Borthwick, the master of the artillery, fell on his knees before
the King, and solicited permission to bring his guns to bear upon
the columns, which might then be done with the most destructive
effect; but James commanded him to desist on peril of his head,
declaring that he would meet his antagonist on equal terms in a
plain field, and scorned to avail himself of such an advantage.
The counsel of Huntly was equally ineffectual; the remonstrance of
Lord Lindsay of the Byres was received by James with such vehement
indignation, that he threatened on his return to hang him up at
his own gate. Time ran on amidst these useless altercations, and
the opportunity was soon irrecoverable. The last divisions of
Surrey’s force had disentangled themselves from the narrow bridge;
the rear had passed the ford; and the Earl, marshalling his army
with the leisure his enemy allowed him, placed his entire line
between James and his own country. He was thus enabled, by an easy
and gradual ascent, which led to Flodden, to march upon the rear
of the enemy; and without losing his advantage for a moment, he
advanced against them in full array, his army being divided into
two battles, and each battle having two wings. On becoming aware
of this, the King set fire to the temporary huts and booths of his
encampment, and descended the hill, with the object of occupying
the eminence on which the village of Brankston is built. His army
was divided into five battles, some of which had assumed the form
of squares, some of wedges; and all were drawn up in line, about
a bow-shot distant from each other. Their march was conducted in
complete silence; and the clouds of smoke which arose from the
burning camp, being driven in the face of the enemy, mutually
concealed the armies; so that when the breeze freshened, and the
misty curtain was withdrawn, the two hosts discovered that they
were within a quarter of a mile of each other. The arrangement of
both armies was simple. The van of the English, which consisted of
10,000 men, divided into a centre and two wings, was led by Lord
Thomas Howard; the right wing being intrusted to his brother, Sir
Edmund, and the left to Sir Marmaduke Constable. In the main centre
of his host Surrey himself commanded; the charge of the rear was
given to Sir Edward Stanley; and a strong body of horse, under Lord
Dacre, formed a reserve. Upon the part of the Scots, the Earls of
Home and Huntly led the advance; the King, the centre; and the
Earls of Lennox and Argyle, the rear; near which was the reserve,
consisting of the flower of the Lothians, commanded by the Earl
of Bothwell. The battle commenced at four in the afternoon, by a
furious charge of Huntly and Home upon the portion of the English
advance under Sir Edmund Howard; which, after some resistance,
was thrown into confusion, and totally routed. Howard’s banner
was beaten down; and he himself escaped with difficulty. Lord
Thomas Howard, dreading the consequences of a defeat, dispatched a
messenger to his father, Lord Surrey, entreating him to extend his
line with all speed, and strengthen the van by drawing up a part of
the centre on its left. The manœuvre was judicious, but it would
have required too long a time to execute; and at this critical
moment, Lord Dacre galloped forward with his cavalry to the support
of his advance. Nothing could have been more timely than this
assistance; he not only checked the career of the Scottish Earls,
but drove back the division of Huntly with great slaughter; whilst
Home’s men, imagining they had already gained the victory, began
to disperse and pillage. Dacre and the Admiral then turned their
attack against another portion of the Scottish advance, led by
the Earls of Crawford and Montrose, who met them with levelled
spears, and resolutely withstood the charge. Whilst such was the
state of things on the right, a desperate contest was carried on
between James and the Earl of Surrey in the centre. In his ardour,
the King forgot that the duties of a commander were distinct from
the indiscriminate valour of a knight: he placed himself in the
front of his lances and billmen, surrounded by his nobles, who,
whilst they pitied the gallant weakness of such conduct, disdained
to leave their sovereign unsupported. The first consequence of
this was so furious a charge upon the English centre, that its
ranks were broken, and for a while the standard of the Earl of
Surrey was in danger; but by this time Lord Dacre and the Admiral
had been successful in defeating the division led by Crawford
and Montrose, and wheeling towards the left, they turned their
whole strength against the flank of the Scottish centre, which
wavered under the shock, till the Earl of Bothwell came up with
the reserve, and restored the day in this quarter. On the right,
the divisions led by the Earls of Lennox and Argyle were composed
chiefly of the Highlanders and Isle-men, the Campbells, Macleans,
Macleods, and other hardy clans, who were dreadfully galled by
the discharge of the English archers. Unable to reach the enemy
with their broadswords and axes, which formed their only weapons,
and not very amenable to discipline, their squadrons began to
rush fiercely forward, eager for closer fight, and thoughtless of
the fatal consequences of breaking their array. It was to little
purpose that La Motte and the French officers with him attempted
by entreaties and blows to restrain them; they neither understood
their language nor cared for their violence, but threw themselves
sword in hand upon the English. The squares of English pikemen
stood to their ground; and though for a moment the shock of the
mountaineers was terrible, its force once sustained, became spent
with its own violence, and nothing remained but a disorganisation
so complete that to recover their ranks was impossible. The
consequence was, a total rout of the right wing of the Scots,
accompanied by a dreadful slaughter, in which the Earls of Lennox
and Argyle were slain. Yet, notwithstanding this defeat on the
right, the centre, under the King, still maintained an obstinate
and dubious conflict with the Earl of Surrey. No quarter was given
on either side; and the combatants were disputing every inch of
ground, when Stanley, without losing his time in pursuit of the
Highlanders, drew back his division and impetuously charged the
rear of the Scottish centre. It was now late in the evening, and
this movement was decisive. Pressed on the flank by Dacre and the
Admiral--opposed in front by Surrey, and now attacked in the rear
by Stanley, the King’s battle fought with fearful odds against
it; but James continued by his voice and his gestures to animate
his soldiers, till he fell pierced with an arrow, and mortally
wounded in the head by a bill, within a few paces of the English
Earl, his antagonist. The death of their sovereign seemed only to
animate the fury of the Scottish Nobles, who threw themselves into
a circle round the body, and defended it till darkness separated
the combatants. At this time Surrey was uncertain of the result of
the battle; the remains of the enemy’s centre still held the field;
Home with his borderers hovered on the left; and the commander
allowed neither pursuit nor plunder, but kept a strict watch
during the night. When the morning broke, the Scottish artillery
were seen standing deserted on the side of the hill, their
defenders had disappeared; and the Earl ordered thanks to be given
for a victory which was no longer doubtful.
The loss of the Scots, in this fatal battle, amounted to about
10,000 men. Of these a great proportion were of high rank; the
remainder being composed of the gentry, the farmers and landed
yeomanry, who disdained to fly when their sovereign and his nobles
lay stretched in heaps around them. Among the slain were thirteen
Earls--the King’s natural son, the Archbishop of St. Andrews--the
Bishops of Caithness and the Isles--the Abbots of Inchaffray
and Kilwinning--and the Dean of Glasgow; besides fifteen Lords
and chiefs of clans. The body of James was found on the morrow
amongst the thickest of the slain, and recognised by Lord Dacre,
although much disfigured by wounds. It was carried to Berwick, and
ultimately interred at Richmond.”
FONTAINBLEAU, PEACE OF.--Concluded between France and Denmark, in
1670. Treaty of ditto between the Emperor of Germany and Holland,
signed November 8th, 1785. Second Treaty of ditto, between Napoleon
and the Royal Family of Spain, October 27th, 1807. Concordat of
ditto, between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII, January 25th, 1813.
Entered by the Austrians, February 17th, 1814. Napoleon here
resigned his imperial dignity, and bade farewell to his army, April
5th, 1814.
FONTENOY.--Fought, April 30th, 1745,--according to others, May
11th, 1745--between the French, commanded by Count Saxe, and the
English, Hanoverians, Dutch, and Austrians, commanded by the
Duke of Cumberland. “The French entered upon the war with great
alacrity. They besieged Fribourg, and in the beginning of the
succeeding campaign invested the strong city of Tourney. Although
the Allies were inferior in number, and although commanded by the
Duke of Cumberland, yet, they resolved, if possible, to save the
city by hazarding a battle. They accordingly marched against the
enemy, and took post in sight of the French, who were encamped on
an eminence, the village of St. Antoine on the right, a wood on
the left, and the town of Fontenoy before them. This advantageous
situation did not repress the ardour of the English, who began
the attack at two o’clock in the morning, and pressing forward,
bore down all opposition. They were for nearly an hour victorious,
and confident of success, while Saxe, a soldier of fortune, who
commanded the French army, was at that time sick of the same
disorder of which he afterwards died. However, he was carried
about to all the posts in a litter, and assured his attendants
that, notwithstanding all unfavourable appearances, the day was
his own. A column of the English, without any command, but by mere
mechanical courage, had advanced upon the enemy’s lines, which,
opening, formed an avenue on each side to receive them. It was
then that the French artillery on the three sides began to play on
this forlorn body, which, though they continued for a long time
unshaken, were obliged at last to retreat. This was one of the most
bloody battles that had been fought in this age; the Allies left
on the field 12,000 men, and the French bought their victory with
nearly an equal number of slain.”
FORT DU QUESNE.--_United States._--Famous in the French war of
Canada with the English. The following extract well describes the
expedition:
“Braddock, who had been recommended to this service by the Duke
of Cumberland, set forward upon this expedition in June, and left
the cultivated parts of the country on the 10th, at the head
of 2200 men, directing his march to that part of the country
whence Major Washington had retreated the year before. Being at
length within ten miles of the French fortress he was appointed
to besiege, and marching forward through the forest with full
confidence of success, on a sudden his whole army was astonished
by a general discharge of arms, both in front and flank, from an
enemy that still remained unseen. It was now too late to think of
retreating; the troops had passed into the defile which the enemy
had artfully permitted them to do before they offered to fire. The
vanguard of the English therefore, fell back in consternation upon
the main body, and the panic soon became general. The officers
alone disdained to fly, while Braddock himself still continued to
command his brave associates, discovering at once the greatest
intrepidity and imprudence. An enthusiast to the discipline of
war, he disdained to fly from the field, or to permit his men to
quit their ranks, when their only method of treating the Indian
army was by precipitate attack, or an immediate desertion of the
field of battle. At length Braddock, having received a musket
shot through the lungs, dropped, and a total confusion ensued.
All the artillery, ammunition, and baggage of the army was left
to the enemy, and the loss sustained by the English amounted to
700 men. The remnant of the army, in this emergency, was saved by
the courage and ability of Washington, who first here appears
conspicuously on the theatre of this world’s great events.”
FORT ERIE.--_Canada._--This fortress was taken by the American
General Brown, July 3rd, 1814. Defended by only 170 men, no wonder
it yielded to the Americans with 4000 strong. On the 15th August,
General Drummond tried to retake it, but failed. September 17th the
besieged made a sortie but were driven back, each side losing 600
men. Evacuated by the Americans, who blew up to the fort November
5th, 1814.
FORT NIAGARA.--_Canada._--Captured by Sir William Johnston. In the
war of 1813 it was surprised and captured by the Canadians.
FREDERECKSHALL.--Rendered memorable by the death of Charles XII of
Sweden, who was killed by a cannon ball before its walls, and while
in the trenches leaning against the parapet examining the works. He
was found in that position with his hand on his sword and a prayer
book in his pocket.--December 11th, 1718. It is now generally
believed that some traitor shot the King with a pistol.
FRENCHTOWN.--_Canada._--This town was taken from the British by
the American General Winchester, January 22nd, 1813. Retaken by
the British forces under General Proctor immediately afterwards,
when the American commander and the whole of his troops were made
prisoners of war.
FRIEDLAND, BATTLE OF.--Fought, June 14th, 1807, between the allied
Russian and Prussian armies on the one side and the French,
commanded by Napoleon in person, who signally defeated them, with
the lose of eighty pieces of ordnance and 50,000 men. This victory
led to the peace of Tilsit.
FUENTES DE ONORE, BATTLE OF.--Napier thus describes this great
battle: “On May 2nd, 1811, Messina crossed the Agueda with 40,000
infantry, 5000 cavalry, and about thirty pieces of artillery, to
relieve Almeida. He expected every day to be superseded in his
command, and he wished to make a last effort for his own military
character. Wellington could muster no more than 32,000 men, of
which force only 1200 were cavalry. He, however, determined to
fight rather than give up the blockade of Almeida; after much
fighting night came on and put an end to the battle. Next day
Messina was joined by Bessières, with a body of the Imperial Guard,
and on the 5th the enemy made the grand attack. The battle raged
throughout a vast plain, and in all the Peninsular War there was
never so dangerous an hour for England. The fight lasted till
evening, when the lower part of the town was abandoned by both
sides--the British keeping the chapel and crags, and the French
retiring a cannon shot from the stream.” Fought, May 5th, 1811.
G.
GALWAY.--_Ireland._--In 1690, Galway declared for King James, but
it was invested and taken by General Ginckel, immediately after the
memorable battle of Aughrim, July 12th, 1691.
GENERAL.--This rank has been given to commanders from very remote
antiquity. In the French army, Montmorency was the first officer
who was so called, in 1203. Cardinal Richelieu was the first who
took the title _Generalissimo_, having coined the word when he
assumed supreme command of the French armies in Italy, in 1629.
GENOA.--Bombarded by the French, in 1684, and by the British, in
1688 and 1745. Taken by the Imperialists, December 8th, 1746.
Sustained a siege from the British fleet and Austrian army, when
it capitulated, May, 1800. Surrendered to the French, after the
battle of Marengo. Next surrendered to the combined English and
Sicilian armies, April 8th, 1814, but was transferred to the
Kingdom of Sardinia, in 1826. The city seized by insurgents, who,
after a murderous struggle, drove out the garrison, and proclaimed
a Republic, April, 1850, but in the end the insurgents surrendered
to General Marmora.
GERMANIC CONFEDERATION.--When Napoleon determined that the
German or Holy Roman Empire should no longer exist, but that a
Confederation of States should be in its stead, the proposal was
adopted by the Allied Sovereigns, in 1815, which has continued ever
since.
GETTYSBURG.--_United States._--This battle was fought between
the Confederates of the Southern States, and the Northern army.
General Lee was defeated by the United States’ troops. This battle
immediately followed the surrender of Vicksburg to General Grant.
Fought on the 4th July, 1863.
GHENT.--Taken by the Duke of Marlborough, in 1706. Several times
taken and retaken during the Napoleon wars. The peace of Ghent,
between Great Britain and America, signed here, December 24th, 1814.
GHIZNEE, BATTLE OF.--The British, under Sir John Keane, attacked
this place, and having blown up the gates, forced their way into
the city, and succeeded in fixing the British colors on the towers,
July 23rd, 1839. Ghiznee capitulated to the Affghans, March 1st,
1842. The following account gives the items of General Nott’s
entering it, September 7th, 1842:
“GHIZNEE is situated on the base of a hill, which supports its rear
or main post, and commands a most extensive plain, and it is in the
midst of a rich, fertile country; it has ever held the most noble
rank as a capital, and is capable of being rendered one of the most
important fortifications in the Eastern nations; its adjacent hills
are great, and border on Dora and Bameean; it covers the routes of
the latter, as well as Loghar and Cabool; near the low hills which
command the city, are several cemeteries, and ancient buildings; at
a short distance is Rozah, in which stands the great sepulchre, and
shrine of Mahmood, the once famed Emperor of Ghiznee; and of whom
“Dow” speaks so much in his History of Hindostan.
The fortress in itself is of great importance; the town is walled
round, and contains several thousand houses; the former principally
of stone, and the latter of mud. It is surrounded by a deep trench;
the main entrance, being the one blown up by Sir John Keane, is
in ruins, and another was made to the right. In the centre of the
town stands the citadel, which had three tiers; the lower one had
been much improved since we possessed it, and a parade ground,
or large square, had been formed, as a park for the ordnance. A
river ran close by, which afforded good water, and rendered it
almost complete. All remained quiet, till within a short distance
from them, fortunately for us, as it enabled us to get up our
baggage, and cattle; close to the rear of the column the road was
very difficult, being over extensive fields of long grass, and
the ditches very numerous and wide, in crossing which the cattle
were continually falling, which greatly delayed us. General Nott
directed the Light Battalion to proceed with the Quarter Master
General, to take up an encampment opposite to Ghiznee, at a place
some two and a half miles from the fortress, known as Sir John
Keane’s garden. I accompanied this body, and as we proceeded, we
discovered the enemy in the citadel, and a great number outside,
preparing to advance. The Quarter Master General ordered a portion
of his force to man a small hill, which commanded their approach,
and left it in charge of Captain Adamson, of the 40th. The General
dispatched, in another direction, the 16th Native Infantry, under
Colonel McLaren, who were met by the enemy, and a smart action
took place; fortunately, however, after having rallied for some
time, the corps managed to get under cover, in a walled garden,
about a mile from the fort, and kept them off in fine style; the
Colonel, finding the enemy so numerous, feared a serious result, as
the chances were, the General could not send him a re-inforcement
before the whole of his ammunition would be expended, and a
soldier without ammunition is not in the most enviable situation.
The Quarter Master General’s party was attacked, but effected a
complete mastery over them, and drove them back. The General,
perceiving the situation of McLaren, dispatched the 3rd Regiment
Light Cavalry, and two of Anderson’s guns, who got up just in
time to save them, as they were getting short of shot; at length
came up the General with the main body; the cavalry made a grand
charge after those outside the town, and we lost a great number
of our men, but not before leaving a greater number of the enemy
lying on the field; during all this time those in possession of
the citadel were not idle, but made some excellent play with their
guns from the square I named, as being situated on the lower part
of the citadel; but fortunately for us their knowledge of the art
of gunnery was so shallow that they did little or no damage with
their guns. One of the hills mentioned as adjacent to the fortress,
was called Balloon Hill, from its peculiar form, and difficulty
of ascent; this hill was literally crowded with rebels, and their
colours were planted in every direction; they now began to emerge
from the gates in great numbers, and finding, after the charge of
the cavalry, that they had no chance of overpowering the front,
Shooms-ood-Dien dispatched a large force round, to attack the rear
of our columns. The General had, however, taken the necessary
precaution, and reinforced the rear guard to 3000 men, with six
guns, including the heavy battery. Perceiving the object the enemy
had in view, he let fly a volley of grape to meet them, which had
the desired effect, and left numbers of them dead on the ground,
and the rest immediately made off; the next thing to be done was to
got possession of Balloon Hill. This hill was so situated that it
commanded all around it, and more particularly the square in the
citadel, as it immediately covered it. The General directed the
40th and 16th to proceed at once and take the hill. The order was
in itself easily given; my readers may imagine the position.
The guns from the citadel were in full play, the hill was in
possession of, and covered by several hundreds of the enemy, both
horse and foot; the ascent was considerable, and we were nearly
two miles from it. However, it is not for Britons to look at
difficulties in such a moment, for had we done so we should never
have accomplished it; we set forward, and those in the fortress
seeing our advance, opened a heavy fire upon us, which, Providence
be thanked, showed us that they could not hit their mark, and we
reached the foot of the hill with little loss. Those in possession
leapt for joy, at the apparent opportunity of cutting us off. We
commenced the ascent, throwing out skirmishers in every direction;
our fire was kept up steadily as on a parade, and every ball seemed
to find its desired billet; numbers fell, of course, but not near
so many as we had been anticipating. We were obliged to halt half
way to gain breath, and necessitated to keep up a heavy fire; we
again advanced, and the enemy began to show symptoms of retiring,
which greatly encouraged us, and we made a desperate effort, and
sent a volley into them, charged, and at length they retired; we
followed, and at last gained the summit. They rushed down the other
side, and made off in the direction of Candahar, where they were
met by a brigade sent round by the General for that purpose.
Having gained possession of the hill, those in the citadel began to
pour the fire of artillery into us, but as usual without success,
and in order to get out of sight we were ordered to lie down,
that they might imagine we had evacuated our position; as we lay
there, the balls were fast whistling over us, and the force under
the command of the General was making a clean sweep of all those
outside the walls, which, after he had effected, next repaired to
the citadel. It was, however, found impracticable to storm the
fortress that day; first, because the Sappers and Miners would
not have time to complete their operations; and secondly, in
consequence of the fatigued state of the troops. The 16th was to
be left in charge of the hill, and the 40th were ordered to return
to the encampment; this order was, if anything, even worse than
the first, because all being comparatively quiet, we should, on
retiring, be the only targets for them to fire at, and our utter
destruction seemed inevitable; we, however, had to obey, and as was
expected, no sooner did we come under cover of their guns than they
opened a severe fire from all their pieces, but their firing was
always either too far, or too short; and thus we reached camp in
almost safety.
The followers had been all employed in pitching the tents, and the
cooks (natives) had prepared our scanty meal; the 16th were left in
possession of the hill; and the General ordered two guns, either
under Captain Blood or Anderson, to proceed to the top of the hill,
and dislodge them in the citadel, which, after some difficulty,
was effected, and most ably did they accomplish their duty;
they soon put a stop to them, and by their superior arrangement
and management of artillery, disabled nearly all their guns. We
had scarcely got well seated in our tents when we were suddenly
surprised by the whizzing of a ball over the camp, which lodged
in the officer’s mess tent of the 41st; after that came another
and another, and they kept up a fine string of them, aiming most
admirably. We soon discovered that they had a sixty-eight pounder,
which before had remained quiet.
Those shots coming so fast, and lodging just in our midst, doing
considerable damage, although we were nearly two miles from it,
compelled the General to shift camp a mile further off, and we were
at last out of the reach of the bull-dog; they most certainly in
this distance did put us to the rout. This piece was called “Chuppa
Jung,” of Persian manufacture, and as is usual in all the forts of
importance in Asia, was placed in the citadel; and a most powerful
piece it was.
The General now began to arrange his plans for storming and taking
the fortress; the engineers were all busily employed in preparing
for the operation; and as the day began to draw to a close, orders
were issued for the troops to be in readiness to move just before
daylight on the morrow. The night at length came on, and lights
were ordered to be extinguished at eight P.M.; and at that hour all
was darkness, and enveloped upwards of 20,000 souls.
All was at length prepared for the attack, and about half an hour
before the day broke, the word was passed from tent to tent, to
form up. Each rose in sadness, and many shook the hand of his
comrade as for the last time; the cattle were dispatched with the
powder, to ensure the explosion, and platforms had been carefully
planted for the heavy battery to commence a breach. The troops
were slowly and silently advanced, and arranged ready to storm
immediately after the gates were blown up; and daybreak was to be
the signal. At length the day dawned, and lo! what was our surprise
when we saw floating on the highest tower the English colors. The
sight relieved each heart as though we had a fortune. The enemy had
during the night evacuated the citadel, having received certain
orders to that effect from Caboul. Colonel McLaren, who had kept
the hill, finding they had left it, took immediate possession,
and placed “The Flag that braved a thousand years” on the highest
point. Thus did Providence prevent the inevitable loss of some
hundreds of our force, and never was a force more agreeably
surprised than those at Ghiznee, on the 6th of September, 1842.”