THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT.
The year after the capture of Cadiz, Lionel Vickars sailed under Sir
Francis Vere with the expedition designed to attack the fleet which
Philip of Spain had gathered in Ferrol, with the intention, it was
believed, of invading Ireland in retaliation for the disaster at Cadiz.
The expedition met with terrible weather in the Bay of Biscay, and put
back scattered and disabled to Plymouth and Falmouth. In August they
again sailed, but were so battered by another storm that the expedition
against Ferrol was abandoned, and they sailed to the Azores. There,
after a skirmish with the Spaniards, they scattered among the islands,
but missed the great Spanish fleet laden with silver from the west, and
finally returned to England without having accomplished anything, while
they suffered from another tempest on their way home, and reached
Plymouth with difficulty.
Fortunately the same storm scattered and destroyed the great Spanish
fleet at Ferrol, and the weather thus for the second time saved England
from invasion. Late in the autumn, after his return from the
expedition, Sir Francis Vere went over to Holland, and by his advice
Prince Maurice prepared in December to attack a force of 4000 Spanish
infantry and 600 cavalry, which, under the command of the Count of
Varras, had gathered at the village of Turnhout, twenty miles from
Breda.
A force of 5000 foot and 800 horse were secretly assembled at
Gertruydenberg. Sir Francis Vere brought an English regiment, and
personally commanded one of the two troops into which the English
cavalry was divided. Sir Robert Sidney came with 300 of the English
garrison at Flushing, and Sir Alexander Murray with a Scotch regiment.
The expedition started on the 23d of January, 1598, and after marching
twenty-four miles reached the village of Rivels, three miles from
Turnhout, two hours after dark.
The night was bitter cold, and after cooking supper the men wrapt
themselves up in their cloaks, and lay down on the frozen ground until
daybreak The delay, although necessary, enabled the enemy to make their
escape. The news that the allies had arrived close at hand reached
Count Varras at midnight, and a retreat was at once ordered. Baggage
waggons were packed and despatched, escorted by the cavalry, and before
dawn the whole force was well on its road. Prince Maurice had set off
an hour before daybreak, and on reaching Turnhout found that the
rear-guard of the enemy had just left the village. They had broken down
the wooden bridge across the River Aa, only one plank being left
standing, and had stationed a party to defend it.
Maurice held a hasty council of war. All, with the exception of Sir
Francis Vere and Sir Marcellus Bacx, were against pursuit, but Maurice
took the advice of the minority. Vere with two hundred Dutch musketeers
advanced against the bridge; his musketry fire drove off the guard, and
with a few mounted officers and the two hundred musketeers he set out
in pursuit. He saw that the enemy's infantry were marching but slowly,
and guessed that they were delayed by the baggage waggons in front.
The country was wooded, and he threw the musketeers among the trees
with orders to keep up a dropping fire, while he himself with sixteen
horsemen followed closely upon the enemy along the road. Their
rear-guard kept up a skirmishing fire, slightly wounding Vere in the
leg; but all this caused delay, and it was three hours before they
emerged on an open heath, three miles from the bridge. Vere placed his
musketeers among some woods and inclosed fields on the left of the
heath, and ordered them to keep up a brisk fire and to show themselves
as if advancing to the attack. He himself, reinforced by some more
horsemen who had come up, continued to follow in the open.
The heath was three miles across, and Vere, constantly skirmishing with
the Spanish infantry, who were formed in four solid squares, kept
watching for the appearance of Maurice and the cavalry. At length these
came in sight. Vere galloped up to the prince, and urged that a charge
should be made at once. The prince assented. Vere, with the English
cavalry, charged down upon the rear of the squares, while Hohenlohe
swept down with the Dutch cavalry upon their flanks. The Spanish
musketeers fired and at once fled, and the cavalry dashed in among the
squares of pikemen and broke them.
Several of the companies of horse galloped on in pursuit of the enemy's
horse and baggage. Vere saw that these would be repulsed, and formed up
the English cavalry to cover their retreat. In a short time the
disordered horse came back at full gallop, pursued by the Spanish
cavalry, but these, seeing Vere's troops ready to receive them,
retreated at once. Count Varras was slain, together with three hundred
of the Spanish infantry. Six hundred prisoners were taken, and
thirty-eight colours fell into the victor's hands.
The success was gained entirely by the eight hundred allied horse, the
infantry never arriving upon the field. The brilliant little victory,
which was one of the first gained by the allies in the open field, was
the cause of great rejoicings. Not only were the Spaniards no longer
invincible, but they had been routed by a force but one-sixth of their
own number, and the battle showed how greatly the individual prowess of
the two peoples had changed during the progress of the war.
The Archduke Ernest had died in 1595, and had been succeeded by the
Archduke Albert in the government of the Netherlands. He had with him
no generals comparable with Parma, or even with Alva. His troops had
lost their faith in themselves and their contempt for their foes.
Holland was grown rich and prosperous, while the enormous expenses of
carrying on the war both in the Netherlands and in France, together
with the loss of the Armada, the destruction of the great fleet at
Ferrol, and the capture of Cadiz and the ships there, had exhausted the
resources of Spain, and Philip was driven to make advances for peace to
France and England. Henry IV., knowing that peace with Spain meant an
end of the civil war that had so long exhausted France, at once
accepted the terms of Philip, and made a separate peace, in spite of
the remonstrances of the ambassadors of England and Holland, to both of
which countries he owed it in no small degree that he had been enabled
to support himself against the faction of the Guises backed by the
power of Spain.
A fresh treaty was made between England and the Netherlands, Sir
Francis Vere being sent out as special ambassador to negotiate. England
was anxious for peace, but would not desert the Netherlands if they on
their part would relieve her to some extent of the heavy expenses
caused by the war. This the States consented to do, and the treaty was
duly signed on both sides. A few days before its conclusion Lord
Burleigh, who had been Queen Elizabeth's chief adviser for forty years,
died, and within a month of its signature Philip of Spain, whose
schemes he had so long opposed, followed him to the grave.
On the 6th of the previous May Philip had formally ceded the
Netherlands to his daughter Isabella, between whom and the Archduke
Albert a marriage had been arranged. This took place on the 18th of
April following, shortly after his death. It was celebrated at
Valencia, and at the same time King Philip III. was united to Margaret
of Austria.
In the course of 1599 there was severe fighting on the swampy island
between the rivers Waal and Maas, known as the Bommel-Waat, and a fresh
attempt at invasion by the Spaniards was repulsed with heavy loss, Sir
Francis Vere and the English troops taking a leading part in the
operations.
The success thus gained decided the States-general to undertake an
offensive campaign in the following year. The plan they decided upon
was opposed both by Prince Maurice and Sir Francis Vere as being
altogether too hazardous; but the States, who upon most occasions were
averse to anything like bold action, upon the present occasion stood
firm to their decision. Their plan was to land an army near Ostend,
which was held by the English, and to besiege the town of Nieuport,
west of Ostend, and after that to attack Dunkirk. In the opinion of the
two generals an offensive operation direct from Holland would have been
far preferable, as in case of disaster the army could fall back upon
one of their fortified towns, whereas, if beaten upon the coast, they
might be cut off from Ostend and entirely destroyed. However, their
opinions were overruled, and the expedition prepared.
It consisted of 12,000 infantry, 1600 cavalry, and 10 guns. It was
formed into three divisions. The van, 4500 strong, including 1600
English veterans, was commanded by Sir Francis Vere; the second
division by Count Everard Solms; the rear division by Count Ernest of
Nassau; while Count Louis Gunther of Nassau was in command of the
cavalry. The army embarked at Flushing, and landed at Philippine, a
town at the head of the Braakeman inlet.
There was at the time only a small body of Spaniards in the
neighbourhood, but as soon as the news reached the Archduke Albert at
Brussels he concentrated his army round Ghent.
The troops had for some time been in a mutinous state, but, as was
always the case with them, they returned to their habits of military
obedience the moment danger threatened.
The Dutch army advanced by rapid marches to the neighbourhood of
Ostend, and captured the fort and redoubts which the Spaniards had
raised to prevent its garrison from undertaking offensive operations.
Two thousand men were left to garrison these important positions, which
lay on the line of march which the Spaniards must take coming from
Bruges to Nieuport. The rest of the army then made their way across the
country, intersected with ditches, and upon the following day arrived
before Nieuport and prepared to besiege it. The Dutch fleet had arrived
off the town, and co-operated with the army in building a bridge across
the little river, and preparing for the siege.
Towards the evening, however, the news arrived from Ostend, nine miles
away, that a large force of the enemy had appeared before one of the
forts just captured. Most of the officers were of opinion that the
Spanish force was not a large one, and that it was a mere feint to
induce the Dutch to abandon the siege of Nieuport and return to Ostend.
Sir Francis Vere maintained that it was the main body of the archduke's
army, and advised Maurice to march back at once with his whole force to
attack the enemy before they had time to take the forts.
Later on in the evening, however, two of the messengers arrived with
the news that the forts had surrendered. Prince Maurice then, in
opposition to Vere's advice, sent off 2500 infantry, 500 horse, and 2
guns, under the command of Ernest of Nassau, to prevent the enemy from
crossing the low ground between Ostend and the sand-hills, Vere
insisting that the whole army ought to move. It fell out exactly as he
predicted; the detachment met the whole Spanish army, and broke and
fled at the first fire, and thus 2500 men were lost in addition to the
2000 who had been left to garrison the forts.
At break of day the army marched down to the creek, and as soon as the
water had ebbed sufficiently waded across and took up their position
among the sand-hills on the sea-shore. The enemy's army was already in
sight, marching along on the narrow strip of land between the foot of
the dunes and the sea. A few hundred yards towards Ostend the
sand-hills narrowed, and here Sir Francis Vere took up his position
with his division. He placed a thousand picked men, consisting of 250
English, 250 of Prince Maurice's guard, and 500 musketeers, partly upon
two sand-hills called the East and West Hill, and partly in the bottom
between them, where they were covered by a low ridge connecting the two
hills.
The five hundred musketeers were placed so that their fire swept the
ground on the south, by which alone the enemy's cavalry could pass on
that side. On the other ridge, facing the sea, were seven hundred
English pikemen and musketeers; two hundred and fifty English and fifty
of the guard held the position of East Hill, which was most exposed to
the attack. The rest of the division, which consisted of six hundred
and fifty English and two thousand Dutch, were placed in readiness to
reinforce the advanced party. Half the cavalry, under Count Louis, were
on the right of the dunes, and the other half, under Marcellus Bacx, on
the left by the sea.
The divisions of Count Solms and Count Ernest of Nassau were also on
the sea-shore in the rear of West Hill. A council of war was held to
decide whether the army should advance to the attack or await it. Vere
advised the latter course, and his advice was adopted.
The archduke's army consisted of ten thousand infantry, sixteen hundred
horse, and six guns. Marshal Zapena was in command, while the cavalry
were led by the Admiral of Arragon. They rested for two hours before
advancing--waiting until the rise of the tide should render the sands
unserviceable for cavalry, their main reliance being upon their
infantry. Their cavalry led the advance, but the two guns Vere had
placed on West Hill plied them so hotly with shot that they fell back
in confusion.
It was now high tide, and there were but thirty yards between the sea
and the sand-hills. The Spaniards therefore marched their infantry into
the dunes, while the cavalry prepared to advance between the sand-hills
and the cultivated fields inland. The second and third divisions of
Maurice's army also moved away from the shore inland. They now numbered
but three thousand men, as the four thousand five hundred who had been
lost belonged entirely to these divisions, Sir Francis Vere's division
having been left intact. It was upon the first division that the whole
brunt of the battle fell, they receiving some assistance from the
thousand men remaining under Count Solms that were posted next to them;
while the rear division was never engaged at all.
At half-past two o'clock on the afternoon of the 2d of June, 1600, the
battle began. Vere's plan was to hold his advanced position as long as
possible, bring the reserves up as required until he had worn out the
Spaniards, then to send for the other two divisions and to fall upon
them. The company of Lionel Vickars formed part of the three hundred
men stationed on the East Hill, where Vere also had taken up his
position. After an exchange of fire for some time five hundred picked
Spanish infantry rushed across the hollow between the two armies, and
charged the hill. For half-an-hour a desperate struggle took place; the
Spaniards were then obliged to fall back behind some low ridges at its
foot.
In the meantime the enemy's cavalry had advanced along the grass-grown
tract, a hundred and fifty yards wide, between the foot of the dunes
and the cultivated country inland. They were received, however, by so
hot a fire by the five hundred musketeers posted by Vere in the
sand-hills on their flank, and by the two cannon on West Hill, that
they fell back upon their infantry just as the Dutch horse, under Count
Louis, advanced to charge them.
Vere sent orders to a hundred Englishmen to move round from the ridge
and to attack the Spaniards who had fallen back from the attack of East
Hill, on their flank, while sixty men charged down the hill and engaged
them in front. The Spaniards broke and fled back to their main body.
Then, being largely reinforced, they advanced and seized a sandy knoll
near West Hill. Here they were attacked by the English, and after a
long and obstinate fight forced to retire. The whole of the Spanish
force now advanced, and tried to drive the English back from their
position on the low ridge across the bottom connecting the two hills.
The seven hundred men were drawn from the north ridge, and as the fight
grew hotter the whole of the sixteen hundred English were brought up.
Vere sent for reinforcements, but none came up, and for hours the
sixteen hundred Englishmen alone checked the advance of the whole of
the Spanish army. Sir Francis Vere was fighting like a private soldier
in the midst of his troops. He received two balls in the leg, but still
kept his seat and encouraged his men. At last the little band,
receiving no aid or reinforcements from the Dutch, were forced to fall
back. As they did so, Vere's horse fell dead under him and partly upon
him, and it was with great difficulty that those around him extricated
him. On reaching the battery on the sands Vere found the thousand Dutch
of his division, who asserted that they had received no orders to
advance. There were also three hundred foot under Sir Horace Vere and
some cavalry under Captain Ball. These and Horace's infantry at once
charged the Spaniards, who were pouring out from the sand-hills near to
the beach, and drove them back.
[Illustration: Vere's horse shot under him at the fight before Ostend.]
The Spaniards had now captured East Hill, and two thousand of their
infantry advanced into the valley beyond, and drove back the musketeers
from the south ridge, and a large force advanced along the green way;
but their movements were slow, for they were worn out by their long
struggle, and the English officers had time to rally their men again.
Horace Vere returned from his charge on the beach, and other companies
rallied and joined him, and charged furiously down upon the two
thousand Spaniards. The whole of the Dutch and English cavalry also
advanced. Solms's thousand men came up and took part in the action, and
the batteries plied the Spaniards with their shot. The latter had done
all they could, and were confounded by this fresh attack when they had
considered the victory as won. In spite of the efforts of their
officers they broke and fled in all directions. The archduke headed
their flight, and never drew rein until he reached Brussels.
Zapena and the Admiral of Arragon were both taken prisoners, and about
a third of the Spanish army killed and wounded. Of the sixteen hundred
English half were killed or wounded; while the rest of the Dutch army
suffered scarcely any loss--a fact that shows clearly to whom the
honour of the victory belongs. Prince Maurice, in his letter to the
queen, attributed his success entirely to the good order and directions
of Sir Francis Vere. Thus, in a pitched battle the English troops met
and defeated an army of six times their strength of the veterans of
Spain, and showed conclusively that the English fighting man had in no
way deteriorated since the days of Agincourt, the last great battle
they had fought upon the Continent.
The battle at Nieuport may be considered to have set the final seal
upon the independence of Holland. The lesson first taught at Turnhout
had now been impressed with crushing force. The Spaniards were no
longer invincible; they had been twice signally defeated in an open
field by greatly inferior forces. Their prestige was annihilated; and
although a war continued, there was no longer the slightest chance that
the result of the long and bloody struggle would be reversed, or that
Spain would ever again recover her grip of the lost provinces.
Sir Francis Vere was laid up for some months with his wounds. Among the
officers who fought under him at Nieuport were several whose names were
to become famous for the part they afterwards bore in the civil
struggle in England. Among others were Fairfax, Ogle, Lambart, and
Parker. Among those who received the honour of knighthood for their
behaviour at the battle was Lionel Vickars. He had been severely
wounded in the fight at East Hill, and was sent home to be cured there.
It was some months before he again took the field, which he did upon
the receipt of a letter from Sir Francis Vere, telling him that the
Spaniards were closing in in great force round Ostend, and that his
company was one of those that had been sent off to aid in the defence
of that town.
During his stay in England he had spent some time with Geoffrey in
London. Juan Mendez had now arrived there, and the business carried on
by him and Geoffrey was flourishing greatly. Dolores had much missed
the outdoor life to which she was accustomed, and her father had bought
a large house with a fine garden in Chelsea; and she and Geoffrey were
now installed there with him, Geoffrey going to and fro from the city
by boat. They had now replaced the Spanish trading vessels by an equal
number of English craft; and at the suggestion of Juan Mendez himself
his name now stood second to that of Geoffrey, for the prejudice
against foreigners was still strong in England.