1743-1744
Of the soldiering Father O'Rourke and I did in the Regiment Irlandia
together; how we fared at the Battle of Velletri, and until the army
divided under the walls of Rome, during which time I won more than
one promotion.
"'There's a whirring noise across the night,
The "Wild-Geese" are a-wing,
Wide over seas they take their flight,
Nor will they come with Spring.
Blow high, blow low, come fair, come foul,
No danger will they shirk,
Till they doff their grey for the blue and the buff
Of the Regiment of Burke!
"'All Spain and France and Italy
Have echoed to our name!
The burning suns of Africa
Have set our arms aflame!
But to-night we toast the morn that broke
And wakened us to fame!
The day we beat the Germans at Cremona!
"'Would you read our name on Honour's Roll?
Look not for royal grant;
It is written in Cassano,
Alcoy, and Alicant,
Saragossa, Barcelona--
Wherever dangers lurk,
You will find in the van the blue and the buff
Of the Regiment of Burke!
"'All Spain and France and Italy
Have echoed to our name!
The burning suns of Africa
Have set our arms aflame!
But to-night we toast the morn that broke
And wakened us to fame!
The day we beat the Germans at Cremona!
"'Here's a health to every gentleman
Who follows in our train!
Here's a health to every lass who waits
Till we return again!
Here's confusion to the German horde,
Until their knavish work
Is stopped by the sight of the blue and the buff
Of the Regiment of Burke!
"'All Spain and France and Italy
Have echoed to our name!
The burning suns of Africa
Have set our arms aflame!
But to-night we toast the morn that broke
And wakened us to fame!
The day we beat the Germans at Cremona!
[Illustration: "'THE DAY WE BEAT THE GERMANS AT CREMONA!'"]
In the little inn at Narni, in company with six young gentlemen
volunteers who had been enjoying a furlough in Rome, I sate and
roared out the chorus as I picked up the words. To me they were
glorious, and the air divine. At all events, the song was an
improvement on many that went before and followed after.
I was prepared, in a measure, to meet with much looseness among
military gentlemen, whose many vicissitudes and harassing calls on
their temper and endurance may excuse a heat and vivacity of language
that would not be fitting in an ordinary man. Indeed, my Uncle
Scottos swore whenever his fancy pleased him. and no one ever
thought the worse of him for that. But here were boys, none of them
much older than myself, using oaths that fairly made my blood curdle,
with all the assurance of a Field-Marshal at the least; and besides
this, they did their best to make out they were practised in the
blackest vices. Indeed, so ribald did they grow, that I felt it did
not become me to sit quiet and listen to such wickedness.
"Gentlemen," I said, "my Uncle Scottos served in this regiment when
it was part of the Irish Brigade, led by Colonel Walter Burke
himself, and it was then held that no officer under the rank of
Lieutenant had the privilege of swearing or using loose language; and
I make bold to say it was a wise regulation, and one which I would
like to see in force now."
These very fitting observations were greeted with a roar of laughter,
at the end of which Mr. Fitzgerald, an ensign, said, with a mighty
air of gravity: "Your Reverence is perfectly right; the same rule is
still in force, and most strictly observed; but the truth is, that,
like his Sacred Majesty, James III., our rightful positions are not
fully recognized--de facto, as you Collegioners say, we are only
Ensigns and Cadets, but de jure, we are Captains and Lieutenants in
all the different degrees--just as Your Reverence is in the company
of coarse, common soldiers, instead of hobnobbing with the heads of
the Sacred College and other holy men." And his ribaldry was
rewarded with a burst of laughter.
"Mr. Fitzgerald," I retorted, "you can spare your gibes on me. I
neither understand nor like them. But if any of you think you can
better me in a bout at single-stick, I'll shew you I can take a
drubbing without grumbling from any of you who can give it me."
But Mr. Fitzgerald excused himself, as he had no skill except with
the rapier; however, he was replaced by Mr. O'Reilly, who would have
had no mean play had he been schooled by such a tutor as my Uncle
Scottos. Then they challenged me to the small sword, thinking it my
weak point, but I held my own as easily as at the other; and after
this, if any one attempted to draw me on with "Your Reverence," I had
only to answer "Single-stick" to turn the conversation. Let a lad
but take advantage of his early opportunities, and he need not make a
poor shewing in any company.
On our arrival at Faro, I was presented to His Excellency General
MacDonnell, in command of the Irish troops in the Neapolitan service,
which then consisted of the Regiments Hibernia and Irlandia, the
latter including the remnant of "Burkes," in which I was entered as a
cadet in the Company of St. James, under Colonel Donald MacDonnell,
his brother Ranald being Captain en second.
The first injunction laid on me by the General was to dine every day
at his table. This, of itself, was forwarding me at once into public
notice, as he was constantly surrounded by Spanish noblemen and
officers of note in the army, to whom he always introduced me as a
young Scotch Highlander from the College in Rome, strongly
recommended, come to acquire some knowledge of military affairs.
Here I met his brother, Major-General MacDonnell, who was allowed to
be the best foot officer and engineer in Spain, Sir Balthasar Nihel,
our General of brigade, and many others.
Colonel MacDonnell most handsomely fulfilled his promise of fitting
me for a soldier, for I was allowed to go out on active service
whenever a company or battalion was given its orders, my duty being
to report faithfully to the General every transaction that happened
to the command I was in.
I made many and pleasant acquaintances, not only in our own troops,
but also among the Neapolitans and Spaniards, who formed the bulk of
our army, and was rapidly getting on with my education, a much easier
task than any put to me at College.
Mr. O'Rourke, now Father O'Rourke, probably through the high favor he
held in the Santi Apostoli, had joined us as Chaplain--although, I
believe, such a course was unusual from the Propaganda--and was soon
friends with every one from the General downwards. Though he had
lost nothing of his old lively disposition, he was a different man
from what I had ever seen him when he stood up in his robes before us
at the Holy Office of the Mass.
No one who has not seen it performed in the open field, for men who,
by their very calling, should have a more lively sense of the
uncertainties of this life, can have any idea how grand it is in its
simple surroundings. The altar is raised beneath an awning, and the
service goes on before the kneeling men, without any of those
distractions which meet one in a church; the Host is elevated to the
roll of drums, the celebrant is half a soldier, and his acolytes
cadets. Surely no more grateful service is ever offered to the God
of Battles.
I shall not attempt to go into the detail of my experience in the
army; it was that of a lad well introduced and handsomely befriended,
and hundreds have gone through as much, and more too; but perhaps it
would be hardly honest to pass over my first trial under fire.
In the Spring of '44 our army marched along the Adriatic, by way of
Ancona and Loretto, to cover the Kingdom of Naples on that side. The
Austrian vanguard came to an action with our rear before we reached
Loretto, and pressed them hard. Father O'Rourke and I were marching
side by side with O'Reilly, Fitzgerald, and some other young
gentlemen near the Colonel.
"This strikes me much like a good imitation of running away, General
McDonell of Scottos," said he, at which we only groaned, for the day
was hot and we could not understand why the enemy should be allowed
to annoy us in this fashion; indeed, we were too strongly impressed
by the same thought to answer his challenge as it deserved.
But the answer soon came in an order for a reinforcement, and we all
besieged the Colonel--who was good-nature itself and treated us like
his own children--for permission to join. "Run off, then, the lot of
you, and let the Germans see what your faces look like," he cried,
laughing; and off we went, overjoyed at our good-fortune.
The required troops were halted and formed, and at once marched to
the rear; the moment we saw the confusion and terror there and heard
the groans of the wounded as they were roughly borne on with the
hurrying mass, things took on a different look. What added to it was
that, for some time, we had to stop and allow our people passage in a
narrow way, and, by the balls that went whistling over our heads and
the cheering of the enemy, we knew they were coming on with a rush.
Suddenly a man near me gave a sickening kind of grunt and tumbled
down in a heap, like a pile of empty clothes. My heart thumped as if
it would burst through my ribs and my head swam so I could hardly
see. O'Reilly, who was beside me, and, I suppose, moved by the same
feeling as myself, put out his hand, which I grasped tightly, and
there we stood with our pale faces, when, to our great relief, some
old hand just behind us began to sing in a low voice, "The Day we
Beat the Germans at Cremona"; then, at the same critical moment, came
the sharp command, "Advance, quick!" and we were saved from a
disgrace that would have been worse than death.
[Illustration: "THERE WE STOOD, WITH OUR PALE FACES"]
Out we rushed in some kind of order, I suppose, but I do not remember
anything but the great blue back of the grenadier in front of me, and
how he worked his shoulders as he ran. Then came the word "Halt!"
and almost as quickly "Fire!" My piece went off with the others, and
when the smoke cleared I had my senses again about me and could see
the enemy about one hundred paces ahead of us checked by our fire.
We kept at it until dark came on and the enemy retired, whereon we
rejoined our own army and encamped for the night.
That night in the General's tent after dinner he called me to him and
asked, "Well, my lad, have you smelt powder to-day?"
"Yes, sir," I said, "and plentifully."
"What, sir," said he, "are you wounded?"
"No, please your Excellency," I answered, feeling somewhat ashamed I
had not attained his full approbation in bringing back a whole skin.
"Sir," he said, sternly, "you will never smell powder until you are
wounded. But in order to give you a better chance, and as a reward
for not running away, you will be rated as Ensign to-morrow in the
place of poor Jamieson, killed this afternoon."
So I won my first promotion for not being brave enough to take to my
heels, where my heart was during the first part of the engagement at
least; I never had the courage either to ask O'Reilly what his
feelings had been when he held out his hand to me.
"Well, well," said Father O'Rourke, when I told him of my
good-fortune, "Jeremiah was far-sighted when he prophesied 'the wild
asses shall stand in the high places' (et onagri steterunt in
rupibus). 'Tis Drum-Major they'll be making you next, and never a
step for me, though I've the hardest and most dangerous work in the
world trying to keep your heathen souls out of the clutch of a bigger
enemy than Prince Lobkowitz himself. But 'tis a family party you
are, anyway--here's a Major-General MacDonnell, and a
Lieutenant-General MacDonnell, and a Colonel, and a Captain and a
Lieutenant, and that poor little orphan, Angus, you left behind in
Rome, and now they must needs make an Ensign of you. Faith, you're
so plentiful hereabouts, I begin to believe the story that you had a
boat of your own in the time of Noah."
"Indeed we had not, Father O'Rourke," I returned, indignantly, "that
was the McLeans."
"Oh, well, McLeans or McDonells, 'tis all one. And Noah shewed his
wisdom there, too, for had he let any more Highlanders into the Ark,
they'd have been sailing it themselves inside of a month, for they've
a rare scent for all the high places," he went on, with a roar of his
Irish laughing. And I went off angry, but thinking how strange it
was that so sensible a man in many things should find a pleasure in
this childish way of jesting on any subject, and should so often
choose me for his funning, who didn't relish it at all.
Colonel MacDonnell confirmed my rank as Ensign on the morrow, and for
days we were hard at it marching across Italy to cover the northern
frontier of Naples, next the Ecclesiastical States on the
Mediterranean, where we got news that the Austrians were advancing in
force under Prince Lobkowitz and the famous General Browne. They had
an army of forty-five thousand men, Austrians, Hungarians, and
Croats, while we were joined by thirty thousand Neapolitan troops,
under King Carlo, so our forces were fairly equal. We took
possession of the town of Velletri, within the Pope's dominions, the
King making his headquarters in the Casa Ginetti, a handsome modern
palace fronting on the principal square, while our army occupied the
level country and the heights above. The Count di Gages was at the
head of the Spanish, and the Duke of Castropignano of the Neapolitan
troops, each taking command day about.
By some oversight the enemy were allowed to gain possession of the
heights Monte Artemisio and Monte Spina, which occasioned great
inconvenience to us, as by this means they commanded the high-road to
Rome, and cut off our supply of water by the conduit which fed the
great fountain in the principal square, so that we were obliged to
search for water every evening at the cisterns and fountains about
the country, or at the river, which ran in the great ravine between
the two main armies, which lay about four miles asunder. To add to
this, there was constant and severe enough fighting almost daily, but
without any result proportionate.
About an hour before daybreak one morning, being on sentry, I was
alarmed by the tramping of horses and the stir of men advancing
towards my post. I challenged, and was answered by
Lieutenant-General MacDonnell, whose voice I knew, and he knowing
mine, called out:
"Is that you, McDonell?"
"Yes, your Excellency," I answered.
"Get yourself relieved then, and come with me."
While the relief was coming, I asked, "Where is your Excellency
going?"
"To beat these rascals from their post," and nothing more was said
until I got relieved and joined.
Off we went in the darkness, the General bidding me lay hold of his
stirrup-leather; and as we went, he explained our object was to carry
a battery of four eighteen-pounders nearest our camp. This we did
with a rush, receiving only one discharge, and capturing near three
hundred men, who had hardly time to strike a blow. Then, seeing that
the battery could not be maintained for a moment, being completely
exposed to the heights, he acted without waiting for orders, formed
his force into three columns, and instantly led them against Monte
Artemisio. Hot work we had of it for two hours, but at it we kept
until we had cleared the heights of the enemy, whose force on Monte
Spina, seeing our success, retreated to their camp, of which we had a
full view, and which seemed to be in great confusion.
The General formed us up without hesitation. "Your work is only half
done, my lads! Here's for another touch of Cremona!" and down the
hill we swept on the enemy, shouting the song of the old regiment;
but they never waited for us, deserting their camp and taking post in
a wood hard by. It was a disappointment, but another was quick on
its heels, for now who should ride up but an aide-de-camp with the
most positive orders from the General-in-command to retreat. Then I
heard a general officer swear for the first time!
However, there was nothing to be done; the camp was fired in as many
places as possible, and we reclimbed Monte Artemisio and held it
until relieved by the engineers under Major-General MacDonnell, who
at once set about fortifying it with strong batteries, whereon we
returned to camp, and the General to headquarters.
There was some talk, we afterwards heard, of his exceeding orders,
which were to take the first battery only, and in a mixed army like
ours it will be readily understood there was always a certain
jealousy of any personal success; one would have thought it was an
error to have beaten the enemy.
"How far would you have gone, General, had you not been recalled?"
asked the young Duke of Alba, anxious to settle the matter.
"To the Devil, your Highness, if necessary:" the old soldier answered.
Thereat the King laughed heartily and said he believed him capable of
it, and put an end to all further discussion by saying the General
had acted under his orders, which was a very handsome way out of the
difficulty, and highly approved of by our force when spread about.
We now settled down to continual skirmishing and manoeuvring and
constant harassing of each other, with daily loss and daily distress
on each side.
It was like living in a great city in this camp nearly four miles in
length, resting its left on the town and its right on Monte
Artemisio. Across on the other side of the valley lay our enemy, and
if we suffered somewhat for lack of water, we knew they suffered
still more from scarcity of provisions, as most of the prisoners we
took were always eager for a meal; but our greatest suffering was
from the incessant heat, for there we lay all the Summer months amid
the dirt and other discomforts of a great crowd cut off from all
water save for the most absolute needs. The peasants gave us of
their stores readily enough, not because of their loyalty, but that
any resistance to our foraging parties would have been useless, and
have served only to aggravate their distress; so there was little
opposition beyond outcries and black looks. The part of the peasant
is a poor one in the time of war; but, after all, there must always
be some to feed the soldiers, and if there were no peasants,
doubtless we would have lived on some one else. I never would have
fallen into this train of thought had it not been for Father
O'Rourke, who gave himself much concern for them and their affairs,
and went so far as to preach one Sunday that all men are equal in the
sight of God, a holding I have never been able to make head or tail
of, as it is clear against the common sense of any man who goes
through the world with his eyes open.
In the beginning of August it was evident some great move was on foot
by the enemy; there was constant marching and counter-marching, and
we learnt from our spies that the sick, of whom there were many, had
been moved to a great distance from the camp.
Our brigade in its encampment lay a little in rear of our left wing
and faced the town. It was then the 10th of August, and I was to go
on guard before daybreak on the outposts. The night was a sweltering
one, rendering sleep wellnigh impossible; so, in company with a young
fellow, come piping hot from Ireland to enter himself as a cadet in
our regiment, I threw myself down fully dressed under an awning
prepared for Divine Service on the morrow. For some cause unknown to
me I was not called for guard at the proper time, but was awakened
before daybreak by a couple of shots; then came half a dozen, next a
couple of volleys, when, on starting up, I told my guest we certainly
were attacked.
"Whatever shall I do?" he exclaimed; "I have no arms!"
"Never mind, fall into the ranks; if you are killed at the first
discharge, you won't need any; if not, you will find as many as you
want."
"But I have not yet been reviewed," he objected.
"No, and ten chances to one you never will be," I called back, as I
rushed to order the générale sounded, which was soon repeated by all
the drums in the army.
And then began such a confusion as I hope never to see again. Our
men and officers turned out as they were, trying to slip into their
clothes and find their arms. It was impossible to make out anything
clearly, but we did our utmost to carry out the orders we heard
screamed in the darkness.
From the sounds which came to us, it was evident the enemy were
attempting to force our front, and so cut through our line. We had
not half formed before we were nearly crushed by the rush of
riderless horses of the two dragoon regiments in our rear, many of
which broke away before the men could saddle them; and these were
immediately followed by a regiment of Petits Walloons and a great
body of cowardly Neapolitans who gave way before the enemy. In spite
of it all we formed again, wheeled about, and faced the enemy, to
find our army was cut in two, our left was on an impassable ravine,
and General Browne with his successful troops in our front. There
was nothing to do but retire towards the town, which we did, leaving
a number of our officers and men on the field.
For my own share I was one of the last to give way, but when I turned
my back I imagined the enemy all fired at me alone, and ran with all
my might, feeling as though a weight were tied to each of my legs,
till I out-distanced every one, when on looking back I saw the whole
coming up. I halted, and every one as he came up did the same, and
we soon formed a regular line. We were now joined by our senior
officers, who restored order and resolved us to revenge our dead
comrades and fight to the last. Our situation we found to be as bad
as before. We wheeled to the right and endeavored to enter the town
by the nearest gate, in order to defend ourselves by the help of an
old Roman wall which surrounded the town; but the guard at the gate
and those on the wall fired at us, mistaking us for the enemy in the
uncertain light, and just then a column of Browne's men coming up
gave us another fire.
To extricate ourselves from this very critical situation, we made
another wheel to the left to recover our former ground, which with
great loss we accomplished, only to find ourselves in a worse chance
than before, for now a body of the enemy was between us and the
ravine, by which means we were attacked on both flanks and in front.
The slaughter was terrible, and, being reduced to extremity, we
offered to capitulate on honourable terms; at this there was a lull
in the action and time to look about. We were so encumbered by our
dead and wounded that a regular formation was almost impossible, but
this we set about righting with all possible haste. Our Colonel sat
straight and erect in the midst of us, in earnest talk with the
French Major-General, who was in command. Lieutenant Butler was near
me, and O'Reilly I saw attending to the removal of some of the
wounded. The men, half-dressed, and many of them covered with blood,
were resting as if the affair were entirely over, and already were
talking and joking with each other in their usual way as if our lives
did not hang on the answer to our terms. At length word was brought
that our offer was refused, and we must surrender at discretion. Our
chiefs whispered a moment, then Colonel MacDonnell rose to his full
height in his stirrups and called in a voice deep with feeling,
"Officers and gentlemen of the Company of St. James! They refuse us
the only terms which honourable men can accept without disgrace.
Officers, Gentlemen, All! I call on you to fight while a charge of
powder and ball is left to living or to dead!" And the cheer we gave
him carried our answer back to our ungenerous foe.
There was no shirking, as every man stepped firmly to his place; but
matters grew worse from the beginning. Our French General was shot
down, then Colonel MacDonnell, crying, "I'll open a way for you, my
lads! Come on!" spurred his horse straight at the enemy, only to go
down torn with bullets, while on every side our officers and men were
falling fast.
So far I had not a scratch, but now a ball went through my thigh
which prevented my standing. I crossed my firelock under my leg and
shook it to see if the bone were whole, which, finding to be the
case, I raised myself on one knee and continued firing. I received
another shot, which threw me down, but I still made an attempt to
support my surviving comrades until a third wound quite disabled me.
Loss of blood, and no way to stop it, soon reduced my strength. I,
however, gripped my sword, ready to run through the first who should
insult me.
All our ammunition now being spent, and not a single cartridge to be
found even among the dead, quarter was called by the few who remained
alive. Many of the wounded were knocked on the head, and I did not
escape; for, observing one approaching, I made ready to run him
through, but seeing that five more were close to him, I dropped my
sword, only to be saluted with "Hundsfott!" and a rattle of blows on
my head, whereupon I fainted.
On coming to myself, I found I was lying with my clothes stripped
off, weltering in my blood, twisting and turning with pain in the
dust under a blistering sun, and no one alive near me to speak to.
The first who came up to me was a Croat, who, spying my gold-laced
hat near by, clapped it on his head, and then had the impudence to
ask me how I liked it. Not pleased with my answer, which was short,
he turned me over on my face and, cutting off my queue with his
sabre, marched away, saying he would remember me by it.
Shortly after this I was visited by another with cocked pistol in
hand, who demanded my purse in very bad Italian.
"Where do you think I have hidden it?" I asked, angrily, for I hadn't
on me what would have covered a sixpence. "If you can find it about
me you can take it."
"Is that an answer for me, you ----," and here he called me a name,
bad enough for a living man, but to the last degree insulting to one
in my condition, and with this he pointed his pistol straight between
my eyes.
I thought no one near, but the word "Quarter" was scarce spoken by me
when I saw his pistol arm seized by a genteel young man, dressed only
in his waistcoat, who cried, "You rascal, let the man die as he
pleases; you see he has enough. Go and kill some one able to
resist," and the fellow made off.
"Pray sir," said I to the young man, "what do you intend to make of
this town if you take it!"
"Keep it if we can; if not, burn it."
"Then, sir, if you will have me borne to your camp, and my wounds
dressed, I will reward you with fifty crowns."
Off he went, and in a few minutes came back with four stout German
soldiers, to whom he said something in their language. They seized
me by the arms and legs, but no sooner had they raised me from the
ground than I fainted with the pain, and on recovering I found myself
where I formerly was. The young man was still near, who told me
shortly that I could not be removed.
"But, sir," said I, "if you set the town on fire I shall infallibly
be burned here," for in our struggle we had been driven back on the
walls.
"If I am alive," he returned, "I will prevent that; but I must attend
to my duty, as the firing in the streets continues very hot," and
with that he left me, and I saw no more of him.
I now observed a regiment of horse drawn up about half a gun-shot
from where I lay. They faced the town, and if they advanced a few
paces more I was afraid they would crush me under foot. But they
faced to the rear, retired a little, and then faced the town again.
This manoeuvring surprised me; I listened attentively and heard the
cannon and platoons approach, and, raising my head on my hand, looked
towards the gate nearest me, which was quite full of our men running
out trailing their arms, to form a line between me and the horse;
they were followed by another sortie of our people, who formed yet
another line, but in this case between me and the town wall.
I looked upon myself then as certain of death, but used every
precaution in my power to preserve what little life was left to me as
long as possible. I seized two of my dead comrades, for they were
thick around me, and with great difficulty dragged myself between
them, so as to have some shelter from straggling balls.
I did not remain long in this danger, however, as the enemy, at the
second fire from our people, left their ground and galloped out of
sight.
I now began to suffer the torments of thirst in addition to my other
pains, and called to every one who passed near me for a drink; but
from the heat of the day, and the length of the action, their
canteens and calabashes were all empty. At last I saw a grenadier of
the Swiss guards, whose uniform was very much like ours, with a large
calabash, and asked him if he had anything in it. "Yes, brother," he
said, mistaking me, I suppose, for a Swiss.