SOME FAMOUS BATTLES
Kincaid shared in all the bloody fights of the Peninsula, from Sabugal
to Toulouse. His descriptions of these fights are hasty and planless;
they give no hint of the strategy behind them or of the results which
followed them. But they are always vivid, racy, and rich in personal
incident, and we give in this chapter some transcripts from them.
Sabugal was the last combat fought on Portuguese soil in Massena's
sullen retreat from the lines of Torres Vedras. Massena was never so
dangerous as in retreat, and Ney, with all his fiery valour, commanded
his rearguard. The French, too, were in a mood of almost reckless
savagery, and they greatly exceeded in numbers the force pursuing
them. It may be imagined, then, what an incessant splutter of fierce
and angry skirmishes raged betwixt Wellington's advance-guard and the
French rear. Yet the veterans on both sides maintained a singularly
cool and business-like attitude towards each other, an attitude not
unflavoured with gleams of unprofessional friendliness. Thus as the
French were falling back after the disastrous fight at Redinha, night
fell while the skirmishers of the Rifles were still eagerly pressing
on the tired French rearguard. The officer commanding the French
suddenly held up his sword in the grey dusk with a white handkerchief
tied to it. An officer of the Rifles went forward to parley, when the
Frenchman explained that he thought both sides needed a rest after a
hard day's work. To this the officers of the Rifles cheerfully agreed,
and politely invited the Frenchman and his subalterns to share their
rations. This proposal was accepted; the French and English officers
sat merrily round a common fire, and shared a common meal; then parted,
and before daybreak became pursuers and pursued again!
Sabugal was described by Wellington himself as "one of the most
glorious actions British troops ever engaged in"; but it was little
better than a gallant blunder. The day was one of drifting fog and
blinding rain. Wellington's plan was with three divisions--a force
10,000 strong--to envelop and crush Massena's left wing, commanded
by Regnier, but Erskine, who commanded the Light Division, failed to
understand his orders, wandered off with his cavalry in the fog, and
left Beckwith with four companies of the Rifles and the 43rd lying
sheltered near the ford across the Coa. When Wellington's general
attack was developed, Beckwith was to cross the river and attack. A
staff officer stumbled upon him early in the day, before the other
troops had moved, and demanded, with a note of anger in his voice, why
he did not attack? Beckwith instantly led his men across the stream,
and with one bayonet battalion and four companies of Rifles, proceeded
to attack 12,000 French infantry supported by cavalry and guns! And
in a combat so strange, against chances so apparently hopeless, the
handful of British won! Here is Kincaid's story:--
"_April 3, 1811._--Early this morning our division moved still
farther to its right, and our brigade led the way across a ford,
which took us up to the middle; while the balls from the enemy's
advanced posts were hissing in the water around us, we drove in their
light troops and commenced a furious assault upon their main body.
Thus far all was right; but a thick, drizzling rain now came on, in
consequence of which the third division, which was to have made a
simultaneous attack to our left, missed their way, and a brigade of
dragoons, under Sir William Erskine, who were to have covered our
right, went the Lord knows where, but certainly not into the fight,
although they started at the same time that we did, and had the
'music' of our rifles to guide them; and even the second brigade of
our division could not afford us any support for nearly an hour, so
that we were thus unconsciously left with about fifteen hundred men,
in the very impertinent attempt to carry a formidable position on
which stood as many thousands.
"The weather, which had deprived us of the aid of our friends,
favoured us so far as to prevent the enemy from seeing the amount
of our paltry force; and the conduct of our gallant fellows, led on
by Sir Sidney Beckwith, was so truly heroic, that, incredible as it
may seem, we had the best of the fight throughout. Our first attack
was met by such overwhelming numbers, that we were forced back and
followed by three heavy columns, before which we retired slowly, and
keeping up a destructive fire, to the nearest rising ground, where
we re-formed and instantly charged their advancing masses, sending
them flying at the point of the bayonet, and entering their position
along with them, where we were assailed by fresh forces. Three
times did the very same thing occur. In our third attempt we got
possession of one of their howitzers, for which a desperate struggle
was making, when we were at the same moment charged by infantry in
front and cavalry on the right, and again compelled to fall back;
but, fortunately at this moment we were reinforced by the arrival of
the second brigade, and with their aid we once more stormed their
position and secured the well-earned howitzer, while the third
division came at the same time upon their flank, and they were driven
from the field in the greatest disorder.
"Lord Wellington's despatch on this occasion did ample justice to
Sir Sidney Beckwith and his brave brigade. Never were troops more
judiciously or more gallantly led. Never was a leader more devotedly
followed.
"In the course of the action a man of the name of Knight fell dead at
my feet, and though I heard a musket ball strike him, I could neither
find blood nor wound. There was a little spaniel belonging to one of
our officers running about the whole time, barking at the balls, and
I saw him once smelling at a live shell, which exploded in his face
without hurting him."
It may be added that, when the fight was over, round that fiercely
disputed howitzer 300 dead bodies were found piled!
An amusing instance of the cool and business-like temper with which
the veterans of the Rifles fought occurred in this combat. A rifleman
named Flinn had covered a Frenchman, and was in the act of drawing the
trigger, when a hare leaped out of the fern in front of him. Flinn
found this game more tempting; he took quick aim at it, and shot it.
His officer rebuked him when the fight was over for that wasted shot.
"Sure, your honour," was his reply, "we can kill a Frenchman any day,
but it isn't always I can bag a hare for your supper."
On May 3, 1811, began the confused manœuvring and fierce combats,
stretching through two days, known as the battle of Fuentes d'Onore.
In the middle of the fight Wellington had to change his front, swing
his right wing back across the open plain--then in possession of the
triumphant French cavalry--to a ridge at right angles to his former
front. The Light Division formed part of the force executing this
movement. It was formed in three squares, flanking each other. Masses
of French cavalry eddied furiously round them as they marched. But the
stern and disciplined ranks of the Light Division never wavered. They
moved, says Napier, "in the most majestic manner"; and, he adds, that
"all the cavalry that ever charged under Tamerlane or Genghis Khan
would have failed to break their lines." Kincaid's account is graphic,
and betrays no consciousness of the exceptional nature of the deed
performed by his division:--
"_May 5, 1811._--The day began to dawn, this fine May morning, with a
rattling fire of musketry on the extreme right of our position, which
the enemy had attacked, and to which point our division was rapidly
moved.
"Our battalion was thrown into a wood, a little to the left and
front of the division engaged, and was instantly warmly opposed to
the French skirmishers; in the course of which I was struck with a
musket ball on the left breast, which made me stagger a yard or two
backward, and, as I felt no pain, I concluded that I was dangerously
wounded; but it turned out to be owing to my not being hurt. While
our operations here were confined to a tame skirmish, and our view
to the oaks with which we were mingled, we found, by the evidence of
our ears, that the division which we had come to support was involved
in a more serious onset, for there was a successive rattle of
artillery, the wild hurrah of charging squadrons, and the repulsing
volley of musketry; until Lord Wellington, finding his right too much
extended, directed that division to fall back behind the small river
Touronne, and ours to join the main body of the army. The execution
of our movement presented a magnificent military spectacle, as the
plain between us and the right of the army, was by this time in
possession of the French cavalry, and, while we were retiring through
it with the order and precision of a common field-day, they kept
dancing around us, and every instant threatening a charge, without
daring to execute it.
"We took up our new position at a right angle with the then right of
the British line, on which our left rested, and with our right on
the Touronne. The enemy followed our movement with a heavy column of
infantry; but, when they came near enough to exchange shots, they
did not seem to like our looks, as we occupied a low ridge of broken
rocks, against which even a rat could scarcely have hoped to advance
alive; and they again fell back, and opened a tremendous fire of
artillery, which was returned by a battery of our guns.
"The battle continued to rage with fury in and about the village,
while we were lying by our arms under a burning hot sun, some stray
cannon-shot passing over and about us, whose progress we watched
for want of other employment. One of them bounded along in the
direction of an 'amateur,' whom we had for some time been observing,
securely placed, as he imagined, behind a piece of rock, which stood
about five feet above the ground, and over which nothing but his
head was shown, sheltered from the sun by an umbrella. The shot
in question touched the ground three or four times between us and
him; he saw it coming--lowered his umbrella, and withdrew his head.
Its expiring bound carried it into the very spot where he had that
instant disappeared. I hope he was not hurt; but the thing looked so
ridiculous that it excited a shout of laughter, and we saw no more of
him.
"A little before dusk, in the evening, our battalion was ordered
forward to relieve the troops engaged in the village, part of which
still remained in possession of the enemy, and I saw, by the mixed
nature of the dead, in every part of the streets, that it had been
successively in possession of both sides. The firing ceased with
the daylight, and I was sent, with a section of men, in charge of
one of the streets for the night. There was a wounded sergeant of
Highlanders lying on my post. A ball had passed through the back
part of his head, from which the brain was oozing, and his only
sign of life was a convulsive hiccough every two or three seconds.
I sent for a medical friend to look at him, who told me that he
could not survive; I then got a mattress from the nearest house,
placed the poor fellow on it, and made use of one corner as a pillow
for myself, on which, after the fatigues of the day, and though
called occasionally to visit my sentries, I slept most soundly. The
Highlander died in the course of the night.
"When we stood to our arms at daybreak next morning, we found the
enemy busy throwing up a six-gun battery immediately in front of
our company's post, and we immediately set to work, with our whole
hearts and souls, and placed a wall, about twelve feet thick, between
us, which, no doubt, still remains there in the same garden, as
a monument of what can be effected in a few minutes by a hundred
modern men, when their personal safety is concerned, not but that the
proprietor, in the midst of his admiration, would rather see a good
bed of garlic on the spot manured with the bodies of the architects.
"When the sun began to shine on the pacific disposition of the enemy,
we proceeded to consign the dead to their last earthly mansions,
giving every Englishman a grave to himself, and putting as many
Frenchmen into one as it could conveniently accommodate. Whilst in
the superintendence of this melancholy duty, and ruminating on the
words of the poet:--
'There's not a form of all that lie
Thus ghastly, wild and bare,
Tost, bleeding, in the stormy sky,
Black in the burning air,
But to his knee some infant clung,
But on his heart some fond heart hung!'
"I was grieved to think that the souls of deceased warriors should be
so selfish as to take to flight in their regimentals, for I never saw
the body of one with a rag on after battle.
"The day after one of those negative sort of victories is always one
of intense interest. The movements on each side are most jealously
watched, and each side is diligently occupied in strengthening such
points as the fight of the preceding day had proved to be the most
vulnerable. They had made a few prisoners, chiefly Guardsmen and
Highlanders, whom they marched past the front of our position, in
the most ostentatious way, on the forenoon of the 6th; and, the day
following, a number of their regiments were paraded in the most
imposing manner for review. They looked uncommonly well, and we
were proud to think that we had beaten such fine-looking fellows so
lately!"
In the tangled and hurried marches which preceded the battle of
Salamanca, the Rifles took, of course, an active part. They were
probably the quickest-footed and most hardy regiment under Wellington's
command. But in the great battle itself Kincaid's battalion played a
small part, being held in reserve. Kincaid's account is both amusing
and interesting:--
"Hitherto we had been fighting the description of battle in which
John Bull glories so much--gaining a brilliant and useless victory
against great odds. But we were now about to contend for fame on
equal terms; and, having tried both, I will say, without partiality,
that I would rather fight one man than two any day; for I have
never been quite satisfied that the additional quantum of glory
altogether compensated for the proportionate loss of substance; a
victory of that kind being a doubtful and most unsatisfactory one to
the performers, with each occupying the same ground after that they
did before; and the whole merit resting with the side which did not
happen to begin it.
"Marmont came down upon us the first night with a thundering
cannonade, and placed his army _en masse_ on the plain before us,
almost within gunshot. I was told that, while Lord Wellington was
riding along the line, under a fire of artillery, and accompanied by
a numerous staff, a brace of greyhounds in pursuit of a hare passed
close to him. He was at the moment in earnest conversation with
General Castanos; but the instant he observed them he gave the view
hallo and went after them at full speed, to the utter astonishment
of his foreign accompaniments. Nor did he stop until he saw the hare
killed; when he returned and resumed the commander-in-chief as if
nothing had occurred.
"I was sent on piquet on the evening of the 19th, to watch a portion
of the plain before us; and, soon after sunrise on the following
morning, a cannonade commenced behind a hill to my right; and though
the combatants were not visible, it was evident that they were not
dealing in blank-cartridge, as mine happened to be the pitching-post
of all the enemy's round shot. While I was attentively watching its
progress, there arose all at once, behind the rising ground to my
left, a yell of the most terrific import; and, convinced that it
would give instantaneous birth to as hideous a body, it made me look
with an eye of lightning at the ground around me; and, seeing a broad
deep ditch within a hundred yards, I lost not a moment in placing
it between my piquet and the extraordinary sound. I had scarcely
effected the movement when Lord Wellington, with his staff, and a
cloud of French and English dragoons and horse artillery intermixed,
came over the hill at full cry, and all hammering at each other's
heads, in one confused mass over the very ground I had that instant
quitted. It appeared that his lordship had gone there to reconnoitre,
covered by two guns and two squadrons of cavalry, who by some
accident were surprised and charged by a superior body of the enemy,
and sent tumbling in upon us in the manner described.
"A piquet of the 43rd had formed on our right, and we were obliged
to remain passive spectators of such an extraordinary scene going
on within a few yards of us, as we could not fire without an equal
chance of shooting some of our own side. Lord Wellington and his
staff, with the two guns, took shelter for a moment behind us, while
the cavalry went sweeping along our front, where, I suppose, they
picked up some reinforcement, for they returned almost instantly in
the same confused mass; but the French were now the fliers; and, I
must do them the justice to say, that they got off in a manner highly
creditable to themselves. I saw one, in particular, defending himself
against two of ours; and he would have made his escape from both, but
an officer of our dragoons came down the hill, and took him in the
flank at full speed, sending man and horse rolling headlong on the
plain.
"I was highly interested all this time in observing the distinguished
characters which this unlooked-for turn-up had assembled around us.
Marshal Beresford and the greater part of the staff remained with
their swords drawn, and the Duke himself did not look more than
half-pleased, while he silently despatched some of them with orders.
General Alten and his huge German orderly dragoon, with their swords
drawn, cursed the whole time to a very large amount; but, as it was
in German, I had not the full benefit of it. He had an opposition
swearer in Captain Jenkinson of the artillery, who commanded the
two guns, and whose oaths were chiefly aimed at himself for his
folly, as far as I could understand, in putting so much confidence
in his covering party, that he had not thought it necessary to unfix
the catch which horse-artillerymen, I believe, had to prevent their
swords quitting the scabbards when they are not wanted, and which
on this occasion prevented their jumping forth when they were so
unexpectedly called for.
"The straggling enemy had scarcely cleared away from our front when
Lord Combermere came from the right with a reinforcement of cavalry;
and our piquet was at the same moment ordered to join the battalion.
"The movements which followed presented the most beautiful military
spectacle imaginable. The enemy were endeavouring to turn our left;
and, in making a counteracting movement, the two armies were marching
in parallel lines close to each other on a perfect plain, each ready
to take advantage of any opening of the other, and exchanging round
shot as they moved along. Our division brought up the rear of the
infantry, marching with the order and precision of a field-day, in
open column of companies, and in perfect readiness to receive the
enemy in any shape, who, on their part, had a huge cavalry force
close at hand and equally ready to pounce upon us.
"_July 22._--A sharp fire of musketry commenced at daylight in the
morning; but as it did not immediately concern us and was nothing
unusual we took no notice of it, but busied ourselves in getting our
arms and our bodies disengaged from the rust and the wet engendered
by the storm of the past night. About ten o'clock our division was
ordered to stand to their arms. The enemy were to be seen in motion
on the opposite ridges, and a straggling fire of musketry, with
an occasional gun, acted as a sort of prelude to the approaching
conflict. We heard, about this time, that Marmont had just sent to
his _ci-devant_ landlord in Salamanca to desire that he would have
the usual dinner ready for himself and staff at six o'clock; and so
satisfied was 'mine host' of the infallibility of the French Marshal,
that he absolutely set about making the necessary preparations.
"There assuredly never was an army so anxious as ours was to be
brought into action on this occasion. They were a magnificent body
of well-tried soldiers, highly equipped, and in the highest health
and spirits, with the most devoted confidence in their leader, and
an invincible confidence in themselves. The retreat of the four
preceding days had annoyed us beyond measure, for we believed that we
were nearly equal to the enemy in point of numbers, and the idea of
our retiring before an equal number of any troops in the world was
not to be endured with common patience.
"We were kept the whole of the forenoon in the most torturing state
of suspense through contradictory reports. One passing officer
telling us that he had just heard the order given to attack, and
the next asserting with equal confidence that he had just heard the
order to retreat; and it was not until about two o'clock in the
afternoon that affairs began to wear a more decided aspect; and when
our own eyes and ears at length conveyed the wished-for tidings that
a battle was inevitable, for we saw the enemy beginning to close
upon our right, and the cannonade had become general along the whole
line. Lord Wellington about the same time ordered the movement which
decided the fate of the day--that of bringing the third division from
beyond the river on our left rapidly to our extreme right, turning
the enemy in their attempt to turn us, and commencing the offensive
with the whole of his right wing.
"The effect was instantaneous and decisive, for although some
obstinate and desperate fighting took place in the centre, with
various success, yet the victory was never for a moment in doubt,
and the enemy were soon in full retreat, leaving seven thousand
prisoners, two eagles, and eleven pieces of artillery in our
hands. Had we been favoured with two hours' more daylight, their
loss would have been incalculable, for they committed a blunder at
starting which they never got time to retrieve, and their retreat was
therefore commenced in such disorder, and with a river in their rear,
that nothing but darkness could have saved them.
"The third division, under Sir Edward Pakenham, the artillery, and
some regiments of dragoons, particularly distinguished themselves.
But our division, very much to our annoyance, came in for a very
slender portion of this day's glory. We were exposed to a cannonade
the whole of the afternoon, but, as we were not permitted to advance
until very late, we had only an opportunity of throwing a few
straggling shot at the fugitives before we lost sight of them in the
dark, and then bivouacked for the night near the village of Huerta (I
think it was called).
"We started after them at daylight next morning, and crossing at a
ford of the Tormes we found their rearguard, consisting of three
regiments of infantry, with some cavalry and artillery, posted on
a formidable height above the village of Serna. General Bock, with
his brigade of heavy German dragoons, immediately went at them, and
putting their cavalry to flight, he broke through their infantry, and
took or destroyed the whole of them. This was one of the most gallant
charges recorded in history. I saw many of these fine fellows lying
dead along with their horses, on which they were still astride, with
the sword firmly grasped in the hand, as they had fought the instant
before, and several of them still wearing a look of fierce defiance,
which death itself had been unable to quench."
In the mountain march which turned the French right, and drove Joseph's
whole army, burdened with the plunder of a kingdom, back into the
fatal valley of Vittoria, the Rifles had a full share. In the actual
fighting of June 21, 1813, their part was brilliant. They fired the
first shot in the fight; they were first across the river; they were
first up the central hill of Arinez, where the fury of the great
battle culminated; and they captured the first gun taken. Barnard's
daring advance with his riflemen really enabled the third and seventh
divisions to carry the bridge of Mendoza. Barnard opened so cruel a
flank fire on the French guns and infantry guarding the bridge that
they fell back in confusion, and the British crossed practically
without confusion. It is needless to add that the hardy and active
Rifles led in the pursuit of the defeated French far into the night
after the battle, and early on the succeeding day:--
"_June 21, 1813._--Our division got under arms this morning before
daylight, passed the base of the mountain by its left, through the
camp of the fourth division, who were still asleep in their tents,
to the banks of the river Zadora, at the village of Tres Puentes.
The opposite side of the river was occupied by the enemy's advanced
posts, and we saw their army on the hills beyond, while the spires of
Vittoria were visible in the distance. We felt as if there was likely
to be a battle; but as that was an event we were never sure of until
we found ourselves actually in it, we lay for some time just out of
musket-shot, uncertain what was likely to turn up, and waiting for
orders. At length a sharp fire of musketry was heard to our right,
and on looking in that direction we saw the head of Sir Rowland
Hill's corps, together with some Spanish troops, attempting to force
the mountain which marked the enemy's left. The three battalions of
our regiment were, at the same moment, ordered forward to feel the
enemy, who lined the opposite banks of the river, with whom we were
quickly engaged in a warm skirmish. The affair with Sir Rowland Hill
became gradually warmer, but ours had apparently no other object than
to amuse those who were opposite to us for the moment, so that for
about two hours longer it seemed as if there would be nothing but an
affair of outposts.
"About twelve o'clock, however, we were moved rapidly to our left,
followed by the rest of the division, till we came to an abrupt turn
of the river, where we found a bridge, unoccupied by the enemy,
which we immediately crossed and took possession of what appeared
to me to be an old field-work on the other side. We had not been
many seconds there before we observed the bayonets of the third and
seventh divisions glittering above the standing corn, and advancing
upon another bridge which stood about a quarter of a mile farther
to our left, and where, on their arrival, they were warmly opposed
by the enemy's light troops, who lined the bank of the river (which
we ourselves were now on), in great force, for the defence of the
bridge. As soon as this was observed by our division, Colonel Barnard
advanced with our battalion, and took them in flank with such a
furious fire as quickly dislodged them, and thereby opened a passage
for these two divisions free of expense, which must otherwise have
cost them dearly. What with the rapidity of our movement, the colour
of our dress, and our close contact with the enemy before they would
abandon their post, we had the misfortune to be identified with them
for some time by a battery of our own guns, who, not observing the
movement, continued to serve it out indiscriminately, and all the
while admiring their practice upon us; nor was it until the red coats
of the third division joined us that they discovered their mistake.
"On the mountain to our extreme right the action continued to be
general and obstinate, though we observed that the enemy were giving
ground slowly to Sir Rowland Hill. The passage of the river by
our division had turned the enemy's outpost at the bridge on our
right, where we had been engaged in the morning, and they were now
retreating, followed by the fourth division. The plain between them
and Sir Rowland Hill was occupied by the British cavalry, who were
now seen filing out of a wood, squadron after squadron, galloping
into form as they gradually cleared it. The hills behind were covered
with spectators, and the third and the light divisions, covered by
our battalion, advanced rapidly upon a formidable hill in front of
the enemy's centre, which they had neglected to occupy in sufficient
force.
"In the course of our progress our men kept picking off the French
vedettes, who were imprudent enough to hover too near us; and many
a horse, bounding along the plain, dragging his late rider by the
stirrup-irons, contributed in making it a scene of extraordinary and
exhilarating interest.
"Old Picton rode at the head of the third division, dressed in a blue
coat and a round hat, and swore as roundly all the way as if he had
been wearing two cocked ones. Our battalion soon cleared the hill in
question of the enemy's light troops; but we were pulled up on the
opposite side of it by one of their lines, which occupied a wall at
the entrance of a village immediately under us.
"During the few minutes that we stopped there, while a brigade of
the third division was deploying into line, two of our companies
lost two officers and thirty men, chiefly from the fire of artillery
bearing on the spot from the French position. One of their shells
burst immediately under my nose, part of it struck my boot and
stirrup-iron, and the rest of it kicked up such a dust about me
that my charger refused to obey orders; and while I was spurring
and he capering I heard a voice behind me, which I knew to be Lord
Wellington's, calling out, in a tone of reproof, 'Look to keeping
your men together, sir;' and though, God knows, I had not the
remotest idea that he was within a mile of me at the time, yet so
sensible was I that circumstances warranted his supposing that I
was a young officer cutting a caper, by way of bravado, before him,
that worlds would not have tempted me to look round at the moment.
The French fled from the wall as soon as they received a volley
from part of the third division, and we instantly dashed down the
hill and charged them through the village, capturing three of their
guns; the first, I believe, that were taken that day. They received
a reinforcement, and drove us back before our supports could come
to our assistance; but, in the scramble of the moment, our men were
knowing enough to cut the traces and carry off the horses, so that
when we retook the village immediately after the guns still remained
in our possession.
"The battle now became general along the whole line, and the
cannonade was tremendous. At one period we held on one side of a
wall, near the village, while the French were on the other, so that
any person who chose to put his head over from either side was sure
of getting a sword or a bayonet up his nostrils. This situation was,
of course, too good to be of long endurance. The victory, I believe,
was never for a moment doubtful. The enemy were so completely
out-generalled, and the superiority of our troops was such, that to
carry their positions required little more than the time necessary
to march to them. After forcing their centre the fourth division and
our own got on the flank and rather in rear of the enemy's left wing,
who were retreating before Sir Rowland Hill, and who, to effect their
escape, were now obliged to fly in one confused mass. Had a single
regiment of our dragoons been at hand, or even a squadron, to have
forced them into shape for a few minutes, we must have taken from ten
to twenty thousand prisoners. After marching alongside of them for
nearly two miles, and as a disorderly body will always move faster
than an orderly one, we had the mortification to see them gradually
heading us, until they finally made their escape.
"Our elevated situation at this time afforded a good view of the
field of battle to our left, and I could not help being struck with
an unusual appearance of unsteadiness and want of confidence among
the French troops. I saw a dense mass of many thousands occupying a
good defensible post, who gave way in the greatest confusion before
a single line of the third division, almost without feeling them.
If there was nothing in any other part of the position to justify
the movement, and I do not think there was, they ought to have been
flogged, every man, from the general downwards.
"The ground was particularly favourable to the retreating foe, as
every half mile afforded a fresh and formidable position, so that
from the commencement of the action to the city of Vittoria, a
distance of six or eight miles, we were involved in one continued
hard skirmish. On passing Vittoria, however, the scene became
quite new and infinitely more amusing, as the French had made no
provision for a retreat; and Sir Thomas Graham having seized upon
the great road to France, the only one left open was that leading
by Pampeluna; and it was not open long, for their fugitive army and
their myriads of followers, with baggage, guns, carriages, &c., being
all precipitated upon it at the same moment, it got choked up about
a mile beyond the town, in the most glorious state of confusion; and
the drivers, finding that one pair of legs was worth two pair of
wheels, abandoned it all to the victors.
"It is much to be lamented, on those occasions, that the people who
contribute most to the victory should profit the least by it; not
that I am an advocate for plunder--on the contrary, I would much
rather that all our fighting was for pure love; but as everything of
value falls into the hands of the followers and scoundrels who skulk
from the ranks for the double purpose of plundering and saving their
dastardly carcasses, what I regret is that the man who deserts his
post should thereby have an opportunity of enriching himself with
impunity, while the true man gets nothing; but the evil, I believe,
is irremediable. Sir James Kempt, who commanded our brigade, in
passing one of the captured waggons in the evening, saw a soldier
loading himself with money, and was about to have him conveyed to the
camp as a prisoner, when the fellow begged hard to be released, and
to be allowed to retain what he had got, telling the general that
all the boxes in the waggon were filled with gold. Sir James, with
his usual liberality, immediately adopted the idea of securing it as
a reward to his brigade for their gallantry; and, getting a fatigue
party, he caused the boxes to be removed to his tent, and ordered an
officer and some men from each regiment to parade there next morning
to receive their proportions of it; but when they opened the boxes
they found them filled with 'hammers, nails, and horse-shoes!'
"As not only the body, but the mind, had been in constant occupation
since three o'clock in the morning, circumstances no sooner
permitted--about ten at night--than I threw myself on the ground,
and fell into a profound sleep, from which I did not awake until
broad daylight, when I found a French soldier squatted near me,
intensely watching for the opening of my 'shutters.' He had contrived
to conceal himself there during the night; and when he saw that I
was awake, he immediately jumped on his legs, and very obsequiously
presented me with a map of France, telling me that as there was now a
probability of our visiting his native country, he could make himself
very useful, and would be glad if I would accept of his services. I
thought it unfair, however, to deprive him of the present opportunity
of seeing a little more of the world himself; and therefore sent him
to join the rest of the prisoners, which would insure him a trip to
England, free of expense."
On the rough and shaggy field of the Pyrenees, with its deep and
tangled valleys and wind-scourged summits, where Soult was maintaining
a gallant and obstinate fight against Wellington, the British endured
and achieved much. Kincaid's account of the carrying of the Great
Rhune, of the passage of the Bidassoa and of the Nivelle, and of all
the fighting which led up to Toulouse, is worth giving:--
"_November 10, 1813._--Petite La Rhune was allotted to our division
as their first point of attack; and, accordingly, on the 10th being
the day fixed, we moved to our ground at midnight on the 9th. The
abrupt ridges in the neighbourhood enabled us to lodge ourselves,
unperceived, within half musket-shot of their piquets; and we had
left every description of animal behind us in camp, in order that
neither the barking of dogs nor the neighing of steeds should give
indication of our intentions. Our signal of attack was to be a gun
from Sir John Hope, who had now succeeded Sir Thomas Graham in the
command of the left wing of the army.
"We stood to our arms at dawn of day, which was soon followed by
the signal gun; and each commanding officer, according to previous
instructions, led gallantly off to his point of attack. The French
must have been, no doubt, astonished to see such an armed force
spring out of the ground almost under their noses, but they were
nevertheless prepared behind their entrenchments, and caused us some
loss in passing the short space between us; but the whole place
was carried within the time required to walk over it, and in less
than half-an-hour from the commencement of the attack it was in our
possession, with all their tents left standing.
"Petite La Rhune was more of an outpost than a part of their
position, the latter being a chain of stupendous mountains in its
rear; so that, while our battalion followed their skirmishers into
the valley between, the remainder of our division were forming for
the attack on the main position and waiting for the co-operation of
the other divisions, the thunder of whose artillery, echoing along
the valleys, proclaimed that they were engaged far and wide on both
sides of us. About mid-day our division advanced to the grand attack
on the most formidable-looking part of the whole of the enemy's
position, and, much to our surprise, we carried it with more ease
and less loss than the outpost in the morning, a circumstance which
we could only account for by supposing that it had been defended by
the same troops, and that they did not choose to sustain two hard
beatings on the same day. The attack succeeded at every point, and in
the evening we had the satisfaction of seeing the left wing of the
army marching into St. Jean de Luz."
Barnard, the gallant leader of the Rifles, was shot through the breast
when pressing in pursuit of the broken French, who had been driven
from the Little Rhune. He fell from his horse, and it was evident that
the lung was pierced, for blood and air issued from the wound, while
blood ran from the fallen man's mouth. "Do you think I am dying?" asked
Barnard coolly of an officer bending over him. "Did you ever see a man
so wounded recover?" He was told there were cases of recovery from such
a wound. "Then," said Barnard, "if any man can recover, I know that I
shall." And he did, his resolve not to die materially helping him to
survive. For so much does a cool and strong will count!
Kincaid's account of Toulouse is singularly brief. The Rifles were
placed so as to connect Picton's left with the Spaniards under Freire,
who were to attack the shoulder of Mont Rave. Thus Kincaid was able to
watch, and afterwards describe, the memorable rout of the Spaniards,
which forms the most picturesque feature of the battle. The Rifles
themselves were engaged in a sharp musketry fire with the convent, and
as they advanced a great open sewer had to be crossed and held. The
Rifles, according to the regimental record, suffered more from the
odours of the sewer than from the bullets of the French:--
"We crossed the river, and advanced sufficiently near to the enemy's
position to be just out of reach of their fire, where we waited until
dispositions were made for the attack.
"On our side of the river the Spanish army, which had never hitherto
taken an active part in any of our general actions, now claimed
the post of honour, and advanced to storm the strongest part of
the heights. Our division was ordered to support them in the low
grounds, and at the same time to threaten a point of the canal; and
Picton, who was on our right, was ordered to make a false attack on
the canal. These were all that were visible to us. The remaining
divisions of the army were in continuation to the left.
"The Spaniards, anxious to monopolise all the glory, I rather think,
moved on to the attack a little too soon, and before the British
divisions on their left were in readiness to co-operate. However,
be that as it may, they were soon in a blaze of fire, and began
walking through it at first with a great show of gallantry and
determination; but their courage was not altogether screwed up to the
sticking-point, and the nearer they came to the critical pass the
less prepared they seemed to meet it, until they all finally faced to
the right-about, and came back upon us as fast as their heels could
carry them, pursued by the enemy.
"We instantly advanced to their relief, and concluded that they
would have rallied behind us, but they had no idea of doing anything
of the kind, for when with Cuesta and some of the other Spanish
generals they had been accustomed, under such circumstances, to run
a hundred miles at a time; so that, passing through the intervals of
our division, they went clear off to the rear, and we never saw them
more. The moment the French found us interpose between them and the
Spaniards they retired within their works.
"The only remark that Lord Wellington was said to have made on their
conduct, after waiting to see whether they would stand after they got
out of the reach of the enemy's shot, was, 'Well, d---- me, if ever
I saw ten thousand men run a race before!' However, notwithstanding
their disaster, many of their officers certainly evinced great
bravery, and on their account it is to be regretted that the attack
was made so soon, for they would otherwise have carried their point
with little loss, either of life or credit, as the British divisions
on the left soon after stormed and carried all the other works, and
obliged those who had been opposed to the Spaniards to evacuate
theirs without firing another shot.
"When the enemy were driven from the heights, they retired within
the town, and the canal then became their line of defence, which
they maintained the whole of the next day; but in the course of the
following night they left the town altogether, and we took possession
of it on the morning of the 12th.
"The inhabitants of Toulouse hoisted the white flag, and declared
for the Bourbons the moment that the French army had left it; and,
in the course of the same day, Colonel Cooke arrived from Paris
with the extraordinary news of Napoleon's abdication. Soult has
been accused of having been in possession of that fact prior to the
battle of Toulouse; but, to disprove such an assertion, it can only
be necessary to think, for a moment, whether he would not have made
it public the day after the battle, while he yet held possession of
the town, as it would not only have enabled him to keep it, but, to
those who knew no better, it might have given him a shadow of claim
to the victory, if he chose to avail himself of it--and I have known
a victory claimed by a French marshal on more slender grounds. In
place of knowing it then, he did not even believe it now; and we were
absolutely obliged to follow him a day's march beyond Toulouse before
he agreed to an armistice."