelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej, traverse the whole
country, and form its local divisions into what are termed doabs. The
Punjaub, being translated, hence means “the country of five rivers.”
[340] “The Sikhs and late Campaign.”
[341] Lieut.-Col. Steinbach, late of the service of the Maharajah
Runjeet Singh and his immediate successors.
[342] The author, in speaking irreverently of the Sikh army, may be
considered in a measure to register his own condemnation. But the
reader will kindly remember, that a lieutenant-colonel only commands a
single regiment; and it may be inferred that, with his eyes open to the
deficiencies of others, the author did his best to repair those of his
own corps.
[343] Soon after mid-day, the division under Major-General Sir Harry
Smith, a brigade of that under Major-General Sir J. M’Caskill, and
another of that under Major-General Gilbert, with five troops of horse
artillery, and two light field batteries, under Lieutenant-Colonel
Brooke, of the horse artillery (brigadier in command of the artillery
force), and the cavalry division, consisting of her Majesty’s 3rd light
dragoons, the body-guard, 4th and 5th light cavalry, and 9th irregular
cavalry, took up their encamping-ground in front of Moodkee.--
_Despatch._
[344] Official Despatch.
[345] There was great suffering everywhere for want of water. Hunger
men may endure for days together; but a burning thirst, in a tropical
climate, is terrible; and when the fever in the blood becomes
aggravated by such exertions as the British army had that day made, the
whole world seems valueless in comparison with a cup of cold water.
None came, however, for several hours; yet the gallant fellows bore
the privation without a murmur; and when the following day brought
them a reinforcement of two European regiments of infantry, with a
small battery of heavy guns, they felt that they were irresistible.
Nevertheless, the general, with great good sense, gave them two
entire days to refresh; he had nothing to gain by precipitating
matters. Ferozepore had been saved by the battle of the 18th; and his
communications with the place being in some sort restored, he had
time to warn Sir John Littler of his purposes, and to prepare him for
co-operating in their accomplishment. These were the chief advantages
of delay; besides that, others probably occurred to him, namely, the
opportunity which was afforded for the coming up of the corps which
had been directed to march from Delhi, Meerut, and other stations. And
on the part of the Sikhs, it was doubtless considered that their very
numbers would render a long halt on one spot impossible for them; for
no country, however fertile, can sustain the pressure of sixty thousand
men many days.--_Sir Hugh Gough’s Despatches._
[346] A staff-officer, whose intellects were unsettled, had ridden
back, as soon as he saw that the enemy’s camp was won, and directed the
artillery and cavalry to retire upon Ferozepore, in order that men and
horses might refresh themselves. Not a gun, therefore, was with Sir
Hugh Gough; when Tej Singh with his army of reserve advanced against
him, and the murderous fire of round shot and shell which the latter
threw into the village where the British infantry stood met no reply.
Moreover, to advance from the village would necessarily expose the men
to almost certain destruction, because a powerful cavalry was ready to
fall upon the columns, while to remain as they were could accomplish
nothing, seeing that the enemy would never close with them; battles
of artillery being under all circumstances their favourites. But if
an accident brought the British infantry into the scrape, another
accident relieved them. The cavalry and artillery, moved as they had
been directed to do, after having suffered severely from the superior
fire of the Sikhs, which took them in flank, while the infantry were
advancing to the charge. Now, under the persuasion that a general
retreat was ordered, they pursued their course towards Ferozepore. The
movement brought them round the flank of the Sikhs, who, mistaking the
object of it, suddenly abandoned their guns and fled.
[347] Killed.--European officers, 37; native ditto, 17;
non-commissioned, drummers, rank and file, 630; syces, drivers, &c.,
10. Total, 694.
Wounded.--European officers, 78; native ditto, 18; non-commissioned,
drummers, rank and file, 1,610; syces, drivers, &c., 12; warrant
officers, 3. Total, 1,721.
Grand total of all ranks, killed and wounded, 2,415.
Return of ordnance captured during the action of the 21st and 22nd
instant. Total, 73. Many of these guns have long Persian inscriptions
on them, and very old dates; some are highly ornamented, carriages in
good repair, and closely assimilating to those in use with the Bengal
artillery the whole well fitted for post guns; the metal in these guns
is much heavier than those of a similar calibre in use in the Bengal
artillery.
Two more guns were discovered at Sooltan-Khan Wallah, of which no
return has yet been received.
[348] Sir Hugh Gough’s Despatch.--Camp Ferozeshah, 22nd December, 1845.
[349] “The Sikhs and the Campaign.”
[350] “The Sikhs and the Campaign.”
[351] At every point the intrenchments were carried. The
horse-artillery galloped through, and both they and the batteries
opened such a fire upon the broken enemy as swept them away by ranks.
“The fire of the Sikhs,” says the commander-in-chief, “first slackened,
and then nearly ceased; and the victors then pressing them on every
side, precipitated them over the bridge into the Sutlej, which a sudden
rise of seven inches had rendered hardly fordable. The awful slaughter,
confusion, and dismay were such as would have excited compassion in
the hearts of their conquerors, if the Khalsa troops had not, in the
early part of the action, sullied their gallantry by slaughtering and
barbarously mangling every wounded soldier whom, in the vicissitudes of
attack, the fortune of war left at their mercy.”--_The Sikhs and the
Campaign_.
[352] Lieut.-Colonel Harvey Jones, R.E.
[353] Napier.
Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.
Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation marks
were either matched or removed.
Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained; occurrences of
inconsistent hyphenation have not been changed.
The captions of the illustrations contain the names of the painter, the
engraver, and the subject, in that order. With the exception of the
Frontispiece, the subjects’ names appear to be signatures.
For clarity and consistency, the word “APPENDIX” was added to the
headings of Appendices II and III.
This book contains footnotes to footnotes. The references to primary
footnotes have been placed into a single numeric sequence beginning
at “1”. The references to secondary footnotes have been placed into a
single alphabetic sequence beginning at “A”. The secondary footnotes
immediately follow the primary footnotes that refer to them.
Index not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.
Original text uses both “carcases” and “carcasses”; both retained.
Original text uses “downfal” consistently.
Footnote 53, originally on page 79: “havresacks” was printed that way.
Page 275: “Fuente le Pena” probably should be “Fuente la Pena”.
Footnote 263, originally on page 377: “be well-received” was printed as
“be we received” across two pages; changed here.
Page 504: “disposed to speak him” was printed that way.
Page 526: “besieges San Sebastian, 351.” The page number was missing in
the original text; Transcriber added it using the page number on which
the topic begins.