Adventures In The Rifle Brigade In The Peninsula France And The Netherlands From 1809 To 1815

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ADVENTURES INTHE
RIFLE BRIGADE"

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! Admturea in the Rifle Brigade

MAIN

SOLDIERS* TALES
EDITED BY THE HON. SIR JOHN FORTESCUE

ADVENTURES IN THE RIFLE BRIGADE

UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME

MEMOIRS OF SERGEANT BOUR-
GOGNE (1812-13).

PASSAGES IN THE GREAT WAR
WITH FRANCE (1799-1810). By
Sir HBNRY BUNBURY.

MERCER'S JOURNAL OF THE
WATERLOO CAMPAIGN.

RECOLLECTIONS OF RIFLEMAN
HARRIS.

LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF
MOTHER ROSS. By DANIEL
DBEOB.

ADVENTURES IN THE REVOLU-
TION AND UNDER THE CON-
SULATE. By MAURICE DE Joirais.

ADVENTURES

IN THE

RIFLE BRIGADE

IN THE PENINSULA, FRANCE AND
THE NETHERLANDS, FROM

1809 TO 1815

By

CAPTAIN J. KINCAID

With an Introduction
by

THE HON. SIR JOHN FORTESCUE

NEW YORK

ROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY
1929

PRIWTTO IN GREAT BRITAIN

INTRODUCTION

FIVE riflemen have left us autobiographical re-
miniscences of the exploits of " Old Ninety-
five " the present Rifle Brigade in the Penin-
sular War. Their names are Harris, Costello,
Surtees, Harry Smith and John Kincaid ; the
last named having written not only the volume
here reprinted, but another, of not quite equal
merit, entitled Random Shots from a Rifleman.
From scattered notices in the autobiography of
Harry Smith we gather that " Johnny " Kincaid
enjoyed a certain reputation within the regiment
itself which, among a group of singularly brilliant
officers, was not too easily gained ; and, though
he always speaks with becoming modesty about
his own doings, we can see how he earned this
prominence. A tall lanky youth, over six feet
high, he must have been conspicuous among the
little active men under his command and found
it more difficult than they to keep himself under
cover. But it was he, apparently, who set the
fashion to his brother soldiers to take up the pen.
As is not uncommon with literary amateurs, he
inclines to a certain flippancy and jocosity in his
narrative, being under the false impression that
such a tone is of the essence of literary style ;

INTRODUCTION

but happily he can throw off this affectation, and
write simply and forcibly, with (as we shall see)
decided felicity of expression. One of his great
merits is that he sets down the commonplace
matters which are familiar to every soldier, but
utterly strange to the civilian, and thus gives us
descriptions of the daily routine of the campaign
which are of real historical value* Of not less
worth are his occasional sketches of individuals,
though, like a wise man, he confines himself
principally to his own regiment to the exclusion
of all external matters. " For," as he proudly
and not unreasonably boasts, " we were the light
regiment of the Light Division, and fired the first
and last shot in almost every battle, siege and
skirmish, in which the Army was engaged during
the war/'

He himself did not join the Rifle Brigade until
1809, and therefore was not old enough to have
undergone the training given to it, in company
with the Forty-third and Fifty-second (ist and
and Oxfordshire Light Infantry) by Sir John
Moore at Shorncliff in 1803. It was this famous
brigade which, further educated by Robert Crau-
ford, blossomed out into the Light Division, a
body of troops that for discipline and fighting
efficiency had probably no equal in the world.
The Rifle Brigade had already made its mark in
the retreat to Conma during the winter of 1808-9 J
but it was not wl&l July 1809 that the Light

vi

INTRODUCTION

Brigade established once for all its undisputed
claim to superiority in Wellington's army. And
it did so first not by any brilliant fighting, but
by marching nearly fifty miles in twenty-five
hours to Talavera and by taking up the line of
outposts immediately on its arrival. They came
too late for the battle, but in time for the retreat
that followed upon it. They appeared, in fact,
at the psychological moment when Wellington
realised that he had been over-rash in trying to
drive the French from Spain, and that it would
need all his skill to prevent the French from
driving him from Portugal.

It was in October 1810, when Wellington was
falling back steadily upon the lines of Torres
Vedras, that Kincaid joined the Peninsuiar Army.
He saw the streets of Condeixa running ankle-*
deep in rum, as the commissaries destroyed the
stores which they could not carry off, and two
soldiers hanging on a tree as a warning to all
plunderers. He noted the method for allocation
of quarters by the quartermaster-general to the
brigade-majors, by the brigade-majors to the
regimental quartermasters, and by "these last, in
turn, to the company commanders. He gives us
likewise the procedure for forming a bivouac,
and adds that the officers of each company formed
an independent mess. When active operations
compelled baggage to be left far in rear, the officers
of each company had a Portuguese boy in charge

vii

INTRODUCTION

other, which Wellington thought bad for dis-
cipline. He, therefore, requested a batch of
chaplains from home, who duly came out but,
once again, were not a success. There was,
however, one who always went into the firing line
with the men, a forerunner of the many who did
the like in the German war.

At the assault of Ciudad Rodrigo Kincaid was
one of the storming party ; and his account of
the affair, in which he makes very light of his own
doings, is one of the best things in the book.
He paints admirably the scene of the confusion
after the place was carried, when everyone began
firing at everyone else until " the voice of Sir
Thomas Picton, with the power of twenty
trumpets, began to proclaim damnation to every-
body/* and a number of officers began to lay about
them with broken musket-barrels and so restored
order, Picton was well known as a master of
strong language ; and we have another glimpse of
him at the battle of Vittoria, dressed in a blue coat
and a round hat, and swearing " as roundly all
the way as if he had been wearing two cocked
ones.'' Picton 's eyes were weak, which accounts
for his rejection of the cocked hat ; and it may be
mentioned that the identical round hat a kind
of chimney-pot, with a broad brim which
crowned his blasphemous head at Vittoria is
now tot tile museum of the United Service
Institution.

INTRODUCTION

And so we follow Kincaid, picking up curious
items of information all the way, to the end of
the Peninsular War. He tells a charming story
of a British deserter who protested against being
shot until he had received the arrears of pay due
to him up to the date of his desertion. Specie
was rare in those days. The rate of exchange
was 25 per cent, against the British Treasury,
and the pay of the whole army was in arrear.
Officers, as Kincaid tells us, were obliged to sell
silver spoons, watches and everything of value
that they possessed in order to purchase the
common necessaries of life. Nevertheless, in
modern phrase, they " carried on," though finan-
cial difficulties haunted Wellington as a perpetual
spectre that could not be driven away. As to
Wellington himself Kincaid waxes enthusiastic.
He would " sooner have seen his long nose than
ten thousand men/' But he confesses that Well-
ington lost, and lost permanently, much popu-
larity by the general order of indiscriminate and
unjust censure which he issued at the close of the
campaign of 1812. Kincaid seems to have seen
him twice only at very close quarters, once when
Wellington and a reconnoitring party were hunted
back in disorder not many days before the battle
of Salamanca, and once at the battle of Vittoria,
when Kincaid's horse was set capering by the
bursting of a shell. Wellington, imagining that
the capers were due to a disposition on Kincaid's

xi

INTRODUCTION

part to cut a conspicuous figure the kind of
escapade which he loathed with his whole soul
bade the luckless rifleman to look to his men,
making him feel ineffably small, however con-
scious of his innocence.

Lastly we come to Quatre Bras and to Waterloo,
where Kincaid began the i8th of June ill by
losing his horse, which was a serious matter, for
he was adjutant. He recovered the animal, how-
ever, and, in the course of the long struggle about
La Haye Sainte, the poor beast came off badly.
Before the battle was half over one of his ears
had been shaved off close to his head by a cannon
shot, his forehead had been grazed by one bullet
and one leg pierced by another. Still he carried
his rider for some hours longer till a third bullet
struck him in the leg, and a fourth in the body
through the saddle-flap finally killed him. It
is curious that Kincaid makes the same remark
as Harry Smith, who was in the same part of the
field that he wondered if there were ever a
battle in which everybody was killed. So thickly
hung the smoke in the damp air after the heavy
thunderstorm of the previous day that, in the
centre at any rate, no one could tell how the day
was going ; and the angry summary of another
officer's experience of the battle, quoted by
Kincaid, must have expressed the feelings of a
good many.

And so rather reluctantly we bid farewell to

xii

INTRODUCTION

" Johnny " Kincaid. So long as the Rifle Brigade
lasts his Adventures will be a text-book for all
good riflemen, and so long as the British Army
lasts they will be sought out as a picture of the
best army that, until 1914, England ever put into
the field.

xui

ADVERTISEMENT

IN tracing the following scenes, I have chiefly
drawn on the reminiscences of my military life,
and endeavoured faithfully to convey to the mind
of the reader the impression which they made
on my own at the time of their occurrence.
Should any errors, as to dates or trifling circum-
stances, have inadvertently crept into my narra-
tive, I hope they will be ascribed to want of
memory, rather than to any wilful intention to
mislead. I am aware that some objections may
be taken to my style ; for

Rude am I in my speech,

And little bless 'd with the set phrase of peace ;
For, since these arms of mine had seven years* pith,
Till now, some nine moons wasted, they have used
Their dearest action in the tented field ;
And little of this great world can I speak,
More than pertains to feats of broil and battle ;
And therefore little shall I grace my cause
In speaking for myself ; yet, by your gracious patience,
I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver.

XV

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

Join the Rifles Walcheren Expedition A Young Soldier A Marine
View Campaign in South Beeveland Retreat to Scotland pp. 1-2

CHAPTER II

Rejoin the Regiment Embark for the Peninsula Arrival in the Tagus
The City of Lisbon, with its contents Sail for Figuera Landing
extraordinary Billet ditto The City of Coimbra A hard Case A cold
Case, in which a favourite Scotch Dance is introduced Climate The
Duke of Wellington ....... pp. 3-10

CHAPTER III

Other People, Myself, and my Regiment Retreat to the Lines of Torres
Vedras Leave Coimbra, followed by a select group of Natives Ford
the Streets of Condeixa in good spirits A Provost-Marshal and his
favourites A fall Convent of Batalha Turned out of Allemquer
Passed through Sobral Turned into Aruda Quartering of the Light
Division, and their Quarters at Aruda Burial of an only Child Lines
of Torres Vedras Difference of opinion between Masse"na and Myself
Military Customs . ..... pp. 11-27

CHAPTER IV

Campaign of 1811 opens Mass6na*s Retreat Wretched Condition of
the Inhabitants on the Line of March Affairs with the enemy, near
Pombal Description of a Bivouac Action near Redinha Destruction
of Condeixa and Action near it Burning of the Village of Ulama, and
Misery of its Inhabitants Action at Foz D'Arouce Confidential
Servants with Donkey-Assistants ..... pp. 2844

xvii

CONTENTS

CHAPTER V

Passage of the Mondego Swearing to a large Amount Two Prisoners,
with their Two Views Two Nuns, Two Pieces of Dough, and Two
Kisses A Halt ASair near Freixedas Arrival near Guarda Murder
A stray Sentry Battle of Sabugal Spanish and Portuguese Frontiers
Blockade of Almeida Battle-like Current Value of Lord Welling-
ton's NoseBattle of Fuentes de Oftoro The Day after the Battle A
grave Remark The Padrefs House Retreat of the Enemy pp. 45-60

CHAPTER VI

March to Estremadura At Soito, growing Accommodations for Man
and Beast British Taste dispkyed by Portuguese Wolves False
Alarm Luxuries of Roquingo Camp A Chaplain of the Forces
Return towards the North Quarters near Castello de Vide Blockade
of Ciudad Rodrigo Village of Atalya ; Fleas abundant ; Food scarce
Advance of the French Army Affairs near Guinaldo Our Minister
administered to An unexpected Visit from our General and his
Followers End of the Campaign of 1811 Winter Quarters pp. 61-73

CHAPTER VII

Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo The Garrison of an Outwork relieved
Spending an Evening abroad A Musical Study An Addition to Soup
' A short Cut Storming of the Town A Sweeping Ckuse Advan-
tages of Leading a Storming Party Looking for a Customer Dis-
advantages of being a Stormed Party Confusion of all Parties A
Waking Dream Death of General Craufurd Accident Deaths

pp. 74-88

CHAPTER VIII

March to Estremadura A Deserter shot Riding for an Appetite
Effect the Cure of a Sick Lady Siege of Badajos Trench-Work
Varieties during the Siege Taste of the Times Storming of the Town
Its Fall Officers of a French Battalion Not Shot by Accident
Military Shopkeepers Lost Legs and Cold Hearts Affecting Anecdote
My Servant A Consignment to Satan March again for the North
Sk Sidney Beckwith pp. 89-105

xviii

CONTENTS

CHAPTER IX

A Farewell Address to Portalegre History of a night in CasteDo Branco
Regimental Colours lost, with Directions where to find them Cases
in which a Victory is sometimes won by those who lost it Advance to
Salamanca The City The British Position on St. Christoval Affair
in Position Marmont's Change of Position and Retreat A Case of
Bad Luck Advance to Rueda, and Customs there Retire to Castrejon
Affairs on the i8th and ipth of July Battle of Salamanca, and Defeat
of the Enemy pp. 106-121

CHAPTER X

Distinguished Characters A Charge of Dragoons A Charge against
the Nature of Things Olmeda and the French General, Ferez
Advance towards Madrid Adventures of my Dinner The Town of
Segovia El Palacio del Rio Frio The Escurial Enter Madrid-
Rejoicings Nearly happy Change of a Horse Change of Quarters
A Change confounded Retire towards Salamanca Boar-Hunt,
Dinner-Hunt, and Bull-Hunt A Portuguese Funeral conducted by
Rifle Undertakers ....... pp. 122-154

CHAPTER XI

Reach Salamanca Retreat from it Pig-Hunting, an Enemy to Sleep-
Hunting Putting one's Foot in it Affair on the iyth of November
Bad Legs sometimes last longer than Good Ones A Wet Berth
Prospectus of a Day's Work A Lost Dtjeuner better than a Found One
Advantages not taken A Disagreeable Amusement End of the
Campaign of 1812 Winter Quarters Orders and Disorders treated
Farewell Opinion of Ancient Allies My House . . pp. 135-147

CHAPTER XII

A Review Assembly of the Army March to Salamanca To Aldea
Nueva To Toro An Affair of the Hussar Brigade To Palencia
To the Neighbourhood of Burgos To the Banks of the Ebro Fruitful
sleeping place To Medina A Dance before it was due Smell the
Foe Affair at St. Milan A Physical River , . .pp. 148-157

xix

ADVENTURES IN THE
RIFLE BRIGADE

CHAPTER I

Join the Rifles Walcheren Expedition A Young Soldier A Marine
View Campaign in South Beeveland Retreat to Scotland.

I JOINED the second battalion Rifle Brigade, (then
the ninety-fifth,) at Hythe Barracks, in the spring
of 1809, and, in a month after, we proceeded to
form a part of the expedition to Holland, under
the Earl of Chatham.

With the usual Quixotic feeling of a youngster,
I remember how very desirous I was, on the march
to Deal, to impress the minds of the natives with
a suitable notion of the magnitude of my import-
ance, by carrying a donkey-load of pistols In my
belt, and screwing my naturally placid counte-
nance up to a pitch of ferocity beyond what it was
calculated to bear.

We embarked in the Downs, on board the
Hussar frigate, and afterwards removed to the
Namur, a seventy-four, in which we were con-
veyed to our destination.

I had never before been in a ship of war, and
it appeared to me, the first night, as if the sailors
and marines did not pull well together, except-

B I

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

ing by the ears ; for my hammock was slung over
the descent into the cockpit, and I had scarcely
turned in when an officer of marines came and
abused his sentry for not seeing the lights out
below, according to orders. The sentry was pro-
ceeding to explain, that the middies would not
put them out for him, when the naked shoulders
and the head of one (illuminated with a red night-
cap) made its appearance above the hatchway, and
began to take a lively share in the argument. The
marine officer, looking down, with some astonish-
ment demanded, " D n you, sir, who are you ? "
to which the head and shoulders immediately
rejoined, " And d n and b t you, sir, who are
you ? "

We landed on the island of South Beeveland,
where we remained about three weeks, playing
at soldiers, smoking mynheer's long clay pipes,
and drinking his wow's butter-milk, for which
I paid liberally with my precious blood to their
infernal musquittos ; not to mention that I had
all the extra valour shaken out of me by a horrible
ague, which commenced a campaign on my car-
cass, and compelled me to retire upon Scotland,
for the aid of my native air, by virtue of which it
was ultimately routed.

I shall not carry my first chapter beyond my first
campaign, as I am anxious that my reader should
not expend more than his first breath upon an
event which cost too many their last.

2

CHAPTER II

Rejoin the Regiment Embark for the Peninsula Arrival in the Tagus
The City of Lisbon, with its contents Sail for Figuera Landing
extraordinary Billet ditto The City of Coimbra A hard Case A cold
Case, in which a favourite Scotch Dance is introduced Climate The
Duke of Wellington.

I REJOINED the battalion at Hythe, in the spring
of 1810, and, finding that the company to which
I belonged had embarked, to join the first battalion
in the Peninsula, and that they were waiting at
Spithead for a fair wind, I immediately applied,
and obtained permission to join them.

We were about the usual time at sea, and
indulged in the usual amusements, beginning with
keeping journals, in which I succeeded in inserting
two remarks on the state of the weather, when I
found my inclination for book-making superseded
by the more disagreeable study of appearing
eminently happy under an irresistible inclination
towards sea-sickness. We anchored in the Tagus
in September ; no thanks to the ship, for she was
a leaky one, and wishing foul winds to the skipper,
for he was a rascally one.

To look at Lisbon from the Tagus, there are
few cities in the universe that can promise so
much, and none, I hope, that can keep it so badly.

I only got on shore one day for a few hours,

3

ADVENTURES IN

and, as I never again had an opportunity of
correcting the impression, I have no objection to
its being considered an uncharitable one ; but I
wandered for a time amid the abominations of its
streets and squares, in the vain hope that I had
got involved among a congregation of stables and
out-houses ; but when I was, at length, compelled
to admit it as the miserable apology for the fair
city that I had seen from the harbour I began to
contemplate, with astonishment, and no little
amusement, the very appropriate appearance of its
inhabitants.

The church, I concluded, had, on that occasion,
indulged her numerous offspring with a holiday,
for they occupied a much larger portion of the
streets than all the world besides. Some of
them were languidly strolling about, and looking
the sworn foes of time, while others crowded the
doors of the different coffee-houses ; the fat
jolly-looking friars cooling themselves with lemon-
ade, and the lean mustard-pot-faced ones, sipping
coffee out of thimble-sized cups, with as much
caution as if it had been physic.

The next class that attracted my attention was
the numerous collection of well-starved dogs, who
were indulging in all the luxury of extreme poverty
on the endless dung-heaps.

There, too, sat the industrious citizen, basking
in the sunshine of his shop-door, and gathering
in the flock which is so bountifully reared on his

4

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

withered tribe of children. There strutted the
spruce cavalier, with his upper man furnished at
the expense of his lower, and looking ridiculously
imposing ; and there but sacred be their daugh-
ters, for the sake of one, who shed a lustre over
her squalid sisterhood, sufficient to redeem their
whole nation from the odious sin of ugliness. I
was looking for an official person, living somewhere
near the Convent D'Estrella, and was endeavour-
ing to express my wishes to a boy, when I heard a
female voice, in broken English, from a balcony
above, giving the information I desired. I looked
up, and saw a young girl, dressed in white, who
was loveliness itself! In the few words which
passed between us, of lively unconstrained civility
on her part, and pure confounded gratitude on
mine, she seemed so perfectly after my own heart,
that she lit a torch in it which burnt for two years
and a half.

It must not detract from her merits that she
was almost the only one that I saw during that
period in which it was my fate to tread war's
roughest, rudest path ; daily staring his grim
majesty out of countenance, and nightly slumber-
ing on the cold earth, or in the tenantless mansion,
for I felt as if she would have been the chosen
companion of my waking dreams in rosier walks,
as I never recalled the fair vision to my aid, even
in the worst of times, that it did not act upon my
drooping spirits like a glass of brandy.

5

ADVENTURES IN

It pleased the great disposer of naval events to
remove us to another and a better ship, and to
send us off for Figuera, next day, with a foul wind.

Sailing at the rate of one mile in two hours,
we reached Figuera's Bay at the end of eight days,
and were welcomed by about an hundred hideous-
looking Portuguese women, whose joy was so
excessive that they waded up to their waists
through the heavy surf, and insisted on carrying
us on shore on their backs ! I never clearly
ascertained whether they had been actuated by
the purity of love or gold.

Our men were lodged for the night in a large
barn, and the officers billeted in town. Mine
chanced to be on the house of a mad- woman,
whose extraordinary appearance I never shall
forget. Her petticoats scarcely reached to the
knee, and all above the lower part of the bosom
was bare ; and though she looked not more than
middle aged, her skin seemed as if it had been
regularly prepared to receive the impression of
her last will and testament ; her head was de-
fended by a chevaux-de-frise of black wiry hair,
which pointed fiercely in every direction, while
her eyes looked like two burnt holes in a blanket.
I had no sooner opened the door than she stuck
her arms a-kimbo, and, opening a mouth which
stretched from ear to ear, began vociferating,
" Bravo , bravissimo I "

Being a stranger alike to the appearance and

6

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

manners of the natives, I thought it possible that
the former might have been nothing out of the
common run ; and concluding that she was over-
joyed at seeing her country reinforced, at that
perilous moment , by a fellow upwards of six feet
high, and thinking it necessary to sympathize in
some degree in her patriotic feelings, I began to
" bravo " too ; but as her second shout ascended
ten degrees, and kept increasing in that ratio, until
it amounted to absolute frenzy, I faced to the right-
about, and before our Ute-a-tite had lasted the
brief space of three quarters of a minute, I dis-
appeared with all possible haste, her terrific yells
vibrating in my astonished ears, long after I had
turned the corner of the street ; nor did I feel
perfectly at ease until I found myself stretched on
a bundle of straw in a corner of the bam occupied
by the soldiers.

We proceeded, next morning, to join the army ;
and as our route lay through the city of Coimbra,
we came to the magnanimous resolution of provid-
ing ourselves with all manner of comforts and
equipments for the campaign on our arrival there ;
but, when we entered it, at the end of the second
day, our disappointment was quite eclipsed by
astonishment at finding ourselves the only living
things in a city, which ought to have been furnished
with ten thousand souls.

Lord Wellington was then in the course of
his retreat from the frontiers of Spain, to the

7

ADVENTURES IN

lines of Torres Vedras, and had compelled the
inhabitants on the line of march to abandon their
houses, and to destroy or carry away everything
that could be of service to the enemy. It was a
measure that ultimately saved their country,
though ruinous and distressing to those concerned ;
and on no class of individuals did it bear harder,
for the moment, than our own little detachment, a
company of rosy-cheeked, chubbed youths, who,
after three months' feeding on ship's dumplings,
were thus thrust at a moment of extreme activity,
in the face of an advancing foe, supported by a
mouldy biscuit, and such a pound of fresh beef as
the bullock, who had been our travelling com-
panion, could afford to give at the end of his day's
march.

The difficulties we encountered were nothing out
of the usual course of old campaigners ; but,
untrained and unprovided as I was, I still looked
back upon the twelve or fourteen days following the
battle of Busaco as the most trying I have ever
experienced, for we were on our legs from daylight
until dark, in daily contact with the enemy ; and
to satisfy the stomach of an ostrich, I had, as
already stated, only a pound of beef, a pound of
biscuit, and one glass of rum. A brother officer
was kind enough to strap my boat-cloak and port-
manteau on the mule carrying his heavy baggage,
which, on account of the proximity of the foe,
was never permitted to be within a day's march

8

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

of us ; so that, in addition to my simple uniform,
my only covering every night was the canopy of
heaven, from whence the dews descended so
refreshingly, that I generally awoke, at the end of
an hour, chilled, and wet to the skin ; and I
could only purchase an equal length of additional
repose by jumping up and running about, until
I acquired a sleeping quantity of warmth. No-
thing in life can be more ridiculous than seeing a
lean, lank fellow, start from a profound sleep, at
midnight, and begin lashing away at the highland
fling, as if St. Andrew himself had been playing
the bagpipes ; but it was a measure that I very
often had recourse to, as the cleverest method of
producing heat. In short, though the prudent
general may preach the propriety of light baggage
in the enemy's presence, I will ever maintain that
there is marvellous small personal comfort in
travelling so fast and so lightly as I did.

The Portuguese farmers will tell you, that the
beauty of their climate consists in their crops
receiving from the nightly dews the refreshing
influence of a summer's shower, and that they
ripen in the daily sun. But they are a sordid set
of rascals ! Whereas / speak with the enlightened
views of a man of war, and say, that it is poor con-
solation to me, after having been deprived of my
needful repose, and kept all night in a fever,
dancing wet and cold, to be told that I shall be
warm enough in the morning ! It is like frying a

9

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

person after he has been boiled ; and I insisted
upon it, that if their sun had been milder, and
their dews lighter, I should have found it much
more pleasant.

THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON

From the moment that I joined the army, so
intense was my desire to get a look at this illus-
trious chief, that I never should have forgiven
the Frenchman that had killed me before I
effected it. My curiosity did not remain long
ungratified ; for, as our post was next the enemy,
I found, when anything was to be done, that it was
his also. He was just such a man as I had figured
in my mind's eye ; and I thought that the stranger
would betray a grievous want of penetration who
could not select the Duke of Wellington from amid
five hundred in the same uniform.

10

CHAPTER III

Other People, Myself, and my Regiment Retreat to the Lines of Torres
Vedras Leave Counbra, followed by a select group of Natives Ford
the Streets of Condetxa in good spirits A Provost-Marshal and his
favourites A fall Convent of Batalha Turned out of Allemquer
Passed through Sobral Turned into Aruda Quartering of the Light
Division, and their Quarters at Aruda Burial of an only Child Lines
of Torres Vedras Difference of opinion between Massena and Myself
Military Customs.

HAVING now brought myself regularly into the
field, under the renowned Wellington, should this
narrative, by any accident, fall into the hands of
others who served there, and who may be un-
reasonable enough to expect their names to be
mentioned in it, let me tell them that they are most
confoundedly mistaken ! Every man may write
a book for himself if he likes, but this is mine ;
and, as I borrow no man's story, neither will I
give any man a particle of credit for his deeds,
as I have got so little for my own that I have none
to spare. Neither will I mention any regiment
but my own, if I can possibly avoid it, for there is
none other that I like so much, and none else so
much deserves it ; for we were the light regiment
of the Light Division, and fired the first and last
shot in almost every battle, siege, and skirmish,
in which the army was engaged during the war.
In stating the foregoing resolution, however,

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with regard to regiments, I beg to be understood
as identifying our old and gallant associates, the
forty-third and fifty-second, as a part of ourselves ;
for they bore their share in everything, and I love
them as I hope to do my better half, (when I come
to be divided.) Wherever we were, they were ;
and although the nature of our arm generally gave
us more employment in the way of skirmishing,
yet, whenever it came to a pinch, independent of
a suitable mixture of them among us, we had only
to look behind to see a line, in which we might
place a degree of confidence, almost equal to our
hopes in Heaven ; nor were we ever disappointed.
There never was a corps of riflemen in the hands
of such supporters !

October ist, 1810. We stood to our arms at
daylight this morning, on a hill in front of Coimbra ;
and, as the enemy soon after came on in force, we
retired before them through the city. The civil
authorities, in making their own hurried escape,
had totally forgotten that they had left a gaol full
of rogues unprovided for, and who, as we were
passing near them, made the most hideous scream-
ing for relief. Our quarter-master-general very
humanely took some men, who broke open the
doors, and the whole of them were soon seen
howling along the bridge into the wide world, in
the most delightful delirium, with the French
dragoons at their heels.

We retired, the same night, through Condeixa,

12

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

where the commissariat were destroying quantities
of stores which they were unable to carry off.
They handed out shoes and shirts to any one who
would take them, and the streets were literally
running ankle deep with rum, in which the soldiers
were dipping their cups and helping themselves
as they marched along. They some years after-
wards called for a return of the men who had
received shirts and shoes on that occasion, with
a view of making us pay for them ; but we very
briefly replied, that the one half were dead, and
the other half would be d d before they would
pay anything.

We retired next day to Leiria, and, at the en-
trance of the city, saw an English and a Portuguese
soldier dangling by the bough of a tree the first
summary example I had ever seen of martial law.

A provost-marshal, on active service, is a
character of considerable pretensions, as he can
flog at pleasure, always moves about with a guard
of honour, and though he cannot altogether stop
a man's breath without an order, yet, when he is
ordered to hang a given number out of a crowd of
plunderers, his friends are not particularly desig-
nated, so that he can invite any one that he takes
a fancy to, to follow him to the nearest tree, where,
without further ceremony, he relieves him from
the cares and troubles of this wicked world !

There was only one furnished shop remaining
in the town, and I went in to see what they had

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got to sell ; but had scarcely passed the threshold
when I heard a tremendous clatter at my heels,
as if the opposite house had been pitched in at
the door after me ; and, on wheeling round to
ascertain the cause, I found, when the dust
cleared away, that a huge stone balcony, with iron
railings, which had been over the door, over-
charged with women reconnoitring the troops,
had tumbled down ; and in spite of their vocifera-
tions for the aid of their patron saints, some of
them were considerably damaged. I know not
whether the fallen angels comprehended the shop-
keeper's family group, but allowing their bodies to
be gathered by the saints or the soldiers, the said
worthy continued gathering in the vintins from
his hungry customers as if nothing had occurred.

On leaving the shop, my attention was attracted
to a group of British officers on their knees in the
middle of the street an attitude so unusual in
those days, even in the proper place, that I could
not resist my curiosity, and on approaching, found
them surrounding a pyramid of letters, the contents
of a mail just arrived from England. It is needless
to say that I joined the kneelers, and was rewarded
with a letter addressed to myself, the first that I
ever received through the medium of a paving
stone.

We halted one night near the convent of
Batalha, one of the finest buildings in Portugal.
It has, I believe, been clearly established, that

14

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

a living man in ever so bad health is better than
two dead ones ; but it appears that the latter will
vary in value according to circumstances ; for
we found here, in very high preservation, the body
of King John of Portugal, who founded the edifice
in commemoration of some victory, God knows
how long ago ; and though he would have been
reckoned a highly valuable antique, within a glass
case, in an apothecary's hall in England, yet he
was held so cheap in his own house, that the very
finger which most probably pointed the way to
the victory alluded to, is now in the baggage of the
Rifle Brigade ! Reader, point not thy finger at
me, for I am not the man.

Retired on the morning of a very wet, stormy
day to Allemquer, a small town on the top of a
mountain, surrounded by still higher ones ; and, as
the enemy had not shown themselves the evening
before, we took possession of the houses, with a
tolerable prospect of being permitted the unusual
treat of eating a dinner under cover. But by the
time that the pound of beef was parboiled, and
while an officer of dragoons was in the act of re-
porting that he had just patrolled six leagues to
the front, without seeing any signs of an enemy,
we saw the indefatigable rascals, on the mountain
opposite our windows, just beginning to wind
round us, with a mixture of cavalry and infantry ;
the wind blowing so strong, that the long tail of
each particular horse stuck as stiffly out in the face

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of the one behind, as if the whole had been strung
upon a cable and dragged by the leaders. We
turned out a few companies, and kept them in
check while the division was getting under arms,
spilt the soup as usual, and transferring the smok-
ing solids to the haversack, for future mastication,
we continued our retreat.

We passed through the town of Sobral, soon
after dark, the same night ; and by the aid of some
rushlights in a window, saw two apothecaries, the
very counterparts of Romeo's, who were the only
remnants of the place, and for the sake of the
gallipots had braved the horrors of war in the
hopes that their profession would be held sacred.
They were both on the same side of the counter,
looking each other point blank in the face, their
sharp noses not three inches apart, neither daring
to utter a syllable, but both listening intensely to
the noise outside. Whatever their courage might
have been screwed to before, it was evident that
we were now indebted for their presence to their
fears ; and their appearance altogether was so
ludicrous, that they excited universal shouts of
laughter as they came within view of the successive
divisions.

Our long retreat ended at midnight, on our
arrival at the handsome little town of Aruda, which
was destined to be the piquet post of our division,
in front of the fortified lines. The quartering of
our divisions, whether by night or by day, was an

16

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

affair of about five minutes. The quarter-master-
general preceded the troops, accompanied by the
brigade-majors and the quarter-masters of regi-
ments ; and after marking off certain houses for
his general and staff, he split the remainder of the
town between the majors of brigades : they in
their turn provided for their generals and staff,
and then made a wholesale division of streets
among the quarter-masters of regiments, who
after providing for their commanding officers and
staff, retailed the remaining houses, in equal
proportions, among the companies ; so that, by
the time that the regiment arrived, there was
nothing to be done beyond the quarter-master's
simply telling each captain, " Here's a certain
number of houses for you."

Like all other places on the line of march, we
found Aruda totally deserted, but with this differ-
ence, that its inhabitants had fled in such a hurry,
that the keys of their house doors were the only
things they carried away ; so that when we got
admission, through our usual key, 1 we were not a
little gratified to find that the houses were not
only regularly furnished, but most of them had
some food in the larder, and a plentiful supply of
good wines in the cellar ; and, in short, that they
only required a few lodgers capable of appreciating
the good things which the gods had provided ;

1 Transmitting a rifle-ball through the key-hole ; it opens
every lock.

C I?

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and the deuce is in it if we were not the very folks
who could !

Unfortunately for ourselves, and still more so

for the proprietors, we never dreamt of the

possibility of being able to keep possession of the

town : we thought it a matter of course that the

enemy would attack the lines, and, as this was only

an outpost, that it must fall into their hands ;

so that, in conformity with the system upon which

we had all along been retreating, we destroyed

everything that we could not use ourselves, to

prevent their benefiting thereby. But, when we

continued to hold the place beyond the expected

period, our indiscretion was visited on our own

heads, as we had destroyed in a day what would

have made us luxurious for months. We were

afterwards in hopes that the enemy would have

forced the post, if only for an hour, that we might

have saddled them with the mischief ; but, as they

never even made the attempt, it left it in the power

of ill-natured people to say, that we had plundered

one of our own towns. This was the only instance

during the war in which the Light Division had

reason to blush for their conduct ; and even in that

we had the law martial on our side, whatever

gospel law might have said against it.

The day after our arrival, Captain Simmons and
myself had the curiosity to look into the church,
which was in nowise injured, and was fitted up
in a style of magnificence becoming such a town.

18

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

The body of a poor old woman was there, lying
dead before the altar. It seemed as if she had
been too infirm to join in the general flight, and
had just dragged herself to that spot by a last
effort of nature, and expired. We immediately
determined, as hers was the only body we had
found in the town, either alive or dead, that she
should have more glory in the grave than she
appeared to have enjoyed on this side of it ; and,
with our united exertions, having succeeded in
raising a marble slab, which surmounted a monu-
mental vault, beautifully embellished with armorial
blazonry, we deposited the body inside, and re-
placed it again carefully. If the personage to
whom it belonged happened to have a tenant of
his own for it soon afterwards, he must have been
rather astonished at the manner in which the
apartment was occupied.

Those who wish a description of the lines of
Torres Vedras, must read Napier, or some one
else who knows all about them ; for my part, I
know nothing, excepting that I was told that one
end of them rested on the Tagus, and the other
somewhere on the sea ; and I saw, with my own
eyes, a variety of redoubts and field-works on the
various hills which stand between. This, how-
ever, I do know, that we have since kicked the
French out of more formidable looking and
stronger places ; and, with all due deference be it
spoken, I think that the Prince of Essling ought

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to have tried his luck against them, as he could
only have been beaten by fighting, as he after-
wards was without it ! And if he thinks that he
would have lost as many men by trying, as he
did by not trying, he must allow me to differ in
opinion with him ! ! !

In very warm or very wet weather it was cus-
tomary to put us under cover in the town during
the day, but we were always moved back to our
bivouac, on the heights, during the night ; and it
was ratheramusing to observe the different notions
of individual comfort, in the selection of furniture,
which officers transferred from their town house
to their no house on the heights. A sofa, or a
mattress, one would have thought most likely to be
put in requisition ; but it was not unusual to see
a full-length looking-glass preferred to either.

The post of the company to which I belonged,
on the heights, was near a redoubt, immediately
behind Aruda ; there was a cattle-shed near it,
which we cleaned out, and used as a sort of
quarter. On turning out from breakfast one
morning, we found that the butcher had been
about to offer up the usual sacrifice of a bullock
to the wants of the day ; but it had broken loose,
and, in trying to regain his victim, had caught it
by the tail, which he twisted round his hand ;
and, when we made our appearance, they were
performing a variety of evolutions at a gallop,
to the great amusement of the soldiers, until an

20

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

unlucky turn brought them down upon our house,
which had been excavated out of the face of the
hill, on which the upper part of the roof rested,
and in they went, heels over head, butcher, bul-
lock, tail and all, bearing down the whole fabric
with a tremendous crash.

N.B. It was very fortunate that we happened
to be outside ; and very unfortunate, as we were
now obliged to remain out.

We certainly lived in clover while we remained
there : everything we saw was our own, seeing
no one who had a more legitimate claim ; and every
field was a vineyard . Ultimately it was considered
too much trouble to pluck the grapes, as there
were a number of poor native thieves in the habit
of coming from the rear, every day, to steal them ;
so that a soldier had nothing to do but to watch
one until he was marching off with his basket full,
when he would very deliberately place his back
against that of the Portuguese, and relieve him of
his load, without wasting any words about the
bargain. The poor wretch would follow the sol-
dier to the camp, in the hope of having his basket
returned, as it generally was, when emptied.

Mass6na conceiving any attack upon our lines
to be hopeless, and as his troops were rapidly
mouldering away with sickness and want, he at
length began to withdraw them nearer to the
source of his supplies.

He abandoned his position, opposite to us, on
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the night of the gth of November, leaving some
stuffed straw gentlemen occupying their usual
posts . Some of them were cavalry, some infantry ;
and they seemed such respectable representatives
of their spectral predecessors, that in the haze of
the following morning, we thought they had been
joined by some well-fed ones from the rear ; and
it was late in the day before we discovered the
mistake and advanced in pursuit. In passing by
the edge of a millpond, after dark, our adjutant
and his horse tumbled in ; and as the latter had
no tail to hold on by, they were both very nearly
drowned.

It was late ere we halted for the night, on the
side of the road, near to Allemquer, and I got under
cover in a small house, which looked as if it had
been honoured as the head quarters of the tailor-
general of the French army, for the floor was
strewed with variegated threads, various com-
plexioned buttons, with particles and remnants
of cabbage ; and, if it could not boast of the flesh
and fowl of Noah's ark, there was an abundance
of the creeping things which I could have wished
had not been included in the sea stock of that
commander. We marched before daylight next
morning, leaving a rousing fire in the chimney,
which shortly became too small to hold it ; for we
had not proceeded far before we perceived that the
well-dried thatched roof had joined in the general
blaze, a circumstance which caused us no little
22

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

uneasiness, for our general, the late Major-general
Robert Craufurd, had brought us up in the fear of
our master ; and, as he was a sort of person who
would not see a fire, of that kind, in the same light
that we did, I was by no means satisfied that my
commission lay snug in my pocket, until we had
fairly marched it out of sight, and in which we were
aided not a little by a slight fire of another kind,
which he was required to watch with the advanced
guard.

On our arrival at Valle, on the izth of Novem-
ber, we found the enemy behind the Rio Mayor,
occupying the heights of Santarem, and exchanged
some shots with their advanced posts. In the
course of the night we experienced one of those
tremendous thunder-storms which used to precede
the Wellington victories, and which induced us
to expect a general action on the following day. I
had disposed myself to sleep in a beautiful green
hollow, and, before I had time to dream of the
effects of their heavy rains, I found myself floating
most majestically towards the river, in a fair way
of becoming food for the fishes. I ever after gave
those inviting-looking spots a wide berth, as I
found that they were regular water-courses.

Next morning our division crossed the river,
and commenced a false attack on the enemy's
left, with a view of making them show their
force ; and it was to have been turned into a real
one, if their position was found to be occupied

- 23

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by a rearguard only ; but after keeping up a
smart skirmishing fire the greater part of the
day, Lord Wellington was satisfied that their
whole army was present, and we were consequently
withdrawn.

This affair terminated the campaign of 1810.
Our division took possession of the village of
Vall6 and its adjacents, and the rest of the army
was placed in cantonments, under whatever cover
the neighbouring country afforded.

Our battalion was stationed in some empty
farm-houses, near the end of the bridge of
Santarem, which was nearly half a mile long ;
and our sentries and those of the enemy were
within pistol shot of each other on the bridge.

I do not mean to insinuate that a country is
never so much at peace as when at open war ;
but I do say, that a soldier can nowhere sleep so
soundly, nor is he any where so secure from sur-
prise, as when within musket shot of his enemy.

We lay four months in this situation, divided
only by a rivulet, without once exchanging shots.
Every evening at the hour

" When bucks to dinner go,
And cits to sup,'*

it was our practice to dress for sleep ; we saddled
our horses, buckled on our armour, and lay down,
with the bare floor for a bed and a stone for a
pillow, ready for anything, and reckless of every-

24

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

thing but the honour of our corps and country ;
for I will say, (to save the expense of a trumpeter,)
that a more devoted set of fellows were never
associated.

We stood to our arms every morning at an hour
before daybreak, and remained there until a grey
horse could be seen a mile off, (which is the military
criterion by which daylight is acknowledged, and
the hour of surprise past,) when we proceeded to
unharness, and to indulge in such luxuries as our
toilet and our table afforded.

The Mayor, as far as the bridge of Vall6, was
navigable for the small craft from Lisbon ; so
that our table, while we remained there, cut as
respectable a figure, as regular supplies of rice,
salt fish, and potatoes could make it : not to
mention that our pig-skin was, at all times, at
least three parts full of a common red wine, which
used to be dignified by the name of black-strap.
We had the utmost difficulty, however, in keeping
up appearances in the way of dress. The jacket,
in spite of shreds and patches, always maintained
something of the original about it ; but wo befel
the regimental small-clothes, and they could only
be replaced by very extraordinary apologies, of
which I had two pair at this period, one of a com-
mon brown Portuguese cloth, and the other,
or Sunday's pair, of black velvet. We had no
women with the regiment ; and the ceremony
of washing a shirt amounted to my servant's taking

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it by the collar and giving it a couple of shakes in
the water, and then hanging it up to dry* Smooth-
ing irons were not the fashion of the times, and,
if a fresh well-dressed aide-de-camp did occasion-
ally come from England, we used to stare at him
with about as much respect as Hotspur did at his
" waiting gentlewoman."

The winter here was uncommonly mild. I am
not the sort of person to put myself much in the
way of ice, except on a warm summer's day ;
but the only inconvenience that I felt in bathing,
in the middle of December, was the quantity
of leeches that used to attach themselves to my
personal supporters, obliging me to cut a few
capers to shake them off, after leaving the water.

Our piquet post, at the bridge, became a regular
lounge, for the winter, to all manner of folks.

I used to be much amused at seeing our naval
officers come up from Lisbon riding on mules,
with huge ships' spy-glasses, like six-pounders,
strapped across the backs of their saddles. Their
first question invariably was, " Who is that fellow
there ? " pointing to the enemy's sentry, close
to us, and, on being told that he was a French-
man, " Then why the devil don't you shoot him ? "

Repeated acts of civility passed between the
French and us during this tacit suspension of
hostilities. The greyhounds of an officer follow-
ing a hare, on one occasion, ran into their lines, and
they very politely returned them.

26

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

I was one night on piquet, at the end of the
bridge, when a ball came from the French sentry,
and struck the burning billet of wood round which
we were sitting, and they sent in a flag of truce,
next morning, to apologize for the accident, say-
ing that it had been done by a stupid fellow of a
sentry, who imagined that people were advancing
upon him. We admitted the apology, though we
well knew that it had been done by a malicious
rather than a stupid fellow, from the elevated
situation we occupied.

General Junot, one day reconnoitring, was
severely wounded by a sentry, and Lord Welling-
ton, knowing they were at that time destitute of
everything in the shape of comfort, sent to request
his acceptance of whatever Lisbon afforded that
could be of any service to him ; but the French
general was too much of a politician to admit the
want of anything.

CHAPTER IV

Campaign of 1811 opens Mass&ia's Retreat Wretched Condition of
the Inhabitants on the Line of March Affairs with the enemy, near
Pombal Description of a Bivouac Action near Redinha Destruction
of Condeixa and Action near it Burning of the Village of Illama, and
Misery of its Inhabitants Action at Foz D'Arouce Confidential
Servants with Donkey- Assistants.

THE campaign of 1811 commenced on the 6th of
March, by the retreat of the enemy from Santarem.

Lord v Wellington seemed to be perfectly ac-
quainted with their intentions, for he sent to
apprize our piquets, the evening before, that they
were going off, and to desire that they should feel
for them occasionally during the night, and give
the earliest information of their having started. It
was not, however, until daylight that we were quite
certain of their departure, and our division was
instantly put in motion after them, passing through
the town of Santarem, around which their camp
fires were still burning.

Santarem is finely situated, and probably had
been a handsome town. I had never seen it in
prosperity, but it now looked like a city of the
plague, represented by empty dogs and empty
houses ; and, but for the tolling of a convent bell
by some unseen hand, its appearance was alto-
gether inhuman.

28

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

We halted for the night near Pyrnes. This little
town and the few wretched inhabitants who had
been induced to remain,underthefaithless promises
of the French generals, showed fearful signs of a
late visit from a barbarous and merciless foe.
Young women were lying in their houses brutally
violated, the streets were strewed with broken
furniture, intermixed with the putrid carcasses of
murdered peasants, mules, and donkeys, and every
description of filth, that filled the air with pesti-
lential nausea. The few starved male inhabit-
ants who were stalking amid the wreck of their
friends and property, looked like so many skeletons
who had been permitted to leave their graves for
the purpose of taking vengeance on their oppres-
sors ; and the mangled body of every Frenchman
who was unfortunate or imprudent enough to
stray from his column, showed how religiously
they performed their mission.

March 8th. We overtook their rear-guard this
evening, snugly put up for the night in a little
village, the name of which I do not recollect;
but a couple of six-pounders, supported by a
few of our rifles, induced them to extend their
walk.

March Qth. While moving along the road this
morning, we found a man, who had deserted
from us a short time before, in the uniform of a
French dragoon, with his head laid open by one of
our bullets. He was still alive to meet the most

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unenviable of deaths the curses of the comrades
he would have injured. Towards the afternoon
we found the enemy in force, on the plain in front
of Pombal, where we exchanged some shots.

March nth. They retired yesterday to the
heights behind Pombal, leaving advanced posts
occupying the town and Moorish castle. This
morning our battalion, assisted by some Caca-
dores, attacked and dislodged them with consider-
able loss. Dispositions were then made for a
general assault on their position, but the other
divisions of our army did not arrive until too late
in the evening. We bivouacked for the night in a
ploughed field, under the castle, with our sentries
within pistol shot, while it rained in torrents.

As it is possible that some of my readers may
never have had the misfortune to experience the
comfort of a bivouac, and as the one which I am
now in contains but a small quantity of sleep, I
shall devote a waking hour for their edification.

When a regiment arrives at its ground for the
night, it is formed in columns of companies, at
full, half, or quarter distance, according to the
space which circumstances will permit it to occupy.
The officer commanding each company then re-
ceives his orders ; and, after communicating
whatever may be necessary to the men, he desires
them to " pile arms, and make themselves com-
fortable for the night." Now, I pray thee, most
sanguine reader, suffer not thy fervid imagination

30

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

to transport thee into Elysian fields at the pleasing
exhortation conveyed in the concluding part of
the captain's address, but rest thee contentedly in
the one where it is made, which in all probability is
a ploughed one, and that, too, in a state of prepara-
tion to take a model of thy very beautiful person,
under the melting influence of a shower of rain*
The soldiers of each company have an hereditary
claim to the ground next to their arms, as have
their officers to a wider range on the same line,
limited to the end of a bugle sound, if not by a
neighbouring corps, or one that is not neighbourly,
for the nearer a man is to his enemy, the nearer
he likes to be to his friends. Suffice it, that each
individual knows his place as well as if he had been
born on the estate, and takes immediate possession
accordingly. In a ploughed or a stubble field
there is scarcely a choice of quarters ; but when-
ever there is a sprinkling of trees, it is always an
object to secure a good one, as it affords shelter
from the sun by day and the dews by night, be-
sides being a sort of home or sign-post for a group
of officers, as denoting the best place of entertain-
ment ; for they hang their spare clothing and
accoutrements among the branches, "barricade
themselves on each side with their saddles, can-
teens, and portmanteaus, and, with a blazing fire
in their front, they indulge, according to their
various humours, in a complete state of gipsy-
fication.

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There are several degrees of comfort to be
reckoned in a bivouac, two of which will suffice.

The first, and worst, is to arrive at the end
of a cold wet day, too dark to see your ground,
and too near the enemy to be permitted to un-
pack the knapsacks or to take off accoutrements ;
where, unencumbered with baggage or eatables of
any kind, you have the consolation of knowing
that things are now at their worst, and that any
change must be for the better. You keep yourself
alive for awhile, in collecting materials to feed your
fire with ; you take a smell at your empty calibash,
which recalls to your remembrance the delicious
flavour of its last drop of wine ; you curse your
servant for not having contrived to send you some-
thing or other from the baggage, (though you know
that it was impossible ;) you then damn the
enemy for being so near you, though probably,
as in the present instance, it was you that came so
near them ; and, finally, you take a whiff at the end
of a cigar, if you have one, and keep grumbling
through the smoke, like distant thunder through a
cloud, until you tumble into a most warlike sleep.

The next, the most common one, is, when you
are not required to look quite so sharp, and when
the light baggage and provisions come in at the heel
of the regiment. If it is early in the day, the first
thing to be done is to make some tea, the most
sovereign restorative for jaded spirits. We then
proceed to our various duties. The officers of

32

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

each company form a mess of themselves. One
remains in camp to attend to the duties of the
regiment ; a second attends to the mess : he
goes to the regimental butcher, and bespeaks a
portion of the only purchaseable commodities,
hearts, livers, and kidneys ; and also to see whether
he cannot do the commissary out of a few extra
biscuit, or a canteen of brandy ; and the remainder
are gentlemen at large for the day. But while
they go hunting among the neighbouring regiments
for news, and the neighbouring houses for
curiosity, they have always an eye to their mess,
and omit no opportunity of adding to the general
stock.

Dinner hour, for fear of accidents, is always
the hour when dinner can be got ready ; and the
1 4th section of the articles of war is always most
rigidly attended to, by every good officer parading
himself round the camp-kettle at the time fixed,
with his haversack in his hand. A haversack on
service is a sort of dumb waiter. The mess have
a good many things in common, but the contents
of the haversack are exclusively the property
of its owner ; and a well regulated one ought
never to be without the following furniture,
unless when the perishable part is consumed, in
consequence of every other means of supply
having failed, viz. a couple of biscuit, a sausage,
a little tea and sugar, a knife, fork, and spoon,
a tin cup, (which answers to the names of tea-

*> 33

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cup, soup-plate, wine-glass, and tumbler), a pair
of socks, a piece of soap, a tooth brush, towel,
and comb, and half-a-dozen cigars.

After doing justice to the dinner, if we feel
in a humour for additional society, we transfer
ourselves to some neighbouring mess, taking our
cups, and whatever we mean to drink, along
with us ; for in those times there is nothing to
be expected from our friends beyond the pleasure
of their conversation : and, finally, we retire to
rest. To avoid inconvenience by the tossing off
of the bed-clothes, each officer has a blanket
sewed up at the sides, like a sack, into which he
scrambles, and, with a green sod or a smooth
stone for a pillow, composes himself to sleep ;
and, under such a glorious reflecting canopy as
the heavens, it would be a subject of mortifica-
tion to an astronomer to see the celerity with
which he tumbles into it. Habit gives endurance,
and fatigue is the best night-cap ; no matter
that the veteran's countenance is alternately
stormed with torrents of rain, heavy dews, and
hoar-frosts ; no matter that his ears are assailed
by a million mouths of chattering locusts, and
by some villanous donkey, who every half hour
pitches a bray note, which, as a congregation of
Presbyterians follow their clerk, is instantly taken
up by every mule and donkey in the army, and
sent echoing from regiment to regiment, over
hill and valley, until it dies away in the distance ;

34

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

no matter that the scorpion Is lurking beneath
his pillow, the snake winding his slimy way by
his side, and the lizard galloping over his face,
wiping his eyes with its long cold tail.

All are unheeded, until the warning voice of
the brazen instrument sounds to arms. Strange
it is, that the ear which is impervious to what
would disturb the rest of all the world besides,
should alone be alive to one, and that, too, a
sound which is likely to soothe the sleep of others,
or, at most, to set them dreaming of their loves.
But so it is ; the first note of the melodious
bugle places the soldier on his legs like lightning ;
when, muttering a few curses at the unseasonable-
ness of the hour, he plants himself on his alarm
post, without knowing or caring about the cause.

Such is a bivouac ; and our sleep-breaker
having just sounded, the reader will find what
occurred by reading on.

March I2th. We stood to our arms before
daylight. Finding that the enemy had quitted
the position in our front, we proceeded to follow
them ; and had not gone far before we heard
the usual morning's salutation, of a couple of
shots, between their rear and our advanced guard.
On driving in their outposts, we found their whole
army drawn out on the plain, near Redinha, and
instantly quarrelled with them on a large scale.

As everybody has read " Waverley " and the
" Scottish Chiefs,'* and knows that one battle is

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just like another, inasmuch as they always con-
clude by one or both sides running away ; and
as it is nothing to me what this or t'other regi-
ment did, nor do I care three buttons what this
or t'other person thinks he did, I shall limit
all my descriptions to such events as immediately
concerned the important personage most interested
in this history.

Be it known, then, that I was one of a crowd
of skirmishers who were enabling the French
ones to carry the news of their own defeat through
a thick wood, at an infantry canter, when I found
myself all at once within a few yards of one of
their regiments in line, which opened such a fire,
that had I not, rifleman-like, taken instant advan-
tage of the cover of a good fir tree, my name
would have unquestionably been transmitted to
posterity by that night's gazette. And, however
opposed to it may be the usual system of drill,
I will maintain from that day's experience, that
the cleverest method of teaching a recruit to
stand at attention, is to place him behind a tree
and fire balls at him ; as, had our late worthy
disciplinarian, Sir David Dundas, himself, been
looking on, I think that even he must have
admitted that he never saw any one stand so
fiercely upright as I did behind mine, while the
balls were rapping into it as fast as if a fellow
had been hammering a nail on the opposite side,
not to mention the number that were whistling

36

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

past within the eighth of an inch of every part
of my body, both before and behind, particularly
in the vicinity of my nose, for which the upper
part of the tree could barely afford protection.

This was a last and desperate stand made by
their rear-guard, for their own safety, immedi-
ately above the town, as their sole chance of
escape depended upon their being able to hold
the post until the only bridge across the river
was clear of the other fugitives. But they could
not keep it long enough ; for while we were
undergoing a temporary sort of purgatory in their
front, our comrades went working round their
flanks, which quickly sent them flying, with us
intermixed, at full cry, down the streets.

Whether in love or war, I have always con-
sidered that the pursuer has a decided advan-
tage over the pursued. In the first, he may
gain and cannot lose ; but, in the latter, when
one sees his enemy at full speed before him,
he has such a peculiar conscious sort of feeling
of being on the right side, that I would not
exchange places for any consideration.

When we reached the bridge, the scene became
exceedingly interesting, for it was choked up by
the fugitives who were, as usual, impeding each
other's progress ; and we did not find that the
application of our swords to those nearest to us
tended at all towards lessening their disorder,
for it induced about a hundred of them to rush

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into an adjoining house for shelter. But that
was getting regularly out of the frying-pan into
the fire, for the house happened to be really in
flames, and too hot to hold them, so that the
same hundred were quickly seen unkennelling
again, half cooked, into the very jaws of their
consumers .

John Bull, however, is not a bloodthirsty
person, so that those who could not better them-
selves, had only to submit to a simple transfer
of personal property to ensure his protection*
We, consequently, made many prisoners at the
bridge, and followed their army about a league
beyond it, keeping up a flying fight until dark.

Just as Captain Simmons and myself had
crossed the river, and were talking over the
events of the day, not a yard asunder, there was
a Portuguese soldier in the act of passing between
us, when a cannon ball plunged into his belly
his head doubled down to his feet, and he
stood for a moment in that posture before he
rolled down lifeless.

March i3th. Arrived on the hill above Con-
deixa in time to see that handsome little town in
flames. Every species of barbarity continued to
mark the enemy's retreating steps. They burnt
every town or village through which they passed ;
and if we entered a church, which by accident
had been spared, it was to see the murdered bodies
of the peasantry on the altar.

38

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

While Lord Wellington, with his staff, was
on a hill a little in front of us, waiting the result
of a flank movement which he had directed,
some of the enemy's sharpshooters stole, un-
perceived, very near to him and began firing,
fortunately without effect. We immediately de-
tached a few of ours to meet them, but the others
ran off on their approach.

We lay by our arms until towards evening,
when the enemy withdrew to Casal Novo, and
we closed up to them. There was a continued
popping between the advanced posts all night.

March i4th. Finding, at daylight, that the
enemy still continued to hold the strong ground
before us, some divisions of the army were sent
to turn their flanks, while ours attacked them in
front.

We drove them from one stronghold to another,
over a large tract of very difficult country, moun-
tainous and rocky, and thickly intersected with
stone walls, and were involved in one continued
hard skirmish from daylight until dark. This
was the most harassing day's fighting that I
ever experienced.

Daylight left the two armies looking at each
other, near the village of Illama. The smoking
roofs of the houses showed that the French had
just quitted, and, as usual, set fire to it, when
the company to which I belonged was ordered
on piquet there for the night. After posting

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our sentries, my brother officer and myself had
the curiosity to look into a house, and were
shocked to find in it a mother and her child
dead, and the father, with three more, living,
but so much reduced by famine, as to be unable
to remove themselves from the flames. We
carried them into the open air, and offered the
old man our few remaining crumbs of biscuit,
but he told us that he was too far gone to benefit
by them, and begged that we would give them
to his children. We lost no time in examining
such of the other houses as were yet safe to enter,
and rescued many more individuals from one
horrible death, probably to reserve them for
another equally so, and more lingering, as we
had nothing to give them, and marched at day-
light the following morning.

Our post that night was one of terrific gran-
deur. The hills behind were in a blaze of light
with the British camp-fires, as were those in
our front with the French ones. Both hills were
abrupt and lofty, not above eight hundred yards
asunder, and we were in the burning village in
the valley between, the roofs of houses every
instant falling in, and the sparks and flames
ascending to the clouds. The streets were
strewed with the dying and the dead. Some
had been murdered and some killed in action,
which, together with the half-famished wretches
whom we had saved from burning, contributed

40

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

in making it a scene which was well calculated
to shake a stout heart, as was proved in the
instance of one of our sentries, a well known
" devil-may-care " sort of fellow. I know not
what appearances the burning rafters might have
reflected on the neighbouring trees at the time,
but he had not been long on his post before he
came running into the piquet, and swore by all
the saints in the calendar, that he saw six dead
Frenchmen advancing upon him with hatchets
over their shoulders !

We found by the buttons on the coats of some
of the fallen foe, that we had this day been opposed
to the French ninety-fifth regiment, (the same
number as we were then,) and I cut off several
of them, which I preserved as trophies.

March i5th. We overtook the enemy a little
before dark this afternoon. They were drawn
up behind the Ceira, at Foz D'Arouce, with
their rear-guard, under Marshal Ney, impru-
dently posted on our side of the river, a circum-
stance of which Lord Wellington took immediate
advantage ; and, by a furious attack, dislodged
them, in such confusion, that they blew up the
bridge before their own people had time to get
over. All who were thus left to a choice of
deaths, took the watery one : about five hundred
of them perished in the stream. Our loss on
that occasion was trifling, theirs must have been
very great ; and we understood, at the time, that

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Ney had, in consequence, been sent to France
in disgrace.

About the middle of the action, I observed
some inexperienced light troops rushing up a
deep road-way to certain destruction, and ran
to warn them out of it ; but I only arrived in
time to partake the reward of their indiscretion,
for I was instantly struck with a musket ball
above the left ear, which deposited me, at full
length, in the mud.

I know not how long I lay insensible, but,
on recovering, my first feeling was for my head,
to ascertain if any part of it was still standing,
for it appeared to me as if nothing remained
above the mouth ; but, after repeated applica-
tions of all my fingers and thumbs to the doubt-
ful parts, I at length proved to myself, satis-
factorily, that it had rather increased than
diminished by the concussion. Jumping on my
legs, and hearing, by the whistling of the balls
from both sides, that the rascals who had got
me into the scrape had been driven back and
left me there, I snatched my cap, which had
saved my life, (and which had been spun off
my head to the distance of ten or twelve yards,)
and joined the skirmishers, a short distance in
the rear, when one of them, a soldier of the
sixtieth, came and told me that an officer of
ours had been killed, a short time before, point-
ing to the spot where I myself had fallen, and

42

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

that he had tried to take his jacket off, but that
the advance of the enemy prevented him. I told
him that I was the one who had been killed, and
that I was deucedly obliged to him for his kind
intentions, while I felt still more so to the enemy
for their timely advance, otherwise I have no
doubt but my friend would have taken a fancy
to my trousers also, for I found that he had
absolutely unbuttoned the jacket.

There is nothing so gratifying to frail mortality
as a good dinner when most wanted and expected.
It was perfectly dark before the action finished,
but, on going to take advantage of the fires which
the enemy had evacuated, we found their soup-
kettles in full operation, and every man's mess
of biscuit lying beside them, in stockings, as was
the French mode of carrying them ; and it is
needless to say how unceremoniously we pro-
ceeded to do the honours of the feast. It ever
after became a saying among the soldiers, when-
ever they were on short allowance, " Well, d n
my eyes, we must either fall in with the French
or the commissary to-day, I don't care which. "

As our baggage was always in the rear on
occasions of this kind, the officers of each com-
pany had a Portuguese boy, in charge of a donkey,
on whom their little comforts depended. He
carried our boat-cloaks and blankets, was pro-
vided with a small pig-skin for wine, a canteen
for spirits, a small quantity of tea and sugar, a

43

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

goat tied to the donkey, and two or three dollars
in his pocket, for the purchase of bread, butter,
or any other luxury which good fortune might
throw in his way in the course of the day's march.
We were never very scrupulous in exacting in-
formation regarding the source of his supplies ;
so that he had nothing to dread from our wrath,
unless he had the misfortune to make his appear-
ance empty-handed. They were singularly faith-
ful and intelligent in making their way to us every
evening, under the most difficult circumstances.
This was the only night during Massena's retreat
in which ours failed to find us ; and, wandering
the greater part of the night in the intricate maze
of camp-fires, it appeared that he slept, after all,
among some dragoons, within twenty yards of us.

44

CHAPTER V

Passage of the Mondego Swearing to a large Amount Two Prisoners,
with their Two Views Two Nuns, Two Pieces of Dough, and Two
Kisses A Halt Affair near Freixedas Arrival near Guarda Murder
A stray Sentry Battle of Sabugal Spanish and Portuguese Frontiers
Blockade of Almeida Battle-like Current Value of Lord Welling-
ton's Nose Battle of Fuentes de Onoro The Day after the Battle
A grave Remark The Padre? s House Retreat of the Enemy.

March ijth.

FOUND the enemy's rear-guard behind the Mon-
dego, at Ponte da Murcella, cannonaded them
out of it, and then threw a temporary bridge
across the river, and followed them until dark.

The late Sir Alexander Campbell, who com-
manded the division next to ours, by a wanton
excess of zeal in expecting an order to follow,
would not permit anything belonging to us to
pass the bridge, for fear of impeding the march
of his troops ; and, as he received no order to
march, we were thereby prevented from getting
anything whatever to eat for the next thirty-six
hours. I know not whether the curses of indi-
viduals are recorded under such circumstances,
but, if they are, the gallant general will have
found the united hearty ones of four thousand
men registered against him for that particular act.

March igth. We, this day, captured the aid-
de-camp of General Loison, together with his

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wife, who was dressed in a splendid hussar
uniform. He was a Portuguese, and a traitor,
and looked very like a man who would be hanged.
She was a Spaniard, and very handsome, and
looked very like a woman who would get married
again.

March aoth. We had now been three days
without anything in the shape of bread ; and
meat without it, after a time, becomes almost
loathsome. Hearing that we were not likely to
march quite so early as usual this morning, I
started, before daylight, to a village about two
miles off, in the face of the Sierra d'Estrella,
in the hopes of being able to purchase some-
thing, as it lay out of the hostile line of move-
ments. On my arrival there, I found some nuns
who had fled from a neighbouring convent, wait-
ing outside the building of the village oven, for
some Indian corn leaven, which they had carried
there to be baked ; and, when I explained my
pressing wants, two of them very kindly trans-
ferred me their shares, for which I gave each
a kiss and a dollar between. They took the
former as an unusual favour ; but looked at
the latter, as much as to say, " our poverty, and
not our will, consents." I ran off with my half-
baked dough, and joined my comrades, just as
they were getting under arms.

March aist. We this day reached the town
of Mello, and had so far outmarched our com-

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

missary that we found it necessary to wait for
him ; and in stopping to get a sight of our friends,
we lost sight of our foes, a circumstance which
I was by no means sorry for, as it enabled my
shoulders, once more, to rejoice under the load
of a couple of biscuits, and made me no longer
ashamed to look a cow or a sheep in the face,
now that they were not required to furnish more
than their regulated proportions of my daily
food.

March 3Oth. We had no difficulty in tracing
the enemy, by the wrecks of houses and the
butchered peasantry ; and overtook their rear-
guard, this day, busy grinding corn in some
windmills, near the village of Freixedas. As their
situation offered a fair opportunity for us to
reap the fruits of their labours, we immediately
attacked and drove them from it, and, after
securing what we wanted, withdrew again, across
the valley, to the village of Alverca, where we
were not without some reasonable expectations
that they would have returned the compliment,
as we had only a few squadrons of dragoons in
addition to our battalion, and we had seen them
withdraw a much stronger force from the opposite
village ; but by keeping a number of our men
all night employed in making extensive fires on
the hill above, it induced them to think that our
force was much greater than it really was, and
we remained unmolested.

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The only person we had hit in this affair was
our adjutant, Mr. Stewart, who was shot through
the head from a window. He was a gallant
soldier, and deeply lamented. We placed his
body in a chest, and buried it in front of Colonel
Beckwith's quarters.

March 3ist. At daylight, this morning, we
moved to our right, along the ridge of moun-
tains, to Guarda : on our arrival there we saw
the imposing spectacle of the whole of the French
army winding through the valley below, just out
of gun shot.

On taking possession of one of the villages
which they had just evacuated, we found the
body of a well-dressed female, whom they had
murdered by a horrible refinement in cruelty.
She had been placed upon her back, alive, in the
middle of the street, with the fragment of a rock
upon her breast, which it required four of our
men to remove.

April i st. We overtook the enemy this after-
noon, in position, behind the Coa, at Sabugal
with their advanced posts on our side of the
river.

I was sent on piquet for the night, and had
my sentries within half musket shot of theirs.
It was wet, dark, and stormy when I went, about
midnight, to visit them, and I was not a little
annoyed to find one massing. Recollecting who
he was, a steady old soldier and the last man

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

In the world to desert his post, I called his name
aloud, when his answering voice, followed by
the discharge of a musket, reached me nearly
at the same time, from the direction of one of
the French sentries ; and, after some inquiry,
I found that in walking his lonely round, in a
brown study, no doubt, he had each turn taken
ten or twelve paces to his front and only half
that number to the rear, until he had gradually
worked himself up to within a few yards of his
adversary ; and it would be difficult to tell which
of the two was most astonished the one at
hearing a voice, or the other a shot so near ;
but all my rhetoric, aided by the testimony of
the Serjeant and the other sentries, could not
convince the fellow that he was not on the identical
spot on which I had posted him.

April zd. We moved this day to the right,
nearer to the bridge, and some shots were ex-
changed between the piquets.

BATTLE OF SABUGAL

April 3d, 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
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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 own 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 pre-
vent 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 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

50

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

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 time, 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 dispatch 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 once saw him smelling
at a live shell, which exploded in his face without
hurting him.

The strife had scarcely ended among mortals,
when it was taken up by the elements with terrific
violence. The Scotch mist of the morning had

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now increased to torrents, enough to cool the
fever of our late excitement, and accompanied by
thunder and lightning. As a compliment for our
exertions in the fight, we were sent into the town,
and had the advantage of whatever cover its
dilapidated state afforded ; while those who had
not had the chance of getting broken skins, had
now the benefit of sleeping in wet ones.

On the 5th of April we entered the frontiers
of Spain, and I slept in a bed for the first time
since I left the ship. Passing from the Portu-
guese to the Spanish frontier is about equal to
taking one step from the coal-hole into the parlour,
for the cottages on the former are reared with
filth, furnished with ditto, and peopled accord-
ingly ; whereas, those of Spain, even within the
same mile, are neatly white-washed, both without
and within, and the poorest of them can furnish
a good bed, with clean linen, and the pillow-
cases neatly adorned with pink and sky-blue
ribbons, while their dear little girls look smiling
and neat as their pillow-cases.

After the action at Sabugal, the enemy retired
to the neighbourhood of Ciudad Rodrigo, with-
out our getting another look at them, and we
took up the line of the Agueda and Axava rivers,
for the blockade of the fortress of Almeida, in
which they had left a garrison indifferently pro-
visioned.

The garrison had no means of providing for

52

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

their cattle, but by turning them out to graze
upon the glacis ; and we sent a few of our rifles
to practise against them, which very soon reduced
them to salt provisions.

Towards the end of April the French army
began to assemble on the opposite bank of the
Agueda, to attempt the relief of the garrison,
while ours began to assemble in position at
Fuentes de Onoro to dispute it.

Our division still continued to hold the same
line of outposts, and had several sharp affairs
between the piquets at the bridge of Marialva.

As a general action seemed now to be inevi-
table, we anxiously longed for the return of Lord
Wellington, who had been suddenly called to the
corps of the army under Marshal Beresford, near
Badajos ; as we would rather see his long nose
in the fight than a reinforcement of ten thousand
men any day. Indeed, there was a charm not
only about himself but all connected with him,
for which no odds could compensate. The
known abilities of Sir George Murray, the gallant
bearing of the lamented Pakenham, of Lord
Fitzroy Somerset, of the present Duke of Rich-
mond, Sir Colin Campbell, with others, the
flower of our young nobility and gentry, who,
under the auspices of such a chief, seemed always
a group attendant on victory ; and I'll venture
to say that there was not a heart in that army
that did not beat more lightly, when we heard

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the joyful news of his arrival, the day before
the enemy's advance.

He had ordered us not to dispute the passage
of the river ; so that when the French army
advanced, on the morning of the 3d of May, we
retired slowly before them, across the plains of
Espeja, and drew into the position where the
whole army was now assembled. Our division
took post in reserve, in the left centre. Towards
evening, the enemy made a furious attack on the
village of Fuentes, but were repulsed with loss.

On the 4th both armies looked at each other
all day without exchanging shots.

BATTLE OF FDENTES DE ONORO
May 5th, 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

54

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

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 the 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 the seventh division to fall back behind
the small river Turones, and ours to join the main
body of the army. The execution of our move-
ment presented a magnificent military spectacle,
as the plain, between us and the right of the
army, was by this time in the 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
of the then right of the British line, on which
our left rested, and with our right on the Turones.
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

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ADVENTURES IN

our guns. In the course of a short time, seeing
no further demonstration against this part of
the position, our division was withdrawn, and
placed in reserve in rear of the centre.

The battle continued to rage with fury in and
about Fuentes. Whilst we were lying by our
arms under a burning sun, some stray cannon-
shot passed 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 bat-
talion was ordered forward to relieve the troops
engaged in the village, part of which still re-
mained 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

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

with the daylight, and I was sent, with a sec-
tion of men, in charge of one of the streets for
the night. There was a wounded Serjeant 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 ; we therefore 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 admi-
ration, would rather see a good bed of garlic
on the spot, manured with the bodies of the
architects.

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ADVENTURES IN

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 conveni-
ently accommodate. Whilst in the superinten-
dence 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,
Toss'd, 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 a battle.

The day after one of those negative victories
is always one of intense interest. The move-
ments on either side are most jealously watched,
and each is diligently occupied in strengthening
such points as the fight of the preceding day had
proved to be the most vulnerable.

Lord Wellington was too deficient in his
cavalry force to justify his following up the vic-
tory ; and the enemy, on their parts, had been
too roughly handled, in their last attempt, to
think of repeating the experiment ; so that, during
the next few days, though both armies continued

58

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

to hold the same ground, there was scarcely a
shot exchanged.

They had made a few prisoners, chiefly guards-
men 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 !

Our regiment had been so long and so often
quartered in Fuentes that it was like fighting
for our firesides. The Padre's house stood at
the top of the town. He was an old friend of
ours, and an old fool, for he would not leave
his house until it was too late to take anything
with him ; but, curious enough, although it had
been repeatedly in the possession of both sides,
and plundered, no doubt, by many expert artists,
yet none of them thought of looking so high as
the garret, which happened to be the repository
of his money and provisions. He came to us
the day after the battle, weeping over his sup-
posed loss, like a sensitive Christian, and I ac-
companied him to the house to see whether
there was not some consolation remaining for
him ; but, when he found his treasure safe, he
could scarcely bear its restoration with becoming
gravity. I helped him to carry off his bag of

59

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

dollars, and he returned the compliment with a
leg of mutton.

The French army retired on the night of the
9th, leaving Almeida to its fate ; but, by an
extraordinary piece of luck, the garrison made
their escape the night after, in consequence of
some mistake or miscarriage of an order, which
prevented a British regiment from occupying the
post intended for it.

May ioth. We advanced this morning, and
occupied our former post at Espeja, with some
hopes of remaining quiet for a few days ; but
the unwelcome voice of the brazen instrument
summoned us to the alarm post at daylight
next morning, to see a strong patrole of French
dragoons, groping their way towards us. For a
patrolling body, there seemed to be a marvel-
lous scarcity of straight eyes among them ; for
though our three regiments stood openly in
columns, on the heights above, they appeared to
be unconscious of our presence, until their chance
path led them in upon Elder's Ca?adores, when
a volley from the piquet dispersed them, leaving
a living and a dead horse in our keeping. It
was the last we saw of them for a considerable
time.

60

CHAPTER VI

Match to Estremadura At Soito, growing Accommodations for Man
and Beast British Taste displayed by Portuguese Wolves False
Alarm Luxuries of Roquingo Camp A Chaplain of the Forces
Return towards the North Quarters near Castello de Vide Blockade
of Qudad Rodrigo Village of Atalya ; Fleas abundant ; Food scarce
Advance of the French Army Affairs near Guinaldo Our Minister
administered to An unexpected Visit from our General and his
Followers End of the Campaign of 18 1 1 Winter Quarters.

LORD WELLINGTON, soon after the battle of
Fuentes, was again called into Estremadura, to
superintend the operations of the corps of the
army under Marshal Beresford, who had, in the
meantime, fought the batde of Albuera, and
laid siege to Badajos. In the beginning of
June our division was ordered thither also, to
be in readiness to aid his operations. We halted
one night at the village of Soito, where there
are a great many chestnut trees of very extra-
ordinary dimensions. The outside of the trunk
keeps growing as the inside decays : I was one
of a party of four persons who dined inside of one,
and I saw two or three horses put up in several
others.

We halted also, one night, on the banks of
the Coa, near Sabugal, and visited our late field
of battle. We found that the dead had been
nearly all torn from their graves, and devoured

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ADVENTURES IN

by wolves, who are in great force in that wild
mountainous district, and show very little respect
either for man or beast. They seldom, indeed,
attack a man ; but if one happens to tie his
horse to a tree, and leaves him unattended, for
a short time, he must not be surprised if he finds,
on his return, that he has parted with a good
rump steak ; that is the piece which they always
prefer; and it is, therefore, clear to me, that
the father of the wolves must have been born in
England !

We experienced, in the course of this very
dark night, one of those ridiculous false alarms
which will sometimes happen in the best or-
ganized body. Some bullocks strayed, by acci-
dent, among the piles of arms, the falling clatter
of which frightened them so much that they
went galloping over the sleeping soldiers. The
officers* baggage-horses broke from their fast-
enings and joined in the general charge j and a
cry immediately arose, that it was the French
cavalry. The different regiments stood to their
arms, and formed squares, looking as sharp as
thunder for something to fire at ; and it was a
considerable time before the cause of the row
could be traced. The different followers of the
army, in the meantime, went scampering off to
the rear, spreading the most frightful reports.
One woman of the 5ad succeeded in getting
three leagues off before daylight, and swore

62

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

" that, as God was her judge, she did not leave
her regiment until she saw the last man of them
cut to pieces ! "

On our arrival near Elvas, we found that
Marshal Beresford had raised the siege of Badajos ;
and we were, therefore, encamped on the river
Caya, near Monte Roquingo. This was a sandy
unsheltered district ; and the weather was so
excessively hot, that we had no enjoyment,
but that of living three parts of the day up to
the neck in a pool of water.

Up to this period it had been a matter of no
small difficulty to ascertain, at any time, the
day of the week ; that of the month was alto-
gether out of the question, and could only be
reckoned by counting back to the date of the last
battle ; but our division was here joined by a
chaplain, whose duty it was to remind us of these
things. He might have been a very good man,
but he was not prepossessing, either in his
appearance or manners. I remember, the first
Sunday after his arrival, the troops were paraded
for divine service, and had been some time wait-
ing in square, when he at length rode into
the centre of it with his tall, lank, ungainly
figure, mounted on a starved, untrimmed, un-
furnished horse, and followed by a Portuguese
boy, with his canonicals and prayer-books on
the back of a mule, with a hay bridle, and having,
by way of clothing, about half a pair of straw

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breeches. This spiritual comforter was the least
calculated of any one that I ever saw to excite de-
votion in the minds of men who had seen nothing
in the shape of a divine for a year or two.

In the beginning of August we began to re-
trace our steps towards the north. We halted a
few days in Portalegre, and a few more at Castello
de Vide.

The latter place is surrounded by extensive
gardens, belonging to the richer citizens ; in
each of which there is a small summer house,
containing one or two apartments, in which the
proprietor, as I can testify, may have the en-
joyment of being fed upon by a more healthy
and better appetized flea, than is to be met with
in town houses in general.

These quintas fell to the lot of our battalion ;
and though their beds, on that account, had not
much sleep in them, yet, as those who preferred
the voice of the nightingale in a bed of cabbages,
to the pinch of a flea in a bed of feathers, had
the alternative at their option, I enjoyed my so-
journ there very much. Each garden had a
bathing tank, with a plentiful supply of water,
which at that season was really a luxury ; and
they abounded in choice fruits. I there formed
an attachment to a mulberry tree, which is still
fondly cherished in my remembrance.

We reached the scene of our former opera-
tions, in the north, towards the end of August.

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

The French had advanced and blockaded
Almeida, during our absence, but they retired
again on our approach, and we took up a more
advanced position than before, for the blockade
of Ciudad Rodrigo.

Our battalion occupied Atalya, a little village
at the foot of the Sierra de data, and in front
of the river Vadillo. On taking possession of
my quarter, the people showed me an outhouse,
which, they said, I might use as a stable, and
I took my horse into it, but seeing the floor
strewed with what appeared to be a small brown
seed, heaps of which lay in each corner, as if
shovelled together in readiness to take to market,
I took up a handful, out of curiosity, and, truly,
they were a curiosity, for I found that they were
all regular fleas, and they were proceeding to eat
both me and my horse, without the smallest
ceremony. I rushed out of the place, knocking
them down by fistfuls, and never yet could com-
prehend the cause of their congregating together
in such a place.

This neighbourhood had been so long the
theatre of war, and alternately forced to supply
both armies, that the inhabitants, at length,
began to dread starvation themselves, and con-
cealed, for their private use, all that remained to
them ; so that, although they were bountiful
in their assurances of good wishes, it was im-
possible to extract a loaf of their good bread, of
F 65

ADVENTURES IN

which we were so wildly in want that we were
obliged to conceal patroles on the different roads
and footpaths, for many miles around, to search
the peasants passing between the different vil-
lages, giving them an order on the commissary
for whatever we took from them ; and we were
not too proud to take even a few potatoes out of
an old woman's basket.

On one occasion when some of us were out
shooting, we discovered about twenty hives of
bees, in the face of a glen, concealed among
the gumcestus, and, stopping the mouth of
one, we carried it home on our shoulders, bees
and all, and continued to levy contributions
on the depot as long as we remained there.

Towards the end of September, the garrison
of Ciudad Rodrigo began to get on such " short
commons " that Marmont^ who had succeeded
Ma$sna y in the command of the French army,
found it necessary to assemble the whole of
his forces, to enable him to throw provisions
into it.

Lord Wellington was still pursuing his defen-
sive system, and did not attempt to oppose
him ; but Marmont, after having effected his
object, thought that he might as well take that
opportunity of beating up our quarters, in re-
turn for the trouble we had given him : and,
accordingly, on the morning of the 25th, he
attacked a brigade of the third division, stationed

66

THE" RIFLE BRIGADE

at El Bodon, which, after a brilliant defence
and retreat, conducted him opposite to the
British position, in front of Fuente Guinaldo,
He busied himself the whole of the following
day, in bringing up his troops for the attack.
Our division, in the meantime, remained on the
banks of the Vadillo, and had nearly been cut
off, through the obstinacy of General Craufurd,
who did not choose to obey an order he received
to retire the day before ; but we, nevertheless,
succeeded in joining the army, by a circuitous
route, on the afternoon of the 26th ; and, the
whole of both armies being now assembled, we
considered a battle on the morrow inevitable.

Lord Wellington, however, was not disposed
to accommodate them on this occasion ; for,
about the middle of the night, we received an
order to stand to our arms with as little noise
as possible, and to commence retiring, the rest
of the army having been already withdrawn,
unknown to us ; an instance of the rapidity
and uncertainty of our movements which proved
fatal to the liberty of several amateurs and
followers of the army, who, seeing an army of
sixty thousand men lying asleep around their
camp-fires, at ten o'clock at night, naturally
concluded that they might safely indulge in a
bed in the village behind, until daylight, with-
out the risk of being caught napping ; but,
long ere that time, they found themselves on

ADVENTURES IN

the high road to Ciudad Rodrigo, in the rude
grasp of an enemy. Amongst others, was the
chaplain of our division, whose outward man,
as I have already said, conveyed no very exalted
notion of the respectability of his profession,
and who was treated with greater indignity
than usually fell to the lot of prisoners, for,
after keeping him a couple of days, and finding
that, however gifted he might have been in
spiritual lore, he was as ignorant as Dominie
Sampson on military matters ; and, conceiving
good provisions to be thrown away upon him,
he was stripped nearly naked and dismissed,
like the barber in Gil Bias, with a kick in the
breech, which sent him in to us in a woful
state*

September 27th. General Craufurd remained
behind us this morning, with a troop of dragoons,
to reconnoitre ; and, while we were marching
carelessly along the road, he and his dragoons
galloped right into our column, with a cloud
of French ones at his heels. Luckily the ground
was in our favour ; and dispersing our men among
the broken rocks, on both sides of the road, we
quickly sent them back. They were soon re-
placed by infantry, with whom we continued
in an uninteresting skirmish all day. An inter-
vening rocky ridge prevented our seeing what
was going on to our left, near Aldea de Ponte,
but we were aware from the sharp firing main-

68

THE RIFLB BRIGADE

tained in that direction, that our friends on that
side had a field of their own. In the evening we
retired to Soito.

This affair terminated the campaign of 1811.
The enemy retired the same night, and we
advanced next day to resume the blockade
of Rodrigo ; and were suffered to remain quietly
in cantonments until the commencement of a
new year.

In every interval between our active service,
we indulged in all manner of childish trick and
amusement, with an avidity and delight of
which it is impossible to convey an adequate
idea. We lived united, as men always are who
are daily staring death in the face on the same
side, and who, caring little about it, look upon
each new day added to their lives as one more to
rejoice in.

We invited the villagers, every evening, to a
dance at our quarters alternately. A Spanish
peasant girl has an address about her which I
have never met with in the same class of any
other country ; as she at once enters into
society with the ease and confidence of one who
has been accustomed to it all her life. We used
to flourish away at the bolero, fandango, and waltz,
and wound up early in the evening with a supper
of roasted chestnuts.

Our village belks y as already stated, made
themselves perfectly at home in our society,

ADVENTURES IN

and we, too, should have enjoyed theirs for a
season ; but when month after month, and
year after year, continued to roll along, with-
out producing any change we found that the
cherry cheek and sparkling eye of rustic beauty
furnished but a very poor apology for the illu-
minated portion of Nature's fairest works, and
ardently longed for an opportunity of once more
feasting our eyes on a lady.

In the month of December we heard that
the chief magistrate of Rodrigo, with whom we
were personally acquainted, had, with his daughter
and two other young ladies, taken shelter in
Robledillo, a little town in the Sierra de Gata,
which, being within range, presented an attraction
not to be resisted.

Half-a-dozen of us immediately resolved
ourselves into a committee of ways and means.
We had six months* pay due to us ; so that
the fandango might have been danced in either
of our pockets without the smallest risk ; but
we had this consolation for our poverty, that
there was nothing to be bought, even if we
had the means. Our only resource, therefore,
was to lighten the cares of such of our brother
officers as were fortunate enough to have any
thing to lose ; and, at this moment of doubt
and difficulty, a small flock of turkeys, belong-
ing to our major, presented themselves, most
imprudently, grazing opposite the windows of

70

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

our council-chamber, two of which were in-
stantly committed to the bottom of a sack, as
a foundation to go upon. One of our spies,
soon after, apprehended a sheep, the property
of another officer, which was committed to the
same place ; and, getting the commissary to
advance us a few extra loaves of bread, some
ration beef, and a pig-skin full of wine, we placed
a servant on a mule, with the whole concern
tackled to him, and proceeded on our journey.

In passing over the mountain, we saw a wild
boar bowling along, in the midst of a snow-storm,
and voting them fitting companions, we suffered
him to pass (particularly as he did not come
within shot).

On our arrival at Robledillo, we met with
the most cordial reception from the old magis-
trate ; who, entering into the spirit of our visit,
provided us with quarters, and filled our room
in the evening with everybody worth seeing
in the place. We were malicious enough, by
way of amusement, to introduce a variety of
absurd pastimes, under the pretence of their
being English, and which, by virtue thereof,
were implicitly adopted. We, therefore, passed
a regular romping evening ; and, at a late hour,
having conducted the ladies to their homes,
some friars, who were of the party, very kindly
intended doing us the same favour, and, with
that view, had begun to precede us with their

7*

ADVENTURES IN

lanterns, but, in the frolic of the moment, we
set upon them with snow-balls, some of which
struck upon their broad shoulders, while others
fizzed against their fiery faces, and, in their
astonishment and alarm, all sanctimony was for-
gotten ; their oaths flew as thick as our snow-
balls, while they ran ducking their heads and
dousing their lights for better concealment ; but
we, nevertheless, persevered until we had pelted
each to his own home.

We were afterwards afraid that we had car-
ried the joke too far, and entertained some doubts
as to the propriety of holding our quarters for
another day ; but they set our minds at rest on
that point, by paying us an early visit in the
morning, and seemed to enjoy the joke in a man-
ner that we could not have expected from the
gravity of their looks.

We passed two more days much in the same
manner, and on the third returned to our canton-
ments, and found that the division had moved
during our absence into some villages nearer to
Ciudad Rodrigo, preparatory to the siege of that
place,

On inquiry, we found that we had never been
suspected for the abduction of the sheep and
turkeys, but that the blame, on the contrary,
had been attached to the poor soldiers, whose
soup had been tasted every day to see if it savoured
of such dainties. The proprietor of the turkeys

7*

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

was so particularly indignant, that we thought
it prudent not to acknowledge ourselves as the
culprits until some time afterwards, when, as
one of our party happened to be killed in action,
we, very uncharitably, put the whole of it upon
his shoulders.

73

CHAPTER VII

Siege of Qudacl Rodfigo The Garrison of an Outwork relieved
Spending an Evening abroad A Musical Study An Addition to Soup
A short Cut Storming of the Town A Sweeping Clause Advan-
tages of Leading a Storming Party Looking for a Customer Dis-
advantages of being a Stormed Party Confusion of all Parties A
Waking Dream Death of General Crauford Accident Deaths

SIEGE OF CIUDAD RODRIGO

January 8th, 1812

THE campaign of 1812 commenced with the siege
of Ciudad Rodrigo, which was invested by our
division on the 8th of January.

There was a smartish frost, with some snow
on the ground ; and, when we arrived opposite
the fortress, about mid-day, the garrison did
not appear to think we were in earnest, for
a number of their * officers came out, under the
shelter of a stone wall, within half musket-shot,
and amused themselves in saluting and bowing
to us in ridicule ; but, ere the day was done
some of them had occasion to wear the laugh
on the opposite side of the countenance.

We lay by our arms until dark, when a party,
consisting of a hundred volunteers from each
regiment, under Colonel Colborne, of the fifty-
second, stormed and carried the fort of St.
Francisco, after a short sharp action, in which

74

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

the whole of its garrison were taken or de-
stroyed. The officer who commanded it was
a chattering little fellow, and acknowledged
himself to have been one of our saluting friends
of the morning. He kept incessantly repeating
a few words of English which he had picked up
during the assault, and the only ones, I fancy,
that were spoken, viz. " Dem eyes, b t eyes ! "
and in demanding the meaning of them, he re-
quired that we should also explain why we
stormed a place without first besieging it ; for,
he said, that another officer would have relieved
him of his charge at daylight, had we not relieved
him of it sooner.

The enemy had calculated that this outwork
would have kept us at bay for a fortnight or
three weeks ; whereas, its capture the first
night, enabled us to break ground at once,
within breaching distance of the walls of the
town. They kept up a very heavy fire the whole
night on the working parties ; but as they aimed
at random, we did not suffer much ; and made
such good use of our time that, when daylight
enabled them to see what we were doing, we had
dug ourselves under tolerable cover.

In addition to ours, the first, third, and fourth
divisions were employed in the siege. Each took
the duties for twenty-four hours alternately,
and returned to their cantonments during the
interval.

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We were relieved by the first division, under
Sir Thomas Graham, on the morning of the 9th,
and marched to our quarters.

Jan. 12. At ten o'clock this morning we re-
sumed the duties of the siege. It still continued
to be dry frosty weather j and, as we were obliged
to ford the Agueda, up to the middle, every man
carried a pair of iced breeches into the trenches
with him.

My turn of duty did not arrive until eight
in the evening, when I was ordered to take
thirty men with shovels to dig holes for our-
selves as near as possible to the walls, for the
delectable amusement of firing at the embra-
sures for the remainder of the night. The enemy
threw frequent fire-balls among us, to see where
we were ; but as we always lay snug until their
blaze was extinguished, they were not much
the wiser, except by finding, from having some
one popt off from their guns every instant, that
they had got some neighbours whom they would
have been glad to get rid of.

We were relieved as usual at ten next morning,
and returned to our cantonments.

January i6th. Entered on our third day's
duty, and found the breaching batteries in full
operation, and our approaches close to the
walls on every side. When we arrived on the
ground I was sent to take command of the
highland company, which we had at that time

76

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

in the regiment, and which was with the left
wing, under Colonel Cameron. I found them
on piquet, between the right of the trenches
and the river, half of them posted at a mud
cottage, and the other half in a ruined convent,
close under the walls. It was a very tolerable
post when at it ; but it is no joke travelling by
daylight up to within a stone's throw of a wall,
on which there is a parcel of fellows who have
no other amusement but to fire at everybody
they see.

We could not show our noses at any point
without being fired at ; but, as we were merely
posted there to protect the right flank of the
trenches from any sortie, we did not fire at
them, and kept as quiet as could be, consider-
ing the deadly blast that was blowing around
us. There are few situations in life where some-
thing cannot be learnt, and I myself stand in-
debted to my twenty-four hours' residence there,
for a more correct knowledge of martial sounds
than in the study of my whole lifetime besides.
They must be an unmusical pair of ears that
cannot inform the wearer whether a cannon or
a musket played last ; but the various notes
emanating from their respective mouths admit
of nice distinctions. My party was too small
and too well sheltered to repay the enemy for
the expense of shells and round shot ; but
the quantity of grape and musketry aimed at

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our particular heads, made a good concert of
first and second whistles, while the more sonorous
voice of the round shot, travelling to our friends
on the left, acted as a thorough bass ; and there
was not a shell that passed over us to the trenches,
that did not send back a fragment among us as
soon as it burst, as if to gratify a curiosity that I
was far from expressing.

We went into the cottage soon after dark to
partake of something that had been prepared
for dinner j and, when in the middle of it, a
round shot passed through both walls, imme-
diately over our heads, and garnished the soup
with a greater quantity of our parent earth than
was quite palatable.

We were relieved, as usual, by the first divi-
sion, at ten next morning ; and, to avoid as
much as possible the destructive fire from the
walls, they sent forward only three or four
men at a time, and we sent ours away in the same
proportions.

Everything is by comparison in this world,
and it is curious to observe how men's feelings
change with circumstances. In cool blood a
man would rather go a little out of his way
than expose himself to unnecessary danger ;
but we found, this morning, that by crossing
the river where we then were, and running the
gauntlet for a mile, exposed to the fire of two
pieces of artillery, that we should be saved the

78

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

distance of two or three miles in returning to
our quarters. After coming out of such a /#r-
nace as we had been frying in, the other fire
was not considered a fire at all, and passed
without a moment's hesitation.

STORMING OF CIUDAD RODRIGO

January igth, 1812. We moved to the scene
of operations about two o'clock this afternoon ;
and, as it was a day before our regular turn,
we concluded that we were called there to lend
a hand in finishing the job we had begun so well.
Nor were we disappointed ; for we found that
two practicable breaches had been effected, and
that the place was to be stormed in the evening
by the third and light divisions, the former by
the right breach, and the latter by the left, while
some Portuguese troops were to attempt an
escalade on the opposite sides of the town.

About eight o'clock in the evening our division
was accordingly formed for the assault, behind
a convent, near the left breach, in the following
order, viz.

ist. Four companies of our battalion, under
Colonel Cameron, to line the crest of
the glacis, and fire upon the ramparts.
2d. Some companies of Portuguese, carrying
bags filled with hay and straw, for throw-
ing into the ditch, to facilitate the passage
of the storming party.

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3d. The forlorn hope, consisting of an officer

and twenty-five volunteers.
4th. The storming party, consisting of three
officers and one hundred volunteers from
each regiment. The officers from ours
were Captain Mitchell, Mr. Johnstone,
and myself, and the whole under the com-
mand of Major Napier of the fifty-second.
5th. The main body of the division, under
General Craufurd, with one brigade,
under Major-General Vandeleur, and the
other under Colonel Barnard.
At a given signal the different columns ad-
vanced to the assault. The night was tolerably
clear, and the enemy evidently expected us ;
for as soon as we turned the corner of the con-
vent wall, the space between us and the breach
became one blaze of light with their fire-balls,
which, while they lighted us on to glory, light-
ened not a few of their lives and limbs ; for the
whole glacis was in consequence swept by a
well-directed fire of grape and musketry, and
they are the devil's own brooms ; but our gal-
lant fellows walked through it, to the point of
attack, with the most determined steadiness,
excepting the Portuguese sack-bearers, most
of whom lay down behind their bags, to wait
the result, while the few that were thrown
into the ditch looked so like dead bodies, that,
when I leapt into it, I tried to avoid them.

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

The advantage of being on a storming party
Is considered as giving the prior claim to be put
out of pain, for they receive the first fire, which
is generally the best, not to mention that they
are also expected to receive the earliest salutation
from the beams of timber, hand-grenades, and
other missiles, which the garrison are generally
prepared to transfer from the top of the wall,
to the tops of the heads of their foremost visitors.
But I cannot say that I myself experienced any
such preference, for every ball has a considerable
distance to travel, and I have generally found them
equally ready to pick up their man at the end, as
at the beginning of their flight ; luckily, too, the
other preparations cannot always be accommodated
to the moment : so that, on the whole, the odds
are pretty even, that all concerned come in for an
equal share of whatever happens to be going on.

We had some difficulty at first in finding the
breach, as we had entered the ditch opposite
to a ravelin, which we mistook for a bastion. I
tried first one side of it and then the other,
and seeing one corner of it a good deal battered,
with a ladder placed against it, I concluded
that it must be the breach, and, calling to the
soldiers near me to follow, I mounted with
the most ferocious intent, carrying a sword in
one hand and a pistol in the other ; but, when
I got up, I found nobody to fight with, except
two of our own men, who were already laid over
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dead across the top of the ladder. I saw, in a
moment, that I had got into the wrong box,
and was about to descend again, when I heard
a shout from the opposite side, that the breach
was there ; and, moving in that direction, I
dropped myself from the ravelin, and landed in
the ditch, opposite to the foot of the breach,
where I found the head of the storming party
just beginning to fight their way into it. The
combat was of short duration ; and, in less than
half an hour from the commencement of the
attack, the place was in our possession.

After carrying the breach, we met with no
further opposition, and moved round the ram-
parts to see that they were perfectly clear of the
enemy, previous to entering the town. I was for-
tunate enough to take the left hand circuit, by
accident, and thereby escaped the fate which befel
a great portion of those who went to the right, and
who were blown up, along with some of the third
division, by the accidental explosion of a magazine.

I was highly amused, in moving round the
ramparts, to find some of the Portuguese troops
just commencing their escalade, on the oppo-
site side, near the bridge, in ignorance of the
place having already fallen. Gallantly headed
by their officers, they had got some ladders
placed against the wall, while about two thou-
sand voices from the rear were cheering, with
all their might, for mutual encouragement ; and,

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

like most other troops, under similar circum-
stances, it appeared to me that their feet and their
tongues went at a more equal pace after we gave
them the first verse of " All's well ! " On going
a little further, we came opposite to the ravelin,
which had been my chief annoyance during my
past day's piquet. It was still crowded by the
enemy who had now thrown down their arms, and
endeavoured to excite our pity by virtue of their
being " Pauvres Italianos " ; but our men had
somehow imbibed a horrible antipathy to the
Italians, and every appeal they made in that
name was invariably answered with, " You 're
Italians, are you ? then, d n you, here's a shot
for you " ; and the action instantly followed the
word.

A town taken by storm presents a frightful
scene of outrage. The soldiers no sooner obtain
possession of it, than they think themselves at
liberty to do what they please. It is enough for
them that there had been an enemy on the ram-
parts ; and, without considering that the poor
inhabitants may nevertheless be friends and allies,
they, in the first moment of excitement, all share
one common fate ; and nothing but the most
extraordinary exertions on the part of the officers
can bring them back to a sense of their duty.

We continued our course round the ramparts
until we met the head of the column which had
gone by the right, and then descended into the

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town. At the entrance of the first street, a
French officer came out of a door and claimed
my protection, giving me his sword* He told
me that there was another officer in the same
house who was afraid to venture out, and en-
treated that I would go in for him. I accord-
ingly followed him up to the landing-place of
a dark stair, and, while he was calling to his
friend, by name, to come down, " as there was
an English officer present who would protect
him," a violent screaming broke through a door
at my elbow. I pushed it open, and found the
landlady struggling on the floor with an Eng-
lish soldier, whom I immediately transferred to
the bottom of the stair head foremost. The
French officer had followed me in at the door,
and was so astonished at all he saw, that he
held up his hands, turned up the whites of his
eyes, and resolved himself into a state of the
most eloquent silence. When he did recover
the use of his tongue, it was to recommend his
landlady to my notice, as the most amiable of
women. She, on her part, professed the most
unbounded gratitude and entreated that I would
henceforth make her house my home ; but, when
I called upon her, a few days after, her husband
happening to be present, she denied having ever
seen me before, and stuck to it most religiously.

As the other officer could not be found, I
descended into the street again with my prisoner ;

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

and, finding the current of soldiers setting towards
the centre of the town, I followed the stream,
which conducted me into the great square, on one
side -of which the late garrison were drawn up as
prisoners, and the rest of it was filled with British
and Portuguese intermixed, without any order or
regularity. I had been there but a very short
time, when they all commenced firing, without
any ostensible cause ; some fired in at the doors
and windows, some at the roofs of houses, and
others at the clouds ; and, at last, some heads
began to be blown from their shoulders in the
general hurricane, when the voice of Sir Thomas
Picton, with the power of twenty trumpets,
began to proclaim damnation to everybody,
while Colonel Barnard, Colonel Cameron, and
some other active officers, were carrying it into
effect with a strong hand ; for, seizing the
broken barrels of muskets, which were lying
about in great abundance, they belaboured every
fellow, most unmercifully, about the head who
attempted either to load or fire, and finally suc-
ceeded in reducing them to order. In the midst
of the scuffle, however, three of the houses in
the square were set on fire ; and the confusion
was such that nothing could be done to save
them ; but by the extraordinary exertions of
Colonel Barnard, during the whole of the night,
the flames were prevented from communicating
to the adjoining buildings.

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We succeeded in getting a great portion
of our battalion together by one o'clock in the
morning, and withdrew with them to the ram-
parts, where we lay by our arms until daylight.

There is nothing in this life half so enviable
as the feelings of a soldier after a victory. Pre-
vious to a battle, there is a certain sort of some-
thing that pervades the mind, which is not
easily defined ; it is neither akin to joy nor fear,
and, probably, anxiety may be nearer to it than
any other word in the dictionary ; but, when
the battle is over, and crowned with victory,
he finds himself elevated for awhile into the
regions of absolute bliss ! It had ever been
the summit of my ambition to attain a post at
the head of a storming party : my wish had
now been accomplished, and gloriously ended ;
and I do think, after all was over, and our men
laid asleep on the ramparts, that I strutted
about as important a personage, in my own
opinion, as ever trod the face of the earth ; and
had the ghost of the renowned Jack-the-Giant-
killer itself passed that way at the time, I'll
venture to say, that I would have given it a kick
in the breech without the smallest ceremony.
But, as the sun began to rise, I began to fall from
heroics ; and, when he showed his face, I took a
look at my own, and found that I was too unclean
a spirit to worship, for I was covered with mud and
dirt, with the greater part of my dress torn to rags.

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

The fifth division, which had not been em-
ployed in the siege, marched in, and took charge
of the town, on the morning of the zoth, and
we prepared to return to our cantonments.
Lord Wellington happened to be riding in at
the gate at the time that we marched out, and
had the curiosity to ask the officer of the lead-
ing company what regiment it was, for there was
scarcely a vestige of uniform among the men.
Some of them were dressed in Frenchmen's
coats, some in white breeches and huge jack-
boots, some with cocked hats and queues ;
most of their swords were fixed on their rifles,
and stuck full of hams, tongues, and loaves of
bread, and not a few were carrying bird-cages !
There never was a better masked corps 1

General Craufurd fell on the glacis, at the
head of our division, and was buried at the
foot of the breach which they so gallantly carried.
His funeral was attended by Lord Wellington,
and all the officers of the division, by whom
he was, ultimately, much liked. He had intro-
duced a system of discipline into the Light
Division which made them unrivalled. A very
rigid exaction of the duties pointed out in his
code of regulations made him very unpopular
at its commencement ; and it was not until
a short time before he was lost to us for
ever, that we were capable of appreciating his
merits, and fully sensible of the incalculable

87

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

advantages we derived from the perfection of
his system.

Among other things carried from Ciudad
Rodrigo, one of our men had the misfortune to
carry his death in his hands, under the mis-
taken shape of amusement. He thought it was
a cannon-ball, and took it up for the purpose of
playing at the game of nine-holes ; but it hap-
pened to be a live shell. In rolling it along
it went over a bed of burning ashes, and ignited
without his observing it. Just as he had got it
between his legs, and was in the act of discharg-
ing it a second time, it exploded, and blew him
nearly to pieces.

Several men of our division who had deserted
while we were blockading Ciudad Rodrigo,
were taken when it fell, and sentenced to be
shot. Lord Wellington extended mercy to every
one who could procure anything like a good
character from his officers ; but six of them,
who could not, were paraded and shot, in
front of the division, near the village of Ituera.
Shooting appears to me to be a cruel kind of
execution, for twenty balls may pierce a man's
body without touching a vital part. On the
occasion alluded to, two of the men remained
standing after the first fire, and the provost-
marshal was obliged to put an end to their suffer-
ings, by placing the muzzle of a musket at each
of their heads.

CHAPTER VIII

March to Estremadura A Deserter shot Hiding for an
Effect the Cure of a Sick Lady Siege of Badajos Trench-Work
Varieties during the Siege Taste of the Times Storming of the Town
Its Fall Officers of a French Battalion Not Shot by Accident
Military Shopkeepers Lost Legs and Cold Hearts Affecting Anecdote
My Servant A Consignment to Satan March again for the North
Sir Sidney Beck-with.

WE remained about six weeks in cantonments,
after the fall of Ciudad Rodrigo ; and, about
the end of February, were again put in motion
towards Estremadura.

March yth. Arrived near Castello de Vide,
and quartered in the neighbouring villages.
Another deserter, who had also been taken at
the storming of Ciudad Rodrigo, was here shot,
under the sentence of court-martial. When he
was paraded for that purpose, he protested against
their right to shoot him, until he first received
the arrears of pay which was due at the time of
his desertion.

March I4th. Two of us rode out this after-
noon to kill time until dinner hour (six) \ but,
when we returned to our quarters, there was
not a vestige of the regiment remaining, and
our appetites were considerably whetted, by
having an additional distance of fourteen miles

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to ride, in the dark, over roads on which we
could not trust our horses out of a walk. We
joined them, at about eleven at night, in the
town of Portalegre.

March i6th. Quartered in the town of Elvas.

I received a billet on a neat little house, occu-
pied by an old lady and her daughter, who
were very desirous of evading such an encum-
brance ; for, after resisting my entrance, until
successive applications of my foot had reduced
the door to a condition which would no longer
second their efforts, the old lady resolved to try
me on another tack ; for, opening the door,
and making a sign for me to make no noise,
she said, in a whisper, that her daughter was
lying dangerously ill of a fever, in the only bed
in the house, and that she was therefore ex-
cessively sorry that she could not accommo-
date me. As this information did not at all
accord with my notions of consistency, after
their having suffered the preceding half-hour's
bombardment, I requested to be shown to the
chamber of the invalid, saying that I was a
medicoy and might be of service to her* When
she found remonstrance unavailing, she at length
showed me into a room upstairs, where there was
a very genteel-looking young girl, the very picture
of Portuguese health, lying with her eyes shut,
in full dress, on the top of the bed-clothes,
where she had hurriedly thrown herself.

90

THE RIPLB BRIGADE

Seeing at once how matters stood, I walked
up to the bed-side and hit her a slap on the

with my hand, asking her at the same

time how she felt herself! Never did Prince
Hohenloe himself perform a miracle more
cleverly, for she bounced almost as high as the
ceiling, and flounced about the room, as well and
as actively as ever she did, with a countenance
in which shame, anger, and a great portion
of natural humour were so amusingly blended,
that I was tempted to provoke her still further
by a salute. Having thus satisfied the mother
that I had been the means of restoring her
daughter to her usual state of health, she thought
it prudent to put the best face upon it, and there-
fore invited me to partake of their family dinner ;
in the course of which I succeeded so well in
eating my way into their affections, that we parted
next morning with mutual regret. They told me
that I was the best officer they had ever seen, and
begged that I would always make their house
my home ; but I was never fated to see them
again. We marched in the morning for
Badajos.

SIEGE OF BADAJOS

On the iyth of March, 1812, the third, fourth,
and light divisions, encamped around Badajos,
embracing the whole of the inland side of the
town on the left bank of the Guadiana, and

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commenced breaking ground before it imme-
diately after dark the same night.

The elements, on this occasion, adopted the
cause of the besieged ; for we had scarcely
taken up the ground when a heavy rain com-
menced, and continued, almost without inter-
mission, for a fortnight : in consequence thereof,
the pontoon bridge, connecting us with our
supplies from Elvas, was carried away by the
rapid increase of the river, and the duties of
the trenches were otherwise rendered extremely
harassing. We had a smaller force employed
than at Rodrigo ; and the scale of operations was
so much greater, that it required every man to
be actually in the trenches six hours every day,
and the same length of time every night, which
with the time required to march to and from
them, through fields more than ankle-deep in
stiff mud, left us never more than eight hours
out of the twenty-four in camp, and we never
were dry the whole time.

One day's trench-work is as like another as
the days themselves ; and like nothing better
than serving an apprenticeship to the double
calling of grave-digger and game-keeper, for we
found ample employment for both the spade and
the rifle.

The only varieties during the siege were,
First, The storming of Picwrina, a formidable
outwork, occupying the centre of our opera-

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

tions. It was carried one evening in the most
gallant style, by Major-General Sir James Kempt,
at the head of the covering parties. Secondly,
A sortie made by the garrison, which they got
the worst of, although they succeeded in stealing
some of our pickaxes and shovels. Thirdly,
A drambendzbus described by a few daring
French dragoons, who succeeded in getting into
the rear of our engineers' camp, at that time un-
guarded, and lightened some of the officers of
their epaulettes. Lastly, Two field-pieces taken
by the enemy to the opposite side of the river,
enfilading one of our parallels, and materially
disturbing the harmony within, as a cannon shot
is no very welcome guest among gentlemen who
happened to be lodged in a straight ditch, without
the power of cutting it.

Our batteries were supplied with ammuni-
tion, by the Portuguese militia, from Elvas, a
string of whom used to arrive every day, reach-
ing nearly from the one place to the other,
(twelve miles), each man carrying a twenty-
four pound shot, and cursing all the way and
back again.

The Portuguese artillery, under British officers,
was uncommonly good. I used to be much
amused in looking at a twelve gun breaching-
battery of theirs.

They knew the position of all the enemy's
guns that could bear upon them, and had one

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man posted to watch them, to give notice of
what was coming, whether a shot or a shell,
who, accordingly, kept calling out, " Bomba,
baUa, balla, bomba ! " and they ducked their
heads until the missile passed ; but sometimes
would see a general discharge from all arms,
when he would throw himself down, screaming
out " Jesus, todas, todos ! " meaning " every

thing."

An officer of ours, Captain Simmons, was sent
one morning before daylight, with ten men, to
dig holes for themselves opposite to one of the
enemy's guns, which had been doing a great
deal of mischief the day before ; and he had
soon the satisfaction of knowing the effect of
his practice, by seeing them stopping up the
embrasure with sand bags. After waiting a little,
he saw them beginning to remove the sand
bags ; but, renewing his fire upon it, they
were instantly replaced without the guns being
fired. Presently he saw the huge cocked hat of
a French officer make its appearance on the ram-
part, near to the embrasure ; but knowing by
experience that the head was somewhere in the
neighbourhood, he watched until the flash of
a musket, through the long grass, showed the
position of the owner, and, calling one of
his best shots, he desired him to take deliberate
aim at the spot, and lent his shoulder as a
rest, to give it more elevation. Bang went the

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

shot ; and it was the finishing flash for the
Frenchman, for they saw no more of Mm,
although his cocked hat maintained its post
until dark.

In proportion as the grand crisis approached,
the anxiety of the soldiers increased ; not on
account of any doubt or dread as to the result,
but for fear that the place should be surrendered
without standing an assault ; for, singular as
it may appear, although there was a certainty
of about one man out of every three being
knocked down, there were, perhaps, not three
men in the three divisions, who would not
rather have braved all the chances than receive
it tamely from the hands of the enemy. So
great was the rage for passports into eternity,
in our battalion, on that occasion, that even the
officers' servants insisted on taking their places
in the ranks ; and I was obliged to leave my
baggage in charge of a man who had been
wounded some days before.

On the 6th of April, three practicable breaches
had been effected, and arrangements were made
for assaulting the town that night. The third
division, by escalade, at the castle ; a brigade
of the fifth division, by escalade, at the opposite
side of the town ; while the fourth and light
divisions were to storm the breaches. The whole
were ordered to be formed for the attack at
eight o'clock.

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STORMING OF BADAJOS
April 6th, 1812

Our division formed for the attack of the
left breach in the same order as at Ciudad
Rodrigo : the command of it had now devolved
upon our commandant, Colonel Barnard. I was
then the acting adjutant of four companies,
under Colonel Cameron, who were to line the
crest of the glacis, and to fire at the ramparts
and the top of the left breach.

The enemy seemed aware of our intentions.
The fire of artillery and musketry, which, for
three weeks before, had been incessant, both from
the town and trenches, had now entirely ceased,
as if by mutual consent, and a death-like silence,
of nearly an hour, preceded the awful scene of
carnage.

The signal to advance was made about nine
o'clock, and our four companies led the way.
Colonel Cameron and myself had reconnoitred
the ground so accurately by daylight, that we
succeeded in bringing the head of our column
to the very spot agreed on, opposite to the left
breach, and then formed line to the left, with-
out a word being spoken, each man lying down
as he got into line, with the muzzle of his rifle
over the edge of the ditch, between the palli-
sades, all ready to open. It was tolerably clear
above, and we distinctly saw their heads lining

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

the ramparts ; but there was a sort of haze on
the ground, which, with the colour of our dress,
prevented them from seeing us, although only
a few yards asunder. One of their sentries,
however, challenged us twice, " qui vive" and
receiving no reply, he fired off his musket,
which was followed by their drums beating to
arms ; but we still remained perfectly quiet,
and all was silence again for the space of five or
ten minutes, when the head of the forlorn hope
at length came up, and we took advantage of
the first fire, while the enemy's heads were yet
visible.

The scene that ensued furnished as respectable
a representation of hell itself as fire, and sword,
and human sacrifices could make it ; for, in one
instant, every engine of destruction was in full
operation.

It is in vain to attempt a description of it.
We were entirely excluded from the right breach
by an inundation which the heavy rains had
enabled the enemy to form ; and the two others
were rendered totally impracticable by their
interior defences.

The five succeeding hours were therefore
passed in the most gallant but hopeless attempts
on the part of individual officers, forming up
fifty or a hundred men at a time at the foot of
the breach, and endeavouring to carry it by
desperate bravery ; and fatal as it proved to
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each gallant band, in succession, yet, fast as one
dissolved, another was formed. We were in-
formed, about twelve at night, that the third
division had established themselves in the castle ;
but, as its situation and construction did not
permit them to extend their operations beyond
it at the moment, it did not in the least affect
our opponents at the breach, whose defence
continued as obstinate as ever.

I was near Colonel Barnard after midnight,
when he received repeated messages from Lord
Wellington to withdraw from the breach, and
to form the division for a renewal of the attack
at daylight ; but as fresh attempts continued
to be made, and the troops were still pressing
forward into the ditch, it went against his gal-
lant soul to order a retreat while yet a chance
remained ; but, after heading repeated attempts
himself, he saw that it was hopeless, and the
order was reluctantly given about two o'clock
in the morning. We fell back about three hun-
dred yards, and re-formed all that remained
to us.

Our regiment, alone, had to lament the loss
of twenty-two officers killed and wounded, ten
of whom were killed, or afterwards died of their
wounds. We had scarcely got our men to-
gether when we were informed of the success
of the fifth division in their escalade, and that
the enemy were, in consequence, abandoning

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

the breaches, and we were immediately ordered
forward to take possession of them. On our
arrival, we found them entirely evacuated, and
had not occasion to fire another shot ; but we
found the utmost difficulty, and even danger,
in getting in, in the dark, even without opposi-
tion. As soon as we succeeded in establishing
our battalion inside, we sent piquets into the
different streets and lanes leading from the
breach, and kept the remainder in hand until
day should throw some light on our situation.

^ When I was in the act of posting one of the
piquets, a man of ours brought me a prisoner,
telling me that he was the governor; but the
other immediately said that he had only called
himself so, the better to ensure his protection ;
and then added, that he was the colonel of one
of the French regiments, and that all his sur-
viving officers were assembled at his quarters,
in a street close by, and would surrender them-
selves to any officer who would go with him
for that purpose. I accordingly took two or
three men with me, and, accompanying him
there, found fifteen or sixteen of them assem-
bled, aU seemingly very much surprised at the
unexpected termination of the siege. They
could not comprehend under what circum-
stances the town had been lost, and repeatedly
asked me how I got in ; but I did not choose
to explain further than simply telling them

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that I entered at the breach, coupling the in-
formation with a look which was calculated to
convey somewhat more than I knew myself;
for, in truth, when I began to reflect that a
few minutes before had seen me retiring from
the breach, under a fanciful overload of degrada-
tion, I thought that I had now as good a right
as any man to be astonished at finding myself
lording it over the officers of a French bat-
talion ; nor was I much wiser than they were, as
to the manner of its accomplishment. They
were all very much dejected, except their major,
who was a big, jolly-looking Dutchman, with
medals enough on his left breast to have fur-
nished the window of a tolerable toy-shop. His
accomplishments were after the manner of Cap-
tain Dougal Dalgetty ; and, while he cracked
his joke, he was not inattentive to the cracking
of the corks from the many wine bottles which
his colonel placed on the table successively,
along with some cold meat, for general refresh-
ment prior to marching into captivity, and which
I, though a free man, was not too proud to join
them in.

When I had allowed their chief a reasonable
time to secure what valuables he wished, about
his person, he told me that he had two horses
in the stable, which, as he would no longer be
permitted to keep, he recommended me to take ;
and as a horse is the only thing on such occasions

100

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

that an officer can permit himself to consider a
legal prize, I caused one of them to be saddled ;
and his handsome black rnare thereby became my
charger during the remainder of the war.

In proceeding with my prisoners towards the
breach, I took, by mistake, a different road to
that I came : and as numbers of Frenchmen
were lurking about for a safe opportunity of
surrendering themselves, about a hundred addi-
tional ones added themselves to my column, as
we moved along, jabbering their native dialect
so loudly, as nearly to occasion a dire cata-
strophe, as it prevented me from hearing some
one challenge in my front ; but, fortunately, it
was repeated, and I instantly answered ; for
Colonel Barnard and Sir Colin Campbell had a
piquet of our men, drawn across the street, on
the point of sending a volley into us, thinking
that we were a rallied body of the enemy.

The whole of the garrison were marched off
as prisoners, to Elvas, about ten o'clock in the
morning, and our men were then permitted to
fall out, to enjoy themselves for the remainder
of the day, as a reward for having kept together
so long as they were wanted. The greater part of
the three divisions were, by this time, loose in
the town ; and the usual frightful scene of
plunder commenced, which the officers thought
it prudent to avoid for the moment, by retiring
to the camp.

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We went into the town on the morning of the
8th, to endeavour to collect our men, but only
succeeded in part, as the same extraordinary
scene of plunder and rioting still continued.
Wherever there was anything to eat or drink
(the only saleable commodities), the soldiers
had turned the shopkeepers out of doors, and
placed themselves regularly behind the counter,
selling off the contents of the shop. By and
bye, another and a stronger party would kick
those out in their turn, and there was no end
to the succession of self-elected shopkeepers,
until Lord Wellington found that, to restore
order, severe measures must be resorted to.
On the third day, he caused a Portuguese brigade
to be marched in, and kept standing to their
arms, in the great square, where the provost-
marshal erected a gallows, and proceeded to
suspend some of the delinquents, which very
quickly cleared the town of the remainder, and
enabled us to give a more satisfactory account
of our battalion than we had hitherto been able
to do.

It is wonderful how such scenes as these will
deaden men's finer feelings, and with what
apathy it enables them to look upon the suffer-
ings of their fellow-creatures ! The third day
after the fall of the town, I rode, with Colonel
Cameron, to take a bathe in the Guadiana,
and, in passing the verge of the camp of the

1 02

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

fifth division, we saw two soldiers standing at
the door of a small shed, or outhouse, shouting,
waving their caps, and making signs that they
wanted to speak to us. We rode up to see what
they wanted, and found that the poor fellows
had each lost a leg. They told us that a surgeon
had dressed their wounds on the night of the
assault, but that they had ever since been with-
out food or assistance of any kind, although
they, each day, had opportunities of soliciting
the aid of many of their comrades, from whom
they could obtain nothing but promises. In
short, surrounded by thousands of their country-
men within call, and not more than three hun-
dred yards from their own regiment, they were
unable to interest any one in their behalf, and
were literally starving.

It is unnecessary to say that we instantly
galloped back to the camp and had them removed
to the hospital.

On the morning of the yth, when some of
our officers were performing the last duties to
their fallen comrades, one of them had collected
the bodies of four of our young officers, who had
been slain. He was in the act of digging a grave
for them, when an officer of the guards arrived
on the spot, from a distant division of the army,
and demanded tidings of his brother, who was
at that moment lying a naked lifeless corpse
under his very eyes. The officer had the presence

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of mind to see that the corpse was not recognised,
and, wishing to spare the other's feelings, told
him that his brother was dangerously wounded,
but that he would hear more of him by going
out to the camp ; and thither the other imme-
diately bent his steps, with a seeming presenti-
ment of the sad intelligence that awaited him.

April 9th. As I had not seen my domestic
since the storming of the town, I concluded
that he had been killed ; but he turned up this
morning, with a tremendous gash on his head,
and mounted on the top of a horse nearly twenty
feet high, carrying under his arm one of those
glass cases which usually stand on the counters
of jewellers' shops, filled with all manner of
trinkets. He looked exactly like the ghost of a
horse pedler.

April loth. The devil take the man who stole
my donkey last night*

April nth. Marched again for the neighbour-
hood of Ciudad Rodrigo, with the long-accus-
tomed sounds of cannon and musketry ringing
in my fanciful ears as merrily as if the instruments
themselves were still playing.

Sir Sidney Beckwith, one of the fathers of
the rifles, was, at this time, obliged to proceed
to England for the recovery of health, and
did not again return to the Peninsula. In his
departure, that army lost one of the ablest of its
outpost generals. Few officers knew so well

104

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

how to make the most of a small force* His
courage, coupled with his thorough knowledge
of the soldier's character, was of that cool, in-
trepid kind, that would, at any time, convert
a routed rabble into an orderly effective force.
A better officer, probably, never led a brigade
into the field !

105

CHAPTER IX

A Farewell Address to Portalegre History of a night in Castelio Bianco

Regimental Colours lost, with Directions where to find them Cases
in which a Victory is sometimes won by those who lost it Advance to
Stlanamca The City The British Position on St. Christoval Afiair
in Position Marmont's Change of Position and Retreat A Case of
Bad Lack Advance to Rueda, and Customs there Retire to Castrejon

Affairs on the iSth and i9th of July Battle of Salamanca, and Defeat
of the Enemy.

April *3*&, 1812. Quartered at Portalegre.

DEAR PORTALEGRE !

I cannot quit thee, for the fourth and last
time, without a parting tribute to the remem-
brance of thy wild romantic scenery, and to the
kindness and hospitality of thy worthy citizens !
May thy gates continue shut to thine enemies
as heretofore, and, as heretofore, may they ever
prove those of happiness to thy friends ! Dear
nuns of Santa Clara f I thank thee for the en-
joyment of many an hour of nothingness ; and
thine, Santa Barbara, for many of a more intel-
lectual cast ! May the voice of thy chapel-
organ continue unrivalled but by the voices of
thy lovely choristers ! and may the piano in
thy refectory be replaced by better, in which
the harmony of strings may supersede the clat-
tering of ivories ! May the sweets which thou
hast lavished on us be showered upon thee ten-

106

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

thousand fold ! And may those accursed iron
bars divide thee as effectually from death as they
did from us ! ! !

April 1 5th. Quartered at Castello Branco.

This town had been so often visited by the
French and us alternately, that the inhabitants
at length confounded their friends with their
foes ; and by treating both sides as enemies, they
succeeded in making them so.

When I went this evening to present my
billet on a respectable-looking house, the door
was opened by the lady of it, wearing a most
gingerly aspect. She told me, with an equi-
vocal sort of look, that she had two spare beds
in the house, and that either of them were at
my service ; and, by way of illustration, showed
me into a sort of servant's room, off the kitchen,
half full of apples, onions, potatoes, and various
kinds of lumber, with a dirty-looking bed in
one corner ; and, on my requesting to see the
other, she conducted me up to the garret, into
the very counterpart of the one below, though
the room was somewhat differently garnished.
I told her that they were certainly two capital
beds ; but as I was a modest person and disliked
all extremes, that I should be quite satisfied with
any one on the floor which I had not yet seen.
This, however, she told me was impossible, as
every one of them were required by her own family.
While we were descending the stair, disputing

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the point, I caught the handle of the first door I
came to, twisted it open, and seeing it a neat
little room, with nothing but a table and two or
three chairs, I told her that it would suit me
perfectly ; and, desiring her to have a good mat-
tress, with clean linen, laid in one corner of it by
nine o'clock (adding a few hints, to satisfy her
that I was quite in earnest), I went to dine with
my messmates.

When I returned to the house, about ten
o'clock, I was told that I should find a light in
the room, and my bed ready. I accordingly
ascended, and found everything as represented ;
and, in addition thereto, I found another bed
lying alongside of mine, containing a huge fat
friar, with bald pate, fast asleep, and blowing
the most tremendous nasal trumpet that I ever
heard ! As my friend had evidently been placed
there for my annoyance, I did not think it neces-
sary to use much ceremony in getting rid of him ;
and catching him by the two ears, I raised him up
on his legs, while he groaned in a seeming agonizing
doubt, whether the pain was inflicted by a man
or a nightmare ; and before he had time to get
himself broad awake, I had chucked him and his
clothing, bed and bedding, out at the door, which
I locked, and enjoyed a sound sleep the remainder
of the night.

They offered me no further molestation ; but
in taking my departure at daylight next morning,

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

I observed my landlady reconnoitring me from an
tip-stairs' window, and thought it prudent not to
go too near it.

While we had been employed at Badajos,
Marmont had advanced in the north, and block-
aded Ciudad Rodrigo and Almeida, sending
advanced parties into the frontier towns of
Portugal, to the confusion and consternation of
the Portuguese militia, who had been stationed
for their protection ; and who, quite satisfied
with the report of their coming, did not think
it necessary to wait the report of their cannon.
Marshal Beresford, in his paternal address to
" Los Valerosos," in commemoration of their
conduct on this occasion, directed that the colours
of each regiment should be lodged in the town-
halls of their respective districts, until they each
provided themselves with a pair out of the ranks
of the enemy ; but I never heard that any of
them were redeemed in the manner prescribed.

The French retired upon Salamanca on our
approach ; and we resumed our former quarters
without opposition.

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

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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.

We remained about two months in canton-
ments, to recover the effects of the late sieges ;
and as by that time all the perforated skins and
repairable cracked limbs had been mended, the
army was assembled in front of Ciudad Rodrigo,
to commence what may be termed the second
campaign of 1812.

The enemy retired from Salamanca on our
approach, leaving garrisons in three formidable
little forts, which they had erected on the most
commanding points of the city, and which were
immediately invested by a British division.

Salamanca, as a city, appeared to me to be
more ancient than respectable ; for excepting
an old cathedral and a new square, I saw nothing
in it worth looking at, always saving and excepting
their pretty little girls, who (the deuce take them)
cost me two nights' good sleep. For, by way of
doing a little dandy in passing through such a
celebrated city, I disencumbered the under part
of my saddle of the blanket, and the upper part of
the boat-cloak with which it was usually adorned ;

no

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

and the penalty which I paid for my gentility
was, sleeping the next two nights in position
two miles in front of the town, while these useful
appendages were lying on the baggage two miles
in rear of it.

The heights of St. Christoval, which we oc-
cupied as a position to cover the siege, were
strong, but quite unsheltered, and unfurnished
with either wood or water. We were indebted
for our supplies of the latter to the citizens of
Salamanca; while stubbles and dry grass were
our only fuel.

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 gun shot, I was told that while Lord
Wellington was riding along the line, under a
fire of artillery, and accompanied by a nume-
rous staff, that 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 the
chase, 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.

The enemy next morning commenced a sharp
attack on our advanced post, in the village of

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ADVENTURES IN

Moresco ; and as it continued to be fed by both
sides, there was every appearance of its bringing
on a general action ; but they desisted towards
the afternoon, and the village remained divided
between us.

Marmont, after looking at us for several days,
did not think it prudent to risk an attack on
our present post ; and as the telegraph rockets
from the town told him that his garrison was
reduced to extremity, he crossed the Tonnes,
on the night of the 26th June, in the hopes of
being able to relieve them from that side of the
river. Our division followed his movement, and
took post for the night at Aldea Lingua. They
sent forward a strong reconnoitring party at
daylight next morning, but they were opposed
by General Bock's brigade of heavy German
dragoons, who would not permit them to see
more than was necessary ; and as the forts fell
into our hands the same night, Marmont had
no longer an object in remaining there, and fell
back behind the Douro, occupying the line of
Toro and Torodesillas.

By the accidental discharge of a musket, one
day last year, the ramrod entered the belly,
passed through the body, and the end of it stuck
in the back-bone of one of the soldiers of our
division, from whence it was actually hammered
out with a stone. The poor fellow recovered
and joined his regiment, as well as ever he had

112

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

been, and was last night unfortunately drowned
while bathing in the Tormes.

When the enemy retired, our division advanced
and occupied Rueda, a handsome little town on
the left bank of the Douro.

It abounded in excellent wines ; and our usual
evening dances began there to be graced by a
superior class of females to what they had
hitherto been accustomed. I remember that
in passing the house of the sexton one evening,
I saw his daughter baking a loaf of bread ; and
falling desperately in love with both her and
the loaf, I carried the one to the ball and the
other to my quarters. A woman was a woman
in those days ; and every officer made it a
point of duty to marshal as many as he could to
the general assembly, no matter whether they
were countesses or sextonesse$\ and although
we, in consequence, frequently incurred the
most indelible disgrace among the better orders
of our indiscriminate collection, some of whom
would retire in disgust ; yet, as a sufficient
number generally remained for our evening's
amusement, and we were only birds of passage,
it was a matter of the most perfect indifference
to us what they thought. We followed the same
course wherever we went.

The French army having, in the meantime,
been largely reinforced, and as they commanded
the passage of the Douro, we were in hourly
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expectation of an offensive movement from them.
As a precautionary measure, one-half of our
division bivouacked every night in front of the
town. On the evening of the i6th of July, it
was our turn to be in quarters, and we were in
the full enjoyment of our usual evening's amuse-
ment, when the bugles sounded to arms.

As we had previously experienced two false
alarms in the same quarters, we thought it
more than probable that this might prove one
also ; and therefore prevailed upon the ladies
to enjoy themselves, until our return, upon the
good things which we had provided for their
refreshment, and out of which I hope they drew
enough of consolation for our absence, as we
have not seen them since.

After forming on our alarm post, we were
moved off, in the dark, we knew not whither ;
but every man following the one before him,
with the most implicit confidence, until, after
marching all night, we found ourselves, on the
following morning, at daylight, near the village
of Castrejon, where we bivouacked for the day.

I was sent on piquet on the evening of the
iyth, to watch a portion of the plain before us.
Soon after sunrise on the following morn-
ing, 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

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

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 feeling convinced that it
would give instantaneous birth to as hideous a
body, it made me look, with an eye of light-
ning, 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, all hammering at each
others' 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 de-
scribed. A piquet of the forty-third 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 the
moment behind us, while the cavalry went sweep-

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ing along our front, where I suppose they picked
up a reinforcement, for they returned, almost
instantly, in the same confused mass ; but the
French were now the flyers ; 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 flank, at full speed, sending
man and horse rolling headlong on the plain.

I was highly interested, all this time, in ob-
serving 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 con-
fidence in his covering party, that he had not
thought it necessary to unfix the catch which
horse-artillerymen, I believe, had to prevent

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

their swords quitting the scabbards when they
are not wanted, and which, on this occasion, pre-
vented 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 imagin-
able. The enemy were endeavouring to turn
our left ; and, in making a counteracting move-
ment, 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. Our move-
ment was supported by a formidable body of
our own dragoons ; and, as we drew near the
bank of the small river Guerrena, our horse-
artillery continued to file in the same line, to
attract the attention of the enemy, while we
gradually distanced them a little, and crossed the

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river into a position on the high grounds beyond
it. The enemy passed the river, on our left, and
endeavoured to force that part of the position ;
but the troops who were stationed there drove
them back with great loss, and at dark the firing
ceased.

During the early part of the igth there appeared
to be no movements on either side ; but, in the
afternoon, having fallen asleep in my tent, I
was awoke by the whistling of a cannon shot ;
and was just beginning to abuse my servant for
not having called me sooner, when we were
ordered to stand to our arms ; and, as the
enemy were making a movement to our right,
we made a corresponding one. The cannonade
did not cease until dark, when we lay down by
our arms, the two armies very near to each
other, and fully expecting a general action on
the morrow.

July 20th. We stood to our arms an hour
before daylight, and Lord Wellington held out
every inducement for his opponent to attack
him ; but Marmont evaded it, and continued
his movement on our right, which obliged us
to continue ours, towards Salamanca ; and we
were a great part of this day in parallel lines with
them, the same as on the i8th.

July 2ist. We crossed the Tormes just be-
fore dark this evening, about two miles above
Salamanca, the enemy having passed it higher

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

up. Before reaching our ground, we experienced
one of the most tremendous thunderstorms that
I ever witnessed. A sheet of lightning struck the
head of our column, where I happened to be
riding, and deprived me of the use of my optics
for at least ten minutes. A great many of our
dragoon horses broke from their piqueting during
the storm, and galloped past us into the French
lines. We lay by our arms on the banks of the
river, and it continued to rain in torrents the whole
of the night.

BATTLE OF SALAMANCA

July 2ad. A sharp fire of musketry com-
menced 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, and then moved into
position with our left resting on the Tormes,
and our right extended along a ridge of rising
ground, thinly interspersed with trees, beyond
which the other divisions were formed in con-
tinuation, with the exception of the third, which
still remained on the opposite bank of the river.

The enemy were to be seen in motion on the
opposite ridges, and a straggling fire of musketry,

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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 con-
fidence 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 con-
tradictory reports. One passing officer telling
us that he had just heard the order given to
attack, and the next asserting, with equal con-
fidence, 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

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

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.

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CHAPTER X

Distinguished Qbaractets A Charge of Dragoons A Charge against
the Nature of Things Olmeda and the French General, Ferez
Advance towards Madrid Adventures of my Dinner The Town of
Segovia El Pakcio del Bio Frio The Escurial Enter Madrid
Rejoicings Nearly happy Change of a Horse Change of Quarters
A Change confounded Retire towards Salamanca Boar-Hunt,
Dinner-Hunt, and Bull-Hunt A Portuguese Funeral conducted by
Rifle Undertakers.

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 per-
mitted 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 morn-
ing ; and, crossing at a ford of the Tormes, we
found their rear-guard, consisting of three regi-
ments of infantry, with some cavalry and artil-
lery, posted on a formidable height above the
village of Serna. General Bock, with his brigade

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THE RIFLE 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.

We halted for the night at a village near
Penaranda. I took possession of the church ;
and finding the floor strewed with the para-
phernalia of priesthood, I selected some silk
gowns, and other gorgeous trappings, with which
I made a bed for myself in the porch, and where,
" if all had been gold that glittered," I should
have looked a jewel indeed ; but it is lamentable
to think, that, among the multifarious blessings
we enjoy in this life, we should never be able to
get a dish of glory and a dish of beef-steak on
the same day ; in consequence of which, the heart,
which ought properly to be soaring in the clouds,
or, at all events, in a castle half way up, is more
generally to be found grovelling about a hen-
roost, in the vain hope that, if it cannot get hold
of the hen herself, it may at least hit upon an
egg ; and such, I remember, was the state of my

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feelings on this occasion, in consequence of my
having dined the three preceding days on the half
of my inclinations.

We halted the next night in the handsome
little town of Olmeda, which had just been
evacuated by the enemy. The French general,
Ferez, died there, in consequence of the wounds
which he received at the battle of Salamanca,
and his remains had the night before been con-
signed to the earth with the highest honours,
and a canopy of laurel placed over his grave :
but the French had no sooner left the town,
than the inhabitants exhumed the body, cut off
the head, and spurned it with the greatest in-
dignity. They were in hopes that this line of
conduct would have proved a passport to our
affections, and conducted us to the spot, as to
a trophy that they were proud of; but we ex-
pressed the most unfeigned horror and indig-
nation at their proceeding ; and, getting some
soldiers to assist, his remains were carefully and
respectfully replaced in the grave. His was
a noble head ; and, even in death, it looked the
brave, the gallant soldier. Our conduct had
such an effect on the Spaniards, that they brought
back the canopy of their own accord, and promised
solemnly that the grave should henceforth rest
undisturbed.

July 26th. We arrived on the banks of the
Douro, within a league of Valladolid, where,

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after halting two days, Lord Wellington detach-
ing a division of infantry and some cavalry to
watch the movements of the defeated army,
proceeded with the remainder towards Madrid.

August i st. On approaching near to our
bivouac this afternoon, I saw a good large
farmhouse, about a mile off the road ; and,
getting permission from my commandant, I made
a cast thereto, in search of something for dinner.
There were two women belonging to the German
Legion smoking their pipes in the kitchen,
when I arrived ; and, having the highest respect
for their marauding qualifications, I began to
fear that nothing was to be had, as they were
sitting there so quietly. I succeeded, never-
theless, in purchasing two pair of chickens ;
but, neglecting the precaution of unscrewing
their necks, I merely grasped a handful of their
legs, and mounting my horse, proceeded to-
wards the camp. I had scarcely, however,
gone a couple of hundred yards, when they
began opening their throats and flapping their
wings, which startled my horse and sent him
off at full speed. I lost the rein on one side,
and, in attempting to pull him up with the
other, I brought his foot into a rut, and down
he came, sending me head-foremost into a wet
ditch ! When I got on my legs and shook
myself a little, I saw each particular hen gallop-
ing across the field, screeching with all its might,

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while the horse was off in a different direction.
Casting a rueful look at the chickens, I naturally
followed him, as the most valuable of the collec-
tion. Fortunately, a heavy boat-cloak caused
the saddle to roll under his belly ; and finding
that he could not make way in consequence,
he quietly waited for me about a quarter of
a mile off. When I had remounted, I looked
back to the scene of my disaster, and saw my
two German friends busily employed in catching
the chickens. They were, no doubt, in hopes
that I had broken my neck, that they might have
the sacking of me also ; for, as I was return-
ing, I observed them concealing the fowls under
their clothes, while the one took up a suspicious
sort of position behind the other. After re-
connoitring them a short time, I rode up and
demanded the fowls, when the one looking at
the other in well-feigned astonishment, asked in
Dutch, what I could possibly mean ? She then
gave me to understand that they could not compre-
hend English ; but I immediately said, " Come,
come ! none of your gammon ! you have got
my fowls, here's half a dollar for your trouble
in catching them, so hand them out." " Oh ! "
said one of them in English, " it is de fowl you
want," and they then produced them. After
paying the stipulated sum, I wished them all
the compliments of the season, and thought
myself fortunate in getting off so well ; for they

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

were each six feet high, and strong as horses,
and I felt convinced that they had often thrashed
a better man than me in the course of their
military career.

August yth. Halted near the ancient town
of Segovia, which bears a strong resemblance
to the old town of Edinburgh, built on a lofty
ridge, which terminates in an abrupt summit,
on which stands the fortified tower, celebrated
in the Adventures of Gil Bias. It is a fine old
town, boasts of a superb Roman aqueduct, and
is famous for ladies' shoes.

Our bivouac this evening was on the banks
of El Rio Frio, near to a new hunting-palace of
the King of Spain. It was a large quadrangular
building, each side full of empty rooms, with
nothing but their youth to recommend them.

On the Qth, we crossed the Guadarama moun-
tains, and halted for the night in the park of
the Escurial.

I had, from childhood upwards, considered
this palace as the eighth wonder of the world,
and was therefore proportionately disappointed
at finding it a huge, gloomy, unmeaning pile of
building, looking somewhat less interesting than
the wild craggy mountain opposite, and not
containing a single room large enough to flog a
cat in. The only apartment that I saw worth
looking at, was the one in which their dead
kings live !

ADVENTURES IN

ENTERED MADRID
August i3th, 1812

As we approached the capital, imagination
was busy in speculating on the probable nature
of our reception. The peasantry , with whom
we had hitherto been chiefly associated, had
imbibed a rooted hatred to the French, caused
by the wanton cruelties experienced at their
hands, both in their persons and their property ;
otherwise they were a cheerful, hospitable,
and orderly people, and, had they been per-
mitted to live in peace and quietness, it was a
matter of the most perfect indifference to them
whether Joseph, Ferdinand, or the ghost of
Don Quixote was their king. But, as the
citizens of Madrid had been living four years
in comparative peace, under the dominion of a
French Government, and in the enjoyment of
all the gaieties of that luxurious court, I believe
the prevailing opinion was that we should be
considered as the intruders ; and it was therefore
a matter of the most unexpected exultation, when
we entered it on the afternoon of the I3th of
August, to find ourselves hailed as liberators,
with the most joyous acclamations, by surround-
ing multitudes, who continued their rejoicings
for three successive days. By day, the riches of
each house were employed in decorations to its
exterior ; and by night, they were brilliantly

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

illuminated, during which time all business was
suspended, and the whole population of the
city crowded the streets, emulating each other
in heaping honours and caresses upon us.

King Joseph had retired on our approach,
leaving a garrison in the fortified palace of
El Retiro ; but they surrendered some days
afterwards, and we remained there three months,
basking in the sunshine of beauty, harmony,
and peace. I shall ever look back to that period
as the most pleasing event of my military life.

The only bar to our perfect felicity was the
want of money, as, independent of long arrears,
already due, the military chest continued so
very poor that it could not afford to give us
more than a fortnight's pay during these three
months ; and as nobody could, would, or should
give cash for bills, we were obliged to sell silver
spoons, watches, and everything of value that
we stood possessed of, to purchase the common
necessaries of life.

My Irish criado y who used to take uncommon
liberties with my property, having been two or
three days in the rear, with the baggage, at the
time of the battle of Salamanca, took upon
himself to exchange my baggage-horse for another ;
and his apology for so doing was, that the one
he had got was twice as big as the one he gave !
The additional size, however, so far from being
an advantage, proved quite the reverse ; for I
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found that he could eat as much as he could
carry, and, as he was obliged to carry all that he
had to eat, I was forced to put him on half
allowance, to make room for my baggage ; in
consequence of which, every bone in his body
soon became so pointed that I could easily have
hung my hat on any part of his hind quarters.
I therefore took advantage of our present repose
to let him have the benefit of a full allowance,
which enabled me to effect an exchange between
him and a mule, getting five dollars to the bar-
gain, which made me one of the happiest, and, I
believe, also one of the richest men in the army.
I expended the first dollar next day, in getting
admission to a bull-fight, in their national amphi-
theatre, where the first thing that met my aston-
ished eyes was a mad bull giving the finishing
prode to my unfortunate big horse.

Lord Wellington, with some divisions of the
army, proceeded, about the beginning of Sep-
tember, to undertake the siege of Burgos, leaving
those at Madrid under the orders of Sir Rowland
Hill. Towards the end of October, our delight-
ful sojourn there drew perceptibly to a close,
for it was known that King Joseph, with the
forces under Soult and Jourdan, now united,
were moving upon Aranjuez, and that all, except-
ing our own division, were already in motion,
to dispute the passage of the Tagus, and to cover
the capital. About four o'clock on the morning

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of the 23d of October, we received orders to be
on our alarm posts at six, and as soon as we had
formed, we were marched to the city of Alcala.

October 2yth. We were all this day march-
ing to Arganda, and all night marching back
again. If any one thing is more particularly
damned than another it is a march of this kind.

October 3oth. An order arrived, from Lord
Wellington, for our corps of the army to fall
back upon Salamanca ; we therefore returned
to Madrid, and, after halting outside the gates
until we were joined by Skerret's division,
from Cadiz, we bade a last sorrowful adieu to
our friends in the city, and commenced our
retreat.

October 3ist. Halted for the night in the
park of the EscuriaL It is amusing, on a divi-
sion's first taking up its ground, to see the
numbers of hares that are every instant start-
ing up among the men, and the scrambling and
shouting of the soldiers for the prize. This
day, when the usual shout was given, every
man ran, with his cap in his hand, to endeavour
to capture poor puss, as he imagined, but which
turned out to be two wild boars, who contrived
to make room for themselves so long as there
was nothing but men's caps to contend with;
but they very soon had as many bayonets as
bristles in their backs. We recrossed the Guada-
rama mountains next morning.

ADVENTURES IN

November 2d. Halted this night in front
of a small town, the name of which I do not
recollect. It was beginning to get dark by
the time I had posted our guards and piquets,
when I rode into it to endeavour to find my
messmates, who I knew had got a dinner waiting
for me somewhere.

I entered a large square, or market-place,
and found it crowded with soldiers of all nations,
most of them three-parts drunk, and in the
midst of whom a mad bull was performing the
most extraordinary feats, quite unnoticed, ex-
cepting by those who had the misfortune to
attract his attention. The first intimation that
I had of him, was his charging past me, and
making a thrust at our quarter-master, carrying
off a portion of his regimental trousers. He
next got a fair toss at a Portuguese soldier, and
sent him spinning three or four turns up in the
air. I was highly amused in observing the
fellow's astonishment, when he alighted, to see
that he had not the remotest idea to what acci-
dent he was indebted for such an evolution,
although he seemed fully prepared to quarrel
with any one who chose to acknowledge any
participation in the deed ; but the cause of it
was, all the while, finding fresh customers, and
making the grand tour of the square with such
velocity, that I began to fear I should be on
his list also, if I did not take shelter in the

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

nearest house, a measure no sooner thought of
than executed. I therefore opened a door
and drove my horse in before me ; but there
instantly arose such an uproar within, that I
began to wish myself once more on the outside
on any terms ; for it happened to be occupied
by English, Portuguese, and German bullock
drivers, who had been seated round a table,
scrambling for a dinner, when my horse upset
the table, lights, and everything on it. The
only thing that I could make out amid their
confused curses was, that they had come to
the determination of putting the cause of the
row to death ; but, as I begged to differ with
them on that point, I took the liberty of knock-
ing one or two of them down, and finally suc-
ceeded in extricating my horse, with whom I
retraced my way to the camp, weary, angry,
and hungry. On my arrival there, I found an
orderly waiting to show me the way to dinner,
which once more restored me to good humour
with myself and all the world ; while the adven-
ture afforded my companions a hearty laugh at
my expense.

November 6th. In the course of this day's
march, while our battalion formed the rear-
guard, at a considerable distance in the rear of
the column, we found a Portuguese soldier,
who had been left by his regiment, lying in the
middle of the road, apparently dead ; but on

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

examining him more closely, we had reason to
think that he was merely in a state of stupor,
occasioned by fatigue and the heat of the weather,
an opinion which caused us no little uneasiness.
For although we did not think it quite fair to
bury a living man, yet we had no means whatever
of carrying him off ; and to leave him where he
was, would, in all probability, have cost us a
number of better lives than his had ever been,
for the French (who were then in sight) had hither-
to been following us at a very respectable dis-
tance ; but had they found that we were retiring
in such a hurry as to leave our half-dead people
on the road, they would not have been French-
men if they did not give us an extra push, to help
us along. Under all the circumstances of the
case, therefore, and although our doctor was
of opinion that with time and attention he
might recover, yet not having either the one
or the other to spare, the remainder of us who
had voted ourselves into a sort of coroner's in-
quest, thought it most prudent to find him
" dead " ; and carrying him a little off the
road to the edge of a ravine, we scraped a hole
in the sand with our swords, and placed him in
it. We covered him but very lightly, and left
his head and arms at perfect liberty ; so that,
although he might be said to have had both feet
in the grave, he might still have scrambled out
of it if he could.

134

CHAPTER XI

Reach Salamanca Retreat from it Pig-Hunting, an Enemy to Sleep-
Hunting Putting one's Foot in it Affair on the iyth of November
Bad Legs sometimes last longer than Good Ones A Wet Berth
Prospectus of a Day's Work A Lost Dfjeuner better than a Found One
Advantages not taken A Disagreeable Amusement End of the
Campaign of 1812 Winter Quarters Orders and Disorders treated
Farewell Opinion of Ancient Allies My House.

November jth*

HALTED this night at Alba de Tonnes, and
next day marched into quarters in Salamanca,
where we rejoined Lord Wellington with the
army from Burgos.

On the i4th the British army concentrated
on the field of their former glory, in conse-
quence of a part of the French army having
effected the passage of the river above Alba
de Tormes. On the i5th the whole of the
enemy's force having passed the river, a can-
nonade commenced early in the day ; and it
was the general belief that ere night a second
battle of Salamanca would be recorded. But as
all the French armies in Spain were now united
in our front, and outnumbered us so far, Lord
Wellington, seeing no decided advantage to be
gained by risking a battle, at length ordered
a retreat, which we commenced about three in

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the afternoon. Our division halted for the night
at the entrance of a forest about four miles from
Salamanca.

The heavy rains which usually precede the
Spanish winter had set in the day before ; and
as the roads in that part of the country cease
to be roads for the remainder of the season, we
were now walking nearly knee deep in a stiff
mud into which no man could thrust his foot
with the certainty of having a shoe at the end
of it when he pulled it out again ; and that
we might not be miserable by halves, we had this
evening to regale our chops with the last morsel
of biscuit that they were destined to grind during
the retreat.

We cut some boughs of trees to keep us out
of the mud, and lay down to sleep on them,
wet to the skin ; but the cannonade of the
afternoon had been succeeded, after dark, by a
continued firing of musketry, which led us to
believe that our piquets were attacked ; and in
momentary expectation of an order to stand to
our arms, we kept ourselves awake the whole
night. We were not a little provoked to find,
next morning, that it had been occasioned by
numerous stragglers from the different regiments,
shooting at the pigs belonging to the peasantry,
which were grazing in the wood.

November i6th. Retiring from daylight until
dark through the same description of roads. The

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

French dragoons kept close behind, but did not
attempt to molest us. It still continued to rain
hard, and we again passed the night in a wood.
I was very industriously employed during the
early part of it, in feeling in the dark for acorns,
as a substitute for bread.

November lyth. At daylight this morning
the enemy's cavalry advanced in force ; but
they were kept in check by the skirmishers of
the I4th light dragoons, until the road became
open, when we continued our retreat. Our
brigade-major was at the time obliged to go
to the rear, sick, and I was appointed to act
for him.

We were much surprised, in the course of the
forenoon, to hear a sharp firing commence
behind us, on the very road by which we were
retiring ; and it was not until we reached the
spot that we learnt that the troops who were
retreating, by a road parallel to ours, had left it
too soon, and enabled some French dragoons,
under cover of the forest, to advance unper-
ceived to the flank of our line of march, who,
seeing an interval between two divisions of in-
fantry, which was filled with light baggage,
and some passing officers, dashed at it, and
made some prisoners in the scramble of the
moment, amongst whom was Lieutenant- General
Sir Edward Paget.

Our division formed on the heights above

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Sanmunoz to cover the passage of the rivulet,
which was so swollen with the heavy rains as
only to be passable at particular fords. While
waiting there for the passage of the rest of
the army, the enemy, under cover of the forest,
were, at the same time, assembling in force close
around us ; and the moment that we began to
descend the hill, towards the rivulet, we were
assailed by a heavy fire of cannon and musketry,
while their powerful cavalry were in readiness
to take advantage of any confusion which might
have occurred. We effected the passage, how-
ever, in excellent order, and formed on the
opposite bank of the stream, where we continued
under a cannonade, and engaged in a sharp
skirmish until dark.

Our loss on this occasion was considerable ;
but it would have been much greater, had not
the enemy's shells buried themselves so deep
in the soft ground, that their explosion did
little injury. It appeared singular to us, who were
not medical men, that an officer and several of
our division, who were badly wounded on this
occasion in the leg, and who were sent to the
rear on gun carriages, should have died of a
mortification in the limb which was not wounded.

When the firing ceased, we received the usual
order " to make ourselves comfortable for the
night " ; but I never remember an instance in
which we had so much difficulty in obeying it ;

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

for the ground we occupied was a perfect flat,
which was flooded more than ankle deep with
water, excepting here and there, where the higher
ground around the roots of trees presented circles
of a few feet of visible earth, upon which we
grouped ourselves. Some few fires were kindled,
at which we roasted some bits of raw beef on the
points of our swords, and ate them by way of a
dinner. There was plenty of water to apologize
for the want of better fluids, but bread sent no
apology at all.

Some divisions of the army had commenced
retiring as soon as it was dark, and the whole
had been ordered to move, so that the roads
might be clear for us before daylight. I was
sent twice in the course of the night to see what
progress they had made ; but such was the state
of the roads, that even within an hour of day-
light, two divisions, besides our own, were still
unmoved, which would consequently delay us
so long, that we looked forward to a severe harass-
ing day's fighting ; a kind of fighting, too, that
is the least palatable of any, where much might
be lost, and nothing was to be gained. With
such prospects before us, it made my very heart
rejoice to see my brigadier's servant commence
boiling some chocolate and frying a beef-steak.
I watched its progress with a keenness which
intense hunger alone could inspire, and was on
the very point of having my desires consummated

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when the general, getting uneasy at not having
received any communication relative to the move-
ments of the morning, and without considering
how feelingly my stomach yearned for a better
acquaintance with the contents of his frying-
pan, desired me to ride to General Alten for orders.
I found the general at a neighbouring tree ;
but he cut off all hopes of my timely return, by
desiring me to remain with him until he received
the report of an officer whom he had sent to ascer-
tain the progress of the other divisions.

While I was toasting myself at his fire, so
sharply set that I could have eaten one of my
boots, I observed his German orderly dragoon,
at an adjoining fire, stirring up the contents of
a camp kettle, which once more revived my
departing hopes, and I presently had the satis-
faction of seeing him dipping in some basins,
presenting one to the general, one to the aide-
de-camp, and a third to myself. The mess
which it contained I found, after swallowing
the whole at a draught, was neither more nor
less than the produce of a piece of beef boiled
in plain water ! and, though it would have been
enough to have physicked a dromedary at any
other time, yet, as I could then have made a
good hole in the dromedary himself, it sufficiently
satisfied my cravings to make me equal to any
thing for the remainder of the day.

We were soon after ordered to stand to our
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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

arms, and, as day lit up, a thick haze hung on
the opposite hills, which prevented our seeing
the enemy ; and as they did not attempt to
feel for us, we, contrary to our expectations,
commenced our retreat unmolested ; nor could
we quite believe our good fortune when, towards
the afternoon, we had passed several places
where they could have assailed us in flank
with great advantage, and caused us a severe
loss, almost in spite of fate. But it afterwards
appeared that they were quite knocked up with
their exertions in overtaking us the day before,
and were unable to follow further. We halted
on a swampy height, behind St. Espiritu, and
experienced another night of starvation and
rain.

I now felt considerably more for my horse
than myself, as he had been three days and
nights without a morsel of any kind to eat.
Our baggage animals, too, we knew were equally
ill off ; and as they always preceded us a day's
march, it was highly amusing, whenever we found
a dead horse or a mule lying on the road-side,
to see the anxiety with which every officer went
up to reconnoitre him, each fearing that he should
have the misfortune to recognise it as his own.

On the 1 9th of November we arrived at the
convent of Caridad, near Ciudad Rodrigo, and
once more experienced the comforts of our bag-
gage and provisions. My boots had not been

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off since the I3th, and I found it necessary to
cut them to pieces, to get my swollen feet out of
them.

This retreat terminated the campaign of 1812.
After a few days' delay, and some requisite
changes about the neighbourhood, while all the
world were getting shook into their places, our
battalion finally took possession of the village
of Alameida for the winter, where, after form-
ing a regimental mess, we detached an officer
to Lamego, and secured to ourselves a bounti-
ful supply of the best juice of the grape which
the neighbouring banks of the Douro afforded.
The quarter we now occupied was naturally
pretty much upon a par with those of the last
two winters, but it had the usual advantages
attending the march of intellect. The officers
of the division united in fitting up an empty
chapel, in the village of Galegos, as an amateur
theatre, for which, by the bye, we were all regu-
larly cursed from the altar by the Bishop of
Rodrigo. Lord Wellington kept a pack of fox-
hounds, and the Hon. Captain Stewart, of ours,
a pack of harriers, so that these, in addition to
our old Bolero meetings, enabled us to pass a
very tolerable winter.

The neighbouring plains abounded with hares :
it was one of the most beautiful coursing coun-
tries, perhaps, in the world ; and there was also
some shooting to be had at the numerous vultures

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

preying on the dead carcasses which strewed the
road-side on the line of our last retreat.

Up to this period Lord Wellington had been
adored by every one, as well for his brilliant
achievements, as for his noble and manly bear-
ing in all things ; but, in consequence of some
disgraceful irregularities which took place during
the retreat, he immediately after issued an
order, conveying a sweeping censure on the
whole army. His general conduct was too
upright for even the finger of malice itself to
point at ; but as his censure, on this occasion,
was not strictly confined to the guilty, it afforded
a handle to disappointed persons, and excited
a feeling against him, on the part of individuals,
which has probably never been obliterated.

It began by telling us that we had suffered
no privations ; and, though this was hard to be
digested on an empty stomach, yet, taking it
in its more liberal meaning, that our privations
were not of an extent to justify any irregularities,
which I readily admit ; still, as many regiments
were not guilty of any irregularities, it is not
to be wondered at if such should have felt, at
first, a little sulky to find, in the general reproof,
that, no loop-hole whatever had been left for
them to creep through ; for I believe I am justi-
fied in saying, that neither our own, nor the two
gallant corps associated with us, had a single man
absent that we could not satisfactorily account

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for. But it touched us still more tenderly in
not excepting us from his general charge of
inexpertness in camp arrangements ; for it was
our belief, and in which we were in some measure
borne out by circumstances, that had he placed
us, at the same moment, in the same field, with
an equal number of the best troops in France,
he would not only have seen our fires as quickly
lit, but every Frenchman roasting on them into
the bargain, if they waited long enough to be
dressed ; for there perhaps never was, nor ever
again will be, such a war brigade as that which
was composed of the forty-third, fifty-second, and
the rifles.

That not only censure, but condign punish-
ment, was merited in many instances, is "cer-
tain ; and had his Lordship dismissed some
officers from the service, and caused some of
the disorderly soldiers to be shot, it would not
only have been an act of justice, but probably
a necessary example. Had he hanged every
commissary, too, who failed to issue the regular
rations to the troops dependent on them, unless
they proved that they themselves were starved,
it would only have been a just sacrifice to the
offended stomachs of many thousands of gallant
fellows.

In our brigade I can safely say, that the
order in question excited " more of sorrow than
of anger/' We thought that, had it been par-

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

tiadar, it would have been just ; but, as it was
general, that it was inconsiderate ; and we
therefore regretted that he who had been, and
still was, the god of our idolatry, should thereby
have laid himself open to the attacks of the ill-
natured.

Alameida is a Spanish village, situated with-
in a stone's throw of the boundary line of the
sister kingdom ; and as the head-quarters of
the army, as well as the nearest towns, from
whence we drew our supplies, lay in Portugal,
our connexions, while we remained there, were
chiefly with the latter kingdom ; and having
passed the three last winters on their frontier,
we, in the month of May, 1813, prepared to
bid it a final adieu, with very little regret. The
people were kind and hospitable, and not des-
titute of intelligence ; but, somehow, they ap-
peared to be the creatures of a former age, and
showed an indolence and want of enterprise
which marked them born for slaves ; and al-
though the two Cacadore regiments attached to
our division were at all times in the highest
order, and conducted themselves gallantly in
the field, yet I am of opinion that, as a nation,
they owe their character for bravery almost
entirely to the activity and gallantry of the
British officers who organized and led them.
The veriest cowards in existence must have
shown the same front under such discipline. I

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did not see enough of their gentry to enable
me to form an opinion about them ; but the
middling and lower orders are extremely filthy,
both in their persons and in their houses, and
they have all an intolerable itch for gambling.
The soldiers, though fainting with fatigue on the
line of march, invariably group themselves in
card-parties whenever they are allowed a few
minutes' halt ; and a non-commissioned officer
with half-a-dozen men, on any duty of fatigue,
are very generally to be seen as follows, viz.
one man as a sentry, to watch the approach of
the superintending officer, one man at work,
and the non-commissioned officer, with the other
four, at cards.

The cottages in Alameida, and, indeed, in all
the Spanish villages, generally contain two
mud-floored apartments ; the outer one, though
more cleanly than the Irish, is nevertheless
fashioned after the same manner, and is com-
mon alike to the pigs and the people ; while
the inner looks more like the gun-room of a
ship of war, having a sitting apartment in the
centre, with small sleeping cabins branching
from it, each illuminated by a port-hole about
a foot square. We did not see daylight " through
a glass darkly," as on London's Ludgate Hill,
for there the air circulated freely, and mild it
came, and pure, and fragrant, as if it had stolen
over a bed of roses. If a man did not like

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

that, he had only to shut his port, and remain
in darkness, inhaling his own preferred sweet-
ness ! The outside of my sleeping cabin was
interwoven with ivy and honeysuckle, and among
the branches a nightingale had established itself,
and sung sweetly, night after night, during the
whole of the winter. I could not part from such a
pleasing companion, and from a bed in which I
had enjoyed so many tranquil slumbers, without
a sigh, though I was ungrateful enough to accom-
pany it with a fervent wish that I might never
see them again ; for I looked upon the period that
I had spent there as so much time lost.

CHAPTER XII

A Review Assembly of the Army March to Salamanca To Aldea
Nfueva To Toro An Affair of the Hussar Brigade To Palencia
To the Neighbourhood of Burgos To the Banks of the Ebro Fruitful
sleeping place To Medina A Dance before it was due Smell the
Foe Af&ir at St. Milan A Physical River.

^ 1813.

IN the early part of this month our division
was reviewed by Lord Wellington, preparatory
to the commencement of another campaign ;
and I certainly never saw a body of troops in
a more highly efficient state. It did one's very
heart good to look at our battalion that day, seeing
each company standing a hundred strong, and the
intelligence of several campaigns stamped on
each daring, bronzed countenance, which looked
you boldly in the face, in the fulness of vigour
and confidence, as if it cared neither for man nor
devil.

On the 2ist of May, our division broke up
from winter quarters, and assembled in front
of Ciudad Rodrigo, with all excepting the left
wing of the army, which, under Sir Thomas
Graham, had already passed the Douro, and
was ascending its right bank.

An army that has seen some campaigns in
the field, affords a great deal of amusement in

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

its assembling after winter quarters. There is
not only the greeting of long parted friends
and acquaintances in the same walks of life,
but, among the different divisions which the
nature of the service generally threw a good
deal together, there was not so much as a mule
or a donkey that was not known to each in-
dividual, and its absence noticed ; nor a scamp
of a boy, or a common Portuguese trull, who
was not as particularly inquired after, as if the
fate of the campaign depended on their presence.

On the 22d, we advanced towards Salamanca,
and the next day halted at Sanmunoz, on our
late field of action. With what different feelings
did we now view the same spot ! In our last
visit, winter was on the face of the land, as well
as on our minds ; we were worn out with fatigue,
mortification, and starvation : now, all was sum-
mer and sunshine. The dismal swamps had now
become verdant meadows ; we had plenty in
the camp, vigour in our limbs, and hope in our
bosoms.

We were this day joined by the household
brigade of cavalry from England ; and as there
was a report in the morning that the enemy
were in the neighbourhood, some of the Life
Guards concluded that everything in front of
their camp must be a part of them, and they,
accordingly, apprehended some of the light
dragoon horses, which happened to be grazing

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near. One of their officers came to dine with me
that day, and he was in the act of reporting their
capture, when my orderly book was brought at
the moment, containing an offer of reward for the
detection of the thieves !

On the ayth, we encamped on the banks of
the Tormes, at a ford about a league below
Salamanca. A body of the enemy, who had
occupied the city, suffered severely before they
got away, in a brush with some part of Sir
Rowland Hiirs corps ; chiefly, I believe, from
some of his artillery.

On the 28th, we crossed the river, and marched
near to Aldea Nueva, where we remained stationary
for some days, under Sir Rowland Hill ; Lord
Wellington having proceeded from Salamanca to
join the left wing of the army, beyond the Douro.

On the 2d of June, we were again put in motion ;
and, after a very long march, encamped near the
Douro, opposite the town of Toro.

Lord Wellington had arrived there the day
before, without being opposed by the enemy ;
but there had been an affair of cavalry, a short
distance beyond the town, in which the hussar
brigade particularly distinguished themselves, and
took about three hundred prisoners.

On the morning of the 3d, we crossed the river ;
and marching through the town of Toro, encamped
about half a league beyond it. The enemy had
put the castle in a state of repair, and constructed

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

a number of other works to defend the passage
of the river ; but the masterly eye of our chief,
having seen his way round the town, spared them
the trouble of occupying the works ; yet, loth
to think that so much labour should be altogether
lost, he garrisoned their castle with the three
hundred taken by the hussar brigade, for which it
made a very good jail.

On the 4th, we were again in motion, and
had a long, warm, fatiguing march ; as also
on the 5th and 6th. On the yth, we encamped
outside of Palencia, a large rickety-looking old
town, with the front of every house supported
by pillars, like so many worn out old bachelors
on crutches.

The French did not interfere with our accom-
modation in the slightest, but made it a point
to leave every place an hour or two before we
came to it ; so that we quietly continued our
daily course, following nearly the line of the
Canal de Castile, through a country luxuriant
in corn fields and vineyards, until the lath,
when we arrived within two or three leagues
of Burgos (on its left), and where we found a
body of the enemy in position, whom we imme-
diately proceeded to attack ; but they evaporated
on our approach, and fell back upon Burgos.
We encamped for the night on the banks of a
river, a short distance to the rear. Next morn-
ing, at daylight, an explosion shook the ground

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like an earthquake, which made every man jump
upon his legs ; and it was not until some hours
after, when Lord Wellington returned from
reconnoitring, that we learnt that the castle of
Burgos had been just blown up, and the town
evacuated by the enemy.

We continued our march on the I3th, through
a very rich country.

On the i4th, we had a long harassing day's
march, through a rugged mountainous country,
which afforded only an occasional glimpse of
fertility, in some pretty little valleys with which
it was intersected.

We started at daylight on the i$th, through
a dreary region of solid rock, bearing an abun-
dant crop of loose stones, without a particle of
soil or vegetation visible to the naked eye in any
direction. After leaving nearly twenty miles of
this horrible wilderness behind us, our weary
minds clogged with an imaginary view of nearly
as much more of it in our front, we found our-
selves all at once looking down upon the valley
of the Ebro, near the village of Arenas, one of
the richest, loveliest, and most romantic spots
that I ever beheld. The influence of such a
scene on the mind can scarcely be believed.
Five minutes before we were all as lively as
stones ; in a moment we were all fruits and
flowers ; and many a pair of legs, that one would
have thought had not a kick left in them, were,

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in five minutes after, seen dancing across the
bridge, to the tune of " The Downfall of Paris,"
which struck up from the bands of the different
regiments.

I lay down that night in a cottage garden,
with my head on a melon, and my eye on a
cherry tree, and resigned myself to a repose
which did not require a long courtship.

We resumed our march at daybreak on the
i6th. The road, in the first instance, wound
through orchards and luxurious gardens, and
then closed in to the edge of the river, through
a difficult and formidable pass, where the rocks
on each side, arising to a prodigious height,
hung over each other in fearful grandeur, and
in many places nearly met together over our
heads.

After following the course of the river for
nearly two miles, the rocks on each side gradually
expanded into another valley, lovely as the one
we had left, and where we found the fifth division
of our army lying encamped. They were still
asleep ; and the rising sun, and a beautiful
morning, gave additional sublimity to the scene ;
for there was nothing but the tops of the white
tents peeping above the fruit trees, and an
occasional sentinel pacing his post, that gave
any indication of what a nest of hornets the
blast of a bugle could bring out of that apparently
peaceful solitude.

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Our road now wound up the mountain to our
right ; and almost satiated with the continued
grandeur around us, we arrived in the afternoon
at the town of Medina, and encamped a short
distance beyond it.

We were welcomed into every town or village
through which we passed by the peasant girls,
who were in the habit of meeting us with gar-
lands of flowers, and dancing before us in a
peculiar style of their own ; and it not un-
frequently happened, that while they were so
employed with one regiment, the preceding one
was diligently engaged in pulling down some of
their houses for firewood a measure which we
were sometimes obliged to have recourse to where
no other fuel could be had, and for which they
were ultimately paid by the British govern-
ment ; but it was a measure that was more likely
to have set the poor souls dancing mad than
for joy, had they foreseen the consequences of our
visit.

June iyth. We had not seen anything of the
enemy since we left the neighbourhood of Burgos ;
but after reaching our ground this evening, we
were aware that some of their videttes were feeling
for us.

On the morning of the i8th, we were ordered
to march to San Milan, a small town about two
leagues off; and where, on our arrival on the
hill above, we found a division of French in-

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

fantry, as strong as ourselves, in the act of crossing
our path. The surprise, I believe, was mutual,
though I doubt whether the pleasure was equally
so ; for we were red hot for an opportunity of
retaliating for the Salamanca retreat ; and as
the old saying goes, " There is no opportunity
like the present." Their leading brigade had
nearly passed before we came up, but not a
moment was lost after we did. Our battalion
dispersing among the brushwood, went down the
hill upon them ; and, with a destructive fire,
broke through their line of march, supported
by the rest of the brigade. Those that had
passed made no attempt at a stand, but con-
tinued their flight, keeping up as good a fire as
their circumstances would permit ; while we
kept hanging on their flank and rear, through a
good rifle country, which enabled us to make
considerable havoc among them. Their general's
aid-de-camp, among others, was mortally
wounded : and a lady, on a white horse, who
probably was his wife, remained beside him until
we came very near. She appeared to be in
great distress ; but though we called to her to
remain, and not to be alarmed, yet she galloped
off as soon as a decided step became necessary.
The object of her solicitude did not survive
many minutes after we reached him. We fol-
lowed the retreating foe until late in the after-
noon. On this occasion our brigade came in for

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all the blows, and the other for all the baggage,
which was marching between the two French
brigades ; the latter of which, seeing the scrape
into which the first had fallen, very prudently
left it to its fate, and dispersed on the opposite
mountains, where some of them fell into the
hands of a Spanish force that was detached in
pursuit ; but I believe the greater part succeeded
in joining their army the day after the battle of
Vittoria.

We heard a heavy cannonade all day to our
left, occasioned, as we understood, by the fifth
division falling in with another detachment of
the enemy, which the unexpected and rapid move-
ments of Lord Wellington was hastening to their
general point of assembly.

On the early part of the igth, we were fagging
up the face of a mountain, under a sultry hot sun,
until we came to a place where a beautiful clear
stream was dashing down the face of it, when the
division was halted, to enable the men to refresh
themselves. Every man carries a cup, and every
man ran and swallowed a cup full ! It was salt
water from the springs of Salinas ; and it was
truly ludicrous to see their faces after taking such
a voluntary dose ! I observed an Irishman, who,
not satisfied with the first trial, and believing
that his cup had been infested by some salt
breaking loose in his haversack, washed it care-
fully and then drank a second, when, finding no

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

change, he exclaimed, " By J s, boys, we must
be near the sea, for the water's getting salt ! "
We soon after passed through the village of
Salinas, situated at the source of the stream,
where there is a considerable salt manufactory.
The inhabitants were so delighted to see us,
that they placed buckets full of it at the doors
of the different houses, and entreated our men
to help themselves as they passed along. It
rained hard in the afternoon, and it was late
before we got to our ground. We heard a good
deal of firing in the neighbourhood in the course
of the day, but our division was not engaged.

We retained the same bivouac all day on the
2oth ; it was behind a range of mountains
within a short distance of the left of the enemy's
position, as we afterwards discovered ; and
though we heard an occasional gun, from the
other side of the mountain, in the course of the
day, fired at Lord Wellington's reconnoitring
party, the peace of our valley remained undis-
turbed.

157

CHAPTER XIII

Battle of Vittoria Defeat of the Enemy Confusion among their
Followers Plunder Colonel Cameron Pursuit, and the Capture of
their Last Gun Arrive near Pampeluna At Vilklba An Irish method
of making a useless Bed useful.

BATTLE OF VITTORIA
June 2ist, 1813

OUR division got under arms this morning
before daylight, and 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 ad-
vanced 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, to-
gether with some Spanish troops, attempting

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

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, and with whom we were quickly engaged
in a warm skirmish. The affair with Sir Rowland
Hill became gradually wanner, 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 out-
posts. 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 further 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 not 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

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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.

The battle now commenced in earnest ; and
this was perhaps the most interesting moment
of the whole day. Sir Thomas Graham's artil-
lery, with the first and fifth divisions, began to
be heard far to our left, beyond Vittoria. The
bridge which we had just cleared, stood so near
to a part of the enemy's position, that the seventh
division was instantly engaged in close action
with them at that point.

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

1 60

tHE RIFLE BRIGADE

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 videttes, who were im-
prudent 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 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 im-
mediately 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 the artillery bearing on
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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 I " 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 a 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 one side

162

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

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 put 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 posi-
tions required little more than the time neces-
sary 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 Row-
land 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 morti-
fication to see them gradually heading us, until
they finally made their escape. I have no doubt
but that our mounted gentlemen were doing
their duty as they ought in another part of the
field ; yet it was impossible to deny ourselves
the satisfaction of cursing them all, because a
portion had not been there at such a critical

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moment. 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 fol-
lowers with baggage, guns, carriages, Sec., 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

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

drivers, finding that one pair of legs was worth
two pair of wheels, abandoned it all to the victors.

Many of their followers who had light car-
riages endeavoured to make their escape through
the fields ; but it only served to prolong their
misery.

I shall never forget the first that we over-
took : it was in the midst of a stubble-field
for some time between us and the French skir-
mishers the driver doing all he could to urge
the horses along : but our balls began to whistle
so plentifully about his ears, that he at last
dismounted in despair, and, getting on his knees,
under the carriage, began praying. His place
on the box was quickly occupied by as many
of our fellows as could stick on it, while others
were scrambling in at the doors on each side,
and not a few on the roof, handling the baskets
there so roughly, as to occasion loud complaints
from the fowls within. I rode up to the carriage,
to see that the people inside were not improperly
treated ; but the only one there was an old gouty
gentleman, who, from the nature of his cargo,
must either have robbed his own house, or that
of a very good fellow, for the carriage was literally
laden with wines and provisions. Never did
victors make a more legal or useful capture ;
for it was now six in the evening, and it had
evidently been the old gentleman's fault if he
had not already dined, whereas it was our mis-

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fortune, rather than our fault, that we had not
tasted any thing since three o'clock in the morning ;
so that when one of our men knocked the neck
off a bottle, and handed it to me, to take a drink,
I nodded to the old fellow's health, and drank
it off without the smallest scruple of conscience.
It was excellent claret ; and if he still lives to
tell the story, I fear he will not give us the credit
of having belonged to such a civil department
as his seemed to be.

We did not cease the pursuit until dark, and
then halted in a field of wheat, about two miles
beyond Vittoria. The victory was complete.
They carried off only one howitzer out of their
numerous artillery, which, with baggage, stores,
provisions, money, and everything that constitutes
the materiel of an army, fell into our hands.

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 en-
riching himself with impunity, while the true
man gets nothing ; but the evil I believe is

166

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

irremediable. Sir James Kempt, who com-
manded our brigade, in passing one of the cap-
tured wagons 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 wagon
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 !

Among the evil chances of that glorious day,
I had to regret the temporary loss of Colonel
Cameron a bad wound in the thigh having
obliged him to go to England. Of him I can
truly say, that, as a friend, his heart was in the
right place, and, as a soldier, his right place was
at the head of a regiment in the face of an enemy.
I never saw an officer feel more at home in such
a situation, nor do I know any one who could
fill it better,

A singular accident threw me in the way of
a dying French officer, who gave me a group of

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family portraits to transmit to his friends ; but,
as it was not until the following year that I had
an opportunity of making the necessary inquiries
after them, they had then left their residence,
and were nowhere to be heard of.

As not only the body, but the mind, had
been in constant occupation since three o'clock
in the morning, circumstances no sooner per-
mitted (about ten at night) than I threw my-
self on the ground, and fell into a profound
sleep, from which I did not awake until broad day-
light, 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 would 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 ensure
him a trip to England free of expense.

About mid-day on the 22d, our three battalions,
with some cavalry and artillery, were ordered in
pursuit of the enemy.

I do not know how it is, but I have always had
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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

a mortal objection to be killed the day after a
victory. In the actions preceding a battle, or
in the battle itself, it never gave me much un-
easiness, as being all in the way of business ; but,
after surviving the great day, I always felt as if
I had a right to live to tell the story ; and I
therefore did not find the ensuing three days 5
fighting half so pleasant as they otherwise would
have been.

Darkness overtook us this night without our
overtaking the enemy ; and we halted in a grove
of pines, exposed to a very heavy rain. In im-
prudently shifting my things from one tree to
another, after dark, some rascal contrived to
steal the valise containing my dressing things,
than which I do not know a greater loss, when
there is no possibility of replacing any part of
them.

We overtook their rear-guard early on the
following day, and, hanging on their line of
march until dark, we did them all the mischief
that we could. They burnt every village through
which they passed, under the pretence of im-
peding our movements ; but as it did not make
the slightest difference in that respect, we could
only view it as a wanton piece of cruelty.

On the 24th, we were again engaged in pressing
their rear the greater part of the day ; and
ultimately, in giving them the last kick under
the walls of Pampeluna, we had the glory of

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capturing their last gun, which literally sent
them into France without a single piece of
ordnance.

Our battalion occupied, that night, a large,
well furnished, but uninhabited chateau, a short
distance from Pampeluna.

We got under arms early on the morning of
the 25th ; and passing, by a mountain-path, to
the left of Pampeluna, within range of the
guns, though they did not fire at us, circled the
town, until we reached the village of Villalba,
where we halted for the night. Since I joined
that army, I had never, up to that period, been
master of anything in the shape of a bed ; and
though I did not despise a bundle of straw,
when it could conveniently be had, yet my boat-
cloak and blanket were more generally to be seen
spread out for my reception on the bare earth,
But in proceeding to turn into them as usual this
evening, I was not a little astonished to find, in
their stead, a comfortable mattress, with a suitable
supply of linen, blankets, and pillows ; in short,
the very identical bedding on which I had slept
the night before, in the chateau, three leagues off,
and which my rascal of an Irishman had bundled
all together on the back of my mule, without
giving me the slightest hint of his intentions.
On my taking him to task about it, and telling
him that he would certainly be hanged, all that
he said in reply was, " By J s, they had more

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

than a hundred beds in that house, and not a single
soul to sleep in them." I was very much annoyed
at the time, that there was no possibility of re-
turning them to their rightful owner, as, inde-
pendent of its being nothing short of a regular
robbery, I really looked upon them as a very un-
necessary encumbrance ; but being forced, in
some measure, to indulge in their comforts, I
was not long in changing my mind : and was,
ultimately, not very sorry that the possibility of
restoration never did occur.

171

CHAPTER XIV

Match to intercept Clausel Tafalla Olite The dark End of a Night
March to Casada ClauseFs Escape Sanguessa My Tent struck
Return to Villalba Weighty Considerations on Females St. Esteban
A Severe Dance Position at Vera Souk's Advance, and Battle of
the Pyrenees His Defeat and subsequent Actions A Morning's
Ride.

, 1813.

OUR division fell in this morning, at daylight,
and, marching out of Villalba, circled round the
southern side of Pampeluna, until we reached the
great road leading to Tafalla, where we found
ourselves united with the third and fourth divi-
sions, and a large body of cavalry. The whole,
under the immediate command of Lord Welling-
ton, proceeded southward, with a view to intercept
General Clausel, who, with a strong division of
the French army, had been at Logrona, on the
day of the battle of Vittoria, and was now en-
deavouring to pass into the Pyrenees by our
right. We marched until sunset, and halted
for the night in a wood.

On the morning of the 27th we were again in
motion, and passing through a country abounding
in fruits, and all manner of delightful prospects ;
and through the handsome town of Tafalla, where
we were enthusiastically cheered by the beauteous

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

occupants of the numerous balconies overhanging
the streets. We halted for the night in an olive-
grove a short distance from Olite.

At daylight next morning we passed through
the town of Olite, and continued our route until
we began to enter among the mountains about
mid-day, when we halted two hours, to enable
the men to cook, and again resumed our march.
Darkness overtook us, while struggling through
a narrow rugged road, which wound its way along
the bank of the Arragon ; and we did not reach
our destination, at Casada, until near midnight,
where, amid torrents of rain, and in the darkness
of the night, we could find nothing but ploughed
fields on which to repose our weary limbs, nor
could we find a particle of fuel to illuminate
the cheerless scene.

Breathed there a man of soul so dead,

Who would not to himself have said,

This is a confounded comfortless dwelling.

Dear Sir Walter, pray excuse the Casadians
from your curse entailed on home haters, for if
any one of them ever succeeded in getting beyond
the mountain, by the road which I traversed, he
ought to be anathematized if ever he seek his
home again.

We passed the whole of the next day in the same
place. It was discovered that Clausel had been
walking blindly into the lion's den y when the

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alcalde of a neighbouring village had warned
him of his danger, and he was thereby enabled
to avoid us, by turning off towards Zaragossa.
We heard that Lord Wellington had caused the
informer to be hanged. I hope he did, but I
don't believe it.

On the 3Oth, we began to retrace our steps to
Pampeluna, in the course of which we halted two
nights at Sanguessa, a populous mountain town,
full of old rattle-trap houses, a good many of
which we pulled down for firewood, by way of
making room for improvements.

I was taking advantage of this extra day's
halt to communicate to my friends the important
events of the past fortnight, when I found myself
all at once wrapped into a bundle, with my tent-
pole and tent rolling upon the earth, mixed up
with my portable table and writing utensils,
while the devil himself seemed to be dancing
a hornpipe over my body ! Although this is a
sort of thing that one will sometimes submit to,
when it comes by way of illusion, at its proper
time and place, such as a midnight visit from a
night-mare ; yet, as I seemed now to be visited
by a horse as well as a mare, and that, too, in the
middle of the day, and in the midst of a crowded
camp, it was rather too much of a joke, and I
therefore sung out most lustily. I was not long
in getting extricated, and found that the whole
scene had been arranged by two rascally donkeys,

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who, in a frolicsome humour, had been chasing
each other about the neighbourhood, until they
finally tumbled into my tent, with a force which
drew every peg, and rolled the whole of it over on
the top of me ! It might have been good sport
for them, but it was none to me !

On the 3d of July, we resumed our quarters
in Villalba, where we halted during the whole
of the next day ; and were well supplied with
fish, fresh butter, and eggs, brought by the
peasantry of Biscay, who are the most manly
set of women that I ever saw. They are very
square across the shoulders ; and, what between
the quantity of fish, and the quantity of yellow
petticoats, they carry a load which an ordinary
mule might boast of.

A division of Spaniards having relieved us in
the blockade of Pampeluna, our division, on the
5th of July, advanced into the Pyrenees.

On the 7th, we took up our quarters in the
little town of St. Esteban, situated in a lovely
valley, watered by the Bidassoa. The different
valleys in the Pyrenees are very rich and fertile ;
the towns are clean and regular, and the natives
very handsome. They are particularly smart
about the limbs ; and in no other part of the
world have I seen anything, natural or artificial,
to rival the complexions of the ladies, i.e. to the
admirers of pure red and white.

We were allowed to remain several days on

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this enchanting spot, and enjoyed ourselves
exceedingly. They had an extraordinary style
of dancing, peculiar to themselves : at a parti-
cular part of the tune, they all began thumping
the floor with their feet, as hard and as fast as
they were able, not in the shape of a figure or
flourish of any kind, but even-down pounding.
I could not myself see anything either grace-
ful or difficult in the operation ; but they seemed
to think that there was only one lady among them
who could do it in perfection. She was the wife
of a French colonel, and had been left in the care
of her friends, (and his enemies :) she certainly
could pound the ground both harder and faster
than any one there, eliciting the greatest applause
after every performance ; and yet I do not think
that she could have caught a French husband by
her superiority in that particular step.

After our few days' halt, we advanced along
the banks of the Bidassoa, through a succession
of beautiful little fertile valleys, thickly studded
with clean respectable-looking farm-houses and
little villages, and bounded by stupendous, pic-
turesque, and well-wooded mountains, until we
came to the hill next to the village of Vera, which
we found occupied by a small force of the
enemy, who, after receiving a few shots from our
people, retired through the village into their
position behind it. Our line of demarcation was
then clearly seen. The mountain which the

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French army occupied was the last ridge of the
Pyrenees ; and their sentries stood on the face
of it, within pistol shot of the village of Vera,
which now became the advanced post of our
division. The Bidassoa takes a sudden turn to
the left at Vera, and formed a natural boundary
between the two armies from thence to the sea ;
but all to our right was open, and merely marked
a continuation of the valley of Vera, which was
a sort of neutral ground, in which the French
foragers and our own frequently met and helped
themselves, in the greatest good humour, while
any forage remained, without exchanging either
words or blows. The left wing of the army,
under Sir Thomas Graham, now commenced
the siege of St. Sebastian ; and as Lord Wellington
had at the time to cover both that and the blockade
of Pampeluna, our army occupied an extended
position of many miles.

Marshal Soult having succeeded to the com-
mand of the French army, and finding, towards
the end of July, that St. Sebastian was about
to be stormed, and that the garrison of Pampeluna
were beginning to get on short allowance, he
determined on making a bold push for the relief
of both places ; and assembling the whole
of his army, he forced the Pass of Maya, and
advanced rapidly upon Pampeluna. Lord
Wellington was never to be caught napping.
His army occupied too extended a position to

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offer effectual resistance at any of their advanced
posts ; but by the time that Marshal Soult
had worked his way up to the last ridge of the
Pyrenees, and within sight of " the haven of his
wishes," he found his Lordship waiting for him,
with four divisions of the army, who treated him
to one of the most signal and sanguinary defeats
that he ever experienced.

Our division, during the important move-
ments on our right, was employed in keeping
up the communication between the troops under
the immediate command of Lord Wellington,
and those under Sir Thomas Graham at St.
Sebastian. We retired, the first day, to the
mountains behind Le Secca ; and just as we were
about to lie down for the night, we were again
ordered under arms, and continued our retreat
in utter darkness, through a mountain path,
where, in many places, a false step might have
rolled a fellow as far as the other world. The
consequence was, that although we were kept
on our legs during the whole of the night, we
found, when daylight broke, that the tail of the
column had not got a quarter of a mile from their
starting-post.

On a good broad road it is all very well ; but,
on a narrow bad road, a night march is like a
night-mare, harassing a man to no purpose.

On the z6th, we occupied a ridge of mountain
near enough to hear the battle, though not in a

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

situation to see it ; and remained the whole of
the day in the greatest torture, for want of news.
About midnight we heard the joyful tidings of
the enemy's defeat with the loss of four thousand
prisoners. Our division proceeded in pursuit*
at daylight on the following morning.

We moved rapidly by the same road on which
we had retired ; and, after a forced march,
found ourselves, when near sunset, on the flank
of their retiring column, on the Bidassoa, near
the bridge of Janca, and immediately proceeded
to business.

The sight of a Frenchman always acted like
a cordial on the spirits of a rifleman ; and the
fatigues of the day were forgotten as our three
battalions extended among the brushwood, and
went down to " knock the dust out of their
hairy knapsacks/ 5 1 as our men were in the
habit of expressing themselves ; but, in place
of knocking the dust out of them, I believe that
most of their knapsacks were knocked in the dust ;
for the greater part of those who were not floored
along with their knapsacks, shook them off by
way of enabling the owner to make a smarter
scramble across that portion of the road on which
our leaden shower was pouring : and, foes as
they were, it was impossible not to feel a degree
of pity for their situation ; pressed by an enemy
in their rear, an inaccessible mountain on their
1 The French knapsack is made of unshorn goat-skin.

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right, and a river on their left, lined by an invisible
foe, from whom there was no escape but the
desperate one of running the gauntlet. However,

" as every has his day/' and this was ours,

we must stand excused for making the most of it.
Each company, as they passed, gave us a volley ;
but as they had nothing to guide their aim, except
the smoke from our rifles, we had very few men
hit.

Amongst other papers found on the road
that night, one of our officers discovered the
letter-book of the French military secretary,
with his correspondence included to the day
before. It was immediately sent to Lord Well-
ington.

We advanced next morning, and occupied
our former post at Vera. The enemy still
continued to hold the mountain of Echalar,
which, as it rose out of the right end of our
ridge, was, properly speaking, a part of our
property ; and we concluded, that a sense of
justice would have induced them to leave it of
their own accord in the course of the day ; but
when, towards the afternoon, they showed no
symptoms of quitting, our division, leaving
their kettles on the fire, proceeded to eject them.
As we approached the mountain, the peak of it
caught a passing cloud, which gradually descended
in a thick fog, and excluded the enemy from our
view. Our three battalions, however, having

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

been let loose, under Colonel Barnard, we soon
made ourselves " Children of the Mist " ; and,
guided to our opponents by the whistling of
their balls, made them descend from their " high
estate " ; and, handing them across the valley
into their own position, we then retired to ours,
where we found our tables already spread, and a
comfortable dinner awaiting us.

This was one of the most gentlemanlike
days' fighting that I ever experienced, although
we had to lament the vacant seats of one or two
of our messmates.

August 22d. I narrowly escaped being taken
prisoner this morning, very foolishly. A divi-
sion of Spaniards occupied the ground to our
left, beyond the Bidassoa ; and, having mounted
my horse to take a look at their post, I passed
through a small village and then got on a rugged
path winding along the edge of the river, where
I expected to find their outposts. The river,
at that place, was not above knee deep, and about
ten or twelve yards across ; and though I saw
a number of soldiers gathering chestnuts from
a row of trees which lined the opposite bank,
I concluded that they were Spaniards, and kept
moving onwards ; but, observing at last that I
was an object of greater curiosity than I ought
to be to people who had been in the daily habit of
seeing the uniform, it induced me to take a more
particular look at my neighbours ; when, to my

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

consternation, I saw the French eagle ornamenting
the front of every cap. I instantly wheeled my
horse to the right about ; and, seeing that I had
a full quarter of a mile to traverse at a walk,
before I could get clear of them, I began to
whistle with as much unconcern as I could
muster, while my eyes were searching, like
lightning, for the means of escape, in the event
of their trying to cut me off. I had soon the
satisfaction of observing that none of them had
firelocks, which reduced my capture to the chances
of a race ; for, though the hill on my right was
inaccessible to a horseman, it was not so to a dis-
mounted Scotsman ; and I therefore deter-
mined, in case of necessity, to abandon my
horse, and show them what I could do on my
own bottom at a pinch. Fortunately they did
not attempt it ; and I could scarcely credit my
good luck when I found myself once more in
my own tent.

182

CHAPTER XV

An Anniversary Dinner Affair with the Enemy, and Fall of St. Sebastian
A Building Speculation A Fighting one, storming the Heights of
Vera A Picture of France from the Pyrenees Returns after an Action
Sold by my Pay-Serjeant A Recruit bom at his Post Between Two
Fires, a Sea and a Land one Position of La Rhune My Picture taken
in a Storm Refreshing Invention for Wintry Weather.

THE 25th of August, being our regimental
anniversary, was observed by the officers of our
three battalions with all due conviviality. Two
trenches, calculated to accommodate seventy
gentlemen's legs, were dug in the green sward ;
the earth between them stood for a table, and
behind was our seat ; and though the table
could not boast of all the delicacies of a civic
entertainment, yet

" The worms they crept in, and. the worms they crept out " :

as the earth almost quaked with the weight of
the feast, and the enemy certainly did, from
the noise of it. For so many fellows, holding
such precarious tenures of their lives, could not
meet together in commemoration of such an
event> without indulging in an occasional cheer,
not a whispering cheer, but one that echoed
far and wide into the French lines ; and as it was
a sound that had often pierced them before,

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and never yet boded them any good, we heard
afterwards that they were kept standing at their
arms the greater part of the night in consequence.
At the time of Soult's last irruption into the
Pyrenees, Sir Thomas Graham had made an
unsuccessful attempt to carry St. Sebastian by
storm ; and having ever since been prosecuting
the siege with unremitting vigour, the works
were now reduced to such a state as to justify
a second attempt, and our division sent forth
their three hundred volunteers to join the storming
party. 1 The morning on which we expected the
assault to take place, we had turned out before
daylight, as usual ; and as a thick fog hung on
the French position, which prevented our seeing
them, we turned in again at the usual time, but
had scarcely done so, when the mist rode off on
a passing breeze, showing us the opposite hills
bristling with their bayonets, and their columns
descending rapidly towards us. The bugles
instantly sounded to arms, and we formed on
our alarm posts. We thought at first that the
attack was intended for us, but they presently
began to pass the river, a little below the village of
Vera, and to advance against the Spaniards on
our left. They were covered by some mountain
guns, from which their first shell fell short,
and made such a breach in their own leading

1 Lieutenants Percival and Hamilton commanded those
from our battalion, and were both desperately wounded.

184

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

column, that we could not resist giving three
cheers to their marksman. Leaving a strong
covering party to keep our division in check
at the bridge of Vera, their main body followed
the Spaniards, who, offering little opposition,
continued retiring towards St. Sebastian.

We remained quiet the early part of the day,
under a harmless fire from their mountain
guns ; but, towards the afternoon, our battalion,
with part of the forty- third, and supported by
a brigade of Spaniards, were ordered to pass by
the bridge of Le Secca, and to move in a parallel
direction with the French, along the same ridge
of hills.

The different flanking posts of the enemy
permitted the forty-third and us to pass them
quietly, thinking, I suppose, that it was their
interest to keep the peace ; but not so with
the Spaniards, whom they kept in a regular
fever, under a smart fire, the whole way. We
took up a position at dark, on a pinnacle of the
same mountain, within three or four hundred
yards of them. There had been a heavy firing
all day to our left, and we heard, in the course
of the night, of the fall of St. Sebastian, as well
as of the defeat of the force which we had seen
following the Spaniards in that direction.

As we always took the liberty of abusing our
friends, the commissaries, whether with or with-
out reason, whenever we happened to be on short

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allowance, it is but fair to say, that when our
supporting Spanish brigadier came to compare
notes with us here, we found that we had three
days' rations in the haversack against his none.
He very politely proposed to relieve us from half
of ours, and to give a receipt for it, but we told
him that the trouble in carrying it was a pleasure !

At daylight next morning we found that the
enemy had altogether disappeared from our
front. The heavy rains during the past night
had rendered the Bidassoa no longer fordable ;
and the bridge of Vera being the only retreat
left open, it was fortunate for them that they
took advantage of it before we had time to occupy
the post with a sufficient force to defend the
passage, otherwise they would have been com-
pelled, in all probability, to have laid down
their arms.

As it was, they suffered very severely from
two companies of our second battalion, who
were on piquet there. The two captains com-
manding them were, however, killed in the affair.

We returned in the course of the day and
resumed our post at Vera, the enemy continuing
to hold theirs beyond it.

The ensuing month passed by, without pro-
ducing the slightest novelty, and we began to
get heartily tired of our situation. Our souls,
in fact, were strung for war, and peace afforded
no enjoyment, unless the place did ; and there

186

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

was none to be found in a valley of the Pyrenees,
which the ravages of contending armies had
reduced to a desert. The labours of the French
on the opposite mountain had, in the first
instance, been confined to fortification ; but,
as the season advanced, they seemed to think
that the branch of a tree, or a sheet of canvass,
was too slender a barrier between them and a
frosty night, and their fortified camp was gradu-
ally becoming a fortified town, of regular brick
and mortar. Though we were living under
the influence of the same sky, we did not think it
necessary to give ourselves the same trouble,
but reasoned on their proceedings like philo-
sophers, and calculated, from the aspect of the
times, that there was a probability of a speedy
transfer of property, and that it might still be
reserved for us to give their town a name : nor
were we disappointed. Late on the night of
the yth of October, Colonel Barnard arrived from
head-quarters, with the intelligence that the next
was to be the day of trial. Accordingly, on the
morning of the 8th, the fourth division came up to
support us, and we immediately inarched down to
the foot of the enemy's position, shook off our
knapsacks before their faces, and went at them.
The action commenced by five companies
of our third battalion advancing, under Colonel
Ross, to dislodge the enemy from a hill which
they occupied in front of their intrenchments ;

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and there never was a movement more beautifully
executed, for they walked quietly and steadily
up, and swept them regularly off without firing
a single shot until the enemy had turned their
backs, when they then served them out with a
most destructive discharge. The movement
excited the admiration of all who witnessed it,
and added another laurel to the already crowded
wreath which adorned the name of that dis-
tinguished officer.

At the first look of the enemy's position, it
appeared as if our brigade had got the most
difficult task to perform ; but, as the capture
of this hill showed us a way round the flank of
their intrenchments, we carried one after the
other, until we finally gained the summit, with
very little loss. Our second brigade, however,
were obliged to take " the bull by the horns, 3 '
on their side, and suffered more severely ; but
they rushed at everything with a determination
that defied resistance, carrying redoubt after
redoubt at the point of the bayonet, until they
finally joined us on the summit of the mountain,
with three hundred prisoners in their possession.

We now found ourselves firmly established
within the French territory, with a prospect
before us that was truly refreshing, considering
that we had not seen the sea for three years,
and that our views, for months, had been con-
fined to fogs and the peaks of mountains. On
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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

our left, the Bay of Biscay lay extended as far
as the horizon, while several of our ships of war
were seen sporting upon her bosom. Beneath
us lay the pretty little town of St. Jean de Luz,
which looked as if it had just been framed out
of the Lilliputian scenery of a toy-shop. The
town of Bayonne, too, was visible in the distance ;
and the view to the right embraced a beautiful
well-wooded country, thickly studded with towns
and villages, as far as the eye could reach.

Sir Thomas Graham, with the left wing of
the army, had, the same morning, passed the
Bidassoa, and established them also within the
French boundary. A brigade of Spaniards, on
our right, had made a simultaneous attack on
La Rhune, the highest mountain on this part of
the Pyrenees, and which, since our last advance,
was properly now a part of our position. The
enemy, however, refused to quit it ; and the
firing between them did not cease until long after
dark.

The affair in which we were engaged termi-
nated, properly speaking, when we had expelled
the enemy from the mountain ; but some of our
straggling skirmishers continued to follow the
retiring foe into the valley beyond, with a view,
no doubt, of seeing what a French house con-
tained.

Lord Wellington, preparatory to this move-
ment, had issued an order requiring that private

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property, of every kind, should be strictly re-
spected ; but we had been so long at war with
France, that our men had been accustomed
to look upon them as their natural enemies,
and could not, at first, divest themselves of the
idea that they had not a right to partake of the
good things abounding about the cottage doors.
Our commandant, however, was determined
to see the order rigidly enforced ; and it was
therefore highly amusing to watch the return
of the depredators. The first who made his
appearance was a bugler, carrying a goose, which,
after he had been well beaten about the head
with it, was transferred to the provost-marshal.
The next was a soldier, with a calf ; the soldier
was immediately sent to the quarter-guard, and
the calf to the provost-marshal. He was fol-
lowed by another soldier, mounted on a horse,
who were also both consigned to the same keeping ;
but, on the soldier stating that he had only got
the horse in charge from a volunteer, who was at
that time attached to the regiment, he was set
at liberty. Presently the volunteer himself came
up, and, not observing the colonel lying on the
grass, called out among the soldiers, " Who is
the rascal that sent my horse to the provost-
marshal ? " " It was I ! " said the colonel, to
the utter confusion of the querist. Our chief
was a good deal nettled at these irregularities ;
and, some time after, on going to his tent, which

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

was pitched between the roofless walls of a house,
conceive his astonishment at finding the calf
and the goose hanging in his own larder ! He
looked serious for a moment, but on receiving
an explanation, and after the row he had made
about them, the thing was too ridiculous, and he
burst out laughing. It is due to all concerned
to state that they had, at last, been honestly come
by, for I, as one of his messmates, had purchased
the goose from the proper quarter, and another
had done the same by the calf.

Not anticipating this day's fight, I had given
my pay-serjeant twenty-five guineas, the day
before, to distribute among the company : and
I did not discover, until too late, that he had
neglected to do it, as he disappeared in the course
of the action, and was never afterwards heard of.
If he was killed, or taken prisoner, he must have
been a prize to somebody, though he left me a
blank.

Among other incidents of the day, one of our
men had a son and heir presented to him by
his Portuguese wife, soon after the action. She
had been taken in labour while ascending the
mountain ; but it did not seem to interfere
with her proceedings in the least, for she, and
her child, and her donkey, came all three screech-
ing into the camp, immediately after, telling the
news, as if it had been something very extra-
ordinary, and none of them a bit the worse.

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On the morning of the 9th, we turned out,
as usual, an hour before daylight. The sound
of musketry, to our right, in our own hemisphere,
announced that the French and Spaniards had
resumed their unfinished argument of last night,
relative to the occupation of La Rhune ; while
at the same time, " from our throne of clouds,"
we had an opportunity of contemplating, with
some astonishment, the proceedings of the nether
world. A French ship of war, considering St.
Jean de Luz no longer a free port, had endeavoured
under cover of the night, to steal alongshore to
Bayonne ; and, when daylight broke, they had
an opportunity of seeing that they were not
only within sight of their port, but within sight
of a British gun-brig, and, if they entertained
any doubts as to which of the two was nearest,
their minds were quickly relieved on that point,
by finding that they were not within reach of
their port, and strictly within reach of the guns of
the brig, while two British frigates were bearing
down with a press of canvass. The Frenchman
returned a few broadsides : he was double the
size of the one opposed to him ; but, conceiving
his case to be hopeless, he at length set fire to
the ship, and took to his boats. We watched
the progress of the flames until she finally blew
up, and disappeared in a column of smoke.
The boats of our gun-brig were afterwards seen
employed in picking up the odds and ends.

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

Our friends, the Spaniards, I have no doubt,
would have been very glad to have got rid of
their opponents in the same kind of way, either
by their going without the mountain, or by
their taking it with them. But the mountain
stood and the French stood, until we began to
wish the mountain, the French, and the
Spaniards at the devil ; for, although we knew
that the affair between them was a matter of no
consequence whichever way it went, yet it was
impossible for us to feel quite at ease, while a
fight was going on so near. It was therefore a
great relief when, in the afternoon, a few com-
panies of our second brigade were sent to their
assistance, as the French then retired without
firing another shot. Between the French and
us there was no humbug ; it was either peace
or war. The war, on both sides, was conducted
on the grand scale, and, by a tacit sort of under-
standing, we never teazed each other unnecessarily.

The French, after leaving La Rhune, estab-
lished their advanced post on La Petite Rhune,
a mountain that stood as high as most of its
neighbours ; but, as its name betokens, it was
but a child to its gigantic namesake, of which
it seemed as if it had, at a former period, formed
a part ; but having been shaken off, like a useless
galloche, it stood gaping, open-mouthed, at the
place it had left, (and which had now become our
advanced post,) while the enemy proceeded to
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furnish its jaws with a set of teeth, or, in other
words, to face it with breastworks, &c. a measure
which they invariably had recourse to in every
new position.

Encamped on the face of La Rhune, we re-
mained a whole month idle spectators of their
preparations, and dearly longing for the day
that should afford us an opportunity of pene-
trating into the more hospitable-looking low
country beyond them ; for the weather had
become excessively cold, and our camp stood
exposed to the utmost fury of the almost nightly
tempest. Oft have I, in the middle of the
night, awoke from a sound sleep, and found
my tent on the point of disappearing in the
air, like a balloon, and, leaving my warm blankets,
been obliged to snatch the mallet, and rush out
in the midst of a hail-storm, to peg it down. I
think that I now see myself looking like one of
those gay creatures of the elements who dwelt
(as Shakespeare has it) among the rainbows !

By way of contributing to the warmth of my
tent, I dug a hole inside, which I arranged as a
fireplace, carrying the smoke underneath the
walls, and building a turf chimney outside. I
was not long in proving the experiment, and,
finding that it went exceedingly well, I was not
a little vain of the invention. However, it
came on to rain very hard while I was dining
at a neighbouring tent, and on my return to

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

my own, I found the fire not only extinguished,
but a fountain playing from the same place, up
to the roof, watering my bed and baggage, and
all sides of it, most refreshingly. This showed
me, at the expense of my night's repose, that the
rain oozed through the thin spongy surface of
the earth, and, in particular places, rushed down
in torrents between the earth and the rock which
it covered ; and any incision in the former was
sure to produce a fountain.

It was very singular that, notwithstanding
our exposure to all the severities of the worst
of weather, we had not a single sick man in the
battalion while we remained there.

195

CHAPTER XVI

Battle of the Nivelle, and Defeat of the Enemy A Bird of Evil Omen
Chateau D'Arcangues Prudence An Enemy's Gratitude Passage
of the Nive, and Battles near Bayonne, from 9th to ijth December.

BATTLE OF NIVELLE
November loth, 1813

THE fall of Pampeluna having at length left
our further movements unshackled by an enemy
in the rear, preparations were made for an attack
on their position, which, though rather too
extended, was formidable by nature, and rendered
doubly so by art.

La Petite Rhune was allotted to our division,
as their first point of attack ; and accordingly,
the loth being the day fixed, we moved to our
ground at midnight on the gth. The abrupt
ridges in the neighbourhood enabled us to lodge
ourselves, unperceived, within half musket shot
of their piquets ; and we had left every descrip-
tion 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.

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

We stood to our arms at dawn of day, which
was soon followed by the signal gun ; and each
commanding officer, according to previous in-
structions, 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, never-
theless, prepared behind their intrenchments,
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 commence-
ment of the attack, it was in our possession, with
all their tents left standing.

La Petite 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 cir-
cumstance which we could only account for by

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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.

Towards the end of the action, Colonel Barnard
was struck with a musket ball, which carried him
clean off his horse. The enemy, seeing that they
had shot an officer of rank, very maliciously kept
up a heavy fire on the spot, while we were carrying
him under the brow of the hill. The ball having
passed through the lungs, he was spitting blood,
and, at the moment, had every appearance of
being in a dying state ; but, to our joy and surprise
he, that day month, rode up to the battalion
when it was in action, near Bayonne, and, I need
not add, that he was received with three hearty
cheers.

A curious fact occurred in our regiment at
this period. Prior to the action of the Nivelle,
an owl had perched itself on the tent of one of
our officers, Lieutenant Doyle. This officer was
killed in the battle, and the owl was afterwards
seen on Captain Duncan's tent. His brother
officers quizzed him on the subject, by telling
him that he was the next on the list, a joke which
Captain Duncan did not much relish ; and
it was prophetic, as he soon afterwards fell at
Tarbes.

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

The movements of the two or three days
following placed the enemy within their intrench-
ments at Bayonne, and the head-quarters of our
battalion in the Chateau D'Arcangues, with
the outposts of the division at the village of
Bassasarry and its adjacents.

I now felt myself both in a humour and a
place to enjoy an interval of peace and quietness.
The country was abundant in every comfort ;
the chateau was large, well-furnished, and un-
occupied, except by a bed-ridden grandmother,
and young Arcangues, a gay rattling young
fellow, who furnished us with plenty of good
wine, (by our paying for the same,) and made
one of our mess.

On the aoth of November a strong recon-
noitring party of the enemy examined our chain
of posts. They remained a considerable time
within half musket shot of one of our piquets ;
but we did not fire, and they seemed at last as
if they had all gone away. The place where
they had stood bounded our view in that direc-
tion, as it was a small sand hill with a mud cottage
at the end of it. After watching the spot intensely
for nearly an hour, and none showing themselves,
my curiosity would keep no longer, and, desiring
three men to follow, I rode forward to ascertain
the fact. When I cleared the end of the cottage,
I found myself within three yards of at least a
dozen of them, who were seated in a group behind

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a small hedge, with their arms laid against the
wall of the cottage, and a sentry with sloped arms,
and his back towards me, listening to their
conversation.

My first impulse was to gallop in amongst
them, and order them to surrender ; but my
three men were still twenty or thirty yards
behind, and, as my only chance of success was
by surprise, I thought the risk of the delay too
great, and, reining back my horse, I made a
signal to my men to retire, which, from the
soil being a deep sand, we were enabled to do
without the slightest noise ; but all the while
I had my ears pricked up, expecting every instant
to find a ball whistling through my body. How-
ever, as none of them afterwards showed them-
selves past the end of the cottage, I concluded
that they had remained ignorant of my visit.

We had an affair of some kind once a week,
while we remained there ; and as they were
generally trifling, and we always found a good
dinner and a good bed in the chateau on our
return, we considered them rather a relief than
otherwise.

The only instance of a want of professional
generosity that I ever had occasion to remark
in a French officer, occurred on one of these
occasions. We were about to push in their
outposts, for some particular purpose, and I
was sent with an order for Lieutenant Gardiner

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

of ours, who was on piquet, to attack the posts
in his front, as soon as he should see a corre-
sponding movement on his flank, which would
take place almost immediately. The enemy's
sentries were so near, as to be quite at Lieutenant
Gardiner's mercy, who immediately said to me,
" Well, I won't kill these unfortunate rascals
at all events, but shall tell them to go in and join
their piquet." I applauded his motives, and
rode off ; but I had only gone a short distance
when I heard a volley of musketry behind me ;
and, seeing that it had come from the French
piquet, I turned back to see what had happened,
and found that the officer commanding it had no
sooner got his sentries so generously 'restored to
him, than he instantly formed his piquet and fired
a volley at Lieutenant Gardiner, who was walking
a little apart from his men, waiting for the expected
signal. The balls all fell near, without touching
him, and, for the honour of the French army,
I was glad to hear afterwards that the officer
alluded to was a militia-man.

BATTLES NEAR BAYONNE

December 9th, xoth, nth, i2th, and i3th, 1813

The centre and left wing of our army advanced
on the morning of the gth of December, and
drove the enemy within their intrenchments,
threatening an attack on their lines. Lord

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Wellington had the double object, in this move-
ment, of reconnoitring their works, and effecting
the passage of the Nive with his right wing. The
rivers Nive and Adour unite in the town of
Bayonne ; so that while we were threatening
to storm the works on one side, Sir Rowland Hill
passed the Nive, without opposition, on the
other, and took up his ground, with his right
on the Adour and his left on the Nive, on a con-
tracted space, within a very short distance of the
walls of the town. On our side we were engaged
in a continual skirmish until dark, when we
retired to our quarters, under the supposition
that we had got our usual week's allowance, and
that we should remain quiet again for a time.
We turned out at daylight on the loth ; but,
as there was a thick drizzling rain which pre-
vented us from seeing anything, we soon turned
in again. My servant soon after came to tell
me that Sir Lowry Cole, and some of his staff,
had just ascended to the top of the chateau, a
piece of information which did not quite please
me, for I fancied that the general had just dis-
covered our quarter to be better than his own,
and had come for the purpose of taking possession
of it. However, in less than five minutes, we
received an order for our battalion to move up
instantly to the support of the piquets ; and, on
my descending to the door to mount my horse, I
found Sir Lowry standing there, who asked if

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

we had received any orders ; and, on my telling
him that we had been ordered up to support the
piquets, he immediately desired a staff officer
to order up one of his brigades to the rear of
the chateau. This was one of the numerous
instances in which we had occasion to admire
the prudence and forethought of the great
Wellington. He had foreseen the attack that
would take place, and had his different divisions
disposed to meet it. We no sooner moved up,
than we found ourselves a party engaged along
with the piquets ; and under a heavy skirmishing
fire, retiring gradually from hedge to hedge,
according as the superior force of the enemy
compelled us to give ground, until we finally
retired within our home, the chateau, which was
the first part of our position that was meant to
be defended in earnest. We had previously
thrown up a mud rampart around it, and loop-
holed the different out-houses, so that we had
nothing now to do, but to line the walls and show
determined fight. The forty-third occupied the
churchyard to our left, which was also partially
fortified ; and the third Ca?adores, and our third
battalion, occupied the space between, behind
the hedge-rows, while the fourth division was
in readiness to support us from the rear. The
enemy came up to the opposite ridge, in for-
midable numbers, and began blazing at our
windows and loop-holes, and showing some

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disposition to attempt it by storm ; but they
thought better of it. and withdrew their columns
a short distance to the rear, leaving the nearest
hedge lined with their skirmishers. An officer
of ours, Mr. Hopewood, and one of our Serjeants,
had been killed in the field opposite, and were
lying within twenty yards of the enemy's skir-
mishers. We were very anxious to get possession
of their bodies, but had not force enough to effect
it. Several French soldiers came through the
hedge, at different times, with the intention, as
we thought, of plundering, but our men shot every-
one who attempted to go near them, until towards
evening, when a French officer approached,
waving a white handkerchief and pointing to
some of his men who were following him with
shovels. Seeing that his intention was to bury
them, we instantly ceased firing, nor did we
renew it again that night.

The forty-third, from their post at the church,
kept up an incessant shower of musketry the
whole of the day, at what was conceived, at the
time, to be a very long range ; but from the
quantity of balls which were afterwards found
sticking in every tree where the enemy stood,
it was evident that their berth must have been
rather uncomfortable.

One of our officers, in the course of the day,
had been passing through a deep road- way,
between two banks, with hedge-rows, when,

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

to his astonishment, a dragoon and his horse
tumbled heels over head into the road, as if
they had been fired out of a cloud. Neither
of them were the least hurt ; but it must have
been no joke that tempted him to take such a
flight.

Soult expected, by bringing his whole force
to bear on our centre and left wing, that he
would have succeeded in forcing it, or, at all
events, of obliging Lord Wellington to withdraw
Sir Rowland Hill from beyond the Nive ; but
he effected neither, and darkness left the two
armies on the ground which they had fought on.

General Alten and Sir James Kempt took
up their quarters with us in the chateau : our
sentries and those of the enemy stood within
pistol shot of each other in the ravine below.

Young Arcangues, I presume, must have
been rather disappointed at the result of the
day ; for, even giving him credit for every
kindly feeling towards us, his wishes must still
have been in favour of his countrymen ; but
when he found that his chateau was to be a
bone of contention, it then became his interest
that we should keep possession of it ; and he
held out every inducement for us to do so ;
which, by the bye, was quite unnecessary, seeing
that our own comfort so much depended on it.
However, though his supplies of claret had
failed some days before, he now discovered

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some fresh cases in the cellar, which he imme-
diately placed at our disposal ; and, that our
dire resolve to defend the fortress should not
be melted by weak woman's wailings, he fixed
an arm-chair on a mule, mounted his grand-
mother on it, and sent her off to the rear, while
the balls were whizzing about the neighbourhood
in a manner to which even she, poor old lady,
was not altogether insensible, though she had
become a mounted heroine at a period when
she had given up all idea of ever sitting on any
thing more lively than a coffin.

During the whole of the nth each army
retained the same ground ; and though there
was an occasional exchange of shots at different
points, yet nothing material occurred.

The enemy began throwing up a six gun
battery opposite our chateau ; and we employed
ourselves in strengthening the works, as a pre-
cautionary measure, though we had not much
to dread from it, as they were so strictly within
range of our rifles, that he must have been a
lucky artilleryman who stood there to fire a
second shot.

In the course of the night a brigade of Belgians,
who were with the French army, having heard
that their country had declared for their legitimate
king, passed over to our side, and surrendered.

On the 1 2th there was heavy firing and hard
fighting all day, to our left, but we remained

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

perfectly quiet. Towards the afternoon, Sir
James Kempt formed our brigade, for the purpose
of expelling the enemy from the hill next the
chateau, to which he thought them rather too
near ; but, just as we reached our different
points for commencing the attack, we were
recalled, and nothing further occurred.

I went, about one o'clock in the morning, to
visit our different piquets ; and seeing an unusual
number of fires in the enemy's lines, I concluded
that they had lit them to mask some movement ;
and taking a patrol with me, I stole cautiously
forward, and found that they had left the ground
altogether. I immediately returned, and reported
the circumstance to General Alten, who sent off
a despatch to apprize Lord Wellington.

As soon as day began to dawn, on the morning
of the 1 3th, a tremendous fire of artillery and
musketry was heard to our right. Soult had
withdrawn everything from our front in the
course of the night, and had now attacked Sir
Rowland Hill with his whole force. Lord
Wellington, in expectation of this attack, had,
last night, reinforced Sir Rowland Hill with
the sixth division ; which enabled him to occupy
his contracted position so strongly, that Soult,
unable to bring more than his own front to bear
upon him, sustained a signal and sanguinary
defeat.

Lord Wellington galloped into the yard of
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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

our cMteau, soon after the attack had com-
menced, and demanded, with his usual quickness,
what was to be seen. Sir James Kempt, who
was spying at the action from an upper window,
told him ; and, after desiring Sir James to order
Sir Lowry Cole to follow him with the fourth
division, he galloped off to the scene of action.
In the afternoon, when all was over, he called in
again, on his return to head-quarters, and told
us, " that it was the most glorious affair that he
had ever seen ; and that the enemy had absolutely
left upwards of five thousand men, killed and
wounded, on the ground."

This was the last action in which we were
concerned near Bayonne. The enemy seemed
quite satisfied with what they had got, and
offered us no further molestation, but withdrew
within their works.

208

CHAPTER XVII

Change of Quartets Change of Diet Suttlers Our new Quarters
A long-going Horse gone New Clothing Adam's lineal Descendants
St. Palais Action at Tarbes Faubourg of Toulouse The " Green
Man " Passage of the Garonne Battle of Toulouse Peace Castle
Sarrazin A tender Point.

TOWARDS the end of the month, some divisions
of the French army having left Bayonne, and
ascended the right bank of the Adour , it produced
a corresponding movement on our side, by which
our division then occupied Ustaritz, and some
neighbouring villages ; a change of quarters we
had no reason to rejoice in.

At Arcangues, notwithstanding the influence
of our messmate, the " Seigneur du Village," our
table had, latterly, exhibited gradual symptoms
of decay. But here, our voracious predecessors
had not only swallowed the calf, but the cow,
and literally left us nothing ; so that, from an
occasional turkey, or a pork pie, we were now,
all at once, reduced to our daily ration of a
withered pound of beef. A great many neces-
saries of life could certainly be procured from
St. Jean de Luz ; but the prices there were
absolutely suicidal. The suttlers' shops were
too small to hold both their goods and their
consciences, so that every pin's-worth they sold
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cost us a dollar ; and as every dollar cost us seven
shillings, they were, of course, not so plenty as
bad dinners. I have often regretted that the
enemy never got an opportunity of having the
run of their shops for a few minutes, that they
might have been, in some measure, punished
for their sins, even in this world.

The house that held our table, too, was but
a wretched apology for the one we had left. A
bitter wind continued to blow ; and as the
granary of a room which we occupied, on the
first floor, had no fireplace, we immediately
proceeded to provide it with one, and continued
filling it up with such a load of bricks and mortar,
that the first floor was on the point of becoming
the ground one ; and having only a choice of
evils on such an emergency, we, as usual, adopted
that which appeared to us to be the least, cutting
down the only two fruit trees in the garden to
prop it up with. We were rather on doubtful
terms with the landlord before, but this put us
all square no terms at all.

Our animals, too, were in a woful plight, for
want of forage. We were obliged to send our
baggage ones, every week, for their rations of
corn, three days' march, through oceans of
mud, which might have been navigated with
boats. The whole cavalcade always moved
under the charge of an officer ; and many were
the anxious looks that we took with our spy-

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

glasses, from a hill overlooking the road, on the
days of their expected return, each endeavouring
to descry his own. Mine came back to me
twice ; but " the pitcher that goes often to the
well " was verified in his third trip, for he
perished in a muddy grave.

His death, however, was not so unexpected
as it might have been ; for although I cannot
literally say that he had been dying by inches,
seeing that he had walked all the way from the
frontiers of Portugal, yet he had nevertheless
been doing it on the grand scale by miles. I
only fell in with him the day before the com-
mencement of the campaign, and, after recon-
noitring him with my usual judgment, and
seeing that he was in possession of the regulated
quantity of eyes, legs, and mouth, and concluding
that they were all calculated to perform their
different functions, I took him, as a man does
his wife, for better and for worse ; and it was not
until the end of the first day's march that I found
he had a broken jaw-bone, and could not eat,
and I had therefore been obliged to support him
all along on spoon diet. He was a capital horse
only for that !

It has already been written , in another man's
book, that we always require just a little more
than we have got to make us perfectly happy ;
and, as we had given this neighbourhood a fair
trial, and that little was not to be found in it, we

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were very glad when, towards the end of Feb-
ruary, we were permitted to look for it a little
further on* We broke up from quarters on the
2ist, and leaving Sir John Hope, with the left
wing of the army, in the investment of Bayonne,
Lord Wellington followed Soult with the re-
mainder.

The new clothing for the different regiments
of the army had, in the meantime, been gradually
arriving at St. Jean de Luz ; and as the com-
missariat transportwas requiredfor other purposes,
not to mention that a man's new coat always
looks better on his own back than it does on a
mule's, the different regiments marched there
for it in succession. It did not come to our turn
until we had taken a stride to the front, as far as
La Bastide : our retrograde movement, therefore,
obliged us to bid adieu to our division for some
time.

On our arrival at St. Jean de Luz, we found
our new clothing, and some new friends in the
family of our old friend, Arcangues, which was
one of the most respectable in the district, and
who showed us a great deal of kindness. As
it happened to be the commencement of Lent,
the young ladies were, at first, doubtful as to
the propriety of joining in any of the gaieties ;
but, after a short consultation, they arranged
it with their consciences, and joined in the
waltz right merrily. Mademoiselle was really

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

an exceedingly nice girl, and the most lively
companion in arms (in a waltz) that I ever met.

Our clothing detained us there two days :
on the third, we proceeded to rejoin the division.

The pride of ancestry is very tenaciously
upheld among the Basques, who are the moun-
taineers of that district. I had a fancy that
most of them grew wild, like their trees, without
either fathers or mothers, and was therefore
much amused one day to hear a fellow with a
Tarn o' Shanter's bonnet, and a pair of bare
legs, tracing his descent from the first man, and
maintaining that he spoke the same language
too. He might have added, if further proof
were wanting, that he also wore the same kind
of shoes and stockings.

On the 2yth February, 1814, we marched
all day to the tune of a cannonade : it was the
battle of Orthes ; and on our arrival, in the
evening, at the little town of St. Palais, we were
very much annoyed to find the seventy-ninth
regiment stationed there, who handed us a general
order, desiring that the last arrived regiment
should relieve the preceding one in charge of
the place* This was the more vexatious, knowing
that there was no other regiment behind to relieve
us. It was a nice little town, and we were treated
by the inhabitants like friends and allies, ex-
periencing much kindness and hospitality from
them ; but a rifleman in the rear, is like a fish

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out of the water : he feels that he is not in his
place. Seeing no other mode of obtaining a
release, we at length began detaining the different
detachments who were proceeding to join their
regiments, with a view of forriiing a battalion
of them ; but by the time that we had collected
a sufficient number for that purpose, we received
an order from head-quarters to join the army ;
when, after a few days' forced marches, we had
at length the happiness of overtaking our division
a short distance beyond the town of Aire. The
battle of Orthes was the only affair of consequence
that had taken place during our absence.

We remained stationary, near Aire, until the
middle of March, when the army was again
put in motion.

On the morning of the igth, while we were
marching along the road, near the town of Tarbes,
we saw what appeared to be a small piquet
of the enemy, on the top of a hill to our left,
looking down upon us, when a company of our
second battalion was immediately sent to dislodge
them. The enemy, however, increased in number
in proportion to those sent against them, until
not only the whole of the second, but our own,
and the third battalion were eventually brought
into action ; and still we had more than double
our number opposed to us ; but we, nevertheless,
drove them from the field with great slaughter,
after a desperate struggle of a few minutes, in

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which we had eleven officers killed and wounded.
As this fight was purely a rifle one, and took place
within sight of the whole army, I hope the
reader will excuse my blushes while I give the
following quotation from the author of Twelve
Years' Military Adventure, who was a spec-
tator, and who, in allusion to this affair, says,
" Our rifles were immediately sent to dislodge
the French from the hills on our left, and our
battalion was ordered to support them. Nothing
could exceed the manner in which the ninety-
fifth set about the business. . . . Certainly I
never saw such skirmishers as the ninety-fifth,
now the rifle brigade. They could do the work
much better and with infinitely less loss than any
other of our best light troops. They possessed
an individual boldness, a mutual understanding,
and a quickness of eye, in taking advantage of the
ground, which, taken all together, I never saw
equalled. They were, in fact, as much superior
to the French voltigeurs, as the latter were to our
skirmishers in general. As our regiment was
often employed in supporting them, I think I
am fairly qualified to speak of their merits."

We followed the enemy until dark, when,
after having taken up our ground and lit our
fires, they rather maliciously opened a cannonade
upon us ; but, as few of their shots took effect,
we did not put ourselves to the inconvenience of
moving, and they soon desisted.

ADVENTURES IN

We continued in pursuit daily, until we finally
arrived on the banks of the Garonne, opposite
Toulouse. The day after our arrival an attempt
was made, by the engineers, to throw a bridge
across the river, above the town ; and we had
assembled one morning, to be in readiness to
pass over, but they were obliged to abandon it
for the want of the necessary number of pontoons,
and we returned again to quarters.

We were stationed, for several days, in the
suburb of St. Ciprien, where we found ourselves
exceedingly comfortable. It consisted chiefly of
the citizens' country houses, and an abundance
of the public tea and fruit accommodations,
with which every large city is surrounded, for
the temptation of Sunday parties ; and as the
inhabitants had all fled hurriedly into town,
leaving their cellars, generally speaking, well
stocked with a tolerable kind of wine, we made
ourselves at home.

It was finally determined that the passage
of the river should be tried below the town,
and, preparatory thereto, we took ground to
our left, and got lodged in the chateau of a rich
old West-Indiaman. He was a tall ramrod
of a fellow, upwards of six feet high, withered
to a cinder, and had a pair of green eyes, which
looked as if they belonged to somebody else,
who was looking through his eye-holes ; but,
despite his imperfections, he had got a young

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wife, and she was nursing a young child. The
" Green Man," (as we christened him) was not,
however, so bad as he looked ; and we found
our billet such a good one, that when we were
called away to fight, after a few days' residence
with him, I question, if left to our choice, whether
we would not have rather remained where we
were !

A bridge having at length been established,
about a league below the town, two British
divisions passed over ; but the enemy, by floating
timber and other things down the stream, suc-
ceeded in carrying one or two of the pontoons
from their moorings, which prevented any more
from crossing either that day or the succeeding
one. It was expected that the French would
have taken advantage of this circumstance, to
attack the two divisions on the other side ; but
they thought it more prudent to wait the attack
in their own stronghold ; and in doing so I
believe they acted wisely, for these two divisions
had both flanks secured by the river, their position
was not too extended for their numbers, and
they had a clear space in their front, which was
flanked by artillery from the commanding ground
on our side of the river ; so that, altogether, they
would have been found ugly customers, to any-
body who chose to meddle with them.

The bridge was re-established on the night
of the Qth, and, at daylight next morning, we

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bade adieu to the " Green Man/' inviting him to
come and see us in Toulouse in the evening.
He laughed at the idea, telling us that we should
be lucky fellows if ever we got in ; and, at all
events, he said, that he would bet a dejeuner a la
fourchette for a dozen, that we did not enter it
in three days from that time. I took the bet,
and won, but the old rogue never came to pay me.

We crossed the river, and advanced sufficiently
near the enemy's position to be just out of the
reach of their fire, where we waited until disposi-
tions were made for the attack, which took place
as follows :

Sir Rowland Hill, who remained on the left
bank of the Garonne, made a show of attacking
the bridge and suburb of the town on that side.

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 con-
tinuation to the left.

The Spaniards, anxious to monopolize all the
glory, I rather think, moved on to the attack a

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

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 deter-
mination ; 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, with Cuesta and some of the
other Spanish generals, they had been accus-
tomed, under such circumstances, to run a hun-
dred 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 n me, if ever I saw ten thousand

men run a race before ! " However, notwith-

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standing 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 lath.

The inhabitants of Toulouse hoisted the white
flag, and declared for the Bourbons the moment
the French army 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 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,

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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.

The news of the peace, at this period, certainly
sounded as strangely in our ears as it did in
those of the French marshal, for it was a change
that we had never contemplated. We had been
born in war, reared in war, and war was our
trade ; and what soldiers had to do in peace,
was a problem yet to be solved among us.

After remaining a few days at Toulouse, we
were sent into quarters, in the town of Castle
Sarrazin, along with our old companions in
arms, the fifty-second, to wait the necessary
arrangements for our final removal from France.

Castle Sarrazin is a respectable little town,
on the right bank of the Garonne ; and its
inhabitants received us so kindly, that every
officer found in his quarter a family home.
We there, too, found both the time and the
opportunity of exercising one of the agreeable
professions to which we had long been strangers,
that of making love to the pretty little girls
with which the place abounded ; and when,
after a three months' residence among them,
the fatal order arrived for our march to Bordeaux,

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for embarkation, the bucketsful of salt tears that
were shed by men who had almost forgotten the
way to weep, was quite ridiculous. I have never
yet, however, clearly made out whether people
are most in love when they are laughing or when
they are crying. Our greatest love writers cer-
tainly give the preference to the latter. Scott
thinks that " love is loveliest when it's bathed in
tears " ; and Moore tells his mistress to " give
smiles to those who love her less, but to keep
her tears for him " ; but what pleasure he can
take in seeing her in affliction, I cannot make
out ; nor, for the soul of me, can I see why a
face full of smiles should not be every bit as
valuable as one of tears, seeing that it is so much
more pleasant to look at.

I have rather wandered, in search of an apology
for my own countenance not having gone into
mourning on that melancholy occasion ; for,
to tell the truth, (and if I had a visage sensible
to such an impression, I should blush while I
tell it,) I was as much in love as anybody, up
nearly to the last moment, when I fell out of it,
as it were, by a miracle ; but, probably, a history
of love's last look may be considered as my
justification. The day before our departure,
in returning from a ride, I overtook my love and
her sister, strolling by the river's side, and
instantly dismounting, I joined in their walk.
My horse was following, at the length of his

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bridle-reins, and, while I was engaged in con-
versation with the sister, the other dropped
behind, and, when I looked round, I found her
mounted astride on my horse ! and with such a
pair of legs, too ! It was rather too good ; and
" Richard was himself again/ 5

Although released, under the foregoing cir-
cumstances from individual attachment, that
of a general nature continued strong as ever ;
and, without an exception on either side, I do
believe that we parted with mutual regret, and
with the most unbounded love and good feeling
towards each other. We exchanged substantial
proofs of it while together ; we continued to do
so after we had parted ; nor were we forgotten
when we were no more ! It having appeared, in
some of the newspapers, a year afterwards, that
every one of our officers had been killed at
Waterloo, and that the regiment had been
brought out of the action by a volunteer, and
the report having come to the knowledge of our
Castle Sarrazin friends, they drew up a letter,
which they sent to our commanding officer,
signed by every person of respectability in the
place, lamenting our fate, expressing a hope that
the report might have been exaggerated, and
entreating to be informed as to the particular
fate of each individual officer, whom they men-
tioned by name. They were kind good-hearted
souls, and may God bless them !

223

CHAPTER XVIII

Commencement of the "War of 1815 Embark for Rotterdam Ship's
Stock Ship struck A Pilot, a Smuggler, and a Lawyer A Boat
without Stock Join the Regiment at Brussels.

I HAVE endeavoured, in this book of mine, to
measure out the peace and the war in due pro-
portions, according to the spirit of the times it
speaks of ; and as there appears to me to be
as much peace in the last chapter as occurred
in Europe between 1814 and 1815, I shall,
with the reader's permission, lodge my regiment
at once on Dover heights, and myself in Scotland,
taking a shot at the last of the woodcocks, which
happened to be our relative positions, when
Buonaparte's escape from Elba once more sum-
moned the army to the field.

The first intimation I had of it was by a letter,
informing me of the embarkation of the battalion
for the Netherlands, and desiring me to join
them there, without delay ; and, finding that a
brig was to sail the following day from Leith
to Rotterdam, I took a passage on board of her.
She was an odd one to look at, but the captain
assured me that she was a good one to go ; and,
besides, that he had provided every thing that was
elegant for our entertainment. The latter piece

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of information I did not think of questioning
until too late to profit by it ? for I had the morti-
fication to discover, the first day, that his whole
stock consisted in a quarter of lamb, in addition
to the ship's own, with a few cabbages, and five
gallons of whisky.

After having been ten days at sea, I was awoke,
one morning before daylight, with the ship's
grinding over a sand bank, on the coast of
Holland ; fortunately it did not blow hard,
and a pilot soon after came alongside, who,
after exacting a reward suitable to the occa-
sion, at length consented to come on board,
and extricated us from our perilous situation,
carrying the vessel into the entrance of one of
the small branches of the river leading up to
Rotterdam, where we came to anchor. The
captain was very desirous of appealing to a
magistrate for a reduction in the exorbitant
demands of the pilot ; and I accompanied him
on shore for that purpose. An Englishman
made up to us at the landing-place, and said

that his name was C ; that he had made

his fortune by smuggling, and, though he was
not permitted to spend it in his native country,
that he had the greatest pleasure in being of
service to his countrymen. As this was exactly
the sort of person we were in search of, the
captain explained his grievance ; and the other
said, that he would conduct him to a gentleman

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who would soon put that to rights. We, accord-
ingly, walked to the adjoining village, in one of
the houses of which he introduced us, formally,
to a tall Dutchman, with a pipe in his mouth,
and a pen behind his ear, who, after hearing the
story, proceeded to commit it, in large characters,
to a quire of foolscap.

The cautious nature of the Scotchman did
not altogether like the appearance of the man
of business, and demanding, through the inter-
preter, whether there would be anything to
pay for his proceedings ? he was told that it
would cost five guineas. " Five devils," said
Saunders. " What is it for ? " " For a protest/'

said the other. " D n the protest," said the

captain : "I came to save five guineas, not to
pay five more." I could stand the scene no
longer, and rushed out of the house, under
the pretence of seeing the village : and on my
return to the ship, half-an-hour afterwards, I
found the captain fast asleep. I knew not
whether he had swallowed the remainder of the
five gallons of whisky, in addition to his five-
guinea grievance, but I could not shake him
out of it, although the mate and I tried, alter-
nately, for upwards of two hours ; and indeed
I never heard whether he ever got out of it,
for when I found they had to go outside to find
another passage up to Rotterdam, I did not
think it prudent to trust myself any longer in

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

the hands of such artists, and, taking leave of
the sleeper, with a last ineffectual shake, I hired
a boat to take me through the passage in which
we then were.

We started with a stiff fair wind, and the
boatman assured me that we should reach Rot-
terdam in less than five hours (forty miles ;)
but it soon lulled to a dead calm, which left us
to the tedious operation of tiding it up ; and,
to mend the matter, we had not a fraction of
money between us, nor anything to eat or drink.
I bore starvation all that day and night, with
the most Christian-like fortitude ; but, the next
morning, I could stand it no longer, and sending
the boatman on shore, to a neighbouring house,
I instructed him either to beg or steal something,
whichever he should find the most prolific ;
but he was a clumsy hand at both, and the single
spoonful of coffee with which he returned, proved
that he was but a scurvy beggarman and a villanous
bad thief. It, however, afforded some relief;
and in the afternoon we reached the town of Dort,
where, on lodging my baggage in pawn with a
French innkeeper, he advanced me the means of
going on to Rotterdam, where I got cash for the
bill which I had on a merchant there. Once more
furnished with the " sinews of war,' 5 and my
feet on terra firma, I lost no time in setting
forward to Antwerp, and from thence to Brussels,
where I had the happiness of rejoining my

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

battalion, which was then quartered in that
city.

Brussels was, at this time, a scene of extra-
ordinary preparation, from the succession of
troops who were hourly arriving, and in their
formation into brigades and divisions. We had
the good fortune to be attached to the brigade
of our old and favourite commander, Sir James
Kempt, and in the fifth division, under Sir
Thomas Picton. It was the only division quar-
tered in Brussels, the others being all towards
the French frontier, except the Duke of
Brunswick's corps, which lay on the Antwerp
road.

228

CHAPTER XIX

Relative situation of the troops March from Brussels The Prince
and the Beggar Battle of Quatre Bras.

As our division was composed of crack regiments,
under crack commanders, and headed by fire-
eating generals, we had little to do the first
fortnight after my arrival, beyond indulging
in all the amusements of our delightful quarter :
but, as the middle of June approached, we began
to get a little more on the qui vive, for we were
aware that Napoleon was about to make a dash
at some particular point ; and, as he was not the
sort of general to give his opponent an idea of the
when and the where, the greater part of our
army was necessarily disposed along the frontier,
to meet him at his own place. They were of
course too much extended to offer effectual
resistance in their advanced position ; but as
our division and the Duke of Brunswick's corps
were held in reserve at Brussels, in readiness to
be thrust at whatever point might be attacked,
they were a sufficient additional force to check
the enemy for the time required to concentrate
the army.

On the I4th of June it was generally known,
among the military circles in Brussels, that

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Buonaparte was in motion, at the head of his
troops ; and though his movement was under-
stood to point at the Prussians, yet he was not
sufficiently advanced to afford a correct clue to
his intentions.

We were, the whole of the I5th, on the most
anxious look out for news from the front ; but
no report had been received prior to the hour
of dinner. I went, about seven in the evening,
to take a stroll in the park, and meeting one of
the Duke's staff, he asked me, en passant, whether
my pack-saddles were all ready. I told him
that they were nearly so, and added, " I suppose
they won't be wanted, at all events, before
to-morrow ? " to which he replied, in the act
of leaving me, " If you have any preparation to
make, I would recommend you not to delay so
long." I took the hint, and returning to quarters,
remained in momentary expectation of an order
to move. The bugles sounded to arms about
two hours after.

To the credit of our battalion be it recorded,
that, although the greater part were in bed
when the assembly sounded, and billeted over
the most distant parts of that extensive city,
every man was on his alarm-post before eleven
o'clock, in a complete state of marching order :
whereas it was nearly two o'clock in the morning
before we were joined by the others.

As a grand ball was to take place the same
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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

night, at the Duchess of Richmond's, the order
for the assembling of the troops was accompanied
by permission, for any officer who chose, to
remain for the ball, provided that he joined his
regiment early in the morning. Several of ours
took advantage of it.

Brussels was, at that time, thronged with
British temporary residents, who, no doubt,
in the course of the two last days, must have
heard, through their military acquaintance, of
the immediate prospect of hostilities. But accus-
tomed, on their own ground, to hear of those
things as a piece of news in which they were
not personally concerned, and never dreaming
of danger in streets crowded with the gay uni-
forms of their countrymen, it was not until their
defenders were summoned to the field that
they were fully sensible of their changed cir-
cumstances ; and the suddenness of the danger
multiplying its horrors, many of them were
now seen running about in the wildest state of
distraction.

Waiting for the arrival of the other regiments,
we endeavoured to snatch an hour's repose on
the pavement ; but we were every instant dis-
turbed, by ladies as well as gentlemen, some
stumbling over us in the dark, some shaking
us out of our sleep to be told the news ; and not
a few conceiving their immediate safety depending
upon our standing in place of lying. All those

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who applied for the benefit of my advice, I
recommended to go home to bed, to keep them-
selves perfectly cool, and to rest assured that,
if their departure from the city became necessary,
(which I very much doubted,) they would have at
least one whole day to prepare for it, as we were
leaving some beef and potatoes behind us, for
which I was sure we would fight, rather than
abandon !

The whole of the division having at length
assembled, we were put in motion about three
o'clock on the morning of the i6th, and advanced
to the village of Waterloo, where, forming in a
field adjoining the road, our men were allowed to
prepare their breakfasts. I succeeded in getting
mine in a small inn, on the left hand side of the
village.

Lord Wellington joined us about nine o'clock ;
and, from his very particular orders to see that
the roads were kept clear of baggage, and every
thing likely to impede the movements of the
troops, I have since been convinced that his
Lordship had thought it probable that the
position of Waterloo might, even that day, have
become the scene of action ; for it was a good
broad road, on which there were neither the
quantity of baggage nor of troops moving at the
time, to excite the slightest apprehension of con-
fusion. Leaving us halted, he galloped on to
the front, followed by his staff ; and we were

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soon after joined by the Duke of Brunswick,
with his corps of the army.

His highness dismounted near the place where
I was standing, and seated himself on the road-
side, along with his adjutant-general. He soon
after despatched his companion on some duty ;
and I was much amused to see the vacated place
immediately filled by an old beggarman, who,
seeing nothing in the black hussar- uniform
beside him denoting the high rank of the wearer,
began to grunt and scratch himself most luxuri-
ously ! The duke showed a degree of courage
which few would, under such circumstances, for
he maintained his post until the return of his
officer, when he very jocularly said, " Well,

O n, you see that your place was not long

unoccupied ! " How little idea had I, at the
time, that the life of the illustrious speaker was
limited to three short hours !

About twelve o'clock an order arrived for
the troops to advance, leaving their baggage
behind ; and though it sounded warlike, yet
we did not expect to come in contact with the
enemy, at all events, on that day. But, as we
moved forward, the symptoms of their immediate
presence kept gradually increasing ; for we
presently met a cart load of wounded Belgians ;
and, after passing through Genappe, the distant
sound of a solitary gun struck on the listening
ear, But all doubt on the subject was quickly

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removed ; for, on ascending the rising ground,
where stands the village of Quatre Bras, we saw
a considerable plain in our front, flanked on
each side by a wood ; and on another acclivity
beyond, we could perceive the enemy descending
towards us, in most imposing numbers.

Quatre Bras, at that time, consisted of only
three or four houses ; and, as its name betokens,
I believe, stood at the junction of four roads,
on one of which we were moving ; a second,
inclined to the right ; a third, in the same degree
to the left ; and the fourth, I conclude, must
have gone backwards ; but, as I had not an eye
in that direction, I did not see it.

The village was occupied by some Belgians,
under the Prince of Orange, who had an advanced
post in a large farm-house, at the foot of the
road which inclined to the right ; and a part of
his division also occupied the wood on the same
side.

Lord Wellington, I believe, after leaving us
at Waterloo, galloped on to the Prussian position
at Ligny, where he had an interview with
Bliicher, in which they concerted measures for
their mutual co-operation. When we arrived at
Quatre Bras, however, we found him in a field
near the Belgian outpost ; and the enemy's guns
were just beginning to play upon the spot where he
stood, surrounded by a numerous staff.

We halted for a moment on the brow of the

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

hill ; and as Sir Andrew Barnard galloped
forward to the head-quarter group, I followed,
to be in readiness to convey any orders to the
battalion. The moment we approached, Lord
Fitzroy Somerset, separating himself from the
Duke, said, " Barnard, you are wanted instantly ;
take your battalion and endeavour to get possession
of that village/' pointing to one on the face of
the rising ground, down which the enemy were
moving ; " but if you cannot do that, secure
that wood on the left, and keep the road open
for communication with the Prussians/' We
instantly moved in the given direction ; but, ere
we had got half way to the village, we had the
mortification to see the enemy throw such a
force into it, as rendered any attempt to retake,
with our numbers, utterly hopeless ; and as
another strong body of them were hastening
towards the wood, which was the second object
pointed out to us, we immediately brought them
to action, and secured it. In moving to that
point, one of our men went raving mad, from
excessive heat. The poor fellow cut a few
extraordinary capers, and died in the course of a
few minutes.

While our battalion reserve occupied the front
of the wood, our skirmishers lined the side of
the road, which was the Prussian line of com-
munication. The road itself, however, was
crossed by such a shower of balls, that none but

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a desperate traveller would have undertaken a
journey on it. We were presently reinforced
by a small battalion of foreign light troops, with
whose assistance we were in hopes to have
driven the enemy a little further from it ; but
they were a raw body of men, who had never
before been under fire ; and as they could not
be prevailed upon to join our skirmishers, we
could make no use of them whatever. Their
conduct, in fact, was an exact representation
of Mathews's ludicrous one of the American
militia, for Sir Andrew Barnard repeatedly
pointed out to them which was the French, and
which our side ; and, after explaining that they
were not to fire a shot until they joined our
skirmishers, the word " March ! " was given ;
but march, to them, was always the signal to fire,
for they stood fast, and began blazing away,
chiefly at our skirmishers too, the officers on each
occasion sending back to say that they were
shooting at them ; until we were at last obliged
to be satisfied with whatever advantages their
appearance could give, as even that was of some
consequence, where troops were so scarce.

Buonaparte's attack on the Prussians had
already commenced, and the fire of artillery and
musketry, in that direction, was tremendous ;
but the intervening higher ground prevented us
from seeing any part of it.

The plain to our right, which we had just
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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

quitted, had likewise become the scene of a
sanguinary and unequal contest. Our division,
after we left it, deployed into line, and, in
advancing, met and routed the French infantry ;
but, in following up their advantage, they en-
countered a furious charge of cavalry, and were
obliged to throw themselves into squares to
receive it. With the exception of one regiment,
however, which had two companies cut to pieces,
they were not only successful in resisting the
attack, but made awful havoc in the enemy's
ranks, who nevertheless continued their forward
career, and went sweeping past them, like a
whirlwind, up to the village of Quatre Bras, to
the confusion and consternation of the numerous
useless appendages of our army, who were there
assembled, waiting the result of the battle.

The forward movement of the enemy's cavalry
gave their infantry time to rally ; and, strongly
reinforced with fresh troops, they again advanced
to the attack. This was a crisis in which, accord-
ing to Buonaparte's theory, the victory was theirs,
by all the rules of war, for they held superior
numbers, both before and behind us ; but the
gallant old Picton, who had been trained in a
different school, did not choose to confine himself
to rules in those matters : despising the force in
his rear, he advanced, charged, and routed those
in his front, which created such a panic among
the others, that they galloped back through the

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intervals in his division, with no other object
in view but their own safety. After this desperate
conflict, the firing on both sides lulled almost
to a calm for nearly an hour, while each was busy
in renewing their order of battle. The Duke
of Brunswick had been killed early in the action,
endeavouring to rally his young troops, who were
unable to withstand the impetuosity of the
French ; and, as we had no other cavalry force
in the field, the few British infantry regiments
present, having to bear the full brunt of the
enemy's superior force of both arms, were now
considerably reduced in numbers.

The battle, on the side of the Prussians, still
continued to rage in an unceasing roar of artillery.
About four in the afternoon, a troop of their
dragoons came as a patrole, to inquire how it
fared with us, and told us, in passing, that they
still maintained their position. Their day, how-
ever, was still to be decided, and indeed, for that
matter, so was our own ; for, although the firing,
for the moment, had nearly ceased, I had not
yet clearly made up my mind which side had
been the offensive, which the defensive, or which
the winning. I had merely the satisfaction of
knowing that we had not lost it ; for we had met
fairly in the middle of a field, (or, rather unfairly,
considering that they had two to one), and after
the scramble was over, our division still held the
ground they fought on. All doubts on the

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

subject, however, began to be removed about five
o'clock. The enemy's artillery once more opened ;
and, on running to the brow of the hill, to ascertain
the cause, we perceived our old light-division
general, Count Alten, at the head of a fresh
British division, moving gallantly down the road
towards us. It was indeed a joyful sight ; for,
as already mentioned, our division had suffered
so severely that we could not help looking forward
to a renewal of the action, with such a disparity
of force, with considerable anxiety ; but this
reinforcement gave us new life, and as soon as
they came near enough to afford support, we
commenced the offensive, and, driving in the
skirmishers opposed to us, succeeded in gaining
a considerable portion of the position originally
occupied by the enemy, when darkness obliged
us to desist. In justice to the foreign battalion,
which had been all day attached to us, I must
say that, in this last movement, they joined us
cordially, and behaved exceedingly well. They
had a very gallant young fellow at their head ;
and their conduct, in the earlier part of the day,
can therefore only be ascribed to its being their
first appearance on such a stage.

Leaving General Alten in possession of the
ground which we had assisted in winning, we
returned in search of our division, and reached
them about eleven at night, lying asleep in
their glory, on the field where they had fought,

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which contained many a bloody trace of the
day's work.

The firing, on the side of the Prussians, had
altogether ceased before dark, but recommenced,
with redoubled fury, about an hour after ; and
it was then, as we afterwards learnt, that they
lost the battle.

We lay down by our arms, near the farmhouse
already mentioned, in front of Quatre Bras ; and
the deuce is in it if we were not in good trim for
sleeping, seeing that we had been either marching
or fighting for twenty-six successive hours.

An hour before daybreak, next morning, a
rattling fire of musketry along the whole line
of piquets made every one spring to his arms ;
and we remained looking as fierce as possible
until daylight, when each side was seen expecting
an attack, while the piquets were blazing at one
another without any ostensible cause. It gradu-
ally ceased as the day advanced, and appeared to
have been occasioned by a patrole of dragoons
getting between the piquets by accident : when
firing commences in the dark it is not easily
stopped.

June iyth. As last night's fighting only ceased
with the daylight, the scene, this morning, pre-
sented a savage unsettled appearance ; the fields
were strewed with the bodies of men, horses,
torn clothing, and shattered cuirasses ; and
though no movement appeared to be going

240

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

on on either side, yet, as occasional shots con-
tinued to be exchanged at different points, it
kept every one wide awake. We had the satis-
faction of knowing that the whole of our army
had assembled on the hill behind in the course
of the night.

About nine o'clock, we received the news
of Bliicher's defeat, and of his retreat to Wavre.
Lord Wellington, therefore, immediately began
to withdraw his army to the position of Waterloo.

Sir Andrew Barnard was ordered to remain
as long as possible with our battalion, to mask
the retreat of the others ; and was told, if we
were attacked, that the whole of the British
cavalry were in readiness to advance to our
relief. I had an idea, however, that a single
rifle battalion in the midst of ten thousand
dragoons, would come but indifferently off in
the event of a general crash, and was by no
means sorry when, between eleven and twelve
o'clock, every regiment had got clear off, and we
followed, before the enemy had put any thing in
motion against us.

After leaving the village of Quatre Bras, and
passing through our cavalry, who were formed
on each side of the road, we drew up at the
entrance of Genappe. The rain, at that moment,
began to descend in torrents, and our men were
allowed to shelter themselves in the nearest
houses ; but we were obliged to turn out again

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in the midst of it, in less than five minutes, as
we found the French cavalry and ours already
exchanging shots, and the latter were falling
back to the more favourable ground behind
Genappe. We therefore retired with them, en
masse, through the village, and formed again
on the rising ground beyond*

While we remained there, we had an oppor-
tunity of seeing the different affairs of cavalry ;
and it did one's heart good to see how cordially
the Life Guards went at their work : they had no
idea of anything but straightforward fighting,
and sent their opponents flying in all directions.
The only young thing they showed was, in every
one who got a roll in the mud, (and owing to the
slipperiness of the ground, there were many,)
going off to the rear, according to their Hyde
Park custom, as being no longer fit to appear on
parade ; I thought, at first, that they had been
all wounded, but, on finding how the case stood,
I could not help telling them that theirs was now
the situation to verify the old proverb, " the
uglier the better soldier ! "

The roads, as well as the fields, had now
become so heavy, that our progress to the rear
was very slow ; and it was six in the evening
before we drew into the position of Waterloo.
Our battalion took post in the second line that
night, with its right resting on the Namur road,
behind La Haye Sainte, near a small mud cottage

242

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

which Sir Andrew Barnard occupied as a quarter.
The enemy arrived in front, in considerable
force, about an hour after us, and a cannonade
took place in different parts of the line, which
ended at dark, and we lay down by our arms. It
rained excessively hard the greater part of the
night ; nevertheless, having succeeded in getting
a bundle of hay for my horse, and one of straw
for myself, I secured the horse to his bundle, by
tying him to one of the men's swords stuck in the
ground, and, placing mine under his nose, I
laid myself down upon it, and never opened my
eyes again until daylight.

243

CHAPTER XX

Battle of Waterloo " A Horse ! a Horse ! " Breakfast Position
Disposition Meeting of particular Friends Dish of Powder and Ball
Fricassee of Swords End of first Course Pounding Brewing
Peppering Cutting and Maiming Fury Tantalizing Charging
Cheering Chasing Opinionizing Anecdotes The End .

BATTLE OF WATERLOO

June 1 8th, 1815

WHEN I awoke this morning, at daylight, I found
myself drenched with rain. I had slept so long
and so soundly, that I had at first but a very
confused notion of my situation ; but having a
bright idea that my horse had been my companion
when I went to sleep, I was rather startled at
finding that I was now alone ; nor could I rub
my eyes clear enough to procure a sight of him,
which was vexatious enough ; for independent
of his value as a horse, his services were indis-
pensable ; and an adjutant might as well think
of going into action without his arms as without
such a supporter. But whatever my feelings
might have been towards him, it was evident
that he had none for me, from having drawn his
sword and marched off. The chances of finding
him again, amid ten thousand others, were about
equal to the odds against the needle in a bundle
of hay ; but for once the single chance was gained,

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

as, after a diligent search of an hour, he was
discovered between two artillery horses, about
half a mile from where he broke loose.

The weather cleared up as the morning ad-
vanced ; and though everything remained quiet
at the moment, we were confident that the day
would not pass off without an engagement, and
therefore proceeded to put our arms in order, as
also to get ourselves dried and made as comfortable
as circumstances would permit.

We made a fire against the wall of Sir Andrew
Barnard's cottage, and boiled a huge camp kettle
full of tea, mixed up with a suitable quantity of
milk and sugar, for breakfast ; and as it stood on
the edge of the high road, where all the big wigs
of the army had occasion to pass, in the early
part of the morning, I believe almost every one
of them, from the Duke downwards, claimed a
cupful.

About nine o'clock, we received an order to
retain a quantity of spare ammunition in some
secure place, and to send everything in the
shape of baggage and baggage animals to the
rear. It therefore became evident that the
Duke meant to give battle in his present position ;
and it was, at the same time, generally understood
that a corps of thirty thousand Prussians were
moving to our support.

About ten o'clock, an unusual bustle was
observable among the staff officers, and we

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soon after received an order to stand to our arms.
The troops who had been stationed in our front
during the night were then moved off to the
right, and our division took up its fighting position.

Our battalion stood on what was considered
the left centre of the position. We had our
right resting on the Namur road, about a hundred
yards in the rear of the farm-house of La Haye
Sainte, and our left extending behind a broken
hedge, which ran along the ridge to the left.
Immediately in our front, and divided from La
Haye Sainte only by the great road, stood a small
knoll, with a sand-hole in its farthest side,
which we occupied as an advanced post with
three companies. The remainder of the division
was formed in two lines ; the first, consisting
chiefly of light troops, behind the hedge, in con-
tinuation from the left of our battalion reserve ;
and the second, about a hundred yards in its
rear. The guns were placed in the interval
between the brigades, two pieces were in the
road-way on our right, and a rocket brigade in
the centre.

The road had been cut through the rising
ground, and was about twenty or thirty feet
deep where our right rested, and which in a
manner separated us from all the troops beyond.
The division, I believe, under General Alten
occupied the ground next to us, on the right,
He had a light battalion of the German legion

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THE RIFLE BRIGADE

posted inside La Haye Sainte, and the household
brigade of cavalry stood under cover of the rising
ground behind him. On our left there were
some Hanoverians and Belgians, together with
a brigade of British heavy dragoons, the Royals
and Scotch Greys.

These were all the observations on the dis-
position of our army that my situation enabled
me to make. The whole position seemed to
be a gently rising ground, presenting no obstacle
at any point, excepting the broken hedge in front
of our division ; and it was only one in appearance,
as it could be passed in every part.

Shortly after we had taken up our ground,
some columns, from the enemy's left, were
seen in motion towards Hugomont, and were
soon warmly engaged with the right of our army.
A cannon ball, too, came from the Lord knows
where, for it was not fired at us, and took the
head off our right hand man. That part of their
position, in our own immediate front, next
claimed our undivided attention. It had hitherto
been looking suspiciously innocent, with scarcely
a human being upon it ; but innumerable black
specks were now seen taking post at regular
distances in its front, and recognising them as so
many pieces of artillery, I knew, from experience,
although nothing else was yet visible, that they
were unerring symptoms of our not being destined
to be idle spectators.

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From the moment we took possession of the
knoll, we had busied ourselves in collecting
branches of trees and other things for the purpose
of making an abatis to block up the road between
that and the farm-house, and soon completed
one, which we thought looked sufficiently for-
midable to keep out the whole of the French
cavalry ; but it was put to the proof sooner
then we expected, by a troop of our own light
dragoons, who, having occasion to gallop through,
astonished us not a little by clearing away every
stick of it. We had just time to replace the
scattered branches, when the whole of the enemy's
artillery opened, and their countless columns
began to advance under cover of it.

The scene at that moment was grand and
imposing, and we had a few minutes to spare
for observation. The column destined as our
particular friends, first attracted our notice,
and seemed to consist of about ten thousand
infantry. A smaller body of infantry $nd one
of cavalry moved on their right ; and, on their
left, another huge column of infantry, and a
formidable body of cuirassiers, while beyond
them it seemed one moving mass.

We saw Buonaparte himself take post on
the side of the road, immediately in our front,
surrounded by a numerous staff; and each
regiment, as they passed him, rent the air with
shouts of " Vive VEmpereur I " nor did they

248

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

cease after they had passed ; but, backed by
the thunder of their artillery, and carrying with
them the rub-a-dub of drums, and the tantarara
of trumpets, in addition to their increasing
shouts, it looked, at first, as if they had some
hopes of scaring us off the ground ; for it was
a singular contrast to the stern silence reigning
on our side, where nothing, as yet, but the
voices of our great guns, told that we had mouths
to open when we chose to use them. Our rifles
were, however, in a very few seconds required
to play their parts, and opened such a fire on the
advancing skirmishers as quickly brought them
to a stand-still ; but their columns came steadily
through them, although our incessant tiraillade
was telling in their centre with fearful exactness,
and our post was quickly turned in both flanks,
which compelled us to fall back and join our
comrades behind the hedge, though not before
some of our officers and theirs had been engaged
in personal combat.

When the heads of their columns showed
over the knoll which we had just quitted, they
received such a fire from our first line, that
they wavered, and hung behind it a little ; but,
cheered and encouraged by the gallantry of
their officers, who were dancing and flourishing
their swords in front, they at last boldly advanced
to the opposite side of our hedge, and began to
deploy. Our first line, in the meantime, was

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getting so thinned, that Picton found it necessary
to bring up his second, but fell in the act of doing
it. The command of the division, at that critical
moment, devolved upon Sir James Kempt, who
was galloping along the line, animating the men
to steadiness. He called to me by name, where
I happened to be standing on the right of our
battalion, and desired " that I would never quit
that spot/' I told him that he might depend
upon it : and in another instant I found myself
in a fair way of keeping my promise more religi-
ously than I intended ; for, glancing my eye to
the right, I saw the next field covered with the
cuirassiers, some of whom were making directly
for the gap in the hedge where I was standing.
I had not hitherto drawn my sword, as it was
generally to be had at a moment's warning ; but,
from its having been exposed to the last night's
rain, it had now got rusted in the scabbard, and
refused to come forth ! I was in a precious scrape !
Mounted on my strong Flanders mare, and with
my good old sword in my hand, I would have
braved all the chances without a moment's
hesitation ; but I confess that I felt considerable
doubts as to the propriety of standing there to
be sacrificed, without the means of making a
scramble for it. My mind, however, was happily
relieved from such an embarrassing consideration,
before my decision was required ; for the next
moment the cuirassiers were charged by our

250

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

household brigade ; and the infantry in our front
giving way at the same time, under our terrific
shower of musketry, the flying cuirassiers tumbled
in among the routed infantry, followed by the
Life Guards, who were cutting away in all direc-
tions. Hundreds of the infantry threw them-
selves down, and pretended to be dead, while
the cavalry galloped over them, and then got
up and ran away. I never saw such another
scene in all my life.

Lord Wellington had given orders that the
troops were, on no account, to leave the position
to follow up any temporary advantage : so that
we now resumed our post, as we stood at the
commencement of the battle, and with three
companies again advanced on the knoll.

I was told, it was very ridiculous at that moment
to see the number of vacant spots that were
left nearly along the whole of the line, where a
great part of the dark dressed foreign corps had
stood, intermixed with the British when the action
began.

Our division got considerably reduced in
numbers during the last attack ; but Lord
Wellington's fostering hand sent Sir John Lambert
to our support, with the sixth division ; and we
now stood prepared for another and a more
desperate struggle.

Our battalion had already lost three officers
killed, and six or seven wounded ; among the

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latter were Sir Andrew Barnard and Colonel
Cameron.

Someone asking me what had become of my
horse's ear, was the first intimation I had of
his being wounded ; and I now found that,
independent of one ear having been shaved
close to his head, (I suppose by a cannon shot,)
a musket ball had grazed across his forehead,
and another gone through one of his legs ; but
he did not seem much the worse for either of
them.

Between two and three o'clock we were toler-
ably quiet, except from a thundering cannonade ;
and the enemy had, by that time, got the range
of our position so accurately that every shot
brought a ticket for somebody's head.

An occasional gun, beyond the plain, far to
our left, marked the approach of the Prussians ;
but their progress was too slow to afford a hope
of their arriving in time to take any share in the
battle.

On our right, the roar of cannon and mus-
ketry had been incessant from the time of its
commencement ; but the higher ground near
us, prevented our seeing anything of what was
going on.

Between three and four o'clock the storm
gathered again in our front. Our three com-
panies on the knoll were soon involved in a
furious fire. The Germans, occupying La Haye

252

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

Sainte, expended all their ammunition, and
fled from the post. The French took posses-
sion of it ; and, as it flanked our knoll, we were
obliged to abandon it also, and fall back again
behind the hedge.

The loss of La Haye Sainte was of the most
serious consequence, as it afforded the enemy
an establishment within our position. They
immediately brought up two guns on our side of
it, and began serving out some grape to us ; but
they were so very near that we destroyed their
artillerymen before they could give us a second
round.

The silencing of these guns was succeeded
by a very extraordinary scene, on the same spot.
A strong regiment of Hanoverians advanced
in line, to charge the enemy out of La Haye
Sainte ; but they were themselves charged by
a brigade of cuirassiers, and, excepting one
officer, on a little black horse, who went off to
the rear, like a shot out of a shovel, I do believe
that every man of them was put to death in about
five seconds. A brigade of British light dragoons
advanced to their relief, and a few on each side
began exchanging thrusts : it seemed likely to
be a drawn battle between them, without much
harm being done, when our men brought it to a
crisis sooner than either side anticipated, for they
previously had their rifles eagerly pointed at the
cuirassiers, with a view of saving the perishing

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Hanoverians ; but the fear of killing their friends
withheld them, until the others were utterly
overwhelmed, when they instantly opened a
terrific fire on the whole concern, sending both
sides flying ; so that on the small space of ground,
within a hundred yards of us, where five thousand
men had been fighting the instant before, there
was not now a living soul to be seen.

It made me mad to see the cuirassiers, in
their retreat, stooping and stabbing at our
wounded men, as they lay on the ground. How
I wished that I had been blessed with omni-
potent power for a moment, that I might have
blighted them !

The same field continued to be a wild one
the whole of the afternoon. It was a sort of
duelling-post between the two armies, every
half hour showing a meeting of some kind upon
it ; but they never exceeded a short scramble,
for men's lives were held very cheap there.

For the two or three succeeding hours there
was no variety with us, but one continued blaze
of musketry. The smoke hung so thick about
us that, although not more than eighty yards
asunder, we could only distinguish each other by
the flashes of the pieces.

A good many of our guns had been disabled,
and a great many more rendered unserviceable,
in consequence of the unprecedented close fight-
ing ; for in several places, where they had been

254

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

posted but a very few yards in front of the line,
it was impossible to work them.

I shall never forget the scene which the field
of battle presented about seven in the evening.
I felt weary and worn out, less from fatigue
than anxiety. Our division, which had stood
upwards of five thousand men at the commence-
ment of the battle, had gradually dwindled
down into a solitary line of skirmishers. The
twenty-seventh regiment were lying literally dead,
in square, a few yards behind us.

My horse had received another shot through
the leg, and one through the flap of the saddle,
which lodged in his body, sending him a step
beyond the pension list. The smoke still hung
so thick about us that we could see nothing.
I walked a little way to each flank, to endeavour
to get a glimpse of what was going on ; but
nothing met my eye except the mangled remains
of men and horses, and I was obliged to return
to my post as wise as I went.

I had never yet heard of a battle in which
everybody was killed ; but this seemed likely
to be an exception, as all were going by turns,
We got excessively impatient under the tame
similitude of the latter part of the process, and
burned with desire to have a last thrust at our
respective vis-a-vis ; for, however desperate our
affairs were, we had still the satisfaction of seeing
that theirs were worse. Sir John Lambert con-

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ADVENTURES IN

tinned to stand as our support, at the head of
three good old regiments, one dead (the twenty-
seventh) and two living ones ; and we took
the liberty of soliciting him to aid our views ;
but the Duke's orders on that head were so
very particular that the gallant general had no
choice.

Presently a cheer, which we knew to be British,
commenced far to the right, and made every one
prick up his ears ; it was Lord Wellington's
long wished-for orders to advance ; it gradually
approached, growing louder as it grew near ;
we took it up by instinct, charged through the
hedge down upon the old knoll, sending our
adversaries flying at the point of the bayonet.
Lord Wellington galloped up to us at the instant,
and our men began to cheer him ; but he called
out, " No cheering, my lads, but forward, and
complete your victory ! "

This movement had carried us clear of the
smoke, and, to people who had been for so
many hours enveloped in darkness, in the midst
of destruction, and naturally anxious about the
result of the day, the scene which now met the
eye conveyed a feeling of more exquisite gratifica-
tion than can be conceived. It was a fine summer's
evening, just before sunset. The French were
flying in one confused mass. British lines were
seen in close pursuit, and in admirable order,
as far as the eye could reach to the right, while

256

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

the plain to the left was filled with Prussians.
The enemy made one last attempt at a stand on
the rising ground to our right of La Belle Alli-
ance ; but a charge from General Adam's brigade
again threw them into a state of confusion, which
was now inextricable, and their ruin was com-
plete. Artillery, baggage, and everything belong-
ing to them, fell into our hands. After pursuing
them until dark, we halted about two miles
beyond the field of battle, leaving the Prussians
to follow up the victory.

This was the last, the greatest, and the most
uncomfortable heap of glory that I ever had a
hand in ; and may the deuce take me if I think
that everybody waited there to see the end of
it, otherwise it never could have been so trouble-
some to those who did. We were, take us
all in all, a very bad army. Our foreign auxili-
aries, who constituted more than half of our
numerical strength, with some exceptions, were
little better than a raw militia a body without
a soul, or like an inflated pillow, that gives to the
touch, and resumes its shape again when the
pressure ceases ; not to mention the many who
went clear out of the field, and were only seen
while plundering our baggage in their retreat.

Our heavy cavalry made some brilliant charges

in the early part of the day ; but they never

knew when to stop, their ardour in following

their advantages carrying them headlong on,

s 257

ADVENTURES IN

until many of them " burnt their fingers," and
got dispersed or destroyed.

Of that gallant corps, the royal artillery,
it is enough to say, that they maintained their
former reputation the first in the world ; and
it was a serious loss to us, in the latter part of
the day, to be deprived of their more powerful
co-operation, from the causes already mentioned.

The British infantry and the King's German
legion continued the inflexible supporters of
their country's honour throughout ; and their
unshaken constancy under the most desperate
circumstances, showed that, though they might
be destroyed, they were not to be beaten,

If Lord Wellington had been at the head of
his old Peninsular army, I am confident that he
would have swept his opponents off the face of
the earth immediately after their first attack ;
but with such a heterogeneous mixture under his
command, he was obliged to submit to a longer
day.

It will ever be a matter of dispute what the
result of that day would have been without the
arrival of the Prussians : but it is clear to me
that Lord Wellington would not have fought
at Waterloo unless Bliicher had promised to aid
him with thirty thousand men ; as he required
that number to put him on a numerical footing
with his adversary. It is certain that the promised
aid did not come in time to take any share

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

whatever in the battle. It is equally certain
that the enemy had, long before, been beaten
into a mass of ruin, in condition for nothing but
running, and wanting but an apology to do it ;
and I will therefore ever maintain, that Lord
Wellington's last advance would have made it
the same victory had a Prussian never been seen
there.

The field of battle, next morning, presented
a frightful scene of carnage : it seemed as if
the world had tumbled to pieces, and three-
fourths of everything destroyed in the wreck.
The ground running parallel to the front of
where we had stood, was so thickly strewed
with fallen men and horses, that it was difficult
to step clear of their bodies ; many of the former
still alive, and imploring assistance, which it was
not in our power to bestow.

The usual salutation on meeting an acquaint-
ance of another regiment after an action, was
to ask who had been hit ? but on this occasion
it was, " Who's alive ? " Meeting one next
morning, a very little fellow, I asked what had
happened to them yesterday ? " I'll be hanged,"
says he, " if I know anything at all about the
matter, for I was all day trodden in the mud
and galloped over by every scoundrel who had
a horse ; and, in short, that I only owe my
existence to my insignificance."

Two of our men, on the morning of the

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ADVENTURES IN

lost their lives by a very melancholy accident.
They were cutting up a captured ammunition
wagon for firewood, when one of their swords
striking against a nail, sent a spark among the
powder. When I looked in the direction of
the explosion, I saw the two poor fellows about
twenty or thirty feet up in the air. On falling
to the ground, though lying on their backs or
bellies, some extraordinary effort of nature,
caused by the agony of the moment, made
them spring from that position, five or six times,
repeatedly, to an extraordinary height, just as
a fish does when thrown on the ground after
being newly caught. It appeared to me that of
five or six springs made by the two bodies in that
manner, that the highest exceeded the height of
a man, and the lowest was not less than three or
four feet. It was so unlike a scene in real life
that it was impossible to witness it without
forgetting, for a moment, the horror of their
situation. 1

I ran to the spot along with others, and found

1 When I traced this anecdote for the first edition, scenes of
the kind had been so familiar to myself, it never occurred
to me that it might seem extraordinary to others, and I there-
fore gave the particulars at random, without considering that
a foot or two more or less in the description made any differ-"
ence. In its present shape, however, it may be taken as the
avowed opinion, I believe, of every living witness, and rigidly
true.

Colour-Serjeant Pasket, of the rifles, tells me that he

260

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

that every stitch of clothes had been burnt off,
and they were black as ink all over. They were
still alive, and told us their names, otherwise
we could not have recognised them ; and,
singular enough, they were able to walk off the
ground with a little support, but died shortly
after.

Among other officers who fell at Waterloo,
we lost one of the wildest youths that ever
belonged to the service. He seemed to have a
prophetic notion of his approaching end, for he
repeatedly told us, in the early part of the morning,
that he knew the devil would have him before
night. I shall relate one anecdote of him, which
occurred while we were in Spain. He went,
by chance, to pass the day with two officers,
quartered at a neighbouring village, who hap-
pened to be that day engaged to dine with the
clergyman. Knowing their visitor's mischievous
propensities, they were at first afraid to make
him one of the party ; but, after schooling him
into a suitable propriety of behaviour, and
exacting a promise of implicit obedience, they

happened to be very near them at the time that one of the
two was his comrade, and that he caught him in his arms
while he was yet in the act of springing ; and that with the
assistance of him and another, the man walked to a house close
by, where they left him in the hands of some medical men,
who were there dressing the wounded,

I was in error in saying that they both belonged to the
rifles, for one, I find, was of the 40th regiment.

THE RIFLE BRIGADE

at last ventured to take him. On their arrival,
the ceremony of introduction had just been gone
through, and their host seated at an open window,
when a favourite cat of his went purring about
the young gentleman's boots, who, catching it
by the tail, and giving it two or three preparatory
swings round his head, sent it flying out at the
window where the parson was sitting, who only
escaped it by suddenly stooping ! The only
apology the youngster made for his conduct was,
" Egad, I think I astonished that fellow " ; but
whether it was the cat or the parson he meant,
I never could learn 1

About twelve o'clock, on the day after the
battle, we commenced our march for Paris. I
shall therefore leave my readers at Waterloo,
in the hope that, among the many stories of
romance to which that and the other celebrated
fields gave birth, the foregoing unsophisticated
one of an eye-witness may not have been found
altogether uninteresting.

THE END

262

SOLDIERS' TALES

THE lively interest aroused by the recent reissue of the
Memoirs of Sergeant Bourgogne* and Mercer's remarkable
Journal of the Waterloo Campaign^ has encouraged the
publishers to embark on a uniform series of "Soldiers'
Tales/' under the editorship of the Hon. Sir John For-
tescue, the distinguished historian of the British Army.
Many such records exist, for military life in past days,
with its gay uniforms, spectacular battles and sieges,
and chances of romantic adventure, not only appealed
irresistibly to men of a roving disposition, but gave them
experiences which were bound to be worth recording,
whether the chronicler were a plain, uneducated soldier
like Bourgogne, or a cultured gentleman, with a definite
literary flair, like Captain Mercer. With the exception
of Bun bury 's Passages in the Great War with France^
which is classic ground for the student in the art of war
("the best military history in our language," says Sir
John Fortescue), the books to form the series have been
chosen less for their historical significance than for their

Eurely human interest ; they are a kind of truth that is
oth stranger and more entertaining than most fiction.

REMINISCENCES OF RIFLEMAN HARRIS

Now first reprinted from the very rare original edition
published in 1848. Harris served through the memorable
retreat to Corunna and Vigo under Moore and Craufurd
in 1807, and in the Walcheren expedition. His descrip-
tions of the hardships and excitements of the earlier
Peninsular Campaign, as seen from the ranks, are without
rival. These are probably the most vivid battle-pictures
in existence, being painted by a man who had no illusions

* " He is so vivid that you want to sit in front of a blazing fire
with a bottle (or two) of some warming cordial handy as you read
these nightmare adventures in the snow and ice of this disastrous
campaign." Country Life.

f " This book will take a permanent place in military literature."
New Statesman.

" There is more human nature and more charming writing in it
than in the average good novel/' Sunday Times.

I " Indispensable for an understanding of Britain's part in. the
Napoleonic Wars/' Times Literary Supplement.

SOLDIERS' TALES continued.

about the realities of soldiering, but who nevertheless
heartily enjoyed the life.

NOTE-BOOKS OF CAPTAIN COIGNET

(1799-1816)

Coignet, a typical vieux de la vieille, enlisted under the
Republic, became a sergeant in the Old Guard, fought
throughout Napoleon's campaigns, was one of the original
recipients of the Legion of Honour, and retired after
Waterloo with the rank of Captain. He writes with the
impressive simplicity of an uneducated man, and describes
with the most intimate and sometimes racy detail what
he saw (and he saw almost the whole) of the romantic
and picturesque career of the Grande Armee.

LIFE AND ENTERTAINING ADVENTURES

OF MRS. CHRISTIAN DAVIES, COMMONLY

CALLED MOTHER ROSS

Daniel Defoe actually wrote the book, but he is doubt-
less to be regarded in this case as editor or compiler
rather than as author. The career of Mother Ross, who
ended her days in Chelsea Hospital, is nothing short of
astounding. She enlisted as a trooper under Marlborough,
fought in several of his most famous battles, and remained
a " man " until a severe wound inevitably disclosed her
sex, when she became a vivandiere and one of the most
popular figures in the army. Her story is a rollicking
one, and if the tone of it is at times somewhat unsavoury,
that is only because both she and her editor were essentially
realists.

ADVENTURES IN THE REVOLUTION

By MAURICE DE JONNES

This very scarce work, which has not before been
translated, describes the writer's personal experiences in
the two French invasions of Ireland, at the Battle of Cape
St. Vincent, at the Siege of Toulon, and during the British
naval mutiny at the Nore, etc.

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