Exchange into the 95th Rifle Corps. Expedition to Denmark. Sail to
Elsineur. Imposing appearance of our numerous fleet. Scenery on the
Danish and Swedish coasts. A party to Elsineur. Cronberg castle.
Hamlet’s garden. Disorderly conduct of the Danes. Causes thereof.
The army disembarks. The reserve commanded by Sir Arthur Wellesley.
Advance towards Copenhagen. A sortie made by the garrison. Affairs
between the Danish gun-boats and our advanced squadron. Ludicrous
nocturnal affair at the outposts. The Danish pickets are driven in.
The reserve is sent into the interior of the island of Zealand.
Affair near Kioge with the Danish militia. A sortie from Copenhagen
repulsed by Lieut. Light, of the 50th regiment. Bombardment of
Copenhagen, and surrender of the Danish fleet and stores. Visit to
the capital. Its deplorable appearance. The army re-embarks. List of
Danish prizes. A large fleet of homeward-bound merchantmen joins us.
We sail for England. A slight sketch of the Danes, and of the island
of Zealand. Stormy passage to England.
Three months out of the six which had been granted me to return to
Europe for the recovery of my health, were already expended on the
voyage home, and it consequently became indispensably necessary that one
of two measures should be decided on without loss of time. Either to
rejoin my regiment, and spend some of the best years of my life in a
sugar island, where cold punch, sangaree, cigar-smoking, musquito bites,
and every now and then a friend swept off by yellow fever, were the only
varieties I had to calculate on; or to exchange into one of the
regiments in England or Ireland, whereby I should stand a fair chance of
participating in any service going on in Europe or elsewhere, as the
fates might decree.
When encamped, in 1803, at Shorncliffe, with the 95th Rifle Corps, I
took a particular fancy to it, and ever afterwards wished most ardently
to wear a green jacket. On my return from the West Indies, this wish
being by no means lessened, I lost no time in feeling the pulse of the
captains of that corps; and, to my great joy, found one of them disposed
to exchange his green jacket for a red coat, and to try his fortune in
Antigua. I was shortly afterwards gazetted, and found myself fully
accoutered as a rifleman, and stationed with my regiment in Kent, early
in the spring of 1806.
Towards the end of that year, the battalion to which I belonged received
orders to be in readiness for immediate embarkation. Report said that
the Marquess of Hastings was to command the expedition; but we received
counter-orders, and no embarkation took place that year.
In the summer of 1807, government having decided on sending a powerful
fleet and army to the island of Zealand, in order to get possession of
the Danish fleet, the battalion to which I belonged embarked in July at
Deal—sailed the latter end of that month—passed the Sound on the 8th of
August—and anchored between Elsineur and Copenhagen. The strikingly bold
and romantic scenery which the coast of Sweden presents before reaching
the Sound, afforded us much pleasure. From the fishing-boats which came
off we were abundantly supplied with excellent fish, and at an
inconceivably moderate rate.
Between Elsineur and Copenhagen our numerous fleet of line-of-battle
ships, frigates, sloops of war, gun-brigs, bomb-vessels, and transports,
containing upwards of twenty thousand troops, lay at anchor; and a more
magnificent and imposing sight cannot well be conceived.
The fine beech forests on the Danish coast, growing in many places down
to the water’s edge; the bolder and more marked scenery on the Swedish
side; the distant view of Copenhagen, with its formidable floating
batteries; and, in an opposite direction, the castle of Cronberg, with
the towns of Helsenburg on the Swedish shore, and Elsineur on the
Danish,—form a picture which I can scarcely imagine to be exceeded in
beauty and interest.
During the six or seven days after our arrival, which were spent in
negotiations, and before it was finally resolved that our army should be
landed, to obtain by force that fleet which the Danish authorities
refused to place in our hands, I went ashore with a party of our
officers at Elsineur. Of Cronberg castle, we were, of course, not
permitted to see more than the exterior, which appeared extremely
formidable. In the town of Elsineur I can remember to have seen but
little either to amuse or interest. We lost no time in procuring a
person to conduct us to Hamlet’s garden, which is in the vicinity of
Elsineur; and our guide, who was an antiquated female, affected to point
out with great precision and exactness the identical spot where the old
king of Denmark slept at the time he met his death by the hands of his
brother. I recollect nothing peculiar in the garden itself, it being
like a hundred other gardens which I have seen elsewhere.
On returning to the boat, about sunset, to go on board our transport, a
large concourse of Danish sailors, and of the lower orders of
inhabitants of Elsineur, assembled in a tumultuous manner on the pier,
and were by no means nice or scrupulous as to the manner in which they
conducted themselves towards any Englishman then ashore. A captain of
our navy and his boat’s crew were maltreated, and some of them thrown
into the water. Our party did not escape without being hustled and
jostled and pushed into our boat. We effected our retreat, however, in
good order, and reached our ship without any serious mishap.
That the Danes should have conducted themselves so uncourteously on this
occasion, is not to be wondered at;—for it appeared that the final
answer from the Danish authorities in Copenhagen had been received on
that day by Lord Cathcart and Admiral Gambier, the commanders of our
fleet and army, refusing to deliver the Danish fleet into our hands. The
alternative was consequently soon known at Elsineur, that hostilities
would immediately commence. It may also easily be imagined that the
conflict which took place a few years before, between the British fleet
under Lord Nelson, and the Danish fleet and floating batteries at
Copenhagen, was still fresh in the recollection of thousands of the
inhabitants, who had witnessed it from the shore; nor is it probable
that they had yet forgiven us for the destruction of their fleet, and
the dreadful carnage occasioned by their brave defence of it.
On the 15th of August the army received orders to land on the following
morning. The reserve was under the command of Major-general Sir Arthur
Wellesley, and consisted of the 1st battalion 43d Light Infantry, the 2d
battalion 52d Light Infantry, the 92d Highlanders, with five companies
of the 1st and five of the 2d battalion 95th Rifle Corps. The remainder
of the two battalions of our regiment were, at this time, in South
America, under Generals Whitelock and Sir Samuel Auchmuty.
Before day-break, on the 16th of August, we were in the boats and
launches, and rowed rapidly towards the shore, over a sea as smooth as a
mirror. We landed, without opposition, on a sandy beach; and some large
woods being in the vicinity, Sir Arthur Wellesley immediately directed
the companies of our corps to penetrate them and reconnoitre the
different roads and paths. This having been done, the division advanced
in the direction of Copenhagen, and bivouacked at night near a village,
without having encountered any thing more formidable than a few armed
peasants, who fled at our approach.
The next morning, at day-break, we again moved forward, and, with other
divisions of the army, occupied the different roads leading to the
capital, and took possession of such houses as were eligible, from their
situation, for quartering the troops. As the army closed on the city,
the fleet approached it also.
A day or two after we had taken post round the city, a sortie was made
from the garrison, its principal force being directed towards the left
of our position, near the sea, whilst some light troops kept us in play
by skirmishing with our centre. This movement of the Danes was supported
on the left by their gun-boats, which cannonaded our posts near the
shore, and were also warmly engaged with the vessels of our advanced
squadron. They were driven back, without much loss on our part. There
were several sharp affairs between the Danish gun-boats and the brigs,
bomb-vessels, &c. &c. of our fleet, at various times, the whole of which
we could distinctly see from the shore. The sea appeared quite alive
with the incessant plunging of shot and shells in various directions.
A ludicrous occurrence took place a few days after we landed. Shortly
after dark, the reserve got under arms in great haste, in consequence of
some firing in our front from one of the pickets of the division. Sir
Arthur Wellesley and his staff were soon on the spot; and the alarm was
found to have been occasioned by some unfortunate Danish horses which
had strayed from their farm-yard. These animals came galloping down the
road which led to the picket, with their collars, chains, and other
apparatus, with which they had been fastened all day to the plough or
harrow, and from which they had not been disencumbered. The officer who
commanded the picket, hearing the galloping and clanking of chains,
hesitated not a moment to open a fire on the road where the ill-fated
quadrupeds were amusing themselves with kicking, frisking, and various
other gambols, after their day’s labour. “Blaze away, my brave fellows!
we are attacked by cavalry!” was the order promptly given, and instantly
executed by the picket; and blaze away they did, to the no small
annoyance of friend and foe: for we may conclude that the Danish
out-posts, as well as our own, got under arms, and remained so until
matters were explained. The return of killed and wounded of the Danish
cavalry, in this nocturnal affair, was never clearly ascertained.
On the 24th of August, at break of day, the whole army drove in the
Danish out-post, each division clearing its own immediate front, and
causing the Danish pickets to take shelter under the guns of the town.
We had some skirmishing with them amongst the gardens and suburbs, but
with a trifling loss on our side.
A day or two afterwards, the reserve was ordered to march into the
interior of the island, to disperse a large body of militia and armed
peasantry which had assembled. Some troops, commanded by General
Linsingen, were also placed under Sir A. Wellesley’s command, consisting
of hussars, light infantry, and light artillery, of the German Legion.
On the 29th of August, after three or four days’ march, we found this
body of Danish militia in a position near the village of Kioge, with
many pieces of artillery, indifferently appointed. Sir A. Wellesley lost
no time in attacking them; nor did he experience much difficulty in
defeating and dispersing this ill-disciplined force. We took from them
their artillery, fifteen hundred prisoners, and some ammunition, stores,
&c. &c. Our loss in this affair was very trifling, as it was impossible
that the Danes could offer any effectual resistance to disciplined
troops. Their numbers have been rated as high as fifteen thousand; but I
believe it to have been vastly exaggerated. In order to render the
dispersion of this body complete, and to prevent it from reuniting, our
division and General Linsingen’s corps occupied different towns and
villages in the interior of the island; but the inhabitants evinced no
disposition to disturb us. Sir A. Wellesley enforced the strictest
discipline in his division, which may, in a great measure, account for
the good understanding which existed between the troops and the
inhabitants. In October, the reserve was still more scattered and
detached in towns and villages on the Belt.
Whilst Sir A. Wellesley was carrying on those operations in the
interior, the siege of Copenhagen was prosecuted with vigour by the
other divisions of the army, aided by the fleet. A sortie was made
before daylight one morning, and was stopped by Lieut. Light, of the
50th regiment, whose gallant conduct at the head of his picket merited
every encomium. On the 2d of September, our mortar-batteries and the
bomb-vessels of the fleet opened a tremendous fire of shells and
rockets, with such effect, that the unfortunate city was soon in flames
in various places; and the wooden steeple of a large church or cathedral
fell down, and spread the flames still farther around, thereby
increasing the danger.
To save the ill-fated capital from total destruction, the Governor,
General Peymaun, sent out a flag of truce on the 5th of September, and a
capitulation was drawn up, by which the citadel was to be placed in the
hands of our troops, together with the dock-yard, and the whole of their
fleet and stores. The news of the capitulation reached us a few days
after it was concluded, our division being at this time several marches
from Copenhagen. I obtained leave of absence to visit the capital, which
the British officers were allowed to enter with passports signed by a
general officer. Having procured one, signed by General Ludlow, of the
Guards, I spent five days with a party of my brother-officers at a
capital hotel.
Callous and insensible must he have been who could have walked through
the streets and witnessed the horrors occasioned by the bombardment, and
the misery inflicted on thousands of the unoffending inhabitants,
without bitterly regretting that our government should have considered
it necessary to adopt such rigorous measures. The museum and observatory
escaped the conflagration. From the ground to the summit of the
observatory, the passage is extremely broad, and gradual in its ascent,
and it commands a magnificent view of the city, the sea, and the country
around to a considerable extent. One-third of the city was destroyed by
the bombardment; consequently there was an appearance of confusion and
irregularity in the parts which had suffered most.
About the middle of October, the working parties from the fleet and army
having cleared the dock-yard of all the stores and the whole of the
Danish fleet, preparations were made for the embarkation of the army,
and our return to England. The reserve was withdrawn from the interior;
and before the end of October the whole army was on board ship. The
first and second battalions of our regiment embarked in the Princess
Caroline, a Danish prize of 74 guns.
Eighteen Danish ships of the line, sixteen frigates, nine gun-brigs, and
twenty-five gun-boats, being the whole of their naval force, were taken
possession of and carried to England, with the exception of three or
four, which were destroyed as not sea-worthy, or in too unfinished a
state for the voyage.
By the time the embarkation was completed, a numerous fleet of
homeward-bound merchantmen, from different parts of the Baltic, joined
us, to take advantage of the convoy; and at length we set sail for
England, with a fleet which, including ships of war, prizes, transports,
and merchantmen, amounted to nearly five hundred sail; the largest,
perhaps, ever assembled in the Baltic or elsewhere.
The castle of Cronberg did not fire on the fleet as we passed out of the
Sound; and, indeed, had the Danes been disposed to do so, we could, by
keeping near the Swedish shore, have avoided any ill effects from their
batteries. We had every reason to be satisfied, during our stay in
Denmark, with the conduct of the inhabitants, who, although they did not
attempt to conceal their displeasure at our having landed, burnt their
capital, and taken possession of their fleet, behaved uniformly with
civility towards us; and, with the exception of the circumstance which
took place at Elsineur two days before we landed, to which I have
already alluded, I did not hear of an individual having been abused or
ill-treated, even in the capital, notwithstanding that swarms of British
officers were there throughout the day and night, and even before the
flames which had consumed their houses were thoroughly extinguished.
There are few capitals, similarly circumstanced, in which assassinations
would not have taken place without number, particularly in the southern
parts of Europe.
From our short sojourn in Denmark, I am well inclined to respect the
Danes as a brave, honourable, and manly people. Their peasantry are
quiet, orderly, and industrious; and as totally free from the
preposterous pride of the Spanish peasant, as of the cringing servility
of the Portuguese. The parts of the island of Zealand through which Sir
A. Wellesley’s division marched, in our little expedition into the
interior, is by no means without interest. There appeared to be no lack
of cultivation, nor any symptom of want among the peasantry. The
features of the country are, in general, not marked or bold; but the
fine forests of beech, with various lakes, form altogether a pleasing
picture.
After a passage of about four weeks from the Sound, in which we
experienced a succession of heavy gales, and in which some vessels of
the fleet foundered, or were wrecked on the coast of Holland, we
anchored in the Downs; and our regiment disembarked in large
pilot-boats, in a very heavy sea, which broke over us the moment we
touched the beach at Deal. We marched the following day to Hythe
barracks, in Kent, where we were stationed during the winter: here we
were shortly afterwards joined by the companies of our two battalions
which returned from South America, after the storming of Monte Video,
under Sir Samuel Auchmuty, and the subsequently disastrous and ill-fated
expedition to Buenos Ayres, under General Whitelocke. Their loss in
officers and men had been very severe.