WITH THE CAMERONS IN THE PENINSULAR
(1810-1814)
I hear the pibroch sounding, sounding,
Deep o’er the mountain and glen,
While light springing footsteps are trampling the heath,
’Tis the march of the Cameron Men.
_Regimental March._
The 1st Battalion of the famous Cameron Highlanders was founded in 1793
by Alan Cameron of Erracht, Inverness-shire, and owed its formation to
the danger of invasion from France. The 2nd Battalion was not embodied
until 1897.
The Camerons have not seen so much service as the other Highland
regiments, but have always displayed daring bravery.
As we have seen in our last chapter the regiment won battle honours at
Corunna, but at Fuentes de Oñoro it established a reputation.
Between the years 1809 and 1813 Wellington was in command of three
armies in the Peninsular—his own English army, an admirable veteran
force, the Portuguese troops commanded by Beresford, and the Spaniards.
The latter were not very serviceable in the field, but had a perfect
genius for guerilla warfare, and as they knew the country intimately and
were not compelled to keep together, they proved a constant menace and
irritation to the French, threatening their communications, cutting off
their supplies, and sniping soldiers on the march or in camp. Wellington
was anxious to establish his base in Portugal, and from there to push
back the French until Spain was free. This task occupied him for four
years, but in that time he was fighting not only for England but for
Europe as well. The Peninsular War may appear a very small campaign in
comparison with the vast movements of Napoleon, but it was sapping the
strength of France. It drained Napoleon’s forces of some of their best
and most reliable troops, and humiliated them in the eyes of the world.
Napoleon might be victorious himself, but his arms and his generals
suffered one defeat after another at the hands of Wellington. The legend
of invincibility was broken, and all over Europe hope sprang into life
once more.
The Highland regiments did not leave for Portugal in a brigade. The
Camerons were with Wellington at Busaco on September 25, 1810, whereas
the 2nd Battalion of the Black Watch did not embark for Portugal until
April 1812.
The Camerons were commanded by Major-General Alan Cameron, and resisted
the advance of the French general, Massena, prior to the retirement of
the British army behind the lines of Torres Vedras. The long winter
broke the strength of the enemy, and in the spring the battle of Fuentes
de Oñoro was fought. In this action the following Highland regiments
were engaged—the Highland Light Infantry, the Gordons, the 1st Battalion
of the Black Watch, and the Camerons. Perhaps more than any other
regiment the Camerons excelled upon that day.
Wellington had already invested the fortress of Almeida, and to break
the advance of Massena he occupied the district between the two villages
of Fuentes de Oñoro in Spain, and Villa Formosa in Portugal. It was on
May 3 that Massena hurled his assault upon the former, where the
Camerons and the H.L.I. were stationed.
Throughout the whole of one day the French strove to capture the
village, and at times it was touch and go whether the British would not
be compelled to evacuate the place.
A Cameron Highlander, who fought in the action, has recorded his
experiences. “The village,” he says, referring to the initial stage of
the engagement, “was now vigorously attacked by the enemy at two points,
and with such a superior force, that, in spite of the unparalleled
bravery of our troops, they were driven back, contesting every inch of
the ground. On our retreat through the village we were met by the 71st
Regiment (H.L.I.), cheering and led on by Colonel Cadogan, which had
been detached from the line to our support. The chase was now turned,
and although the French were obstinately intent on keeping their ground,
and so eager that many of their cavalry had entered the town and rushed
furiously down the streets, all their efforts were in vain; nothing
could withstand the charge of the gallant 71st, and in a short time, in
spite of all resistance, they cleared the village.”
But that was only the initial attack. Upon May 5, Massena came seriously
to the assault. The light companies had now been withdrawn, leaving the
H.L.I. and Camerons to hold the position.
In the morning the fiercest attack was made by the French. For a time
they carried everything before them. The English cavalry was driven
back, Ramsay’s horse artillery being cut off, and apparently captured.
Mad with victory the French squadrons came full at the British infantry.
Two companies of the Camerons were taken after a gallant resistance. The
flood of the enemy passed on, obliterating the detachments of the
defenders as surf covers the shore. Backwards the remainder of the
Camerons and H.L.I. were forced, till at the chapel they made their
stand. That day was full of brilliant incidents. One of the most
dramatic and picturesque was the return of Ramsay, with his artillery
cleaving the ranks of the French as a scythe cleaves the grain. Another
was the spirit with which the Black Watch met the French cavalry as they
galloped in dense squadrons upon the British lines. Down went their
bayonets, the Highland ranks stood grim and unshaken as a granite rock.
The cavalry flung themselves with desperate bravery upon the steel,
recoiling towards their own lines, broken and defeated.
In the meantime the Camerons were carrying on their forlorn struggle,
and at the climax of the battle they suffered their greatest loss.
Captain Jameson has recorded how “a French soldier was observed to slip
aside into a doorway and take deliberate aim at Colonel Cameron, who
fell from his horse mortally wounded. A cry of grief, intermingled with
shouts for revenge, arose from the rearmost Highlanders, who witnessed
the fall of their commanding officer, and was rapidly communicated to
those in front.”
The rage of the Highlanders knew no bounds. They flung themselves upon
the French, who, surprised by the desperate vigour of the charge, were
driven back. Supported by the H.L.I., the Camerons turned the scales at
this point, and with the arrival of Wellington’s reserves the battle of
Fuentes de Oñoro was won.
Ciudad Rodrigo was the next place to fall. We are told that the story of
the assault can never be adequately described, and the bravery and
determination displayed by the British troops was beyond all praise. It
was certainly a masterly feat to assemble 40,000 men about the fortress
of Castile without arousing the suspicion of the enemy, and following
this up by a successful assault, capturing the stores and artillery of
Marmont’s forces.
In a similar manner Badajoz was surrounded by 30,000 men, and three
attacks were planned—on the right by Picton, in the centre by Colville,
and on the left by Leith. The soldiers swarmed up the ruins in the
broken walls, to be hurled down again and again by the besieged. With
dogged courage they still persisted, and carried the place by storm,
with a loss of 2000 killed and wounded. Portugal was saved.
It was early in June that Wellington began to move towards Salamanca. Of
that engagement Napier has written: “Salamanca was the first decisive
victory gained by the Allies in the Peninsula. In former actions the
French had been repulsed; here they were driven headlong, as it were
into a mighty wind without help or stay ... and the shock reaching even
to Moscow heaved and shook the colossal structure of Napoleon’s power to
its very base.”
For their part in this battle the Camerons and H.L.I. were allowed to
add the name ‘Salamanca’ to their battle honours.
Although the wars in the Peninsula were not ‘Highlanders’ battles’ in
the way the Crimean and Indian Mutiny campaigns were—yet the regiments
principally engaged, namely the Black Watch, Camerons, Gordons, and
H.L.I., fought with the greatest distinction and gallantry.
On September 9, 1812, the Black Watch and Camerons stormed the hill of
San Michael, carrying ladders and splicing them together under the very
walls. A terrific fire was opened on them as they ascended, and for a
long time every man who clambered to the top of the ladder was certain
of death. This signal slaughter so discouraged the Portuguese that they
would on no account support the Highlanders, and for this reason their
loss of life was of no avail, as it was impossible to storm the garrison
without reinforcements. And so Burgos was doomed to be a failure, and
the retreat began. The loss of the 42nd in the storming of San Michael
was exceedingly heavy, and with the abandonment of the siege the allied
forces gave up the attempt and withdrew to the frontier of Portugal,
where winter quarters were established.
In 1813 Wellington set his face towards France. With Graham were the
Black Watch, the Camerons, and the Argyllshire Highlanders. Colin
Campbell, who had been with Moore, and who was to see service in the
Crimea and in the Mutiny, was in one of the battalions under Graham.
On the 20th of June Wellington was nearing Vittoria, while Graham, who
had been despatched southward, was to attack the French right and force
the passage of the Zadora. Graham approached this valley of the Zadora
on the 21st, but before advancing it was essential that the enemy’s
troops should be driven across the river.
This was accomplished successfully, and by this action Graham cut off
the French from their only way of retreat to Bayonne, and the only
possible road was rendered altogether impassable by the confusion of the
troops and baggage. As an authority has pungently written, “Never was
there a defeat more decisive, the French were beaten before the town,
and in the town, and through the town, and out of the town, and behind
the town”; indeed so thoroughly were they beaten that the whole French
force at Vittoria relinquished its baggage, guns, stores, and papers,
making it impossible to know what was owing or what was to be done,
while even the commanding officers suffered considerably from an absence
of clothes. In this action the H.L.I. lost very heavily. Their
commanding officer, Colonel Henry Cadogan, gave them the lead, and
almost immediately was mortally wounded. Like Wolfe at Quebec, his sole
anxiety was whether the French were beaten, and the same answer was
given him, “They are giving way everywhere.”
On that eventful day the H.L.I. lost 400 officers and men, the toll of
gallantry commemorated in the jingle:
Loud was the battle’s stormy swell,
Where thousands fought and many fell,
But the 71st they bore the bell,
At the battle of Vittoria.
During the campaign of the Pyrenees the Highland regiments were not
members of the brigades that saw most of the fighting. We have dealt
with their achievements under Graham, and we must not forget that the
42nd were rewarded with the word ‘Pyrenees’ to commemorate the success
of their arms, but on the whole the brunt of the fighting fell to other
troops.
In September San Sebastian was taken, and on October 7 the passage of
the Bidassoa was carried, upon which the British troops caught their
first glimpse of the country of France, and, rushing up the slopes on
the other side of the river, carried the Croix des Bouquets stronghold.
Along the river Nivelle rose the French lines of fortifications, but the
British troops, in no way disheartened, forded the river on November 10,
and carried the position by storm. It was for this action that the Royal
Highlanders display the word ‘Nivelle’ upon their regimental colours.
The humiliation which Soult suffered was in no way lessened by the
desertion of his German troops, who, learning that their country had
decided to throw off the tyranny of France, marched over to the Allies.
Presently the French fell back towards Orthez, but a severe defeat
compelled Soult to retire altogether from the coast towards Toulouse,
after a loss of some 8000 men. By the first week in March the Allies
were in hot pursuit, with Beresford threatening Bordeaux.
The campaign was approaching its final stages, and it was high time.
“The clothing of the army at large,” records a Highlander, “but the
Highland Brigade in particular, was in a very tattered state. The
clothing of the 91st Regiment had been two years in wear, the men were
thus under the necessity of repairing their old garments in the best
manner they could. Some had the elbows of their coats mended with grey
cloth, others had one-half of the sleeve of a different colour from the
body; their trousers were in equally as bad a condition as their coats.
The 42nd, which was the only corps in the Brigade that wore the kilt,
was beginning to lose it by degrees. Men falling sick and left in the
rear frequently got the kilt made into trousers, and on joining the
regiment again no plaid could be furnished to supply the loss....
“It is impossible to describe the painful state that some shoeless men
were in, crippling along the way, their feet cut or torn by sharp stones
or brambles. To remedy the want of shoes, the raw hides of the
newly-slaughtered bullocks were given to cut up on purpose to form a
sort of buskins for the bare-footed soldiers.”
The writer finishes his reflections upon a cheerful note—just as true
to-day as it was a hundred years ago. “We were getting hardier and
stronger every day in person; the more we suffer the more confidence we
feel in our strength; all in health and no sickness.”
On April 10, 1814, came the first movement towards the last decisive
battle of Toulouse, and the final and culminating victory of the arduous
Peninsular War was about to take place. Wellington was in command of
some 40,000 Anglo-Portuguese troops, 12,000 Spanish troops, and 84
pieces of cannon. Under Soult were some 38,000 men, in addition to which
there were the National Guard of the city, while 80 guns defended the
formidable ramparts constructed by the townsfolk of Toulouse. Wellington
advanced the Spanish, who, displaying great courage, were successful in
driving the French back on to their own fortifications.
At the same time the lines of redoubt on the right were taken and
carried by General Pack’s brigade with the Black Watch, Camerons, and
Argylls. Unfortunately the Spaniards were not sufficiently experienced
or proven to withstand the fire from the French batteries, and for a
time were disorganised. On the extreme right Picton had not been any
more successful.
This repulse of the Spaniards disarranged to some extent the plan of
attack, and Beresford’s artillery was hurried up to shell the heights.
After a brief rest the assault again began. With heroic courage the
Spaniards advanced in the teeth of a heavy fire, but in each case were
repulsed. General Pack’s brigade was then ordered to attack the works at
the two centre redoubts under the full range of the enemy’s fire. It is
recorded that they did not return a shot, but advanced with perfect
steadiness. Before the Highlanders lay the enemy’s entrenchment, while
“darkening the whole hill, flanked by clouds of cavalry, and covered by
the fire of their redoubt, the enemy came down on us like a torrent,
their generals and field-officers riding in front, and waving their hats
amidst the shouts of the multitude, resembling the roar of an ocean.”
The Highlanders, unmoved by the spectacle, fired a volley which was
returned by the French, then without pause charged the position, taking
the redoubt. It was a brilliant piece of work, carried out mainly by the
Black Watch and the Camerons.
Shortly after, General Pack rode up and uttered the following words: “I
have just now been with General Clinton, and he has been pleased to
grant my request, that in the charge we are now about to make upon the
enemy’s redoubts, the 42nd shall have the honour of leading the attack.
The 42nd will advance.”
During the next few minutes the artillery poured their fire upon the
Black Watch. Men fell in heaps. There was only one thing to do before
the regiment was annihilated, and that was to rush the batteries. Not a
hundred of the 500 who had started were left when the redoubt was taken.
But it was impossible to hold such a position with only a handful of
men. The remnant of the Black Watch retired towards the Argyllshires,
who were in position near a farmhouse. The enemy, determined to recover
the lost ground, nearly achieved their purpose. With a force of some
five or six thousand men advancing under sheltered ground they rushed
impetuously upon the Black Watch, who were forced by sheer weight of
numbers to fall back upon the 91st. It was but a momentary retirement.
Suddenly, irresistibly, the two Highland regiments crashed upon the
disordered front of the enemy. Panic overcame the French. Victory was
assured.
It was the Highland regiments, and the Black Watch above all, that, in
Fitchett’s opinion, saved Wellington from a reverse at Toulouse. Anton
relates that, having once started towards the French entrenchments over
ground difficult to manœuvre on, it would have meant annihilation to
retreat. It was only the invincible character of the Highlanders’ charge
that carried them to victory.
Toulouse was still within the range of the British artillery, and Soult
decided to evacuate that evening, in order to avoid a siege without very
much chance of holding out long. It was humiliating for a Field-Marshal
of France to surrender the capital of the second Province, within whose
walls a veteran army, that had already conquered two kingdoms, had
rushed for protection following a series of defeats at the hand of
Wellington.
The troops of Great Britain had come to the liberation of Spain and
Portugal; had fought eight pitched battles against commanders only
second to Napoleon, and had “out-manœuvred, out-marched, out-flanked,
and overturned their enemy.” There only remained the decisive actions of
Quatre Bras and Waterloo to convince Napoleon himself that the British
Army and the British leader were not to be despised.
Toulouse was the final battle and the decisive victory of the Peninsular
War. In a manner, however, Toulouse was more spectacular than
serviceable, for eight days before the action took place Napoleon had
resigned his crown; and while Wellington was beating back Soult step by
step, first to the Pyrenees, then to Vittoria, to San Sebastian, and
then to Toulouse, the enormous forces of the Allies were with the same
inevitable progress driving the army of Napoleon towards Paris. Beaten
in the field, and distrusted in Paris, he decided that the time had come
to throw himself upon the mercy of the Allies, if by abdicating his
throne he might at least retrieve some hope of the accession of his
little son. The Allies in due course occupied Paris. Napoleon, deserted
even by his wife, reached the little Isle of Elba, and Louis
XVIII.—brother of that tragic Louis who was executed twenty-one years
previously—ascended for a brief time the throne of France.
BATTLE HONOURS OF THE (QUEEN’S OWN) CAMERON HIGHLANDERS
Egmont-op-Zee, Corunna, Busaco, Fuentes de Oñoro, Salamanca, Pyrenees,
Nivelle, Nive, Toulouse, Peninsula, Waterloo, Alma, Sevastopol, Lucknow;
Egypt, 1882; Tel-el-Kebir; Nile, 1884-1885; Atbara, Khartoum; South
Africa, 1900-1902.
Raised in 1793. From 1873 to 1881 the 79th (Queen’s Own Cameron
Highlanders) Regiment.
The 2nd Battalion raised in 1897.