/
"Pennyeuiek was killed; his gallant son, a nnere lad. sprang forward
15 and bestrode his fathers body" (A 131).
Battles
OF THE
Nineteenth Century
DESCRIBED BY
ARCHIBALD FORBES, G. A. HENTY
MAJOR ARTHUR GRIFFITHS
And other Well-known Writers
Vol. III.
SPECIAL EDITION
WITH COLOURED PLATES AND NUMEROUS OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS
CASSELL and company, Limited
london, paris, new york &- melbourne
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
^^
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Sherman's March to the Sea, and his Campaign of the Carolinas. 1864—5. By
Archibald Forbes ................ i
The Battles Round Leipzig. October, 1813. By D. H. Parry 12
The Indian Mutiny: Lucknow. Part I. May— September, 1857. By G. A. Henty . . 27
The Eureka Stockade: Australia's Only Battle. December 3, 1854. By Justin Charles
MacCarlie 38
The Italians in the Soudan: Agordat. December 21, 1893. By A. HiUiard Atteridge . . 48
Trafalgar. October 21, 1805. By C. J. CutcUffe Hyne 57
The Battle of Brody : The Polish Insurrection of 1863. By H. Sutherland Edwards . . 69
The Battle of the Yalu River. September 17, 1894. By A. Hilliard Atteridge ... 79
Sedan. September i, 1870. By Charles Lowe 90
Spanish Battles in Morocco, 1859 — 60 : Castillejos, Tetuan, Guad el Ras. By Major
Arthur Griffiths 105
Buenos Ayres. July 5, 1807. By C. Stein 116
The Second Sikh War. 1848 — 9. By Archibald Forbes 126
MOLTKE's First Battle: Nisib. June 23, 1839. By A. Hilliard Atteridge . .' . . .137
Fight between the Chesapeake and the Shannon. June i, 1813. By Herbert Russell . 146
Salamanca. July 22, 1812. By Major Arthur Griffiths 151
Garibaldi's Defeat at Mentana. November 3, 1867. By Donat Sampson . , . . . 160
The Chitral Campaign of 1S95. By Major-General T. Bland Strange 169
LUTZEN. May 2, 1813. By C. Stein 185
The Turks Before Alexinatz. August — October, 1876. By G. A. Henty 194
The Gurkha War. 1814— 16. By Lieut.-Col. Newnham-Davis 202
Baylen. July 20, 1808. By Major Arthur Griffiths 214
Villersexel. January 9—10, 1871. By A. Hilliard Atteridge 222
Canadians in the Field. Three Features of the War of 1812. By Angus Evan Abbott . 232
The Fight for Valparaiso. 1891. By A. Hilliard Atteridge 244
Inkerman. November 5, 1854. By Major Arthur Griffiths 252
Te Kooti's Raids : New Zealand. 1868. By Justin Charles MacCartie 263
Albuera. M.\y 16, 181 1. By Colonel W. W. Knollys 277
The Fight of the Arickaree Fork. September 16 — 26, 1S68. By Angus Evan Abbott . . 290
The Tragedy of Khartoum. January 19— February 6, 1885. By Charles Lowe ... 300
Dresden. August 26—27, 1813. By C. Stein 313
The Collapse of the Confederacy. April, 1865. By Archibald Forbes 322
iv CONTENTS.
PAGE
Bhurtpore. January iS, 1S26. By C. Stein 332
The Defeat of Abd-el-Kadr by the Frenxh : Islv. August 14, 1844. By Major Arthur
Griffiths 344
Lundy's Lane. July 25, 1814. By Angus Evan Abbott 352
The Siege OF Sebastopol. Part I. October, 1854— March, 1S55. By Major Arthur Griffiths . 361
The Servo-Bulgarian War of 1885: Slivnitza. November 17—19; Pirot. November 27.
By William V. Herbert 37°
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGft
Plan of Sherman's March to the Sea : Sketch Maps . . 3
Federal troops on the march ..■■•• 4
Savannah from the river 5
Federal troops destroying telegraph wires .... 8
"They wrought hard, but the conflagrations contintied to
increase " 9
Mouth of the Savannah 1°
The Confederate flag "
Dresden '3
The Battle of Leipzig : Plan .15
Napoleon I. . . . . i6
The allied staff at Leiprig ■ I7
Leipzig : the Market Place 20
' ' Napoleon rode away with a small suite through St.
Peter's Gate " 21
" But still the French maintained an heroic resistance" . 25
Marshal Bernadotte 26
The Marliniire 28
Officers of native cavalry at the time of the Mutiny . . 29
The First Siege of Lucknow : Plan 32
"The volunteer cavalry charged them and cleared the
way" 33
"A force of Highlanders turned into the main street lead-
ing to the Residency" 36
Ruins of the Residency 37
At the diggings 4°
Ballarat 4'
The Country round Ballarat : Plan 43
"With a loud cheer the military swarmed over the stock-
ade " 45
The Hon. Peter Lalor 46
Monument marking the site of the Eureka stockade . . 47
" A handful of Bersaglieri holding an advanced post were
cut to pieces " 49
" They beat off an attack of the Dervish cavalry " . . S^
Massowah S3
Italian operations in the Soudan : Plan .... 55
"The chief dropped dead amongst his standard bearers " s^
Battle of Trafalgar : Plan 59
Lord CoUingwood , 60
" The ' Royal Sovereigns ' stuck to their guns and fought
them like fiends " 61
Cape Trafalgar 64
Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy 65
Nelson in the cockpit of the Victory 68
The Castle, Cracow 72
" Among the insurgents was a young lady " • • • 73
The Polish Insurrection of 1863 : Sketch Map ... 75
Polish peasants 76
"As the rear-guard left the wood it was fired upon by a
party of Cossacks "... ... 77
Admiral Ito ...... . . 80
The Battle of the Yalu St
The Battle of the Yalu : Sketch Map of the seat of war . 84
PACK
"The shell burst among her bow guns" .... 85
" When he recovered from the shock he found himself in
a terrible position " 89
The Crown Prince of Saxony 92
Strategic movements prior to Sedan : Plan . . • ' 92
German uniforms 93
Battle of Sedan : Plan 05
General de Wimpffen ....... 96
• ' Thundering down the slope, the squadrons broke through
the line of skirmishers " 97
Sedan 100
Meeting of William and Napoleon loi
" King William started on a ride through all the positions
occupied by the German armies " .... 104
Spain and Morocco : Sketch Map ..... 106
Ceuta and its Sea-Gate io3
General Prim 109
Moorish horsemen . . , no, in
A Moorish soldier . . . . . . . .112
" Moors and Spaniards mixed inextricably " . . -113
Tetuan 114
Moorish types 115
Marshal Beresford 117
Buenos Ayres : Sketch Maps 119
" Hand-grenades, stink-balls, brickbats, and other missiles
w ere hurled from above " ...... 120
Buenos Ayres 121
" General Whitelocke was tried by coufl-martial ' . . 125
The Surrender of Moolraj . . . . ■ . .128
The second Sikh War : Plans 132
Charge of the 3rd (King's Own) Light Dragoons, Chillian-
wallah 133
The Tomb of Runjeet Singh, Lahore .... 136
Campaign of Nisib : Sketch Map 139
A Turkish Bey 140
*' Hurrying to the side of Hafiz, he urged him to at once
make a sharp attack " 141
"The mass of cavalry wheeled round and fled wildly to
the rear " 144
Biradjek 145
' ' .^bout thirty of the crew made a small show of resist-
ance ".......... 149
Salamanca ......... 152
"Wellington galloped out of the yard, calling upon the
rest to follow him at once "...... 153
Battle of Salamanca : Plan 15S
Marshal Marmont 156
"The dragoons rode onwards, smiting with their long,
glittering swords "....... 157
The Royal Palace of Madrid 159
" The Zouaves took one of the barricades by a dashing
bayonet charge" ....... 161
Battlefield of Mentana : Plan 163
Pope Pius IX 164
VI
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
" They made some prisoners " 165
Bagnorea K'S
The Chitral Campaign : Plan 171
" The guns came into action against the enemy on the high
ridge" J72
Views in the Chitral Country 173
General Low 176
The Passage of the Swat . 177
Colonel Batlye and Colonel Kelly 180
•• Lieut. Harley, at the head of forty Sikhs and sixty Kash-
miris, rushed the house over the mouth of the mine " 181
Surgeon-Major Robertson 184
Battle of Lutzen : Plan 188
" He then formed a column of attack " . . . - 189
Cossack outpost 192
Marshal Macdonald i93
A Circassian 196
A Bashi-Bazouk ' • 197
The country near Alexinatz : Sketch Map . . -199
" Russian officers could be seen thrashing the men with
the flats of their swords " 200
View in Widdin 201
Lord Hastings 203
"The great peak of Kinchinjunga towering in mid-air " . 204
"They slid back down the slippery hillside to shelter " . 205
The Battle of Malaun : Plan 208
" The frightened elephants rushed back crashing through
the forest " 2°9
Sir David Ochterlony 212
The Palace of the King of Nepaul 213
Battle of Baylen : Plan zi6
Cordova ^'7
" Kept their cowardly assailants at bay sword in hand " . 220
A Spanish caricature on the capitulation of Dupont . . 221
General von Werder and General Bourbaki . . . 224
" The Germans took the defenders of the barricade in
reverse "... 225
Villersexel : Sketch Map 227
Belfort 228
An incident in the Battle of Villersexel .... 229
Gambetta 231
" A band of Indians pounced upon her " .... 233
" Musket balls began to drop in the ranks, and men leaped
into the air to fall flat upon the glittering ice " . . 237
Where Tecumseh stood at bay 240
" Sprang out of the morass and flew at the throats of the
renowned riflemen " 241
A Council of War 243
Valparaiso ......••■ 245
Battles of Concon and La Placilla ; Plan . . . .247
President Jos^ Balmaceda 248
" They dashed with a wild cheer in amongst the guns and
captured the whole battery " 249
The VaUey of Inkerman 253
Battle of Inkerman : Plan 256
Marshal Canrobert 260
" Once more the Guards returned, and with irresistible
energy drove them out ".....- 261
Group of Maoris 264
' • Te Kooti fell on their camp and captured all their horses " 265
Te Kooti's Raids : Sketch Maps 267
The Hauhaus shot or bayoneted them— men, women, and
children— as they attempted to escape "... 269
Te Kooti 272
The Crow's Nest, Taupo 272
In the Taupo Country ....... 273
A Maori War Canoe 276
Battle of Albuera : Plan 280
" Sabring many drivers, they captured both guns and
baggage" 281
" A fierce hand-to-hand fight ensued " 285
" Captain Fawceit, although mortally wounded, continued
to command his company ' 289
Forsyth's campaign against the Sioux : Sketch Map . . 291
Sioux Indian and Squaw 292
" Astride his shaggy pony, the Red Man galloped across
undulating plains" 293
Cheyenne Indian 295
Indian wigwams 296
" At the fifth volley, ' Roman Nose ' flings his arms into
the air and falls dead " 297
Indian tomahawk pipe 299
" Five minutes' desperate and hand-to-hand fighting " . 301
Metamneh : Sketch Map 302
Arab horsemen outside Metamneh 304
Khartoum 305
Major-General Gordon 3°S
Sir Charies Wilson 308
Wilson's Voyage to Khartoum : Sketch Map . . . 308
" Beresford anchored his wing-clipt little vessel and lay
stem on fo the enemy " ...... 3*^9
Bringing the news of Gordon's death to Metamneh . . 312
Dresden 3^^
Both French and allies bivouacked in mud and water . 317
Battle of Dresden 320
Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr 321
The Collapse of the Confederacy : Plan .... 324
Richmond, from Hollywood 325
Lieut. -General P. H. Sheridan and General Lee . . 328
General Grant reading the terms of surrender . . . 329
A group of Jats 333
Bhurtpore : Plan 336
' ' Carmichael's followers fired into the dense cluster of
men in front of them " 337
Viscount Combermere 340
"The Jats, making a frantic leap for safety, were buried
in its depths " 34'
Algiers 34S
The Battle of Isly : Plan 348
" Captured by a bold stroke Abd-el-Kadr's smalah " . 349
Marshal Bugeaud 351
The Niagara Falls 353
Operations on the Niagara River : Sketch Map . . 356
" Riall's escort closed around him and hurried him to the
rear" 357
Old Fort Erie 360
" Numbers of transports with precious cargoes were
wrecked" 3^2
The Cemetery at Scutari 363
The Siege of Sebastopol ; Sketch Map .... 364
In the Hospital at Scutari 365
Sebastopol from the " Right " attack .... 368
Colonel Todleben 369
Prince Alexander of Bulgaria 372
Sofia . . ■ 373
SUvnitza and Pirot : Plan 376
" The Prince and his companions rode to the back of the
SlivniUa position " 377
Bulgarian types 380
"The gross of the Bulgarian column made a dashing
assault upon the town " . . . . . 381
Bulgarian beggars 38a
i
LIST OF PLATES.
" PENNVCUICK was killed ; HIS GALLANT SON, A MERE LAD, SPRANG FORWARD
AND BESTRODE HIS FATHER'S BODY" Frontispiece
The Second Relief of Lucknow To face p. 34
The Death of Nelson Tofacep. 64
Napoleon Rallying the Conscripts at Lvtzen Tofacep. 192
"This small dody of heroes tore through the mass" To face p. 360
''The Cuir\SSIERS reaped most of the day's honours" To face p. 2,\<)
iw:
r
M^
BATTLES OF THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY
SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA AND HIS
CAMPAIGN OF THE CAROLINAS 1804-5
BY ARCHIBALD FORBES
" As we go marching through Georgia." — Refniin oj Marching Seng.
THE famous march from Atlanta to the
sea began on the morning of November
15th, 1854. Sherman left Atlanta in
flames. His engineers had levelled to
he ground the great terminus and machine-
shops of the railroad, and had fired the wreck.
The rebel arsenal was blown up, fi'om which
great quantities of live shells showered on the
city, the hetirt of which was one great blaze.
His marching-out strength was close on 60,000
men all told, of whom 52.800 were infantry.
K.\traordinary measures had been taken to purge
the army of non-combatants and men of defective
physique, with the result that the whole force
consisted of able-bodied, experienced soldiers,
well armed, inured to long marching, and, in
Sherman's own words, " well equipped and pro-
vided, as far as human foresight could, with all
the essentials of life, strength, and vigorous
action.'' Ambulances accompanied it, for the
universal haleness at the start could scarcely be
expected to last during a march of some 300
miles ; but few sick were expected, and the
ambulances were intended chiefly for the needs
of wounded men. The casualties, however,
turned out singularly few. From Atlanta to
Savannah they were but 567, inclusive of 245
wounded and I5q missing.
For the march Sherman divided his army into
two wings, the right and the left, commanded
respectively by Major-Generals Howard and
Slocum, both comparativel\- young men, but
educated and experienced officers fully com-
petent for their important positions. Howard's
— the right — wing was composed of the 15th and
49
1 7th Corps, the former of which had four and
the latter three divisions ; the left wing, Slocum's,
consisted of the 14th and 20th Corps, each con-
taining three divisions. Sherman had cut down
his artillery to 65 guns, little more than a gun
per thousand men, the usual proportion being
thiee guns per thousand. He had no general
train of supplies ; each corps had its own am-
munition and provision train. In case of danger
the commander was to have his advanced and
rear brigades unencumbered by vehicles. The
orders provided that the army should "forage
liberally on the country '' during the march,
each brigade commander to organise a sufficient
foraging party under discreet officers to gather in
supplies, so that the waggons should always con-
tain at least ten days' provisions. Soldiers were
forbidden to trespass, but, when halted, might
supply themselves with vegetables and drive in
live stock found in their vicinity. Where the
army was unmolested, no destruction was to be
permitted ; against guerillas, " bushwhackers," or
actively hostile inhabitants, relentless reprisals
would be put in force. The army started with
about twenty days' supplies, and there was on
hand a good supply of beef-cattle to be driven
along on the hoof
Sherman and his staff, riding out from Atlanta
in rear of the army, crossed the ground on which
was fought the bloody battle of July 22nd, and
could discern the copse of wood where McPher-
son had fallen. " Behind us," he wrote, " lay
Atlanta, smouldering and in ruins, the black
smoke rising high in air and hanging like a
pall over the wrecked city. Awa}- off in the
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
distance was the rear of Howard's column, the
gun-barrels glistening in the sun ; right before us
the 14th Corps, marching steadily and rapidly
with a cheery aspect, and a swinging pace that
made light of the thousand miles between us
and Richmond. A band struck up the anthem
of ' John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the
ground, but his soul goes marching on.' The
men caught up the strain, and never before or
since have I heard the chorus of ' Glory, glory,
hallelujah ! ' chanted with more spirit, or in
better harmony of time and place. Then we
turned our horses' heads to the east, Atlanta
was soon lost behind the screen of trees, and
became for us a thing of the past. An unusual
feeling of exhilaration seemed to pervade all
hearts, even the common soldiers caught the
inspiration, and many a group called out as I
rode past, ' Uncle Bill}-, I guess Grant is waiting
for us at Richmond ! ' '' Sherman, however,
kept his own counsel as to his objective : he had
no purpose to march direct for Richmond, but
always designed to reach the Atlantic coast first
— at Savannah or Port Royal.
The troops of both wings made most of their
advance along the railroad lines, which they
utterly destroyed by bending the heated rails
round the trunks of the nearest trees. All
bridges and culverts were burned and wrecked.
The negroes crowding round the general as he
rode, begged for permission to follow the army
to their freedom ; but they obeyed him when he
told them that, although he could accept as
pioneers a few of the young, active men, if they
followed in swarms of young and old, feeble and
helpless, the result would be to load the army
down and cripple it in its great task. The
message he gave spread, and Sherman believed
its acceptance " saved us from the danger we
would otherwise have incurred of swelling our
numbers so that famine would have attended
our progress.'' A quaint familiarity existed
between Sherman and his soldiers. During a
halt a soldier passed the general with a ham on
his musket, a jug of molasses under his arm, and
a big piece of honeycomb into which he was
succulently biting, when, catching Sherman's
eye, he remarked in a careless imdertone to his
comrade, " Forage liberallv on the country '' —
an apt quotation from the general orders. Sher-
man had to smile grimly before he could assume
the frown with which he reproved the soldier for
foraging irregularlv.
The success of the foragers was a leading
feature of this march. Each brigade sent out
daily a foraging party with an officer or two.
The party would strike out right or left for
some six miles, and then visit every plantation
or farm within range. They would seize a
waggon or a family carriage, and, having loaded
it with bacon, corn-meal, turkeys, pigs, ducks,
etc., would regain the route of march, usuallv in
advance of their train ; when this came up. they
would deliver to the brigade commissary the
miscellaneous supplies they had collected. Those
foragers were known during and long after the
war as " Sherman's bummers." He himself owned
that the " bummers " were unscrupulous rascals,
and that they committed many acts of pillage
and violence ; but his answer was that the old-
world system of regular requisitioning was inap-
plicable to a region destitute of civil authorities,
and that the methods of his " bummers " were
simply indispensable to his success. The " bum-
mers " had a grim humour of their own. In one
foray a few chickens were captured. The lady
of the house entreated that they should be
spared her, asserting that the previous foraging
party had consented to leave to her those few,
the last of her stock. The " bummers " seemed
moved by her piteous appeal, but looking at the
chickens again were tempted, and with the
stern observation, " The rebellion must be sup-
pressed if it takes the last chicken in the Con-
federacy ! " bagged the remnant. Another story
may be worth quotation. In the days before
the war, planters kept bloodhounds for the pur-
suit of fugitive slaves. Sherman's orders were
that all those bloodhounds should be killed. A
"bummer " picked up a poodle and was carrying
it off, when its mistress besought him to spare
the animal. " Madam," answered the " bum-
mer," " our orders are stringent to kill every
bloodhound found.'' " But this is not a blood-
hound, it is a poodle puppy,'' pleaded the lady.
" Well, madam, we cannot tell what it may grow
into if we leave it behind," sagely remarked the
" bummer " as he carried off the dog.
One evening on the march, Lieutenant Snell-
ing, who was a Southerner by birth although on
the staff of a Northern commander, recognised
in an old negro a favourite slave of his uncle,
who lived about six miles away. A brother
officer asked the old man what had become of
his young master. Sambo only knew that he
had gone off to the wars, and supposed him
killed, as a matter of course. Presently the old
man gradually recognised " Massa George,"
whereupon he fell on his knees and thanked
God his 3-oung master was alive and witli the
SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA.
Yankees. Snelling obtained the general's per-
mission tc pay his uncle a visit. It appeared
that the uncle was not by any means cordial
when he found his nephew serving with the
hated Northerners. Young Snelling endured his
uncle's reproaches with great philosophy, and he
came back, having without permission exchanged
his own worn-out horse for a fresh one from his
uncle's stable, explaining that had he not made
free in this wav a "bummer" wjuld have been
sure to get the
horse.
On the 23rd
of November the
whole of the left
wing, with which
was Sherm ui, be-
came uniteel in
Milledgeville, the
State capital. In-
telligence came
in that the right
wing was about
twelve miles due
south at Gordon.
The first stage of
the journey was,
therefore, com-
plete, and abso-
lutely successful.
There had been
some fighting
about Macon.
Kilpatrick with
his cavalry had
been scouting to
the front, east-
ward of Macon,
when some hos-
tile cavalry came
out against him. Kilpatrick drove that body
back into the bridgehead on the Ocmugee,
which was held by Confederate infantry. Kil-
patrick charged the defences and got inside
the work but could not hold it, and retired
on his supports at Griswold, when Walcutt's
infantry brigade took position across the road
eastward of Macon. A rebel division sallied
out on this force, but was driven back into
Macon by Spencer repeating-rifles, with which
Walcutt's brigade was armed.
The people of Milledgeville had remained at
home, with the exception of the governor, state
officers, and legislature, who had fled in the
utmost disorder — some by rail, some in carriages,
and many on foot. Sherman took possession of
the governor's mansion, which the previous
occupant had stripped of everj'thing except the
public archives. Some of the officers of the
Northern army gathered in the vacant Hall 01
Representatives, elected a Speaker, and consti-
tuted themselves the legislature of the State of
Georgia. A proposition was made to repeal the
ordinance of secession, which was carried ncm.
con. after a sprightly debate. Orders were given
SHERMAN'S MARCti
TO THE SEA.
Zl!!^'' c>^R^^'
jPFaydUrTillo
\ ''^v^\
Knglih-h Mile"^.
0 10 CO 4-^ t'-j So 100
'^'»^^o5^^^--*^'^iMBiAjr\ \ \ '■•.. Ig
*K ^\
^<5^%XS5^^^
/,A«rt
■^7 UN MAkCir ^
i.ar{>u'nas
',■• :.niM. .
\ \ \ V ^'''<^k^C ^\^ ^^NsRiver's Bridge
V \ \ \ WayneswJ^ \ '^'^eaurort Bridge
V^ \Milledgeville\ \,^ \ \. \ '^'VV
^"*"^"*V \ / Sanders viUe_J^*'^oui3viUe \ ^"^^n. \ Q A R 0\L 1 N A
Macony "MswoW \\ »\ PocotatigoHr\i'
gVe 0 R G 1 a/^X%>y /Afl y
\ \ ^- . „ . \ SAVANNAH
\ \ King's Bridge^ (
by Sherman for the total destruction of the
arsenal and its contents, and of such public
buildings as were capable of being utilised for
hostile purposes. The right wing was on march
toward Millen and Savannah by roads southward
of the railroad, the track of which was con-
tinuously torn up and its iron destroyed. The
left wing renewed the advance on the 24th,
moving north of the railroad by Sandersville,
Danesboro', and Louisville. Kilpatrick's cavalry
had been brought to Milledgeville, and its com-
mander had orders to press rapidly eastward to
Millen, to rescue the Northern prisoners under-
stood to be still confined there.
At Sandersville a brigade of rebel cavalry was
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
deployed before the town, only to be driven in
and through it by the skirmishers of the 20th
Corps. Sherman saw the rebel troopers firing
stacks of fodder in the fields, and he told the
leading citizens that if the enemy attempted to
carry out the threat to burn the food, corn, and
fodder along his route, he would execute re-
lentless reprisals on the inhabitants. There was
no more wanton destruction on the part of the
left wing was heading for Louisville, north of
the railroad, Kilpatrick had hurried north-east
towards Waynesboro', where he had some sharp
fighting with the rebel cavalry division com-
manded by General Wheeler. After some skir-
mishing, the latter was driven through Waynes-
boro', and beyond Brier Creek in the direction
of Augusta, Kilpatrick thus doing good service
in keeping up the delusion that Sherman's
-',i V;' V
fKLiEKAL TROOPS O.N THE MARCH.
rebels, for the people saw clearly that an}- such main arm}- was moving toward that important
conduct would result in ruin to themselves. town.
From Sandersville the T 7th Corps took up the On December 3rd, Sherman entered Millen
work of destroying the railroad, the 15th moving with the 17th Corps. The Federal prisoners
eastward by roads further south. When the of war had been removed from the place. The
SHERMANS MARCH TO THE SEA.
several corps were now all within a short radius
of Milieu, in good positions and in good condi-
tion. Two-thirds of the whole distance had been
accomplished with trivial loss. The waggons
were full, but towards the coast the country
rebel prisoners from the provost guard, supplied
them with picks and spades, and made them
march in close order along the road, to explode
their own torpedoes or discover and dig them
up. They begged hard for exemption, but
SAVAX.NAH FROM THE RIVER.
becomes sandy and barren, and supplies would
become more scarce ; so Sherman determined
to push on to Savannah. He was aware that
the Confederate general Hardee was between
him and that city with some 10,000 men, a force
incapable of being very mischievous. The fine
railwa\- station and other public buildings of
Millen were destroyed, and on the 4th the
march was resumed by the whole armv direct
on Savannah, by the four main roads. So
seasoned was the force that the soldiers marched
their fifteen miles day after day, as if the
distance was nothing.
On the Sth, Sherman found the column turned
off from the main road, and went forward to
ascertain the cause. He found a group of men
round a young officer whose foot had been blown
to pieces by a torpedo planted in the road.
This, as Sherman well said, was murder, not war.
The rebels had deliberately planted a succes-
sion of 8-inch shells in the road, with friction
matches to e.xplode them when trodden on.
Sherman immediately ordered up a squad of
Sherman, although not a cruel man, reiterated
his order, and could hardly help laughing at
the gingerly stepping of the rebel prisoners as
they went forward in front of the Northern
column.
On the Qth and loth, the several corps
reached the defences of Savannah, the 14th
Corps touching with its left the Savannah river.
To the right was first the 20th, then the 17th,
and the 15th on the extreme right, thus almost
completely investing the city, involving the un-
pleasantness, apparently, of another siege. On
one of those days Sherman had a very narrow
escape. He was in a cutting through which the
' railroad passed straight into Savannah. He
could ?ee about eight hundred yards away a
rebel parapet and battery. The gunners were
loading, and he warned his officers to scatter.
Watching closel\- he saw the ball rise, and
thought it wise to step aside ; at the moment a
negro was crossing the track very close to him.
The ball, a 321b. -shot, struck the ground, rose in
its first ricochet, and caught the negro under
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
the right jaw, lilcrall^' smashing his head into
pulp. The cut was promptly deserted.
It was manifest that Savannah was well forti-
fied and garrisoned, under the command of a
competent officer, General W. J. Hardee ; and
Sherman resolved, in the first instance, to open
communication with the Federal fleet, supposed
to be waiting in Ossabaw Sound with mails,
supplies, and clothing. Leaving orders with
General Slocum to press the siege, he sent
General Howard, with Hazen's division of the
15th Corps and a force of engineers, to King's
Bridge, fourteen-and-a-half miles south-west of
Savannah, with instructions to rebuild the
bridge. That work was finished on the night
of the 1 2th, and at sunrise of the 13th Hazen
passed over, having orders from Sherman to
march rapidly down the right bank of the
Ogeechee, and without hesitation to carry Fort
McAllister by storm. Sherman then rode ten
miles down the left bank of the Ogeechee to a
spot where there was a signal station, whence
could be watched the lower river for any vessel
of the blockading squadron, which daily sent a
steamer up the Ogeechee as near to Fort
McAllister as was safe.
Assurances by signal came from Hazen that
he was making his preparations, and would soon
assault. As the sun was going down, Sherman's
impatience increased. There was still an hour
till dusk, when a faint cloud of smoke betokened
the approach of a steamboat. Soon the L^nion
flag was visible, and attention was divided
between the approaching steamer and the
imminent assault of the fort. " Who are you ? "
was the question asked bj- signal from the
steamer. '' General Sherman," was the repl}'.
The next question from the steamer was, " Is
Fort McAllister taken ? " " Not yet, but very
soon," was the answer. At the very moment,
Hazen's troops emerged from the encompassing
woods, the lines dres'sed as on parade with the
colours flying, the gallant force marching at a
quick, steadv pace. The fort was belching volleys
from its big guns, the smoke of which soon en-
veloped Hazen's assaulting lines. There was a
momentary cessation of fire ; then the smoke
drew away like a curtain, and the parapets were
blue with the Northern soldiers, who fired their
muskets in the air and shouted till the echoes
rang. Fort McAllister was taken, and the news
was telegraphed to the approaching gun-boat,
which had been shut out bj- a point of timber
from the thrilling spectacle.
An oyster skiff was chartered, a volunteer
crew undertook to pull the boat down tcj the
fort, and Hazen was found at supper in the
planter's house. After a hurried inspection of
the fort, a yawl was found and manned ; Sher-
man and Howard went aboard, and the craft was
pulled down stream regardless of warnings as
to torpedoes, for Sherman was determined to
board the gunboat that night at whatever risk
or cost, hungry as he was tor news from the
outer world. At length they were aboard of
the Dandi-lion tender, and surrounded by half-a-
dozen naval officers. The general learned that
Admiral Dahlgren was on his flagship on Wassau
Sound, that General Foster, commanding the
department, was near by at Hilton Head, that
several ships with stores for the army were lying
in T3-bee Roads and Port Royal Sound, and
that Grant was still besieging Petersburg, things
being little altered since the depatture from
Atlanta.
Sherman and Howard returned to the McAl-
lister House, and lay down on the crowded floor
to snatch some sleep. Sherman was summoned
presently from slumber to take boat for the ship
in which was General Foster, who was lame from
an old Mexican wound. By-and-b}- Admiral
Dahlgren was found, mails arrived and were dis-
tributed as soon as possible, rations were sent
to the army, and Sherman, after having made
his preparations, summoned General Hardee to
surrender Savannah. Sherman's letter to him
was not in accordance with the amenities of
civilised warfare, and he must have repented
such expressions as the following : — " Should I
be forced to resort to assault, or to the slower
and surer process of starvation, I will then feel
justified in resorting to the harshest measures,
and shall make little effort to restrain mj- army.''
Hardee replied like a gentleman. In a sentence
he declined to surrender, and added — " I have
hitherto conducted m}- military operations in
strict accordance with the rules of civilised war-
fare, and I should deeply regret the adoption of
any course on your part that might force me to
deviate from them in future." Hardee's refusal
reached Sherman on December iSth. Savannah
was found evacuated on the morning of the 21st,
and was immediatel}- taken possession of. Hardee
had carried away his field-artillery and blown
up his ironclads and nav)- yard, but had left
everything else, inclusive of an immense quantity
of public and private property. With his entrj-
to Savannah on ziwA December Sherman held
to have terminated the " March to the Sea.''
He regarded that march simply as a " shift of
SHERMAN'S iMAKCH TO THE SEA.
base " — as the transfer of an army from its work
in the interior to a point on the coast whence it
could achieve other important results. In other
words, he considered the march to the sea as a
means to an end, and not as an essential act of
war. He himself expressed his measure of the
relative importance of the march to the sea, and
of that from Savannah northward, by placing the
former at one and the latter at ten.
The Campaig.n ok the Carolixas.
General Grant, who was Sherman's superior
officer, had suggested that the latter, having
established a strong base of all arms on the coast
about Savannah, should bring northward bv sea
the mass of his seasoned and triumphant army
to join the Army of the Potomac before Peters-
burg ; but to Sherman's satisfaction, Grant
subsequently, with good judgment, modified
his views in favour of the strategy put forward
by his great subordinate. Sherman's plan of
campaign was that of a commander who was a
master of the art of war. Leaving an adequate
garrison in Savannah, his project was to move
northward with his arm\- resupplied, cross the
Savannah river, feign against Charleston and
Augusta, striking between the two and heading
straight for Columbia, the capital city of South
Carolina, thence advancing through North Caro-
lina to Raleigh or Weldon. His appearance at
one or other of those points would, he antici-
pated, force Lee to evacuate Petersburg and
Richmond ; and to take to the open field,
throwing himself rapidly between Grant's and
Sherman's armies.
During the latter half of Januaiy, 1865
Sherman's troops, about bo,ooo strong, organised
precisely as during the march to the sea, had
been gradually taking up advanced positions
northward of Savannah. The whole vicinity
was more or less amphibious, the low alluvial
land cut up b}- an infinite number of salt-water
sloughs and fresh-water creeks. The Savannah
river had risen in flood, which swept awaj-
Sherman's pontoon-bridge at Savannah and
came near drowning one of his divisions while
on the march to Pocotatigo. On February ist
Sherman's army was at that place, near the head
of Port Royal inlet ; his left wing, with Kil-
patrick's cavalr}-, was still at Sister's Ferry on the
Savannah river, twenty-five miles north of the
city. In spite of obstructions, the general march
began prompth' on the day named. The right
wing moved up the Salkiehatchie on its right
bank, the river brimming full, and presenting
a most formidable obstacle. Through the
swamps bounding the ri\er proper the heads of
columns marched in water up to their shoulders,
until at River's Bridge and Beaufort Bridge
respectively the 15th and 17th Corps forced
their wav across the river in face of the rebel
brigade attempting to defend the passage. The
Union loss was not severe, and the enemy at
once abandoned the whole line of the Salkie-
hatchie.
On the 5th, Sherman was with the 15th Corps
at Beaufort's Bridge, his left wing abreast, the
cavalry ahead of him. The army was approach-
ing the line of the Charlestoix and Augusta rail-
road about Midway station, and the general
e.xpected to encounter severe resistance, since
the disruption of that line would sever the com-
munications of the enemy between the sea-coast
and interior points. On the 7th, in the midst
of a rain storm, the railroad was gained at several
points with scarce^ any opposition, contrar}- to
Sherman's expectation. A droll episode is re-
corded in regard to this seizure of the railroad.
General Howard, with the 17th Corps march-
ing straight on Midway, when about five miles
distant began to deploy the leading division so
as to be read}- for battle. Sitting on his horse
by the roadside while the deplovment was in
progress, he saw a man coming do«n the road
as hard as he could gallop, whom as he
approached the gejieral recognised as one of
his own " bummers," mounted on a white horse
with a rope bridle and blanket for a saddle.
As he came nearer he shouted, " Hurr\' up,
general ! come along, we have gotten the rail-
road ! " " So," remarked General Howard,
" while we generals were proceeding deliberately
to get ready for a serious battle, a parcel of our
foragers in search of plunder, had got ahead
and actually captured the South Carolina Rail-
road, a line of vital importance to the rebel
Government."
The L^nion army remained strung along this
railroad till the qth, working parties being
detailed to tear up the rails, burn the ties, and
twist the bars. Sherman was resolved on utterly
wrecking fifty miles of a line of so great conse-
quence, partly to prevent the possibilit)- of its
restoration, partly to utilise the time until
General Slocum, who had been delaj-ed at the
Savannah river, should come up. Having suffi-
ciently damaged the railroad and eflfected the
junction of the entire army, the general march
was resumed with Columbia as its objective, the
rijrht winsT following the cross railroad from
BATTLES OF THE XIXETEEXTH CEXTrRY.
Branchville to the Santee river by way of
Orangeville. Kilpiltrick was sent with liis
cavalry to the westward, to demonstrate strongly
against Aiken and thus to maintain the idea
that Augusta was being threatened. But Sher-
man was resolute not to deviate either to the
right or to the left. He would not even allow
himself to be tempted to turn aside to inflict
punishment on Charleston, the bitter and stub-
born hotbed of rebellion. His aspiration was to
.FEDERAL TROOPS DESTROVING TELEGRAPH WIRES.
reach Columbia before any part of Wood's Con-
federate force — the advance of which, commanded
by General Dick Taylor, was reported to be
already in Augusta — should precede him in the
occupation of the former cit}-.
On the nth the army crossed the South
Edisto, and the next day the 17th Corps reached
Orangeville, where the Charleston - Columbia
railroad was cut and destroyed up to the
Santee river. The Xorth Edisto was crossed by
pontoon bridges, and all the columns were then
headed for Columbia, where it was believed
that there was a great concentration of rebel
forces. Later on the march, it was ascertained
that the only troops in the capital were Wade
Hamilton's cavalry along with General Beau-
regard, in a state of considerable confusion.
During the night between the i6lh and 17th a
detachment had crossed the Saluda river close
to Columbia, and ne.xt morning, while the bridge
was being repaired, the Ma\or of Columbia came
out to surrender the city. X brigade was sent
forward to occupy it, and General Sherman,
with his staff and the general officers of the 15th
Corps, entered Columbia just as Wade Hamp-
ton and General Beauregard rode awa\' from
it. The high wind was whirling about flakes
of cotton from the burning cotton bales which
were said to have been fired bj' the rebel
cavalry before leaving the city that same
morning. The railroad depot and a large
adjacent warehouse had been burnt to the
ground, and piles of corn and meal in sacks
were on fire. Sherman was quartered in the
house of a fugitive citizen, where he was
visited by a number of Northern people
whom he had known in earlier days.
During the night great fires blazed in Co-
lumbia. Sherman ordered his troops to at-
tempt to extinguish the flames, and they
wrought hard; but the conflagrations never-
theless continued to increase. The high wind
was spreading the flames bej'ond control, and
the whole heavens became lurid. The air
was full of sparks and of flying masses ol
cotton, shingles, etc., which the wind carried
and started fresh fires. In the early morning
the wind moderated and the fire was got
under control ; but the whole heart of the
citv, including several churches, the old State-
house, and manv other public and private
buildings, was destroyed. One half at least
of Columbia had been laid in ashes. Through-
out the Confederacy it was believed, and the
belief has not yet died out, that the burning
of Columbia was deliberately planned and exe-
cuted by Sherman. He steadfastly denied this, and
the finding of the subsequent mixed commission
on American and British claims was to the effect
that the destruction of Columbia did not result
from the action of Sherman's army. He himself
directly charged* the arson on Wade Hampton.
During the two following days the railroads
around Columbia were ruined, and the State
arsenal with its contents was destroyed.
Columbia utterly ruined, Sherman's right
wins marched northward to Winnsboro', where
the left wing joined, and the advance was then
to the north-east on Cheraw and onwards
SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA.
towards Fayetteville, in Xortli Carolina, cun-
sidcrable delay being encountered in bridging
the Catawba and other rivers. When halted in
Cheraw, newspaper intelligence gave Sherman
the information that his feint to the left on
Charlotte had in no wav misled his antagonists ;
Wade Hampton's cavalry, had barely escaped
across Cape Fear river, burning the bridge
which Sherman had hoped to preserve. Kil-
patrick had experienced some curious vicissi-
tudes a few daj's previously, when holding his
cavalry strung out in line for the protection of
"THEY WROUGHT HARD, liUT THE CONFL.\GRATIONS NEVERTHELESS CONTINUED TO INCREASE" (A 8).
and he realised that he must prepare for the
concentration in his front of a considerable force
under General Jos. Johnston, who had been
appointed ti? the supreme command of the Con-
federate forces in the Carolinas. Reaching
Fayetteville on the nth he found General
Slocum in possession of that town, and all
the rest of the army close at hand. He
learned also that General Hardee, followed by
the left flank of the armv. Wade Hampton
had broken through this line, capturing Kil-
patrick and Spencer, his brigade commander, in
a house which they were occupying for a few
hours, and he held possession for a while of the
camp and artillery of the brigade. Kilpatrick,
however, and most of his people, had escaped into
a swamp, and having re-formed' and returned,
put Hampton and his men to flight in their turn ;
lO
RATTLES OF THP: MXinTlEXTH CEXTUKV
but the Confederate aminiander had carried off
Kilpatrick's pri\ate horses and two hundred ot
his men as prisoners, whom he had displayed
with great triumph in Fayetteville.
From Favetteville Sherman was able to send
to General Grant despatches reporting his pro-
gress and intentions ; and he sent orders to
General Schofield at Newbern and to General
Terry at Wilmington, both places named being
on the coast, to move with their effective forces
straight for Goldsboro', where he expected to
meet them by the 20th. On the i;th the
towards Goldsboro'. On the 1 8th, Sherman had
joined the right wing, to be near Generals
Schofield and Terr}- coming up from the coast
towards Goldsboro". He had heard some casual
cannonading about Skicum's head of column,
but did not regard it as serious until a messenger
came in hot haste with the news that Slocuni
near Bentonsville had run up against Johnston's
army, some 3b,cxx) strong, considerably more
than the whole of Slocum's command. Sherman
sent orders to Slocum to fight on the defensive,
pending his own arrival with reinforcements.
.MOUTH OK THE SAVANNAH.
whole army was across Cape Fear river on its
march for Goldsboro'. On Sherman's e.xtreme
left were the 14th and 20th Corps with the
cavalr}' acting in concert. Certain of being at-
tacked on this flank, he ordered both wings to
send their trains by interior roads, and each to
hold four divisions ready for immediate action.
Stubborn resistance was encountered from
Hardee's troops of all arms, and on the i6th the
Confederate commander was found in a strong
position near Averysboro'. The divisions of
Jackson and Ward deployed and pressed on,
while a brigade made a wide circuit by the left ;
and the first line of the enemj- was swept away,
two hundred prisoners were taken, with three
guns, and one hundred and eight dead Con-
federates were buried. Hardee withdrew and
entrenched himself anew ; but ne.\t morning he
was gone, in full retreat towards Smithfield. In
this Avervsboro' combat the Federals lost twelve
officers and sixty-five men killed, and four
hundred and seventv-seven men wounded. The
rebel wounded, numbering sixty-eight, were at-
tended to by Sherman's surgeons, and then
left in charge of a rebel officer and a few men.
From Averysboro' the lett wing bent eastward
A division was hurried to Slocum's flank, and
the whole of the right wing was directed en
Bentonsville, whence came loud and strong the
roar of battle. Johnston was not pugnacious ; he
stood on the defensive entrenched in the V for-
mation. Sherman explains in his memoirs that he
"did not feel disposed to invite a general battle,
in ignorance of Johnston's strength " ; and he
simply held his troops close up to the Con-
federate trenches for two days. At length, on
the afternoon of the 21st, General Mower could
stand inaction no longer, and with his division
he broke through the enemy's left flank and
pushed on towards Bentonsville. Sherman
arrested the gallant Mower's ciffcnsive, and re-
called him ; repenting later of his having done
so instead of supporting Mower, with the result
of bringing on a battle the issue of which must
have been in his favour by reason of his vastly
superior numbers. The truth probaj;)!}- was that
now Sherman was so near the successful ending
of his undertaking, he was not willing to run
any risks. Be this as it may, on the morning of
the 22nd, Johnston was in full retreat on Smith-
field, and Sherman marchsd into Goldsboro".
His loss at Bentonsville was 2^ officers and
SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA.
ir
i,';8i men killed, wounded, and missing. He
had captured 1,287 prisoners. Johnston esti-
mated his loss at 2,343 officers and men.
At Goldsboro' on the 22nd, Sherman found
Terry with two divisions and Schofield with a
whole corps, and the complete.junction was then
and there effected of all the army as originally
designed.
'.' Thus," wrote Sherman, with pardonable
pride, " was concluded one of the longest and
most important marches ever made by an or-
ganised ami}- in a civilised country. The route
traversed crossed five great navigable rivers.
Three important cities, Columbia, Chcraw, and
Fayetteville, had been captured and occupied ;
the evacuation of Charleston had been com-
pelled, all the railroads of South Carolina had
been utterly broken up, and a vast amount of
supplies belonging to the enemy had been seized
and used. The country traversed was for the
most part in a state of nature, with innumerable
swamps, the roads mere mud, nearly every mile
of which had to be corderoved. Yet we had,
in midwinter, accomplished the whole journey
of 425 miles in fifty days, averaging ten miles
per day ; and had reached Goldsboro' with the
army in superb order, and the trains almost as
fresh as when we had started from Atlanta."
Sherman was still at Goldsboro' with his army
about him when the tidings reached him of the
fall of Petersburg and Richmond on 6th April.
On the 1 2th he was officially informed of Lee's
surrender at Appomatox Court House, and the
war was regarded as over. Events came
quickly. On the 14th, General Johnston made
proposals to Sherman for the suspension of
active operations, pending the termination of
the war. Sherman was on his way to meet
Johnston when a cipher telegram was handed
him announcing the assassination of President
Lincoln. The terms arranged between the two
commanders were not approved of b)- the autho-
rities in Washington, and Grant was sent to
Sherman's headquarters .to intimate to that
commander that he was to demand the surrender
of Johnston's army on the terms accorded to
General Lee. Johnston accepted those terms.
The great Civil War was now at an end ; the
gallant struggle of the Confederacy was over
and done with, and thenceforth there was no
longer rebellion within the wide boundaries of
the great American Republic.
THE CONFEDERATE FLAG.
--^ni
12
I
THE well-worn old simile of the Phoenix
rising from her ashes may be applied
with truth to the French army on
its return from Moscow ; for, before
its wounds were healed, almost before its actual
losses could be counted, another mighty force
was called into existence, and Napoleon, once
more humming '' Malbrook s"en va-t-en guerre,"
set forth from Paris to lead it to fresh glories
and terrible defeat.
Liitzen, Wurschen, Bautzen. Dresden, were
victories dearly won at the expense of enor-
mous slaughter ; but Culm, Katzbach, and
Gros Beeren came as heavy blows, and Napo-
leon's projects seemed threatened with tragic
failure.
Whilst Ill's men dwindled, and the German
roads were thronged with his wounded Cuiras-
siers in wheelbarrows, or his troopers riding on
lean cows, the allied armies, on the contrary,
seemed to increase. Disaffection followed. The
Saxons were deserting him en masse. Austria
and Bavaria declared against him. As the
enemy drew closer round him from all points,
he hazarded everything on one cast of the
die, chose a bad position, suffered a crushing
reverse, and fled under circumstances of almost
unparalleled horror.
Leipzig was at that time a small cit}' girdled
ty a crumbling wall with four large and three
smaller gates, a wet ditch where mulberry
trees grew plentifullv, and was separated from
the extensive suburbs by a fine walk or boule-
vard planted with lindens which had grown to
giant size.
It was a great centre of learning and com-
merce : Fichte, Goethe, and a host of famous
men had studied or taught at its university ;
its three annual fairs were attended by book-
sellers from all parts of Europe ; and before
Napoleon's Continental system crippled trade
it had lucrative industries in gold and silver,
leather, silk, wool, yarn, and Prussian blue.
Had you mounted to the summit of one of
its many towers, as hundreds did during the
events I am about to describe, 3'ou would have
seen beneath you the narrow streets of the
quaint city, and farther out the gardens, public
and private, for which Leipzig was justly famed,
with the villas of the wealthy merchants peeping
out of groves and orchards.
Far as the eye could reach stretched a gently
rolling plain, wooded here and there, in other-
places barren where the harvest had been
gathered and the stubble fields were brown ;
the whole expanse dotted with villages in-
nvmrerable, each with its pointed spire ; the
plain intersected by great highroads and winding
byways.
West of the city lay a marshy tract, where
the rivers Pleiss and Elster flowed sluggishly
in narrow channels, and joined the Partha, which
came round the northern side. This tract was
a mass of tiny streams and dykes, crossed b}- a
narrow causeway leading to Lindenau, and so
to the road by Weissenfels, Erfurt, and Frank-
fort to the Rhine.
From the Rhine Napoleon had allowed himself
to be cut off, by staying at Dresden when every
hour was of the utmost consequence. There
seem to have come to him towards the close
of his marvellous career strange attacks of in-
decision which no one has satisfactorily explained,
and the lingering at Dresden while the allies had
drawn nearer and nearer until they had him in a
net, from which he escaped but with difficulty
and at great sacrifices, was one of these.
At last his various corps were ordered on
Magdeburg, and on the 7th October, at seven
in the morning, the emperor himself left Dresden,
and quitting the Leipzig road beyond Wurzen,
THE BATTLES ROUND LEIPZIG.
13
eventually reached the little moated castle of
Diibu'i on the lolh, where he stayed three days
in turt'ier indecision, until he suddenly com-
manded a countermarch ol his troops upon
Leipzig, stopping himself to breakfast in a
field by th^ roadside, at a point sonie fifteen
miles from the city.
While there, the distant booming of cannon
told him that Murat was engaged to the south
of Leipzig, and at the same moment the King
of Saxony came up with his Oueen and a strong
escort.
Napoleon had desired them to accompany
him, and advancing to the carriage door, he
reassured the frightened lady, who went on
after a short halt with her unfortunate husband,
destined to pay so dearly for his loyalty to the
French cause.
The day was grey and lowering, and Murat
had had several smart cavalry affairs near Borna.
in one of which he narrowl}' escaped with his
life. Returning with a single trooper, he had
been hotlj- pursued by Lieutenant De Lippe
of the 1st Neumark Dragoons, who repeatedly
shouted " Stop, King ! " " Stop, King ! " After
a galloping fight the pursuer was killed by Murat's
attendant, to whom Napoleon gave the Legion
of Honour, and who rode the dead man's horse
ne.xt day in his capacity of equerry to the King
of Naples.
Meanwhile, the columns were tramping in
and taking up their positions ; outside the
house of Herr Vetter at Reudnitz, a pictur-
esque village two miles from Leipzig, a chasseur
of the Guard with loaded carbine showed where
Napoleon had fi.xed his quarters. Waggons,
..•^>_j.-J;'t
m/ A*
\
u~ ''■s,: ..'.51 .'' 'I
r
^i
\ -^^^^
DRESDEN.
It was the anniversary of lena, and by a
strange coincidence Napoleon was using the
identical copy of Petri's atlas which he had
consulted for the campaign that had laid
Prussia at his feet in two short weeks. Now
the tables were turned, and Prussia was about
to have a terrible revenge.
carriages, escort, and orderly officers thronged
the streets ; every hour witnessed the arrival
of a grenadier regiment, a corps of tirailleurs, or
a rumbling batter}- of guns, whose grey-coated
drivers forced a passage through the crowd
with almost as little ceremon}- as the emperor's
suite itself. The citizens had experienced
14
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
a foretaste of French usage since Marmont's
corps came among them at the beginning of the
month, but that was going to prove as nothing
to the misery of the next six daj-s.
Early on the morning of the 15th, Murat clat-
tered up to the door of the Ouartier General,
and swinging off his horse went in to hold long
counsel with his brother-in-law ; after which,
about noon, they both rode away into the
stubble and the sheep pastures to reconnoitre
around Lieberwolkwitz on a hill to the French
left, and Wachau village with its orchard in a
hollow, which formed the French centre five
miles or so from the city, pajdng Poniatowski's
corps a visit among the gardens of Dolitz, and
finally returning to Liebenvolkwitz, where one
of those dramatic Napoleonic ceremonies took
place usual upon the presentation of the
cherished Eagle to corps that had not previously
possessed it.
Three regiments of light infantry clustered
round their emperor, and, turning to one
with the standard brandished in his hand, he
exclaimed in a piercing voice : " Soldiers of
the 26th Leger, I intrust you with the French
Eagle : it will be your rallying point. You
swear never to abandon it but with life ; you
swear never to suffer an insult to France ;
you swear to prefer death to dishonour : j'ou
swear ! "
" We swear ! " came the answer ; " Vive
I'Empereur ! "' And each regiment took the
oath, and meant it.
The columns had filed down to their posts in
the position chosen by Murat and sanctioned
by Napoleon, and the line of battle stretched
in a huge semicircle south of Leipzig, three
miles and a half from end to end ; Victor in
the centre behind Wachau with the 2nd Corps ;
Prince Poniatowski on the right with the 8th,
on the banks of the narrow Pleiss at Mark-
Kleberg and Doetlitz ; Lauriston on the left, on
the hill of Lieberwolkwitz with the 5th Corps ;
while farther away still, beyond Lauriston, was
gallant Macdonald, on the Dresden road, keep-
ing a sharp look-out for Beningsen or the
Hetman Platof
In rear of Poniatowski were Marshal Aucre-
o
reau's men ; between Poniatowski and Victor,
the cavalry of Kellerman and Milhaud ; be-
tween Victor and Lauriston the cavalry of
Latour - Maubourg ; and, finall}-, when they
arrived, the Imperial Guard was stationed near
the village of Probsteyda, behind Victor, and
in front of the ruined windmill and tobacco
factiiry where Napoleon took his stand when
the fighting had once begun.
To the west, across the causeway previously
mentioned, General Bertrand held Lindenau
with the 4th Corps, and covered the road to
Erfurt destined to form the French line of
retreat ; Marshal Marniont, with the 6th Corps,
lay round Lindenthal, and protected Leipzig
to northward ; while Ney and Reynier, with
the 3rd and 7th Corps, were in full march
from Eilenburg, either to support Marmont or
operate to eastward of the city — in all, 182,000
men to sustain the advance and attack of more
than 300,000 — namely, the Allied Grand Army,
or Army of Bohemia, qo,000 ; the Army of
Silesia, under Bliicher, 70,000 ; the Army of the
North, commanded by Bernadotte, 72,000; and
about 15,000 partisans, Cossacks, and light
horse.
There 'had been heavy rains for several days
preceding the 14th, the night of which was
miserable; but the weather cleared on the 15th,
and everything was quiet, except the continued
march of troops and the loopholing of the
Leipzig walls.
Suddenly, about eight in the evening, three
brilliant white rockets rose into the starlit sky
from the allies' headquarters at Pegau on the
Elster, and these were answered a minute later
by four red ones that trailed up bej-ond Halle —
a signal which put the French on the qui vivc.
That night Colonel Marbot, of the 23rd Chas-
seurs-a-cheval, lost an opportunit}- of changing
the whole face of the campaign through no fault
of his own, for, being in observation at the foot
of a hill called the Kolmberg, or Swedish Re-
doubt, he saw several figures on the summit,
outlined against the sky, and heard a conver-
sation in French that made the blood tingle in
his veins.
Stealthily drawing his regiment forward in
the darkness, while the 24th crept round the
other flank of the hill, a few- minutes more
would have sufficed to enclose the Kolmberg
and capture the speakers, but one of his
men accidentally fired his carbine. There was
"mounting in hot haste." . The figures vanished
at full speed towards the allied position, and
Marbot had a sharp brush with an escort of
cavalry, learning afterwards, to his intense
chagrin, that the Emperor of Russia and the
King of Prussia were in the group that had
escaped him !
Early in the fogg)' dawn of the ibth October
Napoleon left his quarters, attended by his
THE BATTLES ROUND LEIPZIG.
orderly officers and the escort of the Guard,
and riding on to the hill of Liebcrwolkwitz
again, he was joined by Murat, the pair gazing
Jong tlirough their glasses towards the enemy's
lines, where, when the fog melted into the
drizzle of a cold and gloomy day, they saw
several columns forming for the attack.
Huge riding-cloaks were then the fashion,
.uid as the cavalcade left the hill muffled to
the ears three signal-guns crashed out
about q o'clock, sending their balls over
the heads of the staff into the Guard and
the Cuirassiers beyond, doing some dam-
age, and commencing what is known as
the battle of Wachau.
Kleist, with a mixed force of Russians
and Prussians, advanced on the French
right wing in the marshes of the Pleiss
and took the village of Mark-Kleberg ;
Wittgenstein, commanding two columns,
also of Russians and Prussians, was
partially successful in the Wachau hollow ;
and the Austrian general Klenau flung
his men at the hill of Liebcrwolkwitz,
which Napoleon regarded as the key of
his position.
Ordering forward half the young Guard
under Marshal Mortier, and sending for
a part of Macdonald's corps, the emperor
repulsed the Austrians with great loss,
captured a portion of the wood of the
university, and having separated Klenau
from the rest of the allied army, turned
his attention on his centre at Wachau,
bringing up two divisions of the Guard
under Oudinot to support Victor, placing
his reserve artillery on the heights behind
the village, and moving Milhaud's and
Kellerman's cavalry to attack the Russian
left.
All this while the most furious cannon-
ade was in progress along the whole line, until,
as one who was present has declared, " the earth
literally trembled."
As the French horsemen gained the plain,
affairs became serious for the allied centre,
which was bayoneted out of Wachau by a
superior force, and retired slowly, fighting all
the way, leaving a thousand men dead in
the stubble fields before it reached its reserves
at the farm of Auenhayn ; but, fortunately for
Prince Eugene of Wilrtemberg, who commanded
the retreating column, Nostitz arrived with a
host of white-coated Austrian cavalry, which,
after some dashing charges, drove Milhaud's
and Kellerman's back, and sa^•ed the allied
centre from a similar separation on the left
wing to that which had already happened on
the right.
Still, the allies had gained nothing but the
village of Mark-Kleberg. Six desperate attacks
had been repulsed by the French ; and at Napo-
leon's command the bells of Leipzig were rung
during the afteriKJon to celebrate a victory and
LEIPZIG.
The First Day's Battle.
Positions at g.a.m.
Oct. 161 1813.
a band played gaily in the market square, where
the Saxon Grenadiers stood under arms for the
protection of their king.
Away beyond the rivers at Lindenau, Bertrand
had stood his ground against General Giulai
while the great fight waged to the south ; but
north of Leipzig Marshal Marmont had been
less fortunate at the battle of Mockern, where
BliJcher took 2,000 prisoners, three guns, and
forty ship's-cannon, which Marmont could not
remove for want of horses.
The marshal fought hard though, in spite of
the odds of three to one against him ; and
although he had to retire at nightfall on to the
i6
BATTLES OF THE XIXETEEXTH CENTURY.
Halle suburb, he retained Gohlitz and Alockern
as advanced posts, and kept possession of
Euterich.
Ney had drawn up in Marmont's rear earl\-
in the morning ; but hearing the cannonade at
Lieberwolkwitz before ^larmont was attacked,
the Due d'Elchingen marched off towards the
firing until Bliicher's guns recalled him, and he
is said to have lost both combats in consequence.
Returning once more to the south, one little
incident deserves to be recounted, which had
happened when the Kolmberg was stormed.
Napoleon, seeing the
necessity of a strong
charge, turned to a regi-
ment drawn up motion-
less spectators, and asked
which it was.
" The 22nd Light, sire."
" Impossible ! " he cried.
" The 22nd Light would
never stand with its arms
folded in presence of the
enemy I "
Instantly the drums
rolled the " pas de charge,"
the colours were waved,
and, supported by Mar-
bot's Chasseurs, they
rushed forward. The sides
of the Swedish redoubt
became alive with blue
figures and white cross
belts, and the hill was
taken under the eye of
that leader who knew so
well how to flatter the
vanitv of his followers, and who probably got
more out of flesh and blood b\- a few artful sen-
tences than any commander who ever existed,
" charmed he never so wisely."
Between three o'clock and four, when the
allied centre had been driven back, leaving
its right exposed, IMurat detected that weak-
ness and prepared to swoop down with Latour-
Maubourg's cavalry into the plain.
Ale.xander, whose station was behind the
village of Gossa, tried to get his reserves up in
time, but b}- some mischance they were jumbled
together in some broken ground, leaving two
regiments, the Lancers and Dragoons of the
Guard, to face the rush of fift}- squadrons,
thundering down from the heights, the sun full
on them as they came.
They were the 5th Cavalr}- Corps, with Murat,
NAPOLEON I
Latour-Maubourg, and Pajol leading — five
thousand horsemen, mostly dragoons, green
coated, grey breeched, high booted ; white cloaks
rolled en banderole across the square rciers.
which showed scarlet and crimson and rose, and
bright yellow and dull orange ; brass helmet^
with the whisk of horsehair about them ; bear-
skins of the Compagnies d'eltte bedraggled with
the rain : one of those furious waves that in
the earlj- days of the Empire were wont to
annihilate ever3-thing in their course, and which
now tore, heedless of a storm of cannon shot,
capturing twentj'-six gun>
in the twinkling of an e3e,
and hustling the Russian
dragoons over a brook in
their rear.
A few causewa\-s crossed
the rivulet and the ground
was swamp3' ; the cavalr\-
were splashed with mud
from crest to spur, and
the horses hock-deep in
many cases.
The Russian lancers
fell back and formed ti-
the left, without crossing
the brook ; and checked
in the moment of victory
by the marsh into which
the}- had floundered, the
French squadrons became
confused and unmanage-
able.
Guns were brought to
bear upon them ; the
hussars of the Russian
Guard charged in on their right rear, and the\-
scrambled out in great disorder which degenerated
into a panic and a hasty retreat, seeing which,
the Emperor Alexander sent his personal escort
of Cossacks under Count Orloff Denissof to take
the mass on the other flank.
Back streamed the broken dragoons, nor did
thev halt until thev reached their infantrj-, for
they had been sent at the enemy without an\-
supports into ground where a voltigeur would
have hesitated.
Latour-Maubourg had his leg taken off at the
thigh by a ball, and brave Pajol met with a
terrible experience.
A shell entered the breast of his horse, burst
inside, and flung the general manj- feet in the
air, breaking his left arm and several ribs as he
fell, to be rescued with great difficult}- by his
THE BATTLES ROUND LEIPZIG.
17
aide-de-camp, Lieutenant-Colonel Biot, and some
staff officers.
Murat had a narrow escape ; twenty-four of the
guns were retaken by the Russians, and a grand
opportunity was lost, while Gossa later in the
day became the scene of a fierce encounter
with the light troops of the Russian Guard,
who forced the French to retire, and held that
place as the allied right ; their centre being
then at Auenhayn, their left at Mark-Kleberg.
fallen on both sides, but the allies could afford
to lose them, and the French could not.
He was hard pressed by Bliicher on the north ;
to southward the enemy were being strongly-
reinforced, and a hideous stream of wounded
crawled back to the city to show how severely
the Grand Army had suffered.
The corn magazine, capable of holding 2,500
men, was crammed full to overflowing, the rest
lay about the streets untended, and reflected the
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THE ALLIED STAFF AT LEIPZIG.
■^.ir^i^^Zi
At Connenitz, between Doetlitz and Leipzig.
Count Meerfeldt had crossed the Pleiss unex-
pectedly, but Curial, with the Chasseurs-a-pied
of the Guard, came upon him, routed his
battalion, and being unhorsed and wounded, the
Austrian general gave up his sword to Captain
Pleineselve.
Darkness fell, and as the clocks chimed six
the guns ceased firing, the rattle of small-arms
died away, and the French remained practically
in the same position, while the front of the allies
had been considerably narrowed.
Nevertheless, Napoleon had gained no real
advantage : it was of little consequence that he
had maintained his ground. Many men had
50
greatest discredit on the ambulance arrange-
ments, never adequate to the needs of any of
those gory campaigns ; while out beyond the
cit\' a circle of fires and blazing villages showed
where the armies bivouacked among the dead.
Sunday came, the 17th October, dark and
stormy with gusts of rain ; and the allies, hearing
that Beningsen and Collorado would not be up
before evening, postponed the attack until the
following day. But Napoleon, finding that
Wintzingerode, with the advance - guard of
Bernadotte's armv, had worked round to the
east of Leipzig and appeared at Taucha on the
Partha's banks, and that the net was closing
tighter, spent the hours in an.xious meditation,
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
and made frcsli plans to concentrate his forces
closer round the city.
He pitched his five blue and v.hite-striped
tents in a dry fish-pond near Probsteyda that
night, with the Old Guard encamped about him,
and waited in vain for a reply to his negotiations,
having sent General Meerfeldt, on his parole, to
the allied sovereigns with certain proposals.
" They are deceived in respect to me,"' he had
said to that officer. " I demand nothing better
than to repose myself in the shade of peace, and
ensure the happiness of France, as I have ensured
her glory " ; but the sovereigns were no longer
to be hoodwinked by specious words : with time
had come experience.
Down a long vista of eighty years we can now
look back calmly, if with wonder, at this stirring
period ; feeling almost a reverence for the little
figure on the white horse, as we marvel at his
mighty genius, and gaze with admiration at the
faded flag he kissed at Fontainebleau, or the moth-
eaten chapcati he wore at Eylau ; but set the
clock back, and picture how he looked in 1813.
Napoleon had become a public nuisance in
Europe : no king was safe on his throne, no
people within his reach knew at what hour the
tap of the drum might not sound on the high-
road and a locust scourge spread over their fields
and homesteads.
# * * * »
Durmg the night Napoleon knew no sleep ;
Nansouty and various generals were called up to
be questioned, and at 3 o'clock in the morning
the four lamps of the emperor's carriage flashed
outside Ney's quarters at Reudnitz — the same
that Napoleon had occupied on his arrival.
After an hour of close consultation the
emperor left in the rain, and walking with
Murat along the swollen dykes for half an hour,
again sought his tent, much absorbed.
It is also said they rode along the causeway as
far as the Kuhthurm, or Cow Tower, towards
Lindenau, to give Bertrand instructions to
• occupy Weissenfels and keep the road clear.
An alteration in the French position had been
effected in the night and early morning, and
now Connenitz formed the right wing under
Prince Poniatowski, raised to the dignity of
marshal for his gallantry the day before.
Victor had fallen back to Probsteyda ; Lauris-
ton, between that village and Stotteritz, upon
which latter place Macdonald had retired ;
General Keynier with a brigade of Saxons
occupied Mockou, and also Paunsdorf, on the
\V urtzen-Dresden road ; Ney was in force near
Setterhausen, not far from Reudnitz, and at
Schoenfeld on the Partha ; while the northern
suburbs of Leipzig were defended by MarmonL
as before. Thus, with Bertrand on the west,
the city was completely surrounded, the position
having one great fault, as Napoleon well knev.r
— namely, in case of defeat all these scattered
corps, miniature armies in themselves, would be
forced to get away by the narrow causeway
across the Pleiss and Elster.
South of Leipzig Murat was in command ;
east and north. Marshal Ney ; the emperor
himself remaining the greater part of the time
on a hill behind Probsteyda, near the ruined
windmill and tobacco factory, that gave him a
panoramic view of the field, and round about
which his guard was waiting.
By eight o'clock on the 1 8th, Napoleon was
on the windmill hill, and a little later the allied
troops were again descried on the march to
attack him.
The weather had cleared and the sun was
shining ; the Prussians began to sing " Hail to
thee in victory crowned," their bands joining in ;
and, from their quarters at the dismantled
chateau of Rotha, some ten miles away, the
Emperor Alexander and his suite rode into the
plains at Glossa, joined by Frederick William of
Prussia, who had slept at Borna, to witness the
commencement of a conflict so fierce that it
has been called the "Battle of the Giants" by
some, and by others the '' Battle of the Nations."
Three columns were in motion : ist, Bening-
sen, with Bubna, Klenau, and the Prussian.'^
under Zeithen — 35,000 in all, or thereabouts —
was to advance by Holzhausen on Plural's
left — helped, it was expected, by Bernadotte's
army ; 2nd, Barclay de Tolly, with Kleist's
Prussians, Wittgenstein's men, and the Russian
reserves — estimated at 45,060 in all — who
was to aim for Wachau and the centre ; and,
3rd, the Prince of Hesse-Homburg was to lead
2;, 000 Austrians down the marshy Pleiss against
Dosen and Doetlitz, Vv-hile Meerfeld's Corps,
under General Lederer, went down the left ban'K
of the same stream to renew the attempts against
Connenitz which the Old Guard had baffled the
day before.
At first the columns found little to oppose
them : Beningsen cleared the French advanced
posts out of Engelsdorf and stayed there, as
Bernadotte was not yet in evidence ; Zeithen
carried Zurkelhausen with much spirit and took
some guns, while Klenau drove Macdonald's
THE BATTLES ROUND LEIPZIG.
19
rearguard from Holzhausen village ; but the
near presence of Ney and the non-arrival of
the Army of the North crippled the action of
the 1st column for a time.
The 3rd column flung iis whittf battalions on
Dosen and Doetlitz, and had a hard fight among
the bushes and garden walls.
Napoleon stayed for an hour on his right
flank to watch the opening struggle ; Hesse-
Honiburg was wounded, and Bianchi took com-
mand ; Kellerman's Horse and old Augereau's
men supported Poniatowski with some success,
but the Austrians eventually took Connenitz,
and there they stayed, unable to do more,
and held in check by the firm front of brave
Poniatowski, backed by Oudinot with some
of the Guard.
All day they kept up an incessant skirmishing,
and the brown batteries of Austrian artillery on
the one side, and the blue batteries of the
French on the other, continued to thunder and
hoom almost without intermission until dark-
ness fell.
Somewhere about ten o'clock, or an hour
after the battle began. Napoleon left the right
flank and galloped away to Probsteyda, a cir-
cular village surrounded by villas and gardens,
strongly occupied by Victor ; and there he
found the 2nd column of the enemy, which had
passed through Wachau unmolested, preparing
for the attack.
Probsteyda, and Stotteritz a mile oflf to the
lefc, were the keys of the French centre, and
massing Lauriston's men between the two, rather
ill the rear, with the bulk of the Imperial Guard
.)n the windmill hill behind Probsteyda,
Napoleon turned all his attention to that portion
of the field, viewing the conflict from the ruined
windmill itself.
A furious artillerv duel began on both sides —
a duel which was, perhaps, the most prominent
feature of the Leipzig battles, for, from morn till
eve the whole plain resounded with the roar of
cannon, and the smoke of 1,600 pieces hung
round the citv, through which the watchers on
the ramparts and steeples could catch hasty
glimp.ses of surging cavalry or the progress of
infantry columns rushing to engage.
Lender cover of the guns three Prussian
brigades flung themselves on Probsteyda, met
by the fire of Victor's troops, who lined the
wails and fired from the attics and windows.
Many forgotten scrimmages took place in
alleys and pretty gardens ; the hedges hid long
lines of dead and dying who had fought with
desperation in attack and defence ; the people
in Leipzig questioned the wounded who stag-
gered in through the gates, "How is it going?"
and it was always the same reply, " Badly
enough ; the enemy is very strong ! "
By two o'clock Prince Augustus and General
Pirch had taken half the village, but reprisal
was at hand, and the emperor descended at the
head of his Guard and led it with loud shouts
of victory down the hill, where the bear-
skins thronged into the streets and hurled the
Prussians out again.
French horsemen in a dense body rode round
the end of the village soon after, but Grand Duke
Constantine — he of the lowering brow — moved
his troopers forward with a strong support of
foot and held them in check, while smoke and
flames rolled over Probsteyda, and the horsemen
did not charge. Shot and shell tore backwards
and forwards, until it seemed little short of
miraculous that men could live ; battery after
battery swept the plain : the oflicer riding with
a vital order, the drummer beating to advance
or retire, the surgeon dressing a limb in the
shelter of a burning farmhouse — all were hit,
death was in the very air itself; yet Murat, in
sable-trimmed pelisse, galloped hither and thither
unhurt, and the emperor himself tore heedlessly
through his troops after his usual manner ; his
suite sometimes riding down an unlucky fantassin
or two who did not get out of the way fast
enough.
All daj' they fought at Connenitz, at Prob-
steyda, and round about Stotteritz, without
making any headway on either side ; but to
north and east clouds were rolling up in spite of
every effort of the heroic Ney to ward* them ofv
After hot skirmishing all morning on the
banks of the Partha, Langeron's Russian corps
crossed that river at Mockou ; and about two
o'clock Wintzingerode's cavalry passed it higher
up and came into touch with Beningsen, whom
we left waiting at Engelsdorf.
Ney accordingly concentrated his forces be-
tween Schoenfeld and Setterhausen to oppose
the approach of the Army of the North, which
began to appear at Taucha.
Reynier, who was under Ney, had been
fighting hard for several hours with Bubna, and
his difficulties were increased by the presence of
the Hetman Platoff", with 6,000 roving Cossacks.
Poor Re^-nier was destined to meet with
severe reverses on that day, and also to experi-
ence a novelty in warfare, for there trotted up
about the same time a little body of ho-semen
20
BAITLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
clad in smart blue jackets braided with yellow, over from Mockou in the heat of action, and
with large semicircular crests of black bear- deliberately joined Bubna, leaving Reynier to
skin on their leather helmets. English horse his fate.
THE M.1RKF.r PLACE.
artillery thej- might have seemed from a dis-
tance but for the long bundles of what appeared
to be lance-shafts which they carried in buckets
by their sides.
English they were — Captain Bogue's troop of
the E.xperimental Rocket Brigade attached to
the Swedish army ; and soon there came fiery
serpents into Reynier's ranks, whizzing and
burning and causing great disorder.
Bogue was killed by a ball in the head, and
Lieutenant Strangways took command — the
same man who, as General Strangsvays, said
gently, " Will someone kindly lift me from my
horse ? " when a cannon shot tore off his leg
at Inkerman in 1854.
Often enough those rockets went the wrong
way, and caused consternation among the troop-
itself ; but it is certain that they astonished
the French tremendously, and not long after
eleven Sa.\on battalions, three squadrons of
cavalrj-, and three batteries of guns stalked
The French Cuirassiers understanding too late
what was happening, charged after them, but
the traitorous artillery slewed round and fired
on their late comrades, the rest of the Sa.xon
brigade marching into bivouac a league behind
the allies.
This serious defection caused Napoleon to
send a strong force to Reynier's assistance ; but
all it could do was to rescue the remnant of
that general's corps, and the desertion remains
a standing disgrace to Saxon honour for all
time.
Twice during the morning had Nev sent to
Reudnitz for a fresh horse, and again for a third
in the afternoon. Several times did Langeron
assault Schoenfeld without success, but at last he
took it ; and Biilow carrying Paunsdorf later in
the evening, Ney fell back on his quarters at
Reudnitz, wounded by a ball in the shoulder,
Sacken having pressed Marshal Marmont hotlv
in the suburbs of Leipzig itself, and Bliicher
THE BATTLES ROUND LEIPZIG.
21
having been driven out of Reudnitz by Napoleon
in person.
Darkness was approaehing, and witli it came
the rain.
The guns continued after that, and, as on the
previous night, a circle of conflagation once
more surrounded the citv, thirteen villages and
farms being in a blaze, and a multitude of
bivouacs glowing wherever the eye rested.
A fire was kindled by the ruined mill, and
Napoleon dismounted beside it with a heav}^
heart.
It was 6 o'clock, and the result of the battle
was practically against him, for, though his
position had been retained, the carnage had
been frightful, and the allies were in perfect
touch with each other alonsj his whole front
the night, for which he gave orders to Berthier,
and then threw himself on a bench they had
brought from a neighbouring cottage, and slept
in the open air by the fire for a cjuarter of an
hour with his arms folded, the staff standing
round him silent and sorrowing.
Waking, he received a report from Generals
Sorbier and Dulauloy, of the artillarj', to the
effect that since the actions began the French
had expended no less than 250,000 cannon balls,
and, including the reserve, there only remained
16,000 more, or enough for two hours' firing.
The Austrian return for the i6th and iSth
is 5b, 000 from 320 guns alone. That of the
whole allied armv must have been something
stupendous !
Order upon order did the baffled emperor
'N.\POLE0!C RODE AWAY WITH A SMALL SUITE THROUGH ST. I'ETEr's T.ATE" (f. 22),
from Connenitz to Schoenfeld. He was not in give, directing his troops to retreat by the
a condition to renew the combat next day, and causewav on Lindenau, which was still held by
there only remained a retreat under cover of Bertrand ; and somewhere about 8 o'clock
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
Napoleon rode awa}' to Leipzig, where, finding
the Thunherg crowded with wounded, he put
up at the " Prussian Arms," or, as some have it,
the " Hotel de Prusse," in the horse-market,
leaving his windmill at the same time that
Excelmann's division startled for Lindenau,
which they did not reach until 4 a.m.
The night was intensely and unusually dark.
The plain was thronged with the retreating
army, and so great was the confusion inside the
city that whole corps had passed through before
the inhabitants realised that the P'rench were
leaving them.
The baggage entered bv four gates, and tried
to get out through one, and that so narrow that
a single carriage alone could pass it at a time.
Farther on, again, the Cow Tower was only the
same width, and nowhere was the road more
than thirty feet from side to side, crossing three
English miles of marshy meadows and five un-
fordable streams by small bridges until it reached
Lindenau, where a larger bridge finally convej-ed
it to firm ground.
No sleep had Napoleon that night, nor indeed
had anyone in Leipzig save those utterly worn
out by the protracted struggle, for the city rang
with tumult as the troops struggled through the
narrow streets, often in single file where the way
was blocked with waggons and guns. Mounted
Grenadiers of the Old Guard, Cuirassiers muffled
against the rain in white cloaks, conscripts cr\--
ing from very weariness — all streaming onward,
many under the windows of the hostelry- itsell
where Napoleon, in his dressing gown and with
head tied in a handkerchief, sometimes looked
out on the defeated mob, which had no "Vive
I'Empereur ! " then.
For once the Grand Army — or, rather, its rem-
nants—showed a provident spirit, making great
efforts to guide large herds of lowing cattle
through the press, in which they were not
altogether successful, and onlj- added to the con-
fusion thereby, as we read that numbers of oxen
were browsing quietlv in the town ditch when
the allies stormed the suburbs next day.
Officers had pleaded for the construction of
other bridges over the Pleiss and the marshes,
and one had been made, though by whom is not
■ clear ; but it broke down as the first battalion
crossed it, and was not replaced, Berthier after-
wards making his usual excuse, " The emperor
had given no orders."
Napoleon's horse was waiting at 2 o'clock in
the morning, but it was q ere he got into
the saddle, and for half an hour before that the
enemy's cannf>n had been heard bevond tht-
Grimma suburb.
To the house where the King of Saxony was
staying the emperor rode at a quick pace, and
for twenty minutes he was alone with his faithful
ally and the distressed queen, the king ulti-
matelv attending him to the head of the staircase
when he took his departure.
Apparently irresolute wine course to pursue,
he threaded the crowd with some diflicult}-, and
finally dashed by St. Thomas's Church to the
gate of St. Peter, where he paused in obvious
indecision.
His proposal to the allies that he should
evacuate the city, and declare all the Saxon
troops neutral, on condition that he should be
allowed to convey his artiller}- and baggage to a
specified point, was insulting to the intelligence
of those to whom he had addressed it, and the
guns he heard thundering on several sides made
fitting reply. Still, he seemed loth to go, and
finally rode as far as the Civic School in the
direction of his quarters.
There he came under fire, and is said to have
had an interview with Prince Joseph Ponia-
towski, nephew of the last king of Poland,
and as brave a man as any in that brSve age.
So hotlv had the prince been engaged in the
various battles about Leipzig, that fifteen officers
of his personal staff had been killed or wounded;
he himself had been hit on the 14th and again
on the ibth, and he was destined to receive two
further wounds before the wafers of the Elster
closed over him for ever.
To him Napoleon entrusted the defence of
the Borna suburb with a handful of 2,000
Polish troops, and Poniatowski's last words to
the man who had made him a Marshal of
France two days before were : " We are all
ready to die for your Majesty ! "
Lauriston, Macdonald, and Reynier likewise
remained in Leipzig, and abandoning an idc.i
he had entertained of firing the suburbs t.
check the enemy. Napoleon gave orders u-
protract the resistance from house to house,
and rode away with a small suite through St.
Peter's Gate, calm and inscrutable of face, but
as eve-witnesses tell us, in a profuse perspiration
" Place pour Sa Majeste I " secured no passage ;
the chaos of the Beresina was in progress, with-
out the snow, though the Cossacks were close
at hand ; and compelled to leave the highwa\-.
the fugitive emperor plunged into a labyrinth ot
lanes, and had proceeded some distance toivards
the ciicinv before the mistake was discovered,
THE BATTLES ROUND LEIPZIG.
23
when, after questioning some natives closely
as to whetlier any byway to Borna and Alten-
burg existed, and being answered in the
negative, he at last rode through Richtcr's
garden, and so gained the cro-.vded causeway
by the outer Ranstadt Gate.
After he had gone, the King of Sa.xony sent
a flag of truce to the allied sovereigns, who
occupied the same hill from which Napoleon
had directed the battle of the i8th, entreating
them to spare the city, the answer being "as
far as possible," on the condition that no French
should be harboured or concealed ; General
Toll, one of Alexander's aides-de-camp, riding
back with the messenger to see the King
himself.
Against the city on the south the three great
divisions of the allied army began the attack in
pretty much the same order as on the preceding
days, the Austrians marching along the road
from Connenitz, Barclay de Tolly on their right,
* Beningsen still farther to the right again ; at
last the Army of the North came into absolute
action, and stormed the eastern suburbs, while
Sacken's corps bombarded the city from the
north across the Partha.
Poor Bernadotte has been abundantly reviled
for taking part against the French ; but it must
be remembered that it was forced upon him, in
the first instance, by Napoleon's arbitrary con-
duct, and that he gave strong proof of his re-
luctance to shed the blood of his own country-
men in arriving so late ; for had he wished
otherwise, the Army of the North could well
"have joined the rest of the allies several days
before.
As a Marshal of France Bernadotte had won
his spurs worthily, in spite of the jealousies of
some of his comrades-in-arms and the dislike of
Napoleon himself ; when he had it in his power
to be revenged against his old enemv, he re-
frained as long as honour allowed it to be
possible, which cannot be said of some who
owed more to the emperor than ever Bernadotte
had done : that his character has stood the test
of time Swedish annals show.
A nominal rear-guard of 6,000 men had been
left in the city, but it is asserted by many
present that there were quite 30,000 about the
walls and suburbs, to say nothing of sick and
wounded ; for the remains of Reynier's corps
were still in the place, with a host of others
more or less disorganised, and under such
leaders as Macdonald, Poniatowski, and Laur-
iston. the fiercest resistance was made, every
house being loopholed in some quarters, and
barricades constructed of furniture and felled
trees.
The attack was in full swing at eleven, and
the fighting desperate ; shot crashed in from
the north and east, and a few shells dropped
into the streets from the direction of Halle.
The Pfaffendorf farm hospital was burnt, with
most of the wounded, when the Jagers got there ;
but in spite of their overwhelming numbers,
the allies only took the city inch by inch, and
the final catastrophe was even then hastened by
a terrible and unforeseen accident.
When Napoleon had traversed the causeway
and crossed the Elster, he ordered General
Dulauloy to have the bridge undermined, and
then galloping on to Lindenau mounted to the
first storey of a windmill, while his officers
attempted to infuse some order into the fugi-
tives by directing them to certain paints where
they would find their regiments.
Dulauloy entrusted Colonel Montfort of the
Engineers to form fotifftisses beneath the bridge,
which were to be fired instantly on the approach
of the enemy ; Montfort handed over the charge
of the mines to a corporal and four sappers, and
everything being ready, they listened to the
uproar growing louder and louder in Leipzig,
and watched the stream of retreating humanity
which still poured towards them over the
marshes.
The bulk of the Guard and the best part of
the baggage had already passed through Lin-
denau ; regiments, squadrons, batteries, and
stragglers had been going by for many hours,
and but for the crash of musketry in the dis-
tance, it seemed as though the crowd then on
the causeway must be the last of the Grand
Army to leave the city.
Sacken, Biilow, and Bernadotte's Swedes
gained a foothold about the same time ; the
Young Guard stood at bay in the cemetery cf
Grimma, sallied out, were repulsed, and died
almost to a man among the graves, fighting to
the bitter end — neither the first time, nor the
last, that French valour has showed itself at its
best in " God's acre."
The Russians carried the outer Peter's Gate,
and fell with tremendous violence on the rear-
guard in Reichel's garden ; the Baden Jagers
bolted from the inner gate without firing a
shot, and afterwards turned their weapons on
the defeated French.
The wild burden of the " Stiirm " march rang
through the streets with loud huzzas and shouts
24 BATTLES OF
of " Long live Frederick William ! " as the
Prussians entered the Grimma Gate ; the Halle
suburb and the northern side of the city were in
the enemy's hands, in spite of Reynier and his
men ; but still the French maintained an heroic
resistance.
The houses of Leipzig were tall, with many
landings, and some of those landings have their
legends even now !
But while they were fighting with a fierceness
that increased as they felt the superior weight
of numbers was surely if slowly overpowering
them, a loud explosion boomed in their rear
towards the marshes and the causeway, and a
whisper followed it : " We are cut off ; the
bridge has been destroyed ! "
The whisper became a cry — a wave of panic
followed it ; the gallant bands left the streets
and yards and gateways, and rushing to the
head of the causeway, found the rumour true !
Under the walls of the city the Elster ap-
proached very close to the Fleiss, and ran
roughly parallel with it until the two rivers
joined ; across the Pleiss and the first narrow
strip of swamp the horrified rear-guard could
pass, but no farther : a gulf yawned between
them and the continuation of the causeway,
isolating every soul in Leipzig from their more
fortunate comrades at Lindenau.
Alarmed by the low shackoes of Sacken's light
infantry, who had got into the Rosenthal island
close to the bridge, the corporal had fired his
train and shattered the only means of escape.
A panic followed, and the enemy were not slow
to take advantage of the circumstance, which in
a moment had transformed a resolute foe into
a mob of frantic fugitives.
Napoleon sent the 23rd and C4th Chasseurs
full trot towards Leipzig, where they rescued
about 2,000 men, who managed to scramble
through the Elster, among them Marshal Mac-
donald, who arrived stark-naked, and who was
hastily rigged out and mounted by Colonel
Marbot on his own led horse.
Lauriston, returned drowned in the bulletin
was taken prisoner in full uniform, over which
he had thrown an old drab great-coat ; and,
including those captured in the battles, 30,000
men, .':2,ooo sick and wounded, 250 guns, and
upwards of i ,000 waggons fell into the hands 01
the allies.
Poniatowski's heroic end is well known.
When everything was lost he drew his sabre,
and with his left arm in a sling, for he had been
wounded again during the morning, he exclaimed
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
to the little band of officers and mounted men
that still surrounded him : " Gentlemen, it is
better to fall with honour than to surrender ! "
and straightway dashed into a column that in-
terposed between him and the river.
A bullet struck him, strangely enough^
through the Cross of the Legion of Honour on
the breast of his gala uniform of the Polish
Lancers, but he cleared the column, and leaped
down the steep boarded banks into the Pleiss,
where he lost his charger, and was helped out
on the other side thoroughly exhausted.
Somebody gave him a trooper's horse, and on
it he managed to cross the intervening marsh
and plunge into the Elster, but the animal had
no strength to mount the farther bank ; the
mud was deep, its hind legs became entangled^
and falling backwards on to the weary man,
steed and rider disappeared !
Five days after, a fisherman recovered the body,
still wearing the diamond-studded epaulettes,
and rings on many fingers, and it was embalmed
and ultimately buried in the cathedral of
Warsaw, a monument being erected on the
banks of the Elster by M. Reichembach, the
banker, from whose garden the unfortunate prince-
sprang into the river, the actual spot being now^
covered by a handsome quay.
Colonel Montfort and the corporal were tried
by court-martial, the result of which has never
been made public ; but the report afterwards
circulated that Napoleon had ordered the pre-
mature explosion to cover his ovv^n retreat is
without foundation. Charles Lever has woven
a pathetic romance round it, but all the evi-
dence goes to prove that the corporal was
alone answerable, and that no blame in reality
attached to him, as his orders were explicit,
and the enemy had appeared a few yards off
when he fired the mines.
*****
The exact moment when the allies came into
possession of the cit}' is difficult to discover : the
bridge was blown up shortly after eleven.
Cathcart says he rode in with the sovereigns
about twelve, but other accounts from e3-e-
witnesses say the entry was at half-past one. If
the time is uncertain, however, the attendant
circumstances are clear : Alexander and the
King of Prussia marched into Leipzig at the
head of a brilliant column of Guard cavairs ,
passed the Saxon monarch on the steps of his
house without notice, and eventually took up
their station in the great square, where they
were joined by Bernadotte, Bliicher, Beningsen,
■bUl bllLL THE KKKNCH .MAINTAINED AN HEROIC RESISTANCE" (A ::).
26
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
Platoff, and later by Napoleon's fathcr-in-Iaw,
the Emperor of Austria.
Every effort was made to prevent excesses: if
the allies afterwards made loyal allegiance to
Napoleon an excuse for robbing Frederick
Augustus of an immense portion of his terri-
tory, they certainly took steps to ensure the
safety of the citizens, and that is to their credit,
whatever may be thought of their subsequent
treatment of an unfortunate king whose memory-
is still revered in the land where he once
held sway.
Leipzig had suffered terriblv, and its in-
habitants were starving.
At the Ranstadt Gate piles of corpses met the
gaze, and the mill-dam was full of them ; in
Lohr's garden on the Gohlitz side, where dark
groves once sheltered the nightingale, and
Grecian statues stood among the greenery, the
French gunners and artillery horses lay scattered
about in death. In Richter"s garden, through
whose iron railings Napoleon had escaped, the
Cuirassiers had been engaged : their steel breast-
plates littered the walks, and arms and feet
protruded above the water.
Seventeen generals are said to have been
taken, and among those slain on the i8th was
General Frederichs, the handsomest man in
the French army.
Pursuit abated a league from the cit}-. The
French retired to Markranstadt, nine miles
off, and thence continued their way. towards the
Rhine, severely handling the Bavarians who
tried to oppose them at Hanau.
A solemn Te Deum was sung in the great square
at Leipzig, all the sovereigns and their officers
attending. Alexander reviewed the Swedish
force and the English rocket troop, and prepara-
tions were made to follow on the track of the
Grand Army ; a march which, in spite of the
campaign of 1814, greatest of all Napoleon's
efforts, may be said to have never stopped until
the allies entered Paris and drove the emperor
to Elba.
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MARSHAL EERNADOTTE.
iFr^m ike painting by F. OerariO
27
= « oB^ OQ-So
''OtJOQ Q « O^
THOUGH the siege of Delhi was of far
greater importance, both political and
military, yet most people, if asked to
mention the most striking event in
the Indian Mutiny, would undoubtedly name
the defence of Lucknow. The incidents appeal
more forcibly to the imagination, and the fact
that the lives of numbers of women and children
were at stake, as well as those of the male
defenders of the position, excites a degree of
sympathy far greater than that which can be
aroused by purely military operations.
The outbreak of the mutiny in the Indian
army found Lucknow ill prepared for such an
event. The British force there consisted of
three regiments of regular native infantry,, two
of Oudh irregular infantry, a regiment of native
military police, a regiment of native regular
cavalry, two or three of irregular cavalry, and
three batteries of native artillery. To repress
trouble should it arise, there was but the 32nd
Regiment and a battery of European artillery.
At that time Lucknow was one of the largest
towns in India, and the population was an ex-
ceedingly turbulent one. Before the annexation
of Oudh, the state of that kingdom closely
resembled that of England under the Planta-
_ genets. The great landowners, like our own
barons, dwelt in castles, defended by numerous
guns, and maintained a strong force of armed
retainers, by whose aid they waged war upon
each other. Every village was surrounded by a
stone wall for defence, not only against the
neighbouring lords, but against other village
communities. Thus, then, when a new state of
things was introduced, and the zemindars were
called upon to hand over their cannon and to
tjisband their troops, a general feeling of dis-
content was caused. A large proportion of the
guns were buried, and the disbanded soldiers,
now without means of earning a livelihood.
resorted to the great towns, where they were
ripe for mischief should a chance present itself.
With a large population of this kind, with
the fidelity of the native troops doubtful, and
the certainty that the regiments which had
mutinied in other parts of Oudh would make
for the capital, the feeling was naturally one
of great anxiety. Fortunately, in Sir Henry
Lawrence, the Chief Commissioner of Oudh, the
troops at Lucknow had a leader of tried ability,
personallv much respected bv the natives, inti-
mately acquainted with their customs and modes
of thought, and possessed of firmness and deter-
mination. His first step at the commencement
of the trouble was to concentrate the forces
which were scattered about over a large area, so
that the natives could, in case of a rising, do the
least possible damage, while the white troops
would be available for the defence of the resi-
dents, whose numbers were swollen by an influx
from outlying stations, by many civilians, and
by military officers whose troops had already
broken out into mutiny.
In the beginning of May, the 7th Oudh
Irregular Infantry refused the cartridges, and
mutinied ; but, upon the 32nd Europeans and
the artillerv marching on to their parade-
ground, the greater portion of them fled, and
the rest were disarmed. On the 13th, news
was received of the mutiny and massacre at
Meerut. L'p to that time the Treasury and the
Residency were under the guard of native troops ;
but on the i6th a hundred and twenty men of
the 32nd, with the women and sick, and four
guns of the European battery, were marched
into the Residency enclosure, and next morning
the rest of the regiment was also called in.
The movement was at once followed by the
residents in the bungalows near their former
encampment also coming into the Residency.
This was a large and handsome mansion of
2S
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
modern construction, standing on rising ground,
and surrounded by beautiful gardens. Near
these were several buildings occupied by civil and
military officials. The whole stood irpon a sort
of irregular plateau, elevated some ten or twelve
feet above the surrounding ground, and when,
later on, it became evident that there was a
distinct danger that the place might be beseiged,
by the fire from the financial buildings. At tht
north angle was a projecting work known as
Innes's garrison. At the north-west angle stood
the house of Mr. Gubbins, a Commissioner.
His duties had taken him much among the
natives, and several well-aflTected men came in
and were . received into his house, which was
very large and strongly built, and they did good
gfF^-^f'f^'^.iL
(Photo: Frith if Co.. Reigate.)
THE MARTINIERE.
the engineers began to fortify the position, and
a low earth-bank was thrown up round the edge
of the high ground, the earth being dug out
from the inside so that men standing in the
ditch so made could fire over.
Two batteries, one on the north, the other on
the south side, were thrown up, and guns placed
at various points on the bank. On the north-
east the ground sloped down to the river
Goomtee, and as the Residency grounds e.\-
tended nearly to the water, this side was free
from houses, and the guns of one of the batteries
covered this face of the enclosure. On the other
three sides, however, the native houses reached
up to the defences, some of them closel}- abutting
on the buildings within it. The main gateway
into the enclosure was on the eastern side. It
was flanked on one side by the Baily guard,
while on the other stood the house of Dr.
Fayrer, aiid the face of the wall here was covered
service during the siege. On the western side
stood a small square, where the Sikhs who re-
mained faithful were quartered ; ne.xt to this was
the brigade mess, and adjoining it a house which
throughout the siege was known as the Mar-
tiniere. Here the boys, some si.xty-fivein number,
of the Martiniere College, with their masters, were .
quartered, the position of the college being too
far away from the Residency to be defended.
Ne.xt to them were the barracks of the 32nd.
The largest of the buildings inside the enclosure
was the Begum Kothie.
Things went on quietlv imtil the jotli ot
May, when, without any previous notice, the
48th, the 13th, and the 71st Native Infantry
rose. -A few discharges of the guns soon sent
them in headlong flight ; Brigadier-General
Handscomb, however, was killed. Lieutenant
Grant, of the 71st, murdered by his men, and
several other officers were badiv wounded.
THE INDIAN MUTINY- LUCKNOW.
29
The mutineers were joined at once by a
portion of the population of the town, and
the bungalows outside the lines were all plun-
dered and burned. The artillery followed the
mutineers for some distance, and then returned,
as the infantry were unable to keep up with
them. When the three native regiments
mutinied some 400 of the men had remained
with their colours. These were in the course of
the next few days joined by 700 or 800 others,
who came back one by one.
Unfortunately, at this time Sir Henry Law-
rence's health was giving way under the exertion
and the great strain of responsibility, and he
could not bring himself to carry out the advice
of the leading military and civil officers, all of
whom were in favour of the disarmament of these
men, who constituted a constant source of
So long as the troops at Lucknow had re-
mained faithful many of those in other parts
of Oudh had kept quiet. Risings now took
place at a number of points, notably at Seeta-
poor, where, as at other spots, many whites
were massacred. Some, however, succeeded
in escaping, and made their way to Luck-
now, after going through almost miraculous
adventures.
For some time the efforts of the authorities
at Lucknow were directed not only to the
fortification of the Residency enclosure, but to
that of the Muchee Bawn, an old fortress
standing on rising ground nearly a mile from
the Residency. It was much dilapidated, and
although it might have been defended for a
considerable time, would have crumbled under
an artillerv fire. It had been used as a great
OFFICERS OF NATIVE CAVALRY AT THE TIME OF THE MUTINY.
' danger and anxiety, as at any moment they
might break into mutiny again, and they had,
therefore, to be incessantly watched by the
Europeans. He considered that such a step
would be to break finally with the natives, and
that it would be better to run a certain risk
than to show that all confidence in the sepoys
was at an end.
storehouse, and there was at first some idea of
moving the women and children there, and of
making it the principal point of resistance. As,
however, the mutiny extended all over Oudh,
the news that most of the rebels were
marching towards Lucknow, and the fact that
there was no probability of aid from without
for a long period, showed that the situation was
.w
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
much more serious than it had at first been
deemed, and that it would be wiser to con-
centrate the whole force at one point. Some
of the stores were therefore moved from the
outlying fort to the Residency, but Sir
Henry Lawrence could not for the present
bring himself to decide finally upon its evacua-
tion.
On the Qth of June Sir Henry's health entirely
gave way, the medical adviser stating that
further application to business would endanger
his life. A council was formed by his authority- :
of this Mr. Gubbins was the president ; the
other members were the judicial commissioner,
Mr. Ommanney, Colonel Inglis, of the 32nd
Regiment, Major Banks, and Major Anderson,
chief Engineer officer. The first business to be
considered by this Council was a letter brought
from Sir Hugh Wheeler at Cawnpore, saying
that the mutineers there had been joined bv
Nana Sahib with his troops and guns, and
urgently asking for aid. Fifty men of the 32nd
Regiment had been sent off to Cawnpore in
vehicles a fortnight before, and, painful as it
Vr-as, it was felt that it was impossible to send
further aid, as the whole of the whites were
already on duty and were engaged in carrj-ing
out the works of defence and in watching the
native troops. The same evening it was deter-
mined to get rid of the sepoys by offering to
give them leave to return to their homes until
November.
All with the exception of 350 at once accepted
the offer, the greater portion of those who
remained being Sikhs. Three days" rest en-
abled Sir Henry Lawrence to take up his work
again. A corps of thirty men, belonging to a
daring and adventurous tribe some thirty miles
from Lucknow, was organised by Mr. Gubbins
to act as messengers. These men rendered
great service, passing backwards and forwards
tiirough the mutineers, carrying news and bring-
ing back replies. On the 1 2th the militar}'
police, which furnished the jail guard and kept
order in Lucknow, mutinied and marched off.
They were pursued by seventy Sikh Horse
and about fifty English volunteer cavalry, over-
taken, and cut up. It was now that the greatest
efforts were made to complete the fortifications.
This was done partly with hired labour, but
principally by the military and civilian officers
who had been divided among the various houses
in the enclosure, and by the natives who re-
mained faithful. Some inner defences were now
undertaken, behind which the garrison of the
outer line of houses could retreat should their
position be carried.
Near the redan batter}' on the north and on '{,
the western face a number of native buildings
were demolished, but many were left from want
of time and means to level them ; and during
the siege the greatest loss of the defenders was
inflicted by the musketry fire from the windows
and roofs of these houses, to which rlmost
every point within the enclosure was exposed.
The wives of the soldiers were quartered in
underground rooms beneath the Residency^
and the rest of the buildings were completely
filled with ladies and children. The Resi-
dency banqueting-hall was used as a hospital.
At the post-office were the headquarters of the
engineers and artillery ; the large building
known as the Begum Kotee was also filled with
women and children.
During the month of June the whole of the
irregular cavalry, except the Sikhs, deserted,
and there was a general feeling of relief in
the garrison at their departure. Their places
were well supplied by some eighty pensioned
sepoys, who came in at Sir Henrv Lawrence's
order from the outlying district, and who with-
out exception behaved well throughout the
siege. The civilian clerks, many of whom had
never handled a gun, were trained in musketry,
and fifty men of the 32nd were converted into
artillerymen. Fortunately, two hundred native
cannon were discovered in an old magazine and
brought in.
On the 28th of June news came of the sur-
render of Cawnpore and the massacre of all the
male prisoners, and on the following day word
was brought in that a strong force of mutineers
was advancing towards Lucknow, and that their
advance-guard of 500 infantry and 100 cavalry
were at Chinhut, within eight miles of the town.
Sir Henry Lawrence started early next morning
with 1 1 guns, 3b European volunteer cavalrv and
So Sikhs, 300 men of the 32nd, and 220 native
infantry, the remains of the regiments that had
mutinied. They started too late, and the heat of the
sun soon became excessive. When within i ,400
yards of Chinhut the enemj-'s guns opened fire,
and those of the little column replied. After half
an hour's artillery duel two heavy masses of the
enemy appeared on each flank ; the field-pieces
opened on them when within a distance of 400
yards, but without checking them. The cavalry
were ordered to charge, and the little body of
volunteers dashed boldly at the enemy and
drove back a portion of their infantry ; but only
THP: INDIAN MUTINY: LUCKNOW.
31
two of the Sikhs went with them — the rest
fled at once. From a village on an eminence
the enemy's infantry opened so heav}- a fire on
the ;2nd that Colonel Case fell badly wounded
and two of his lieutenants mortally so, and the
men retired to the road.
There was now great confusion. An elephant
that drew one of the guns became frightened
and ran off, the spare bullocks that had been
brought out .stampeded, and the gun was
.ibandtmed. Tlie water-carriers had run away :
the men, suffering from intense thirst, were so
exhausted that they could scarce drag themselves
along. The enemy pressed upon their retreat,
and a body of mutineer cavalry took post on the
ground in front of them. The volunteer carvalry
charged them and cleared the way, and then
returning, covered the retreat, frequently mak-
ing charges on the pursuing enemy. At last
the Residency was reached, but the loss had
been severe indeed. Captain Stevens and
Captain Maclean were killed, in addition to the
three officers before named, and several others
were wounded; three field-guns, an 8 -inch
howitzer, and almost all the ammunition-waggons
were lost, and 122 European soldiers were killed
and 44 wounded. The enemv's force was
reckoned at about 5,500 infantry, ■''00 cavalry,
and 12 guns.
This disaster shook the faith of the native
regiments still in the cantonment, and all three
of them at once mutinied.
The pursuit of the enemy was stopped at the
bridges across the Goomtee by the guns of the
redan battery and Muchee Bawn, but thev at once
began to shell both these positions. Numbers
of mutineers forded the river, got guns across,
and occupying the houses round the Residency
enclosure, opened fire that evening upon it.
The panic in the Residency when the news
uf the disaster reached it, and the remains of
the column returned, was great. The work-
people at the batteries at once took flight, most
of the native servants, clerks, and orderlies also
deserted, and there was a general depression
even among the garrison. It was at once seen
that the heavy loss that had been sustained
rendered it impossible to hold the Muchee Bawn
as well as the Residency, and the garrison there
were ordered by signal to evacuate the place, to
blow up the magazines, and to return to the
Residency. Fortunately, this was accomplished
without loss, the troops making their wa\- by
a circuitous route through quiet .streets, and
reaching the Residency unobserved by the enemy,
to whom the first intimation of the movement
was conveyed by the tremendous explosion of
the magazines. The sudden abandonment of
the unfinished works on the west and south
faces of the position left these almost undefended,
but Mr. Gubbins collected a number of natives,
and b}' the promise of a cash payment seven or
eight times higher than they were accustomed
to receive, induced them to work at night at
the bastion at the angle where his house stood.
For some five hours seventy or eighty men
laboured incessantl}' under the guidance of some
officers, and at last completed the work, which,
as its fire swept the approaches to the north and
west sides, vi'as of vital importance to the success
of the defence. The arrival of the garrison of the
Muchee Bawn restored the spirits of the troops.
The new arrivals were divided in parties of
fifteen and twenty among the houses most
exposed to the attacks of the enemy.
On the :-nd of June Sir Henry Lawrence was
mortally wounded. On the previous • day a
shell had burst in the room he occupied on the
first floor of the Residency, which, from its
exposed position, was the favourite mark of the
mutineer artillery. He refused, however, to
move from it, and the next morning he received
his death wound there. On his death-bed he
urged on the officers to be careful of their
ammunition, the stock of which was by no
means large, 250 barrels of powder and as many
boxes of rifle ammunition having been lost at
the Muchee Bawn. Of provisions there was a
large store, for during the preceding months Sir
Henry Lawrence had caused large quantities to
be brought in from the surrounding country ;
and as no relief could for a long time be looked
for, it was certain that the siege must be of
many weeks' — if not months' — duration.
It was some little time after the siege began
before matters "settled down in the Residency,
for the desertion of the servants, and still more
that of the men who had been hired to attend
upon the bullocks and horses, disarranged everv-
thing. The principal commissariat officer had
been seriously injured at Chinhut, and almost all
the clerks and subordinates had fled. The able-
bodied men of the garrison were all employed in
strengthening the defences. Thus there was
no one to water or feed the animals, and they
wandered all round the enclosure. Numbers
were killed by the enemy's fire, and the labour
of burying the dead animals increased the work
of the garrison. Almost greater trouble was
caused bj- the plague of flies. These, attracted
32
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
by the smell of blood, swarmed in countk-ss
hosts, blackening the ground, filling the houses,
and preventing the men who had been working
at night from obtaining sleep ; rising in immense
swarms whenever any one came near them,
tainting the meat, and falling in numbers into
every plate and cup.
As soon as the commissariat reorganised their
arrangements, rations were issued of beef or
mutton, with flour, rice, or soup. The house-
work was performed by the ladies, the bakers
had all deserted, and chupatties were the only
food that such servants as remained were able
VV* *g+
.£- GUCS!
'%
Defence of the Residency.
First Siege op Lucknow
b;.-i!e cf Yards.
rj t^o loo 30O yto
I ^J 1 1 II
s- — 4rtiUefy cf Altack.
to produce. Ever\-one recognised now how
great a mistake had been made in postponing
preparations for defence, and especially the
most necessary one of destroying all houses
within gunshot range. Had this been done,
the casualties would have been compara-
tively small, and all could have moved
freely about the enclosure. As it was, the
whole area within the walls was open to the
view of the mutineers on the roofs or at the
upper windows, and an^-one who ventured
out during the hours of daylight was made a
target of. Nor was there at first much greater
safety inside the houses. Every window was
used as a mark by one or more of the muti-
neers, and their shot penetrated everj-where,
until the windows were all protected by thick
planks nailed across them, and by sandbags
inside. This added to the safet}' of the inmates,
but rendered the houses almost uninhabitable
from the stifling heat.
At the banqueting-hall, which had been
converted into a hospital, several casualties
took place : patients were killed in the beds,
ladies struck down while attending upon
them, and the clergyman, Mr. Polehampton,
was killed while carrying out his ministrations.
Early in the siege many other officers re-
ceived their death wounds. Among those were
Mr. Ommanney, the Judicial Commissioner,
and Major Francis. On the yth of July a
sortie was made against a large
building known as Johannes"
house ; from the roof of this
the enclosure was overlooked,
and a very fatal fire kept up.
It was known to be full of
mutineers, and the sortie was
made to ascertain whether the
enemy were driving mines
under the works. The sally
was completely successful : the
mutineers fled without anv
attempt at resistance, but some
twentj- of them were killed.
Before the end of a week
the enemy had planted batteries
ail round, and instructed as
the gunners had been bj- Euro-
pean officers, their fire was
very accurate, and thev adopted
every precaution to protect
themselves. Earthworks were
thrown up across all the
thoroughfares exposed to our
fire. In some places the guns were mounted
on inclined planks, up which the}- were pushed
to be fired, the recoil at once running them
back out of view. Sometim.es they were con-
cealed behind the corners of houses, from which
they were run out to fire, being pulled back
into shelter by a drag-rope.
The garrison obtained some news of what was
passing without through the Sikhs. Their
comrades, who had deserted, were in the habit
of making their way up the barricade in front
of the Sikh square after dark, and exhorting
them to follow their example and to aid in the
general destruction of the whites. In some
cases the appeals were successful ; the occasional
loss of a soldier was, however, counterbalanced
by the information gained in these conversations
of what was going on elsewhere, what fresh
trpnjf^ UVwoAs '^^a
'J»0^~" '^;arf^as8!£aA-,..»UMSwi<g,.agSaK ...^
I HI \OLLMht.K LA\.\LK\ eUAKUtD IHh.M AM) CLEARED THL WAV' (/..")•
51
34
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
regiments of mutineers liad entered the ti>\vn,
and what Talootidars had made common tausc
with them.
The work of the garrison was still excessive,
although bv this time the commissariat arrange-
ments had been greatly improved ; it was ne-
cessary to grind the wheat for food, to bury
the cattle that had died, to carry the sick and
wounded to the hospitals, to repair the damages
inflicted by the enemy's guns, and to move
cannon and mortars to new positions. The
greater part of the horses had been turned out
to shift for themselves bevond the line.s, and
these were all appropriated bv the enemv. The
privation most felt by the men was the absence
of tobacco. While plentv of provisions had
been collected, the store of tobacco had been
neglected, and in a fortnight after the siege had
begun it was no longer to be had, and the men
greatly felt the loss of what, under the circum-
stances of almost continual work in a tainted
atmosphere, was almost a necessitv.
Day by day the enemy closed in. All the
houses near were crowded with men, who kept
up a galling musketry fire, while our artillery-
was for the most part silent, for the enemy
were known to be short of shot for their cannon,
and every round shot fired was picked up and
returned. After a time they succeeded in manu-
facturing hammered shot, of which as many as
five hundred were at various times collected
bv the besieged. The best rifle-shots of the
garrison were constantly engaged in the en-
deavour to keep down the musketry fire of the
enemy, aiming at the loopholes that they had
made in the houses.
On the 14th of July the enemv made a rush
forward, and occupied a building close to the
lines, known as the Younger Johannes' house.
This necessitated the erection of a strong pali-
sade along a part of the defences on the west
side.
On the 20th of July the mutineers made
their first serious attack. At nine o'clock in
the morning the look-out on the top of the
Residency reported that large bodies of men
•^ could be seen moving in different directions,
and the defenders at once mustered to repel an
attack. It commenced bv the explosion of a
mine near to the redan battery : fortunately,
the rebel engineers had not driven it in the
right direction, and it failed to do any damage.
Directly afterwards the enemy assaulted the
position on all sides, covered by a tremendous
fire of artillery' and musketry. The principal
attacks were against the redan battery and
Innes' post at the extreme northern angle.
Both assaults were repulsed with very heavv
loss. Large forces pushed forward to the attack
within twent)--five paces of the redan, but were
unable to face the heavy fire from the guns and
musketrj' of the defenders.
At Innes' post, which was unprovided with
artillery, they came close up to the wall, and
endeavoured to plant the scaling-ladders they
had brought with them ; but so hot a musketry
fire was kept up, that after repeated efforts they
were forced to retire. At all other points the
attack was equally repulsed. The engagement
lasted until four in the afternoon, but onlj- five
of the defenders were killed, while the enemy's
loss amounted to hundreds.
The result greatly cheered the garrison, and
thej^ now felt confident of their power to repulse
any attack that might be made. The enemy, ■
however, were not discouraged, for on the fol-
lowing day they poured out from the Younger
Johannes' house and adjacent buildings into
the narrow lane that separated Gubbins' enclo-
sure from the Sikh squares. Fortunatelj', there
was a loophole commanding this lane, and here
Mr. Gubbins posted himself with two double-
barrelled rifles, which were loaded for him b}- a
native servant as fast as discharged ; and for
two hours his fire prevented the natives from
forcing their way through the weak defences by
the side of the lane. At length a mortar was
brought up and shells thrown into the crowd in
the lane and beyond it, and as they fled a heavv
fire was poured upon them from every roof which
commanded the ground. Major Banks in aiding
to repel this attack lost his life.
On the following night news reached the
garrison, a native scout bringing in tidings of
the capture of Cawnpore and the defeat of Nana
Sahib. This was satisfactory- in a double sense,
as not only did it prove that the British were
taking the offensive, but it relieved the garrison
from the fear the}' had entertained that Nana
Sahib would bring up his whole force and his guns
to aid the besiegers. After the death of Major
Banks the civil authoritv ceased to exist in the
garrison ; Brigadier Inglis, who was in niilitarv^
command, now exercising supreme authority, as
martial law prevailed in the garrison. The
native messenger started on his return as s(X)n
as he had delivered the message, and succeeded
in re-entering the lines on the night of the
25th Julv with a letter from the quartermaster-
general of General Havelock's force, saving that
13
THE INDIAN MUTINY : LUCKNOW
the troops were cros>-ing the river and hoped to
reUeve the place in five or six dajs.
The news was most opportune : it raised the
spirits of the garrison to the highest point, and
was especially useful in cheering the natives,
among whom desertions had become very
frequent. After a day's rest the scout again
went out. bearing despatches and plans of the
■defences and of the roads leading to them.
As the casualties caused by the fire from the
houses close to the line on the west side were
very heavy, a sortie was made by Brigadier Inglis
through a hole dug in the wall, and some of the
buildings burnt down. It was soon found that
the enemy were driving a number of mines : the
redan and Cawnpore batteries were threatened
by these, but the gallery against the latter was
driven so close to the surface that heavy rain
caused it to fall in, and a shell thrown into the
opening blew up the gallery. Three other
mines threatened the brigade mess, the outer
Sikh square, and the building known as Sago's
house. Counter-shafts were sunk and mines
<lriven to meet those of the enemy. A party
broke into the gallery against the Sikh square,
pursued the enemy along it, and blew up the
house from which it had been driven. The
mutineers now harassed the garrison greatly
by throwing in shells, which had been brought
them by a regiment of the Cawnpore mutineers.
Wet weather continued, but although the
rain caused much discomfort to the defenders, it
was beneficial to them, as it not only cooled the
air, but washed away the accumulated dirt, while
it filled the enemy's trenches on the lower
ground and hindered their mining operations.
Cholera, however, occasioned many heavy losses
among the defenders, especially among the
children, who, pent up in underground chambers
without fresh air or suitable food, died in great
numbers.
An anxious watch was kept up at the end of
July, when the approach pf Havelock's force was
expected ; but it was not until the night of the
■bth of August a messenger arrived with the
news that Havelock had fought two engage-
ments with the enemy and had defeated them,
but was halting until some reinforcements
reached him. The monotony of the defence was
varied by a few small sorties, by which some of
the enemy's guns were spiked ; but there were
good mechanics among the mutineers, and the
guns were soon rendered fit for service again.
The boys of the Martiniere college rendered
great service, the older lads aiding in the
defence, while the rest were made useful in
domestic duties and as attendants in the hos-
pital. The Residency was now in so bad a state
that most of the troops who occupied it were
divided among the various houses.
On the loth of August the enemy made
another general attack, exploding a mine from
Johannes' house, destroyin'' leet of the
defences in front of the V ,.e, and bringing
down part of the w' oi the house. They
lost, however, so much time before following up
the advantage that reinforcements from the
other buildings came up in time to receive them,
and speedily drove them back.
Similar attacks were made at four other
points, but were everywhere defeated. On the
15th the news came that Havelock had been
obliged to fall back to Cawnpore, and on the
24th a letter from Havelock himself, saying that
reinforcements might reach him in the course of
twenty-five days, and that as soon as they did
so he would push on without any delay.
The siege now became an underground battle.
The operations were incessant : one day the
enemy would fire a mine and make a breach in
the defences ; the next, one of the houses from
which they annoyed us would be blown into the
air ; frequently our counter-mines were run into
the enemy's galleries, when the sepoys always
fled, and a barrel of powder speedily destroyed
their work.
Day by day the buildings in the enclosure
gradually crumbled, eaten away by the rain of
fire. The Residency was pierced with round
shot in every direction, and became so unsafe
that it was necessary to remove all the stores
placed here. Other houses were in no better
plight, and the women and children had to be
transferred from some of them to the under-
ground rooms of the Begum Kotee.
In the second week of September the enemy's
mining work was carried on more incessantly
than ever. It was evident that they recognised
that, weak as the garrison must be, it was able
to resi.st all open assaults, and that the only
hope of capturing the place that had for months
defied so large a force, was by blowing up some
important position. Scarce a day passed without
a mine being detected by our watchers, but several
were exploded, doing a good deal of damage.
Fortunately, in each case the gallery had not
been carried quite far enough, and though very
heavy charges were used, they failed in their
object. On the 14th, Captain Fulton, one of the
most able and energetic officers of the garrison.
36
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTl'RY.
who had borne the principal share in the
mining operations, was killed. On the 22nd
'of September the trusty native who had so fre-
quentlj- managed to make his way through the
matchlock men, crossed the river — some b}- the
bridges and some by swimming, showing that a
panic had spread through the town. The enemy
besieging the Residency opened fire with every
'a force of HIGULAM'E1;S turned INl'i-' THE MAIN STREET LEADING TO THE RESIDENCY.
enemy's lines, brought in a letter from General
Outram, saying that the army had crossed the
Ganges on the 19th, and would speedily relieve
the place ; and the next morning the sound of
artillery was distinctly heard, and by the after-
noon had approached to within five or six miles.
On the 25th the guns were heard early, and
the sound became louder and louder. At half-
past eleven numbers of the city people, carrying
bundles of property, with many sepoj-s and
gun in their batteries, as if they would leave
nothing for the relieving force to find standing.
At 2 o'clock the smoke of the guns could be
seen rising in the suburbs, and the rattle of
musketry heard ; while, from the look-out,
European troops and officers could be made out
crossing open spaces. At 5 heavy firing broke
out in the street hard by, and two minutes later
a force of Highlanders and Sikhs turned into the
main street leading to the Residency. Headed
THK IXniAX MUTINY: LUCKNOW.
37
by General Outram, they ran forward at a rapid
pace to the Bailey-Guard gate, and amid the wild
<;heers of the defenders made their way into
the long-beleagured enclosure, and the first siege
of Lucknow was at an end.
The garrison had indeed reason to be proud
of their defence. They had had every difficulty,
every trial save hunger and thirst, to encounter.
The odds against them were enormous. Their
defences were slight : it was the brave hearts
rather than the earthworks that were the
bulwarks impassable by the enemy. 'Jliey had
•opposed to them men who had been drilled in
our service, led by their native officers, well
supplied with powder and ammunition, and able
from the housetops to keep up an incessant fire
that searched every niche and corner of the
defences. The heat was terrible. Sickness
raged in the crowded and underground rooms.
The rains were heavy and incessant. The
garrison were deprived of all the comforts that
are almost a necessity to Europeans, and espe-
cially to European children. They were deserted
by their servants, and the few native troops
who remained were a source of constant
anxiety. Happily, however, though all luxuries
disappeared very' shortly after the siege began,
there was no anxiety whatever as to food, for the
supply of grain in the magazines would have
been sufficient had the siege been prolonged for
another six months. In addition to this, there
were a nmnber of wells in the enclosure which
furnished an abundant supply of excellent water.
Hunger and thirst were not among the foes
with whom the garrison had to contend ; but
in point of endurance, of dauntless courage, and
in the prolonged resistance of a weak position
against enormous odds, the defence of Luck-
now was one of the most gallant recorded in
history.
KUl.NS uF THE KcS^lJE^CV.
[PAolo, Frith &= Co., Rttgatc
THE EUREKA STOCKADE
3 AUSTRALIA'S ONLY BATTLE
y 3. DECEMBER
BY JUSTIN CHARLES
1854
U.<
M^S CART IE
THE history of Australia begins properly
with the entrance of the "first fleet "
into Botany Bay in January, 1788;
and during the hundred and odd
years which have passed since then it has
been a record of peace, interrupted only by the
brief outbreak which culminated in the fight
at the Eureka Stockade in the Golden City of
Ballarat. While, on the other side of the world,
" events were thundering on events," while
the scenes of the French Revolution were being
enacted, while Jena, Austerlitz, Trafalgar, and
Waterloo were being fought, the few inhabi-
tants of the southern continent were occupied
only with struggles to subdue the wilderness,
and occasional skirmishes with black fellows and
bushrangers.
So it was on land ; and even by " all the long
wash of Australasian seas," the boom of cannon
fired in anger has only once been heard, and
that so long ago as 1804, when the British ship
Policy, a whaler sailing under letters of niarque,
fought and captured the Dutch ship Swift off
Sydney Heads, with 20,000 Spanish dollars
which the Dutchman had on board, and towed
her prize into Port Jackson, where she was con-
demned and sold. When, after nearly forty years
of peace, Britain again took up arms, and in
rapid succession engaged in the wars of the
Crimea and Indian Mutiny, not a ripple caused
by these struggles disturbed the even flow of
Australian life, and the great American Civil
War also passed away with only one incident to
connect it with Australia — namely, the visit of
the ubiquitous Southern cruiser Shcnadoah to
Melbourne towards the end of the war. The
Soudan War of 1885 brought forth the incident
of the despatch of the " Soudan contingent "
froin New South Wales to the seat of war in
Africa, but that was an r.v^rt-Australian affair
purely'. So matters have gone peacefully on to
the present day, and as the century is drawing
to a close, it may reasonably be e.xpected that
the Eureka Stockade will remain Australia's only
battle of the nineteenth century.
Some persons may think that it scarcely merits
such a formidable title, and may regard the whole
series of events of which it was the culmination,
as mere diggers' disturbances ; but a perusal
of what follows will show that a tolerably serious
condition of affairs was averted by the fight of
Sundaj-, December 3rd, 1854.
In order to understand the events which
led up to the conflict, it is necessary to know
something of the history of the time. The
colon}- of Victoria (then known as the Port
Phillip District) was separated from New South
Wales, and created a self-governing colon}-,
by Imperial enactment on the 5th of August
1850. At this period the people of the colony,
numbering some 75,000, were engaged almost
entirely in pastoral pursuits, and the "squatters,"
or runholders, who were mainly drawn from the
wealthy classes of England, had a preponderating
influence in the affairs of the i^oung country.
When the colony was made self-governing, legis-
lation was placed in the hands of a Governor and
council, the latter consisting of thirty members,
ten nominated b}- the Governor and twenty
elected by the people ; and had matters con-
tinued on the old pastoral lines, this s)-stem
of government might possibly have answered
for some j-ears, though it would undoubtedly
have had to be popularised as population in-
creased. As it happened, however, a completely
new and jarring condition of things arose very
soon when, early in 1851, gold was discovered
in the interior, and a tremendous influx of
people, animated by totally different aims and
ideas from those of the pastoral settlers, followed.
The settlers looked askance at the gold-diggers,
and it is well known that the squatters and
THE EL'KKKA STOCKADE.
39
governing ofTicials would willingly have kept
secret the fact that the country was auriferous,
and actually did so for several years. They
feared that the people would be diverted from
their regular emplo3-nient, dreaded the influx of
large numbers of adventurous men, hated to be
disturbed in the occupation of the large areas
of land they had acquired by the simple process
of "squatting" on them, and generally disliked
the idea of the existing state of things being
interfered with.
In those days it was held that all minerals
contained in the soil were the property of the
Crown, and acting on this assumption the
Government of New South Wales first, and
that of Victoria subsequently, maintained that
it had a right to take a toll of the earnings,
t>r findings, of the gold-diggers, and a license
fee of thirty shillings a month was imposed on
each person who wished to seek for gold.
From the very first this license (or " Miner's
Right," as it was called) was received with an ill
grace by the diggers, and its imposition and the
harsh manner in which it was enforced were
the causes that led up to the Eureka conflict.
The license was in this form :—
No.
GOLD LICENSE.
1S5
The bearer
having paid the Sum of One Pound Ten Shillings on
account of the General Revenue of the Colony, I hereby
License him to mine or dig for Gold, or exercise and carry
on any other trade or calling on such Crown Lands within
the Colony of Victoria as shall be assigned to him for
these purposes by any one duly authorised in that behalf.
This License to be in force until or during the
month of , and no longer.
[Signature :
Commissioner.
and then followed the regulations to be ob-
served by the person digging for gold or other-
wise employed at the goldfields.
The license was " not transferable," and was
" to be produced whenever demanded by any
Commissioner, Peace Officer, or any authorised
person."
Further, it was issued from the nearest police
camp or station, and could only be used un'thiii
half (J mile (if tlw police station from ivlncli it
was issued — a most senseless and irritating
provision.
As the license had to be produced whenever
demanded, the digger, who was perhaps working
up to mid-leg in mud and water, had to keep
the document in his pocket, and, of course, was
likeh' to lose it or have it destroyed by water,
in which case he was liable to fine or imprison-
ment.
The agitation against the impost commenced
very early.
Gold was discovered in Ballarat in August,
1 85 1, and on the loth of September a gt>ldtields
Commissioner named Doveton, accompanied by
some troopers, arrived on the field, and a week or
so later the issue of licenses commenced. The
diggers immediately held a meeting, and sent a
deputation to the Commissioner, asking that the
impost be withdrawn. He received the men
impatiently, and replied that he had nothing to
do with the making of the law, but meant to
administer it ; for, said this polite officer, " if
you don't pay the fee I'll soon make you ! "
In this spirit were all the remonstrances and
excuses in connection with the license fee met
by the early officials, and from the first it was
collected with an unnecessary harshness and dis-
play of power, which gradually caused even the
most peaceable and law-abiding diggers to be-
come e.xasperated. "Digger-hunting" became a
favourite amusement of the officials and police
cadets, who were mostly " younger sons " of
English and Irish wealthy families, or ex-officers
of the Imperial arms-, and did not possess the
slightest sympathy with the independent and
democratic diggers. Scarceh' a day passed that
numbers of men were not arrested and conveyed
to the " logs " (as the camp lock-up was called),
and there fined because they had mislaid, or lost,
or neglected to renew, their licenses. Letters
which appeared in the Gcelong Advertiser and
other papers at that time bear testimony to the
vexations the diggers were subjected to, and the
harsh manner in which they were treated. One
writer declared that men were chained to trees
for a whole night because they had not paid
the license fee. Very frequently men who were
not diggers at all were arrested because they
could not produce a license, and " Hullo, yo\x
sir," " I saj-, you fellow," were the common
preliminary addresses of the officials to the
hunted, who, however much they might disap-
prove of the impost, would, without doubt, have
paid it with only a little natural grumbling had
its collection been conducted in a gentler spirit.
In 1853 "digger-hunting" became more
general, and the troopers constantly set out
from their camp in pursuit of unlicensed diggers,
who, from a spirit of opposition to the impost,
were now becoming more numerous. On their
side the diggers kept a sharp look-out, and at
40
BATTLF.S OF THK XIXETF.ENTH CENTURY.
the cry of " Traps ! " or " Joe, Joe ! " a stampede
would take place to the deep shafts, dou-n which
the unlicensed ones were lowered by their com-
rades, and lay secure in the bowels of the earth
until the troopers had retired.
The latter did not, of course, yenture down
the holes when in uniform ; but after a time they
became skilful in the art of trapping diggers, and,
disguising themselyes, it is said, used to work up
rows by "jumping claims," and then, when a
crowd had gathered, a body of troops would
swoop down on it and, effecting fifty or sixty
arrests, would handcuff the men together like
felons and march them off to the camp, w^iere
they would be fined or imprisoned at the
pleasure of the Commissioner in charge.
An overwhelming mass of evidence goes, in
fact, to show that digger-hunting was pushed to
a point of exasperation that was bound to result
in an outbreak of popular feeling sooner or
later, especially when the fact is taken into
But the most cursory glance at the history of
early Australia is sufficient to satisfy one that
the military and official element greatly pre-
dominated, and there is abundant evidence to
show that the British Government repeatedly
ignored, or set aside, the acts of its officials and
acceded to the wishes of the colonists. The
British Government was, in fact, more liberal
and progressive than its own officials, and
to this fact may be attributed the peaceful
settlement of many disputes. Had the two
Governors of Victoria who were identified with
the gold license disputes acted in a constitu-
tional spirit, in accordance with later British
ideas, the Eureka collision would never have
taken place. They did not do so, however, but,
being servants of the Crown, acted more arbi-
trarily than the Crown itself, and in a mannci
more in accord with militarv' than civil methods
Mr. Latrobe, the first Governor of Victoria,
finding it difficult to carry on the government o"
account that the diggers were mostly men of
exceptionally independent character, and num-
bered in their ranks many who were drawn
from the highly-educated classes of Europe and
America.
the country owing to gaol warders, policemen,
and civil servants generally, giving up their posts
and going to the diggings, took a step which
further exasperated the diggers — that of raising
the gold license lee to _^"3 per month. This he
THK EUREKA STOCKADE.
41
did in the hope of deter-
ring the people of the
colony from taking to
gold- digging en witssi',
and preventing his officials
from deserting their posts.
The measure did not, of
course, have the desired
effect, and the fee was
again reduced to 30s. per
month ; but during the
period that the increase
was in force the payment
of the impost was eluded
more than ever, and in
consequence fining and
imprisonment became
more frequent, and popu-
lar indignation waxed
warmer.
A strong agitation
against the gold license
commenced in Bendigo
in 1853, and soon spread
to the other goldfields,
and reform leagues were
formed in various town-
ships ; but no other spirit
was evoked in the Govern-
ment by these proceed-
ings than one of resist-
ance.
iVIr. Latrobe was suc-
ceeded as Governor by
Sir Charles Hotham, who
arrived in the colon}- on June 21st, 1854, and
found himself at once in a position of extreme
difficulty. All who knew him agree in stating
that he was a man of the highest principle, and
exhibited a rigid devotion to duty which led
him to attempt tasks bevond his strength, and
is thought to have brought on the illness which
terminated his life on December 31st, 1855.
He was, however, unfortunately something of
a despot, a rigid disciplinarian, a stickler for
" subordination,'' and he totally misunderstood
the character of the people in the goldfields,
whom he imagined to be of a similar class to
the sailors he had commanded in the Imperial
uavy, or to the hinds in his native county.
No sooner had he arrived than petitions
poured in, asking for a repeal of the gold
license, and for representation of the goldfields'
population in the legislative council (it must
nut be forgotten that not a single member of
BAL L A RAT.
the council was returned by the diggers); and
to these reasonable demands the Government
replied in October, 1 8 54, dr sciiding^ up orders
that the searching for unlicensed diggers was to
be prosecuted with more vigotir than before, and
that the police were to devote at least two days
a week to the business.
In consequence of these injudicious orders
popular feeling began to run very high indeed
in Ballarat. Armed resistance was freely talked
of, and the more violent spirits began to collect
arms. To-day there are persons living in Bal-
larat who remember the passionate fervour with
which the Hibernian orator Timothy Hayes
used to demand of his audiences : " Will ye
fight for the cause, boys ? Will ye die for
the cause?" Here it may be remarked that
when the time for fighting actually came, Mr.
Hayes, forgetting to "die for the cause," tamely
surrendered (though many or his countrymen
42
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
fought bravely), and was reproached for cowardice
by his wife, who was, says the chronicler, "a
much better soldier than Hayes."
At this juncture an accident hastened the
crisis. A Scotch digger named Scobie was
killed one night when knocking at the door
of an hotel where he wanted " more drink,"
though he had already had more than was good
for him. The landlord of the hotel — a ticket-
of-leave man named Bentley — -was said to
have killed Scobie, whose persistent knocking
annoyed him. The man was arrested, brought
before a police magistrate named Dewes, and
acquitted. The diggers — in particular those of
Scottish extraction — demanded vengeance on
Scobie's murderer, and asserted that the police
magistrate was in Bentley 's paj-. Mass meetings
were held, and the prosecution of Bentley was
demanded. Tired of " the law's delays," the
diggers at length, to the number of 8,000,
marched to the hotel with the intention, it is
said, of lynching Bentley ; but he escaped on
horseback, and galloped coatless and terrified
to the police camp. E.xasperated by his escape,
the diggers smashed the windows of the hotel,
and then set fire to it. In a very short time it
was reduced to ashes. The police marched out,
the Riot Act was read, and three men — Mclntyre,
Fletcher, and Westerbey — were arrested and
charged with incendiarism.
These men were said to be absolutely innocent
of any connection with the fire, and their arrest
caused great indignation. Fearing an outburst
of popular feeling, the authorities removed them
to Melbourne for trial, and they were sentenced
to a few months' imprisonment. On learning
this, the Ballarat Reform League sent two of
its members — Kennedy and Black — to Mel-
bourne to dt-mand the release of the prisoners.
The delegates reached Melbourne on November
25th, and were received b}- the Governor, Sir
Charles Hotham, who was attended by the
Colonial Secretar}-, Mr. Foster, and the Attorney-
General, Mr. Stawell.
The Governor refused to consider any " de-
mand " (but promised future reforms), and the
delegates returned fuming to Ballarat, deriding
" moral force." Alarms of insurrection were
now in the air, and troops were hastily de-
spatched to Ballarat from Melbourne, while
reinforcements of police, horse and foot, were
marched in from other mining camps which had
adopted a more pacific tone than the Golden
City. On the evening of November 28th detach-
ments of the 1 2th and 40th Regiments of British
infantry reached Ballarat from Melbourne, and
as they passed through Warrenheip Gully, within
a few hundred yards of the spot where the
famous stockade was erected a few days later,
they were attacked by an excited mob of
diggers. Several soldiers were wounded, and
a drummer-boy was shot in the leg while the
baggage waggons were rifled in search of arms.
This was an unprovoked attack, and was de-
precated by the leaders rf the popular party,
who knew nothing of it. All that night the
committee of the League sat in council, while
their followers made night hideous by the dis-
charge of firearms and the beating of extem-
porised drums, etc. ; and the next day, November
2qth, a monster meeting was held on Bakery
Hill, at which 12,000 men assembled. A plat-
form was erected, and on a pole was hoisted
the insurgent flag — " The Southern Cross " —
which was blue, with the four principal stars
of the great Southern constellation worked on
it in silver.
The tone of this meeting was violent in the
extreme. "Moral force" was denounced as
" humbug " ; revolutionar}- resolutions were
passed ; it was decided that no more license fees
should be paid. Fires were lighted and existing
licenses were burned, amidst loud cheers and
the discharge of pistols and guns by the excited
diggers.
Spies in plentj- attended the meeting ; and,,
being quickly informed of what had taken place
there, the officials despatched messengers to
Melbourne praying for reinforcements, and the
police camp was strongly fortified. As if to force
on a conflict, next day — November 30th — the
authorities ordered a " digger-hunt " in force, and
at an early hour all the police and military,- in
the camp issued out under the direction of two
Commissioners, and, forming near the camp, ad-
vanced upon the diggings as if upon a strong
hostile force, with skirmishers in front and
cavalry guarding the wings. The diggers retired
as the troops advanced, but, collecting at various
points, they pelted the soldiers with stones and
also fired a few shots at them. A few diggers
were arrested, and the troops then withdrew
to their camp. Instantly the Southern Cross
flag flew out to the breeze on Bakery Hill, and
thousands of diggers rushed forth, many of them
armed and ripe for violent action. Peter Lalor
— one of the leaders — called for volunteers, and
over five hundred men swore fealty to " the
cause," stretching out their right hands and saj--
ing : " We swear by the Southern Cross to stand
THE EUREKA STOCKADE.
43
truly by each other, and fight to defend our
rights and liberties." Names were then taken
down and the men formed into squads for drill,
which was continued to a late hour. The men
then fell in two abreast and marched to the
Eureka plateau, '• Captain " Ross, of Toronto,
heading the march with the Southern Cross
Hag, which he had taken down from the pole.
The men were armed wuth guns, pistols, pikes,
and all sorts of weapons, down to a pick and
shovel.
The position on the Eureka was taken up be-
cause it commanded the Melbourne road,
along which reinforcements of military for
the camp were known to be advancing ;
and there was some idea of attacking these,
though this would have been a formidable
undertaking, as they consisted of 800 men
of regular line regiments, a large party of
sai-lors from H.M.S. Electra, with four
field-pieces ; the whole supported by a
strong force of cavalry.
The erection of the stockade appears to
have been commenced on December ist.
A square plot of ground about an acre
in e.Ktent was hastily fenced with wooden
slabs, which seem to have been supple-
mented by overturned carts and ropes.
It was a place of little defensive strength,
and is believed to have been formed more
as a place for the insurgents to drill in than
as a fortification. Inside the stockade were
a few mining claims, and the place was
dotted all over with the shallow holes of
fossickers, and in these afterwards many
men, who were using them as rifle pits,
were killed.
Tents were erected within the barrier, and
there was also a blacksmith's shop, in which the
forging of pikes or rough lances was vigorously
carried on.
The authorities at this time, and subse-
quently, believed that Frederick Yern was the
commander-in-chief of the diggers, but the man
chosen to fill that position was Peter Lalor.
Lalor, who was a civil engineer by profession,
was a native of Queen's County, Ireland, an
electorate in which county his father at one
time represented in the English House of
Commons. Young Lalor arrived in Melbourne
in 1852, and went first to the Ovens goldfield,
but was soon attracted by the richer fields in
Ballarat, and moved to the place in which he
was to play so prominent a part. He was at
this time about twenty-five years of age and
was a good-looking, strongly-built man of about
six feet in height.
He was seconded by a "Minister of War'"
named Alfred Black, and the proceedings of the
insurgents (as they must now be called) from
this time on shows that they (the leaders at all
events) had no intention of fomenting a mere
riot, but held ideas that went as far as revolution
and a republican form of government.
This is the opinion of W. B. Withers and
others most competent to judge, and the leading
articles of the Ballavat Times, which supported
the diggers at that period, openly avow repub-
lican intentions, and rave in inflated language
of an " Australian Congress." A manifesto, or
declaration of independence, was prepared, but
was probably never issued, as the fight at the
stockade a few days later scattered all revolu-
tionary ideas to the winds.
In order to make the rising general, messengers
and letters were sent to the other mining towns,
praying for assistance ; but, as the event proved,
none was forthcoming save in one case — that
of Creswick, which sent a contingent of some
hundreds of men, but even they bore no part in
the subsequent fight.
During December 1st and 2nd, drilling \\-ent
on vigorously, and parties were sent out in all
directions to search for arms and annnuni-
tion, with which the diggers were very badly
44
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
supplied. Lalor issued " orders oi war " for the
seizing of arms, and though payment was
promised in all cases, no refusal was taken, and
storekeepers and others were forced to give up
any gunpowder or weapons they happened to
possess.
By the evening of Saturday', December ;:nd, a
fair supply of weapons had been brought into
the stockade, and others (pikes) forged ; and as
hundred of men lav around the fires preparing
arms, and cooking the meat, with which they
were w'ell supplied, the place presented some-
thing of the appearance of a military camp.
While these events were progressing, the author-
ities in Melbourne were despatching reinforce-
ments to the field, issuing proclamations warning
all persons against breaking the peace, and
offering rewards for the apprehension of the
ringleaders of the diggers.
Here is a reproduction of one of the Govern-
ment notices : —
V.
R.
ColrniaJ ^ccretaT's Office,
iMelb.Jurne, . ::Ji December, 1854,
£400
REWARD.
Whereas Two Persons of the Names of
LA'WLOR AND BLACK,
LATE OF BALLAARAT,
l)id on or about the 13th day of November last, at that
place, use certain
TREASONABLE AND SEDITIOUS LANGUAGS,
And incite Men to take up Arms, with a view to make
war against Our Sovereign Lady the Queen :
IN'OTIt'E IS HEREBY CilVElV
That a Reward of /200 will be paid to any person or
* persons giving such information as may lead to the
Apprehension of either of the abovenamed parties.
DESCKIPTIOXS.
T,AWLOR.— Height =; ft. it in., ape ^5 hair dark liromi, whiskers tiark brown and
shaved under tlie side, no moustache, long face, rather good Inking, and
is a well-made man.
Black —Height over 6 feet, straigh* figure, slight build, bright red hair wore in
general rather long and brushed backwards, red and large whiskers, meeting
under the chin, blue eyes, large thin nose, ruddy cotupiexion, and rather smaU
mouth.
By His ExceUtKCys Command.
WILLIAM C. HAINES.
At Ballarat sentinels were placed at all points
of the police camp, the women and children sent
into the storehouse for safety, and all was got
ready for an attack. But none was made, so the
officer in command. Captain Thomas, learning of
the unprepared state of the diggers, determined to
take the initiative and crush the rebellion in the
bud, and to this end gave orders that the troops
and police were to be in readiness to attack the
Eureka Stockade at dawn on Sunday morning,
December 3rd. The militarv leaders have been
blamed for acting thus rapidly, but their duty
was perfectly clear. With the imposition of the
license fee which had so exasperated the diggers,
or its collection, they had had nothing to do ;
but finding men in arms to oppose the consti-
tuted Government of the country,', they had to
treat these men as rebels, and suppress what
was undoubtedly an insurrection.
In the stockade during Saturday and Satur-
day night, the diggers, though they had a pass-
word— " Vinegar Hill " — kept up but the loosest
possible discipline, not dreaming of an attack ;
and all day and half the night outsiders passed
in and out of the stockade, while large numbers
of the '' sworn in " men — including the Cres-
wick contingent before -mentioned — went into
the town in search of food and drink, and did
not return before the fight. It is said that
some, hearing a rumour of an attack b}' the
military, deserted, and that others again, seeing
the la.x manner in which things were conducted,
despaired of the enterprise and withdrew to
their own tents and huts. Certain it is that
when the bias: of a military trumpet roused the
sleepy defenders before daylight on the fateful
morning, there were not 200 men in the
stockade; but most of these, as the warning shot
of a sentinel rang out and was followed by a
scattered vollev from those on guard, rushed to
the breastwork and poured in a pretty regular fire
on the line of red-coated men that could be seen
approaching at a distance of 100 or 150 3ards.
The attacking force, consisting of 276 military
and police, replied to this fire with a volley by
which five or six men were killed or wounded,
and soon bullets were flving about in all direc-
tions. Orders were given to the insurgents to
fire at the officers, and very soon Captain Wise,
of the 40th Regiment, fell mortally wounded,
and Lieuttjnant Paul, of the i::th, was seriouslj'
wounded.
Lalor, standing on top of a 16gged-up hole
within the stockade, encouraged his men by
word and gesture, but was presently shot in the
left shoulder, and fell bleeding to the earth wiih
a shattered arm. Almost at the same moment
Ross was shot in the groin — a mortal wound ;
and Thonen, another insurgent leader, receiving
a bullet in the mouth, fell choking with his own
THE EUREKA STOCKADE.
45
blood and soon expired. An American officer of
the insurgents, who had been shot in the thigh
at the very outset, remained, hopping about and
encouraging his men to resistance, as long as
there was a chance of resisting. Vern made no
stand, however, but fled from the eastward end
of the stockade, and was followed by many others;
but a number of pikemen still stood resolutely.
With a loud cheer tlie military swarmed over, or
was made up of thirty men of the mounted 40th,
under Lieutenants Hall and Jardyne ; sixty-five
men of the 12th Infantry Regiment, under Cap-
tain Oueade and Lieutenant Paul ; eighty-seven
men of the 40th Regiment (infantry), under
Captain Wise and Lieutenants Bowdler and
Richards ; seventy mounted police, under Li-
spectors Furnell and Langley and Lieutenant
Cossack; and forty foot-police, under Sub-In-
" Wnil A LOUD CUIililv IHE .\Ul.IiAUV SWARMED OVER IHE STuCKADE.
k
tore down, the stockade, and though pike met
bayonet for a few minutes, the end was near.
The insurgents were driven into the shallow,
holes, and into the tents and blacksmith's
shop, and were quickly surrounded and
made prisoners. The military and police are
accused of bayoneting and shooting wounded
and unarmed men, and of repeatedly thrusting
their bayonets or swords into the bodies of
those already slain ; but this is, of course, denied
by writers on the military side. Immediately
after the assaulting force burst into the stockade
a policeman named King climbed up the flagstaff
and tore down the Southern Cross flag amidst
the cheers of his comrades. The attacking force
spector Carter — or 176 foot and 100 mounted
men in all. This force, when extended, was able
to completely surround the stockade, which was
too large for the diggers to defend eflfectively
with their inadequate supply of arms. Just
before the charge took place the fire of the
defenders slackened from want of ammunition,
and some of their weapons afterwards picked
up were found to be loaded with quartz pebbles
instead of bullets. The police and military bore
testimony to the courage with which the de-
fenders fought ; and had all the enrolled men
been present, the attack would in all probabilitv
have been repulsed, in which case other diggers
would have joined the insurgents, the movement
46
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
•extended to other towns, and a very serious state
of things indeed might have arisen, as the execu-
tive could scarcely have placed even 2,000 men
in the field at that time.
Having secured 125 prisoners, the military and
police fired the tents within the stockade —
wounded men are said to have been burnt to
•death therein — and then returned to the camp
with their prisoners.
Of this melancholy march a correspondent of
the Geclong Advertiser writes : — "I saw a
number of diggers enclosed in a sort of hollow
square ; many of them were wounded, the blood
•dripping from them as they walked. Some were
walking lame, pricked on by the bayonets of the
soldiers bringing up the
rear. The soldiers were
much e.xcited — the
troopers (police) madly
so, flourishing their swords
and shouting out, ' We
have waked up Joe ! ' and
others replied, " And sent
Joe to sleep again ! ' The
diggers' standard was
carried in triumph to the
camp, waved about in the
air, then pitched from one
to another, thrown down,
and trampled on." This
writer describes what he
saw within the stockade :
" I counted fifteen dead —
■one G , a fine, well-
THE }ION. PETER LALOR
educated man, and a great
favourite. . . . They all lay in a small space, their
faces upwards, looking like lead. Several of
them were still heaving, and at every rise of
their breasts the blood spouted out of their
wounds or . . . just trickled away. . . . Some
were bringing handkerchiefs, others bed furni-
ture and matting, to cover up the faces. . . .
A sight for a Sabbath morning I implore Heaven
may never be seen again ! Poor women crying
for absent husbands, and children frightened into
silence."
How many were actually killed in the fight it
is difficult to determine, as accounts vary con-
siderably. One military writer states that thirty-
five were killed and many wounded on the side
of the diggers, but most other accounts give a
li-sser number. Probably thirty killed and
mortally wounded would be about correct,
while probably another fifty or sixty received
serious wounds. On the military side one captain
and four privates were killed, and one lieutenant
and manv privates wounded.
When they had secured their prisoners, the
military returned with carts for the dead; and
that afternoon those of the diggers whose friends
did not claim them were thrust into rough
coffins of half-inch weather-board and buried in
one large grave in the public cemetery. The
soldiers who fell in the fight were buried close
by, and subsequently handsome monuments
were erected over both graves. The site of the
Eureka Stockade is now marked by a bluestone
stage or platform surmounted by a stone monolith,
and having a cannon at each angle. The monu-
ment is not (or was not when the writer in-
spected it a few years ago)
either very beautiful or
very suitable, and might
easily be improved.
Peter Lalor, the leader
of the insurgents, es-
caped. Three of his men
managed to carry him out
of the stockade and down
the Eureka lead, where
they concealed him in a
pile of slabs, whence, when
the military had retreated,
he was extricated by some
onlookers and his arm
bound up with his own
handkerchief, after which
he was placed on Father
Smy the's horse and carried
away to a hut on the
ranges, where he was attended to by friends
till the night of the 4th December, when he was
taken to Father Smythe's house, and his injured
arm was amputated by Dr. Doyle. The story
that his betrothed (whom he afterwards married)
saw him standing, wounded and bleeding, before
her in Geelong on the morning of the 3rd, is
one that the Psychical Research Society might
investigate.
With a reward of _^"200 offered for his appre-
hension, Lalor hid in various places, and al
length was removed to Geelong, where he under-
went several surgical operations. The Govern-
ment now well kneW' where he was, but times
had changed and he was not apprehended ;
and on the acquittal of the other Eureka pri-
soners on April ist, 1^55, he boldly appeared in
public again. How he was chosen to represent
Ballarat in the Legislative Council, and how he
continued in political life to the day of his
THE EUREKA STOCKADE.
47
•death, is well known. He held the position of
Postmaster-General in one Government and of
Minister of Trade and Customs in another, and
was for many years Speaker of the Legislative
Assembly. On resigning the last-named position
owing to ill-health, he was voted ^4,000 by the
Assembly for " distinguished services to the
State." He died at the house of his son, Dr.
Lalor, at Richmond, Melbourne, on February
Qth, i88q, and his funeral was attended by-
vast numbers of people, including most of the
members of both Houses of Legislature.
Though martial law was proclaimed on the
day following the Eureka fight, public opinion
was not with the Government. Large meetings
■were held in which their policy was condemned,
and the Eureka prisoners were to a man acquitted
on April ist, 1855. A commission of inquiry held
to determine the causes of the outbreak declared
that the diggers were forced into rebellion by
bad laws, harshly enforced ; the old Legislative
Council was abolished by Imperial enactment,
and a new Constitution providing for two Houses
of Legislature, both elective, was created for
Victoria; and ever since then the affairs of the
colony have progressed peaceably.
Thus, though the Eureka Stockade was only a
very little " battle," it had consequences more
important than those which have followed many
a furious struggle in which blood has flowed
in rivers, and the red earth has borne testimony
to the appalling ferocity of man.
MONUMENT MARKING THE SITE OF THE FUREKA STOCKADE.
48
OQQQQQQQQaQaaQQQQQQQQQQQQQQaQaQQQQQQ
g©SgOS3gSSG(5ggGggO(!)Cl(3530gS©5SQSSQ(5DS3S3C/S<!J(3'35!5\3'3Qg<i
WE are all familiar with the spectacle
of the self-made man who takes
upon himself the role of landed
proprietor, not because he has
any special leaning towards country- life, but be-
cause " it's the thing " — because it is expected
of him.
In somewhat similar fashion, Italy had not
been many years reckoned as one of the Great
Powers when she began to look round for some
foreign territory to annex. It would not be of
any particular use to her, but it was " the thing "
for Great Powers to have colonies and foreign
possessions beyond the seas. It was hardly re-
spectable to be without such luxuries. So, being
forestalled by France in a plan for taking pos-
session of Tunis, she cast about for something
further afield ; and while we were fighting
Osman Digma and the Mahdists, and there was
talk of an advance from Suakim to Berber and
Dongola for the re-conquest of Khartoum, an
Italian expeditionary force passed through the
canal and occupied Massowah, a little further
south than our post at Suakim. At the same
time the Italian Government informed us that
if we made a move into the interior they would
be glad to help.
The move into the interior has not come yet,
though this was ten years ago. But, once having
got a foothold at Massowah, the Italians have
gone on building up their province on the Red
Sea shore, adding to it a disputed protectorate
over Abyssinia and a tract of half-desert land on
the Indian Ocean. Altogether, they have secured
in the scramble for Africa a " sphere of influ-
ence " which makes a very good show on the
map, though, like most other nations that
possess spheres of influence in the Dark Con-
tinent, they have not eflectively occupied the
greater part of it, and they have found their
landholding a costly luxury, paid for with blood-
shed and much expenditure of hard cash, for
which so far there is a scanty return.
Massowah stands on an island about a mile
and a half in circumference, connected with the
mainland by a narrow causeway- nearly a mile
long, another island halfway facilitating its con-
struction. The place had, to begin with, the
great advantage that, even if all the wild men of
the Soudan attacked it, it was safe so long as
there was a warship ready to sweep this causewaj-
with her cannon and machine-guns. It was a
good starting-point for conquests in north-eastern
Africa. Southward, close at hand, rose the outer
bulwarks of the Abyssinian table-land, to which
narrow passes opening on the shore from Mas-
sowah to Zulla gave access. Westward, across
the coast-hills and the desert, lay the old route
to^Kassala and the Upper Nile, busy with the
passage of caravans in the days before the
Mahdist revolt, but now closed by the armed
raiders of the false prophet. In both directions
the Italians have made steady progress during
these ten j-ears. Their vanguard now perma-
nently hold Adigrat, well up the passes that lead
into the heart of Abvssinia, and they, have a
garrison at Kassala. But this progress has not
been made without hard fighting on both lines.
Better able than a more northern race to bear
the torrid heat of the Soudan summer, the
Italians have shown that they are peculiarlj-
well fitted for campaigning in these regions.
They have, it is true, had their defeats — as at
Dogali, where a handful of Bersaglieri holding an
advanced post were cut to pieces by the over-
whelming forces flung against them, but not till
the}' had made a desperate defence and sold their
lives dearly. But they have also had their vic-
tories over both the Soudanese and the Ab\-s-
sinians, and they are especiall\- proud of their
victory at Agordat, on the waj- to Kassala, in
1803, because the}' claim that while the British
"A HANDFUL OF BERSAGUERl HOLDING AN ADVANCED POST WERE CUT TO PIECES" (A 48)
52
=;o
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
nerer ventured to fight the Mahdists except in
square, they were able to meet and shatter the
wild onset of the Soudanese in line. Without
admitting that this is at all a fair statement of
the case, we may grant that the fight at Agordat
was a very gallant piece of work, and the story of
it is well worth the telling ; so I shall put it to-
gether mainly from the official despatches, sup-
plementing them with details from other sources.
Keren, a town on the western slope of the
coast range, had for some time been the ad-
vanced post of the Italians towards Kassala.
when, in i8qo. General Baratieri occupied Agor-
dat, two days' journey further west towards
Kassala, and at the point where the two chief
routes from that city to Keren join. A fort was
built at Agordat, overlooking the ravine of Khor
Baka and commanding the junction of the roads.
It thus became the chief outpost of the Italians
towards the region held by the Mahdists, and
would be the point against which any wave of
invasion coming from the desert must break.
In the summer of 1893 the Mahdists had been
very active. They kept on foot four armies — one
at Dongola, the object of which was to threaten
the frontier post held by the English and Egypt-
ians on the Upper Nile ; two other armies were
operating southwards in Kordofan, towards the
great lakes; while a fourth, with its headquarters
at Gedaref, watched the Abyssinian and Italian
frontiers. The army of Gedaref had been xtry
quiet all the summer, and there had even been
some trading along the road between Kassala '
and Keren. Sanguine colonists on the Italian
side flattered themselves that things were settling
down, and that there would soon be scope for
some profitable business enterprise at Massowah.
But it was only the lull before the storm.
The Emir Alusaid Gaidum, who was one of
the Mahdi's best fighting-men, commanded at
Kassala. In all our battles in the Soudan we had
found that the one great danger that had to be
faced was the wild rush of Soudanese swordsmen
and spearmen. The Mahdists made very little
tise of firearms beyond worrying our men in their
bivouacs with a dropping fire through the night.
But some of the chiefs had been so impressed bv
the fearful execution done b}^ the rapid fire from
the English infantry squares, that they were full
of the idea of teaching their warriors new tactics,
and getting them to rely more upon the rifle than
upon cold steel. The Emir of Kassala was one
of those who were most anxious to make this
experiment. In his garrison he had 1,200 rifle-
men armed with Remington breechloaders taken
from the Egyptians, and about 300 more men
armed with muzzle-loaders of various patterns.
The army at Gedaref possessed about 8,000
Remingtons, and there were several battalions
armed with them and partly drilled after the
European fashion. Besides these riflemen there
were large levies of horsemen and footmen
armed with sword and spear, many of the
mounted men wearing complete suits of armour,
plate- and chain-mail. In artillery the Mahdists
were hopelessly weak. There were onh- two old
cannon on the ruinous mud walls of Kassala, and
at Gedaref there were a couple of light field-
pieces. There is no doubt that if they had kept
to their traditional tactics they would have been
a much more formidable fighting force. But
their leaders flattered themselves that they were
now quite equal to European troops, and they
took an earl\- opportunity of testing their
efficiency by making a raid on the borders of
the Italian colony.
Earlv in December rumours reached the
Italians that the Mahdists were preparing to move.
Ahmed Ali, one of the Khalifa's most trusted
chiefs, had come down from Khartoum to take
command of the troops at Gedaref, and was
calling all the tribesmen of the district to his
standard. At first they did not pay much
attention to these reports. Twelve months be-
fore, there had been a similar gathering ; but the
.Mahdists had not ventured then to attack the
frontiers, and it was conjectured that the\- might
be reallv thinking of some enterprise against the
Abvssinians. But the reports of coming trouble
were so persistent that at last it was resolved
to take some precautions. The garrison at
the fort of Agordat was reinforced, and scouting
parties were pushed forward towards Kassala and
Gedaref. Spies were despatched to the ^lahdist
country. It was calculated that by these means
the Italian commanders would have several
days' notice of any serious advance of the
Soudanese, and arrangements were made by
which a considerable force could be rapidly
assembled to meet them. General Arimondi,
who had taken charge of the defence of the
colony on this side, hoped that his plans would
so work out that by the time the Mahdists had
gathered in force at Kassala, which was five daysi'
journey from Agordat, he would have camped
near the fort two squadrons of cavalry, two
batteries of mountain-guns, seven companies of
infantr}-, and three of native irregulars — in all
about ;,ooo men. This was the force with which
he hoped to stop and drive back upon the desert
THE ITALIANS IN THE SOUDAN ; AGORDAT.
51
3 0,000, or, it might be, 20,000 t'analic Soudanese
and Arabs. Moreover, all the force assembled at
Agordat would consist of native troops, led by
Italian officers and sergeants. It was to be a
triumph of European discipline and leadership
over the half-savage fury of the men of the
desert, the rank-and-file on both sides consisting
of men of the same race, and the presence of
some seventy European officers and non-com-
missioned officers sufficing to turn the scale
against what otherwise would have been over-
whelming numbers.
On Wednesday, the 13th of December, a spy
came in from Kassala with the news that the
Mahdist advance had been fixed for the pre-
vious day. The telegraph conveyed the warning
to Massowah, and the orders already prepared
for the defence of Agordat were issued. At
the same time General Arimondi started from
the coast to take personal command of the little
army that was assembling at the fort. On the
Friday news came over the wires from Agordat
that the advanced scouts were in contact with
the Mahdist vanguard. The invaders were said
to be at least 12,000 strong. They were moving
in two columns, each taking one of the two
roads that met near the fort, and they had
already covered half the distance between Kas-
sala and Agordat.
Bvit the march of the invaders was slow. In
the early morning of Monday, the 18th, the
scouts saw the watch-fires of the Soudanese van-
guard burning dimly about Daura, some forty
miles from Agordat. The scouts, native cavalry
led by Italian officers, had orders to keep in
touch with the Mahdists, but to avoid fighting.
They were to fall back before them, harassing
and delaying their advance when possible, and
filling up the wells, so that the enemy would
have to dig for water at every halting-place.
Campaigning in the Soudan means, to a great
extent, manoeuvring and fighting for water ; so
this was the best means of retarding the march
of the Soudanese and affording the garrison at
Agordat time to make full preparations for
giving them a warm reception.
On the Tuesday the onward niairch of Ahmed
All's advanced guard had reached Kufit, a village
at the junction of several valleys, twenty-three
miles from the fort. The scouts had assembled
at Shaglet village and wells, five miles from the
enemy. Captain Carchidio, an enterprising
officer who was in command, watched the Sou-
danese closelv, waiting for an opportunity to cut
in and make some prisoners, from whom he
hoped to gather precise information about the
force in his front. The result was some smart
skirmishing late in the afternoon, the dismounted
troopers on the Italian side e.xchanging fire with
the Mahdist outposts. Carchidio noticed thai
the enemy showed no disposition to charge, and
also had the satisfaction of reporting that their
riflemen were abominably bad shots.
Next morning the vanguard of the emir
formed in battle array, and moved slowly for-
ward against Shaglet. A few shots were fired,
and a handful of the Italian troops, who would
have been cut oft' and overwhelmed if they had
ventured to dispute the possession of the place
with the invaders, retired on the wild valley
where the ravine of K.hor Akbermanna joins
the Khor Barka, the deep rock channel, dry in
summer, traversed by a stream in winter, which
marks the approach to Agordat. At the wells of
Ashai another squadron came to their aid from
the fort, for they had sent back word that they
were being forced back rapidly by the enemy's
advance. Near the wells the Italian officers
made a stand. With carbine fire they beat off. an
attack of the Dervish cavalry, and it was only
when masses of infantr}', led by mounted chiefs,
came pouring down the wild road along the
ravine that they again fell back towards Agordat.
The way in which this small body of native
troops trusted their European leaders, and under
their guidance kept touch with the huge mass
opposed to them, retiring slowly before it day
after day, was proof enough that the troops at
Agordat could be relied upon to behave witb
steadiness in the coming conflict. Arimondi
considered that his small force of cavalry had
done its part, and after the skirmish of El Ashai
he ordered them to join him at Agordat, and
sent forward in their place a couple of hundred
infantry, under Captain Catalano, to form an
outpost line across the vallev and keep touch
with the enemy.
Catalano had orders to try to make an attack
on the Mahdists' camp after sunset, breaking in
upon their lines suddenlv with a view to securing
a few prisoners. As yet none had been cai)tured,
and Arimondi wanted them in order to get more
precise information than he possessed as to the
numbers and plans of his opponents. Catalano
went forward and reconnoitred the enemy's
position, but he had to report that it was im-
possible to do an\-thing. Ahmed Ali had camped
all, his force in one huge zeriba — that is, a teni-
porarv enclosure made bv cutting down masses
of thorny plants and making them into a kind
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
of hedge all round the camp. Behind this
barrier the Mahdist sentries were ever on the
alert. To surprise an\' prisoners was out of the
question. The most Catalano could do was to
keep the Dervish camp continually under obser-
vation, and towards midnight he saw and heard
enough to make him feel fairly certain that
Ahmed Ali was preparing to break up his bivouac
and venture on a night march.
The zeriba was about five miles west of the
fort, close to the edge of the Barka ravine, in
a hurried messags to Agordat to say that the
attack was coming before dawn. At the fort a
heavy convoy of ammunition that was coming
up from Keren was an.viously e.xpected, and the
question was whether the Mahdists or the
camels would be the first to come in sight. At
dawn there were no signs of the enemy, though
the garrison was on the alert. Soon after the
bright morning sunshine showed the convoy
toiling along the caravan track on the north
side of Khor Barka. At seven it was safe under
the guns of the fort. At the same hour,
though still out of sight, the Mahdist
IIEAT OFF AN ATTACK OF THE DERVISH CAVALRY " (/. 5I)
which the horses had been watered before sunset.
At 1.30 a.m. on Thursday, the 21st, the Mah-
dists, leaving their camels under a guard in the
camp, poured out in a solid column, with the
cavahy in front, and Catalano fell back, sending
vanguard was coming down the nortTi side of tho
Khor in the opposite direction. If it had moved
a little more rapidly during the night it would
have cut off the convoy.
It was not till nine o'clock that the Mahdists
THE ITALIANS IN THE SOUDAN: AGORDAT.
■53
M A S S O W A H .
came in sight of the fort. Then their cavalry
were seen riding out of some clumps of trees
about 2,000 yards north of Agordat and near the
village of Ad Omar. They came on slowly, the
Italian cavalry retiring before them. When they
caught sight of the fort, with the Italian tri-
colour flying over it, they came to a standstill,
evidently waiting for their main body. It was
afterwards ascertained that there was riding
among them an old comrade of Gordon's, the
Emir Faragalla, who commanded the fort of
Omdurman for him during the first part of the
siege of Khartoum, and had only surrendered to
the Mahdi wiien he had no longer any provisions
for his garrison. Faragalla had often travelled
on the Kassala and Keren road, and he acted as
the guide of the advance against Agordat.
The pause puzzled the garrison not a little.
Towards eleven o'clock they got a hint of what
was happening. Till then they had been sending
and receiving messages by the telegraph line
which ran by Keren to Massowah. But sud-
denly communication stopped. The Mahdists
had pushed forward imder the screen of their
cavalry, occupied the junction of the two vallej's
of Khor Barka and Khor Kar Obel to the east of
the fort, thus cutting it off from the direct road
to Keren. At the junction of the two guUevs
they came on the telegraph line, and promptly
destroyed a considerable length of it. Having
thus isolated the fort they proceeded to attack
it. A long and broad column of infantry, some
thousands strong and chiefly armed with rifles,
came out from behind the village of Ad Omar,
and, moving with a slow but steady pace, ad-
vanced towards the Barka ravine, east of the
fort. Till this moment there had only been a
few rifie and carbine shots exchanged between
the cavalry, but the fight was now to begin in
earnest. A battery of four mountain-guns- at
the fort opened suddenly on the advancing
column. The Italian officers had got the range
correctly, the native gunners worked their guns
smartly, and shell after shell burst fairly over the
heads of the Soudanese. Yet on they came,
their emirs and standard-bearers riding in the
front of each battalion, many of them in glit-
tering armour. As they neared the steep bank
of the Khor they broke into a run ; but it was
a run forward.^ The long column slipped like a
huge snake down one bank of the ravine and
glided up the other, pushed through a belt of
trees that lined its southern bank, and reap-
peared in a long line of battle behind the villages
of Algeden and Saberdat, about a mile and a
half from the fort.
So far not only had the Mahdists shown
splendid pluck, but Ahmed Ali had displayed
some tactical skill. He had boldly cut the
Italians off from their base, and he was in a posi-
tion from which a successful attack would be
most disastrous to them. But he had made the
mistake in crossing, the Khor a little too near
the fort. As his troops appeared behind the
villages the shells began to drop faster among
them. They fell back a little, and then halted
again, sending parties of horsemen into the two
villages to clear them of any supplies that might
have been left there. But Ahmed Ali had no
intention of tr^-ing to rush the fort. He knew
better : his plan was to make the Italians come
out and attack him in the open, in order to try
RATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
to drix'c him from their communication with
Keren. If ihcy failed, he would be able to
surround and starve them out.
Arimondi had drawn up his troops along the
ridge on which the fort stands, looking to the
westward, the direction from which he expected
the attack, and that also in which the position
he held was easiest to defend. On the appear-
ance of the Mahdists in his rear he changed his
front, and now looked eastward. One company
of about 200 men held» the fort, together with
one of the mountain-batteries. Another com-
pany held the ground between it and the Khor,
ground covered with a thick growth of date
palms. Two more companies were in reserve
behind, the fort. The irregulars and the cavalry
were ju.st south of it, where there is a drop in
the line of the summit of the ridge. Where it
rose again, the right of his line was formed by
a battalion of infantry and another battery —
2,i8i men, with eight mountain-guns, formed
his entire force. The Mahdists mustered S,ogo
riflemen, 3,000 spearmen, and between 500 and
600 cavalry. But they had brought no cannon
with them, and so had no means of replying to
the long-ranging fire of the Italian mountain-
batteries.
Noon came, and still the Mahdists quietly
held their ground. Arimondi felt that he must
act against them. \Vhat he feared most was
that thej- would maintain themselves behind the
villages till after sunset, and then rush his posi-
tion in the dark. He therefore resolved to risk
an attack upon them.
If 'he had followed the tactics adopted in our
own battles in the Soudan he would have
formed his men in a square, moved steadily
against the Mahdist position, tempted them
thus to tiy a headlong charge, and destroyed
them with a rapid rifle-fire as they tried to
close, following up the retreat of what was left
of them with a cavalry charge. The chief in-
terest of this fight at Agordat arises from the
fact that Arimondi ventured to attack in line.
The right wing, under Colonel Cortese, a batta-
lion and a mountain-battery, moved upon the
village of Algeden. Half a battalion from the left
wing, under Major Fadda, advanced between
Cortese's force and the Khor, prolonging his
line and conforming to its movements. The
rest of the force guarded the fort and acted as
a reserve. At first the companies moved in
little columns. At eight hundred yards from
the enemy they deployed into line, but the
front on which they moved was .so extended
that, even when they had formed a single-rank
firing-line, they had long intervals between the
companies. The battery came into action on a
swell of ground behind the right of the attack.
The first shots from the niountain-guns were
fired at half-past twelve, the object aimed at being
the village. At the same time rifle-fire began
all along the Italian line. As soon as the Italian
advance began there had been a loud booming
of war-drums and a rattle of kettledrums all
along the Mahdist line. It was the signal for
them to form for battle ; and instead of waiting
for the attack they came forward to meet it.
They had broken from line into four strong
columns, each with a broad front. Their leaders
rode before them, and in front of each column
was a cluster of green banners. The beating of
the drums, the shouts of the warriors, seemed to
indicate that a wild rush like that of the Arabs
in our own desert war was coming. But instead
they marched forward with a long, swinging
step, keeping their ranks, and as the chiefs
fell back with the banners on the flanks of the
columns the leading ranks opened a quick fire
with their Remingtons, never stopping either to
load or to fire. One column moved partlj'
hidden among the date palms near the Khor,
the three others marched straight for the Italian
right. On they came wreathed in the smoke of
their rifles, closing their ranks as their forenrost
warriors fell under the Italian fire, but never
pausing for a moment. The long, thin line
opposed to them could not have stood for a
moment if hey had once closed with it ; and
failing to siop them with their fire, the Italian
infantry began to retire. On the right, Cortese
tried to check the onset of the Soudanese by a
counter-attack, but the respite thus gained was
of the briefest. The infantrv were driven back
past the battery, and the Soudanese rushed upon
the guns. The gunners fired to the last moment,
finishing up with four rounds of case shot, the
last round being fired at a range of something
like fifty yards. Then they tried to get the
guns on to the backs of the battery mules, in
order to earn,- them off". But bullet, bayonet,
and spear finished every mule in the battery,
several of the gunners were killed, and finally
the four guns had to be abandoned. This was
at teu minutes to one-^-the battle having so far
lasted a bare twenty minutes.
But be it said to the credit of the Italian
officers and their native soldiers, there was
nothing like a rout. Overweighted and forced
back, the line never broke. In a watercourse to
THE ITALIANS IN THE SOUDAN : AGOKDAT.
55
the rear of their first position thcv halted, and
their heavy vollej'-firing brought the iMahdists
to a standstill for a while. Then the attack was
renewed, and the line of the watercourse was
abandoned ; but as they crossed it the Mahdists
came under the fire of the fort, and the reserve
was pushed forward to help the first line of the
defence. The cavalry rode down the slope
towards the date-palms on the left, waiting for
an opportunity to charge if no other means
could be found to check the Dervish advance.
But they had suffered heavily in getting so
far as the watercourse, and all the spirit of their
first advance seemed to be gone. The massive
columns had broken into a long, confused line of
riHes and spears, and
twice thev tried in
vain to make good
tlieir footing on the
west side of the gull}'.
If they had been sup-
ported by artillerj-,
and if they had known
better how to use
their rifles, nothing
could have stopped
them. But they had
no guns to reply to
the shell-fire of the
tort, and their own
shooting was of the
wildest. Musaid Gai-
dun, the Emir of Kas-
sala, was struck down
by a bullet; Faragalla,
the e.x-Governor of Omduman, fell dangerously
wounded. Ahmed AH, mounted on a splendid
horse and clad from head to foot in an ancient
suit of chain-mail, was riding in the front of the
attack, a group of standard-bearers around hinj,
encouraging by word and example his Soudanese
to push on against the infidel stronghold. A
group like this was certain to draw fire. One
of the guns of the fort loaded with case-shot
was laid for it, and the chief dropped dead
amongst his standard-bearers. He had been
hit full in the face with the iron base of the
case-shot, several of the bullets wounding those
who rode beside him. Discouraged by the fall
of their leaders and their own heavv losses the
Soudanese began to fall back.
Now was the time for a counter-attack, and
Arimondi seized it. Every available man was
pushed forward against the retiring enemy. The
cavalry charged the Dervish horsemen on the
left of the enemy's line, and then threatened
to cut in upon their retreat to the villages.
Behind them the rolling fire of the Italian in-
fantry scattered death in their confused ranks.
The guns of the outlying battery were re-
captured and turned on the villages. By two
o'clock the Soudanese had given up the fight
and were in full retreat. They had left more
than three hundred killed and wounded and
some seventy banners on the battlefield. The
thin line of the Italians had indeed given way
before them, but it had held together, and it
had resumed its advance the moment the onset
of the Soudanese army was checked. What
would have happened if the fort had not been
there to support Arimondi's retiring line is
another question ; and it is also by no means
clear that the Italians would have held their
ground if the Soudanese had not had so many
rifles. There seems not to be the least doubt
that the attack was made with much less speed
and impetus than the usual Dervish charge,
because the men were trying to keep up an
effective fire while they marched. That fire did
very little damage to the Italians, but it cost the
Soudanese hundreds of their foremost warriors,
because it delayed their advance and kept them
the longer under the deadly fire of the well-
trained infantry opposed to them.
The Soudanese had an abundance of ammu-
nition. More than a hundred cartridges were
found in the pouches of some of the killed on
the battlefield ; but their idea of fighting with
the rifle was only to fire as rapidly as possible.
They had not been taught the good rule to
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
" F'irc low and fire slow ; " so that even at
point-blank ranges most of their bullets flew
harmlessly over the heads of the line opposed
to them. Considering how hotly they had
been engaged the Italians lost very few men.
Three officers and seven non-commissioned
officers were killed, a non-commissioned officer
and two officers being wounded. Of the rank-
and-file (all of them natives), 104 were killed and
121 were wounded. Thus about one-tenth of
the force actually engaged was Inrs clc combat.
But the Soudanese loss was more than one-
fourth of their total force.
The cavalry horses were tired with the heavy
work they had done in scouting during the days
before the battle. The soldiers generally were
exhausted with their efforts and with the great
heat ot the day. So although Arimondi tried
to pursue in the hope of cutting the Dervish
army off from its retreat on Kassala and inflicting
further loss upon it, he was unable to prevent
the Soudanese from regaining the caravan track
north of the Khor by which they had advanced.
After the first five miles he lost touch of them.
Some hundreds of stragglers were taken prison-
ers, and the cavalrv picked up some more ne.xt
dav. But the defeated invaders were so de-
moralised that they never halted till they had
reached Kassala. The attempt to fight the
white man with his own weapons had proved
an utter failure. And once more in this fight
on the borderland of the Soudan the ascendancy
of the European had been illustrated by the
confidence with which a couple of thousand
African troops had stood by their Italian officers,
faced at their command an army outnumbering
them si.xfold, and under their guidance helped to
hurl back the men of the desert in hopeless rout,
although many of the warriors who thus suffered
defeat had been victorious in two campaigns
against native armies on the frontier of Abyssinia
and in Kordofan.
"THE CHIEF DROPI'ED DE.\D AMO.NGST HIS STANDARD BEARERS " (/. 55).
57
/ /BY aJ.tutciiF^E 'i^yNe \ \
IF the electric telegraph had existed in
1805, or railways, or if there had even
been roads in the great European Pen-
insula along which a mounted courier
could make decent pace, the battle off the *
shoals of Cape Trafalgar might verj' well never
have been fought, or at least have been
considerably modified in its details and re-
sults. It is an historical fact that when on
the iqth of October M. de Villeneuve put
out from Cadiz in command of the Franco-
Spanish fleet, which was fated to be so crush-
ingly beaten, a recall from his great master.
Napoleon, was hastening down the Peninsula
as fast as horsemen could carry it. Admiral
Rosily was to be promoted to the chief com-
mand, and the man he superseded was to return
forthwith to Paris and answer a catalogue of
grave charges. *
De Villeneuve's chief sin was want of success,
and under the first Napoleon no graver charge
could have been framed against him. On the
2;rd July of the same vear he had fought an
action with Sir Robert Calder, the commander
of the blockading squadron off Ferrol, in which
neither side, according to the sentiment of the
time, covered itself with credit. The British
with the smaller force captured two ships, and
inflicted more loss than they received ; but
the indignant howls of his country forced the
admiral to demand a court-martial, which, as it
turned out, heavily censured him. They said he
ought to have done far more.
The incident shows how the British prestige,
bought at St. Vincent, Aboukir Bay, and count-
less other actions, was appreciated both in these
Islands and by our then enemies on the Con-
tinent ; and, in fact. Napoleon himself, though
the last man to admit such a thing until it was
forced upon him, forbade his sea commanders to
accept action unless they had a strong surplus of
force following their flag. But presuming that
the allied fleet could annihilate any squadron
which the British could put on the seas to meet
them, he sent De Villeneuve definite instructions
as to what he wanted to be done. They were
to force the Straits of Gibraltar, land troops on
the Neapolitan coast, sweep the Mediterranean
of all British cruisers and commerce, and enter
the port of Toulon to re-victual and re-fit. And
it was on this errand that — anticipating his re-
call— Admiral de Villeneuve led out of the har-
bour of Cadiz the fleet of French and Spanish
battleships under his supreme command.
That day was the iqth of October, 1805 ; but
the wind drew light, and it was not till the 20th
that the entire combined fleet got into the
long Atlantic swell, and showed to a pair of
British reconnoitring frigates no Iqss than thirty-
three sail of the line — battleships of two, three,
and in one case fourgundecks — besides attendant
smaller craft.
The two frigates, the Eiirvaliis and the Sirins.
had a shot or so pitched at them occasionally
when they pried too close ; but they contrived
to hang on the skirts of the allies, and to glean
news which kept the bunting on a constant dance
up and down from their trucks. De Villeneuve
took the frigates for scouts, and scouts they
were ; but he did not know that they were tele-
graphing detailed news of his movements to
the British Mediterranean fleet under the most
skilful seaman of all time — Horatio, Viscount
Nelson.
The Island warships lay hove-to out of sight
beyond the curve of ocean, riding laboriously
over the swells, with copper glancing green and
gold in the sunlight. They had waited for this
moment for many a weary windy month.
Looked at from the light of our after-know-
ledge, they were clumsy, leewardly, ungainly
hulks, with square, ponderous, wake-drawing
sterns, and bows like the breasts of an apple ;
with narrow yards which had to be reinforced
by studding-sail booms before a decent spread of
cloth could be shown ; with massive hempen
58
BATTLES OF THE XIXETEEXTH CENTURY.
rigging, and nianv a piece of uncouth gear and
titling whereof the very name is lost to us in
this year of grace. They had single topsails and
single topgallant sails, and each carried under
her rearing bowsprit a spritsail with round
holes in the leaches, set on a swaying spritsail
yard.
Their bell3'Lng sides towered above the sea like
great black walls, as though to make the largest
possible mark for hostile shot ; and in these walls
were doors, as many as a hundred to a ship,
which could lift and show a grinning cannon-
mouth framed in its proper porthole.
Their manning was typical of the time.
There was the marine, a pipe-clayed, pig-tailed
soldier, with garmei'its about as suited to ship- ,
board as an archbishop's would be. The 'fore-
mast hand, though nine times out of ten the
scouring of a press-gang from a crimp's house
in ^some unlucky seaport town, was usuallv a
seaman by education and a iighting-man by
instinct ; and at his best the primest exponent
of his two trades which the world has ever seen.
He was a tough handful, the Jack of 1805, and
he required an iron discipline to keep him
under full command — and he got it. It was a
rare daywhen some six or eight of him did not
appear spreadeagled on the gratings which were
rigged in the gangways, to receive three or four
dozen caresses of the "cat," laid with zeal upon
the bare back.
His officers, too, were not what we should call
refined and educated men nowadays. But they
were skilful in both branches of their profession ;
because, without consummate seamanship, the
leewardl}^ slow-sailing craft of that day would
not keep afloat ; and in an era when the ocean
breeze always smacked of battle, whoso was not
an excellent fighting-man was quickl}- weeded
from the ranks by captivity or death.
It is as well to understand these matters
clearly, and then one can better appreciate that
supreme outcome of the time, the British Vice-
Admiral in command, who put the capstone on
his glory b)^ the sea-fight which averted the
invasion of England and made the fate of the
v>-orld what it is.
The fleet lay pitching clumsily over the dull
green Atlantic swells, the wooden routine going
on unchangeably as it had run for years before —
watches, quarters, drill, meals, hammock ; and
then the same might be expected to follow over
again. But of a sudden a change began to take
place. The scene was brightened with patches
of gaudy bunting. From every mast-truck in
succe.ssion there broke out strings of flags,
which the signalmen, book in hand, translated
into words. Phrase by phrase they read out the
signals, and the officers tingled with expectancy.
" The French and Spaniards are out at last ;
they outnumber us in ships and guns and men :
we are on the eve of the greatest sea-fight in
history."
The news huimued round the fleet, forward
and aft ; but there was neither hustle nor scene.
Lord Nelson's instruction to his captains had ■;
gone round daj-s before, and thej- were such a
masterpiece of tactics that there was nothing ta
add to them Thc\' mapped out the plan of
battle with all distinctness, but they did not
cramp the enterprise of the inferiors. Know-ing
from his infinite experience that in the thick of
action circumstances might well occur which
called for individual judgment, the leader ended
his charge thus ; "' In case signals cannot be
seen or clearly understood, no captain can do
very wrong if he place his ship alongside of an
enem}'."
The men, too, after the custom of the day, did
not indulge in any morbid thought of possible
death or maiming.
" Thev were as merry at the thought of this
sanguinary- fight as a mob of schoolboys set loose
for an unexpected holiday, and their conversation
was concerning the , prize-money they would
take, and the jinks and jaunts they would have
ashore when they put in to port to refit."
But there was more waiting yet before the.
battle began to burn in grim red life. The
breezes were fitful, and the allies full of clumsy
caution. It was not till the 21st that the fleets
came together, and the British were able to
force an action.
At 8.30 of that historical morning, De Ville-
neu\e made the signal for his ships to form
in close order on the port tack, thereby to
bring Cadiz on his lee bow, and facilitate, if
necessary, his escape into that port. The order
was obeyed clumsily, and what with unskilful
seamanship, light breeze, and heavy ground-
swell, the resulting formation was crudely
crescent-shaped, the ships clustering in knots
and bunches, with great green gaps of tenant-
less water between them. And to this thirty-
three sail of the line bore down on them in
two columns from the windward twenty-seven
British war-ships under everj- stitch of canvas
that they could show, yet making a bare three
knots with the catspaws that played over the
swells.
TRAFALGAR.
59
The English commander-in-chief haa hoisted
his Hag on his old lOO-gun ship I'lcfory, and in
her led the van ot the weather column. He vva.s
a little, slight, one-armed man, blind of one eye,
and most shabbil\' dressed. The seams of his
uniform frock coat were threadbare, the fabric
white with sea salt, the gold lace tarnished to
black, flattened rags. Amongst the folds of the
left breast were four frayed, lack-lustre stars,
dull caricatures of what had once been brilliant
decorations. He was a most slatternly admiral.
ours. But what he said went home to the
hearts of that rough, fighting crew, and a bubble
of cheers rippled against his heels throughout
all his progress along those narrow 'tween
decks. They knew what a fight was, and they
knew what a fight that little, shabby man would
give them. The joy of battle was as meat and
drink to them, and thej' licked their lips and
made their noises of glee, like dogs held back
on a chain. Their one wish was for close action.
Amongst the officers on the quarter-deck a
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BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR. ^'iffur.
21 " Oct; isno. ^ #>' "
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French ^ J—
wl'riuce de Aiituriii
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There might be little of Lord Nelson remain-
ing, but of what there was, the quality was
e.xcellent. His solitary eye was as bright as a
bird's. His brain was the most perfect sea-
brain that ever schemed a tactic. In a ship's
company where all were active, none were more
active than he. As his vessel lunged over the
Atlantic swells, nearing the enemy, he visited
all the different decks, overseeing everything
himself, and addressing the men at their quarters,
and cautioning them not to fire a single shot
without being certain that it would find a suit-
able resting-place.
He spoke in the rough sea-argot of his day,
which differs from the more refined sneech of
different topic was being discussed. They were
men without a single thought for their own
lives, but their reverence for Lord Nelson was
idolatrous, and their fears for him heavy. It
seemed to them that on his safety alone de-
pended the success of the day ; and as things
were going, they knew that it must soon be
desperately imperilled.
The T'n'forv, both as van-ship of a column,
and as bearing at her fore the flag of the com-
mander-in-chief, would inevitably draw down
upon herself all the concentrated force of the
enemy's first fire, and the slaughter on her decks
would be murderously heavj-.
It was an awkward task to put this to the
00
RATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTUKY.
admiral, a man notoriously careless of his own
personal safety ; but when he returned from his
tour of inspection, his anxious officers clustered
round him, and one of them spoke the wishes of all.
Would he not allow the Tc.iiiniire, then
close astern, to slip past him, and as van-ship
take oflf the brunt of the first fire ?
" There, Hardy," he said, as he came back t"
the quarterdeck, " let the 'Temeraires' open the
ball if they can — which they most assuredly
can't. I think there's nothing more to be done
now, is there, till we open fire ? Oh, yes ;
stay a minute, though. I suppose I must give
the fleet something as a final fillip. Let me
LORD COLLINGVVOOD.
{FroDt an Engraving by Charles Turner.)
Nelson laughed, and turned to Hardy, his flag-
captain.
" Oh, yes," he said; "'let her go ahead if she
can."
Captain Hardy faced the taiTrail, and hailed the
Temcrairc. His chief, still laughing, ran forward
along the decks to the officers in command of
the sail-trimmers, giving eager orders — a pull at
a brace here, at a sheet there. The Tcineratve
might race him into action, but he would take
care that the Victory should be first engaged.
.■^ee. How would this do—' Nelson expects tliat
ever\r man will do his duty ' ? "
Captain Hardy suggested that " England
expects " would be better, and on Nelson rap-
turously consenting, the message went up flag
by flag, and broke out in a dazzle of colour at
the Victory's niizzen topgallant masthead. A
hundred telescopes read the bunting, and when
the message was translated to the British crews,
their wild, exultant cheers spread out over the
ocean's swell like the rattle of musketr}-.
TRAFAr.GAR.
(31
Only one other signal was made, and that
was belayed fast to the T'lciory's main truck
and stayed there till it was shot away. It read :
" Engage the enemv more closely." But it
did not incite any special enthusiasm. It was
Nelson's customary order on going into action,
It was just before noon that the French /'o«-
,§•«(■?«• opened tire upon \'ice-Admiral Collingwood
in the Royal Sovereign, and, as though it had
been a signal, the two admirals' flags broke out
at their fore-mastheads, and the ships of both fleets
hoisted their ensigns. The wind was very light,
THE ' KUY^L SOVEREIG.NS' STUCK. TO THEIR GUNS, AN1> FOUGHl THEM LIKE FIENDS" (/. 62).
I
I
and was taken entirely as a matter of course.
The Island seamen of that day were never chary
of coming to hand-grips when thej- got the
chance. They had entire confidence in pike
and cutlass and club-butted- pistol when wielded
by their own Uisty selves, and a superb con-
tempt for the physical powers of Don and
Frenchman, both of which matters were veiy
serviceable to their success.
the sea oil-smoth, with a great ground-swell set-
ting in from the westward. A glaring sun from
out a cobalt sky blazed dou-n on the freshly-
painted flanks of the French and Spanish ships,
and for a moment the fluttering national flags
lit the scene with brilliant splashes of red and
blue and white and gold
powder-smoke filled the air
and the flags and the
Then the grey
in thicker volumes,
ships themselves
62
BATTLES OF THE XIXETEEXTH CENTUHV
disappeared in its mist, and only the lurid crim-
son flashes of the guns shone out to tell that
the fight hail hegun from ever}- battery that had
drawn into range.
To the first salute of iron and lead the Roynl
So7crctgii made no response in kind. She held
grimly on in silence, with her sail-trimmers work-
ing as though thev were at a peace review ; but
when she drew astern of the great three-decker
Sciiita Anna, the gun-captains of the port batteries
drew the lan3'ards as their pieces bore. The
guns were double-shotted, and so great was the
precision of their murderous, raking fire that no
less than fourteen of the Spaniard's guns were
disabled and four hundred of her crew either
killed or wounded.
At the same time, in passing, she let fly
her starboard broadside into the Fouguciix in
the endeavour to pay her the somewhat similar
compliment of raking her from forward aft ;
but, owing to the distance and the smoke,
that discharge did but comparatively little
damage.
"Ah ! " said CoUingwood to his flag-captain ;
" they've got off this time, but we'll give them
gruel later on. Bv Jove, Rotheram, this is a
sweet place, is«i't it ? What would Nelson give
to be here just now ? "
" And," says James in his historv, " by a
singular coincidence Lord Nelson, the moment he
saw his friend in his enviable position, exclaimed,
' See how that noble fellow CoUingwood carries
his ship into action ! ' "
Having in this wav plaved the overture to the
great opera which was to follow, Admiral Col-
lingwood put his helm a-starboard, and ranged
so close alongside the Santa Anna that their
guns were nearly muzzle to muzzle. The can-
nonade between the two three-deckers was
something terrific, but the Royal Sovereign soon
had more than one opponent battering at her.
The Fougnciix bore up and raked her astern ;
ahead the San Lcandro wore and raked her in
the other direction ; whilst upon the Island ship's
starboard bow and quarter were the San Juste
and Indomptable, completing the ring of fire.
L'nder such a murderous attack, any other
crew might well have been driven below ; but
the "Royal Sovereigns'' stuck'to their guns, and,
stripped to the waist, fought them like fiends.
So incessant was the fire that they frequently
saw the cannon-shot clash against one another
in mid-air ; and, moreover, they could congratu-
late themselves that the ships which ringed
them in quite as often hit friend as foe.
Aware at length of tin? nijury which they
were receiving from their own hre, and observing
that four more British ships were already looming
through the battle mist as they bore down to
the support of their leader, the four two-deckers,
one by one, drew off to attend to other affairs,
and the Royal Sovereign took up position upon
her big opponent's lee bow. The British Bcllcislc
threw in a broadside as she passed to the thick
of the fight beyond, and then Admiral CoUing-
wood had the Spanish admiral all to him.self.
Though mounting 112 guns to her opponent's
100, the Santa Anna's crew were beginning to
learn that in the practical fighting of these guns
there were other men who could beat them.
Splinters flew, men were cut in half by the rain-
ing shot, and spars fell clattering down from
aloft, and still the fire kept up. At the end of
seventy minutes the Santa Anna's masts were all
over the side, and still her officers would not
surrender ; and it was not till 2.15 p.m. that she
finally struck and was taken in possession.
The Roxal Sovereign herself was in little
better plight. Her mizzenmast she had ahead)-
lost, and no sooner did she drive down a little
ahead of the prize, to put herself somewhat to
rights, than her mainmast went over the star-
board side, tearing oflF two of the lower deck .
ports in its crashing fall. With foremast shot
through in ten places, and rigging in bights and
streamers, the victor was almost in as unmanage-
able a plight as the Spanish three-decker which
she had so gallantl}- fought and captured.
But meanwhile, the hottest centre of the action
was elsewhere. Lord Nelson had, time past, in a
two-decker, shown with point how little he feared
coming in contact with a Spanish first-rater, and
the Santissima Trinidad — the towering four-
decker towards which he first steered — had
already known what it was to dread and flee
from him. But though on Trafalgar day he
directed his course first towards this old oppo-
nent, it was not with the intention of attacking
her. A Spanish rear-admiral was but poor game
when a French vice-admiral commanded the
allied fleet, and it was Pierre Charles Jean Bap-
tiste Sylvestre de Villeneuvc whom he had
marked out for his first quarry in that world-
famous sea-fight.
The powder-mist was thickening down, and
human eyes could not peer far through it.
Although everv glass on board the Victory was
quartering the grev haze, not one could discover
a ship with the French admiral's flag, and Nelson
fumed with disappointment. The four-decker's
TRAFALGAR.
6.3
flag at the mizzen could be made out, and some
>ignal.s were occasionally seen at the main of two
or three othtr vessels ; but no French ensign
flew at the fore to denote an admiral's flagship.
Often did the little chieftain himself, with his
remaining eye, cast a puckered glance towards
the Franco-Spanish line in search of that^ ship
which he so lusted to fight and capture ; and so
lightly did he value personal risk that, though
urged more than once on the subject, he would
not suffer the hammocks to be stowed one inch
higher than usual, preferring rather to risk the
pelting of grape and musketry than have his
view in any way obstructed.
At last the Buccntaurr tired a shot at the
Victory, which then, with studding-sails set on
both sides, was making scarcely a knot-and-a-half
through the water. The shot fell short, but
others followed, and others, until at last one
plunged through the belly of a sail.
A minute or so of awful silence followed, and
then, as if by signal from the French admiral,
the eight weathermost vessels opened upon the
Victory such a tornado of fire as had never be-
fore been borne by one single ship, and perhaps
never will be again. The wind had died away
to a mere breath, and she lifted over the swells
with scarcel}' steerage-way on her. Not a gun
could be brought to bear. Her mizzen-topmast
was shot away, the wheel was smashed, and the
ship had to be steered by the tiller in the gun-
room. A double-headed shot killed outright
eight marines on the poop and wounded some
others. And meanwhile the admiral and his flag-
captain continued their quarter-deck promenade
as though dinner required digestion and a sea-
battle was the last thing in the world to trouble
their thoughts.
Presently a shot smashed through the launch
as she lay on the booms, and, passing between
Lord Nelson and Captain Hardy, bruised the left
foot of the latter, tearing the buckle from his
shoe. They both instantly stopped and looked
inquiringly, each supposing the other to be
wounded.
" Neither touched ? Luckv ! " said Nelson.
''We're getting it now, aren't we? But this
work is too warm to last long. Hardy. We'll
give it 'em back directly, and then they'll see
■►^r lads know how to hand back punishment
as well as take it. By Jove, aren't the crew
behaving beautifully ? I've been in one or two
fights in my time, but I never saw such pluck
as this ship's company is showing to-daj-."
" They're behaving splendidly," replied Hardy.
" And they'll be using themselves ilirectly, please
the Lord. But the enemy are closing up their
line. Look ! we can't get through without
running one of them aboard."
" I can't help that," replied Nelson ; "and 1
don't see it much matters which we tackle first.
Take your choice. Go on board which you please.''
By this time the Victory had a loss of fifty
men in killed and wounded, her studding-sail
booms were shot off like carrots at the iron, and
her canvas was like fishing-nets ; but now she
began to pay back in kind what she had received.
A forecastle 68-pounder carronade, loaded with
a round shot and 500 musket balls was delivered
through the Bnccutaurc's cabin-windows as an
envoy of what was coming — to wit, a treble
shotted broadside at fathom range. The effect
of this terrible salute was to disable 400 men and
20 guns, and reduce the Bncciitaurc to a com-
paratively defenceless state. Then the British
ship went on and engaged the Ncfitunc and the
Rcdoutablc.
The Neptune, not liking the look of things,
kept her distance ; so Hardy ported his helm
and laid the Victory alongside the Rcdoutablc,
where she was soon pinned by the interfouling
of their gear. The French, when they saw
collision inevitable, shut their lower-deck ports
and fired from them no more ; but whilst the
ships' black flanks ground against one another
to the liftings of the swell, the British fought
their guns like men possessed, and dashed water
after the shots lest their hoped-for prize should
catch fire before she was taken.
But the Rcdoutablc had by no means sur-
rendered yet. The fire from her upper decks
continued, and a still more destructive fire
poured down from the brass swivels mounted in
her tops. It was a ball from one of these last
which has rendered the battle oft' Trafalgar shoals
doubly memorable down through history.
As they had been doing all through the en-
gagement. Lord Nelson and his flag-captain were
continuing their parade up and down the centre
of the poop-deck. With his usual disregard for
personal comfort when the claims of the service
came in. Nelson had caused his cabin skylight
to be removed when he hoisted his flag 011
the Victory, and the gap filled in with planking.
This gave an uninterrupted passage-way be-
tween the two lines of guns. They had arrived
within one paCe of the regular turning spot at
the cabin ladder-way, when the admiral sud-
denly faced about. Hardy turned also, and saw
his chief in the act of falling.
64
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
" You're never hit ? " he cried.
" The}- have done for me at last, Hardy."
" Oh !" I hope not."
" Yes," replied the admiral quietly, " my back-
bone is shot through."
And that, indeed, was verj' near. the truth.
But admiral or powder-boy, in action the
treatment is much the same. A marine and
two seamen took the wounded man below, and
the fight went on without a check. The fire
from the Rcd'jutables tops as well as from
her second-deck guns, which were pointed up-
wards, proved terribly destructive, and nearly
outside the combat by repelling that gallant
assault.
It vras the Redoutablc s final eftbrt. For
some time before she had been engaging the
Tcmcrairc on her port side, and now the British
ship, getting athwart her bows, lashed her bow-
sprit to his gangway and raked her till she
surrendered. She had onlj- her foremast left
standing, and out of a crew of 645 had 300
killed and 222 wounded, including nearly everj'
one of her officers. But of the ships on the
losing side that dav, the Rcdou table fought the
best fight of all.
.■^■^ *-
CAPE TRAFALGAR.
the whole C'f the men and officers on the Victory's
upper deck fell killed or wounded.
The French were not slow to perceive their
chance. The bellying curve of the two ships
prevented their stepping from bulwark to bul-
wark, but they lowered their mainyard for a
bridge, and across that streamed over to the •
assault.
" Boarders repel boarders ! "
The cry was yelled through the 'tween decks
by furious panting officers, and the half-naked
men, filthv with gunpowder and blood, streamed
up the hatchways in answer. With axe and
pike, pistol and cutlass, rammer and tearing
fingers, thev made their onset ; and though the
French fought like wolves to retain a footing,
the Islanders ravened at them* like bulldogs
so long as one remained alive upon their sacred
deck planks.
Another thirty of the Victwys crew were put
The Temirairc herself had meanwhile been
getting badly mauled in the rigging, and as her
gaff had been shot away, her ensign had fluttered
to the deck. Oberving this, the French Foit-
giicti^i, then for the moment disengaged, and
with 680 men still unhurt, fancied she saw a
good opportunitv for taking a prize, and bore
down upon her. The Tanerairc was quite pre-
pared. Whilst Herve}-, her captain, devoted his
attention to the Redoiitablc to port. Kenned}-,
his first lieutenant, assembled a portion of the
crew to starboard, and manned the* starboard
batteries. Thev delivered their fire at 100 vards.
Crippled and confused, the Fougitcux ran foul
of the British ship and was lashed there, and
then Kenned}-, accompanied by two midship-
men and a couple of dozen of seamen and
marines, boarded her in the port main rigging.
A madder, more reckless piece of work was,
perhaps, not done in all that desperate day. The
o
■^
J
X 5
a §
=5
2ii x^
u
TRAFALGAR.
65
Frenchman had quite 500 men left sound and
scatheless ; and yet that handful of " Temeraires,"
b)- sheer dash and insane valour, drove these
before them with the bare steel, slaying many,
and forcing the rest overboard or down the
hatchways ; so that in ten minutes the great
French two-decker was entirely their own.
To look back now at the Bclleislc. After
throwing in, whilst passing, a broadside to the
Roval Sovereign s antagonist, the Santa Anna,
this British 74 sustained for the next twenty
minutes a tremendous fire from half a dozen
different ships. Her
rigging was terriblv
cut up, and she lost
si.xty men. Then,
whilst the wreck of
her ni i z z e n mast
masked her after
guns, the French
Achillc engaged her
with comparative im-
punity, whilst the
Ai'gle gave it her on
the starboard side,
and other ships fired
into her as they
passed. Later, the
French iXeptuneczme
up, and shooting
away her remaining
masts by the board
reduced her to a
helpless hulk. It
seemed as though
she had to choose
between strike or
sink.
Her hull was almost knocked to pieces ; guna
were unshipped, and lay on a pulp of torn
carriages and men ; ports, port-timbers, chan-
nels, chain-plates, anchors, boats, spars, were all
reduced to splintered wood and twisted iron ;
but she fired with the few guns she could use,
and when the Swiftsnre came up to her rescue
she hoisted a LTnion Jack on a pike, and sent up
a thm cheer from amongst the tangled wreckage.
Her loss in men was fearfullj- severe ; but though
she was totally- unmanageable, her gun-crews
stood by their weapons and fired at any enemy
that came within range to the very end of the
action.
In the meanwhile other ships which had been
left behind by failure of the wind came up into
the hot vic/i-r, and began by finishing off what
53
and five men
possession, and
guessed right :
the ship of the
SIR THOMAS KAr.T
i^Front the Pictttrc
Others had begun. The English Neptune poured
a broadside into the Bttccntaiire, Nelson's first
antagonist, and knocked away the main and
mizzen masts. The Leviathan gave her another
dose at thirty yards, smashing her stern into
matchwood, and the Conqueror soon afterwards
did the same, bringing down her one remaining
stick, and with it her flag. A marine oflficer
went off in a boat to take
he found that Nelson had
the Bucentaure was indeed
allies' commander-in-chief
De X'illeneuve and
his two captains
offered their swords
to the marine, but
he, thinking it more
properly belonged to
his captain to disarm
officers of their rank,
declined the honour
of receiving them.
Having secured the
magazine and put
the key in his pocket,
and placed one of his
men as sentry at
each cabin door, the
marine clapped the
admiral and captains
in his boat, and with
his three remaining
hands pulled awa}-.
The Conqueror, how-
ever, had proceeded
elsewhere in chase,
but at length the boat-
load was picked up
ship. Lieutenant Hen-
commander of the
RMAN HARD",'
fiy R, Evans.)
by the Mars, her sister
nah, however, the acting
Mars, had no nice scruples about illustrious
prisoners. He curtly ordered De Villeneuve
and his friends below, and went on fighting.
The Leviathan meanwhile, meeting with the
Spanish 74 San Augustiuo, had another set-to
at a hundred-yards range. The Spaniard at-
tempted a raking fire, but by sheer seamanship
the British two-decker avoided this and poured
one in herself at pistol range. Down went like
a falling tree the San Aiigustino's mizzenmast,
and with it her colours ; and then to make
certain that she should strike in fiict, as she had
done in accident, the Leviathan laid her on
board. A smart and well-directed fire cleared
the upper decks, and then the British third
66
BATTLES OF THE NINETEExNTH CENTURY.
lieutenant and a party of seamen and marines
t'ullowed it up and took her without further
opposition.
Scarcelv ha<l the Lcvitithan lashed this prize
to herself than the Iiitrcpidc, a fresh ship from
the allied fleet, came surging up ; and after
raking the Leviathan ahead, ranged up along
her starboard side and prepared for close action.
Here, however, she got more than she wanted,
for the Africa^ another late-comer of the Island
fleet, dropped in to share her fire and return it
with compound interest. The Africa^ which
was only a 64-gun ship, got a tremendous
mauling, but she half knocked her big anta-
gonist into her primitive staves, put two
hundred of her crew hors dc combat, and in
the end forced her to strike.
Thus, one after another, of the nineteen ships
composing the rear of the allies, eleven had been
captured and one burnt, while seven quitted
the line and ran to leeward. The burnt ship
was the French 74 Aclitllc, which, in pass-
ing encounters with other craft, had lost her
mizzenmast, main-topmast, and foreyard, and was
also on fire in her foretop. Her fire-engine had
been wrecked by a gunshot, and as the flames
could not be extinguished, the only alternative
was to cut away the mast in its entirety, so that
it might fall clear of the ship. The crew were
about to do this when a furious broadside from
the Prince cut the mast in two about its centre,
and the wreck with its spouting flames fell
directly upon the boats in the waist. These
soon caught fire also, and the blaze bit into the
wooden fabric of the ship itself and crept hungrily
down to the decks below.
The Prince, seeing what had befallen her
antagonist, ceased fire and hove-to, and then,
with the Swiftsurc, hoisted out all the boats
left that would float, to save the Achillc's crew.
It was a dangerous service, because the guns of
the blazing ship fired of their own accord when
the fire reached them, and the Swiftsnre's boats
had three men killed by the shot. That the
Achille had already suffered heavy loss may be
judged from the fact that her senior surviving
officer was a midshipman. He, however — poor
fellow 1 — perished with most of his crew when
the ship exploded. But to his credit be it said
that the Achillc went down with her colours
fl\ung, an untaken ship.
And now let us return for a minute and look
at the British commander-in-chief. Though
conscious of having been smitten by his death-
wound, and being in the most e.x.cruciating agony
of body, his thoughts were still for the fleet's
success rather than for himself As the three
bearers were carrying him down the stee'p ladders
to the lower deck, he observed that at least a
dozen men were trying to control the jumpings
of the tiller, bj- which the Victory had been
steered since her wheel was shot away. He
sharply bade one of those with him to get
relieving tackles rigged without delav ; and
then another thought struck him. At any
moment any of the men who were fighting the
guns might recognise him ; might pass the word
along ; and the crew, on hearing that the chief
whom they so worshipped had fallen, would be
damped and disheartened. In another man this
might have been egotism — in Nelson it was a
just recognition of the facts ; and when with
his one remaining hand he spread a handker-
chief over his face, so that the features might
not be recognised, he proved how truly he had
at heart the interests of the day.
The scene in the cockpit to which the dying
man was carried was a thing which we can,
happily, never reproduce again in real life nowa
daj's. Picture a small wooden den, alive with the
writhings of the wounded, and cumbered with
dismembered limbs ; the warm, sour air thick
with dust and powder-smoke ; foul cockroaches
shambling along the beams, and frightened rats
scuttling behind the ceiling. And in the thick of
it all, by the light of three miserable '' purser's
dips " in dull horn -windowed lanterns, which
barely made darkness visible with their smokj^
yellow gleam, were the surgeon and his mates
sweating, swearing, slashing, all splashed with
horrid red, " turning out Greenwich pensioners"
(as the phrase ran then) of everv poor wretch who
came alive into their hands. There was little
conservative surgery in 1805. If a limb was
wounded, off it came. There was no reducing a
fracture; and — there were no anaesthetics. The
surgeon was like the times, rough-and-ready ;
and whilst he plied saw and amputating-knife,
his lusty mates pinned down the shrieking
victim like an ox in the shambles.
The admiral received all the attention this
poor place could give. He was laid on a spread-
out hammock bed, which rested on the deck
planks, stripped of his clothes, and examined by
Beatty, the surgeon. The diagnosis was only
too certain : there was not a vestige of hope ;
and his life would be hours of anguish and
torment till death gave him lasting ease.
The deck beams above him buckled and
creaked to the working of the guns ; the deck
TRAFALGAR.
67
planks on which he rested swung to the kick of
furious broadsides ; and the din of the fight
drowned the moanings of the maimed around
him. Between the maddening spasms of tor-
ture, the battle's outcome was his sole thought
during that terrible lingering in the gateway
of Death. Again and again he sent anxious
messages to his flag-captain, but it was not till
more than an hour after the admiral had re-
ceived his wound that Captain Hardy could find
a moment's respite from his duties in order to
visit the cockpit.
They shook hands aflfectionatelv, and Nelson
said —
" Well, Hardy, how goes the battle ? How
goes the day with us ? "
" Very well, my lord. We have got twelve or
fourteen of the enemies' ships in our possession.
But five of their van have tacked, and show an
intention of bearing down on the Victory. I
have therefore called two or three of our fresh
ships round us, and have no doubt of giving
them a drubbing."
"I hope none of our ships have struck.
Hardy ? "
" No, my lord. There is small fear of that."
" Well, I am a dead man. Hardy, but I am
glad of what you say. Oh, whip them now
you've got 'em ; whip them as they've never
been whipped before."
Another fifty minutes passed before the flag-
captain could come below again, but this time
he was able to report that the number of captures
was fourteen or fifteen.
" That's better," replied the dying man,
'■ though I bargained for twenty. And now,
anchor, Hardy— anchor."
" I suppose, my lord, that Admiral Colling-
wood will now take upon himself the direction
of affairs ? "
" Not while I live," said Nelson, raising him-
self on his elbow and then falling back. " No ;
I command here — yet. No. Do yoit anchor,
Hardy.''
" Then shall wc make the signal, my lord ? "
" Yes," said Nelson, " for, if I live, I'll anchor."
There was a silence for a minute, broken only
by the dull booming of guns, and then, in a
faint voice, " I say. Hardy," whispered .-the
admiral.
"Yes."
" Don't have my poor carcase hove overboard.
Get what's left of me sent to England, if you
can manage it. Good-bye, Hardy. I've done
my duty, and I thank God for it."
The flag-captain could not speak. He squeezed
his chieftain's hand, and left the cockpit ; and
ten minutes later Horatio, Viscount Nelson,
stepped in rank with the world's greatest war-
riors who are dead.
The news was taken to the Royal Sovereign^
and Vice-Admiral Collingwood assumed the
command. Hardy carried it himself, and at the
same time delivered Lord Nelson's djHng request
that both the fleet and prizes should come to an
anchor as soon as practicable. An on-shore
gale was imminent, the shoals of Cape Trafalgar
were under their lee, and scarcely a ship was
left fully rigged. IManv, indeed, were entirely
dismasted, and in tow either of the frigates or of
their less-mauled fellows. But, bosom friends
though they had always been, Nelson and Col-
lingwood were diametrically opposed in their
plans of proceeding. " What ! '' the new admiral
exclaimed when he heard the message, " anchor
the fleet ? Why, it is the last thing I should
have thought of.''
The fleet was not anchored, and the British
ships and their prizes were ordered to stand out
to sea. But the rising gale moaned round them
as though singing a dirge for the dead, and the
power of the elements was more than a match
for the most superb seamanship on all the
oceans. Out of eighteen prizes captured, four
were retaken by the allied ships, which swooped
down on their worn-out prize crews ; some were
driven ashore and wrecked ; some foundered at
sea with all hands ; one was scuttled ; and of the
total only four were brought safely to the British
naval station in Gibraltar Bay.
There have been other actions between
French and British ships since 1805, but never
one of any magnitude. The sea power of France
and her ally was broken for good, and with it
was made the first real move towards the over-
throw of Napoleon. The victory was due to the
prestige and genius of one man, and he died
in the moment of his triumph. His death has
been regretted, but who shall say that he could
have gained any worldly advantage by remaining^
on ? He died at the zenith of his fame, and he
could not have added to it, because no great
battle had afterwards to be fought. Had he sur- \
vived, he would have had a triumphal entry '
into London, with honours and riches showered
on him. And after that ? Would his old age
have been without reproach ? It is open to
doubt.
As it befell, he was accorded a magnificent
national funeral, a niche in Westminster Abbey,
68
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
and statues all over the Islands whose safety he
so gallantly preserved. His failings are forgotten ;
his name is a household word — sans icitr, sans
rcproche.
How different a fate was that of the man
who fought against him ! De Villeneuve lay a
prisoner in England till 1806, and then obtained
his freedom. On his journey to Paris he stopped
at Rennes to learn how the Emperor would re-
ceive him. On the morning of April 22nd he
was found dead in bed, with si.K knife- wounds in
his heart.
NELSON IN THE COCKPIT OF THE ftCTORV.
(From tlu Pkturl by A. W. Divis.)
\
69
IN England, where fortunately we have known
nothing of rebellion for the last 200 j-ears,
popular risings are always attributed to
tvrannical government on the part of the
rulers. The Polish insurrection, however, of 1863
was due in the first instance to laxity on the part
of the rulers. During the Crimean War, when
the Russians had Turkey, France, England, Sar-
dinia, and virtually Austria to contend with,
the Poles did "WOt move a hand against the
Government, severe as it had always been, of
the Emperor Nicholas. Alexander II., on the
other hand, who ruled over Russia and over
Poland when the insurrection of 1S63 broke out,
was a particularly mild sovereign, and though he
had introduced no organic reforms into Poland,
nevertheless ruled the country with modera-
tion. The use of the Polish language in the
Government offices and in the schools, with-
out being formally permitted, was openly toler-
ated. Several useful institutions — some of
them, such as the Agricultural Society, of a
national and patriotic character — had been
founded without the least opposition on the part
of the Government. No recruits had been taken
for the army since the peace of 1856; and mean-
while the country, without being rendered happy,
was growing prosperous and rich. The number
of troops maintained in Poland was exceptionally
small, and under the new reign there had been
no examples of political persecution.
Things were far less c]uiet in Russia proper,
where the emancipation of the serfs had sug-
gested to the landed proprietors that they also
ought to be liberated ; that they ought to be
allowed some voice in the government of the
country instead of being treated as the subjects
of a pure despotism. Numbers of intelligent but
scarcely well-informed men among the Poles
looked upon the emancipation of the serfs in
Russia as the removal of the keystone on which
the whole political edifice rested. They saw at
the same time that Italy had been set free by the
Emperor of the French, and conceived a hope —
not unsupported at the Tuileries — that what
Napoleon III. had done for the Italians he
would next do for the Poles. Russia in her
disorganised condition would not (they said to
themselves) be able to make any formidable re-
sistance to the legions sent against her by the
conqueror of Magenta and of Solferino. France,
moreover, could without difficulty secure the
support of Austria ; and the makers of political
programmes had already arranged that Austria
should give up Galicia towards the formation ot
a new and enlarged kingdoni of Poland, receiving
in return for her lost territory the so-called
Danubian provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia,
now known collectively as Roumania. This
audacious proposition fills one at the present
moment with astonishment ; but the prosperous
future of the two great Hospodarates, soon to be
united in one principality and ultimately to be
raised to the position of an independent king-
dom, could not then be foreseen. France and
Austria, in anv intervention they might un-
dertake on behalf of Poland, could, it was.
thought, count on some measure of support
from England — what is called moral support,
if nothing more.
Several Polish anniversaries were celebrated
by patriotic demonstrations ; and these mani^
festations of national spirit and the spirit of
independence assumed at last so serious a cha-
racter that the Russians forbade them, but with-
out bringing them to an end. At last there was
a collision between unresisting, unarmed Polish
patriots and Russian troops. There were several
victims, and the dead bodies of those who had
fallen were exhibited and their photographs cir-
culated among the indignant population of
Warsaw. These tragic scenes were repeated.
Meanwhile numerous arrests had been made, and
soon the prisons of Warsaw were full. Troops^
70
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
moreover, had been telegraphed for, and the
leeble garrison was quickly reinforced.
While repressing public manifestations the
(lovernment — on the recommendation cf the
Marquis Wielopolski, a genuine patriot but a
hard, un.sympathetic man, who was most unpopu-
lar with his fellow-countrymen — introduced
reforms of considerable importance, which, how-
ever, were received not only without gratitude
but with ridicule by the Poles, who regarded
these concessions as the outcome merely of fear.
The Emperor sent his brother, the Grand Duke
Constantine, to Warsaw in the character of
viceroy. But the extreme party— the party of
action — were opposed to all attempts at recon-
ciliation. The Grand Duke and his Minister,
the before - mentioned Marquis, were both
attacked by assassins, and all possibility of
quelling the agitation, which had now become
formidable, seemed at an end. Wielopolski's
reforms were, however, persisted in. They con-
sisted, briefly, in the exclusion from Poland of
all but Polish officials ; of the institution of
municipal councils and of a university at which
richly-salaried chairs were offered to professors
from Poland and other Slavonic countries ; and,
finally, of a regular si'stem of recruitment in lieu
of the arbit'-jry conscription or proscription
which had been practised under the Emperor
Nicholas.
But before introducing the new system cif
recruitment, Wielopolski thought it absolutely
necessary to get rid of the most irreconcilable
enemies of Russia by means of the old one. He
knew from the reports of his agents that arms
had been secretly introduced into Warsaw, and
that a rising was to take place on the night of
the 15th of February. He resolved to anticipate
this movement, which would be fatal to all his
plans for the good of his country, by seizing as
recruits, and carrying off to the army, some 2,000
of the most determined of the would-be insur-
gents. The attempt made on the night of the
14th to execute the conscription in the old pro-
scription style was itself the signal for the rising.
The Russians, the Poles of the moderate and
so-called aristocratic party, and generally those
who knew nothing of the insurrectionary
project, thought the next morning that the
danger had passed.
But in the evening the Central National
Committee — soon to become a government in
itself — held a secret meeting, at which it was
decided to order a general rising for the 22nd.
Couriers were sent out in every direction ; and
in spite of the great number of persons engaged
in preparing the outbreak, the secret was .so well
kept that on the night of the 22nd it took place
smiultaneously in all parts of the country. At
Warsaw the soldiers were to have been surprised
in the guard-houses and the barracks, and with
the arms taken from them the citadel was to
have been attacked. This plan of action was
attended with success when tried on a small
scale in some of the little country towns. But
it was impossible in Warsaw, where in and
about the city were some 50,000 troops. The
party of action thought with regret of the time,
nearly two years before, when they had first
proposed to commence the insurrection, and
when the Warsaw garrison numbered only
5,000.
The insurrection of 1863 was once described
by a Pole as a " patriotic eruption." It broke
out over the face of the whole country, and it
was difficult to allay ; otherwise its symptoms
were not very terrible. The Russians alwaj's
maintained that the movemenT^was not spon-
taneous, but that it was started and maintained
by the " cosmopolitan revolution," with its
Polish, Hungarian, and Italian adherents. Revo-
lutionists of all nations did, in fact, join the
insurgent bands, but it was the Poles themselves
who formed them. Bands of insurgents from
300 or 400 to 3,000 or 4,000 strong soon showed
themselves in all parts of Russian Poland, in the
so-called kingdom of Poland as formed in 181 5,
in Lithuania, and in the Polono-Ruthenian pro-
vinces of Volhynia, Podolia, and Kiev. In esti-
mating the forces at the disposal of the Polish
National Government it would be a mistake to
count those insurgents only who at any time
were actually in the field. Everyone who joined
a detachment organised by the National Junta
became a soldier of the Polish National Army,
and had to obey orders, not only as long as his
detachment remained in the field (generally
only a few hours after its first collision with the
enemy), but as long as the insurrection lasted.
If the band to which he belonged was driven in,
he had to report himself to headquarters, and so
hold himself in readiness to start again for the
frontier at the shortest notice. I say " for
the frontier," because it was usually within easy
reach of the Austrian or Prussian frontier that
the engagements betw-een the Polish insurgents
and the Russian troops took place. When a
detachment of insurgents' sought refuge in the
Polish province of Posen, its members were
usually arrested by the Prussian authorities. The
THE BATTLE OF BRODY.
71
officials, however, in Galicia were better dis-
posed towards the insurgent Poles ; or perhaps
they wished to give a strong hint to Russia as
to what they could do against her. should they
ever feel called upon to furnish aid to a Polish
insurrection.
The Polish Junta had organised a service of
spies and executioners called National Gendarmes.
It was their duty to terrify the spies on the
Russan side, and to teach patriotism to Polish
peasants by hanging them if they declined to
join the insurrection. The Junta also employed
a body of commissioners for collecting ta.\es and
giving and receiving information of various
kinds. The war-tax amounted to lo per cent,
on clear income, and was, or ought to have been,
paid by everyone except the peasants, who were
not allowed to pay anything to anybody, and who
were so petted by both Governments that they
would have been quite spoilt had they not already
been beyond the possibility of spoiling. The Rus-
sians tried to make the Polish peasant tight against
his ancestral master, while the Poles tried to
make him fight against the Russian Government.
After taking what he could get from both sides,
the Polish peasant remained quietly at home,
as a rule, doing no work, paying no rent, and
enjo3-ing himself after his own fashion. In no
instance, however, could the Polish peasant be
persuaded to do battle for the Russians ; whereas
in certain districts and on particular estates he
really fought well for his own people.
As an example of the way in which Polish
hisurgent expeditions were organised in 1863,
I mav give an account of the rise and fall of
one of the most important sent from Galicia
across the frontier into Russian territory. It
was necessary from time to time to send forth
an expedition against the Russians, if only to
convince the foreign Powers that the Polish
insurrection was not dead ; in which case all
idea of intervening on behalf of the Poles would
have fallen to the ground.
The preparations made for the seven or eight
hours' fighting which took place before the town
of Brodv and the village of Radzievilov, had occu-
pied the Polish National Junta about four months.
Some of the insurgents who were to take part
in the expedition had experienced considerable
trouble in getting to Cracow, and they found it
still more difficult to continue their journey to
Lemberg, while the general advance from Lem-
berg to Brody on the Russo-Volhynian frontier
was made on a system of zigzag approaches,
almost after the model of siege operations.
Lemberg was so full of insurgents that a circus
was opened for their special benefit, when scenes
from Mazeppa were performed for the instruction
and amusement of men who were themselves
bound for the Ln<.raine, but who never, I may
add, had the smallest chance of getting there.
Every country house between Lemberg and
Brody, for many miles on each side of the main
road, served as a halting-place ; and many pro-
prietors had from twenty to a hundred insur-
gents staying in and about their houses and
grounds for periods varying from three days to
two months. It was not from any want of kind-
ness on the part of their entertainers that soldiers
of the National Army in concealment were some-
times put to sleep in trees. If the words " domi-
ciliary visit " were whispered in the morning or
afternoon, everyone was on the look-out for the
police in the evening ; and as soon as they made
their appearance on the one side, the object of
their search disappeared on the other. If, when
the household retired to rest, the " domiciliary
visit " or '' revision '' had not j'et taken place,
there was nothing left for the insurgents but to
take to the wood by which every manor-house
in Eastern Galicia is surrounded.
The scheme for invading Volh^-nia from Galicia
was, in some respects, well conceived. Wj-socki,
with 1,200 men, was to have marched upon Rad-
zievilov in front, while Horodvcjki and Min-
niewski, each with 6;o, attacked it on the riorht
and left. A day or two afterwards Wisznieswski
was to have entered Volhynia farther north than
Minniewski, and close to the right bank of the
river Bug, while Rozy^ki, one of the best leaders
who had yet appeared, was to have penetrated
into the same province farther south than
Horodycki, and near the frontier of Podolia.
Finally, another officer was to have taken a
detachment of cavalry into Podolia itself ; and
thus from Podolia to Lublin, and along the
whole line of the Galician-Volhynian frontier, the
Russians would have been attacked ; and though
some of the detachments were sure to be de-
stroyed, it was thought certain that others would
succeed in advancing far into the interior of
Volhynia, and that once there, they would either
gain the active support of the peasants, or at
least show themselves strong enough to ensure
their respect and, to- a certain extent, their
assistance. The chief appointed to direct the
combined movement was General Wvsocki,
formerly commander of the Polish Legion in
Hungary, and the title given to him bv the
National Junta was General Commanding in
72
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
the Province of Lublin and the Ruthenian received and entertained strangers on the under.
Provinces. standing that they belonged to the Volhynian
On the day fixed for the commencement of expedition, but without having any positive
this important movement, in which, had all proof of the fact. Even Austrian officials were
THE CASTLE, CR.^COW.
gone well, some 4,000 men would have been
engaged, it was found that only two detach-
ments— those of General Wysocki and Colonel
Horodycki, his immediate supporter on the
right — were ready to start. This unreadiness
could be attributed to no want of foresight on
the part of the commissaries of the expedition.
Arms had been purchased and confiscated, pur-
chased and confiscated again, for three times the
number of men composing the expedition ; and
although many of these m_.en were arrested and
imprisoned, it turned out at the last moment
that there were more insurgents than there
were arms for them to carry. Fresh seizures of
rifles, bavonets, and revolvers were made on the
Sunday night and early Mondav morning ; and
on Mondav afternoon, when the Wvsocki and
Horodycki detachments were summoned to the
wood, it was found impossible to equip for
the field more than 1,500 of the former and
450 ot the latter. Insurgents were sta3-ing in
the houses of the rich as well as of the poor, and
were treated with a sort of paternal affection
everywhere. Indeed, the kindness and hospi-
tality shown to all classes and conditions of men
who called themselves insurgents was, if anv-
thing, carried to e.xcess ; for many persons
in some places touched bv this general con-
fidence, and when ordered to institute a
" revision," would give a hint beforehand that
at such an hour their arrival might be expected.
Then the men would go into the woods, the
horses would be taken out of the stables and
sent into the fields, while the saddles and bridles,
were buried in the garden. I have seen packets
of saddles and boxes of arms left at a house
without any notification as to where they came
from or whither they were to be sent. In such
cases the man who took them in put them in a
place of safetv, and a day or two afterwards
would receive a line of writing, or more gene-
rally a message by word of mouth, telling him
to forward them to some house a few miles-
nearer the frontier. If the whole country, with
the exception of the ignorant peasantry, had not
formed one general association for promoting:
the interests of Poland, this unbounded trust
from Pole to Pole would soon have led to the
speedy exposure and frustration of all the national
schemes. As it was, they were carried out to
a certain point, and never once broke down-
from any bad faith, or from want of faith, on the
part of those called upon to assist in executing
them.
THE BATTLE OF BRODY.
73
The insurgents were from many different
lands, but cliiefly from the liingdoni of Poland
and from Galicia. There were a few Hungarians,
a few Poles, a Frenchman who had taken part in
every kind of insurrection, except an insurrection
of Poles, and who told me that he had joined the
expedition simply because "this page was want-
ing to his life." There was a Polish doctor too,
himself a revolutionary dilettante whom I had
met in previous Polish expeditions, and who inte-
rested me from the fact of his carrying not only a
rifle but also a case of surgical instruments. First
he shot his foe, and then, if life was not extinct,
extracted the bullet from the wound, and did his
best to cure him. There were two young ladies,
moreover — one of them attired in a tunic and
knickerbockers, the other in a grey military
uniform. The latter of the two got wounded in
the battle. She was shot in the ankle, and when
who had emigrated, that is to say, into Poland
at the close of the insurrection of 1830, and who
since then had been living in Paris or in London.
"The young men here are admirable," they said ;
" sacrificing themselves for a cause which is a very
desperate one if they are never to be assisted
from abroad. As for us, it does not matter. We
are old fellows, and would rather die in Poland
than anywhere else ; and then we have not led
the sort of life which attaches men to this world."
One, an old soldier of the Polish army of 1830,
told me that he had been for thirteen years
working at a desk in an insurance office, and
tliat he was not sorry to get a little fresh air
and an opportunity of riding on horseback.
Another, an officer of the same armv, had been
keeping a shop, and was making humorous
speculations as to how in his absence the busi-
ness would be carried on. A third saw his native
"AMU.Nli THt I.NSURGE.NTS WAS A YOUNG LADY.
I visited her in hospital, she showed me the
bullet that had lamed her, and assured me that
she would at the earliest opportunity send it
back to its rightful possessors. A certain number
of the insurgents were middle-aged men who
belonged to what was called the "emigration" —
land for the first time, and was sa3'ing what
nice people the Poles were.
Among the insurgents belonging to Wys09ki's
corps was a young lady, described by an eye-
witness as "so timid, and so afraid of being
looked upon as a wonder, that she kept herself
74
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
almost in perpetual seclusion," but so brave that
on the day of battle she insisted upon being
placed in the first line, and greatl)' distinguished
herself in the action fought in the immediate
neighbourhood of Brody.
Brody is the last town in Eastern Galicia as
one approaches the Russo-Polish province of
Volhvnia, and the object of the expedition sent
from Eastern Galicia into Volhynia was to raise
the Volhynian peasantry. They are not of the
same religion as the Poles, and they do not seem
to have preserved anv grateful recollections of
the days when Poland was free but the peasantry
m Poland enslaved. An endeavour to conciliate
them had, however, been made by presenting
them with so-called " golden charters," which
conveyed to them in fee-simple the ownership of
the land which thev held, on certain conditions,
as of rent-paying or payments in redemption,
'rom the manorial proprietor.
A day or two before the entrj- into Volhynia
I received a message at a country house where
I was staying, warning me not to be unpre-
pared if the ne.xt morning someone called for me
in a carriage in order to drive me into the
iniddle of a neighbouring wood, where I should
meet some friends who would enable me to
accompany Wvsocki's so-called army on its
march towards Radzievilov, the first village in
the Russo-Polish province of Volhynia. The
person expected came at the appointed time, men-
tioned my name, and then, instead of taking
me to the heart of the forest, drove me through
XI beautiful woodland country to the house of a
neighbouring proprietor, where, besides the host,
I found one of the chief promoters of the expe-
dition, and two of the principal officers of the
corps commanded by Horodycki, one of W}--
socki's lieutenants. One of the officers took out
a map of the countrv about to be entered (it was
a photographic print from the private map of the
Russian staff), and pointed out to me the place of
assembly in the forest, the spot at which the
frontier had to be crossed, and the road by which
it was intended to advance upon Radzievilov.'
Discussions on the interminable Polish question,
together with pistol-shooting, fencing, and other
warlike amusements, filled up the time until
dinner, after which the officers went singly to
visit our first place of encampment, and came
back with the alarming news that an Austrian
patrol had been seen hovering about the spot
where most of the arms lay buried. In the
evening a '" revision " or "domiciliary visit " was
announced. The house was cleared of insurgents,
and two ver\' suspicious-looking cases were
placed where the police were likely to find them.
One was empty ; the other was labelled " Vin de
Bordeaux," and contained wine. All through
the night messengers were continually arriving,
and the first news in the morning was that the
arms had been seized, that the labour of three
months had been lost, and that the expedition
could not start. Ultimatel}' it was discovered
that about a hundred rifles had been taken, but
that there were still nearly three hundred in a
place of comparative safety. The question arose
as to whether it would be advisable to postpone
the departure of the expedition until more arms
could be procured, but it was soon decided not to
risk, b}- further delay, the seizure of the whole
stock.
At last, early on Monday afternoon, we got
into a cart, built without springs for the same
sort of reason for which Highlanders are said not
to wear trousers, and went into the wood. Turn-
ing from the high- into a cross-road, from the
cross-road into a lane, and from the lane into a
private path, we came, after manv windings, to
a little glade, where the long grass had been
crushed and flattened as if by a roller. The
former presence of human beings in this seques-
tered spot was indicated by an old boot, which
Hoby would have disavowed, and a cask contain-
ing gin — from which, as it was not }-et empty, it
was presumed that the. insurgents could not be
far distant. They were so well concealed, how-
ever, that although we had good guides (includ-
ing one of the forest-keepers of the estate), it was
not easy to find them. At last we burst upon a
band of brothers, who were engaged in the diffi-
cult and, to them, evidentlv novel occupation of
tr\-ing on boots. The boot so contemptuously
abandoned in the first halting-place had appar-
ently been the only one among some thirty men.
The major was answering questions on all sorts
of subjects from boots upwards, and was at the
same time superintending a distribution of pistols,
which, being larger than any pistols ever seen
before or afterwards out of a pantomime, looked
very terrible, and produced (as the\' were in-
tended to do) a fine and healthy effect on the
Ruthenian village population.
The peasants looked a good deal scared as the
insurgents marched through the fields, but were
soon reassured, or pretended to be, when a few
words were spoken to them in kindness. Of
attacking or molesting the insurgents in any
way there was, of course, no thought, -more par-
ticularl}'^ as the half-detachment, consisting of
THE BATTLE OF BRODY.
75
200 men, looked in the moonlight, as it straggled
along in double file, like a much larger force,
and was pronounced by impartial spectators to
be at least i,ooo strong. Two peasants, how-
ever, were overheard whispering that they had
a great mind to go off and tell the Austrians.
They were arrested, asked if they wanted to be
hanged, and replying in the negative, were told
how to avoid that fate so far as it was likely to
be inflicted upon theni by their Polish com-
patriots.
They were then put into a cart and driven
along after the detachment, and were not
liberated until everything had besn made ready
for crossing the frontier.
We marched during nearly all
the first night, passing from the
moonlight into the darkness of
the dense woods, where nothing
but glow-worm.s, and here and
there in the insurgent column the
light of a cigar, could be seen, and
then again into the moonlight ;
until at last we came to a river or
mountain stream (running down
from the Carpathians), and sat-down
by the side of the waters and
supped. It was generally believed
to be one of the best suppers they
had ever had (of many poor fellows
it was the last); and the breakfast,
to which a select number were
invited, was also much admired,
especially some tea-soup made
in a saucepan and served out in
saucepan-lids, wine-glasses, and wooden ladles.
During the halt, of which advantage was taken
to eat our hurried breakfast, Horodycki, the com-
mander of the detachment, joined us, bringing
with him 200 infantry, and from forty to fiftv
cavalry. The rifles, bayonets, and scythes were
now disinterred, or pulled out of their hiding-
places in the brushwood ; and I found that this
particular batch had all been concealed at about
twenty paces distance from the public road
running through the middle of the wood. The
Austrians had not found them, because they had
been hidden where the Austrians would be sure
not to look for them.
As the insurgents moved away from the
cottage where they had halted for tea, a plain
and shrill-voiced woman came out and com-
plained that her husband had deserted her in
order to go and fight the Russians. It was
impossible not to understand that he had chosen
the lesser of two evils. The poor man who pre-
ferred his country to his wife and death to his
home was in the cavalry, and now galloped to
the front and was soon out of sight and, it may
be hoped, out of hearing. The great majority
of the insurgents, however — especially those in
the infantry — could have had nothing to leave :
they were men of the vagabond type, the dregs
of the Polish towns, who had taken service
in the Polish National Army because they were
ready to turn their hands to any odd job, espe-
cially an exciting one, that might present
itself.
The cavalry, on the other hand, was chiefly
composed of sons of landed proprietors, large and
small ; though, with very few exceptions, the
sons of the great Polish landowners did not find
their way to the insurrection at all. When the
familv of some great Polish aristocrat was repre-
sented among the insurgents, it was usually in
the person of some scapegrace scion of the
house ; so that if by some strange accident the
national movement were attended by success (as
through foreign intervention), the members of
the great family might be able to say : "We also
were there, or at least one of us."
The cavalry, with its well-born riders and
well-bred steeds, was of very little use, e.xcept for
the service of the camp and now and then for
distant reconnoitring ; and it was scarcely ever
employed in action. Some of the new-comers,
especially among the cavalry, were quite dis-
heartened at the idea of having for comrades
such riff-raff as the infantry for the most part
/o
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
consisted of. An officer, noticing this, said to
some of the well-to-do insurgents who had just
arrived : " You have come to the camp under
the impression that you would find evervone
here as good as yourselves ; I wish such were
the case. But we must do our best, and we
meanwhile it was for the Poles to hasten it. He
had never expected any intervention before the
spring, and meanwhile the Poles must make
such efforts and prove themselves so strong that
neither France nor England would refuse them
a helping hand. More than this would not be
rOLIill PEASANTS.
shall make soldiers of them all when we get on
the other side of the frontier."
As for the officers, they were all men who had
seen plenty of service in foreign armies, and who
had in many cases taken part in expeditions
during the insurrection actually going on. Horo-
dvcki, already mentioned as commanding one
of W\-socki's detachments, dignified bv the
name of '' brigade," had distinguished himself
in the Hungarian War of 1848-49 by defend-
ing at the head of a battalion of the Polish
Legion the bridge and passage of the canal
at Temesvar against an overpowering force
while the Hungarian army was effecting its
retreat. Major Horodycki lost half his battalion,
but he succeeded in keeping the enemv at
bay. He was a simple, straightforward man, a
good deal sterner than the majority of Poles,
and apparentlv not much given to seeing visions.
He did not believe in any immediate inter-
vention on the behalf of Poland, but felt sure
that sooner or later it would come, and that
necessary. Horodycki did not seem to share the
opinion of some of his countrvmen as to the
goodwill of the peasants towards the insurrec-
tion ; at least, he turned some of the Ruthenian
peasants out of the camp who had come there
with the gifts of fresh butter, sheep's milk, cheese,
and potted cream. He feared them ct doiia
fercntcSy and said, when he was asked whether
their offering was not a good sign, " They are
with us now we are here ; they will be with our
enemies when we are gone. I know them, and
have sent them away." A Ruthenian priest
and his wife brought something more valuable
than butter and cheese. They brought their
nephew. This was a proof of sympathy which
could not be misunderstood, and the voung man
was accepted with thanks, and at the proper
moment sent across the frontier. Several ladies,
too, visited the camp, and so inundated the
place with strawberries-and-cream that Horo-
dycki, fearing, no doubt, that discipline would be
relaxed, and the forest of Nakwasha converted
THE BATTLE OF BRODY.
77
into a Capua, gave orders that no more women
should be suffered to approach.
The second officer of Horodycki's detach-
ment— the major commanding the infantrv —
was Synkiewicz, son of the historian and novelist
of that name, and captain in the Italian army.
Synkiewicz, without knowing his country from
personal observation, had formed a romantic
picture of it in his imagination, and he said that
he found the Poles what he had always imagined
them to be. Some of them do indeed come
up to any ideal which their warmest admirers
may have formed of them ; and these were the
men with whom Svnkiew-icz habitually associated.
It might in other circumstances have been in-
spiriting, but to those who knew the truth was
saddening, to see the delight with which this
officer looked forward to the hour fi.xed for
entering Volhynia ; for it was certain that he
the men, they were not preposseesing in ap-
pearance, but wt)uld know how to fight. As to
numbers, if 500 men (of which his battalion
consisted) were really determined to cut their
way through an opposing force, they could do
it, however large that force might be. This
officer wore a Garibaldian costume, fearing that
if he appeared in the uniform of the Italian
regular army, and got taken prisoner, repre-
sentations might be made to the Italian War
Ministry, and his promotion stopped or his
commission cancelled. He was told that the
Russians would be sure to pick him off; but
he replied that he wished to be conspicuous
for the sake of his men, and that the Russians,
if they aimed directly at him, would be sure
not to hit him. He did them an injustice ; for
half an hour afterwards they sent a bullet through
liis long chestnut-coloured beard, just as he was
"AS THE 1;E,\R-C.CARD left the wood it was riRED UrON LV A PARTY OF COSSACKS " (/. 78).
must die there or come back disheartened.
He would not allow that anything was wrong
with his detachment. If anyone said that the
arms were a little clumsy, he replied that
the greatest battles of modern times had been
gained with arms not nearly so good. As to
endeavouring at the head of his battalion to
dislodge them from Radzievilov.
The first half of Synkiewicz's detachment,
consisting of an advance-guard of cavalrj'
and two companies of infantry, had already
been taken across the frontier by Captain
78
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Tchorszewski, an officer who Iiad served with
Horody9ki in Hungary, and who was at-
tached to the British headquarters during the
Crimean War. Captain Jagninski, another of
Horodvijki's companions in Hungary, took
charge of the second half, and was accom-
panied by Synkiewicz and Horodycki, chief of
the miniature " brigade." The rear-guard of
cavalry w-as under the direction of a Polish
officer late of the Russian arm}'. The night,
which had been beautiful, like the first night
of the march, until about ten o'clock, suddenly
darkened just as the detachment began to cross
the frontier ; and the rear-guard passed into
Volhynia in the midst of thunder, lightning,
and such torrents of rain that, after the lapse
of a minute, the dense wood afforded no pro-
tection whatever against it. The last man to
leave was a Hungarian servant, who had brought
nothing into the camp but an old horse with a
piece of rope tied round his nose, and who
galloped out on a magnificent charger, splendidly
equipped, and brandishing a long sabre.
As the rear-guard left the wood it was fired
upon by a party of Cossacks, and at the same
time a messenger reached us from the Galician
side with the news that the Austrians at Pod-
kamin (a town about six miles distant) had
found out the position of the camp. General
Wysocki, marching from the other side of Brody,
was to have joined Horodycki and taken the
chief command of the combined detachments in
front of Radzievilov at daybreak. But Horo-
dycki arrived at the place of meeting before his
time, and attacked the Russians without waiting
for Wyso(jki, who, as a matter of fact, did not
arrive until long after his time.
On entering the town of Radzievilov, Horo-
dygki at once engaged some 800 Russians who
were drawn up in the market-place. Horodygki
had now but 300 men under his command. Of the
450 or 500 infantrymen in the wood, some forty
or fifty of the most ill-conditioned had bolted on
finding themselves in the presence of the Cos-
sacks, who, as before mentioned, fired into the
detachment as it was crossing the frontier. Syn-
kiewicz sent away about an equal number as
unfit for the desperate work before them. The
rear-guard had been dispersed on crossing the
frontier, and the rest of Horodyijki's cavalry
could not be employed. Nearly all the officers
of Horodygki's detachment were killed or
wounded. Horodycki, who throughout the two
days' campaign had suffered terribly from acute
headache, and wore around his head a bandage
constantly moistened, was cured of his complaint
by a Russian bullet before he had been many
minutes inside Radzievilov. Jagninski and
Tchorszewski were also killed. Synkiewicz had
to take refuge in a large pond or lake, where he
remained for eight hours, while the peasants
who had been pursuing him stood on the banks
armed with scythes ready to murder him if he
ventured to return to dry land. He swam un-
noticed to a little island of mud, and there re-
mained concealed amongst rushes and weeds,
until he at last thought of taking off his Italian
hat and sending it floating along the water.
Then the peasants thought their intended victim
was drowned, and went home to dinner.
When, after the dispersion and partial destruc-
tion of Horodycki's detachment, Wvsocki's
larger corps entered upon the scene, it took up its
position in a wood near Radzievilov and sent out
companies which fired tranquilly at their assail-
ants from a cornfield not far distant. Of these
companies some showed but little fight, while
others behaved with much heroism. The officers
in either case got killed. Glisczinski, one of the
bravest of the brave, employed on Wysocki's staff,
was actively employed in bringing up and placing
the companies until, after having had two horses
shot under him, he was struck down by almost
the last bullet that was fired. Domogalski, chief
of Wysocki's .staff, was mortally wounded, and
carried back to Brody to die.
The Battle of Brody, then, was for the
Polish insurgents a total and lamentable failure.
Instead of making the attack with the combina-
tion of several detachments, numbering alto-
gether 4,500 men, they began their brief campaign
with only two detachments, which attacked
separately and were separately routed. This was
the last militarv operation on anything like an
important scale that the directors of the Polish
insurrection of i8b3 tried to carry out. It was
more a political demonstration than a serious
military undertaking, and even in the former
character it was ineffective. There was never the
least chance of the Poles being helped from
abroad, unless they first showed that they were
really capable of helping themselves.
4
-^i# —
79
k
WHEN on August ist, 1804, the
Mikado's Government formally
declared war against the Chinese
Empire, the first impression in
Europe undoubtedly was that Japan might win
some successes at the outset, but would sooner
or later be crushed by the mere numbers of the
Chinese. But there were a few longer-sighted
critics of the coming war, who pointed out
that its result would depend not on the mere
numbers that might ultimately be brought
into the field on both sides, but on the question
of the command of the sea in the first few
months of the struggle. But on this point,
also, the opinion of experts was more favour-
able to China than Japan ; for the Chinese
possessed at least two ironclads which were
superior to anything in the Japanese navy,
the heaviest ships of which were indeed only
partly armoured cruisers. Both navies had
had the advantage of European teaching in
drill, tactics, and seamanship. It was supposed
that, everything else being equal, the possession
of even a few powerful ironclads would turn the
scale in favour of China.
At the outset the Chinese had been unfor-
tunate upon the sea. Fighting had begun before
the actual declaration of war, the Japanese
squadron of cruisers on the Corean coast having,
on the 25th of July, without any warning,
attacked and roughly handled the Chinese
cruiser Kivaiig Yt'li, which escaped capture only
by a precipitate flight. Later in the same day
the Nauhva Kau^ one of the Japanese cruisers,
sank the Chinese transport Kowsfiitig, though
she was flying the British flag, and commanded
by British officers. Admiral Ting, an ex-cavalry
officer, who commanded the northern Chinese
fleet, declared that he would take the first
opportunity to avenge what was regarded in
China as the treacherous attack on the two
Chinese vesseis. He proposed to his Govern-
ment that he should at once take his fleet
to Chemulpo, the port of Seoul, where the
Japanese were known to be disembarking
troops ; and he promised that if he once got
there he would destroy both the covering
fleet and the transports. Such a success would
have decided the war against Japan, for the
invasion of Corea and Manchuria depended o«
the Japanese fleet being able to convoy the
transports, and secure the safe landing of the
troops in the first instance, and of the supplies
and reinforcements they might subsequently
need. But the Tsung-li-yamen at Pekin was
not so confident as the admiral in the power
of the fleet ; and, forgetting that if it was not
strong enough to attack it would hardly be
strong enough to keep the Japanese at bay,
it ordered Ting to act on the defensive, and
not to cruise beyond the narrow seas between
Port Arthur and Wei-hai-wei. This was adopt-
ing a weak plan of campaign to begin with, for
all naval history goes to prove that the best
defence is in a vigorous offensive.
The Chinese admiral had at his disposal the fol-
lowing ships, making in all a formidable force : —
Tons.
Curs.
Ships.
^ =
^i
B^
Notes.
B<J
'£
^0
Yang Wei
I '350
6
7
Ping Yuen
2,850
3
8
8-inch armour belt ; 5
inches on barbette.
Chao Yung
1.350
6
7
Chin^ Yuen
2.300
=;
16
18 knots speed.
Kwang Ping
1,030
^
8
Kine Yuen
2,850
4
8
\ 9J-Jnch armour bell ;
Lai Vuen
2,850
4
8
J 8 inches on barbette.
Chen Yuen
7>430
6
...
12
\ 14-inch armour belt.
1 12-inch ditto on turret.
Ting Yuen
7.430
6
12
(Each carrying four 12-
^ inch guns.
18 knots speed.
Chi Yuen
2,300
■i
■••
16
Kwang Cbia
1,300
7
«
TsiYuen
2.355
3
XO
6-inch armour on barbette,
[No armour carried by
The <^hip^ are placed
55
i
120
ships unless noted in
in the order in
this column, which aUo
which they fought
notes heaviest guns
at the Yalu, Itecin-
and highest speeds in
niag on the right.
fleets
8o
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
On board the flagship he had with him the
German artillery officer Von Hanneken, whose
official position was that of inspector of the
Chinese coast defences. On board the Clicii-
Yucii, the other big ironclad, was Commander
McGiffen, formerly of the United States navy.
He was nominally the second in command of
the ship, a Chinese officer being the titular
captain of the vessel, but McGiffen was practi-
cally in charge. Some of the engineers and
gunnery officers were Europeans or Americans,
and all the native Chinese officers had received
at least some training
from European officers.
The men were well
drilled, and the ships
■were in good condi-
tion. The weak points
of the fleet were the
comparatively slow
speed of all the ships
and the deficiency of
ammunition for the
heavy guns — a defect
only revealed by the
liattle.
The most careful
preparations had been
made in every other
department. On the
two ironclads coal bags
w-ere piled in a bulwark
eight to ten feet thick
round the barbettes to
furnish additional de-
fence, but the steel
shields which had been
fitted round some of
the big guns were removed. The experience of
the Kwaiig Ytlis brief action with the Japanese
cruisers had shown that these thin shields did
more harm than good. They were just strong
enough to burst shells that otherwise would have
flown harmlessly over the heads of the gunners.
The boats were also removed, with the exception
of one in each ship. It was felt that they would
be knocked to pieces early in the battle, and
in any case no quarter was expected in case of
disaster, so that the boats were not likely to
be of much use. Orders were given that the
decks were to be thoroughly drenched with
the fire-hose before going into action, and
they were also strewn with sand to prevent
slipping. It would have been well if at the
same time the Chinese commanders had got
AL)Mii;.-\L no.
rid of the lacquered woodwork that ornamented
the bows of several of their ships. It proved
to be highly inflammable, and was the source of
much trouble during the battle.
The Chinese guns were mostly heavy Krupps
and Armstrongs. They had a few machine-
guns, but only three of the new quick-firers. It
was known that the Japanese fleet consisted
chiefly of swift modern cruisers, protected chiefly
by the armoured and curved deck just below
the water-line, and armed with a few hea\-y
armour-piercing guns and a large number of
quick-firers, each ca-
pable of sending out a
stream of heavj' shells
at the rate of four or
five to the minute.
But Admiral Ting and
his European and
American colleagues
were neverthelessconfi-
dent that if they could
once come to close
quarters with the Ja-
panese, the steady fire
of the Chinese guns
would destro}' and sink
their more lightlv-pro-
tected enemies.
OnThursday , August
2nd, the very daj- after
the declaration of war,
Admiral Ting sailed
with his fleet from Port
Arthur. His orders re-
stricted him to the
neighbouring waters,
but he believed that
the Japanese fleet was not far off, and that
he would fall in with it, and have an oppor-
tunit}' of seeing what his big guns could do to
make good the promises he had made to his
Government. He was not only confident of
success, but in a savagely truculent mood, as
witness the following order which he signalled
to the fleet as soon as it was w-ell out to sea : —
'' If the enemy shows the white flag, or hoists
the Chinese ensign, give no quarter, but continue
firing till he is sunk."
Later in the day he signalled :
'■ Let each officer and man do his best for his
country to-morrow. I expect to congratulate
j-ou on a victory- over the enemy to-morrow
afternoon."
But to-morrow afternoon came, and brought
1
54
I
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
no sight of the enemy. Before the end of the
week Tiiig was back at Port Arthur, having
gained nothing by his cruise but some exer-
cise for his officers and men. Meanwhile, the
Japanese fleet was protecting the disembarkation
of the invading army in Corea ; but it found
time in the interval between two of these
descents to reconnoitre Wei-hai-wei, exchang-
ing a few shots at long range with the seaward
forts. The orders sent to Admiral Ting by his
Government had practically given Admiral Ito
and the Japanese fleet the command of the sea
at the most critical period of the war.
August passed without the Chinese fleet doing
anything but lie at anchor in its fortified har-
bours, or cruise peacefully in waters into which
the Japanese had as yet no reason to venture.
Ting was indignant at the inglorious part
assigned to him, and eager for an opportunity
of showing how little foundation there was for
the rumours which attributed the inaction oi
his squadron to his own want of courage and
enterprise. Meanwhile, the Japanese armies
were steadily overrunning Corea. The second
week of September brought news of the advance
on Pin-j-ang, and then the chief anxiety of the
Chinese Government was to rapidly reinforce
the army that was being assembled to dis-
pute the passage of the Yalu River, the stream
which forms the boundary between Corea and
Manchuria. Admiral Ting was directed to
act as convoy to the transports engaged in this
work.
On Saturday, September the 15th, his fleet,
consisting of 1 1 warships, 4 gunboats, and 6
torpedo boats, assembled at Ta-lien-wan Bay,
near Port Arthur, and was there joined by
6 tran.sports, wliich had on board some 4,500
troops, with 80 guns. The day was spent in
completing the cargoes of the transports and
coaling the fleet, and, shortly after midnight,
the whole fleet of warships and transports put
out to sea. On the Sunday afternoon the
warships anchored just outside the mouth ot
the Yalu River, while the transports, escorted
by some of the lighter vessels, went up the
river to disembark the troops and guns near
the southern end of the Chinese entrenchments.
On that same day, Sunday, September ibtli,
Ito, the Japanese admiral, had been engaged
in precisely the same task as his Chinese rival,
the place where the Japanese disembarked under
cover of his fleet being nearly a hundred miles
to the southward down the coast, and the troops
being destined to take part in the advance
against the line of the Yalu River. On the-
Sunday afternoon, the troops having all been
landed, Ito put out to sea. The following was
the force under his command : —
Tons.
Guns.
Ships.
>• ■
j,«
Is
Notes.
W 3
"5 .;
.
= U
oa
P
§ fYoshino
4.150
...
44
23 knots. Swiftest ship
i '
in either fleet.
|-{ Taliachico ...
3650
8
12
1 Sister ships. Speed, iS
■^ 1 Nariiwa Kan...
3,650
8
•■•
12
/ knots.
^ I .^kitsushjma ...
3.'50
1
22
10
One long 13-inch gun.
Malsnshinia*..
Itsukushima ...
4277
4.277
12
12
16
16
6
6
•. i2-inch armour on bat-
1 icry. One long 13-
r inch gun i French) on
0
Has date
4.277
12
16
15
J each ship.
■^
Chiyoda
2,45°
24
13
4i-inch armour belt.
t
Fuso
3.718
"e
...
8
9-inch armour on bat:erj- ;
7 on belt.
Z
Hiyei
Saikio
2,200
600
9
f
4i-inch armour belt.
LAkagi
61S
I
69
4
6
[No armour on any ship-
unless noted in this
88
column, which also
132
notes the heaviest guns
and the highest speeds
in the fleet. J
* Flag ship.
■t Quick-firers only.
The ships were divided into two squadrons : the
van squadron consisting of the cruisers Yoshino^
Naniwa Kan, Takachico, and Akitsushitna ; and
the main squadron, formed of the flagship Mat-
siis/iima, her sister ship the Ikitsushima, and the
Hasidatc, Fuso, Chiyoda, Hiyci, and Akagi, and
the armed transport Saikio.
The swiftest ship in the fleet was the Yoshino.,
a splendid cruiser, launched in i8q2 at Elswick,
with a speed of twenty-three knots, and an
armament of 44 Armstrong quick-firers. Her
four heaviest guns, 6-inch Armstrongs, were
supposed to be capable of piercing ten inches of
armour, and only two of the Chinese ships carried
anything thicker than this. When all her guns
were in action she could discharge nearly 4,000
pounds weight of shells every minute. The quick-
firing gun is a weapon that is so mounted as to-
be swung about and levelled at the mark almost
as easily as a rifle. The breech opens easily,
and shell and cartridge are slipped in together,
in a brass case. Then a single movement closes
and locks the breech, and the marksman who
does the aiming fires it by touching a trigger, all
the recoil being taken up by the mountings, and
the gun coming back smartly into position the
moment after the discharge. The Japanese
fleet bristled with these formidable weapons.
The Akagi and the Saikio were the only ships
in the Japanese fleet that were entirely without
protection, either in the shape of belts and
partial side armour, or the curved armoured
deck below the water-line. They were all
THE RATTLE OF THE YALU RIVER.
83
superior in speed to the Chinese ; though no
other ship was so fast as the Yosln'iio. Finally,
as the event proved, they had the great ad-
vantaf;e of being abundantly supplied with
ammunition for their guns.
With this formidable fieet Ito steamed slowly
to the north-westward during Sunday night.
Early on Monday morning he was off the island
of Hai-vun-tao. He had heard that Ting had
been using the harbour inside the island as
a rendezvous for the fleet, and his lookouts
searched the channel and the bay with their
telescopes ; but there were only a few fishing-
boats in sight, and at seven a.m. the fleet
began steaming north-eastward. It was a fine
autumn morning. The sun shone brightly, and
there was only just enough of a breeze to ripple
the surface of the water. It must have been a
grand sight to have seen the long line of warships
cleaving their way through the blue waters, all
bright with white paint, the" chrysanthemum of
Japan shining like a golden shield on every bow,
and the same emblem flving in red and ^ white
from ever}- masthead. Some miles away to
port rose the rock\' coast and the blue hills
of Manchuria, with many an island, and here
and there a little bay With its fishing villages.
On the other side, the waters of the wide Corean
Gulf stretched to an unbroken horizon. Towards
eleven o'clock the hills at the head of the gulf
were rising ahead.., Ito had in his leading ship,
the Yoslmw, a cruiser that would have made
a splendid scout. In any European navy she
would have' been steaming some miles ahead
of her. colleagues with, perhaps, another quick
ship 'between her and the fleet to pass on her
signals. But Ito seems to have done no scout-
ing, but to have kept his ships in single line
ahead, with a small interval between the van
and the main squadron. At half-past eleven
smoke w-as seen far away on the starboard bow,
the bearing being east-north-east. It appeared
to come from a number of steamers in line, on
the horizon. The course was altered and the
speed increased. Ito believed that he had the
Chinese fleet in front of him. And he was
right. The smoke was that of Ting's ironclads
and cruisers anchored in line, with steam up,
outside the mouth of the Yalu.
On Monday morning the Chinese crews had
been exercised at their guns, and a little before
noon, while the cooks were busy getting dinner
ready, the lookout men at several of the mast-
heads began to call out that they saw the smoke
of a large fleet away on the horizon to the
south-west. Admiral Ting was as eager for the
fight as his opponents. At once he signalled to
his fleet to weigh anchor, and a few minutes
later ran up the signal to clear for action.
The same signal was made by Admiral Ito
hali-an-hour later, as his ships came in sigh'
of the Chinese line of battle. The actua
moment was five minutes past noon, but it
was not until three-quarters of an hour later
that the fleets had closed sufficiently near for
the actual fight to begin at long range. This
three-quarters of an hour was a time of anxious,
eager e.vpectation for both Chinese and Japanese.
Commander McGiffen of the Chc7i Yuen has
given a striking description of the scene when
" the deadly space " between the two fleets was
narrowing, and all were- watching for the flash
and smoke of the first gun : — " The twenty-two
ships," he says, " trim and fresh-looking in their
paint and their bright new bunting, and gay
with fluttering signal-flags, presented such a
holiday aspect that one found diflSculty in
realising that they were not there simply for
a friendly meeting. But, looking closer on the
Chen Yuen, one could see beneath this gaiety
much that was sinister. Dark-skinned men,
with queues tightly coiled round their heads,
and with arms bared to the elbow, clustered
along the decks in groups at the guns, waiting
impatiently to kill or be killed. Sand was
sprinkled along the decks, and more was kept
handy against the time when they might be-
come slippery. In the superstructures, and
down out of sight in the bowels of the .ship,
were men at the shell whips and ammunition
hoists and in the torpedo room. Here and
there a man lay flat on the deck, with a charge
of powder — fifty pounds or more — in his arms,
waiting to spring up and pass it on when it
should be wanted. The nerves of the men
below deck were in extreme tension. On deck
one could see the approaching enemy, but below
nothing was known, save that any moment
might begin the action, and bring in a shell
through the side. Once the battle had begun
they were all right ; but at first the strain was
intense. The fleets closed on each other rapidly.
My crew was silent. The sub-lieutenant in the
military foretop was taking sextant angles and
announcing the range, and exhibiting an appro-
priate small signal-flag. As each range was called,
the men at the guns would lower the sight -bars,
each gun captain, lanyard in hand, keeping his
gun trained on the enemy. Through the venti-
lators could be heard the beats of the steam
■U
BATTLES OF THE NINETEEN'TH CENTURY.
pumps ; for all the lines of hose were joined up
and spouting water, so that, in case of fire, no
time need be lost. ' 6,cxx) metres ! ' — ' 5,800 ! ' —
The crisis was
' '600 !
'TOO !
' '— ' 5,400 ! '
rapidly approaching. Every man's nerves were
in. a state of tension, which was greatly relieved
as a huge cloud of white smoke, belching from
the Tmff Yuen's starboard barbette, opened
the ball."
The shot fell a little ahead of the Vos/niio,
throwing up a tall column of white water.
,„,,».. — >-
o
— -jtH.'L':^^-- - _
CIII.VKSK FLEET.
l.TingYut-n 7.<'h.io Yiing
a.Chea .. H.Pin? Yuen
».Lai >. d.Yans Wei
(.King .. lU.thi Yiirn
ri.Kwans rinc ll.KtTang Chia
C.l'bin; Viien li.TsI Yurn
Yostiiiiu^i- ^ "~'-^l!alsiisliiiu«
Taknclilcu\?''-l^'-''''1, V. ICiiiliiuliima
Alllt>usliiniaN> • ,j''o,_ Kciiiyoaa
The Battle of salkio^ V""
THE YALU: ., .^^X^
/First Phase\
V^ I?. 30-1. p. m.^'
Ilt^i
Admiral Ito, in his official report, notes that
this first shot was fired at ten minutes to one.
The range, as noted on the Chen Yucn^ was
5,200 yards, or a little over three and a half
miles. The heavy barbette and bow guns of
the Chen Yuen and other ships now joined in, but
itill the Japanese van squadron came on without
replying. For five minutes the firing was all on
the side of the Chinese. The space between the
Japanese van and the hostile line had diminished
to 3,000 yards — a little under two miles. The
Yoshtno, the leading ship, was heading for the
centre of the Chinese line, but obliquely, so as
to pass diagonally along the front of the Chinese
right wing. At five minutes to one her power-
ful forward battery of quick-firers opened on the
Chinese, sending out a storm of shells, most of
which fell in the water just ahead of the Ting
and Chen Yuen. Their first effect was to deluge
the decks, barbettes, and bridges of the two
ironclads with the geysers of water flung up by
their impact with the waves. In a few minutes
every man on deck was soaked to the skin. One
by one the other ships along the Japanese line
opened fire, and then, as the range still diminished,
the Chinese machine-guns, Hotchkisses and
Nordenfelts, added their sharp, growling reports
to the deeper chorus of the heavier guns.
And now the fire began to tell on both sides.
A 12-inch shell from one of the large Chinese
ironclads had burst fairly on the deck of one of
the cruisers in the Japanese van. The shells of
the Japanese quick-firers were bursting over the
decks of the Chinese ships, cutting awav fittings,
killing and wounding men, and already kindling
fires in the woodwork. The armoured barbettes
and central citadels of the Ting Yuen and
Chen Yuen were especially the mark of the
Japanese fire. The din of the striking and
bursting projectiles was like a continual thunder,
but the armour held its own. Theoretically, the
Japanese guns ought to have pierced it again
and again, but the actual results were confined
to a number of deep dents and grooves in the
massive plates. But through the unarmoured
structures the shells crashed like pebbles through
glass, the only effect of the metal wall being
to burst the shell as it went through, filling the
space within with flying fragments of steel and
volumes of poisonous smoke.
For ever}' shot from the Chinese guns there
were a dozen from the Japanese. Ito's vangoiard
having reached the e.\treme right of the Chinese
line, now turned to starboard, so as to come
round on the other side of it. The Chinese
ships were under easy steam, advancing in line
at the rate of about si.\ knots an hour , but
those on the flanks did not keep their stations
well, and were a little astern of the centre,
hence the report at first spread that Admiral
Ting had fought with his ships in a crescent.
As the vanguard squadron of the Japanese camt
round the Chinese right and opened fire on the
sterns of the ships, the main squadron wa?
engaging their bow guns, the right wing, the
weakest part of the Chinese line, being thus
taken between two fires. Following the van,
the main squadron, led by the JMatsushima,
now swept round the right of Ting's line, and
the position of the two fleets was reversed, the
Japanese being between the Chinese and the
river mouth for a few moments.
It was now that a gallant act n-as performed ■
THE BATTLE OF THE YALU RIVER.
8_^
by the captain oi the Hiyct, the weakest and
smallest of the Japanese ships. She was the last
ship in the long line, and had fallen so far astern
that her captain felt that to attempc to get
round the Chinese right would be to run the
risk of being cut off from his colleagues and
rammed. He took a bold course to rejoin.
Turning full on to the centre of the Chinese
line, his little ship rushed down the narrow
lane of water between
the two ironclads7»;^
and Chcii Yuen, re-
ceiving fire from both,
and losing several
men. But he came
safely out through the
storm of fire, and re-
sumed his place with
the main squadron.
But now came the
first signs of disaster
for the Chinese. The
first shots had hardly
been fired when the
ship on the e.xtreme
left of Ting's line — the
Tsi Yuen — dropped
out of her station,
and was seen to be
making off in the
direction o{ Port
Arthur. One of the
Japanese main squad-
ron sent a shot from
her long bow -gun after
the fugitive. It struck
and dismounted her
stern chaser. This was
the only shot that
struck the Tsi Yuen,
although her captain
tried to make out that he had been for a long
time in the thick of the action. He was brought
before a court-martial, and paid for his cowardice
with his life.
The Kicang Chia. the next .ship in the line,
followed the evil example of the Tsi Yuen.
Untouched bv the Japanese fire, she steamed
away for Ta-lien-wan Bay, and was wrecked the
same evening on a reef at its entrance. The
two .ships on the extreme right of the Chinese
— the Cliarj Yung and Yang Wei — had a more
honourable fate, but were almost as quickly put
hors de cinnbat. Both were built on the same
principle. They had a lo-inch gun mounted in
a barbette ahead and astern, the barbettes being
connected by passages running along each side
of a central deck structure. On top of this were
mounted machine-guns, and outside passages
were wooden cabins, oil-painted and varnished.
The Japanese shells set the cabins and side
pa-ssages on fire. It became impossible either
to bring up ammunition for the heavy guns in
the barbettes, or to work the machine -gims
"THE SHELL BURST AMONG HER BOW GUNS " (/. 87).
overhead. The two hapless cruisers, each a mass
of flame and black smoke, were headed for the
shore. The Saikio pursued them, but was
scared off by two gunboats and the Chinese
torpedo boats coming to the rescue from the
mouth of the Yalu River. But the result oi
all this was that of the ten ships that had
formed the Chinese line at the beginning of
the battle only six remained — the Ting Yuen
and Chen Yuen lying close together, the Chi
Yuen a little to their left, and the Lai Yuen,
KingYucn, and Kwang Ping on their right.
But the Japanese were not unscathed. The
Hiyei was so badly damaged that she drew our
86
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
of the fight. The Akagi had her mast shot
away, its fall killing her captain, Commander .
Sakamoto ; and her two officers next in rank,
Lieutenants Sasaki and Sato, were severely
wounded. She had to haul out of action for
a while to clear her decks. The armed trans-
port Sazkt'o had soon after to drop out of line
with her funnel riddled and her steam pipes
damaged.
Had the Chinese been as well provided with
ammunition as the Japanese, they might have
done still better ; but soon after the battle began
it was found that they were short of shell for the
big guns. Most of the projectiles used by the
Chinese were only what are known as armour-
piercing projectiles, or long solid shot. These
could not either set the fittings of the Japanese
ships on fire, or scatter death and confusion
among the crews, like the heavy shells. Before
long in most of the Chinese ships the gunners
were all but fighting among themselves for the
few shells that were available, but all the while
the fiery storm from the Japanese quick-firers
did not slacken for a moment. For the most
part, the Chinese faced it like heroes. There
were cowards here and there. They are to be
found in most battles. Thus early in the fight
Commander McGifiFen, going below to see what
was wrong with the revolving gear of one of the
barbette guns, felt himself pushed back from
the recess under the barbette, and heard
the voice of his navigating lieutenant saying
to him, •' You can't hide here. There are too
many of us here already '" ; and he saw a group
of frightened men cowering in the recess. But
above, in the barbette, the men were standing
to their guns under a deadh' fire. The gunner\-
lieutenant, Tsao Kai, was wounded, and passed
down ; but his younger brother— a mere boy —
who had come on board for a holiday, stayed
above in the barbette helping the men, and,
wonderful to say, was the only one in the place
who escaped without a wound. The captain
of one of the guns had his head swept off by
a shell as he took the lanyard to fire. One
of his men caught the headless corpse, swung
it out of the way, took the lanyard, glanced
along the sights, and fired with hardly a
moment's delay. Grander still was the courage
of the engineers ol the ill-fated Lat Ytini.
The deck of the ship took fire. When it was
extinguished, hours after the battle, the iron
girder's on which it was laid were all bent
and twisted. But down below, in the engine-
room, the engineers stuck to their posts. With
hardly any light, with most of the ventilators
blocked or cut off, and with the heat up to
two hundred degrees, they obeyed the orders
sent down by the tube from the conning-tower,
which remained intact. They were fearfully
scorched and burned ; some were blinded ; all
were in the doctor's hands, and some died.
But, nevertheless, down in the depths of the
burning ship they did their duty just as if all
were going on well.
Fire had so far been the chief enemy of the
Chinese ships. But one of the few ships left
on the right of the line met with a more
terrible fate. The Chi Yuen was a handy
little cruiser, and her captain, Tang, a plucky
Chinese officer, daringly but imprudently tried
to measure her strength with that of the far
more powerful ships of the Japanese van
squadron. She had received several shells as
she closed with them, when, suddenly hit in
the water-line by a heavy projectile, she heeled
over, and then plunged, bow foremost, in the
sea, both her screws whizzing in the air as
she went down. Seven only of her crew were
picked up clinging to wreckage. Her English
chief engineer, Mr. Purvis, went down with her.
Captain Tang tried to float on an oar, but was
drowned by a big dog of his swimming after
him and putting its forefeet on his shoulders.
The battle had now lasted far into the after-
noon. Five only of Ting's original line of
battle were left — the two heavy ironclads and
three smaller ships. The van squadron came
up on one side of the two ironclads, and the
main squadron on the.other, and poured in a con-
centrated fire, some of the Japanese ships firing
their broadsides simultaneously by electricity,
after training the guns, so that all bore upon a
single point. Exposed to this storm of fire, the
two Chinese ships lost heavily in killed and
wounded ; but their armour, and with it the
vital parts of each ship, remained intact. Signals
and signal halyards had been long since shot
away, and all the signalmen killed or wounded ;
but the two ships conformed to each other's
movements, and made a splendid fight of it.
Admiral Ting had been insensible for some
hours at the outset of the battle. He had stood
too close to one of his own big guns on a plat-
form above its muzzle, and had been stunned by
the upward and backward concussion of the air ;
but he had recovered consciousness, and, though
wounded by a burst shell, was bravel}' command-
ing his ship. Von Hanneken was also wounded
in one of the barbettes. The ship was on firj
THE BATTLE OF THE YALU RIVER.
87
fiTward, but the hose kept the flames under.
TliL- Chen Yuen was ahnost in the same pHglit.
Her commander, McGifFen, had had several
narrow escapes. When at last the lacquered
woodwork on her forecastle caught fire, and the
men declined to go Forward and put it out un-
less an officer went with them, he led the party.
He was stooping down to move something on
the forecastle, when a shot passed between his
arms and legs, wounding both his wrists. At
the same time he was struck down by an
explosion near him. When he recovered from
the shock he found himself in a terrible position.
He was lying wounded on the forecastle, and
full in front of him he saw- the muzzle of one
of the heavy barbette guns come sweeping
round, rise, and then sink a little, as the
gunners trained it on a Japanese ship, never
noticing that he lay just below the line of fire.
It was in vain to try to attract their attention.
In another minute he would have been caught
in the fiery blast. With a great effort he rolled
himself over the edge of the forecastle, dropping
on to some rubbish on the main deck, and
hearing the roar of the gun as he fell.
A few shells were found in the Chen Yuen's
magazine about this time, and one of these was
used with deadly effect, showing what the
Chinese might have done if they had been
better supplied with such missiles. Admiral
Ito, in his report, fixes the time at 3.26, and says
that the shell which did such damage came from
the Ting Yuen ; but it seems certain that he
is mistaken, and that it was her sister ship that
fired it. Aimed at the MutsKshima, Ito's flag-
ship, it burst among her bow guns. The long
!2-incK gun, mounted in the bow, was put out
of gear ; a smaller gun was blown from its
mountings and thrown overboard ; between
forty and fifty men and officers strewed the
deck killed and wounded ; and the ship was
set on fire. She drew out of the line, Ito trans-
ferring his flag to the Hasidatc. It was with the
utmost difficulty that the fire was first kept from
the magazines and then put out. And all this
damage was done by a single 12-inch shell.
It seems, however, that there were a number
of cartridges piled behind the big bow gun, and
the destruction was partly due to these being
fired by the exploding Chinese shell. Com-
mander McGiffen asserts that the shell killed
and wounded nearly a hundred Japanese ; but
this is an exaggeration. The total loss on
board the Matsusliiinciy from first to last, was
107 oflficers and men, and it is more likely that
the Japanese account is true, which makes forty
the butcher's bill for this successful shot. It
says something for Ito's courage that his ship
lost more men than any other in his fleet. But
the strange chances of war are illustrated by the
fact that the Chivoda^ which was close to the
Matsushiimi throughout the battle, had not
a single officer or man killed or wounded.
The battle now resolved itself into a close
cannonade of the two ironclads by the main
body of the Japanese fleet, whilst the rest of
the ships kept up a desultory fight with the
three other Chinese ships and the gunboats.
The torpedo boats seem to have done nothing.
Commander McGiffen says that their engines had
been worn out, and their fittings shaken to pieces,
by their being recklessly used as ordinary steam
launches in the weeks before the battle. The
torpedoes fired from the tubes of the battleships
were few in number, and all missed their mark,
one, at least, going harmlessly under a ship at
which it was fired at a range of only fifty yards.
The Japanese used no torpedoes. It is even said
that, by a mistake, they sailed without a supply
of these weapons. Nor was the ram used any-
where. Once or twice a Chinese ship tried to
run down a Japanese, but the swifter and
handier vessels of Ito's squadron easily avoided
all such attacks. The Yalu fight was from first
to last an artillery battle.
And the end of it came somewhat unex-
pectedly. The Clicn Yuen and the Ting Yuen
were both running short of ammunition. The
latter had been hit more than four hundred
times without her armour being pierced, and
the former, at least as often. One of the Chen
Yuen's heavy guns had its mountings damaged,
but otherwi.se she was yet serviceable. Still,
she had been severely battered, had lost a great
part of her crew, and her slow fire must have
told the Japanese that she was economising her
ammunition, which was now all solid shot. But
about half-past five Ito signalled to his fleet to
retire. The two Chinese ironclads followed
them for a couple of miles, sending an occasional
shot after them ; then the Japanese main
squadron suddenly circled round as if to renew
the action, and, towards six o'clock, there was
a brisk exchange of fire at long range. When
Ito again ceased fire, the Chen Yuen had just
three projectiles left for her heavy guns. If he
had kept on for a few minutes longer the two
Chinese ships would have been at his mercy.
The van squadron, which had sunk with its
fire the burning Ting Yuen, followed the main
88
BATTLES OF THE* NINETEENTH CENTURY.
squadron at a long interval. The ironclads
could not have prevented it from sinking every
one of the disabled Chinese ships if it had
remained on thii scene of the battle.
As the sun went down over the land to the
westward, the remains of the Chinese fleet had
assembled, and was slowly steaming for Port
Arthur. The two ironclads led the way. Then
came the Lai Yuen, with her deck still on fire in
places, and the Clung Yuen, FingYiicn^Mvl Kwnng-
Ping, all with decks strewed with dead, and
magazines empty. Far astern the flames from the
abandoned Chao Yung marked the scene of the
battle. Even after darkness set in the Japanese
cruisers were seen for some time moving on a
parallel course to the eastward, their white sides
reflecting the moonlight. Towards midnight
they disappeared. In the morning, when the
Chinese fleet approached Port Arthur, no hostile
flag was in sight.
Ito's retirement has never yet been fully
explained. In his report to the Mikado he
wrote: — "About 5.30 p.m., seeing that the
Ting Yuen and the Chen Yuen had been joined
by other ships, and that my van squadron was
separated by a great distance from my main
force, and considering that sunset was approach-
ing, I discontinued the action, and recalled my
main squadron by signal. As the enemy's
vessels proceeded on a southerly course, I
assumed that they were making for Wei-hai-
wei ; and having reassembled the fleet, I
steamed upon what I supposed to be a parallel
course to that of the foe, with the intention
of renewing the engagement in the morning,
for I deemed that a night action might be
disadvantageous, owing to the possibility of the
ships becoming separated in the darkness, and
to the fact that the enemy had torpedo boats
in company. I lost sight, however, of the
Chinese, and at daylight saw no signs of the foe."
The explanation is but a lame one. The
"other ships" that joined the Chinese iron-
clads can only have been the gunboats from
the river mouth. If Ito had held on doggedly
for what was left of daylight, and used his
electric search-lights to supplement the moon-
light when darkness came on, he might have
completed the destruction of the Chinese fleet.
It looks very much as if the real reason was
that both he and his officers and men were
tired out with the exertion of a five-hours' battle,
and unfavourably impressed by the desperate
resistance that had been made by the two
ironclads.
It is easy to understand how it was that at
first both sides claimed the victor\-. As sub-
sequent events amply proved, it was a clear
gain for the Japanese, who, without losing a.
single ship, destroyed half the enemy's force
and so demoralised what was left of it, that
no further effort was made by the Chinese to-
keep the seas, their ships being thenceforth only
used for harbour defence. The Japanese appear
to have understated the damage done to their
ships, at first refusing to admit that any of them
were seriously injured. If the official list of
the killed and wounded issued by the Japanese
Government some two months later is correctv
a naval action is far from being as sanguinar\- ai>
affair for the victors as it was in Nelson's days.
According to this narrative statement, while
the MatsusliinKj had the heavy loss of 2 officers^
killed and 3 wounded, and 33 men killed and 71
wounded, and the Hiyci lost 56 officers and
men, no other ship had any serious losses. Thus.
the Itsukushima is said to have had an officer
wounded, and 30 men killed and wounded ; the
Hasidate, 2 killed and 10 wounded; the Fuso,
14; the Yfishino, which led the van division^
onlv 1 1 ; the Saikio, the same number ; the
Akagi, 28 ; the Akitsushima, 15 ; the Takachicu^
an officer and 2 men wounded ; the Xaniwa Kan^
I man v,'ounded ; and the Chiyoda, not a single
man or officer touched. This is a surprising;
result. The total loss is stated at —
Ofiicers
Men
Killed. Wounded. Totals.
10 16 26
So 188 26S
yo
204
294
There is no precise record of the Chinese loss,
but it must have far exceeded these moderate
figures.
As for the lesson to be learned from the
battle, before the details were known in Eng-
land it was supposed that it went to prove
that lightly-armoured cruisers with quick-firing
guns were more than a match for battleships.
But the Yalu fight had no such moral. The
Ting Yuen and the Chen Yuen cannot be com-
pared in either defensive power or gun power
with modern European battleships, such as
those which form the chief feature in the
English and French Mediterranean fleets ; yet
even these inferior battleships were able to
defy the attempts of the Japanese cruisers to
crush them. There was a moment when the
two Chinese ironclads successfully stood against
eight Japanese cruisers. Had the Chinese had
THE BATTLE OF THE YALU RIVER.
89
plenty of heavy shells, they would no doubt
have dealt their opponents not one, but many
such blows as that which nearly wrecked the
Matsuslumii, and put her out of action for
a while. It was the peculation and corruption
in the Chinese admiralty, so far as supplies were
concerned, which enabled the Japanese cruisers
other inflammable material in the deck fittings
and superstructures of battleships. This has
led to a good deal of minor changes in the
designs of European ships. Rut the fact re-
mains that the battle of the Yalu hardly
represents what a fight between two Europearn
navies would be like. Probably in such a battle.
'WHEN nv. RKi.-iiVEKtIi I ROM THE SHOCK HE FOUND HIMSELF I.N A 1 EKRIBLE FOSITION " (^. 87).
to make such a good fight against the Chinese
battleships. If a couple of our ships of the
admiral class had been in the place of the two
Yiiens, the result of the experiment would have
been very different. The Yalu fight showed
what the cruiser could do, but, if anything, it
proved more clearly than ever the value of the
battleship.
On a point of detail, it afforded a valuable
lesson — namely, the danger of woodwork and
though the gun would be the chief weapon,
the torpedo and even the ram would count for
something.
Of the tales told of strange injuries received
during the fight one is worth noting. An officer
of the Chen Yuen put his hand on an iron plate
where a shot had just scored it, in order to see
the result. Half the skin came off, and his hand
was horribly burned ; for, as the result of the
blow, the plate was in a glowing heat.
90
WAR between France and Germany
had been declared on 19th July,
1870 ; and as early as August 2nd
— so swiftly had been accom-
plished the work of mobilising the hosts of the
Fatherland as the "Watch on the Rhine "
— King William of Prussia, now in his seven-
tieth year, took command of the united German
armies at Mavence.
These armies were three in number — the First,
on the right, consisting of 60,000 men, com-
manded by General Steinmetz ; the Second, in
the centre, 104,000 strong, under the "Red
Prince " (Frederick Charles) ; and the Third, on
the left, 130,000, led by the Crown Prince of
Prussia. An additional 100,000 men, still at the
■disposal of anv of these three hosts, brought up
the German field-armv to a figure of 484,000.
Altogether, Germany now had under arms
mo fewer than 1,183,389 men, with 250,373
horses ! Many of these, however, had to remain
"behind in the Fatherland itself to man the
fortresses and maintain communication with the
front ; while others belonged to the category of
supplementary troops, or reserves, held ready
to supplv the gaps made in the fighting field-
army of nearly half a million men, as above.
The corresponding field array of the French
was considerably inferior in point of numbers
(336,500), equipment, organisation, and discipline
— in all respects, in fact, save that of the chassepot
rifle, which was decidedly superior to the German
iieedle-gun. The French, too, had a large
jiumber of mitrailleuses, or machine-guns, which
ground out the bullets at what they deemed
would be a terribly murderous rate. But these
instruments of wholesale massacre did not, in
the end, come up to the French e.xpe-ctation of
them ; while, on the other hand, the Prussian
field-artillery proved itself to be far superior in
all resnects to that of the French.
Finally, the Germans had a plan ; the French
had none. Profound forethought was stamped
on everything the Germans did ; but, on the
other hand, it was stamped on scarcely one
single act of their enemies. The Germans had
at their head a man of design, while the corre-
sponding director of the French was only a
"Man of Destiny."
The first serious battle was fought on the 4th
August at Wissemburg, when the Crown Prince
fell upon the French and smote them hip and
thigh, following up this victor}-, on the 6th, at
Worth, when he again assaulted and tumbled
back the overweening hosts of MacMahon in
hideous ruin, partly on Strasburg, partly on
Chalons. On this same dav Steinmetz, on the
right, carried the Spicheren Heights with terrific
carnage, and all but annihilated Frossard's Corps.
It was now the turn of the " Red Prince," in the
centre, to strike in ; and this he did on the i6th,
with glorious success, at Mars-la-Tour, when,
against fivefold odds, he hung on to ^larshal
Bazaine's army and thwarted it in its attempt
to escape from Metz. Two days later, the i8th,
on very nearly the same ground, there was
fought the bloodiest battle of all the war, that of
Gravelotte-St. Privat — which resulted in the
hurling back of Bazaine into Metz, there to be
cooped up and beleaguered by Prince Frederick
Charles and forced to capitulate within a couple
of months.
Moltke's immediate object was now to dispose
of MacMahon, who had retired on Chalons —
thence either to fall back on Paris, or march
by a circuitous route to the relief of Bazaine.
Which course he meant to adopt the German
leaders did not as yet know, though it was of
life-and-death importance that they should find
out with the least possible delay. Meanwhile
the Csown Prince of Prussia with the Third
Arm}- continued his pursuit of MacMahon, as if
SEDAN.
91
towards Chalons ; and with him co-operated the
Crown Prince of Saxony at the head of a P'ourth
Army (of the Meuse), which had now been
created out of such of the " Red Prince's " forces
(First and Second Armies) as were not required
for the investment of Metz.
For several days the pursuing Germans con-
tinued their rapid march to the west, but on the
25th, word reached Moltke, the real directing
head of the campaign, that MacMahon in liut
haste had evacuated the camp at Chalons, and
marched to the north-west on Rheims, with the
apparent intention of doubling back on Metz.
Meanwhile, until his intention should become
unmistakably plain, the German leaders did
no more than give a right half-front direction
to the enormous host of about 200,000 men
which, on an irregular frontage of nearlv fifty
miles, was sweeping forward to the west, Paris-
wards.
For three more days this altered movement was
continued, and then " Right-half-wheel ! " again
resounded all along the enormous line, there
being now executed by the German armies one
of the grandest feats of strategical combination
that had ever been performed. The German
cavalry had already done wonders of scouting,
but it was believed that Moltke's knowledge of
the altered movements of MacMahon was now
mainly derived from Paris telegrams to a London
tiewspaper, which were promptly re-communi-
cated, by way of Berlin, to the German head-
quarters— a proof of how the revelations of the
war-correspondent — whom Lord Wolselev once
denounced as the '"curse of modern armies" —
may sometimes affect the whole course of a
campaign.
Not long was it now before the heads of the
German columns were within striking distance
of MacMahon, who was hastening eastward to
cross the Meuse in the direction of Metz ; but
his movement became ever more flurried in
proportion to the swiftness wherewith the
Germans deployed their armies on a frontage
parallel to his flank line of march. Alternately
obeying his own militarv instincts and the
•political orders fFom Paris, MacMahon dodged
and doubled in the basin of the Meuse like a
breathless and bewildered hare. On the 30th
.\ugust an action at Beaumont proved to the
F'rench the utter hopelessness of their attempting
to pursue their Metz-ward march. As the
battle of Mars-la-Tour had compelled Bazaine to
relinquish his plan of reaching Verdun and to
fight for his life with his back to Metz, so the
victor}' of Beaumont proved to MacMahon that
his only resource left was to abandon the
attempt to reach the virgin fortress on the
Moselle, and concentrate his demoralised and
rabble army around the frontier stronghold 01
■ Sedan.
As Sedan had been the birthplace of one of
the greatest of French marshals, Turenne, who
had unrighteously seized Strasburg and the left
bank of the Rhine for France, and been the
scourge of Germany, it was peculiarly fitting
that it should now become the scene of the
battle which was to restore Alsace-Lorraine to
the Fatherland, and destroy the Continental
supremacy of the Gauls.
Standing on the right bank of the Meuse, in
a projecting angle between Luxemburg and
Belgian territory, the fortressed old town of
Sedan is surrounded by meadows, gardens,
cultivated fields, ravines, and wet-ditches ; while
the citadel, or castle, rises on a clifif-like eminence
to the south-west of the place. Away in the
distance towards the Belgian frontier stretch
the Ardennes — that verdant forest of Arden in
which Touchstone jested and Orlando loved,
but which was now to become the scene of a
great tragedy — of one of the most crushing
disasters that ever befell a mighty nation.
In retiring on Sedan, MacMahon had not
intended to offer battle there, but simpl}- to give
his troops a short rest, of which they stood so
much in need, and provide them with food and
ammunition. These troops were worn out with
their efforts by day and night and by continuous
rain ; while their apparently aimless marching
to and fro had undermined their confidence in
their leaders, and a series of defeats had shaken
their own self-trust. Thousands of fugitives,
crying for bread, crowded round the waggons as
they made their way to the little fortress which
had thus so suddenly become the goal of a vast
army.
On the 31st of August, after making all his
strategic preparations, and taking a general
survey of the situation, Moltke quietly remarked
with a chuckle : '' The trap is now closed, and
the mouse is in it." That night headquarters
were at Vendresse, a townlet about fourteen
miles to the south of Sedan ; and early on the
morning of the ist of September, King William
and his brilliant suite of generals, princes, and
foreign officers were up and away to the hill-
slope of Fresnois, which commands a view of the
town and valley of Sedan as a box on the grand
q2
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
tiers of an opera does that of the stage. Bis-
marck, Moltke, and Roon — the king's mighty
men of wisdom and of valour — were also in his
THE CKCWN PRINCE OI" SAXONY.
Maje?t_y's suite. " Why," remarked a Prussian
soldier on seeing this brilliant assemblage take
up its position on the brow of the hill and pro-
duce its field-glasses, " why, all this is just the
same as at our autumn manoeuvres ! "
The morning had broken in a thick fog, under
cover of which the Germans had marched up to
their various positions,
some of the columns
having moved off at mid-
night ; and by the time
King William had taken
his stand on the Fresnois
height, a little to the
east of where his son,
the Crown Prince, had
similarly posted himself
in order to direct the
movements of the Third
Army, the hot September
sun had raised the cur-
tain of the mist and dis-
closed the progress which
had already been made
by the stupendous battle
drama.
This had been opened by the Bavarians,
under Von der Tann, who, crossing the Meuse
on pontoons, advanced to attack the village ot
Bazeilles, a suburb of Sedan outside the fortifi-
cations on the south-east. The Bavarians had
already shelled this suburb on the previous
evening so severely that pillars of flame and
smoke shot up into the aiF during the night.
In no other battle of the war was such fighting
ferocity shown as in this hand-to-hand struggle
for Bazeilles. For the Bavarians were met with
such a stubborn resistance on the part of the
French marine infantry posted there, that they
were twice compelled to abandon their hold on
that place by vehement counter-assaults.
The inhabitants of the village, too — women as
well as men — joined in its defence by firing out
of the houses and cellars on the Bavarians as
they pressed onward, and by perpetrating most
revolting barbarities on the wounded Germans.
left behind when their comrades had repeatedly
to retreat. The Bavarians, on their part, were
so dreadfully embittered and enraged by these
things that they gave no quarter, acting with
relentless rigour towards all the inhabitants
found with arms in their hands or caught in the
act of inflicting cruelties on the wounded.
The struggle for the village became one of
mutual annihilation. House by house and street
by street had to be stormed and taken by the
Bavarians, and the only way of ejecting the
enemy from some of these massively built and
strongly garrisoned buildings was by employing
pioneers to breach the walls in the rear or from
the side streets and throw in lighted torches.
Notwithstanding all the desperate braverj- of
LUXOir.URG
ORheims
cha2p
MAYENCE
Montmedyv.^,/
Thionville
•'>
-.JUqjANCY STRASBURG
STRATEGIC MOVEMENTS PRIOR TO SEDAN.
the Bavarians, the battle fluctuated for nearly
six hours in the streets of Bazeilles, fresh troops,
SEDAN.
93
or freshly rallied ones, being constantly thrown
by both sides into the seething fight. It was
not till about lo a.m. that the Bavarians had
acquired hill possession of the village itself —
now reduced to mere heaps of smoking ruins ;
but as the combat died away in the streets it
the infuriated Highlanders of Sir Colin Camp-
bell. But it must be remembered that in all
three cases the blood of the assailants had been
roused to almost tiger-heat by barbarous provo-
cation from the other side.
Simultaneoush- with the sanguinar\- struggle
I
GEU.M.W UNUORMa
ib;o.
was continued with equal desperation in the
adjacent gardens on the north, where the French
made a fresh stand, defending their ground with
the most admirable valour.
Bazeilles was certainly the scene of some of
the most shocking atrocities which had been
perpetrated by European soldiers since the siege
and sack of Badajoz by the victorious troops of
Wellington, and the storming of Lucknow by
for Bazeilles, the battle had also been developing
at other points. Advancing on the right of the
Bavarians the Crown Prince of Sa.xony — after-
wards King Albert — pushed forward towards
Givonne with intent to complete the environ-
ment of the French on this side. In order to
facilitate their marching, the Saxon soldiers had
been ordered to lay aside their knapsacks, and
by great efforts they succeeded in reaching their
94
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
]
appointed section of the ring of investment early
in the day, taking the enemy completely by
surprise, and hurling them back in confusion
both at La Moncelle and Daigny. At the latter
place the French, soon after 7 a.m., made two
ofTensive sallies with their renowned Zouaves
and dreaded Turcos belonging to the ist Corps,
but were beaten back by a crushing artillery- and
needle-gun fire.
For some time the scales of battle hung un-
certain on this portion of the field, but reinforce-
ments coming up to the Sa.xons, the latter made
an impetuous push across the valley, capturing
three guns and three mitrailleuses from the
French after half an hour's street-fighting in the
village (Daigny), which was now finally wrested
from the enemy. Soon after this the Saxon
right was rendered secure bv the advance of
the Prussian Guards, under Prince August of
WUrtemberg, who had made a wide detour to
reach their objective, Givonne. A considerable
body of French cavalry and numerous trains
were seen by the Guards on the opposite side of
the valle\-. These offered the corps artillery of
the Guards an immediate target for its fire ; and
scarcely had the first shells fallen among the
French columns when the entire mass scattered
in all directions in the greatest confusion, leaving
everywhere traci:s of a complete panic. The
cavalry of the Guard was sent by a detour to
the right, to bar the road to Belgium, and also
establish touch with the Crown Prince's (Third)
army, which had been pushed round on the
German left.
At Givonne the Guards, at a great loss,
stormed and captured seven guns and three
mitrailleuses, whose gunners were all killed or
made prisoners. Beaten out of Daigny and
Givonne, the French hereabouts fled in a dis-
orderly crowd into the woods, or fell back upon
the centre, which they incommoded and dis-
couraged by their precipitate appearance on a
part of the field where they were not wanted.
Shortly after, the junction between the Prussian
Guards and the Crown Prince was accomplished,
and the ring was now complete. Successes
equal to those at Daigny and Givonne were
obtained by the Germans in other directions,
and the French centre began to recede, though
the contest was still prolonged with desperate
tenacity, the French fiercely disputing every
hill-slope and point of vantage, and inflicting
as well as sustaining tremendous losses.
Meanwhile the French right had been hotly
engaged. A railway bridge which crosses the
Meuse near Le Dancourt had been broken down
by MacMahon, but in the early morning the
Crown Prince had thrown some of his troops
across the river on pontoons, and was thus
enabled to plant his batteries on the crest of
a hill which overlooks Floing and the surround-
ing countn,-. The French, suddenly attacked
in the rear, were more than astonished at the
position in which they now found themselves ;
but fronting up towards their assailants with all
their available strength, they maintained a pro-
longed resistance. Their musketry fire was
poured in with such deadliness and determina-
tion that it was heard even above the deeper
notes of the mitrailleuse, now playing with
terrible effect on the Germans. General Sheri-
dan said he had never heard so well-sustained
and long-continued a small-arm fire.
By noon, however, the Prussian battery on
the slope above the broken bridge over the
Meuse, above La Vilette, had silenced two
French batteries near Floing, and now the
enemy were compelled to retire from the posi-
tion. About half-past twelve large numbers of
retreating French were seen on the hill between
Floing and Sedan, their ranks shelled by a
Prussian battery in front of St. Menges. The
(iermans now advanced and seized Floing in
the valley, holding it against all attempts to
dislodge them ; but it still remained for them
to scale the heights beyond, from the entrenched
slopes and vineyards of which they were exposed
to a murderous fire. Here the French had all
the advantages of position, and the Germans
could make but little headway in spite of their
repeated efforts, so that at this point the battle
came to something like a standstill for nearly an
hour and a half, the time being consumed in
assaults and counter-assaults.
At last, on receiving reinforcements, which
brought up their strength in this portion of the
field to seventeen battalions, the Germans once
more advanced to the attack, and the French
saw that something desperate must be done if
their position was to be saved. Hitherto the
French cavalry had done little or nothing, but
now was their chance. Emerging from the Bois
de la Garenne at the head of the 4th Reserve
Cavalry Division, consisting of four Scots-Grey-
luoking regiments of Chasseurs d'Afrique and
two regiments of Lancers, General Marguerite
prepared to charge down upon the Germans.
But he himself was severely wounded before his
imposing mass of picturesque horsemen had
fairly got in motion, and then the command
SEDAN.
95
devolved on General Gallifet, one of the bravest
and most brilliant cavalry officers in all France —
in all Europe.
Placing himself at the head of his magnificent
array of horsemen, Gallifet now launched them
against the seventeen battalions of the Ger-
mans. Thundering down the slope, the shining
squadrons broke through the line of skirmishers,
Supported by Bonnemain's division of four
Cuirassier regimenf, " these attacks," wrote
Moltke, "were repeated, by the French again
and again, and the murderous turmoil lasted
for half an hour, with steadily diminishing
success for the French. The infantry volleys
fired at short range strewed the whole field
with dead and wounded. Many fell into the
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^■. *^„,«^v«<'.v W^ ^
Knglish Miles
3 •«.'*
Remillyj
j'">/c. EtchXo.^c,
scattering them like chaff. But then, in the
further pursuit of their stormful career, they
were received by the deployed battalions in
front and flank with such a murderous fire of
musketry, supplemented by hurricanes of grape-
shot from the batteries, as made them reel and
roll to the ground — man and horse — in strug-
gling, convulsive heaps. Nowhere throughout
the war was the terrible pageantrv of battle
so picturesquely displayed as now on these sacri-
ficial slopes of Sedan, when the finest and fairest
chivalry of France was broken and shivered by
bullet and bavonet as a furious wave is shattered
into spray by an opposing rock.
quarries or over the steep precipices, a few
may have escaped by swimming the Meuse,
and scared}' more than half of these brave
troops were left to return to the protection
of the fortress."
The scene was well described by an eye-
witness, Mr. Archibald Forbes : — "At a gallop
through the ragged intervals in the confused
masses of the infantry came dashing the Chas-
seurs d'Afrique. The squadrons halted, fronted,
and then wheeled into line, at a pace and with
a regularity which would have done them credit
in the Champ de Mars, and did them double
credit executed as was the evolution under a
96
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,
warm fire. That fire, as one could tell by the
dying away of the smoke-jets, ceased all of a
sudden, as if the trumpets which rang out the
•Charge!' for the Chasseurs had sounded also
the ' Cease firing ! ' for the German artillery
and infantry. Not a needle-gun gave fire as
the splendid horsemen crashed down the gentle
slope with the velocity of an avalanche.
" I have seen not a few cavalry charges, but I
never saw a finer one, whether from a spectator's
or an adjutant's point of view, than this one
of the Chasseurs d'Afrique. It was destined to
a sudden arrestment, and that without the
ceremony of the trum-
pets sounding the
' Halt.' The horsemen
and the footmen might
have seen the colour
of each others' mous-
taches (to use Have-
lock's favourite phrase),
when along the line o>-
the latter there flashed
out a sudden, simul-
taneous streak of fire.
Like thunder-claps
sounding over the din
of a hurricane, rose the
measured crash of the
batterj' guns, and the
cloud of white smoke
drifted away towards
the Chasseurs, envelop-
ing them for the mo-
ment from one's sight.
When it blew awa}-,
there was visible a line of bright uniforms and
grev horses struggling prostrate among the potato
drills, or lying still in death. Onl\' a handful
of all the gallant show of five minutes before
•were galloping backward up the slope, leaving
tokens at intervals of their progress as they
retreated. So thorough a destruction by what
may be called a single volley probablv the oldest
soldier now alive never witnessed."
The French had played their last card. Thev
had endeavoured to give the tide of battle a
favourable turn by sacrificing their cavalry, but
in vain. The Germans now stormed and cap-
tured the heights of Floing and Cazal, and from
this time the battle became little more than
a mere battue. The French were thoroughly
disheartened, and rapidly becoming an undis-
ciplined rabble. Hundreds and thousands of
them allowed themselves to be taken prisoners ;
GENERAL UE WIMPFFEN.
ammunition -waggons were exploding in their
midst, while the German artillery were ever
contracting their murderous fire, and walls of
bayonets closed every issue. The fugitive
troopers, rushing about in search of cover, in-
creased the frightful confusion which began to
prevail throughout the circumscribed space in
which the French army had been cooped up.
Still, from the German point of view, a decisive
blow was imperative, so that the results of the
mighty battle might be secured without a doubt.
With this in view, the Prussian Guards and the
Saxons from the Givonne quarter were launched
against the Bois de la
Garenne, which had
become the last refuge
of the battered and
broken French ; and
these were soon driven
baciv from every point,
with the loss of many
guns and prisoners —
back on the fortress of
Sedan in wild turmoil
and disorganised flight.
It is to the iftside of
this fortress that the
scene must now change,
in order that we may
pick up and follow
what may be called the
personal thread of the
great battle-drama, of
which we have but
given the leading epi-
sodes. For it is only at
this point that the battle-drama began to enter its
most interesting, because most surprising phase.
Marshal MacMahon, the French commander-
in-chief, had been in the saddle as earl\- as
5 a.m. When riding along the high ground
above La Moncelle he was severel)- wounded in
the thigh b\- the fragment of a shell, and then
he nominated Ducrot his successor in command.
By 8 o'clock the latter was exercising this
command, in virtue of which he had ordered a
retreat westward to Mezieres ; but presently he
was superseded by General de Wimpffen, who
had but just arrived from Algeria, and who
hastened to countermand the retreat on Mezieres
in favour of an attempt to break out in the
opposite direction towards Carignan. This chaos
of commanders and confusion of plans proved
fatal to the distracted French, who now began
to see that there was no hope for them.
2;
o
3
O'
X
o
a
■J
55
o8
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
When riding out in the direction of the
hardest fighting, Napoleon had met the wounded
Marshal being brought in on a stretcher. The
unfortunate Emperor mooned about the field for
hours under fire, but he had no influence what-
ever on the conduct of the battle. He had already
ahnost ceased to be Emperor in the eyes of his
generals, and even of his soldiers. De Wimpffen
sent a letter begging his imperial master " to
place himself in the midst of his troops, who
could be relied on to force a passage through
the German lines ; " but to this exhortation
his Majesty vouchsafed no reply.
Eventually he returned into the town and,
already showing the white feather, gave orders
for the hoisting of the Avhite flag. Up flew this
white flag as a request to the Germans to suspend
their infernal fire ; but this signal of distress had
not long fluttered aloft when it was indignantly
cut down by General Faure, chief-of-staff to the
wounded MacMahon, acting on his own responsi-
bility alone. For some time longer the useless
slaughter went on, and then Napoleon, who had
meanwhile taken refuge in the sous-prefecture^
made another attempt to sue for mercy.
" Whj- does this useless struggle go on ? " he
said to Lebrun, who entered the presence of his
Majesty shortly before 3 p.m. " An hour ago
and more I bade the white flag be displayed
in order to sue for an armistice."
Lebrun explained that, in addition to the
flj'ing of the white flag, there were other
formalities to be observed in such a case —
the signing of a letter by the commander-
in-chief, and the sending of it by an officer
accompanied by a trumpeter and a flag of
truce.
These things being seen to, Lebrun now
repaired to where Wimpffen was rallying some
troops for an assault on the Germans in Balan,
near Bazeilles ; and on seeing Lebrun approach
with all his paraphernalia for a parley, the angry
commander-in-chief shouted : '' No capitulation !
Drop that rag ! I mean to fight on ! " and forth-
with he started for Balan, carrying Lebrun with
him into the fray.
Meanwhile Ducrot, who had been fighting
hard about the Bois de la Garenne, in the des-
perate attempt to retard the contraction of the
German circle of fire and steel, resolved about
this time to pa.ss through Sedan and join in
Wimpffen's proposed attempt to cut a way out
towards Carignan. What he saw in the interior
of the town may be described almost in his own
words.
The streets, the open places, the gates, were
blocked up by waggons, guns, and the impedi-
menta and debris of a routed army. Bands of sol-
diers without arms, without packs, were rushing
about, throwing themselves into the churches
or breaking into private houses. Many unfortun-
ate men were trampled under foot. The few
soldiers who still preserved a remnant of energ\-
seemed to be expending it in accusations and
curses. " We have been betrayed," they cried ;
" we have been sold by traitors and cowards."
Nothing could be done with such men, and
Ducrot, desisting from his intention to join
De Wimpffen, hastened to seek out the
Emperor.
The air was all on fire ; shells fell on roofs,
and struck masses of masonry, which crashed
down on the pavements. " I cannot under-
stand," said the Emperor, " why the enemy
continues his fire. 1 have ordered the white
flag to be hoisted. I hope to obtain an in-
terview with the King of Prussia, and maj'
succeed in getting advantageous terms for the
army."
While the Emperor and Ducrot were thus
conversing, the German cannonade increased
in deadly violence. Fires burst out ; women,
children, and wounded were destroyed, and
the air was filled with shrieks, curses, and
groans. The sous-prefecture itself was struck ;
shells were exploding every minute in the
garden and courtyard.
" It is absolutely necessary to stop this
firing," at last exclaimed the Emperor, in a
state of pallid perturbation. " Here, WTite
this : ' The flag of truce having been dis-
played, negotiations are about to be opened
with the enemy. The firing must cease all
along the line.' Now sign it ! "
" Oh, no, sire," replied Ducrot ; " I cannot
sign. By what right could I do so ? General
Wimpffen is in chief command."
" Yes," rejoined the Emperor ; " but I know
not where General Wimpffen is to be found.
Someone must sign ! "
'■ Let his chief-of-staff do so," suggested Ducrot ;
"or General Douav."
" Yes," said the Emperor ; " let the chief-ol-
staff sign the order."
But what became of this order is not exacth
known. All that is known is, that the brave
Wimpffen scorned even to open the Emperor's
letter, calling upon his Majesty instead to come
and help in cutting a way out ; that the Em-
peror did not respond to this appeal ; thai
SEDAN.
uu
WimpfFen, failing in his gallant attempt on
Balan for want of proper support, then re-
tired on Sedan, and indignantly sent in his
resignation to the Emperor ; that then, in
the presence of his Majesty, there was a scene
of violent altercation between WimplTen and
i Ducrot, in the course of which it was believed
that blows were actually exchanged ; and that
finally Napoleon brought Wimpffen to under-
stand that, having commanded during the
battle, it was his dutj- not to desert his post
in circumstances so critical.
Let the scene now again shift to the hill-top
of Fresnois, where King William and his suite
were viewing, as from the dress-circle of a
theatre, the course of the awful battle-drama in
* the town and valley below. The first white flag
run up by order of Napoleon had not been
noticed by the Germans, and thinking thus that
^ the French meant to fight it out to the bitter
lip end, the King, between 4 and 5 p.m., ordered
the whole available artillery to concentrate a
crushing fire on Sedan, crowded as it was with
fugitives and troops, so as to bring the enemy
lO their senses as soon as possible, no matter by
what amount of carnage, while at the same
time, under cover of this cannonade, a Bavarian
force prepared to storm the Torcy Gate.
The batteries opened fire with fearful effect,
and in a short time Sedan seemed to be in
I'huncs. This was the cannonade which had burst
out daring the Emperor's conversation with
Ducrot, making his Majesty once more give
orders for the hoisting of the white flag ; and
no sooner was it at length seen flying from the
citadel than the German fire at once ceased,
when the King despatched Colonel Bronsart
von SchellendorfF, of his staff, to ride down into
Sedan under a flag of truce and summon the
garrison to surrender.
Penetrating into the town, and asking for the
commander-in-chief, this officer, to his utter
astonishment, was led into the presence of
Napoleon !
For the Germans had not yet the faintest
idea that the Emperor was in Sedan. Just as
Colonel Bronsart was starting off. General
Sheridan, of the United States Armv, who was
attached to the royal headquarters, remarked to
Bismarck that Napoleon himself would likely be
one of the prizes. " Oh, no,'' replied the Iron
Chancellor, " the old fo.\ is too cunning to be
caught in such a trap ; he" has doubtless slipped
off to Paris."
What, then, wa; the surprise of all when
Colonel Bronsart galloped back to the hill-slope
of Fresnois with the astounding news that the
Emperor himself was in the fortress, and would
him,self at once communicate direct with the
King!
This Colonel Bronsart was a man of French
extraction, being descended (like so many in
Prussia) from one of those Huguenot families wh- >
had been driven into exile by the cruel despotism
of Louis XIV. And now — strange Nemesis of
history — to the lineal representative of a victim
of this tyranny was given the satisfaction of
demanding, on behalf of his royal Prussian
master, the sword of the historical successor in
French despotism to Louis XIV^.
The effect on the field of battle, as the fact of
a surrender became obvious to the troops, was
most extraordinary. The opening of one of the
gates of Sedan to permit the exit of the officer
bearing the flag of truce gave the first impression
of an approaching capitulation. This gradually
gained strength until it acquired all the force of
actual knowledge, and ringing cheers ran along
the whole German line of battle. Shakoes,
helmets, bayonets, and sabres were raised high
in the air, and the vast army swayed to and fro
in the excitement of an unequalled triumph.
Even the dying shared in the general enthusiasm.
One huge Prussian, who had been lying with
his hand to his side in mortal agony, suddenly
rose to his feet as he comprehended the meaning
of the cries, uttered a loud " Hurrah ! " waved
his hands on high, and then, as the blood
rushed from his wound, fell dead across a
Frenchman.
On Bronsart returning to the King with his
momentous message, murmured cries of '^ Dcr
Kaiser ist da ! " ran through the brilliant
gathering, and then there was a moment of
dumfoundered silence.
" This is, indeed, a great success," then said
the King to his retinue. " And I thank thee ''
(turning to the Crown Prince) " that thou hast
helped t«i achieve it."
With that the King gave his hand to his son,
who kissed it ; then to Moltke, who kissed it
also. Lastlv, he gave his hand to the Chan-
cellor, and talked with him for some time alone.
Presently several other horsemen — some
escorting-troopers — were seen ascending the
hill. The chief of them was General Reille,
the bearer of Napoleon's flag of truce.
Dismounting about ten paces from the King,
Reille, who wore no sword and carried a cane in
his hand, approached his Majesty with most
100
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
humble reverence, and presented him with a
scaled letter.
All stepped back from the King, who, after
saying, " But I demand, as the first condition,
that the army lay down their arms," broke the
seal and read ■ —
" Monsieur, my Brother, — Not having been able to
die in the midst of my troops, it only remains for me to
place my sword in the hands of your Majesty. I am
your Majesty's good brother, " Napoleon.
" Sedan, ist Septembn."
In a few minutes it was ready, and his Majesty
\vrote it out sittingona rush-bottomed chair, while
another was held ii]i to him bv way of desk : —
" Monsieur, my Brother, — Whilst regretting the cir-
cumstances in which we meet, I accept your Majesty's
sword, and beg you to appoint one of your officers, pro-
vided with full powers, to treat for the capitulation of the
army which has fought so bravely under your command.
On my part I have nominated General Von Moltke for this
purpose. I am your Majesty's good brother, William.
"Before Sedan, is/ Septimbsr, 1870."
Certainly it seemed that the Emperor might
have tried \'ery much harder than he had done
to die in the midst of his troops, but his own
heart was his best judge in this respect.'
On reading this imperial letter, the King, as
well he might, was deeply moved. His first
impulse, as was his pious wont, was to offer
thanks to God ; and then, turning to the silent
and gazing group behind him, he told them the
contents of the imperial captive's letter.
The Crown Prince with Moltke and others
talked a little with General Reille, whilst the
King conferred with his Chancellor, who then
commissioned Count Hatzfeldt to draft an answer
to the Emperor's missive.
A N . \Plwto, D. Stct'eniUy Sedan,
While the King was writing this answer,
Bismarck held a conversation with General
Reille, who represented to the Chancellor that
hard conditions ought not to be imposed on an
army which had fought so well.
" I shrugged my shoulders," said Bismarck.
Reille rejoined that, before accepting such
conditions, the}" would blow themselves up skv-
high with the fortress.
" Do it, if j-ou like ; faitcs saiitcr" replied
Bismarck ; and the King's reply was now handed
to the envoy of the captured Emperor.
The twilight was beginning to deepen when
General Reille rode back to Sedan, but his
way was lighted by the lurid gleam of the
SEDAN.
101
conflagrations in and around the fortress which
crimsoned the evening sk\'. And swift as the
npshooting flames of shell-struck magazine, fliew
all around the circling German lines the great
and glorious tidings that the Emperor with his
army were prisoners of war !
loud and clear througii the ethereal summer
night, the deeply pious strains of " Now thank
we all our God ; " and then the curtain of
darkness fell on one of the most tragic and
momentous spectacles ever witnessed bv this
age of dramatic change and wonders.
MEETING OF WU.LIAM AND NAI'OLEON.
In marching and in fighting, the troops had
performed prodigies of exertion and of valour,
but their fatigues were for the time forgotten in
the fierce intoxication of victory ; and when the
stars began to twinkle overhead, and the hill-
tops around Sedan to glow with flickering
watch-fires, up then arose from more than a
hundred thousand grateful German throats,
" Before going to sleep," wrote Mr. Archi-
bald Forbes — the prince, if not the father, of
war-correspondents — " I took a walk round the
half-obliterated ramparts which surround the
once fortified town of Donchery. The scene
was very fine. The whole horizon was lurid
with the reflection of fire. All along the
valley of the Meuse, on either side, were the
102
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
bivouacs of the German liost. Two hundred
thousand men kiv here around their King.
On the horizon glowed the flames of the
burning villages, the flicker occasionally re-
flecting itself on a link of the placid Meuse.
Over all the quiet moon waded through a sky
cumbered with wind-clouds. What were the
Germans doing on this their night of triumph ?
Celebrating their victor\' by wassail and riot ?
No. There arose from everj- camp one unani-
mous chorus of song, but not the song of
ribaldry. Verih' they are a great race these
Germans — a masterful, fighting, praying people ;
surely in many respects not unlike the men
whom Cromwell led. The chant that filled
the night air was Luther's hymn, the glorious —
■ Nun danket alle Gott,'
the ' Old Hundredth ' of Germany. To hear
this great martial orchestra singing this noble
hymn under such circumstances was alone worth
a journe}' to Sedan, with all its vicissitudes and
difficulties."
Of the 200,000 men whom the Germans had
marched up towards Sedan, only about 120,000
had taken actual part in the battle ; and of
these their glorious victory had entailed a loss
of 460 officers and 8,500 men in killed and
v.ounded. The French, on the other nand,
had to lament the terrible loss of 17,000 killed
and wounded, and 24,000 prisoners taken on
the field (including 3,000 who had flea ove;"
into Belgium and been disarmed). On the part
of the Germans, the Bavarians and the men of
Posen had been the heaviest suflferers.
On the night of the battle King William
returned to Vendresse, " being greeted," as
he himself wrote, " on the road by the loud
hurrahs of the advancing troops, who were
singing the national hymn," and extemporising
illuminations in honour of their stupendous
victory ; while Bismarck, with Moltke, Blu-
menthal, and several other staff-officers, re-
mained behind at the village of Doncher\- — a
mile or two from Sedan — to treat for the
capitulation of the French army.
For this purpose an armistice had been con-
cluded till four o'clock next morning. The
chief French negotiators were Generals de
Wimpffen and Castelnau — the former for the
army, the latter for the Emperor.
Both pleaded very hard for a mitigation of
Moltke's brief but comprehensive condition —
unconditional surrender of Sedan and all within
ic. But the German strategist was as hard and
unbending as adamant ; and when De Wimpffer.,
with the burning shame of a patriot and the griet
of a brave soldier convulsing his heart, talked of
resuming the conflict rather than submit to such
humiliating terms, Moltke merely pointed to the
500 guns that were now encircling Sedan on its
ring of heights, and at the same time invited
WimpfTen to send one of his officers to make a
thorough inspection of the German position, so
as to convince himself of the utter hopelessness
of renewed resistance.
The negotiations lasted for several hours, and
it was past midnight when the broken-hearted
De WimpflFen and his colleagues returned to
Sedan, having meanwhile achieved no other
result than the prolongation of the armistice
from 4 to 9 a.m. on the 2nd September, at which
hour to the minute, said Moltke, the fortress
would become the target of half a thousand guns
unless his terms were accepted.
On returning to Sedan about i a.m., De
WimpfFen at once went to the Emperor to make
a report on the sad state of affairs, and beg his
Majesty to e.xert his personal influence to obtain
more favourable terms for the arnij-. For this
purpose Napoleon readily undertook to go to
the German headquarters at 5 a.m.
Soon after he had driven out of the fortress,
Wimpffen called a council of war, consisting ot
all the commanding generals, and put the ques-
tion whether further resistance was possible.
It was answered in the despairing negative
by all the thirty-two generals present, save
only two, Pelle and Carre de Bellemare ; while
even these two in the end acquiesced in the
absolute necessity of accepting Moltke's terms
on its being shown them that another attempt
to break through the investing lines w-ould only
lead to useless slaughter. For in the course of the
night the Germans had further tightened their
iron grip on the fortress, and thickened the
girdle of their guns. No ; there was clearl}'
nothing left for the poor, demoralised French but
to yield to the inevitable, and their only chance
lay in the hope that the Emperor himself would
be able to procure some mollification of their
terrible fate.
But the hope proved a vain one. Driving
forth with several high officers from the fortress
about 5 a.m., the Emperor, who was wearing
white kid gloves and smoking his everlasting
cigarette, sent on General Reille to Donchery in
search of Bismarck; and the latter, "unwashed
and unbreakfasted," was soon galloping towards
Sedan to learn the wishes of his fallen Majestj?.
SEDAN.
103
He had not ridden far when he encountered
the Emperor, sitting in an open carriage,
apparently a hired one, in which were also three
ollicers of high rank, and as many on horseback.
Bismarck had his revolver in his belt, and on the
Emperor catching sight of this he gave a start ;
hut the Chancellor, saluting and dismounting,
approached the Emperor with as much c6urtesy
as if he had been at the Tuilcries, and begged
to know his Majesty's conmiands.
Napoleon replied that he wanted to see the
King, but Bismarck explained that this was im-
possible, his Majesty being quartered fourteen
miles away. Had not the King, then, appointed
any place for him, the Emperor, to go to ?
Bismarck knew not, but meanwhile his own
quarters were at his Majesty's disposal. The
Emperor accepted the offer, and began to drive
slowly towards Donchery, but, hesitating on
account of the possible crowd, stopped at a
■' solitary cottage, that of a poor weaver, a few
hundred paces from the Meuse bridge, and asked
if he could remain there.
■' I requested m^' cousin," said Bismarck, " to
inspect the house, and he reported that, though
free from wounded, it was mean and dirty.
' N' imported said Napoleon, and with him I
ascended a rickety, narrow staircase. In a
small, one-windowed room, with a deal table
and two rush-bottomed chairs, we sat alone for
about an hour — a great contrast to our last
meeting in the Tuileries in 1867," the year of
the Paris E.\.hibition. " Our conversation was
a diflicult thing, wanting, as I did, to avoid
touching on topics which could not but painfully
affect the man whom God's mighty hand had
cast down."
Whenever Napoleon led this conversation, as
he was for ever doing, to the terribly hard terms
of the capitulation, Bismarck met him with the
assurance that this was a purely military ques-
tion, and quite bevond his province. Moltke
was the man to speak to about such things.
In the meantime efforts had been made to
lind better accommodation for the Emperor,
and this was at last discovered in the Chateau
Bellevue, a little further up the Meuse. Leaving
Napoleon in the weaver's cottage, Bismarck
hurried back to his quarters on the market-piace
at Donchery to array himself in his full uniform,
and then, as he said, " I conducted his Majesty to
Bellevue, with a squadron of Cuirassiers as escort.''
At the conference which now began, the Em-
peror wished to have the King present, from
whom he expected softness and magnanimity ;
but his Majesty was told that his wish in thii
respect could not possibly be gratified until after
the capitulation had been signed.
Oh ! if he could but see and plead with the
King — was the anguished Emperor's constant
thought ; but the King took very good care, or
his counsellors for him, that he should not ex-
pose himself to any personal appeal for pity
until the German army had safely garnered all
its splendid harvest of victor^-.
Meanwhile De Wimpffen had come out of
Sedan with the despairing decision of the
council of war, and the determination to accept
Moltke's inexorable terms. But even Moltke,
the least sentimental and emotional of men,
could not help feeling a genuine throb of pity
for the very hard fate of De Wimpffen— a man
of German origin, as his name implied — on
whom it thus fell to sign away the existence of
an army, of which he had not been four-ana-
twenty hours in supreme command. Napoleon,
the crowned cutthroat of the cr,uf> d'efiit, the
sawdust " Man of Destiny," the intriguer, the
selfish adventurer, the author of the meddling
policy which had involved his country in thii
unparalleled calamity — this "Napoleon the
Little " had richly deserved his fate. But as
for De Wimpffen — no wonder that fits mis-
fortune even touched the adamantine heart of
his German co-signatory to the capitulation.
After his interview with Napoleon, Bismarck
rode to Chehery (on the road to Vendresse), in
the hope of meeting the King and informing
him how things stood. On the way he was met
by Moltke, who had the text of the capitulation
as approved bv his Majesty ; and on their return
to Bellevue it was signed without opposition.
Bv this unparalleled capitulation 83,000 men
were surrendered as prisoners of war in addition
to the fortress of Sedan with its 138 pieces of
artillery, 420 field-guns, including 70 mitrailleuses,
6,000 horses fit for service, 66,000 stand of arms,
1 ,000 baggage and other waggons, an enormous
quantity of military stores, and 'three standards.
Among the prisoners yielded up were the
Emperor and one of his field-marshals (Mac-
Mahon), 40 generals, and 2,825 various other
officers, all of whom, by the special mercy of
King William, were offered release on parole,
though only 500 of them took advantage of this
condition, the others being sent to Germany.
By the catastrophe of Sedan, the French had
lost — in killed, wounded, and prisoners — no
fewer than 1 24,000 men at one fell swoop !
With the capitulation sealed and signed,
I04
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
Bismarck and Moltke now hastened back to the
King, whom they found on the heights above
Donchery about noon. His Majesty ordered
the important document to be read aloud to his
numerous and brilhant suite, which included
several German princes.
Now that an appeal ad misen'cordiam had
been put out of the Emperor's power, the
King, accoinpanic-d by the Crown Prince, rode
Cassel (once, strange to say, the residence of
his uncle. King Jerome of Westphalia), King
William, accompanied by Moltke, Roon, Bis-
marck, and the rest of his paladins, started on a
ride through all the positions occupied b}- the
German armies round Sedan. For five long
hours, over hill and dale, from batterj- to
battalion, and from corps to corps, through all
the various tribes of the Fatherland in arms.
'•KING WILLIAM SLAKTED ON A RIDE TUROL-GH ALL THE rOSITIONS OCCUriFD liV THE GEK.MA.N AK.MIES.'
down to the chateau of Bellevue to meet the
fallen monarch. " At one o'clock," wrote his
Majesty to Queen Augusta, " I and Fritz set out,
accompanied by an escort of cavalry belonging
to the staff. I dismounted at the chateau, and
the Emperor came out to meet me. The visit
lasted for a quarter of an hour. We were both
deeply moved. I cannot describe what I felt at
the interview, having seen Napoleon only three
years ago at the height of his power."
And now, while the crushed and broken-
hearted Emperor was left to spend his last day
on the soil of France prior to his departure for
the place of his detention at Wilhelmshohe, near
rode the brilliant cavalcade, greeted with trium-
phant music and frantic cheering wherever it
went. " I cannot describe," wrote the King,
" the reception given me b\^ the troops, nor my
meeting with the Guards, who have been deci-
mated. I was deeply affected by so many proofs
of love and devotion."
No wonder the Germans very nearly went
mad with joy. For no victor}- had ever been
like this crowning masterpiece of Moltke's genius
— so colossal, so complete, so momentous in its
political results— which converted the French
Empire into a Republic and the Germanic Con-
federation into an Empire.
lo;
O
O
o
O
o
o^ SPANISH BATTLES IN MOROCCO : 1559-00?
(CASTILLEJOS, TETUAN, QUAD EL RASS
BY MAJOR ARTHUR GRIFFIT-HS
c
o
o n
O o '-"^ o
o.
THE hero of the Spanish war with Morocco
in 1859-60 was General Prim, the
celebrated marshal who was afterwards
known through Europe as a king-
maker and politician. But he was before all a
soldier, and a gallant one, ever ready to seek
the foremost place in danger and venture his
life upon occasion. The most marked trait
in his character was his cool, calm courage : for
although he could take the lead and head an
attack like any subaltern, with all the fire and
intrepidity of youth, it was done on profound
calculation, as the best means of inspiring
an enterprising, determined spirit. In one of
the many sharply-contested combats in this
African war he found himself with infantrj-
alone, exposed to the attack of a considerable
force of Moorish cavalry. The Spaniards in this
war were weak in cavalry, the Moors, on the
other hand, strong. In the present instance
their horsemen were quick to discover a weak
spot in the enemy's line. This was where
Prim was posted, with only infantry to with-
stand the charge. He was nothing daunted.
" Men ! " he shouted, with that brief, stirring
oratory for which he was famous in the field —
" Alen ! here are cavalry coming down on us,
and we have none to send against them. We
will meet them and charge them with the
bayonets. Form squares and let the music
play ! '' So in solid masses, with bands and
colours in their midst, the Spanish infantry
marched to attack the attackers, and with such
a resolute mien that the Moorish cavalry turned
tail and would not wait to receive them.
Prim's had been an adventurous career. He
began life as a private soldier, a volunteer in a
Catalonian regimtnt at the time of the first Car-
list war. Gaining almost immediatelv an officer's
commission, he won rank after rank so rapidly
that he was a colonel at twenty-five. The ver)
ne.Kt year (1840) he threw himself into the
troubled sea of Spanish politics, was concerned
in a military rising, took the losing side, and was
compelled to fly to France. Three years later
he returned and headed a small revolution of his
own, which succeeded in overthrowing Espartero
and gave Prim a title as count and the rank of
major-general. Once more he joined the wrong
side and suffered for his mistake ; he was
charged with participation in an attempt to
assassinate the Spanish Prime Minister, and
sentenced to imprisonment in a fortress for si.\
years. When pardoned he travelled much in
England and Italy ; he went to the Crimean war
as the representative of Spain, then settled in
Paris, and was there leading a life of inglorious
ease when the war broke out between Spain and
Morocco. A born soldier, he could not bear to
be left out of such stirring business ; he at once
sought active employment, and was appointed
to the command of the Spanish reserve.
This war was the result of_perpetual disagree-
ments between the two countries. Spain 'was a
little stimulated to it, perhaps, b\- her desire to
e.xtend her African possessions. She held, and
still holds, a number of fortified posts on the
Mediterranean shores of Morocco— Ceuta, Me-
lilla, Alhucemas, and others. These settlements
were so often harassed and attacked by the tur-
bulent mountain-tribes that Spain indignantly
demanded reparation. The Mooi :> gave way at
first ; then Spain claimed more territory', which
was also granted ; but as one side yielded the
other grew more exacting, and finally the two
nations quarrelled over the lands that were to be
ceded outside Ceuta. Spain at once declared
war, and prepared to advance into Morocco.
It was the late autumn — a season not quite
propitious to military operations. Although the
summers are hot in North Africa, the winters are
very inclement; heavy storms of wind and much
106
BATTLES OF THE NL\E:TEENTH CENTURY.
rain might be expected. Tlien the country was
ruo-fred and inliosnitable — a network of hills
sloping down from the Atlas mountams and
intersected by rushing streams, " without roads,
without population, without resources of any
kind." All supplies would have to be landed on
the coast and carried up with the columns, or
follow as convoys under strong escort. The
enemy to be encountered might be semi-barbaric,
with no great knowledge of modern warfare, but
they had their own peculiar and often effective
tactics —clinging close to cover and using their
Fii'^lisli Milcs.--
long - ba r-
relled flint
musketswith
deadly effect
at long
ranges, kill-
ing often at
400 yards,
and whc-n at-
tacking using
them as clubs. These Moors were mostly fine
stalwart men some six feet in height, very
dirty, wretchedly clad in a white naik — a sort
of loose, long tunic with a white hood. They
were lightly equipped, active and swift ot
foot, knowing their mountainous country by
heart, and being above all fanatics by religion
— Mohammedans, the direct descendants 01
warlike ancestors, firmly believing, as they
did, that the joys of Paradise awaited all who
were slain in conflict with the infidel, they were
likel}- to prove formidable foes. " Their stature,
their wild and ferocious yells," says a writer who
made this campaign, " might have been expected
to have an intimidating effect upon troops the
majority of whom are mere recruits." How
bravely the Spanish troops faced and encoun-
tered them will presently be told.
At that time the Spaniards were but little
practised in war, had had but little experience
of real campaigning. Although ve.xed continually
with civil and fratricidal contests, Spain had not
met a foreign foe since the old days of the Penin-
sular War. But she had a well-organised, compact
army, made up of good materials. The Spanish
soldier is willing, hardy, patient under trials and
discomfort. He can march admirably— farther and
faster, it is said, than the troops of any other Euro-
pean nation. In their light rope-soled sandals
the Spanish infantry move always at a great
pace, very much like the Bersaglieri or riflemen
of Italy. But in the early days of this IMoorish
war they failed rather in field manoeuvres ; they
did not encounter the Moors on the best plan ;
they were prone to rush out and engage in small
skirmishes instead of awaiting attack, when their
sturdy valour would have told most effectually.
Again, they were bad marksmen; good shooting
was not taught or encouraged in those daj's, and
in the coming fights the Moors suffered more
from artillery than infantry fire. It was, indeed,
the artillery arm that did the greatest execution
in the war ; the Spanish cavalry was never very
fortunate, and the infantry depended mainly on
their ba^'onets, which, however, they used with
excellent effect whenever they crossed weapons
with the enemy, and that was often, as we shall see.
The sudden declaration of war found Spain
unprepared to take the field ; and as the Moors
were at home on their own ground the first
honours of the campaign fell to them. They
quickly assembled in great numbers, and threat-
ened Ceuta, the Spanish prison fortress, which was
to be the base of operations. A line of redoubts
was hastily thrown up across the isthmus — the
neck of the narrow and rocky peninsula on
which Ceuta stands. This brought- out at
once one of the many high qualities of the
Spanish soldiers — their skill in manual labour.
An immense amount of work fell upon them
from first to last in clearing ground, road- ■
making, felling trees, throwing up earthworks ;
and their readiness, industry, and goodwill in
these irksome but deeply important duties
gained them high praise. In the earliest phases
of the conflict it was hardly possible at first
to move across the. many obstacles presented
by the ground immediately around Ceuta.
Within a fortnight the whole surface was trans-
formed ; the brushwood was cut down, good
communication established between the re-
doubts, and it was no longer possible for the
enemy to creep up to them unperceived.
SPANISH BATTLES IN MOROCCO.
107
Meanwhile, in the teeth of {rieat ditTiculties, of
hasty and, therefore, ineoniplete organisation, of
the inevitable use of sea transport to ferry every-
thing— men, horses, guns, food, material of every
description — across from Spain, within a month a
couple of army corps, each some 10,000 strong,
and the resen'e, another 5,000, had been dis-
embarked at Ceuta, and had fallen into the
defensive line. A third army corps was waiting
conveyance at Malaga, but its movement was
greatly impeded by tempestuous weather. These
three corps were commanded as follows : — the
first by General Echague, the second by General
Zabala, the third (still at Malaga) by General
Ros de Olano, and the reserve by General Prim.
The whole expeditionary army was under Marshal
O'Donnell, another of the great soldier-politicians
who in turn took such a prominent part in the
government of Spain. O'Donnell, at this parti-
cular juncture, occupied the curious but authori-
tative position of Prime Minister, War Minister,
and Conmiander-in-Chief of the army in the
field. Thj possession of this supreme power no
doubt helped him in the conduct of the cam-
paign. It urged him, too, to the highest efforts;
he knew he must achieve victory, for the first
reverse would undoubtedly have been followed
by his political disgrace and downfall.
November passed in desultory warfare along
the line of entrenchments, during which the
Spaniards held their own — no more. Decem-
ber, in its early days, saw no change ; indeed,
the situation grew somewhat worse, for the
weather was always atrocious, and the rain fell
incessantlv, converting the ground into a quag-
mire, and putting the troops to the utmost dis-
comfort. They had no protection but the small
tcntcs d'abri, of the French pattern — each for
three men, and each only a few feet high — and
through them the wind whistled and the water
poured most uncomfortably. Such shelter was
no better than lying in the open ; the men
sickened bv hundreds, while cholera, that fell
scourge, descended upon the camp and committed
terrible havoc. All this time, too, there were
constant skirmishes and combats of a more or less
sanguinarv character outside the fortifications.
The Moors came on continuallv with great
demonstrations, drawing the Spaniards beyond
their entrenchments to fight at a disadvantage,
and with no other result than a useless waste
of life.
At last, as the year ended. Marshal O'Donnell
felt himself strong enough to assume the offensive.
The whole expeditionary force had now landed
at Ceuta ; there were troops enough to hold the
redoubts covering the fortress-base, and yet to
leave the main body free to march inland.
Tetuan, the nearest Moorish citj- — if it deserved
so grand a title — was the first point at which
O'Donnell aimed ; it was thought to be fortified
and strongly held, and, although not hy any
means the capital of Morocco — it must be re-
membered that the principal object of an in-
vader was to seize the enemy's capital — still,
the fall of Tetuan would be a ver}' substantial
gain and an undoubted proof of Spanish prowess.
The road to Tetuan was fairly open, moreover,
due account being taken of the enemy that
interjiosed ; it followed the line of the eastern
coast, and the Spanish ships of war and transports
could accompany the march, giving aid if needs
were to the land forces by disembarking seamen
and supplies.
The order to march was issued on the eve of
New Year's Day, and was hailed with delight by
the Spanish troops. They were sick of Ceuta
and its monotonous trench duty ; they hoped
to leave its narrow limits and breathe a fresher,
higher air.
The advance was entrusted to General Prim,
with the reserve division ; an unusual proceeding,
as the reserve generally follows in the rear. But
Prim's fearless spirit, his indomitable energ}' and
pluck, were so well known that he was naturally
selected to lead the van. Zabala, with the second
corps, supported Prim. The immediate head of
the advance consisted of engineers, covered by
cavalry and artillery, whose duty was to bridge
the streams that came in the way.
Prim's command was on the move at daylight,
their tents having been struck in. the dark. By
eight a.m. they were in collision with the enemy.
The Moors, having seen the direction of the
Spanish march, pointing as it was towards Tetuan,
lost no time in assembling in strength to oppose
it. They were soon seen in great numbers on a
ridge in front, menacing an attack on Prim ;
but they gave way before his firm and resolute
advance, and fell back, yielding position after
position, until the hills seemed cleared of them.
Prim now found himself in an open vallev,
hemmed in with heights, and studded with the
ruins of two small white houses or '' castles " —
castillc/os, as the Spaniards call them, which gave
the name to the action now close at hand.
Here the enemy turned to make a fresh stand.
.\ mountain-battery had galloped up to the
front boldly, and might be supposed to have
pushed on too far. The Moors were disposed
m
io8
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
to attack it, and came on brandishing their long
guns, and shouting, " Dogs ! Christian dogs ! '' till
a burst of grape shot dispersed them. Then
two .Spanish squadrons charged. This charge,
would not face them. The epithet was un-
happily misconstrued and taken to apply to the
Spanish horsemen. The cavalry commander,
stung to the quick, immediately strove to dis-
prove the calumn\-,and gave the word to charge.
Away galloped the hussars into the very thick
of the enemy, and tumbled in upon them in con-
siderable strength on a plateau where their camp
was pitched. But here, in this narrow- and enclosed
space, so unfavourable to the movement of horse-
men, the Moors opened a fierce fire, and took
them at a disadvantage. The hussars fought
bravely against misfortune, but were presently
compelled to retreat, after performing many acts
of individual heroism. One of the most notable
was that of the corporal, Pedro ]Mur, who, in the
last stage of the struggle, when his comrades
were already retreating, resolved to capture a
standard he saw waving in the centre of a small
group of Moors. With this rash idea he turned,
left the ranks, rode back alone and at full speed,
charging sword in hand at the standard-bearer.
He bore down everv one opposed to him, smote
CEUTA AND ITS SEA-GATE.
like that much more famous and more disastrous
charge at Balaclava, seems to have originated
also in a mistake. A French officer, who was
acting as aide-de-camp to General Prim, brought
them instructions to move out freely w-henever
they got the chance, adding, as he afterwards
declared, that the Moors were " cowards " and
the Moor with the colour, killed him, seized the
colour, and galloped away, unhurt, but splashed
from head to foot with his enemies"' blood.
Prim, it was said, should have been contented
with the ground gained. But this unsuccessful
charge led him to wish to renew the attack, and
make a further advance. He was prudent enough
SPANISH BATTLES IX MOROCCO.
100
to first seek further support, which O'Donnell
refused, saying he would come hiniself to judge
ol the necessit}-, adding that Prim had gone too
far already. It would be wiser, he added, to
stand fast and entrench on the ground held.
All duubts as to the proper course to pursue
the latter being to cut off the Spanish retreat.
The fight which followed was as fierce as it was
momentous. The fire raged furiously; the smoke
was so thick that the general's aides galloping to
and fro were in touch of the enemy's line, yet
unseen; the noise so deafening that it drowned
GENERAL PRIM.
{Fforn the picture by Henri Regnault.)
were solved by the enemv. The Moors had
been receiving reinforcements, both horse and
foot, and, about one p.m., were in such strength
that they were emboldened to try a fresh on-
slaught. Prim's force, a mere handful of four
weak battalions, further reduced b}- the day's
casualties, had been on the move since davlight,
without tasting food. The men had lain down to
rest and were in some danger. The Moors attacked
both in front and on the flank, the direction of
the bugle calls. Prim was as usual cool, self-
reliant, and quite undismayed ; he gave his
orders quietly, although always in the thickest
part of the fight, often on foot, wearing two
brilliant stars on his breast, and waving his gold-
headed general's cane. His example was splendid ;
his excellent dispositions were well calculated
to make the best use of his scanty forces, for
the ground he occupied was too extensive for
his numbers.
I
!IO
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
MOOKISII HORSEMAN'.
At the most critical moment help came in the
shape of two fresh battalions, sent by O'Donnell,
from the second corps, and that general himself,
followed by all his staff", came galloping up like a
.small troop of cavalr_v, as though to take part in
the fight. Prim had already utilised his new
troops. He directed the men to lay aside their
knapsacks, then, placing himself at the head of a
battalion, and holding the other in support, he
resolved to make a counter-attack. But first he
seized one of the regimental colours, and, waving
it on high, cried : —
" Soldiers ! The time has come to die for the
honour of our country. There is no honour in
the man who will not give up his life when it
is required of him."
With these words he rushed on impetuously,
caring little, it seemed, whether he was followed
or not. Now his horse was badly wounded
and staggered, but it recovered, and, as if imitating
the noble impulse of its rider, galloped on. The
Spaniards, fired by Prim's example, followed un-
hesitatingly, and with such energy that the
enemy was at length forced to give wa)-.
Prim afterwards gave his account of the
episode in a letter to a friend : —
" At this supreme moment I snatched up a
colour ; I spoke a few words with heartfelt em-
phasis. I called upon the remnant of my braves,
and we rushed at the enemy. Thej' were so
close to us that the bayonet was the only weapon
we could use. It is impossible to describe what
followed. Moors and Spaniards mixed inextric-
ably— ba\'onets crossing scimitars ! But my
men pressed on with loud cries of ' JYzij In
Rci'ia ! viva Espaha ' ' And for the last time
that day we conquered again. The Moors fled,
and our flag waved over a position we had
carried three separate times." O'Donnell officially
reported that " the eneni)-, liaving been rcin-
forcjd, incessantly attacked General Prim's
position about three p.m. with great desperation.
But Prim, with his usual serene courage, went
out to meet them. A hand-to-h.ind, body-to-
body combat ensued, from which our battalions
emerged eventually triumphant."
Tne immediate result of the battle of Castillejos
w-as the opening up of the valley and of the road to
Tetuan, still some five-and-twenty miles distant.
The enemy had withdrawn almost entirely, and
a reconnaissance was pushed on to within a few
miles of the city without being disturbed by them.
But O'Donnell wiseh' sought to make good his
position, and he halted while the necessary work
of levelling ground was carried on to facilitate
the bringing up supplies, much hampered hitherto
and impeded by the return of tempestuous
weather. A more enterprising enemy might
have done much damage during this delay,
and afterwards when the advance was resumed,
for the Spanish troops had to cross much
rough country and thread many dangerous
defiles. But the movement forward was steadily
continued, with occasional combats — that across
the heights of Cape Negro alone being of a serious
character — until, upon the 17th January, the
army reached and encamped upon the banks
of the River Guad el Jelu, in full view of
Tetuan, which glistened "snow-white on the
rising ground at the extremity of the valley."
O'Donnell was now well placed for the attack of
that city. His forces were well concentrated ; the
rear had come up with his main body, the guns
also, notwithstanding the difficulties of the road
and his baggage. The ships lay off the mouth
of the river above-mentioned, and carried
reinforcements, a fresh division ready to be
disembarked when required. Still, he was
circumspect ; and feeling that he might be
obliged to undertake a long siege, he set to
wtirk to strengthen himself by building re-
doubts, and collect his battering-train. The
transport of the guns was hard work. As an
artillery officer described it, " When we leave
the sand, we ascend the mountain ; when we
quit the mountain, we sink into the marsh."
A fortnight or more had elapsed before these
preparations were completed, and in the interval
the Moors had gathered fresh strength for
the defence of Tetuan. Their numbers rose
to 35,000 or 40,000 men. A brother of the
i
SPANISH BATTLES IN MOROCCO.
Ill
Emperor was in command, and around him was
a portion of the famous black Moorish mounted
guard. Tiie whole of these troops occupied
an entrenched camp covering the town — a camp
carefully fortified with high substantial earth-
works, along the front of which lay a swampv
marsh. There was water or muddy ground
protecting one flank (the right), and on the
other (the left) the defences rested on rising
ground, with brushwood, which gave good cover
to the Moorish marksmen. This position was
strongly held by a garrison of nearly 30,000 men.
It was armed with many batteries of guns, but
the Moorish artillerymen were unskilled, and
made but poor practice. E.xperts who saw this
camp after the fight declared that, if manned
by European troops, it would have proved
almost impregnable.
The Spanish general soon realised that he
must first crack this nut before he could get at
the kernel — Tetuan. The 4th February was the
dav fixed for the attack.
There were two main lines of advance, right
and left, and be3-ond the right an extension or
flanking movement. The left attack was en-
trusted to General Prim, who was now in com-
mand of the 2nd Corps. He formed his troops
in two lines, the first consisting of two brigades
in echelon of battalions — one battalion behind
the other, but stretching out bevond, so that the
whole made a long line — with two brigades in
column supporting. Between the two lines
were the artillery.
The left attack consisted of the 3rd Corps,
under General Ros de Olano, and it was formed
in the same order as the right.
On the extreme right General
Rios, with the division that had
lately landed, was to circle round
the left of the encampment con-
tinually threatening that flank.
The morning of the 4th dawned
thick with fog ; the night had
been cold with severe frost.
When, about 8 a.m., the mists
lifted, the surrounding mountains
were seen covered to their base
with snow. The advance of the
two attacks was made simultane-
ously, and both corps fell quickly
into the dispositions alreadv de-
scribed. They moved steadilv for-
ward, notwithstanding the diffi-
culties of the marshy ground
undeterred by the enemy's guns,
which opened fire as soon as the Spaniards
came in sight. The Spanish batteries did not
attempt to reply until well within range, and
then did great execution. One shell set fire to
the principal Moorish magazine, which exploded,
scattering death and confusion within the lines.
The worst ground the assailants found was
close up under the entrenchments. Here, too,
the Moorish artillery, firing grape at very short
range, did great execution. Prim's men were
now a good deal harassed, too, by the sharp-
shooters in the wood. But as they neared the
works the signal was given to charge, and all
went forward gallantlv with loud shouts and
" Vivas ! " Of course. Prim led. On the eve
of the fight he had said to some friends, "Happv
the man who first enters the breach to-morroiv."
Xow he showed that he meant what he said ;
for he rode straight into a battery through an
embrasure (gun opening), followed by four of
his staff, and cut down with his sword the two
first Moors who attempted to bar his passage.
When Prim's men saw their general disappear
inside the works, thej- dashed after him, cheer-
ing ; and the enemj-, astounded at the daring
of the five mounted assailants, gave way entirely
at the charge of the rest of the column.
Prim had made good his entrance about the
centre of the line of works ; next him, on the
right, a brother of General O'Donnell's got in
with his division. On the left the 3rd Corps
made good progress, but were much impeded by
a morass, and, while caught there, suffered much
from the enemy's fire. The left division of this
left attack, however, penetrated, and the men
MOORISH HOKSE.\I.\.N.
I 12
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
liaving thrown ofi' their knapsacks, which greatly
encumbered their movements, raced forward,
bayoneting the Moors wherever they found
them. On the far right, meanwhile, one of
Prim's divisio.ns, lending a hand to General Rios,
had driven the Moors up into the hills.
The strugjle was ended. It had been costly
and gallantly fought on both sides. The Span-
iards had borne a
heavy fire with cool
endurance, and had \
shown great dash j
when the time came
to charge. Th^
Moors, for their
part, had made a
tenacious resistance.
The artillerj'men
especially had stuck
to their guns to the
very last, although
altogether over-
mastered. The ca-
valry on neither side
did much.
Three da3-s after-
wards Tetuan — at
the urgent request
of many of the inha-
bitants — was occu-
pied by the Spanish
troops. The Moors
had gone ; there
was not a sign of
their soldiers in or
near the place. On
the 9th February
General Prim made
a reconnaissance
forward in the di-
rection of Tangier, but met no enemy. Hos-
tilities were suspended. The only gossip was of
overtures for peace. Spain had been entirel}-
and rapidly successful ; the Moors, dispersed and
disheartened, were hardly expected to show
fight again in the field. This impression was
full}' supported by the appearance of envoys in
the Spanish camp, asking conditions, and negotia-
tions began. These, as it afterwards appeared,
were intended only to gain time. The Moors
had not as yet abandoned hope. The resources
of the empire could hardly be exhausted, even
though they had lost one important town, and
had been twice defeated in the field. They had
still a vast territor}' behind and crowds of wild
1
A MOOKISH SOLDIEK
warriors to rally round their flag. Moreover, the
terms demanded by the Spaniards were so intol-
erable that a proud people might well try anothei-
battle or two before yielding.
These peace negotiations dragged on for more
than a month. Through the rest of the month
of February, and all through the early days of
March, the envoys came and went, and there
were many refer-
^ ences to Madrid and
■^' . Fez. This delav was
all to the advantage
of the Aloors, who
employed it to bring
up fresh and un-
beaten troops, and
in the collection of
forage and supplies,
which operations
were greatly aided
by the now fine dry
weather. Presently
it was borne in on
Marshal O'Donnell,
who had just been
created Duke of
Tetuan in reward
for his victories, that
he might have to do
his work over again,
and undertake an-
other campaign, for
the news came that
the enemy had
collected in great
strength upon the
road to Tangier.
This seaport town
was to have been
the ne.xt goal of the
invaders, should the war continue, and now the
road which was hilly and easily held would be
probably barred. Accordingly, on the 23rd March
O'Donnell abruptly broke off negotiations, and
decided to appeal once more to the sword. On
that day, leaving a small garrison in Tetuan,
he marched out with the rest of the army,
meaning to attack the enemy wherever he
might find them. The troops carried six days'
rations, and were in number about 25,000 men.
The order of march was as follows : — At the
head were two brigades of the ist Corps, that
which had first landed at Ceuta, and had borne
the brunt of the earliest fighting. The head-
quarter staff immediately followed ; then came
•MOORS AND SPANIARDS MIXED INEXTRICABLY" (/.no).
56
114
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
the 2nd Corps, under Prim ; the 3rd Corps was
in support. All these moved in the compara-
tively low ground, the valley formed by a river
which constantly changed its name, and which
at Tetuan is known as the Guad el Jelu or
Martin, and yet four miles higher up is called
the Guad el Ras. It is a long, rather narrow-
valley stretching east and west, and bordered
on either side by commanding heights, espe-
cially on the northern. O'Donnell saw the
necessity of occupving the latter, and for this
r~
off the advancing Spaniards from Tetuan. It
was, however, met and checked by Rios, although
the latter, finding the country very difficult, had
had to make a wider detour, circling round to
his right ; and it was feared for a moment that
the Moors might get in between him and the
main bod3\
By 3 p.m., however. General Rios was reaching
down and in touch with the nearest Spanish
troops — those of the ist Corps. By this time,
too, the Moors had drawn off, retreating across
I
j^-.
-rf?'*^'^
-<E.^j*^^*i»*w'
"<- :::- t^ ■'as j
TETUAN.
{From a Fhoto^raJ'h by Mr. Consul White, Tangier.)
purpose directed General Rios, with a division
of the reserve, to crown them with a move-
ment continually outflanking and protecting the
right of the main advance along the valley.
The fighting began within two or three miles
of Tetuan. A series of low hills cros.sed the
valley, partly covered with brushwood, dotted
with villages, and offering good defensive posi-
tions. These the Moors occupied one after the
other, held stubbornly for a time, then yielded
up lo the determined attack of the Spaniards.
The Moors were counting much on the movement
of their left wing — 12,000 strong — which had
been sent along the heights on their left, those
by which Rios was marching, and this left
wing was intended to first outflank, then cut
the river Guad el Ras, and had re-formed there in
a very strong position opposite the Spanish left.
Prim was in command here. Dashing and in-
domitable as ever, he at once resolved to attack.
The Moors held a village on the lower slopes
beyond the river, and resisted obstinatelv. Thev
contested the ground, inch by inch, losing it,
regaining it, losing it again. Prim had, how-
ever, occupied a wood on one flank, and under
cover of the trees made fresh dispositions, before
which -the Moors yielded, and the village was
taken. The Moors fell back, however, upon a
second village higher up, and much more,
difficult of access. Here thev again turned,
again issued forth, charging Prim's people on
both fianks, but without success. Thev were
SPANISH RATTLES IN MOROCCO.
IJ!
compcllctl to retire sullcnlv, reluctantly. On no
previous occasion had the Moors fought with
.such unhesitating courage. They were mostly
new men, drawn from the wildest, most remote
part of Morocco, and they had not as yet e.x-
])srienced the Spanish artillery fire or faced the
Spanish bayonet. In the course of this fierce
contest there were several instances in which
bodies of Moorish infantry had boldly charged
whole Spanish battalions. In one case " a mere
handful of men rushed fearlessly upon the
Spanish line, dying upon the bayonets, but not
until some of them had actually penetrated
the battalion." Wherever there was a position
favourable to their irregular method of fighting
the Moors stubbornly defended it, and were
only driven out at the point of the bayonet.
We are reminded of the reckless, indomitable
courage of the Ghazis of our own Afghan wars.
Prim, having captured the two villages, moved
steadily and irresistibly forward, and the move-
ment was taken up by the whole line, until at
last they were in sight of the Moorish encamp-
ment. In a twinkling the tents were struck,
and the enemy, without baggage or impedimenta,
had cleared off the ground. It was now about
half-past four. The last shots had been fired,
and the Spaniards were in occupation of the last
stronghold of the Moors. This was at a point
some si.x miles from Fondak, a great semi-barbaric
caravanserai — the half-way house — betwec:i
Tetuan and Tangier, and situated at the far
end of a long defile which the Spanish would
have to force the following day.
But there was to be no more fighting. Ne.xt
day the Moors again tried negotiation. Envois
from Muley Abbas, the Emperor's brother, came
in to the Spanish headquarters, and asked for an
interview with Marshal O'Donnell. The Spanish
commander-in-chief was not disposed to .see
them. He would have no more beating about
the bush, he said. Either the enemy must make
full submission at once, or he would press on to
Tangier. " I halt here to-day "—this was his
ultimatum — " to send my wounded into Tetuan,
and bring up more ammunition. The day after,
I march forward. At 4.30 a.m. my men will
breakfast, and all will be ready. But I will wait
here till 6 a.m., if your prince chooses to come
in by that time." It so fell out, and the follow-
ing morning Muley Abbas appeared. The con-
ditions, which included an indemnity of four mil-
lions sterling and the surrender of a large slice
of territory was settled, and the w^ar was ovcr.
MOORISH IVPES.
Il6
V T FTER the battle of Trafalgar England
r^ had complete command of the seas,
1 JL. and, rightly or wrongly, her Govern-
ment had adopted the policy of
striking at the European Powers which were
actually in arms as her enemies, or whose in-
terests were opposed to her own, by expeditions
against their distant colonies and dependencies.
The power of her navy could thus be thoroughly
•utilised, and her army, though used in compara-
tively small fractions, v,-as generally, bj' its quality
and discipline, able to act with success against
an\' forces which it was likely to meet. Com-
munication with different parts of the globe
then demanded such long periods of time, and
was at best so very uncertain, that naval
and military commanders acted frequently on
a general policy which had been imparted to
them rather than on specific instructions which
had to be exactly carried out.
When, therefore, in June, 1806, Buenos Ayres
was seized by a small force of 1,700 men under
Brigadier-General Beresford and Commodore Sir
Home Popham, it is ver}' doubtful how far that
enterprise was directly authorised bv the king's
ministers, though from documents published at
Sir Home Popham's subsequent trial it may be
understood that it was countenanced both by
Mr. Pitt and Lord Melville. Be that as it mav,
Brigadier-General Beresford found himself hold-
ing this new conquest with a whollv insufficient
iorce in the midst of a numerous hostile popula-
tion, and without any strong place of arms to
which he could retire if menaced by an organised
attack. Aware of his precarious position, General
Beresford sent an urgent appeal to the Cape for
reinforcements, pending the arrival of a sufficient
army from England to make good the possession
of one of the greatest and most valuable Spanish
provinces in South America. Even from the
Cape, however, no assistance could be expected
for nearly four months, and a force from England
could not land before double that time had
elapsed.
The American-Spaniards were not long in dis-
covering how feasible it was for a well-conducted
insurrection to overpower the invaders, and,
under the command of General Liniers, a
Frenchman by birth, they attacked General
Beresford so vigorously that after severe fight-
ing, in which the English losses amounted to
250 men,, killed and wounded, his little arm\'
was obliged to surrender as prisoners of war.
The captives included the whole of the 71st
Regiment of infantry, 150 of the St. Helena
corpe, besides a few dragoons and artillery. The
navy had been able to render little or no assist-
ance, and Sir Home Popham was under the
necessity of falling back to his cruising ground
at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata. The
expected reinforcements from the Cape arrived
about the middle of October, consisting of two
squadrons of the 20th Light Dragoons, a com-
pany of artillery, the 38th and 47th Regiments
of infantry, and a company' of the 54th. This
armament sailed up to Monte \'ideo, hoping,
by a combined attack of the land and sea forces,
to get possession of that town ; but this was
found impracticable, and it was deemed advis-
able to await the additional reinforcements from
England before any great operation should be
undertaken. As an immediate base of opera-
tions, however, the town of Maldonado at the
mouth of the Rio de la Plata was seized and
occupied, and here supplies could be easily pro-
cured, and a convenient harbour for shipping
was available.
The news of the capture of Buenos Ayres had
excited much triumph in England, and rein-
forcements for General Beresford had been at
once prepared. It was not till October, 1806,
however, that these could be despatched, and
BUENOS AYRES.
117
the}' did not arrive at the Rio de hi Phita till
January, 1807. They were placed under the
command of Sir Samuel Auchmuty, and com-
prised the 17th Light Dragoons, the 40th and
.S7th Regiments of infantry, three companies
of the newly-raised Rifle Corps, and some
artillery. As we have seen, they were too late
to save General Beresford from crushing defeat
and captivity, but they found the Cape troops
at Maldonado in the best condition, and fit for
immediate sersice. These Sir Samuel Auchmutv
at once embarked, and, at the head of a now
r irmidable armament, sailed to the attack of
Monte Video. Rear-Admiral Stirling, who had
superseded Sir Home Popham in the naval
connnand, protected the movement of the trans-
ports with his ships of war. A landing was
effected about eight miles from Monte Video,
and a brilliant action was fought with
ihe Spaniards outside the town, in
which the English were completely
victorious. This action was remark-
able as being the first occasion on
which the Rifle Corps — afterwards
the q5th, and now the Rifle Brigade
— were actively employed. Their
markedly gallant conduct then was
an earnest of the long roll of disthi-
guished services which the famous
corps has since performed in all
quarters of the world, wherever the
honour of England has had to be
maintained. After defeating the
Spaniards in the open field Sir Samuel
Aachmuty established batteries
against the citadel and defences of
the town, and landed heavy ship
ordnance from the fleet wherewith
to arm them, for no siege-train
formed part of the equipment sent
from England. From these bat-
teries fire was opened, and continued
for thirteen da3-s, when a practicable
breach was made. The town was
summoned, and, as no reply was
returned, the orders were given to
storm. The defence of the Spaniards
u-as tenacious, and their fire de-
■■tructive and well-maintained ; but,
though they lost heavily, the columns
I if assault were everywhere successful
in driving the enemy before them with the
bayonet, and the place was taken.
After Sir Samuel Auchmuty had sailed from
England, but before intelligence was received
that Buenos Ayres had been retaken by the
Spaniards, it was hoped by the Ministry that
an expedition to the west of South America
might meet with the same success as it was
yet believed had attended British arms on the
east coast. With a view to this object a force
of 4,200 men was sent out in October, 1806,
under command of Brigadier-General Robert
Craufurd (afterwards the renowned leader of
the Light Division in the Peninsula), accom-
panied by a naval squadron under Admiral
Murray. The expedition was to be directed
to the capture of the seaports, and the reduc-
tion of the province of Chili ; and the course
to be sailed, whether to the eastward by New
South Wales, or to the westward by Cape Horn,
was left to the discretion of Admiral Murrav-
It was hoped that, if Chili could be reduced,
MARSHAL LERESFORIl.
{Froin the Fntiife by Sir 11'. Bcechey, R.A.)
General Craufurd might communicate with
Buenos Ayres, and that a complete chain of
posts might be established across South
America, which would then be opened up to
RATTLKS OF THE NIXKTEEXTH CENTURY.
Englisli trade. ^\'hcn tlie news of General
Beresford's disaster arrived, liowever, a swift
sloop of war was sent after General Craufurd,
with orders that he was to give up the attack
on Chili, and to proceed to the Rio de la
Plata, there to join the army of Sir Samuel
Auchnuity. Craufurd was overtaken at the
Cape, and, sailing at once, he arrived off Monte
\'ideo on the 14th June. The various corps
under his command were two squadrons of
bth Dragoon Guards, the 5th, 36th, 45th, and
88th Regiments of infantry, five companies of
the Rifle Corps, and two companies of artillery.
In view of the concentration of troops at the
Rio de la Plata, it was determined to send out
from England an officer of high rank to take
command ; and in an evil hour Lieutenant-
General John Whitelocke was selected, who
arrived at Monte Video on the loth May with
Major-General Gower as second in command,
and bringing with him the qth Light Dragoons,
the 8qth Regiment of Infantry, a detachment
of artillery, and a number of recruits for the
regiments already on the station. The total of
the British force which in the middle of June
was available for offensive operations amounted
to more than 11,000 men, but the greater part
of the cavalry and artillery were unprovided
with horses. Most of the dragoons had to act
as inlantry, and the requirements of the guns
were very insufficiently met.
Monte Video, on the north side of the great
estuary of the Rio de la Plata, is nearly 150
miles from Buenos Ayres, which lies higher
up the river on the ."jouth side ; and in order
to move the troops which were to undertake
the attack of the latter town no vessels drawing
above thirteen feet of water could be employed ;
but, as a strong garrison had to be left to secure
the base of operations, it was possible, by doubling
the number of men which each ship could pro-
perly carry, to find accommodation on board for
all the rest of General Whitelocke's army. The
embarkation was proceeded with rapidly, and the
troops were brigaded in the following order : —
The Light Brigade, under General Crauford,
included the Rifle Corps and a battalion formed of
nine light companies from the various regiments ;
.Sir Samuel Auchmuty commanded the 5th,
38th, and 87th ; General Lumlfy commanded
the 36th, 88th, and four dismounted squadrons
of the 1 7th Light Dragoons ; and Colonel
Mahon commanded the 40th, 45th, two dis-
mounted squadrons of the Carabiniers, and
four dismounted squadrons of the Qth Light
Dragoons. There were also two companies of
Royal Artillery. Twentv-eight guns of various
calibres were embarked with an ammunition
column for the conveyance of artillery and
small-arm ammunition. Cavalry, acting as such,
was hardly represented, only about a hundred
of the 1 7th Light Dragoons being supplied with
horses.
The first division of transports was able to
get under weigh on the 17th Jiuie, but it was
not till the 25th that a suitable place could be
found for disembarkation. Below Buenos Ayres
there e.xtended for many miles along the bank
of the estuary a broad morass, and it was nece; -
sary to select a landing-place from which a
passage through this morass existed. Such a
place was found at Ensenada, about thirty-two
miles from Buenos A^res, and here the land-
ing was commenced at daylight on the 28th.
General Craufurd's brigade was the first to gain
the shore, followed by Sir Samuel Auchmut\'s
brigade, and the fiery Craufurd at once pushed
forward through the morass to secure a position
on firm ground. The Spaniards offered no
opposition to the English troops, and under a
capable commander the army might with ease
have been formed and prepared for further
operations. But from the outset neglect and
incompetence were apparent, and neutralised
at every turn the high qualities of the trcops
and the ability and courage of the subordinate
generals. In regard to the supply of food to
the army, the gravest errors were made. Rations
for immediate use should, of course, have been
carried by th; brigades as thev landed; and it
had been intended that each man should have
thre:- days' fcod in his havresack, but no definite
order had been given on the subject. Few had
any provision made for them, and in default of
instructions it was expected that the commis-
saries would meet all wants on shore. Reliance
was placed also for the subsequent supply of
meat on the herds of cattle which the countr\-
nourished, but it was forgotten that these half-
wild animals could not easily be caught, and
that thev could only be brought to the butcher
by men skilled in the use of the American lasso.
No such men were attached to the various
columns, which, with ample supply of meat con-
stantly in view, were thus for the most part
condemned to want.
The disembarkation was completed on the
28th, but none of the troops left the shore on
that day, except the brigades of Craufurd and
Auchmuty. The general forward movement
BUENOS AYKES.
ii9
began on the 2qlh, and tl\eK- was considerable
trouble in passing the morass, some of the
troops having to march for three miles up to
their knees in mud and water. The artillery
also were much delayed, only four field-pieces
being dragged through the morass by the
strenuous exertions t)f seamen and soldiers.
Of the remaining guns only eighc were sub-
sequently brought to the front ; the others were
either destroyed,, or left at Ensenada for want of
means of movement.
The 30th June and 1st Jul)' vs'tre c'ay^ of
unrelieved toil and effort. The
country was cut up by streams
and swampy spots, and if oppo-
sition had been offered, it would
have been much aided by thesj
features ; but no enemy was
seen, e.xcept some detached
bands of horsemen which
liovered round, ready to cut
off any fatigued straggler from
the English columns. Craufurd
still led the wav, followed by
Lumlev's brigade, while the
main body, with General White-
iocke, brought up the rear.
Some of the men suffered
terribly under the broiling
sun, as, having been cooped
up on board ship for months,
the\' were in no condition
for marching, and, ill-supplied
with food from the uncertain
sources which chance threw in
their way, their strength was
still further reduced by hun-
ger. So general was the fatigue that on the
afternoon of the 1st the men were ordered
to throw away their blankets, as it was
intended to push on that day to the vil-
lage of Reducion. It was considered likely
that there the enemy would hold the strong
position, and would have to be driven from
it by force. This village — about seven miles
from Buenos Ayres — was, however, occupied
easily, and the advanced brigades pushed
through it U> some high grc)und two miles
tiuther. Here their eyes were gladdened by
the view of the city which they had come so
tar to attack, and which they hoped would ere
long reward them amply for all their toils and
privations. General Whitelocke, with the re-
mainder of the army, occupied Reducion, and
the night was passed without serious annoyance
from the enemy, though the troops suffered
greatly from exposure to a prolonged thunder-
storm with heavy rain.
Between Reducion and Buenos Ayres, and
about two miles from the former place, flows
the Chuelo, a river which is fordable at few
spots, and in the month of July, after the usual
rains of the season, a very formidable military
obstacle. Across it there was, in 1807, only
one bridge, and from the English outposts could
be seen the bivouac fires of a strong force evi-
dently guarding this passage. Information was
BUENOS AYRES. 1S07.
Scale of One Mile.
H V3 ii
Daaaaa ,',
DaaaEiD U;.:
□ □□□□□ { \\
□ aaaijLlL
... '^nna
f liiirrlipj.
I.Tnllii-dral.
:r.Siml.i ('nl.-illn.i.
».Snn Ilnmin^d.
also received that the Sp;r.iarJs hai there
constructed strong and well-armed batteries,
and had concentrated a large number of men,
in the expectation that the invaders would
have no choice but to attack them. General
Whitelocke appears to have had no very definite
plan of action in his mind, and we maj- gather
that, rather from a reluctance to engage in the
assault of a strong po.-ition than from a weli-
studied strategical scheme, he resolved to seek
for a ford said to exist farther up the river,
instead of forcing his way by the direct route
across the bridge.
At sunrise on the 2nd July the English force
was under arms. Craufurd's and Lumley's bri-
gades took the advance, as before, under tne
command of General Gower, to be followed by
the main body of the army under General
I20
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
Whitelocke. Ascending the course vi the Luniley's brigade followed. As the men were
Chuelo in search of a ford concerning which now formed in close proximity to the yet un-
vague information had been received, reliance seen enemy, with a formidable obstacle in theii
had to be placed in guides of doubtful tru.st- rear making retreat difficult, if not impossible,
" HAND-CRENADES, STINK-BALLS, BRICKBATS, AND OTHER MISSILES WERE HURLED FROM ABOVE"' (/. I23).
worthiness, and there was uncertainty as to
the objects of the march and the time it
might be expected to require. Early in the
day about 500 of the enemy's cavalry appeared,
barring the road to the head of the column ;
but threatened in flank by the Rifles, and having
received two or three rounds from the field-
pieces, these quickly gave way, and were no
more seen. It was not till half-past three in
the afternoon that, following a scarcely distin-
guishable track which led to the river's bank,
General Craufurd arrived at the sought-for ford,
which even when found seemed to demand no
ordinary hardihood to attempt its passage. At
this place — the Passa Chico — the Chuelo ran
thirty yards wide and four feet deep. Fortu-
nately, the current was not rapid, and the
bottom was a firm gravel. Craufurd's men, led
by their impetuous general, plunged in, and,
carrying the ammunition-waggon of the field-
pieces shoulder high, safely effected the crossing.
an.xious eyes were directed over the extensive
plain that had been passed, in the expectation
of seeing the main body of the army following
in support under General Whitelocke. Great
was the wonder, bitter the disappointment,
when no distant cloud of dust, no flash of
steel, showed the appearance of the troops
which should have been now closing on the
advanced brigades. General Whitelocke had
failed to preserve the communication with
Lumley and Craufurd, and when the first serious
encounter with the enemv was impending, either
through incompetence or a more disgraceful
motive, held himself aloof from the clash of
arms.
About three-quarters of a mile from the ford
which had just been crossed rose a long ridge
of rising ground, and towards that ridge a strong
column of the enemy could be seen moving as
if with the intention of taking up a position of
defence. The soldier's eye of Craufurd detected
BUENOS AYRES.
121
the clanger which would result to the English
from this movement if it was carried out, and he
resolved to forestall it. General Gower gave him
permission to act as he thought best, and pro-
mised to support him with Lumley's brigade.
The light troops sprang forward, and the heights
were quickly occupied without opposition. The
enemy, confused and staggered by Craufurd's
rapidity and dash, w^ere obliged to forego their
intention, and to seek another position still
nearer to Buenos Ayres. The ground now
became e.\tremely intricate, covered with peach
orchards and high fences ; and the advanced
parties of Rifles, threading their way through
these obstacles, exchanged shots with the enemy's
picquets, who were quickly driven in.
General Gower sent an order to Craufurd to
halt ; but, having his foe at last within striking
distance, and confident in his judgment of the
situation, that daring chief was not to be stopped
on the threshold of success. Still he urged
on the Light Brigade till the enclosures were
passed, and the great open space of the Coral
was reached, the slaughtering-place or abattoir
movement of the English had fallen back,
the column was halted for a breathing-space,
and the generals with the staff-olficers pushed
along the broad road leading towards the city.
Suddenly from cover on the other side of the
Coral burst forth a discharge of grape and
round shot. The Spanish position was de-
veloped, and it was evident that tbe foe were
here in strength, though their numbers were
still hidden. There was a moment of sur-
prise, almost of recoil, among the English, and
General Gower made a suggestion to Craufurd
about turning the enemy's flank. But this was
no moment for a fine display of tactics, no occa-
sion for well-regulated manoeuvre. Craufurd in-
terpreted General Gower's words by the light
of his own bold spirit, and he ordered a general
direct charge. Uiideterred by their ignorance of
the strength before them, shaking off the fatigue
of a long and toilsome march, the gallant Rifles-
and ligh: battalion responded gladly to the call,
and, cheering as they advanced, swept forward
in irresistible assault. The South American
Spaniards were not the men to meet the stern
BUENOS .-WRES.
of the town. Lumley's brigade had now been
far outstripped, but General Gower himself joined
Craufurd. Not a Spaniard was to be seen. The
advanced parties which had covered the forward
line ot levelled bayonets, and everywhere gavc-
way in panic-struck flight, leaving in the hands
of the victors twelve pieces of artillery, with
which their position had been armed. The Light
IP.':
BATTLES OK 'IHE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
4
Brigade followed hard in pursuit, and, tiring no
shot, smote the rearmost with the annc blanche
alone. No halt was made till the outskirts of
Buenos Ayres were reached, and at the very
entrance to the streets Craufurd re-formed his
men, who, flushed and e.xcited with their prompt
success, had fallen into some natural disorder.
Then was the time when Buenos Ayres should
have fallen. A resolute advance at the heels of
its disheartened and flying defenders would, it is
verj- certain, have crushed ever}- attempt at
opposition, and the morning of the 3rd Jul\-
ought to have seen the English flag again float-
ing proudly over the town. If General White-
locke, with the main body of his arm}-, had
followed closely the advanced brigades, and had
now been at hand, no other blow need have
been struck, no other shot fired.' If even General
Gower had shared in a small degree the military
insight and boiling courage of General Craufurd,
and had boldly entered the streets with Lum-
ley's brigade and Craufurd's light troops, the
result would have been almost equally certain-
But Whitelocke was still far distant, and, despite
Craufurd's strongly-expressed opinion and readi-
ness to crown the work so well commenced,
General Gower resolved to do no more for the
time. The advanced brigades were withdrawn
to the Coral, and only picquets were left to
mark the points where the tide of pursuit had
been stayed, and whence the Rifles and light
battalion, much against their will, had been
ordered to fall back.
As the English soldiers la\- upon their arms,
the bivouac that night was wretched in the
extreme. Overpowered with fatigue and hunger
— for the\- had had no food for more than t\velve
hours — without fire or shelter, and drenched
with tropical rains, believing, moreover, that if
it had not been for the shortcomings of their
generals the\- would even then be in Buenos
Ayres, their cheerfulness was sustained b^■ the
hope that the entry into the town was only
delayed till it could be effected by davlight on
the following morning. But alread\- the only
gleam of success that was to shine upon the
army in South America had died awav, and
nothing but disaster was left for the future.
Hopes were still entertained that General
Whitelocke, with the main body of the army,
must be near at hand, and would soon join the
advanced brigades, and reconnoitring parties
were sent out to try to establish communication
with him. It was not, however, till the after-
noon (if the ;rd that — too late to profit by
the discouragement which existed among the
Spaniards on the evening of the 2nd— he made
his appearance. He had not followed where
the brigades of Craufurd and Lumle}- had led
across the Chuelo b\- the Passa Chico ; but,
making a long detour of thirty miles, he had
passed the river much higher up its course,
and now brought in his men w-earied with
unnecessary toil, and, still worse, showing signs
of discontent and loss of confidence.
In the morning of the 3rd General Gower
sent a staff-officer into the town under a flag
of truce, summoning General Liniers, command-
ing the Spanish forces, to surrender the place.
But the panic of the previous evening had
passed away and the answer returned was,
" We possess sufficient strength and courage
to defend our town." Closely following this
answer came an attack in force upon the
English picquets, who were obliged to give
way until they were supported ; and after a
desultory action lasting nearly two hours, in
which both sides suffered some loss, the
Spaniards again retired into the town.
Though General Whitelocke had now his
army concentrated, though every hour added to
the confidence of the enemy, and though delay-
seriously impaired the power of his own troops,
both by the material losses which it involved
and by the discouragement which it inevitably
brought, the English general appears to have
been in a painful state of indecision or irresolu-
tion. No plan of action was undertaken, and
the Spaniards were able at will to insult and
press upon the picquets, acting under cover of
outlying houses, and to inflict losses for which
adequate retaliation was difficult, if not impos-
sible. Like the 3rd of July, the 4th was also
allowed to pass in inaction, and it was not till
the 5th that any forward movement was made.
The town of Buenos Ayres was, in 1807, about
two miles in length by one in breadth. Its
streets were rectangular, and the greater part
of the houses were lofty, well-built, with roofs
surrounded b\- parapets about four feet high.
In the centre of the town was the castle, a small
and feeble work, and near it was the great
square. La Plaza. . The principal buildings were,
at the west end, El Retiro, the amphitheatre for
bull-fights, and, at the east end of the town, an
extensive building called Residentia, originally
intended to be a royal hospital, and the church
and monastery of St. Domingo. As has been
told, the Spaniards on the night of the 2nd July
were in a state of the utmost terror and confusion,
EUENOS AYRES.
1^3
prepared, if the English troops marched in, to
receive them ;is conquerors. But the delays of
Generals Whitelocke and Gower gave them
time to re-collect themselves, (jeneral I.iniers
e.xerted himself energetically to re>tiire ihcir
courage, and, well seconded by his officers and
by the clergy, whose aid he had invoked, he
changed the spirit of the population from a weak
and pusillanimous despair to a stern and patriotic
determinatio;i to. defend their town to the last.
Active mca-jures for defence were taken.
. Trenches were cut in the principal streets,
cannon were placed in position, the slaves were
armed, and even the women were inspired to
assist in the coming struggle by throwing
grenades from the housetops on hostile troops
which might march below. The total number
of defenders consisted of about 9,000 regulars,
militia, and volunteer corps, all in some state
of discipline, and about 5,ooo men, formed in
irregular companies, who had taken up arms
for the occasion.
It has been told that the 3rd and 4th of
July were allowed to slip away without any
forward action being taken by General White-
locke. On the afternoon of the 4th, however,
orders were issued for a general assault upon
Buenos Ayres on the following morning. The
available force was now, owing to losses and to
the number of troops on various detachments,
under 8,ooo strong. No definite tactical plan
» appears to have been formed. Objective points
were indeed indicated to the commanders of
columns, but the mutual relation which these
points, if gained, were to bear to each other
for assistance an;l support was entirely over-
looked. No arrangements were made for com-
munication between the various portions of the
force employed, or for receiving or asking for
ord-ers from the commander-in-chief. Above all,
no lines of retreat were decided on in case
resistance should be met too powerful to be
overcome, and no reserve was kept con\eniently
at hand to support a success or neutralise a re-
pulse. For the assault of a large town, held bv
a force of fair troops in addition to a numerous
armed and fanatical population, the small armv
of attackers was divided into eight feeble columns,
which were to enter the .streets at different
widely-separated points, without reasonably full
instructions as to the general plan of the com-
mander-in-chief, without cohesion as parts of
one military body, and, except for a few en-
trenching tools, without any means of forcing
the obstacles which might ha\e been expected to
be met with. On the morning of Sunday, the
5th July, the troops were under arms at four
o'clock, and they hoped, at least, that they
should have been let loose upon their task while
tlarkness in some degree veiled their advance ;
but the sun was rising ere the signal was given
to commence the attack, and the columns were
put in motion.
Space does not permit that a detailed account
should be given of the operations of each column.
All did not encounter an equal amount of resist-
ance, but everywhere the resistance was of the
same character. Heavy fire was maintained from
the roofs of the houses. Hand-grenades, stink-
balls, brickbats, and other missiles were hurled
from above on the English soldiers as they ad-
vanced. Breastworks, made of hide bags filled
with earth, and deep ditches cut across the
streets gave cover to the defence, while artillery
opened a deadly discharge of grape at close
range. Ever as the points were reached on
which they had been directed the columns found
themselves surrounded. The men through whom
they had forced their way had again closed in,
and they were circled by a ring of fire. On the
left of the attack Sir Samuel Auchmut}-, with
the 87th and 38th, had bored his wa}-, though
with heavy loss, to El Retiro, and there esta-
blished himself, taking a number of prisoners
and three field-pieces, nor was the enemy able
again to dislodge him. The 5th Infantry also
penetrated to the convent of St. Catalina. The
36th made their way in the face of determined
opposition as far as the beach of the Rio de la
Plata, and their movement was signalised by the
gallant conduct of Lieutenant-Colonel Byrne,
who, with fifty men, charged and took two guns,
driving their defenders, 300 strong, before him.
Part of the regiment then managed to join
Auchmuty, and the remainder, finding no ten-
able position in which to establish themselves,
were obliged to retire. The 88th, acting in two
wings under Lieutenant-Colonel Duff and Major
\'andeleur, suffered almost more heavil}- than
any other portion of the armv. They fought
with the brilliant courage which has ahva3's
marked the " Connaught Rangers " ; but ex-
posed, outnumbered, with no hope of assistance,
and having lost 17 officers and 220 rank-and-file,
they were obliged to surrender at discretion.
The greatest di.saster, the most overwhelming
loss, was, however, suffered at the right centre.
Here was the fiery Craufurd with the Light
Brigade, which had already shown such un-
daunted determination, such a formidable warrior
124
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
spirit. It was formed in two columns, of which
the right was commanded by Craufurd himself
and the left bv Lieutenant-Colonel Pack, after-
wards Sir Dennis Pack, the famous hero of the
Peninsula. Craufurd had been ordered to make
his way through the town to the Rio de la
Plata, and to occupy any high buildings as near
as possible to La Plaza. Two three-pounder
field-pieces accompanied his brigade, and, though
the victims of continuous musketry fire from liie
housetops, and the fianking discharge of artillery
from their left front, they reached the great
church of St. Domingo. By this time, besides
the many losses in the main body of Craufurd's
column, the officer commanding and the greater
portion of the advanced guard had been laid
low. It was essential to secure some cover from
the withering storm of bullets, some post of
vantage which might possibly be made good
against the enemy, and serve as a base from which
further operations might be undertaken, if the
rest of the army had closed upon the citv with
the success which was hoped for. The door of
the St. Domingo church was battered in and the
building occupied. Unfortunately, its roof was
sloping, and afforded no secure military position,
as did the flat roofs of the surrounding houses,
from which the Spaniards were still able to pour
in a destructive and unceasing fire. Lieutenant-
Colonel Guard, with the Grenadier company of
the 45th, now joined Craufurd, and till twelve
o'clock in the day there was no reason to believe
that the rest of the army had not been also suc-
cessful in establishing themselves close to the
enemj-'s main position. At that hour, however,
1 Spanish officer with a flag of truce approached.
Craufurd thought that he had come from General
Liniers with an offer to capitulate. Bitter was
his disappointment when the Spaniard informed
him that the 88th had been taken prisoners,
and summoned him to surrender. Craufurd
could not believe that he had been abandoned
by General Whitelocke, and still thought that
if he could not be supported, at least some
attempt would be made to communicate with
him. He feared to compromise the whole
situation of the army, and returned a per-
emptory refusal to General Linier's summons.
As time wore on, however, it became more
and more apparent that no succour was to
be hoped for, and he resolved to take the first
opportunit}- of withdrawing from the town. If
a large number of the enemy could be engaged
in the stieets, Craufurd thought that the fire
from the houses would be neutralised, as the
Spaniards would be afraid of hitting their own
friends. A considerable colunm of the enemy
was now entering the street on the west side of
the church, apparently intending to seize one
of the English field-pieces which had been left
outside the building. The Rifles were ordered
to form up ready for a salJy, and while they
were doing so the enemy's column was gallantl}-
attacked by Lieutenant-Colonel Guard with the
Grenadiers of the 45th, and by a small party
of light infantry under Major Trotter. The
column ^ave wa}-, but the fire from the sur-
rounding houses was so severe that Major
Trotter and about forty of the attackers were
killed or wounded in two or three minutes.
It was evidently impossible to retire, and there
was nothing for it but to continue the defence
of the church, hoping against hope for some
favourable turn of events.
At half-past three there could be no longer
any doubt that the attack on Buenos Ayres had
failed. His men were falling fast, the enemy
were bringing heav}- guns into position to batter
the church, and Craufurd felt that further sacri-
fice of life could not be of any advantage. Re-
pugnant to his brave spirit as was the dut\-, he
surrendered himself, with the shattered remnants
of his brigade, as prisoners of war at four o'clock.
It only remains to tell how it fared with the
right of the English attack on Buenos A3-res.
The 45th Regiment, on the extreme right, under
Lieutenant-Colonel Guard, obtained possession
of Residencia, after meeting with some opposition
from a body of Spaniards stationed with some
artillery in an open space. The guns were soon
abandoned, however, and, there being no resist-
ance from the neighbouring houses, the e.xtensive
building was crowned with the colours of the
regiment. Lieutenant-Colonel Guard then, as
has been seen, joined General Craufurd with his
Grenadiers, and shared the fate of the Light Bri-
gade. Major Nicholls was left in command at
Residencia, and, though the Spaniards made re-
peated attempts to recover the building, he
maintained his post by skilful defence and occa-
sional sallies, in one of which he took four
pieces of cannon. Between the 45th and the
Light Brigade, the Carabiniers entered the town
and penetrated some distance, but they were
unable to overcome the resistance which they
encountered and were forced to retire after
severe loss, Captain Burrell being among the
killed and Colonel Kington severely wounded.
The result of the disastrous 'th July was that
the English army lost above 70 officers and 1,000
BUENOS AYRES.
men, killed or badly wounded, and 120 officers
and 1 ,500 men were taken prisoners. Aban-
doned by their chief — who took no active part in
the day's operations, who gave no command,
who had shown no forethought, and who failed
to afford either counsel or example — the subordin-
;ite leaders and the men of the various columns
had fought with a bravery and discipline worthy
of the best traditions of the English army. If
disgrace and shame there was, at least their
in such terms, that he did not think they were
to be relied upon for further effort under his
command.
General Whitelocke put the seal to the story
of his ineptitude and disgrace by making a treaty
with the Spanish leaders, giving up all the advan-
tages whicli had previously been gained on the
Rio de la Plata, and engaging to withdraw from
and deliver up the town and fortress of Monte
Video. He only stipulated for an unimpeded
' GUNl-.K.M, WIUTELOCKE WAS TRIED BY COURT-MARTIAL.
honour was untainted, their valour had shown
itself to be unquestionable. But, though General
\V hitelocke's army failed not in doing its best to
accomplish a task given to them in a manner
which rendered it impossible of fulfilment, they
would nut have been men if thev had not felt
acutely and expressed emphatically their mortifica-
tion and disgust at the way in which they had been
commanded. Craufurd himself publicly called
Whitelocke a traitor, and even told his men to
shoot him dead if he was seen in the battle ;
and Sir Samuel Auchmuty afterwards said that
the soldiers of his column had so greath- lost
confidence, and were speaking of their general
retreat and embarkation, and that all the prisoners
of war should be restored. In January, 1808,
General Whitelocke was tried by court-martial
at Chelsea Hospital, and was sentenced " to be
cashiered, and declared totally unfit and un
worthy to serve his Majesty in any military
capacity whatever."
So keen and widespread was the national and
military feeling of indignation at the way in
which the South American campaign had been
conducted that, for long after that period, the
common toast in canteens and public-houses was,
" Success to grey hairs, but bad luck to xchfte
locks ! "
126
THE issue of the first Sikh war (1845-46)
had placed the vast territory of the
Punjaub at the mercy of the British
Government, and Lord Hardinge,
the Governor - General of the period, might
have incorporated it in the dominions of
the East India Company. But he decided to
avoid the last resource of annexation, and the
Treaty of Lahore accorded a nominally inde-
pendent sovereignty to the boy Prince Dhulip
Singh. Henry Lawrence was in residence at
Lahore as the British representative in the Pun-
jaub, and the Sikh army was being reorganised
and limited to a certain specific strength. Within
a few months the Prime Minister, Lall Singh, was
deposed, and by an arrangement settled in De-
cember, 1846, a council of regency composed of
eight leading Sikh chiefs was appointed to act
under the control and guidance of the British
Resident, who was to exercise unlimited influ-
ence in all matters of internal administration and
external policy. This arrangement was to con-
tinue for eight years, until the 3-oung Maharajah
Dhulip Singh should reach his majority. The
treaty conferred on the Resident unprecedented
powers, and Major Henr\- Lawrence, an officer of
the Company's artillery, became in effect the
successor of Runjeet Singh.
This settlement had a specious aspect of some
measure of permanency. It might have lasted
longer if the state of his health had permitted
Henrj- Lawrence to remain at his post, but it
was unsound at the core ; for a valiant and tur-
bulent race does not bow the knee submissively
alter a single disastrous campaign on its fron-
tier. When in January, 1848, Henry Lawrence
sailed on sick furlough from Calcutta to Eng-
land in company with the retiring Governor-
General, he left the Punjaub, to all appearance,
in a state of unruffled peacefulness. At Lahore,
Peshawur, Attock, Bunnoo, Hazara, British
officers vvere quietly drilling Sikh and Pathan
regiments, giving lessons in good government to
great Sikh officials and sirdars, enforcing a rough-
and-ready justice among rude tribes accustomed
to obey no master whom they could not person-
ally revere. Henry Lawrence's successor was
Sir Frederick Currie, an able official, but scarcely
the man to rule the Punjaub, for he was a
civilian, and the position required the experience
and military knowledge of a soldier.
The deceptive quietude of the Punjaub was
soon to be broken. When Currie arrived at
Lahore, he found INIoolraj, the governor of
Mooltan, who had come to offer the resignation
of his position for reasons which were chiefly
personal. His resignation was accepted, a new
governor being appointed in his place, who set
out for Mooltan accompanied by Mr. Vans
Agnew, of the Bengal Civil Service, and his
assistant, Lieutenant Anderson, of the Bombay
army. ]\Ioolraj travelled with the escort of the
new governor, to whom, on arrival at Mooltan,
he formally surrendered the fort. After the
ceremony Agnew and Anderson started for their
camp, Moolraj riding with the two English
gentlemen. At the gate of the fortress Agnew
was suddenly attacked, speared through the side,
and slashed by sword-cuts. At the same mo-
ment Anderson was cut down and desperately
wounded. Moolraj galloped off, leaving the
Englishmen to their fate. Two days later
they were brutally slaughtered, their bodies cut
to pieces, and their heads contumeliously thrown
at the feet of Moolraj. On the morning after the
assassination Moolraj placed himself at the head
of the insurrection, by issuing a proclamation
calling on the Sikh nation to rise and make
common cause against the " Feringhees."
Tidings of the outrage and rising at Mooltan
reached Lahore on April 24th. It was emphati-
cally a time for prompt action, if an outbreak
J
THE SFXOND SIKH WAR.
127
r
was to be crustiea which else miylit become a
general revult throughout the Punjaub. Sir
Henry Lawrence woukl have marched the La-
hore brigade on Mooltan without a moment's
hesitation. Lord Hardinge would have ordered
up troops and siege-train from Ferozepore and
Bukkur, and would have invested Mooltan be-
fore Moolraj could have prepared for a long
defence. True, marches could not have been
made in the hot season without casualties ; but,
in the masterful words of Marshman, " our em-
pire in Lidia had been acquired and maintained,
not by fair-weather campaigns, but by taking the
field on every emergency and at any season."
.Currie, to do him justice, did order a brigade to
larch on Mooltan, in the belief that the place
would not maintain a defence when a British
r, force should approach it ; but eventually, in great
leasure because of the arguments advanced by
(Sir Colin Campbell, who was not always enter-
irising, the movement from Lahore to Mooltan
•as countermanded ; and the commander-in-
-chief, Lord Gough, with the concurrence of Lord
•alhousie, the new Governor-General, intimated
lis resolve to postpone military operations until
:he cold weather, when he would take the field
tin person.
Meanwhile a casual subaltern, for whom swift
marches and hard fighting in hot weather had no
:errors, struck in valiantly on his own responsi-
lility. Gathering in the wild trans-Indus dis-
:rict of Bunnoo some 1 ,500 men with a couple
if guns. Lieutenant Herbert Edwardes marched
iowards Mooltan. Colonel Cortlandt, with 2,000
[Pathans and si.\ guns, hastened to join him ; and
ion May 20th the united force defeated Moolraj's
.rmy, 6,000 strong. The loyal Nawab of Bhawal-
'pore sent a strong force of his warlike Daud-
lutras across the Sutlej to join hands with
■Edwardes and Cortlandt ; and the junction had
just been accomplished on the field of Kinairi,
some twenty miles from Mooltan, when the
allies were attacked by Moolraj with a force
of about equal magnitude. After half a day's
hard fighting the enemy fled in confusion. Ed-
[■wardes and Cortlandt moved up nearer Mooltan,
their force now amounting to about 15,000, and
■there was a moment when Moolraj seemed will-
ling to surrender if his life were spared. But he
rallied his nerves, and on July ist he had some
12,000 men, with eleven guns, drawn out for
battle on the plain of Sudusain, not far from
Mooltan, face to face with Edwardes, Cortlandt,
['the Sheikh Imamuddin, and the brave young
Lake. After a mutual cannonade of several
hours, the dashing charge made by one of
Cortlandt's regiments led by a gallant young
Irish volunteer named Quin, settled the question
against Moolraj, who rode hard at the head of
his fugitive troops to find shelter in his fortress.
'• Now," wrote Edwardes to the Resident, " is
the time to strike. I have got to the end of my
tether. If vou will only send a few regular regi-
ments, with a few siege-guns and a mortar
battery, we could close Moolraj's account in a
fortnight, and obviate the necessity of assembling
50,000 men in October."
In tardy answer to this appeal, in the end of
July a force of 7,000 men with a siege-train was
ordered to converge on Mooltan from Lahore
and Ferozepore, under the divisional command
of General Whish. But, meanwhile, Currie had
empowered the Lahore Durbar to despatch to
Mooltan a Sikh force under Shere Singh. It
was notorious that commander and troops were
alike thoroughly disaflTected ; and Shere Singh
actually had orders to halt fifty miles short of
ISIooltan, and was only allowed to join Edwardes
after the victory of July I St. By the end of
August, Whish's field-force was before Mooltan,
but the siege-guns were not in position until a
fortnight later. Moolraj held out resolutely ;
and active and bloody approaches were carried
on for a week, when Shere Singh and his con-
tingent suddenly passed over to the enemy.
After this defection Whish held it impracticable
to continue the siege, and he retired to a
position in the vicinity pending the arrival of
reinforcements from the Bombay side. The
siege was re-opened late in December ; the city
was stormed after a hard fight ; and, finally, on
January 22nd, 184Q, iMoolraj surrendered at
discretion. It must be said of him that he had
made a stubborn and gallant defence.
By the end of September, 1848, the local out-
break v.-as fast swelling into a national revolt.
The flame of rebellion was spreading over the
Land of the Five Rivers ; and bv the end of
October only a few brave English officers were
still holding together the last shreds of British
influence in the Punjaub outside of Lahore and
the camp of General Whish. Moolraj and
Shere Singh had quarrelled ; and in the begin-
ning of October the latter sirdar left Mooltan and
marched northward in the direction of Lahore,
his original force of 5,000 men strengthened at
every step by the warriors of the old Khalsa
army, who flocked eagerly to his standard.
After threatening Lahore he moved westward
to effect a iunction with the Bunnoo insurgents,
128
BATTLES OK FHE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
wlio hud mutinied and murdered their officers ;
and he finally tuok up a position on both sides
of tlie river at Kammiggur, his main body can-
toned on the right bank of the river.
Lord Dalhousie had realised from the collapse
of the siege of Mooltan that he had before him a
serious campaign in the Punjaub. He promptly
ordered the assemblage of a large force at
Ferozepore, and the movement from Bombay of
a smaller body to act against Mooltan. He
infantry regiments, taking command of the
advanced force with the temporary rank oi
brigadier-general. At length Lord Gough him-
self took the field, crossing the Ravee on the
iqth at the head of his main body. His strength
was respectable. Apart from the division before
Mooltan and the garrison of Lahore, he had
available for field-service four British and eleven
native infantry regiments. He was exceptionally "
strong in cavalry, with three fine European
THE jL'RRENDER OK MOOLRAI.
accepted without reserve the cnallenge flung at
him from the collective Punjaub. '' Unwarned
by precedent, uninfluenced by example, the
Sikh nation lias called for war ; and on my
word, sirs, war they shall have, and with a
vengeance ! " were his stirring words at the
farewell dinner given him by the officers of
Barrackpore. By the end of September regi-
ments were advancing from Meerut, Umballa,
Sabatoo, and JuUunder towards the Sutlej or
the Ravee. Before October was done the
leading brigades of the army of the Punjaub
had marched past Lahore across the Ravee
towards the rendezvous at Shahdara. Cureton's
cavalry brigade and Godby's infantry brigade
were already there, and on November I2th
Colin Campbell jodned Cureton with tw* native
regiments, five ot native light cavalry, and five
corps of irregular horse : and his powerful
artiller}- consisted of sixt}- horse- and field-guns,
eight howitzers, and ten i8-pounders.
Lord Gough was by no means a strategical
genius, but he was a fighting soldier. He had
served under Wellington in the Peninsula and
at Waterloo with great distinction, but reckless-
ness was one of his leading attributes. He was
alwavs eager for the fray, and the sort of fighting
he most delighted in was what, in his Irish
accent, he called the " could steel." The enemy,
he was informed, were still about Ramnuggur,
their outpost on the left bank of the Chenab ;
and Gough became at once in a blaze of eager-
ness to drive them across the river. Before
davbreak of the 22nd he was on the march with
THK SECOND SIKH WAR.
I2q
the whole of Cureton's fine cavah'v, Campbell's
infantry division, two field-batteries and as
many troops of horse artillery ; the fiery old
chief riding at the head of the force. Some
skirmishing occurred about the village and fort
of Ramnuggur ; but the Sikh detachments were
already retreating across the river when the
British guns opened on them a rapid and telling
tfire. Bent on pressing the fugitives, Lane and
IWarner galloped their si.x-pounders over the
Ideep sand which formed a wide border to the
"now attenuated stream. As they fired at the
runaways crowding across the ford, answering
shots began to reach them from the heavier
"Sikh ordnance placed in battery on the further
bank. By-and-by the Sikh fire became so hot
that the withdrawal of the British pieces became
imperative ; but when the order to limber up
was given, one of Lane's guns and two ammuni-
tion waggons were found to be stuck fast in the
deep sand.
The order to spike and abandon the gun
was unwillingly obeyed, since there seemed no
alternative ; and Gough disapproved of Colin
Campbell's sensible suggestion that the piece
should be protected until it could be withdrawn
under nightfall, by placing infantry to cover it
in a ravine immediately in its rear. As the
gunners of the lost piece and the rest of the
guns retired, Ouvr3-'s squadron of the famous
3rd Light Dragoons drew off the enemy's
attention by a daring charge into a mass of
Sikhs posted near an island, within easy cover
of their own guns. The enemy lost no time in
sending the whole of his cavalry across the river
to take possession of the stranded gun, under
cover of his overwhelming artillery fire. Our
cavalry was recklessly sent forward to cope with
the superior hostile Horse — a folly committed,
according to Campbell, under the personal
superintendence of the fiery commander-in-
chief Willianr Havelock, the gallant colonel
of the 14th Light Dragoons and the brother
of the more famous Henry, sought and obtained
permission to cross swords with the insolent
Sikh horsemen. His ardent troopers thundered
behind their leader, nobly seconded by their
swarthy comrades of the 3rd Bengal Cavalry.
Li a few minutes the Sikh Horse were broken
and scattered by the headlong onset of an
officer famed for his daring in the wars of
the Peninsula. Had Havelock halted after this
achievement all would have been well ; but
the approach of another body of Sikh horse-
men tempted him to his destruction, and that
57
of man)- of his gallant troopers. Waving his
sword and shouting to his men to follow him,
Havelock dashed on through the heavy sands,
further yet into the mud and water, where
horses floundered and men were helpless under
a cruel grape and matchlock fire, supported by
the keen tulwars of the Sikh light horsemen.
They, indeed, w-ere finally borne back to the
river, and under cover of their own batteries ;
but this much of gain was dearly purchased by
the loss of QO men and 140 horses killed or
wounded. Havelock himself, after a hand-to-
hand combat, fell covered with wounds by the
water's edge. Several other officers were killed
or wounded. But the heaviest loss of that sad
da}- was the death of the gallant Cureton, the
adjutant-general of the army, who fell dead
when riding forward to stay Havelock's eflbrt
to charge yet again. Renowned for brave deeds
in many an action against French, Afghans,
l\L\hrattas, and Sikhs ; beloved alike by officers
and men, Cureton fell close to that very
regiment in which, a wild youth fleeing from
his creditors, he had begun his soldiering by
enlisting in it as a private trooper. His body,
which Holmes, of the Irregulars, was badh-
wounded in trying to rescue, was buried at
Ramnuggur with all the honours, in the same
grave to which the corpse of Havelock was later
consigned.
Lord Gough withdrew his troops beyond the
reach of the Sikh batteries, and awaited the
arrival of his guns and the remainder of his
forces. He was well placed on the left bank of
the Chenab, covering Lahore and the siege of
Mooltan, and leaving Shere Singh undisturbed ;
while, had he preferred the offensive, a rapid
stroke might have ended the business, for the
Sikhs were eager enough for fighting. To
gratify their desire he would have had to cross
the river — to accomplish which b\- direct assault
on the Sikh position on the opposite bank was
impracticable. So Gough resolved to compel the
enemy's withdrawal by a wide-turning move-
ment with part of his force under Sir Joseph
Thackwell. That officer's command consisted
of Campbell's division, a cavalrj- brigade, and a
powerful artillery — about 8,000 men. The force
started on the early morning of December ist,
- and after marching twenty-four miles up the left
bank of the Chenab, crossed that river at noon of
the 2nd. The following morning, after march-
ing about fifteen miles down the right bank,
Thackwell's command was close to the enemy in
front of the village of Sadoolapore. Thackwell.
no
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
hearing of the approach of a reinforcement,
rode away in search of it, refusing Campbell's
request to deploy and take up a position.
Campbell's reconnaissance convinced him that
the enemy was near and in force ; but in his
own words. " My command was not in formation
for troops liable to be attacked at any moment ;
but my orders were imperative not to deploy.''
As a measure of protection he occupied with an
infantry company each of three villages in his
front ; but Thackwell on his return ordered
their withdrawal, and the columns were deployed.
Between the British line and the twenty pieces
of cannon from which the Sikhs were heavily
firing from the villages while the}' were threaten-
ing the British flanks with cavalrj', was a smooth
open space over which Thackwell desired to
attack. Campbell suggested that, "as they were
coming on so cockily, we should allow them to
come out into the plain before we moved." The
cannonade proceeded, and it seemed presently
the moment for an advance ; but Thackwell
preferred caution, hoping, most likely, for a
decisive victory on the morrow. But he was
baulked, since during the night the enemy
withdrew toward the Jhelum, probably without
having sustained serious loss ; that of the British
amounted to seventy men. Thackwell's turning
operation had not been brilliant, and Sadoolapore
was not an affair to be very proud of; but it
brought about the relinquishment by the Sikhs of
their position on the right bank of the Chenab,
and this enabled the main British force to cross
the river. By the 5 th the mass of the army was
at Hej-lah, about midway between Ramnuggur
and Chillianwallah, but the commander-in-chief
and headquarters did not cross the Chenab until
December i8th.
If until then Lord Gough had been tram-
melled by superior authority, a few days later
he was set free to act on his own judgment,
the result of which permission was simply
absolute inaction until January, i84q. On the
nth of that month he reviewed his troops
at Lassourie, and ne.xt day he was encamped
at Dinghee, whence the Sikh army had fallen
back into the sheltering jungle, its right rest-
ing on Mung, its left and centre on the broken
ground and strong entrenchments about the
village and heights of Rassoul. That was a very
strong defensive position, held by more than
30,000 brave men, with a battery of si.xty guns
^a position which only a daring commander
would have ventured to assail with an army
under 14,000 strong. Among the wiser officers
of Gough's staff were men who were anxious
that the ground over which the enemy's posi-
tion was to be approached should first be
properly reconnoitred. Here is a significant pas-
sage in the memoirs of Sir Henrj' Durand : —
" Whilst in the commander-in-chief's camp on
the iith the projected attack on the enemj-'s
position was described to me by General Camp-
bell. He had just been with the chief, who
had spoken of attacking the Sikh position on
the 13th. Campbell, seeing that his lordship
had no intention of properly reconnoitring the
position, was anxious on the subject, and we
went into the tent of Tremenheere, the chief
engineer, to discuss the matter. Campbell
opened on the subject, announcing the inten-
tion to attack without any other reconnaissance
than such as the moment might offer in de-
bouching from the jungle. He advocated a
second march from Dinghee, the force prepared
to bivouac for the night, and that the 13th
should be passed by the engineers in recon-
noitring. Campbell wished Tremenheere to
suggest this measure in a quiet waj- to Lord
Gough ; but he said that since the passage of
the Chenab the chief was determined to take
no advice, or brook any volunteered opinion,
and he proposed that I should speak to John
Gough (the commander-in-chief's nephew) to
tr}' to engage him to put it into Lord Gough's
mind to adopt such a course." It is not certain
that anything came of this improvised council
of war, but there is no suggestion that up to the
afternoon of the 13th, Lord Gough intended to
defer the attack until the morning of the 14th.
As it was, early on the 13th the army was at
length on march towards the enemy. The heavy
guns moved along the road leading over the Ras-
soul ridge to the fords of the Jhelum beyond. Gil-
bert's division marched on their right, Campbell's
on their left, with the cavalry and light artillery
on their respective flanks. The original inten-
tion was that Gilbert's (the right) division, with
the greater part of the field-guns, was to advance
direct on Rassoul, while Campbell's division and
the heavy guns should stand fast on the left,
overthrow the left of the Sikhs, and cut them
off from retiring along the high road towards
the Jhelum. Their left thus turned, Gilbert and
Campbell were to operate conjointly against the
Sikh line, which it was hoped would he rolled
back on Mung and driven to the southward.
But when deserters brought in the intelligence
that the enemy was forming behind the village
of Chillianwallah, on the left front of the British
THE SECOND SIKH WAR.
131
line of march, Gough quitted the Rassoul road,
inchiied to his left, and marched straight on
Chillianwallah. An outpost on the mound of
Chillianwallah was driven off, and from this
elevated position was clearly visible the Sikh
army drawn out in battle array. Its right centre,
directly in front of Chillianwallah, was about two
miles distant from that village, but less from the
British line, which was being deployed about five
^hundred yards in its front. There was a gap
learly three-fourths of a mile wide between the
right wing of the Sikh detachment under Utar
singh and the right flank of the main body under
shere Singh. The British line, when deployed,
could do little more than oppose a front to
Shere Singh's centre and right, which latter,
however, it overlapped a little, so that part of
Campbell's left brigade was opposite to a section
of the gap between Shere Singh's right and
Utar Singh's left. Between the hostile lines
there intervened a belt of rather dense, low
jungle — not forest, but a mixture of thorny
mimosa, bushes, and wild caper.
It was near two o'clock in the afternoon of a
short winter day, and the troops had been under
arms since daybreak. Lord Gough, therefore,
had wisely determined to defer the action until
the morrow, and the camping-ground was being
marked out. But the Sikh leaders knew well
how prone to kindle was the temperament of
the gallant old British chief. They themselves
were keen for fighting, and the British com-
mander needed little provocation to reciprocate
their mood when they gave him a challenge of
a few cannon-shots. Late in the day though it
was, he determined on immediate attack. The
heavy guns were ordered up and opened fire ;
but the advance of the infantry soon obliged the
fire of the guns to cease. The line pressed on
eagerly, its formation somewhat impaired by the
density of the jungle, and met in the teeth, as
it pushed forward, by the artillery fire which the
enemy poured on the advancing ranks. For a
while nothing was to be heard but the roar of
the Sikh cannonade ; but presently the sharp
rattle of the musketry fire told that the conflict
had begun in earnest, and that the British
infantry was closing on the hostile guns. Of
.he two British divisions Gilbert's had the right,
Campbell's the left ; the latter had been the first
to receive the order to advance, and was the
first to become engaged. Pennycuick com-
manded Campbell's right brigade, consisting of
the 24th Queen's and the 25th and 45th Native
Infantry regiments ; Hoggan's, his left brigade.
was formed of the 6 1st Queen's and the 36th
and 46th Sepoy regiments. In the interval
between the two brigades moved a field-battery,
and on the left of the division three guns of
another. At some distance on Campbell's left
were a cavalry brigade and three troops of horse
artillery under Thackwell, charged to engage
Utar Singh's detachment, and hinder that force
from striking at Campbell in flank and in reverse.
The nature of the ground prevented the divi-
sional commander from superintending more
than one brigade, and Campbell had arranged
with Pennycuick that he himself should remain
with the left brigade. Pennycuick's brigade
experienced an adverse fate. During the
advance its regiments suffered cruelly from the
fire of eighteen guns directly in their front.
The 24th, a fine and exceptionally strong regi-
ment, carried the hostile batteries by storm,
but encountered a deadly fire from the infantry
masses on either flank of the Sikh guns. The
regiment sustained dreadful losses. Pennycuick
was killed ; his gallant son, a mere lad, sprang
forward sword in hand, and bestrode his father's
body until he himself fell across it a corpse.
Thirteen officers of the regiment were killed
at the guns, nine were wounded ; 203 men were
killed and 266 wounded. The native regiments
of the brigade failed to support the 24th, and
musketry volleys from the Sikh infantr}-, fol-
lowed by a rush of cavalrj-, completed the dis-
order and defeat of the ill-fated body. Already
broken, it now fled, pursued with great havoc
by the Sikh Horse almost to its original position
at the beginning of the action.
Hoggan's brigade, the left of Campbell's
division, had better fortune, thanks to Camp-
bell's steady leading. The brigade approached
the enemy posted on an open space on a slight
rise. Four Sikh guns played upon it during the
advance ; a large body of cavalry stood directly
in front of the 6ist, and on the cavalry's left a
large infantry mass in face of the 36th Native
Infantry. Both the native regiments of the
brigade gave way, but the 6 1st advanced in line
firing steadily, a manoeuvre constantly practised
by Campbell, which put to flight the Sikh
cavalry. The enemy pushed two guns to
within twenty-five paces of the right flank of
the 6 1 St, and opened with grape. Campbell
promptly wheeled to the right the two right
companies of the 61st, and headed their charge
on the two Sikh guns. Those were captured,
and while the 6 1st was completing its new
alignment to the right — an evolution b\- which
13^
?,ATTLES OF THE XIXETF.EXTH CEXTURY.
Shure Singh's right flank was effectually turned —
the enemy advanced with two more guns
slEongl}- supported by infantry. Neither of the
two native regiments of the brigade was up ;
but, wrote Campbell, " the confident bearing of
the enemy and the close, steady fire of grape
from their two guns made it necessary to ad-
vance, and to charge when we got within proper
distance. I gave the successive commands to
advance and to charge ; heading the 6ist im-
mediately against the guns, and the successful
rounds in a hot duel with Utar Singh's canntn,
which else would have been playing on C impbells
flank ; and Unett's gallant troopers of the famcii
'■ 3rd Light " crashed through Sikii infantry
edging away to theii' left with intent to take
Campbell in reverse. Thackwell did his valiant
utmost until he and his command were called
awav to the endangered right, although he could
not entirely hinder Utar Singh's people from
molesting Campbell, for that commander had
to endure a brief period when he found himself
121/>v,v/j/,. THE SECOND SIKH WAR.
result gave the greatest confidence to the gallant
6 1 St." After the capture of the second two
guns and the dispersal of the enemy, Campbell
proceeded rolling up the enemv's line, and con-
tinued along the hostile position until he had
taken thirteen guns, all of them won by the
6 1 St at the point of the bavonet ; finally
meeting Mountain's brigade coming from the
opposite direction.
Campbell had to fight hard for his success ;
which, indeed, he might not have obtained, if
away on his left Thackwell had not been holding
Utar Singh in check and impeding his efforts to
harass Campbell's flank and rear. Brind's three
troops of horse-artillery e.xpended some 1,200
engaged simultaneousl_v in front, flank, and rear ;
and the brigade was extricated from its en-
tanglement onl}- b}- his own alert skill, and by
the indomitable staunchness of the noble oist.
Meanwhile there had been on the right a grear
deal of hard fighting, accompanied with grave
vicissitudes. Gilbert's right attack of infantry
was opened by his left brigade — Mountain's.
The 2Qth Queen's, advancing under « cmshing fire,
showed its native comrades the way into the Sikii
entrenchments, routing the eneniy and storming
his batteries. But one of the native regiments
of the brigade— the 36th Native Infantrj- — ^I'as
shivered into fragments b\ icpeated onsets of
the Sikh cavalrv. Its lead^s mo'-tally wounded.
THE SECOXn SIKH WAR.
133
six officers killed, 31(3 men slain or wounded,
botl'. colours lost or captured, the wreck of the
unfortunate regiment gradually rallied in rear of
Gilbert's right brigade. The 30th Sepoys lost a
colour, but maintained its ground alongside the
2Qth Queen's, two hundred of whom had gone
down under the Sikh fire. Godby's brigade on
the extreme right had been fighting under heavy
odds. The 2nd Europeans swept forward through
the jungle, with the 31st and 70th native
The cavalry brigade of the right came to sad
grief. Its four fine regiments, led by an efllete
colonel who could scarcely mount his horse, got
entangled in the brushwood and masked their
ow-n guns. While halted to restore cohesion,
the old brigadier was wounded by a Sikh trooper.
On a sudden some caitiff gave the word :
" Three's about ! " — from whose lips came the
dastard cry was never ascertained. As the line
went about, the pace quickened into a panic
CHARGE OF THE 3RD (KING'S OWN) LIGHT DRAGOONS, CH1LLIANWALI..\II.
(/^/v;// the Pkinrc by Henry Martens. By />er mission 0/ Mr. A. Aekemianu, Ke^ent Street, W.)
regiments on their left. Before the levelled
bayonets the Sikhs recoiled ; but, suddenly
surrounded on all sides by overwhelming num-
bers, the brigade was in imminent danger. The
Sepoys formed squares, but the 2nd Europeans
marched rear rank in front to grapple with their
new assailants. After three hours' steady fighting
Godby's soldiers had recovered their lost ground,
had driven their opponents everywhere off the
field, and had taken every hostile gun within
their reach. And their losses were comparatively
small ; but for their steady front and the well-
timed efforts of Dawes' gunners, it must have
been much heavier.
gallop, the British troopers followed closely by
a few hundred derisive Sikh hor.semen. Crowded
together in their headlong flight, the fugitive
dragoons rode right through and over Christie's
and Huish's batteries, disabling gunners, up-
setting tumbrils, and carrying ruin and dismay far
to the rear among the wounded and medical
staff. Four guns fell into the hands of the
enemy ; Christie was cut down, with many of
his gunners ; young Cureton was borne to death
in the hostile ranks ; Ekins, of the staff, perished
in a fruitless effort to rally the fugitives ; and not
till Lane's gunners had poured some rounds of
grape into the pursuers, while a wing of the
134
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
qth Lancers once more confronted the enemj,
were the Sikh horsemen daunted into a leisurely
retreat.
In spite of the disasters which chequered it,
the hattle of Chillianwallah may be regarded as
a technical victory for the British arms, since
the enemy were compelled to quit the field,
although they only retired into the strong posi-
tion on the Rassoul heights, from which in the
morning they had descended into the plain to
fight. Some forty of their guns had fallen into
our hands. Pursuit in the dark would have been
useless and dangerous over such ground, even
if Gough's soldiers had been less weary and
famished than they were. The moral results of
the action were dismal, and the cost of the
barren struggle was a loss of 2,400 killed and
wounded. At home the intelligence of this
waste of blood excited feelings of alarm and
indignation, and Sir Charles Napier was de-
spatched at a few hours' notice to supersede
Lord Gough in the position of commander-in-
chief. Gough was proud of his costly victor}-.
At first he would not hear of falling back ever
so little for the sake of getting water and pro-
tecting his rear. " What, leave my wounded
to be cut up ? Never ! " was his angry reply
to Campbell's counsel in favour of a short
retirement. But Campbell's arguments finally
prevailed, and the troops fell back in the deepen-
ing darkness on Chillianwallah, carrying with
them the greater proportion of their wounded.
Meanwhile, Gough's army lay passive in its
encampment at Chillianwallah, within sight of
the Sikh position at Rassoul, licking its wounds,
and awaiting the surrender of Mooltan and the
accession of strength it would receive in con-
sequence of that event, and of the reinforce-
ments which soon would be coming to it from
Lahore and Ramnuggur. Lord Gough had
succeeded in fighting the battle of Chillianwallah
before old Chater Singh could join hands on
the Jhelum with his son, Shere Singh ; but a
few days after the battle the old sirdar followed
the bulk of his own troops into his son's camp.
Shere Singh renewed the overtures which, two
days after the action of Ramnuggur, he had
made in vain. Now, as then. Lord Dalhousie
declined to treat with "rebels" on belligerent
terms. Chater Singh's British prisoners — George
Laurence, Herbert, and Bowie, who had been
sent on parole into Gough's camp — were bidden
to answer the Sikh leaders that nothing short
of unconditional surrender would be accepted
by the governor-general. If any harm befell
their English captives, on their heads would the
retribution lie.
The Sikh commander more than once gave m
the chief of the British army an opportunity
to join issue in battle ; but Gough, with tardy
wisdom, resisted the offered temptation, and re-
solved to refrain from active hostilities until his _.
reinforcements from Mooltan should reach him. 1
On January 26th a grand salute from the
heavy guns announced the welcome tidings of
the fall of Mooltan. As soon as this event be- J
came known to Shere Singh, he began a series ]
of movements towards his left, which Gough
replied to by throwing up a redoubt armed with
field-pieces beyond the right of his position.
On Februarj- iith the Sikh arm,y formed order
of battle before its lines, in direct challenge to
the English force, but Gough restrained himself
while he chafed. Next morning the Sikhs had
departed "bag and baggage" from their position
on the ridge of Rassoul. After a digression
towards the Puran Pass on the 13th, the whole
Sikh army marched unmolested round the
British flank and rear towards the Chenab at
Wazirabad, its chief, with sudden boldness,
seeking to cross the river and sweep down on
Lahore, while as yet the English should be
wondering whither he had betaken himself. But
on the 14th it became apparent that his actual
objective was Goojerat. Gough, slowly following
to within a march of that place, effected a
junction at Koonjah with the Mooltan force
on the 1 8th and iqth, and on the 20th advanced
to Shadawal, where the Sikh encampment
around the town of Goojerat was within sight
from the British camp. The battlefield of
February 21st was the wide plain to the south
of Goojerat. Shere Singh's camp lav crescent-
wise in front of the town, the right flank and
part of its front extending from Morarea Tibba,
where the Sikh cavalrj' was in force, along an
easterly bend of the Bimber (the western)
channel, a deep but dry nullah which wound
down towards Shadawal, thence across the plain
behind the three villages of Kulra, which were
occupied by infantry, to its extreme left at the
village of Malka Wallah, on the left bank of
the eastern channel — a deep, narrow stream
flowing into the Chenab.
It was a cool, bright winter morning when
the British army advanced against this extended
front in columns of brigade at deplo3ing dis-
tance over a fair expanse of level countrj' green
with young corn. Gough was now in com-
mand of 2 j,ooo men with ninety guns, of which
THE SFXOND SIKH WAR.
135
eighteen were heavy siege-pieces. The old
chief, radiant with the assurance of battle and
the prospect of victory, led his right and right
centre against the centre of his enemy. The
neavy guns, followed by two and a half brigades,
moved over the plain in the immediate right f f
the Bimber channel. Ne.\t on the right marched
Gilbert's two brigades — Mountain's and Penny's
— flanked by the guns of Dawes and Fordyce.
rurther to the right moved Whish's division,
with tield-batteries on either flank. The extreme
right was held by the cavalry brigades of Hear-
say and Lockwood supported by Warner's troop
of horse-artillery, Lane's and Kindleside's bat-
teries under Colonel Brind following in second
line. Apart on the left, beyond the western
channel, were Campbell's division and Dundas's
brigade of two fine British regiments, and still
further on the extreme left was Thackwell's
cavalry.
The Sikhs, ever ready with their artillery,
opened the battle with that arm. After marching
about two miles, " with the precision " — in the
words of Gough — " of a parade movement," the
British infantry halted and deployed into line,
the skirmishers and light batteries went to the
front, and the heavy pieces returned the fire
from the Sikh batteries. Gough had at last
been taught by hard experience that an artillery
preparation should precede his favourite " could
steel." While his infantry lay down in ordered
line, the batteries went out to the front and
began a magnificent and effective cannonade,
which lasted for two hours, and utterly crushed
the fire of the Sikh guns. The advantage in
numbers and weight of metal lay with Lord
Gough, and that advantage he would not be
tempted to forego with most of the day still before
him. The infantry line began its advance, but
had more than once to lie down to avoid the hail
of grape and round shot which fell thick among
the batteries in front. The gunners suffered
heavily ; Fordyce's troop had to fall back twice
for men, horses, and ammunition. The inevit-
able end drew nearer and nearer as the men
and horses of the enemy went down amid
shattered tumbrils and disabled guns under the
crushing fire of Gough's siege-guns.
But the Sikhs fought on with the high
courage of their race. The gunners were mostly
expended, but the grand old Khalsa infantry
and the staunch Bunnoo regiments showed still
a gallant front. The Sikh cavalry hovered on
either flank, eager to pass round into the British
rear ; but their efforts were thwarted by the fire
of Warner's guns and the counterstrokes of
Hearsey's and Lockwood's Horse. One band of
desperadoes did accomplish the turning move-
ment, and made a bold and desperate dash on
the .spot where stood Gough alongside of the
heavy guns ; but a charge by the chiefs escort
cut the daring band to pieces.
During the cannonade the infantry, excepting
the skirmishers, had not fired a shot. But at
length the three Khalsa villages were stormed,
after a desperate and prolonged resistance ; and
then the long majestic line swept on up the
plain towards Goojerat. There was little blood-
shed on the right of the Bimber channel, where
marched Campbell and Dundas ; but there was
plenty of that skill which conserves human life.
Campbell advanced with a strong line of skir-
mishers, the artillery in line with them. Having
deployed, the division advanced as if at a review,
the guns firing into the masses behind the
nullah, who gradually sought shelter in its chan-
nel. Those he dislodged by artillery fire which
enfiladed the nullah, which he had been ordered
to storm ; but he recognised that to do so must
cause a needless sacrifice of life, and he passed
his division across this formidable defence of
the enemy's right wing without firing a shot
or losing a man. " We had," wrote Campbell,
'• too much slaughter at Chillianwallah because
due precaution had not been taken to prevent
it by the employment of our magnificent
artiller}'."
The discomfiture of the enemy was thorough
— cavalry, infantry, and artillery fled from the
field in utter confusion. The rout was too
complete to allow of the reunion of formed
bodies in any order. A body of Sikh Horse with
a brigade of Afghan cavalry adventured a rash
advance on Thackwell's flank. He hurled
against them the Scinde Horse and the 9th
Lancers, and a wild stampede resulted. The rest
of the British cavalry struck in and rushed on,
dispersing, riding over, and trampling down the
Sikh infantry, capturing guns and waggons, and
converting the discomfited enemy into a shape-
less mass of fugitives. The pursuing troopers
did not draw rein until they had ridden fifteen
miles beyond Goojerat, by which time the army
of Shere Singh was an utter wreck, deprived of
its camp, its standards, and fifty-three of its
cherished guns.
On the morning after the battle Sir Walter
Gilbert, the '' Flying General," started in pur-
suit of the broken Khalsa host, followed later
by Brigadier-General Campbell. On the march
i?6
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
to Rawulpinclee the latter passed the greater
part of the Sikh army with its chiefs, who were
laying down their arms. Campbell was moved
by the fine attitude of the men of the Khalsa
army. " There was," he wrote, " nothing
cringing in the manner of these men in laying
down their arms. They acknowledged them-
selves beaten, and they were starving — destitute
alike of food and money. Each man as he laid
down his arms received a rupee to enable him
to support himself on his way to his home.
The greater number of the old men especially,
when laying down their arms, made a deep
reverence as they placed their swords on the
heap, with the muttered words ' Runjeet Singh
is dead to-dav ! ' " " This," continues Campbell,
" was said with deep feeling : they were un-
doubtedly a fine and brave people." The last
Punjaub campaign ended with the battle of
Goojerat ; and now for mai^y j'ears past the
Sikhs have been the most lo\'al, high-spirited,
and valorous of the native soldiers who in India
march and fighr under the banner of the
Empress-Queen.
THE TOME CF RU-VJEET SINGl!, 1AH0.1E.
137
ilill"i"ii"iliM
^^^ |INISIB:'W23j539'§^|(/kia( n
^" BY fl.HILLmRD^TTERIDOE "
A
^A
i
aiiiHMi)
NISIB is one of the half-forgotten battles
of the nineteenth century. Most
readers will wonder where and when
it was fought. Yet it was an event
which had far reaching consequences, and
might easil}' have changed the face of the East
and the after-current of the century's history.
And it is further notable as Von Moltke's first
battle, for it was on the borderlands of Syria
and Kurdistan and under the Ottoman crescent
that the great strategist had his first experience
of actual warfare.
Up to the end of the first quarter of the
present century the curious military organisation
of the Janissaries had been practically master of
the Ottoman empire. In 1826 Mahmoud II.
destroyed these too formidable guardsmen, who
till then had formed the main force of the
Turkish armies, and substituted for them
regular troops organised on European prin-
ciples. To quote a lively French account of the
new force, " it was organised on a European
model, with Russian tunics, French drill-books,
Belgian muskets, Turkish caps, Hungarian sad-
dles, and English cavalry sabres, and instructors
of all nations." One of these instructors was
young Hellmuth Von Moltke, the future field-
marshal of the new German empire.
Born at Liibeck in the first year of the cen-
tury, the son of a German officer in the Danish
service, \'on Moltke was educated at the militarv
school of Copenhagen, and received a commission
in the Danish army. But in 1S22 he transferred
his allegiance to Prussia, and obtained a second
lieutenant's commission in an infantry regiment
then stationed at Frankfort-on-the-Oder. Next
year he applied for and obtained admission to
the staff college, and after three years of study
returned to his regiment for a few months, and
then for several years was employed only on
staft' duties, chiefly on military surveys in various
parts of Prussia. In 1834, when he had risen
to the rank of captain on the general staff, he
obtained leave to travel, and after spending a
short time in Italy, made his way to Constanti-
nople, where, with the consent of his own
Government, he was officiallv attached to the
staff of the newly-organised Turkish army. His
first important work in these new surroundings
was to make a survey of the Bosphorus and the
Dardanelles, and to improve the defences of
these two approaches to the capital of the Otto-
man empire.
But he had come to the East in the hope ot
seeing active service, and though he had to wait
awhile, he was not disappointed. The Sultan and
his advisers recognised the thorough grasp of his
profession possessed by the Prussian captain, and
kept him employed at the headquarters of the
army in the capital, when personall}' he would
have preferred to be in the field. But at last the
situation on the borders of the empire became
so serious that Von Aloltke was sent to the front
to assist with his advice the Pashas who com-
manded in Asia.
For fate had declared against the Turkish
armies. Since the destruction of the terrible
Janissaries, the empire had lost province after
province. Greece had been made into a king-
dom ; Servia, and what is now Roumania, were
all but independent. The French were at
Algiers. And finallv an Albanian soldier named
Mehemet Ali, who had gone to Eg}-pt in lyqq
as one of the serv'ants of Khosref Pasha, had
made himself master of the country, and had
overrun with his armies Arabia, Syria, and
Crete. The Ottoman Government had been
glad to avert further conquests by recognising
him as the tributary ruler of this widely ex-
tended dominion ; but Mehemet persisted in
maintaining in S3'ria an army which was a
constant threat to Asia Minor, and even to
1 38
BATTLES OF THE NIXETEEXTH CENTURY.
Constantinople. It was commanded by his son
Ibrahim, a skilful and daring soldier ; and iu>t
only was Mehemet encouraged by the French
(jovernment to dream of a march to the shores
of the Bosphorns, but French officers had been
sent to assist and advise Ibrahim, in case he
ventured on this enterprise. The' Sultan knew
that it was only a question of time when Ibra-
him's well-trained army would march across the
Syrian border, and he had little confidence in
the military skill of the pashas who commanded
the armies he had gathered for the defence of
his Asiatic provinces. It was under these circum-
stances that in March, 1838, Captain Von Moltke
was ordered to proceed to the headquarters of
the Turkish armj' of Anatolia, taking with him
two other Prussian officers, his juniors in the
service, who were to act under his directions.
Crossing the Black Sea, and making a rapid
survey of several of the ports on its southern
coast. Von Moltke and his companions finally
disembarked at Samsun, and journeyed south-
wards bv Amasia, Tokat, and Sivas, the point
they were making for being the camp of Hafiz
Pasha in the south of Kurdistan, on the upper
course of the Euphrates. It was a long ride
through a wild mountain country, with very
primitive accommodation at the various halting-
places. The crossing of the Anti-Taurus range
was not the least difficult part of the journey.
The lofty plateau was a desert of snow, the
track across which was just marked by the
traces left b)- a small caravan which had pre-
ceded the party. The descent on the southern
side was through a series of precipitous gorges.
At last the adventurous travellers reached the
banks of the Euphrates at Kieban Maidan, only
a few miles below the point where the two
streams that form its head-waters, the Murad
and the Phrat, coming down from the moun-
tains of Kurdistan, unite in a rapid river about
120 feet across. Another day's journey brought
them to the camp of Hafiz Pasha at Kharput.
Hafiz was a Circassian soldier of fortune, who
had distinguished himself greatly by his dashing
conduct in several campaigns against the rebels
in Albania. He was fairly well educated, and
sharp-witted enough to recognise that the three
Prussians could be of the greatest use to him, in
case the threatened war began upon the frontier.
He gave them a hearty welcome, made \'on
Moltke a present of a splendid Arab charger,
and asked his advice as to what \vas to be done
to improve the motley force which he com-
manded. His army was made up of a few regular
battalions, an auxiliary force of local levies, some
lumbering artillery served by hall-trained gun-
ners, and a mass of irregular cavalry. The task
assigned to him was to reduce to submission and
keep in order the Kurdish tribes of the neigh-
bourhood, many of whose chiefs were either in
open rebellion or notoriously disaffected, and he
was at the same time to be ready to meet an
invasion of the Syro-Egyptian army which Ibra-
him Pasha had got together at Aleppo. Nearer
to Constantinople there were two other Turkish
armies in Asia Minor — one at Kesarieh, under
Isset Pasha, and another at Koniah, the ancient
Iconium, commanded by Hadji Ali. These were
to stop the Egyptians, in case the}- got past
Hafiz Pasha. Von Moltke, of course, knew that
divided from each other by 400 miles of difficult
country these three corps d'annec were e.xposed
to the danger of being destroyed in detail, in
case Ibrahim crossed the border. But he was
only a captain on the staff, sent to assist Hafiz.
The time was not yet come when he had autho-
rity to combine the movements of armies. Had
it been otherwise, Von Moltke might have
changed the fate of the Ottoman empire.
There were no trustworthy maps of the dis-
trict, and as it seemed likely that, after all, the
}-ear would end without war being declared, Von
Moltke proceeded to a survey of the Syrian
frontier and the country round the head-waters
of the Euphrates. Beyond the river he pushed
on as far as Orfa, the ancient Edessa, spending
more than one night in old castles of the
Norman type, the work of the Crusaders. He
nearly reached the source of the Tigris, and
then voyaged down it to Mosul, and regained
the Upper Euphrates by crossing the desert
with a caravan. But before he reached the
pasha's camp he met a column of troops on
the march. There were six battalions, eight
guns, and a hundred horse, and they were
moving northwards under the command of
Mehemet Pasha, one of Hafiz's officers, the
object of the expedition being to bring to
terms a Kurd chief who had hoisted the flag
of rebellion on a castle in the hills. IMoltke,
hearing that all was quiet at headquarters,
attached himself to .the column.
The Kurd refused to surrender, and his castle
was besieged. Von Moltke reconnoitred the
place, planned the siege works, and superin-
tended the batteries. The place soon capitulated,
and the castle was blown up, for fear it should
cost another expedition ne.xt year if it was left in
a state of defence. It was Moltke's first siege.
MOLTKE'S FIRST BATTLE : NISIB.
139
The capture of Paris, thirty-two years later,
was to be the close of his active career of arms,
as this was the beginning.
When he rejoined the headquarters of Hafiz
Pasha, the Turkish general had just received
news from Aleppo that Ibrahim had been largely
reinforced with Syrian, Arab, and Egyptian
levies, and was evidently preparing for an
attack on the Turkish positions in Asia Minor.
Separated, as he was, from the armies of Isset
and Hadji Ali by hundreds of miles, Hafiz knew
that the protection of the frontier
depended on himself alone, and
resolved to move closer to the border
of Syria in order to make it im-
possible for Ibrahim to slip past
him and gain the road to Constan-
tinople without a battle. Accord-
ingly on April ist, 1830, the camp
at Malatia was broken up, and the
Turks marched to the foot of the
Taurus chain, encamping again near
Samsat. Here there was a delay
while Moltke and a coupleof Turkish
staff-officers went forward to re-
connoitre the country in front and
select a defensive position barring
the advance of the army of Syria.
On April 2<Hh, after their return,
the march was resumed and the
Taurus range was passed, 2,000 men
having been employed for a fort-
night before in clearing the snow
from the passes. The army marched
in several columns, each moving
by a different pas5. Karakaik had
been named as the point where they
were to concentrate ; but at the last
moment Hafiz sent word that they were to unite
much nearer the frontier, at Biradjek. It would
have been a bad thing for him if Ibrahim had
come across the border-line while his columns
were thus separated, but the Egyptian Pasha
either was not ready to move, or, what is more
likely, had no idea of the chance his Turkish
opponent was giving him.
Moltke had selected the position at Biradjek.
Close to the village of that name a low ridge ran
across a bend of the Euphrates. The river covered
both flanks, and the front between them was
about two miles long. There was a gentle slope
from the ridge of about 600 yards, with no shelter
of any kind to protect an attacking force from the
lire of the defenders. Behind the ridge, and be-
tween it and the river, there was a good camping
ground, and shelter for the reserves from artil-
lery fire. The ridge was further strengthened
by four earthwork redoubts, thrown up just
below its crest. The position was thus a natural
fortress, improved by field-works. Its chief de-
fect was that it would not have been at all an
easy matter to get much of the army away from
it across the river once the ridge was stormed.
But then Moltke, in choosing it, had made up
his mind that the army of Hafiz Pasha could not
be depended on to fight in the open against the
Tyfo.Hti/iiii^. Cj.SCt
superior forces of tlie Egyptians, and if defeated
in a pitched battle he did not expect that in any
case much of it would hold together in the re-
treat. He therefore advised that it should hold
the entrenched camp at Biradjek until it was
reinforced. Ibrahim would not dare to march
into Asia Minor, leaving the army of Hafiz in
his rear with Syria at its mercy ; and if he
attempted to storm the long ridge and its re-
doubts by a frontal attack, all the chances were
that he would be defeated with serious loss, and
that he would be unable to attempt anvthing
more that year.
The cavalry had been sent forward to Nisib, a
village close to the Syrian frontier. One of their
horses escaped, and a few troopers rode across the
border-line to look for it. The}- were attacked
-40
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
by the Egvptian cavalry, one of tlK-ni killed,
and the rest chased back to Nisib. This
little incident upset all Von Moltke's plans,
and changed the whole course of events in
Syria ; for Hafiz, when he heard of it, was in-
dignant at what he described as an unpardonable
outrage, and made up his mind to attack the
Syrians and have his revenge, instead of remain-
ing quietlv camped behind his redoubts. Anxious
to have the opinions of
others to support his
own, he called a coun-
cil of war, and urged
stronglv that after what
had happened nothing
was left for them to do
but to march against
the Syrians. He had,
he said, submitted the
case to the mollahs, the
Mohammedan doctors
of the law, and they
had replied that the
act of the Egyptians
fullv justified an im-
mediate declaration of
war.
He asked Von Moltke
what he thought, and
the Prussian captain
replied that the mollahs
were no doubt excellent
authorities on the ques-
tion whether the war
was just or not ; but
there was another ques-
tion to be considered :
Was it wise ? And
to answer this one had
to know a great many
things. What were the intentiojis of the Sultan's
Government ? What were the rival Great
Powers of Europe going to do ? What was
exactly the enemy's strength, and on what re-
sources of men and supplies could they depend
to meet him ? On several of these points he him-
self knew nothing, and the mollahs knew no
more than he did. The responsibility of a choice
rested on the pasha himself, and he ought to
kno-wr whether or not his sovereign, the Sultan,
wished him to precipitate hostilities. '' But,"
concluded Von Moltke, " not having all the
necessary information, I must decline to give
an opinion.''
Hafiz was disappointed. He had hoped for a
A TURKISH BEY,
unanimous vote for war, and he was especiany
anxious to escape responsibilitj' by having on his
side the opinion of his Prussian military adviser.
But Von Moltke wisely persisted in refusing to
advise on an}- 'out strictly military questions. He
would have nothing to do with politics. But the
Circassian pasha was eager to avenge what he
felt as a personal insult put upon him by the
Egyptians, and at the same time he had per-
suaded himself that,
whatever he might say
openly, the Sultan
wished for a war which
might end in the re-
conquest of Syria, if
not of Egypt. So he
decided to fight.
Marching out of the
Biradjek position, he
massed his forces about
the village of Nisib,
sending his Kurdish
irregular cavalry to raid
across the frontier, and
detaching a column of
infantry and artillery
to summon the Egvp-
tian garrison that held
the frontier town of
Aintab to surrender.
The Egyptians refused
his first summons, but
no sooner had a few-
shots been fired against
the place than thev not
only surrendered, but
offered to take service
under the Turkish stan-
dards. Thev were not
the first troops that
Hafiz had recruited in the same way. Many of
his Kurdish regiments were composed of moun-
taineers who had taken his pay the day after
they had surrendered to his fiving columns. But
soldiers who transferred their allegiance so
readily from one banner to another were not
very reliable elements in an arm}-.
Ibrahim and the Syro-Egy-ptian army had all
this time been camped quietly near Aleppo.
There were only a few detached posts and some
irregular cavalry watching the frontier, which
was thus open to the raids of Turks and Kurds.
But Ibrahim was preparing to move, and by a
curious coincidence, while the Prussian Von
Moltke was advising his enemy, he himself had
MOLTKE'S FIRST BATTLE : XISIB.
141
for his chief military adviser an officer of tlie
French army, Captain Beaufort d'Hautpoul, a
son of one of the Great Napoleon's generals. In
the first week of June he broke up his camp at
Aleppo. Ten days later his Arabs were driving
tile Kurdish horsemen back upon Nisib. On the
mation, moved towards the Turkish left. Behind
them came some guns and a brigade of infantry.
The gunners, directed by Beaufort d'Hautpoul in
person, unlimbered and opened fire at long range
against the Turkish centre and left. The Turkish
batteries replied. All the guns on both sides
'HURRYING 10 IHE SIDE OF UAIIZ. HE URGED III.M 10 AT O.N'CE MAKE A SHARF AIIACK" (/. I425.
I
19th his vanguard cleared the passofMisar, a
defile in the hills to the south of Nisib, and ne.\t
day his army bivouacked five miles in front of
the Turkish position.
All that da}- and during a great part of the
night the army of Hafiz was drawn up in battle
array, expecting to be attacked. At nine o'clock
on the 2 1st the Egyptians were at last seen to be
advancing. Nine regiments of cavalry, Arab
and Syrian horsemen in white burnooses, armed
mostly with the lance and riding in a loose for-
were smooth-bores, most of the shot fell short,
and there were very few casualties. The firing
might have gone on all day without muchefl'ect.
But suddenly, at a signal from the artillery posi-
tion, the Eg}-ptian cavalry fell back, the guns
limbered up and retired, and the infantry fol-
lowed them. The Turks flattered themselves
that they had the best of the da}-, and that the
Egyptians were afraid to come to close quarters.
The fact was that it was only a reconnaissance
carried out by the French officer, who wanted to
142
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
have a dose look at the position of the Turks
and to draw the fire of their artillery, in order to
find out where their batteries were and what
their guns could do.
All day Hafiz expected the attack to be
renewed, and his troops were under arms.
When night came they lay down where they
had stood all day, with their weapons ready to
their hands. At dawn on the 22nd it was seen
that the Egyptian army was breaking up its
camp and retiring towards Misar. Great was
the joy at the Turkish headquarters, but it did
not last long. The scouts who hung on the rear
of the retiring Egyptians were suddenly driven
back by a cavalry charge, and then it was seen
that the columns of Ibrahim's army were no
longer moving on Misar, but, after edging away
somewhat to the eastward of their first direction,
were advancing on a line that would carry them
past the Turkish left, and if they were not
checked would place them in position between
Nisib and Biradjek, so as to cut off Hafiz from
what was at once his line of supply if he re-
mained at Nisib, and his line of retreat if he
abandoned the place. Ibrahim, with his army
formed in three columns, was making a bold
manoeuvre the success of which meant, not
merely the defeat, but the destruction of the
Turkish " army of Kurdistan."
Moltke saw the full gravity of the situation.
Hurrying to the side of Hafiz, he pointed out to
him that an army which tries to outflank another
necessarily exposes its own flank during the
manoeuvre, and he urged him to at once make a
sharp and well-sustained attack on the nearest of
the three hostile columns. This would moment-
arily arrest the turning movement, and it might
reasonably be hoped that the first column of
the Egyptians would be seriously shaken, if
not broken up, before the two others could
come up to its assistance. But Hafiz did not
like the idea of moving down with his whole
army from the rising ground which he had held
so long, and all that he did was to launch against
the column a few squadrons of his irregular
cavalry, who were driven back by a few volleys
and a charge of the Arab Horse. Then, seeing
that it was hopeless to tPy- to induce Hafiz to
take the offensive, and that the opportunity for
it would soon be gone, Moltke proposed another
plan. The enemy had not yet interposed between
Nisib and Biradjek ; the best thing to do would
be to retreat at once to that strong position, await
an attack there, and resume the offensive after
the expected reinforcements had arrived.
But Hafiz, with his staff grouped round him,
met tiie suggestion with an unexpected objec-
tion. To go back to Biradjek would be to run
away in the presence of the Syrians and Arabs
and their Egyptian pasha. He was not afraid
of them. He would not disgrace himself by
flight.
Then Von Moltke, appealing to his two
Prussian colleagues in support of his opinion,
replied "that what he proposed was not a flight,
but a strategic retreat, an operation of war that
the greatest conquerors had £t times made use
of as a prelude to their victories. There was
nothing disgraceful in it, or he would not have
suggested it. It was now a simple question of
gaining time, and keeping up their communica-
tions with Asia Minor. If they remained where
they were, the chances were all against them ; if
they once regained the lines of Biradjek, every-
thing was in their favour. There was a long
discussion, on the one side Moltke and his
colleagues urging instant retreat ; on the other
Hafiz, backed up b}- the mollahs, who declared
that all the omens were in favour of fighting
at Nisib, and also supported by many of his
Turkish officers, who thought it more to their
interest to side with the pasha than with the
three " Franks " who had come to advise him.
It ended in Hafiz Pasha declaring that nothing
should induce him to abandon the position of
Nisib ; on which Moltke, worn out with fatigue,
ill with a touch of fever, and discouraged at the
stupid obstinacy of the Circassian pasha, went
away to his tent, and tried to sleep through the
day, declining all responsibility for what was
being done.
What a contrast there is between Captain Von
Moltke, stretched on his camp bed at Nisib in
utter disgust at being unable to persuade a
stupid pasha and his officers to extricate some
30,000 men from a false position in this cam-
paign on the borders of Syria, and the same
Moltke a few years later at the palace of Ver-
sailles, directing with all but absolute command
the movements of nearly a million soldiers, with
kings and princes waiting for his orders, and all
Europe looking on in wonder at the brilliant
strategy by which he was sealing the fate of
France ! But in the one instance he had to do
with a pasha who would not listen to him, in
the other with a soldier-king who had the
insight to recognise and give free play to his
marvellous genius for war.
All through that hot midsummer day the
white cloaks and glittering lances of Ibrahim's
MOI.TKE'S FIRST RATTLE: NISIB.
143
cavalry spread like the foam of an advancing
tide wave along the plain between Nisib and
the FCuphrates. Behind them came the three
columns of Syrian and Elgvptian inf;intry, with
their lumbering artillery dragged along partly
bj- horses, partly by long teams of bullocks.
Towards evening the. columns closed upon each
other, and upon the left rear of the Xisib
position. Then they camped in battle array,
and the long line of their watch fires told
Hati/ that they had taken up a position from
which thev were ready to attack him in the
morning.
Late that evening the pasha sent for Von
Moltke. Seated on a carpet in his tent, Hafiz
asked the captain to sit beside him, gave him
coffee and a pipe, and then entreated him to do
what he could to help him in the defence of
the Nisib position. Von Moltke replied that he
still thought that a huge mistake had been made
in accepting battle in such a place ; but, while
declining all responsibilit}- for the choice of the
position, he would do what he could to make
the best of it. For the ne.\t few hours he was
busy by the light of torches and watch-fires
drawing up the Turkish army, so as to meet
the coming attack. All the troops, except a
few ca .airy scouts, were withdrawn from the
plain. He chose a position on the high ground
where the centre would be partly covered b\^
a ravine. The right, which was nearest the
Egyptians, was rapidly entrenched, and a batterv
of heavy guns were sent to strengthen the left.
By 3 a.m. all were in position.
The long-e.\pected battle began early on June
23rd. Ibrahim — or, rather, his French adviser,
Beaufort d'Hautpoul — adopted a system of tactics
which secured him an advantage from the very
outset. He was strong in artillerj-, his guns
being partly long field-pieces of Eastern design
throwing solid round shot, partly French howit-
zers, short guns of comparatively large calibre,
throwing shells. Keeping his infantry columns
well out of range, he pushed forward all his
artillery, escorted by his Arab and Syrian
cavalrv. The masses of horsemen to right and
left and out of range, but within a short gallop
in rear of the guns, made it a risky matter to
try to rush them, even if Hafiz had had any
other idea than doggedly clinging to the de-
fensive. Thus protected, the Egvptian artillery
began to throw shot and shell into the position
on which the Turks were crowded together.
The Turkish artillery, provided only with solid
shot for long range, and grape for close quarters,
could do comparatively little damngt- to the
enemy's batteries, and the Egyjitian infantry
was quite out of its reach. The artillery duel
with which the battle began was thus a most
unequal conflict.
Soon the bursting shells began to tell upon
the Turks, many of the regiments that held the
plateau of Nisib being composed of doubtful
materials — such as the troops who had .sur-
rendered at Aintab and the Kurdish levies.
Whole companies broke up as the shells burst
over them, and at last a whole brigade on the
left retired from the ground it was ordered
to hold, in order to shelter on the reverse
slope of the plateau. Some regiments of the
reserve, seeing this movement in retreat, con-
formed to it, and it looked as if the whole line
was beginning "-o give way. Moltke galloped
to the left, and tried in vain to induce the
brigade to resume its place in the front. No-
thing he could say had the least influence on
officers or men. They were in comparative
safety, and they did not mean to march back
again into the thick of the artillery fire. He
gave up the hopeless task, and turning his horse,
rode towards the centre.
As he approached it he saw a sight w-hich
might well dishearten him. Guns were strag-
gling back one by one from the front, and, worse
still, artillery drivers, who had cut the traces of
their limbers, came galloping to the rear in
flight, abandoning their guns. Several regiments
had fallen on their knees in prayer — the prayer
not of brave men asking help for coming battle,
like the Scots who knelt at Bannockburn, but
the frightened petition of men who had lost
heart and head, and afraid to do anything for
themselves, were begging for a miracle from
Heaven. The Syro-Egyptian infantry massed in
heavy columns, with their green banners waving
in a long line in their front, were advancing, a
forest of bayonets flashing in the sunlight, while
their cavalry streamed out towards the flanks.
The crisis of the battle had come. On the left
a brigade of Turkish regular cavalry, without
having received any orders, rode forward to
charge ; but it had only reached the crest of the
slope that led downwards towards the Egyptian
right when a few shells, almost the last fired that
day by Ibrahim's artillery, burst in their front
ranks. Horses and men alike seemed to be
panic-stricken. The mass of cavalry wheeled
round and fled wildly to the rear, riding down
and dispersing part of the Turkish reserves in
their mad flight. Moltke was trying to keep the
144
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
centre steadv. Hafiz rushed to the right, where
the Turks were tiring their muskets at the
advancing Egyptians at a range which meant
a mere waste of powder and ball. Seizing a stan-
dard, he put himself at the head of a battalion
it was headlong flight or abject surrender. En-
tire companies threw down their arms. Guns
abandoned by their teams were captured in
whole batteries. The mass of fugitives that
streamed away over the back of the plateau
"THE MASS OF CAV.iLKV WHEELED ROU.ND AND FLED WILDLY TO THE REAR" (/>. I431,
and called on them to charge the approachhig
Egj-ptians. It looked as if he was seeking
for death in the midst of what he now recog-
nised as a hopeless disaster. The men refused to
advance. On came the Eg\-ptians. But hardlj-
anywhere were they met by anything more than
an irresolute, ill-aimed fire from men who were
calculating how long they could safely stay with-
out risking having to cross bayonets with the
enemy. As the line of green standards with the
bright steel behind them came Lip the siope,
most of the Turks and Kurds ceased firing
and ran. Here and there a handful, with
levelled bayonets, stood back to back and sold
their lives dearly. Some of the gunners stuck
to their pieces to the last, and fired grape into
the faces of the Egyptians ; but for the most part
fared the worst, for with a fierce yell the Arab
horsemen rode after them, and for miles the
plain was strewed with the corpses of the
wretches who died at the points of their long
spears.
As the line broke. Von Moltke had the good
fortune to be near his two Prussian comrades.
Thanks to their horses, the three Europeans ex-
tricated themselves from the mass of fugitives,
avoided the pursuit, and after a ride of nine hours
under the blazing Syrian sun reached Aintab in
the evening. Von Moltke had lost everything
but the horse he rode and the clothes and arms
he wore. He regretted most the loss of his
journals and his surveys of Asia Minor and the
Upper Euphrates, the result of many months of
travel and exploration. But he was fortunate in
MOLTKE'S FIRST BATTLE : MSIB.
'45
I
having escaped with life. Tlie course of Euro-
pean history might have been changed if
the good horse that carried him so well had
stumbled in the wild rush to escape the Arab
spears.
Ibrahim seemed astounded at the complete-
ness of his own success. There was a panic
throughout Asia Minor, many of the new
Turkish levies disbanding on the news of Nisib.
The EgN'ptians might have marched at once to
the shores of the Bosphorus, but they hesitated
to reap the fruits of their victory, and the in-
tervention of England and Austria soon after
forced them to give up all pretensions to rule in
Western Asia.
Travelling across Asia Minor, Moltke and his
companions saw everywhere signs that nothing
could be done to help the Turks to hold their
own. He was therefore eager to get back to
Europe, and on August 3rd, when he saw the
sea from the hills above Samsun, he felt the
same joy with which the Greeks had greeted the
same sight in their famous retreat from the
Euphrates. Embarking at Samsun, he returned
to Constantinople. His next experience of
warfare was in the Prussian army.
By a curious turn of fate, he had among his
opponents in his last campaign the same French
officer who had so ably directed the Egyptian
attack at Nisib. When the French Imperial
army collapsed in 1870, and the new levies were
being raised to meet the Prussian invasion,
Beaufort d'Hautpoul, then living in retirement,
offered his services to Gambetta, and was given
the command of a division in Vinoy's army in
the defence of Paris. The general took part in
the great sortie that immediately preceded the
surrender ; and it so happened that as at Nisib,
in far-off Syria, Von Moltke's first battle, so at
Buzenval, under the walls of Paris, the last battle
of the great Prussian strategist, Beaufort d'Haut-
poul was among those who fought against him.
66
T46
^■■U
fT1"J/,
" Fi^ht between the Chesapeake'V^^^ ^
^^^ ..^5 (^ and the "Shapron^ _Si
15^ June J813;.^ ^^"^^"^-^'^^^^^^^<^ -:^^:^_
B.v Herbert Russell
THE whole volume of British naval his-
tory has no more glorious and inspirit-
ing page to offer than that which
bears the record of the memor-
able conflict between the Chesapeake and the
Shannon. It maj- lack the lurid splendour
that throws Trafalgar out bright and strong
in the story of nations ; but one would hesitate
to declare that it was not as proud an achieve-
ment in its way as Nelson's dying victory. One
needs, indeed, to understand the philosophy of
the maritime annals of that period to appre-
ciate how much deeper than the actual defeat of
the Yankee frigate went the moral effect of that
ocean triumph. Our war with the Americans
was an unpopular one from the very beginning.
We had taken up arms against them, not in that
spirit of heart^' animosity which characterised
the Napoleonic struggle, but in a half-reluctant
manner, as though influenced by the feeling
that no honour was to be gained by fighting the
young colonies across the Atlantic. The lesson
which our soldiers and sailors received very early
in the conflict was a staggering revelation. John
Bull soon realised that if he meant to cope with
his antagonist, he must cease to treat him as a
mere sparring infant ; but gird his loins, tighten
his belt, and go at him as a man to be reckoned
with.
If the British Army chafed under the reverses
it met with upon American soil, the British
Navy was tenfold more chagrined by the humi-
Uations put upon its flag on the high seas. Our
sailors were flushed bj- the triumphs of long
ocean campaigns. They had learnt to think of
themselves as irresistible. Their domination of
the deep had come at length to a habit of
thought not for one moment to be questioned.
When, therefore, news began to come in of the
discomfiture of our ships by Yankee vessels, the
effect was likely to prove correspondingly
demoralising. The higher the see-saw of pride
soars, the greater the depression when the
descent begins. Time has taught us to look
back dispassionately upon that period of our
naval history. We were not fighting the
Spaniard, or the Frenchman, but ouV own flesh
and blood. Now that the dwarf Prejudice has
long been crushed under the heel of the giant
Time, what true-born Englishman but must
honour and admire the pluck of the unfledged
Yankee bantam sparring up at its old mother
with such effect that the little creature's vic-
torious crowing resounded from the Land's End
to Massachusetts ?
The British sailor was burning with a desire
to prove whether, man to man, he was not a
match for the American. Unequal contests were
no test. If a ten-gun brig were captured by a
Yankee corvette of treble her size and weight of
metal, the achievement could scarcely be held
to prove Brother Jonathan the better man.
Captain Broke, of the British frigate Shannon,
sailed from Halifa.\, bound upon a cruise in
Boston Bay, on the 21st of March, 181 3, and he
had but one end in mind : that of engaging an
American frigate of his own calibre. So resolute
was he in this desire that, according to James's
" Naval Histor}'," he sacrificed no fewer than
twenty-five prizes on his voj-age down, in order
not to weaken his complement by putting prize-
crews on board.
On the 1st of June, the Shannon having been
for some weeks hovering off the port of Boston,
inside the shelter of which the eager British tars
could descry the lofty spars of the famous Ameri-
can frigate Chesapeake^ Captain Broke sent a
direct challenge to Captain Lawrence to bring
his vessel out and tr}- the fortune of war. The
letter in which this challenge was conveyed is
one of the most manly, chivalrous, and gallant
pieces of literature ever addressed by a British
FIGHT BETWEEN THE CHESAPEAKE AND THE SHANNO.\.
147
officer to a foe. " As the Chesapeake appears
now ready for sea,'" it begins, " I request you
will do me the favour to meet the Sliaiiiinii with
iier, ship to ship, to try the fortune of our
respective flags. The Shannon mounts twenty-
four guns upon her broadside, and one light
boat-gun, i8-pounders upon her main-deck, and
32-pound carronades upon lier quarter-deck and
forecastle, and is manned with a complement of
300 men and boys (a large proportion of the
latter), besides thirty seamen, boys, and passen-
gers who were taken out of recaptured vessels
lately I entreat you, sir, not to imagine
that I am urged by mere personal vanity to the
wish of meeting the Chesapeake; or that I
ilepend only upon your personal ambition for
your acceding to this invitation. We have both
nobler motives. You will feel it as a compliment
if I say that the result of our meeting may be
the most grateful service I can render to my
country ; and I doubt not that you, equally
confident of success, will feel convinced that it
is only by repeated triumphs in even combats
that your little navy can now hope to console
your country for the loss of that trade it can no
longer protect. Favour me with a speedy reply.
We are short of provisions and water, and cannot
stay long here."
The armament and crew of the Shannon is
stated in this letter. The Chesapeake was sixty
tons larger, carried heavier guns, and seventy
more men. Although Captain Lawrence landed
four 32-pound carronades and one long 18-
pounder at Boston, so as to reduce his broadside
to the same numerical strength as that of the
British frigate, the weight of his vessel's metal
exceeded by one-tenth that of the Shannon.
Therefore the advantage of superiority was con-
siderably on the side of the American.
Captain Broke sent his memorable challenge
by a Yankee prisoner, one Captain Slocum,
whom he released along with his own boat on
the condition that he should deliver the missive.
The British frigate, with colours flying, then
stood in close to Boston lighthouse, and there
lay-to until it was seen whether Captain Law-
rence would accept his opponent's invitation.
The Chesapeake was plain to their view, moored
in President Roads, with royal-yards crossed,
and apparently in readiness to come out. It
was a fine morning, with a light breeze blowing
from the west and north, and the blue waters of
Boston Bay were flashtul with the high sun-
shine. The British officers had little doubt
that the Yankee intended going to sea, for her
three topsails were hoisted : but would she come
up to the scratch, or try and give them the slip ?
No, no ; the thing was not to be thought of,
after such illustrations of Yankee pluck as had
already made the Stripes and Stars a flag to be
honoured and dreaded. If the Chesapeake got
under weigh, there was pretty sure to be a fight,
and hearts beat high on board the Shannon,
whilst speculation ran into wild desire.
At about half-past twelve, whilst the British
men-of-warsmen were below at dinner. Captain
Broke, with a telescope slung over his shoulder,
himself went to the masthead, and there beheld
the Chesapeake fire a gun and almost simul-
taneously break into a cloud of canvas. He
likewise perceived that Captain Slocum's boat
had not yet reached the shore. Therefore
Captain Lawrence had not received the chal-
lenge, but was coming out in response to the
verbal invitations that the English commander
had frequeiitly sent to him. It was a brave
sight to watch the stately American ship slipping
nimbly through the smooth water of the Roads,
heeling gently over to the breeze which filled
her swelling sails, and surrounded by a great
concourse of small boats coming out to watch
the famous ocean duel from a safe distance. A
few minutes later Captain Broke was again ou
deck, and the yards of the Shannon were swung,
whilst the roll of the drum rattled fore and aft
the vessel, summoning the hands to quarters.
If needs no very powerful effort of imagination
to conjure up before the mind's eye the spectacle
of Boston Bay as it appeared on the 1st of June,
1 813. At one o'clock, the naval historian tells
us, the Chesapeake^ under all sail, rounded the
Boston lighthouse. A right gallant show she
must have made, with her long black hull slightly
leaning to the impulse of her wide gleaming
wings, her three ensigns streaming from various
parts of the rigging, and a great white flag top-
ping the fore-royal yard, and bearing a motto
which must now sound strange to the Protec-
tionist Yankee — " Free Trade and Sailors'
Rights." For above a couple of leagues the two
frigates held on in grim silence, standing directly
out towards the open sea. The Shannon wis
repeatedly brought to the wind, in order to
shiver her canvas, that the American might over-
haul her. Meanwhile the Chesapeake was busy
in reefing topsails, hauling up courses, taking in
the lighter sails, and getting into war trim — like
some veteran stripping ere he steps forth into
the ring to try his prowess.
The Chesapeake, firing another gun, whose
I+S
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
sullen boom was intended as a note of defiance,
came bearing down upon her enemy, watched
with a thrill of pride from the land and the
numerous boats hovering about out of cannon-
shot. There could be no possible doubt in the
minds of the spectators as to the issue of the
contest. Flushed by a brief but marvellously
triumphant record, the Yankees stood waiting
with impatience to cheer their pet frigate — com-
manded by one of their most gallant officers — as
she towed her prize in. On board of her, it is
said, the Union Jack had been spread upon the
table in the cabin for the English officers to
dine off when the\' should be prisoners below.
At half-past five in the afternoon of that event-
ful day the action began, and before half-past si.x
the pall-like clouds of smoke had settled away to
leeward ; the crimson dye gushing from the
scuppers of both vessels had become diffused,
and vanished upon the clear waves ; the groans
of the wounded were muffled down in the depths
of the cockpit ; and all was over. Never before,
in all maritime annals, was such a sharp and
decisive engagement ; never, in the history of
nations, was a more staggering issue than the
result of the fight to the confident spectators
who watched it from their native shore.
At the hour named — half past five — the two
ships were close together, so close that the crews
could distinguish one another quite plainly.
Among those v.-aiting and resolute crews — all
speaking one tongue, and sharing, at heart, in
the same sympathies — were doubtless many who
had relations in common. It was blood fighting
kindred blood, and the struggle was likely to
prove the deadlier for this. Captain Broke,
watching the Yankee frigate as a cat watches a
mouse, perceived her intention to pass under the
stern of his ship. Anticipating a soul-subduing
raking as the Chesapeake brought her broadside
to bear, the English commander gave the word
for his men to lie fiat down upon the deck. But
the gallant Captain Lawrence held his fire,
waiving the deadly opportunitv that presented
itself, and luffed his vessel up sharp within
pistol-shot of the Shannrjii' s starboard quarter.
And then the tremendous fight began.
In reading the accounts of the conflict, one can-
not fail to be struck with the rapid and complete
demoralisation of the Yankees. That they could
not have been wanting in courage, one may
safely affirm ; but they seem to have been
" struck all of a heap." The battle speedily
furnished the British sailor with his pet chance
—the boarding-pike ; and when once it came to
///(//, with anything like equality of numbers to
contend against, there could never be anv ques-
tion as to what the issue must prove.
" The enem}-," wrote Captain Broke, in his
account of the engagement, " made a desperate
but disorderly resistance. The firing continued
at all the gangways and between the tops, but
in two minutes' time the enemy was driven,
sword in hand, from ever\- post, the American
flag was hauled down, and the proud old British
Union floated triumphant over it. In another
minute they ceased firing from below, and called
for quarter. The whole of this service was
achieved in fifteen minutes from the commence-
ment of the action."
A lurid and life-long memory must the sight of
that brief, but incredibly fierce, struggle between
the two frigates have been to those who stood
gazing at it from the land, or crouched, pale
and startled, in their boats nearer at hand.
The belligerents would be scarcely visible for
the white, wool-like clouds which hovered
over them, full of darting crimson tongues
of flame. The very ocean must have been
stagnated for a league around bv the rever-
berating thunder booming over its surface.
How was the fight going ? None could tell for
the first seven minutes. Then the pealing
of the artillery ceased, the smoke rolled slowlj^
away in great bodies of vapour, and the two
vessels were seen locked abreast. E.xpectation
and an.xiety were at fever pitch. It was a
hand-to-hand struggle now ; the watching crowds
knew that the cry of " Boarders, away I "
had gone, and that upon the decks of one or the
other of those vessels, dwarfed by distance to the
dimensions of mere toys, a frightfully bloody
conflict must be waging.
In very truth so it was. The Chesapeake had
missed stays while endeavouring to fore-reach
upon the British frigate, and before any further
manoeuvre could be executed on board of her she
drove down stern first alongside the Shannon,
her quarter grinding the latter vessel's side just
forward of her starboard main chains. Captain
Broke had intended delaying boarding until he
reckoned that the guns of his ship had done
more execution amongst a crew supposed to be
at least one-fourth superior to his own in
number ; but when the Yankee collided with his
ship he ran forward, and perceiving that the
Chesapeake's quarter-deck gunners were desert-
ing their posts, he ordered the two frigates to
be lashed side to side, the great guns to cease
fire, and the main-deck and quarter-deck boarders
•ABOUT
r THIRTY OF THE CREW MADE A SMALL SHOW OF RESISTANCE" (/. iso).
IC.0
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTUHY
to make a rush for it. The veteran boats-
wain of the Sliitiiitoii, who was a survivor from
Rodney's famous action, had his arm hacked off,
and was mortally wounded by musketry, whilst
securing the two ships together. The wild con-
fusion, the clashing of steel, the savage cries and
curses of men, the groaning and shrieking of the
wounded, the whole uproar of that deadly con-
flict, must have formed a hideous nightmare-
.ike memory to those who lived to look back
upon it.
Captain Broke, followed by about twenty men,
sprang from the Shannon^s gangway-rail and
gained the Chesapeake's quarter-deck. Here
not an officer or man was to be seen. In the
fpngways about thirty of the crtw made a small
tiiow of resistance, but were driven helter-skelter
towards the forecastle, through the hatch of
which they endeavoured to escape below, but
in their eagerness prevented one another, and
several actually jumped overboard into the sea.
The Americans seemed to be completely be-
wildered by the turn the battle had taken. The
Shamioit's crew came pouring in, but they found
almost a clear deck, fore and aft. Aloft the
lopmen were keeping up a destructive fire of
musketry. But this was presently stopped by a
midshipman named William Smith and his top-
"T=n, five in number. The exploit of this little
D.tnJ is one of the most gallant incidents of that
truly gallant action. Smith, followed by his
handful of sailors, deliberately crawled along the
Sliimions fore-yard and gained the main-yard
of the Yankee, with which the former spar was
interlocked. Thence he reached the main-top,
stormed it, and silenced the fire that was harass-
ing our men.
Captain Broke had been wounded in the head
by a blow from the butt-end of a musket, and
whilst a sailor named Mindham was binding a
handkerchief round his brow, he paused and cried
out : " There, sir ! — there goes up the old en-
sign over the Yankee colours ! " A melancholy
incident marked the hoisting of these flags.
Lieutenant Watt, the first lieutenant of the
Shannon, who had been wounded in boarding,
raised himself upon his legs, and, calling for a
British ensign, hauled down the Stripes and Stars
and bent the flag on above it. But the signal-
halliards being foul, the officer hoisted the colours
so that the American flag was uppermost. Per-
ceiving this, the Shannon's gunners immediately
reopened fire, and killed their own first lieutenant
and five of their comrades before they discovered
their blunder. A straggling fire w-as kept up
through the hatchways by the seamen who had
been driven below. But it would not do. The
Chesapeake had been captured in an incredibly
brief struggle, and the resistance of a handful of
men here and there was not likely to check the
tide of victory. In a few moments the Americans
surrendered, and the triumph was complete.
The old sea-story^ has been often told, and
who would think of again repeating it were it
not that any record of the battles of the century
would be signall}- incomplete without it ? The
moral influence of that victory was prodigious
in its invigorating effect upon our sailors. It
seemed at once to restore to them all that pres
tige which they had been slowly losing since the
first gun of the war was fired. Yet, for the
Yankees, it was a duel which they can well afford
to look back upon with pride. The fact of the
death or disablement of one hundred and seventy
of the Chesapeake's crew is sternly significant of
the fierce, resolute manner in which they main-
tained the short, desperate struggle ; whilst the
memory of the manner in which the vessel came
out to boldly meet the enemy cannot but be a
proud recollection. Britain made much of her
triumph ; and if the Americans desire atone-
ment that the laurels did not happen to fall
to their lot, they should find it in remembering
the words of Captain Broke's letter, which is the
highest admission of splendid qualities that one
foe ever made to another.
-^
ISI
ijor^^Cthur Griffiths
IN after j-ears the Duke of Wellington told
a friend that he loolved upon Salamanca,
Vitioria, and Waterloo as his three best
battles. " Salamanca," he went on to
say, " relieved the whole South of Spain,
changed all the prospects of the war, and was
felt even in Russia" — where Napoleon was
just then meeting his first great failure. Sala-
manca also showed Wellington at his best —
it displayed the finest qualities of his general-
ship, his quick unerring eye, his prompt detec-
tion of his enemv's mistakes, his consummate
skill in turning them to his own advantage.
For it was the serious and unmistakable error
made by Marshal Marmont, the French leader,
that led to Wellington's victory. " He wished
to cut me off," said the duke ; " I saw that in
attempting this he was spreading himself over
more ground than he could defend ; I resolved
to attack him, and succeeded in my object very
quickly. One of the French generals said I had
beaten forty thousand men in forty minutes."
" Mon chcr Alava, ^larmoiit est pcrdii^^ was
his remark to the Spanish general of that name
as he shut his telescope with stern contentment,
and gave the orders that paved the way to
victor}'.
Up to that moment, however, Wellington had
been much disquieted. Matters had not gone
well with him ; he had been really out-
manceuvred, out-generalled. Just when Mar-
mont gave himself into his hands, he had been
on the point of retreating, of escaping, indeed,
while there was yet time. How Wellington felt
that morning may be gathered from a story told
at Strathficldsaye years afterwards in the duke's
presence by that very General Alava mentioned
above. The duke had been too busy, so the
story ran, probably too anxious, to think of
breakfast on the morning of the battle. At
length, about two o'clock in the afternoon, his
famishing staff seized the opportunity of laying
out a sort of picnic lunch in the courtyard of the
farmhouse. Wellington rode into the enclosure, '
but refused to dismount like the rest, declined
to eat anything, .and desired the others to make
haste. At last someone persuaded him to take
a bite of bread and the leg of a roast fowl,
when, suddenly, on the arrival of an aide-de-
camp with certain news, he threw awav the
leg over his shoulder and galloped out of the
yard, calling upon the rest to follow him at once.
The news brought him was no doubt that of
the French flank movement which so jeopardised
them, and was the prelude to the battle. " I
knew something -crious was going to happen,"
was Alava's comment on this episode, "when
anything so precious as the leg of a fowl was
thrown away." Food was scarce in those cam-
paigning days. The duke, it may be added,
sat b}- wiiile the story was being told with a
quiet smile on his face, but saying nothing.
He was thinking, no doubt, that the narration
was pleasanter than the reality had been.
But a true appreciation of the actual battle
can only be had by considering first the long and
intricate operations which preceded it.
The position of the English and French
forces in the Peninsula during the early summer
of 1812 was briefly as follows : —
Wellington was still in Portugal, although he
had captured the two strongholds of Ciudad
Rodrigo and Badajoz in Spain. These were to
serve as advanced posts for his invasion of that
country and the expulsion of the French, which,
it must be remembered, was the main object of
the Peninsular War. But there were 300,000
Frenchmen in Spain distributed nearly all over
it, in five different armies. That immediately
opposed to Wellington was under Marshal Mar-
mont ; it was said to be nominally 70,000 strong,
and further reinforcements were e.vpected from
i;2
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
France. Moreover, MarnioiU was in touch with
three other armies, one to the north of him, one
behind him at Madrid, a third to the South in
Andalusia. Wellington had never ipore than
;o,ooo, so it is obvious that while Marmont alone
was quite equal to cope with him, he might be
Marmont, taking him promptly, and before ]ii>
supports could join him. There was at this
time much friction between the French generals,
and this was likely still further to delay concen-
tration. Everything depended, therefore, upon
immediate action.
SALAMANCA.
courting overwhelmingly superior concentration.
Again, Marmont's army was a fine fighting force
in excellent condition, stronger in artillery,
although inferior in cavalrv ; an arm}-, more-
over, composed entirelv of Frenchmen, of men
animated with one spirit, obej'ing one supreme
leader, the great emperor himself
Wellington, on the other hand, commanded a
mixed force : it was made up of four different
nationalities — British, German, and Portuguese.
His cavalry- was superior, the very flower of
British horsemen, but he had fewer guns ; his
men were ill-found, pay was in arrears, for readv-
money was desperately scarce through the
niggardliness of the British Government, and
the want of it, the real sinews of war, was
severely felt in his matter of supplies — which
had to be paid for, cash down. Still, Wellington
was nothing daunted. He hoped to achieve
some signal success if onlv he moved against
Wellington advanced- upon the 13th June.
On that day he crossed the Agueda, and moving
on towards the Tormes, laid siege to Salamanca.
This city was defended by several forts and held
by a French garrison. Marmont retired before
Wellington, then returned to relieve Salamanca;
Wellington took it, and Marmont again retired
It was a sort of see-saw between the opposing
generals. Wellington now pursued Marmont
as far as the river Douro ; Marmont crossed and
stood firm on the farther bank. Then reinforce-
ments joined the French, and Marmont once
more advanced, determined to drive Wellington
before him. He also was anxious to win a
victory soon, because King Joseph was on his
way from Madrid to supersede him. ^loreover,
he was a littk disdainful of the English general's
military capacitv, which he had not yet tried in
actual conflict.
It was now the month of July, and for the
SALAMANCA.
153
first fortnight the t\vo generals were Uke skilful
chess players engaged in a closely contested
game. P^ach tried to take advantage of the
other and bring on a checkmate. Marmont had,
if anything, the best of it. The very direction
of his advance jeopardised the safety of the
English army, and Wellington's only hope was
in rapid retreat. The French now all but fore-
stalled them at Salamanca, and it was a race
between them for the river Tormes, behind
which lay the English line of communications
with Portugal and the rear. As the two armies
hurried forward, the spectacle is described by
eye-witnesses as almost unparalleled in war.
" For there was seen," says Napier, the historian
of the war, " the hostile columns of infantry at
between in a compact body as if to prevent a
collision. At times the loud word of command
to hasten the march was heard passing from the
front to the rear, and now and then the rushing
sound of bullets came sweeping over the column,
whose violent pace was continuously accelerated."
This neck-and-neck contest went on for ten
miles, and in the- most perfect order. The same
strange manoeuvre was repeated a couple of days
later, and on a larger scale. In the end, Wel-
lington reached Salamanca safely, but none too
soon. The French had the command of the
Tormes river, and still threatening the road to
Ciudad Rodrigo, could still force the English to
retire.
Fortune at this time seemed to frown on the
'WELLINGIO.N GALLOPED OUT OF THE Y.\RD, CALLING UPON THE REST TO FOLLOW HIM AT ONCE " {p. I51).
lonly half musket-shot from each other (not a
[hundred yards!) marching impetuously towards
common goal, the officers on each side pointing
Jforwards with their swords touching their hats
fend waving their hands in courtesy, w-hile the
iGerman cavalry, huge men on huge horses, rode
English commander. He had had one chance
of attacking Marmont, and had missed it. Now
Marmont had the best of it, and could take him
at a disadvantage if he persevered. Wellington
realised that he must soon withdraw into Por-
tugal, and he wrote to the Spanish general
154
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CFXTURY.
Castanos to this effect : a letter which fell into
Mariiiont's hands. It was said after the victory
that this letter was a lure to draw Marmont on ;
but it was a bona fide despatch conveying Wel-
lington's real intention : the retreat was all but
ordered, and it was to have commenced on the
very night that the battle of Salamanca was
fought and won. In the meantime, Marmont,
too eager to snatch a victory, had committed
his fatal mistake.
At daybreak, on the 22nd July, the day of
the battle, the positions of the two opposing
armies were as follows : —
The English were on both sides of the river
Tormes ; the bulk certainly on the left or
southern shore, but one division, the third, was
still on the right bank, as Wellington did not
feel certain by which side ^larmont would move.
The left flank of the army rested about Santa
Marta in the low ground ; the right extended
eastwards towards the village of Arapiles and
the hills of that name.
The French at daylight were advancing into
position ; they had crossed the river by the fords
at Huerta, some had occupied the heights
opposite the English from Calvariza Aniba to
Nuestra Senora de la Pena, and others aimed at
Seiziz, two isolated hills close to the English
right, thus clearly indicating Marmont's design
of forcing on the battle.
The possession of these two last-named hills
now became of vital consequence to both armies.
They were called the Arapiles hills — sometimes
los Dos Hermanitos, the " two little brothers " —
and they stood steep and rugged, rising like two
small fortresses straight out of the plain. Had
the French gained them both, Wellington would
have been obliged to throw back his right, and
fight with his back against the river — always
a hazardous proceeding. But once more there
was a race between the opponents, and the
result may be called a dead-heat. Both sent off
light troops living past to capture the hills, and
each got the one nearest it. The twins were
divided, and for the rest of the day one was
known as the English Arapiles, or Hermanito,
the other as the French.
This first small contest had an important
bearing on coming events. It confirmed Wel-
lington in his intention of retreating, but it
obliged him to postpone his movement till after
dark. For the French, in occupation of their
Hermanito, could use it as a pivot around which
to gather strongly and then swing a determined
attack on Wellington's retrograding columns.
So menacing was their prpsscssion r)r this hill
that Wellington was half disposed to attack and
try to capture it. But he forebore, preferring
to wait on events, and knowing something of
Marmont's impetuous character, hoping still
that the Frenchman might commit himself to a
general attack on the English position.
This was precisely what happened. Marmont
was seized with a sudden fear that the English
were about to escape him. He saw great columns
of dust rising from the Ciudad Rodrigo road,
and rashly concluded that the enemy was already
in full retreat. He was altogether wrong, as we
shall see. The English were no doubt on the
move, but not as yet to the rear. They were
only taking up the new positions which Wel-
lington found necessary since the French general
had so unmistakably shown his wish to fight,
and to fight upon the left bank of the river.
These new dispositions amounted to a complete
change of front. Till now the English line had
faced north from the river at Santa Marta to the
Arapiles hill ; hereafter it faced south and east
from Aldea Tejada on the right to the Arapiles
village and hill, which became the left. This
left was held by the fourth division ; the si.xth
and seventh divisions were in a hollow compact
behind and below the Arapiles hill ; the third
division was now definitely brought across the
river, and being posted at Aldea Tejada, became
the right of the line. It was the march of this
last-named division, with its trains and commis-
sariat waggons all pointing towards Ciudad
Rodrigo, that betrayed Marmont and precipitated
the battle to his own immediate defeat.
Inspired by this quite groundless fear, he
suddenly directed General Maucune, with two
divisions of infantry and fifty guns, supported b}'
the light cavalry, to reach out and intercept the
English in their supposed retreat. They were to
menace the Ciudad Rodrigo road, while he him-
self, if the English showed fight, would fall upon
them with all his remaining force at about the
Arapiles village and hills. Maucune's movement
was the fatal mistake. It w^as an error, a tactical
error of the very worst kind. Bv this hasty and
too adventurous march the French advance —
their left — was entirely separated from their
centre and their right ; both the latter were still
in the woods to the rear or crossing the river,
and altogether disconnected with — entirel)- un-
able to support or act with — Maucune. Marmont
had, in fact, as the duke put it, spread himself
out too far. He was like a man who has lunged
out in striking, and, unable to recover himself, is
SALAMANCA.
15=;
exposed to a counterstroke from an opponent
who has held himself compact and collected,
ready to return a imich more vigorous blow.
It must Iiave been the report of Maucune's
movement that was brought Wellington in the
tarmyard, and led to the sacrifice of the drum-
stick of a fowl. Napier says that the duke was
resting when the news reached him ; but
whether he was throwing away an untasted
lunch or sleeping, he certainly rode straight to
the English Arapiles hill, and from that high
vantage ground full_v realised what Marmont had
done. It was then, no doubt, he told Alava
that it was all over with Marmont For
Wellington no sooner saw the
situation than he grasped it with
the full and complete apprecia-
tion that marks true genius in
war. His orders were few and
precise ; their object was to fall
upon Marmont's advance, and
crush it before it could be re-
inforced. He formed his troops
in three lines : the first consisted
(if his 4th and 5th divisions,
with some Portuguese on their
right, and beyond them the
heavy cavalry ; in the second
line were the bth and 7th
divisions, with the light cavalry
on their right ; and in reserve
the third line, made up of the
1st and 8th divisions, the rest
of the Portuguese and more
cavalry. The right of the second
line was closed by the 3rd divi-
sion, under General Pakenham, and to him was
entrusted the honour of opening the ball. For
as soon as the above-mentioned changes of
position were completed, Pakenham was ordered
to come up in four columns with twelve guns
on his left or inner flank and cross the enemy's
line of march. This meant " taking them in
flank," as it is called, or at their weakest point.
As soon as Pakenham attacked, the first line
was also to advance and second his endeavour.
Then, on the English left, which would thus
become uncovered, an assault was to be made
oa the French Hermanito hill. -
And here, at this the most critical juncture,
on the very eve of joining issue with a deter-
mined enemy in a great and momentous struggle,
Wellington gave a fresh proof of his iron nerve
and strong character. Troops march slowlv :
three miles an hour is the average rate of in-
fantry. There must therefore be a considerable
interval of time before the orders first issued
could take effect ; the French divisions on the
march under Maucune had a couple of miles or
more to cover, and would hardly get within
vulnerable distance under an hour. Wellington
was tired ; he had been at full stretch, mentally
and physically, since daybreak, and it was now
past three in the afternoon. " I am going to
take a little sleep," he said to Lord Fitzroy
Somerset, his military' secretary, and the most
favoured and confidential member of his staff.
"Watch with your glass. Do you see that
copse where there is a gap in the hills ? When
the French reach it call me: do you understand?"
Then wrapping himself in his cloak, he lay down
behind a bush and was soon sound asleep.
Wellington had the faculty, like Napoleon and
other great leaders, of sleeping at will, and he
rose refreshed when Lord Fitzroy roused him
presently with the information he needed. The
time for action had arrived. Aides-de-camp
and gallopers were despatched with last orders,
while Wellington himself rode to the third
division, where Pakenham was waiting im-
patiently for the signal to commence the fight.
What passed between the two generals (the)'
were brothers-in-law) is historical. " Do you
see those fellows on the hill, Pakenham ? " said
the duke, pointing to the French columns as
they straggled along unconscious of the im-
pending attack. " Throw your division into
columns ; at them directly and drive them to the
l^b
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
devil." Pakenham saluted, and then, as he
passed on to the attack, stopped short to say,
" Give me a hold of that conquering hand."
His admiration lor his chief was repaid by
Wellington's warm approval, for as the 3rd
division went forward in grand order, a perfectly
arraved militar\- body, the duke, turning to his
staff, observed : " Did you ever see a man who
understands so clearly what he has to do ? ''
" Lord Welling-
ton was right,''
says one who
was present.
''The attack of
the 3rd division
was not only the
most spirited,
but the most
perfect thing of
its kind that
modern times
have wit-
nessed."
Mean wh ile,
Marmont had
fully realised his
terrible error.
The rapid move-
ments of the
English told
him, too, that
the mistake was
patent to his
enemy. He saw
the country
beneath him
alive with their
troops moving
in combined and
well - concerted
strength, while
his own army was scattered, and in the midst of
a difficult and half-completed manoeuvre. But
still he had no knowledge of Pakenham's in-
tended attack, for the third division was invisible,
and he did not yet despair. He hoped he might
yet reunite his army before the moment of
collision ; and with this object he despatched
messengers in hot haste in all directions, one
way to hurry up the centre and rear columns,
the other to check Maucune in his overreaching
advance. At the same time some of the troops in
hand opened a fierce fire upon the central part of
the battlefield, and others made a bold attack upon
the Arapiles village and English hill of that name.
MARSHAL MARMO.NT.
{From a Painting by Muneyet.)
It was now, when hoping almost against hope,
that Marmont caught sight of Pakenham and
his division " shooting like a meteor across
Maucune's path." Marmont, in utter dismay,
was hastening to the spot most threatened, when
he was severely wounded by a bursting shell, and
had to be carried off the field. General Bonnet,
who succeeded him, was also disabled before he
could take any steps to restore the fight, and the
command de-
volved upon
General Clause!,
an excellent
soldier, who, in
Napier's words,
was "of a ca-
pacity equal to
the crisis." But
much delay en-
sued, many con-
flicting orders
were issued be-
fore the French
troops again
benefited by
their comman-
der-general's
controlling
hand.
It had fared
badly with Gene-
ral Thomieres,
who led the first
of M a u c u n e's
two divisions.
Pakenham had
come on, sup-
ported by ca-
valry and guns,
and, while the
artillery took the
French in flank, the infantry formed line and
charged furiously. The French guns at first es-
sayed to answer, but were silenced and driven off
the field ; then the French formed a poor, dis-
connected line of battle upon two fronts, one
to face Pakenham, the other opposed to the 5th
division and the Portuguese. At this time, too,
the 4th division had come into action, and
had beaten back the attack made upon the
Arapiles village and hill. Already within one
short half-hour serious discomfiture had over- •
taken the French. It is true that General
Clausel's own division, part of the centre, had
come up through the wood, and had regained
SAL A MANX A.
157
touch witli ^[;ulcuIle. The latter now raUied a
little, and made a gallant stand along the
•outhern and eastern hills, hut his line was
loose and broken, without much coherence
i)r formation, while the westering sun shone
full in the eyes of the soldiers, joining with
the dense dust to half choke and blind and
deprive them of the lull power of defence.
sound of a charging multitude " ; how the horse-
men rode down the French infantry " with a
terrible clamour and disturbance. Bewildered
and blinded, they cast away their arms, and
crowded through the intervals of the squadrons,
stooping and crying out for quarter, while the
dragoons, big men on big horses, rode onwards,
smiting with their long, glittering swords in
"THE DRAGOO.NS RODE ON\V.\KUS, bMlllM. UIIH THEIR LONC, GUTl ti>l.\u sUukUS.'
Their complete overthrow was now near at
hand, and it was accomplished by the masterly
tactics of Wellington, who appeared as usual at
the critical point at the critical time. Under his
orders a great cavalry charge put the finishing
touch to Maucune's discomfiture. This charge,
made by Le Marchant's heavy and Anson's
light cavalr\- brigades, was one of the most
brilliant feats performed by British cavalry.
Napier gives the story in Homeric language,
telling how " a whirling cloud of dust moved
swiftly forward, carrying within it the trampling
uncontrollable power." Le Marchant was killed,
but others were there to lead his cavalrj^ on.
Pakenham, with his infantry, followed close, and,
after a bitter struggle, which laid many lov.', the
French were completely defeated. Guns and
standards were captured and 2,000 prisoners :
" the divisions under Maucune no longer e.xisted
as a military body." These were the memorable
forty minutes which suflSced to conquer the
French left. At the end of this short space
of time, the 3rd and 4th divisions, with
D'Urban's fresh cavalry, formed an unbroken
i?8
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTrRY,
line across the basin or plain, a mile in advance
of where Pakenham had so nobly begun the
fight.
But the victory had been gained in only one
part of the field. The French in the centre still
maintained the contest with stubborn courage.
Clausel had rallied his forces with surprising
energy, and, for this purpose, skilfully used those
that were still fresh and unbroken. His whole
line of defence was now connected and stretched
Irom where Maucune had been so severely
handled to the western side of the Arapiles,
where General Foy was firing on the reserves.
He held the divisions of Bonnet, Ferey, drawn
nearer to him, those of Sarrut and Brennier and
ihe whole of his cavalry together covering his
line of retreat to Alba de Tormes, and they were
all firm and full of fight. Upon these the
shattered remnant of Maucune's corps re-formed,
and the hopes of the French were now revived
by two serious failures on the English side — •
Pack with his Portuguese had assaulted the
French Hermanito, and gallantly ascended to a
few feet from the summit, when he came un-
expectedly upon the French reserves strongly
posted among the rocks. Their attitude was
so determined, their fire so fierce, that the Portu-
guese recoiled, and were driven down the hill
defeated and with great slaughter. Another
disaster at this moment overtook the 4th
division, which, just when it had won with much
toil the higher slopes of the southern heights,
encountered a large body of French on the
far side. The latter being fresh, charged the
breathless and somewhat disordered assailants,
and forced them to give way. The French here
were quite victorious, and would have pursued
but for the stout resistance of two English
regiments drawn up in line below.
Clausel was not slow to follow up these
successes. He now pressed the left flank and
rear of the discomfited 4th division, his cavalry
came up at a trot and charged, the English
were outflanked, overmatched, and lost ground ;
so that the fight rolled back into the basin,
where several of the English generals were
s'ruck down — Cole, Leith, and Beresford — and
^e French Horse, having free scope, did great
.<ecution. For a moment the issue seemed
.ioubtful. This was the final crisis in the battle ;
victory was to be secured by the general who
had the strongest reserves at hand.
Wellington was in this position, and his
opportune presence, as usual when most wanted,
decided the day. He had fortunatel}' still dis-
engaged and untouched his ist and 6th divi-
sions, and part of his 5th. The\' were close to
the centre, at the point most menaced, and
ready to second their leader's prompt initiative.
The 6th division now came up charging with
great vehemence, but meeting a sturdy resist-
ance and a murderous fire. But, undeterred by
severe losses, they held bravely on, and presently
regained the southern heights. The tide of
battle again turned, and, although the French
still showed a bold front, it was all to no
purpose. Pakenham and the 3rd division con-
stantly outflanked and hammered their left ;
the other divisions continued the frontal attack.
Then the ist division was employed to cut off
the French right, under Foy, from the main
body. But Clausel, who although wounded
had not left the field, employed these unbroken
troops, flanked by cavalry-, to show a front while
he drew off his shattered forces. General F03)
bravely and skilfully withstood the last charges
of the now conqviering English. He had to face
the light division and a part of the 4th, with
the 6th and the Spaniards in reserve. Maucune
also, to whom fresh troops had been entrusted,
" maintained a noble battle," holding his own for
a time against the ever-impetuous Pakenham.
Behind the shelter thus unhesitatingly afforded,
and greatly aided by the darkness, for night had
now fallen, the beaten French retreated across
the Tormes by the ford at Alba de Tormes, and
by a happy accident escaped utter disaster.
Wellington to the last thought the Castle of
Alba was held by the Spaniards. But he had
been decei\ed wilfully ; the Spanish general,
Carlos d'Espana, had not only withdrawn the
garrison, but he had made no mention of the
fact. Accordingly Wellington was in complete
ignorance of the fact that Alarmont had re-
occupied it the previous da}-. So the Engli.=h
general, thinking retreat by Alba barred, had
turned all his attention to the onl}- remaining
ford, that of Huerta, where he counted upon
finding the entire French army huddled together
in dire confusion. But, while he strengthened
his lefc wing to intercept their retreat by Huerta,
the French drew off unmolested by Alba, and
when the fact was discovered it was too late and
too dark to continue the pursuit.
But for this bitter disappointment the whole
French army would have been compelled to lay
down its arms. As it was, Wellington captured
II guns, 2 eagles, and 7,000 prisoners. Other re-
sults, direct and indirect, followed from this great
victory. One of the first was the occupation
SALAMANCA.
i59
of the capital of Madrid, which King Joseph
iinmediatcly left to join and strengthen the
defeated and retreating Clausal. Of the indirect
results the greatest was the clearance of South-
ern Spain, for Soult was now obliged to abandon
Andalusia, and, moving round by a circuitous
route through the south-east, to regain touch
with the road from France.
Wellington's reputation, already high, was
greatly eniianced by this brilliant feat of arms.
It was his magnificent generalship that secured
the victory. Not a fault was to be found with
his conduct ; from first to last, from the moment
he causrhi liis enemy tripping through all the
changing fortunes of the hard-fought day, until
he smote him hip and thigh, true genius was
displayed. " I saw him late ip the evening of
that great day," says Napier, " when the advanc-
ing flashes of cannon and musketry, stretching
as far as the eye could command, showed in the
darkness how well the field was worn ; he was
alone, the flush of victory was on his brow, and
his eyes were eager and watchful, but his voice
was calm and even gentle. More than the
rival of Marlborough, since he defeated greater
generals than Marlborough ever encountered,
with a prescient pride he seemed only to accept
this glory as an earnest of greater things."
THE ROYAL PALACE, MADRID.
(Photo, Frith &!• Co., Reigate.')
l6o
H SOVEREIGN of the House of Savoy
is reported to have said that Italy was
like an artichoke, which must be
devoured leaf by leaf ; and the saying
became a fact in iSfq and i860, when Lom-
bardy, Tuscany, the Duchies of Parma and
Modena, the greater part of the Papal States,
and the kingdom of the Two Sicilies (a very
tough leaf this last, which took some time to
digest), were one by one absorbed bv the little
kingdom of Piedmont. After a short interval
of rest, the province of Venetia was added to
the others in 1866, and to carry out the com-
parison and devour the last leaf of the artichoke,
there remained but to annex Rome. This was
not an easj' task, for that city and the provinces
■which had been left to the Pope after the
■campaign of Castelfidardo were garrisoned by
the soldiers of Napoleon III., who seemed re-
solved to maintain the independence of the
Holy See ; but a Convention was signed on
September 15th, 1864, by which the emperor
agreed to withdraw his troops within two years,
while the Italian Government undertook not to
invade the Papal territory, and to hinder, even
by force, any attack upon that territon,' coming
from without. Some diplomatic correspondence,
bowever, ensued between the two Governments,
which left no doubt that if an insurrection were
to take place in Rome, Italy would be free to
act, and that an attempt might probably be
made to bring about that insurrection.
The last French soldiers embarked at Civita
Vecchia on December nth, 1866, and to replace
them every Catholic nation in Europe, but more
■especially France, Belgium, and Holland, fur-
nished its contingent of volunteers representing all
classes of society, from the noble whose ancestors
had fought in the Crusades to the workman
and the peasant ; and on October ist, 1867, the
Papal army reckoned nearly 13,000 men. Of
these, 2,083 were gendarmes ; S78 artillerymen ;
075 chasseurs ; 1,595 infantry of the line ; 442
dragoons, and 625 sqiiadn'glicn', or armed moun-
taineers. All these were Papal subjects. The
foreigners were 2,237 Zouaves, about two-thirds
Dutch and Belgians, the rest French or other
nationalities, 1,233 Swiss Carabiniers, and i,oq6
French soldiers, who formed the Legion d'Aiittbes.
(Ireland did not send a contingent as in the
previous campaign, but was represented in the
Zouaves by Captain d'Arcy and Captain Dela-
hoyd, who had served in the battalion of St.
Patrick in i860 ; by Surgeon-Major O'Flynn,
who, in the same year, had taken part in the
defence of Spoleto under Major O'Reilly ; and
by several recruits who hastened to enlist under
the Papal standard when the Garibaldian in-
vasion began.) The effective force, however,
available for fighting did not amount to more
than 8,000 men ; but their excellent discipline
and organisation and, still more, the spirit which
animated them, compensated for their deticiencj^
in numbers.
Garibaldi spent the summer of iSby enrolling
volunteers in all parts of Italy for an expedition
against Rome, without meeting with much op-
position from the Italian Government. They
amounted to 30,000 men, and the general's plan
was to invade the Papal territory in three divi-
sions. The right wing, under Colonel Acerbi, was
to advance from Orvieto towards Viterbo ; the
centre, under Menotti Garibaldi, from Terni to-
wards Monte Rotondo and Tivoli ; the left wing,
under Nicotera, from the south towards \'elletri.
If the Papal troops were dispersed over the
country to oppose these bands, Rome would be
free to rebel, and if they remained on the de-
fensive in Rome, the three divisions would
unite and attack the Eternal Citv. The Prime
Minister, Ratazzi, feigned to be unaware of these
warlike preparations ; but at last, fearing an
THE ZOUAVES TOOK. ONE OF THE BARRICADES BV A DASHING BAYONET CHARGE" (A le-).
59
]6:
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTL'RY.
armed intervention on the part of France, he
ordered Garibaldi to be arrested at Sinakmga,
near Arezzo, on September 23rd, and taken to the
fortress of Alessandria, whence a few days later
he was brought back to Caprera and set free,
though several cruisers apparently maintained a
blockade round the island. The enlistment of
volunteers still went on ; and, before the chiefs
were ready to begin the campaign, several small
bands crossed the frontier at various points,
without orders, on September 28th and thefollow-
ing days, but they were everywhere broken up
and repulsed by patrols of Papal troops, though
one band of 300 men had a shortlived success
at Acquapendente, where it overcame the little
garrison of twenty-seven gendarmes.
The first serious encounter was at Bagnorea,
a village to the north of Viterbo, strongly
situated on a hill surrounded by deep ravines
and accessible only at one point by a bridge.
It was occupied on October ist by a bodj- of
Garibaldians, who seized the funds of the muni-
cipality and plundered the churches. The
remnants of the bands defeated elsewhere rallied
round them, bringing their numbers up to 500,
and, to strengthen their position, they fortified
the convent of San Francesco situated outside
the walls, raised barricades on the roads leading
to the gate, and loopholed the adjacent houses.
Colonel Azzanesi, who commanded the garrison
of Viterbo, sent a detachment of 45 soldiers of
the line, 20 Zouaves, and 4 gendarmes to make a
reconnaissance ; they made instead an attack,
and, though the Zouaves took one of the barri-
cades by a dashing bayonet charge, the detach-
ment was repulsed with loss when it came under
the hail of bullets from the houses. Two days
later, however. Colonel Azzanesi marched against
the town with two companies of Zouaves under
Captain le Gonidec, four companies of the line
under Captain Zanetti, ^. few dragoons, and two
guns — in all 460 men. The Garibaldian ad-
vanced posts situated on the rocky heights in
front of the town were obstinatel\- defended, but
were stormed one after another ; the doors of
the convent were smashed in and its defenders
bayoneted or disarmed, the two barricades were
taken, and the Garibaldians driven back into the
town. A few cannon-shots soon overcame their
resistance, and they fled in disorder through the
ravines where the cavalry could not follow them,
while the citizens fiung open their gates and
welcomed their liberators. This victory cost
the Papal troops only six men wounded ; the
loss of the enemy was 96 killed and wounded.
In spite uf this defeat the incursions of volun-
teers did not cease, for the Italian GovernmenL
granted them free tickets over the railways,
allowed them to take the arms of the National
Guards, and the troops placed along the frontier
to arrest them let them pass. Fighting took
place, therefore, ever\- day in many localities,
and the most brilliant of these combats is
that which occurred on October 13th at Monte
Libretti.
This is a walled village, about ten miles to the
north of Monte Rotondo, built round an old
feudal castle on the summit of a steep and
isolated hill, at the foot r)f which is a street
commanded by the castle and leading up to the
gate. It was known that Menotti Garibaldi was
advancing towards it with a numerous band, and
Lieutenant-Colonel de Charette ordered three
detachments to march from diflTerent points to
intercept him. One of these columns coming
from Palombara had already- been sent in another
direction, and did not receive the counter-order
in time ; another, from Monte Maggiore, came
to the point of junction too soon, and, after
waiting for a long while, withdrew. The third
column from ]\Ionte Rotondo, composed of qo
Zouaves under Lieutenant Guillemin, on arriving
near Monte Libretti at si.x in the evening, met
the Garibaldian advanced posts, attacked them
at once, and drove them back. The lieutenant
then sent one section of his men, under Sub-
Lieutenant de Ouelen, to turn the enem^-'s posi-
tion, and at the head of the other dashed
through the narrow street, under a heavy fire
from the castle and the houses, till he reached
the open space before the gate, which was filled
with Garibaldians. Here he fell with a bullet
through the brain ; Sergeant-Major Bach, a
Bavarian, took the command, and a furious hand-
to-hand fight ensued, in spite of the inequality in
numbers. Major Fazzari, a Garibaldian leader,
was wounded and made prisoner ; Corporal
Alfred Collingridge, of London, surrounded by
six Garibaldians, fought desperately till he was
mortally wounded ; and Peter Yong, a tall and
athletic Dutchman, killed sixteen Garibaldians
with the butt-end of his rifle, then dropped
breathless with fatigue and was immediately
bayoneted. The fight had lasted for a quarter
of an hour, when the second column came up
and drove the Garibaldians into the town, the
gate of which they could not completely close.
It w-as now nearly dark ; the Zouaves made three
attempts to storm the gate, but as tViey passed
through the narrow opening they were met
GARIBALDI'S DEFEAT AT MENTANA.
iC'3
with a hail of bullets from all sides ; de Queleii
fell pierced with nine wounds, and his men were
at last driven back, but the Garibaldians, who,
as it has since been ascertained, were nearly
1,200, did not pursue them. The Zouaves had
lost 17 dead and :S wounded ; Sergeant de la
Be'gassiere took the command of the survivors
and retreated to Monte Maggiore, but Sergeant-
Major Bach, who with a few Zouaves had be-
come separated from the rest in the darkness,
took refuge in a house near the gate, and ex-
changed shots with the Gari-
baldians as long as there was
moonlight. At four next
morning he, too, retreated to
Monte Maggiore, and Menotti
Garibaldi, believing that this
handful of Zouaves were the
vanguard of a large body of
troops, withdrew in the oppo-
site direction to Nerola.
Lieutenant-Colonel de Char-
ette was ordered to dislodge
him from this strong position —
a village situated on a high hill
with a strongly-built castle on
which only artillerj' could have
any eflfect ; and he left Monte
Rotondo on the 17th with
one gun and about qoo men
belonging to the Zouaves, the
Legion d'Antibes and the Swiss
Rifles. On their approach the
next day, Menotti Garibaldi
withdrew to Montorio Ro-
mano, leaving a detachment
to defend the castle, which
capitulated after little more
than an hour's firing.
In the meantime Garibaldian emissaries were
actively engaged in preparing an insurrection in
Rome, and the Government was no less energetic
in taking precautions against it. The city was
declared to be in a state of siege ; most of the
gates were closed and barricaded, outside the
others earthworks armed with guns were thrown
up, artillery was placed in position on the
Aventine, the ditches of the Castle of St. Angelo
were filled with water, and the guards were
strengthened. The writer was then in the di-pot
of the Zouaves in the Monastery of St. Callisto,
where a few hundred recruits of all nations were
being initiated into the mysteries of drill, and as
almost all the troops were in campaign, a large
share of guard-mounting and patrolling fell to
our lot. It was a service which entailed but
iittle of the fatigue or danger, and none of the
excitement, of actual warfare ; but we were in
constant expectation of an attack, and to be
ready for any emergency the two companies
which formed the di:p''jt remained under arms in
front of the barracks every night from sun.set till
past midnight, while advanced posts and sentinels
were placed in the neighbouring streets to guard
against a surprise.
The insurrection, in which not many Romans
Battlefield
of
MENTANA.
Nov. 3. 1867.
Scale of Yards.
500 750
Typa. limiting Co.Sc.
took part, began on the evening of October 22nd.
The Serristori barracks, not far from St. Peter's,
were blown up : the greater part of the men
quartered there were luckily absent at the time,
but thirty-sev-en Zouaves, eighteen of whom
were Italians, were buried beneath the ruins. At
the same time an attack was made on the
Capitol and repulsed by the Swiss Carabiniers ;
and the guard-house at the gate of St. Paul's was
surprised and taken by a band of Garibaldians in
order to facilitate the entry of a convoy of arms,
which had been hidden in a neighbouring vine-
yard ; but the arms had already been seized
bv the police, and the Garibaldians were soon
dispersed. Other attacks were made on the gas-
works and the military hospital, but without
164
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
success, and before mitinight all was again quiet
in Rome. The iie.Kt day a body of seventy-si.x
Garibaldians. all picked men, led by the two
brothers Cairoli, who had hoped to enter Rome
with another convoy of arms and take the com-
mand of the insurgents, but had failed to arrive
in time, was discovered by a patrol, lurking in
the grounds of a villa outside the walls, and after
a short skirmish in which the Garibaldians
fought desperately, the survivors of the band
fled back to the
frontier.
Just before
these events took
place. Garibaldi
escaped from Cap-
rera, passed over
to the mainland,
and arrived in
Florence on Oc-
tober 20th ; Ra-
tazzi tookno steps
to arrest him till
be was out of his
reach, and he
crossed the fron-
tier at Correse.
He immediately
ordered all the
bands in the
neighbourhood to
join him, and on
the 23rd he was
at the head of at
least 10,000 men.
A large propor-
tion of these
were drawn from
the populace of
the great cities
of Italy, and were
attracted mainly by the hope of plunder ; but
there were also many soldiers and officers of
the regular army, and many veterans who had
fought under Garibaldi in former campaigns :
their arms, drill, and organisation were, as a rule,
good ; but they were, for the most part, shabbily
dressed, and very few of them wore the
traditional red shirt.
The road to Rome lay through Monte
Rotondo, a small town situated on a height.
About one-third of its circuit is defended by a
wall in which are three gates, the rest is closed
by the walls of the houses which stand on the
brow of the steep hill. Near the centre is the
ropE I
(PMo, Pierre
palace of the Prince of Piombino — a massive
building of three storevs with a tall tower. The
garrison, commanded by Captain Costes, of the
Antibes Legion, was composed of two companies
of the legion, one of Swiss Carabiniers, a few
gendarmes, dragoons, and artillerymen — in all,
323 men with two guns.
Early on the morning of the 25th, three
Garibaldian columns were seen marching towards
the town and taking up their positions round
it ; they were
under the com-
mand of Mehotti
Garibaldi, his
father with the
reserves being in
the rear. At six,
two strong de-
tachments ad-
vanced to assault
the gates, but
they were re-
ceived with such
a heav)- fire that
after three hours'
fighting they fell
back discouraged.
Garibaldi then
took the com-
mand : he rallied
his men and again
surrounded the
town, which was
assailed at every
point ; attack
followed attack
throughout the
day, but without
•lus IX. success; the Gari-
FMt, Paris.) baldians were
everywhere re-
pulsed, and after eight hours' fighting, their fire
gradually slackened and at last ceased.
Garibaldi had not expected this obstinate re-
sistance, and he was furious at having lost a da\-
during which he might, by a forced march, have
surprised Rome ; the arrival of reinforcements
determined him to renew the assault that night,
and a waggon laden with faggots and petroleum
was pushed up against one of the gates, under
a heavy fire, and lighted. The gate was soon a
sheet of flame, but while it was burning, the
besieged raised barricades in the streets leadini;
from it, and when the Garibaldians entered the
town, it was cnlv after two hours of desperate
GARIBALDI'S DEFEAT AT MENTANA.
165
fighting that the Papal troops, wearied and out-
numbered, were driven back, into the castle.
There they held out for some time till the
Garibaldians began to undermine the walls,
when thej' capitulated, after a defence of twenty-
seven hours, which, as Garibaldi confessed, had
cost him over 500 killed and wounded.
The outlying detachments of the Papal army
in garrison in the provinces were inmiediately
recalled to guard Rome against a sudden attack,
necessity of distributing clothes and shoes to his
men delayed his departure till eleven, and his
vanguard had got only a short distance beyond
Mentana when it met the Papal troops.
A large number of Garibaldians had deserted
during the retreat from Rome, and the losses
at Monte Rotondo had been heavy ; but re-
inforcements had come up during the attack
on that town, and, according to the most
trustworthy estimates. Garibaldi had still, at
rKJw|e)nHTr:P,
'\ir.<;'-.
'■THliY MADE SOME rRISONERS " {/. 167).
and hold it until the arrival of the French
troops, which the emperor, after much hesitation
and many counter orders, had at last despatched.
They landed at Civita Vecchia on the 2qth,
marched into Rome on the 30th, and Garibaldi,
whose troops had advanced as far as the bridges
over the Teverone, about three miles from Rome,
and exchanged shots with the Papal outposts,
retreated to Monte Rotondo. He intended at
first to make a stand there, but considering that
Tivoli, equally distant from Rome, was a much
stronger position — with a river in front, and a
mountainous country, suitable for guerilla war-
fare, in the rear — he gave orders to march upon
that town at daybreak on November 3rd. The
least, 10,000 soldiers when he accepted battle at
Mentana.
The column which left Rome that morning
under the command of General Kanzler, was
composed of 2,913 men of the Papal army,
under General de Courten, 1,500 of whom were
Zouaves, and a little more than 2,000 of the
French soldiers just arrived, under General
de Polhes — making in all about 5,000 men with
ten guns.
The troops were under arms at one on the
morning of the 3rd, but it was four o'clock when
they marched out of the Porta Pia, the Papal
forces leading and the French following at some
distance. It was a dark and rainy morning,
i66
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
and the soldiers in heavy marching order
and carrying two days' rations in addition to
tiicir usual burdens, advanced slowly over the
muddy road. After crossing the Ponte Nomen-
tano, about four miles from Rome, Major de
Troussures was sent with three companies of
Zouaves by a road to the left, to gain the valley
of the Tiber and march on a line parallel to that
followed by the main body, to threaten the right
flank, of the Garibaldians. The remainder of
the column went on till it reached the farm of
Capobianco, half-way to Mentana, where it
halted to let the men get some food and dry
their clothes. By this time the rain had ceased,
and, as after an hour's rest they again formed
their ranks to continue their march, the sun
shone brightly in a cloudless sky.
On leaving Capobianco, the road ascends for
some distance, crosses a broad tableland, and
then winds rising and falling as it passes over
the lower slopes of several hills covered with
brushwood. It was half-past twelve when the
dragoons who preceded the column came upon
the Garibaldian outposts commanded by Colonel
Missori, occupying a strong position in the
woods on each side of the road. They fired
their carbines and returned at full gallop to
give the alarm. The first company of Zouaves,
under Captain d' Albiousse, and the second, under
Captain Thomale, were immediately extended in
skirmishing order to the left and right, the third
compan)', under Captain Alain de Charette, and
the fourth, under Captain le Gonidec, following
as supports. The woods were soon cleared of
Garibaldians, and the heights scaled ; but a
Genoese battalion, commanded by Captain Stallo,
and another from Leghorn, led by Captain
Meyer, held the tableland to the right of the
road, and their heavy fire checked the advance
of the Zouaves till their line was strengthened
by the companies of Captain de Moncuit and
Captain de \'eau.'C ; and Lieutenant-Colonel de
Charette, hastening up with the company of
Captain Lefebvre, led a furious bayonet-charge,
which swept the Garibaldians before it. It was
in vain that they tried to rally and re-form
behind trees or farmhouses ; they were driven
from one place of refuge after another, and a
long line of killed and wounded marked the
track of the Zouaves as they drove the
shattered battalions back upon the Santucci
vineyard.
This strong position — a walled enclosure which
had been loopholed, as well as the large farm-
house standing on a height within it — was held
by the battalion of Major Ciotti : it commands
the approach to Mentana from the east across
the tableland above that village, while the
approaches from the front and from the west
can be swept by a plunging fire from the Castle
of Mentana. The approach to the vineyard was
protected by a cross-fire from Monte Guarnieri,
a wooded height on the opposite side of the
road ; this had to be carried first, and it was
taken by Captain Alain de Charette, whose
company climbed the steep slopes and drove the
Garibaldian sharpshooters from their shelter
among the trees.
A piece of artillery, commanded bj- Count
Bernardini, then opened fire on the Santucci
vineyard, while Lieutenant-Colonel de Charette
attacked it in front with some companies of
Zouaves, supported on their right by five com-
panies of Swiss Carabiniers. The walls of the
enclosure were soon scaled, and the Garibaldians
driven back into the farmhouse, where they
made a stubborn resistance till the doors were
broken in, when they laid down their arms. In
this attack Lieutenant-Colonel de Charette'^
horse was killed under him. and Captain de
Veau.x fell, struck by a bullet which drove down
into his heart the cross he had won at Castel-
fidardo.
The Papal troops had been equally successful
on the left of the high road, where they had
driven the Garibaldians from the woods and
come out on the open slopes which descend
towards Mentana, from which they could pour a
heavy fire on the crowd of fugitives hastening
from all directions towards the village. It was then
two o'clock ; there was a cessation of the fight
for a icw minutes to pick up and carry away
the wounded, and General Kanzler, who had
established his headquarters at the Santucci
vineyard, prepared to attack Mentana.
The Castle of Mentana, a feudal fortress of the
Borghese familv, stands upon a rock with pre-
cipitous sides advancing from the high road into
a deep valley ; it was held, along with the ad-
jacent Borghese palace, the village, and the
barricade erected at its entrance, by four batta-
lions of Garibaldians, under Lieutenant-Colonel
Frig)-esi, a Hungarian ; the height above the
village, where there was a large farm with stacks
of hay and corn, was occupied b\' si.x battalions,
commanded by Colonel Elia and Major \"alzania ;
Major Cantoni, with three battalions, was sta-
tioned to the left of the village on the road
leading to Monte Rotondo, and the two guns
which had been taken at the siege of that town
GARIBALDI'S DEFEAT AT MEN'TANA.
167
were drawn up on Monte San Lorenzo, a little
to the rear.
General Kanzler placed three guns, two of
•ivhich belonged to the French, on Monte Guar-
nieri, another on the high road, and two more
in the Santucci vineyard, to counteract the fire
of the Castle and of the Garibaldian artillery ;
the Zouaves advanced from the vineyard in
skirmishing order and drove the Garibaldians
from a building called the Conventino, beyond
which the ground gradually rises towards the
height which commands Mentana, where Elia's
battalions were posted having their flanks pro-
tected by the fire from the Castle and the
adjacent houses. Five companies of Swiss Cara-
ibiniers advanced in line with the Zouaves. On
arriving in sight of the position held by the
Garibaldians, the Zouaves, instead of waiting till
the lire of the artillery had thrown the ranks
■of the enemy into disorder, broke away madly
Crom their officers. and charged. Heedless of the
voice of their colonel or of the sound of the
bugles, they pressed on, driving the Garibaldians
from every hedge or clump of trees which they
■sought to defend, and flung them back into the
liouses. There the charge was stopped by a
hail of bullets from the loopholed walls, but the
Zouaves held their ground, sheltered by the hay-
stacks, from behind which they returned the tire
of the Garibaldians. A desperate sortie of the
■enemy dislodged them, but three companies, led
by Major de Lambilly, came to their relief ; they
regained their positions, and at this spot, which
was alternately lost and retaken, the greatest
.amount of slaughter took place ; and the struggle
lasted till nightfall.
The front attack having been thus stopped,
Garibaldi sent two strong columns to turn the
flanks of the Papal army. One of these, of three
battalions, marched from the northern end of
the village, and nearly succeeded in surrounding
and cutting off two companies of Swiss Cara-
biniers on our right. They retired slowly in
good order, tiring as they went, until being re-
inforced by two more Swiss companies, and two
of the Legior. d'Antibes, they dashed forward,
broke up the Garibaldian column and pursued it
as far as the road to Monte Rotondo.
The other column, which marched from the
south of the village, was not more successful — it
was repulsed by three companies of the Legion
•d'Antibes, who followed it as far as the entrance
of the village, where they took a house and
made some prisoners, but had to retire in
presence of superior numbers.
Just then the detachment under Major de
Troussures was seen advancing in the direction
of the road to Monte Rotondo. Garibaldi at
once perceived that the day w^as lost, and his
line of retreat nearly intercepted, he hastened to
provide for his safety and left Mentana, while
his staff-officers still continued to defend the
village.
They immediately collected all the men still
able to fight, to make a last desperate effort to
envelope the wings of the Papal army ; and when
General Kanzler, who had sent forward all his
reserves, saw two strong columns of companies
issuing in good order from Mentana, he requested
General de Polhes. whose infantr}- had hitherto
taken no part in the combat, to bring forward his
troops. A French battalion and three com-
panies of Chasseurs, under Colonel Fremont,
marched at once on the Garibaldian left, de-
ployed into line, and for the first time the
" Chassepot " was brought into action. The fight
ceased for a moment over all the field of battle,
as the soldiers on both sides paused to listen^o
that deadly fire, rapid and ceaseless as the roll-
ing of a drum, before which the hostile battalions
disbanded and fled back into Mentana or Monte
Rotundo, in spite of all the efforts of Menotti
Garibaldi and his officers to rally them. The
column on the right wing met with the same
fate : attacked by Lieutenant-Colonel Saussier
with a French battalion and the Zouaves of Major
de Troussures, it broke and dispersed in various
directions.
Mentana was now completely surrounded, and
it was decided to take it by assault. General
de Polhes led a French regiment and a battalion
of Chasseurs to storm the barricade at the en-
trance of the village, while the Zouaves attacked
a neighbouring house.
It was just then, at the end of the fight, that
Julian Watts-Russell, an English Zouave, and
one of the youngest soldiers in the Papal army,
fell, close to the village ; his comrades succeeded
in taking the house, but the French column,
crushed by the heavy fire from the barricade,
the houses and the Castle, retreated after losuitr
heavilv.
Night had fallen, and it would have been
impossible to continue the struggle ; the troops
lit their watch-fires round the village, throwing
out strong advanced posts and sentinels, and
held themselves in readiness against a surprise.
The ne.xt morning at dawn. Major Fauchon,
with a French battalion, entered Mentana, when
some hundreds of Garibaldians laid down their
IDS
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
arms. Seven hundred others in the Castle
capitulated, and were allowed to cross the
frontier without arms. They had left boo dead
and 500 wounded on the field ; while the loss of the
Pontifical troops was 30 killed and 1 14 wounded,
and of the P'rench, z killed and 36 wounded.
Garibaldi continued his retreat as far as Correse
on the evening of the battle, and crossed the
frontier the next day with 5,000 men ; while
Qoo others, under Colonel Salomone, escaped
into the Abruzzi. The other Garibaldian bands,
under Acerbi and Nicotera, which had occupied
the provinces of Velletfi and Viterbo, and the
Italian troops which had followed them, gradu-
ally withdrew without offering any resistance,
and thus ended the campaign.
n A G N O K E A .
I6-)
I
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©
©
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®TH[
o
0
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tHITRAL CAMPAIGN OF 139^
BY MAJOR GENERAL T BLAND 5TRANGt
®.
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V
'■ The sea-wolf's litter stand savagely at bay."
PROM the day the keels of the Norse
rovers grated on the shores of Britain,
her destiny was maritime power.
The long galleys changed to trading
ships, and with trade came military occupation,
until commercial empire became a necessity to
the crowded millions on the little islands of a
northern sea.
We strove for an outlet in a new world.
Wolfe's battle on the plains of Abraham above
Qaebec gave us Canada, which a French king's
mistress consoled her royal lover, Louis XIV.,
by calling " Ouelques arpents de neige en
Amcrique " ; and then we lost the fairest half
of the western continent — our thirteen colonies,
now the United States of America — by attempt-
ing to tax them without their consent.
Having lost the West we turned to the East,
and again ousting France by the victories of
Clive, the India merchant company began a
new chapter in the history of the East, from
whose earliest pages we know that the hordes of
Central Asia have time and again descended from
the roof of the world to the conquest of Hindu-
stan, until Akbar fixed the house of Timour
upon the throne of Delhi, and stopped the tide
of invasion from ths North.
The battle of Plassy, by raising a rival pov/er
that became paramount, shook the throne of the
Emperor of India, who subsequently became our
puppet-king of Delhi. A century after Plassy
the last scion of that Mongol dynasty met his
well-deserved fate at the hands of an English
leader of irregular horse at the fall of Delhi in
1857, the year of the great Mutiny. Hodson,
by capturing the King of Delhi and slaying his
murderous sons, who had caused the massacre
of English women and children, became the
;;mpress-maker of Queen Victoria, the outposts
of whose legions now face those of the great
white Czar — the crest of the wave of Central
Asian invasion, which our occupation of India
has dammed back for more than a century.
It is no light task that we have set ourselves,
thus to stem the natural overflow of the Tartar
hordes that have ever surged over the ancient
civilisations of Hindostan.
Unwittinglv, nigh half a century ago, while
yet the Aluscovite was a thousand leagues
awa}-, we had planted our standards at Chitral,
what time we shattered the Sikh (Kalsa) army,
which threatened the invasion of India, and
assumed the administration of the Punjab and
the whole territory of Runjeet Singh (1848).
Kashmir was part of the Sikh kingdom under
a viceroy, Golab Singh. To him we left the
beautiful vallev, or rather sold it for a trifling
sum (which was never paid), guaranteeing pro-
tection and assuming suzeraintv- The Valley
of Chitral is a dependency of Kashmir, and
one of the gateway's of India, behind which
the Muscovite alread}- stands.
Nizam-ul-mulk, Methar of Chitral, was mur-
dered by his brother, Amir-ul-mulk, in January,
iSq;, in the usual mountain fashion, with pro-
bably the usual outside instigation, as he was
favourable to our influence.
Dr. Robertson, the representative of the
Indian Government, accepted the de facto
ruler as best he could.
Umra Khan, the bold and intriguing ruler of
Bajour, invaded Chitral, not without pledge of
outside support if he were successful. He offered
the Metharship to Sher Afzul, apparently
meaning to keep it himself. The Government
of India gave him notice to quit by April ist,
1805. The answer was an attack by his ally,
Sher Afzul, on Captain Ross, and sixty Sikhs,
tyo
BATTLES OF THE xMXETEEXTH CENTURY.
escorting aiT.munitioii to Dr. Robertson at
Chitral.'
Ross and his men died fighting ; fourteen only,
under the wounded subaltern. Lieutenant Jones,
fought their way back to Puni ; later, Lieutenants
Edwards and Fowler, with a still smaller force,
attempting the same task of conveying ammuni-
tion to Chitral, were attacked bv overwhelming
numbers.
Fighting desperately and with some loss, they
gained the shelter of the village of Reshun,
bringing in all their wounded, ammunition, and
rations.
From the 7th to the 13th they doggedlv
defended the place, loopholing the walls and
piling the ammunition boxes into breastworks
on the flat roofs.
The men had short rations and but little
water, which they drew from a stream hard by,
making sorties, in one of which, on the night of
the loth, Lieutenant Fowler and twenty men
surprised about fifty of the enemy who had
incautiously lit fires behind their sungars : the
glare exposed them, while the attack got within
ten yards without discovery and bayoneted
about twenty ; the rest fled.
During the sortie, a counter attack was made
on Lieutenant Edwards and his men in the
village ; it was repulsed.
After this taste of sepoy steel, the enemy
were not quite so intrusive, and the little garri-
son were able to get water, repair their defences,
and attend to the wounded (among whom was
Lieutenant Fowler).
Edwards, improvising splints and bandages,
utilised his carbolic tooth-powder to pjit on
open wounds.
Not a murmur escaped the lips of the patient
sepoys, who burnt the bodies of their six slain
comrades, and grimly went on doing their
duty, engaged in watching and desultor)- fight-
ing day and night.
On the 13th a white flag was shown by the
enemy, who ceased firing and asked parley.
Mahommed Isa Khan* said he had come from
Dr. Robertson at Chitral with orders to stop all
fighting pending the recognition of Sher Afzul
as Methar.
An armistice was concluded — the besieged
to be unmolested, the Bhisties allowed to get
water, and supplies of food sent in to the
garrison.
Alahommed Isa proposed a game of polo, and
* Isa is the Mohammedan form of Jesus.
invited the British officers, who, with British
hardihood, accepted. They were treacherously
seized, and the surprised garrison killed, except
Jemidar Lai Khan and eleven sepo\-s, who, with
their officers, were carried as prisoners to Sher
Afzul, and subsequently delivered to fmra Khan,
who wanted the English officers as a trump card
in the game he was playing with General Low.
He treated the officers well, and released the
Mohammedan soldiers and the Hindus who
accepted Islam ; those of our Hindu or Sikh
sepoN's who refused conversion perished by the
sword. By this capture sixty-eight boxes of
ammunition fell into the hands of the enemy,
who were already fairly well supplied with rifles
and ammunition from Afghanistan.
That inadequateh'-protected supplies of ammu-
nition were ordered up to Chitral by Dr. Robert-
son was not the act of the military authorities.
Their mobilisation of 15,000 men was perfectly
planned, and carried out with a swiftness and
secrecy possible only to a Government unharassed
by the questions of party politicians.
The despatch of the expedition was decided on
earl}- in March ; the plan of campaign prepared
in the Intelligence Office by the middle of that
month ; none of the officers chosen to com-
mand were warned until well on in March :
General Low himself had been granted leave
for a trip to Kashmir — his baggage' and camp
equipage, which had already started, had to be
recalled. The commissariat and transport
officers only got orders for the front fourteen
da3-s before the force crossed the frontier.
The press got the news on the i8th of
March. On the ist of April 15,000 men of all
arms crossed the frontier. In Europe soldiers
with their supplies can be carried by rail to
within a few miles of the fighting line. The
march of a European army in India must be 1
seen to be understood. Perhaps no Indian *
arm}' ever marched with less impedimenta :
Low's arpiy marched almost as it stood, with-
out tents or baggage, which followed after the
first fights had opened the route ; j-et vast
supplies of food and forage had to be pushed
through pathless mountains producing little
but brave and hard\- foes, and there were as
many camp-followers as fighting-men.
The transport required was — camels, 9,6b8 ;
bullocks, 7,32Q ; mules, 5,148 ; donkeys, 4.676 ;
ponies, 3,536. The camel transport is always
a source of difficulty in mountain countries, but
has often to be used fi/nh- dc micux ; fortunateh',
General Low, himself an Indian cavalr}- officer,
THE CHITRAL CAMPAIGN OF iSq?.
171
ifth Punjabis, 4th
had cxjK-ri^-iiLj in organising transport for
General Roberts in Afghanistan.
The details of the force were — Command'ng-
in-Chief, Lieiitenant-General Sir Robert Low.
1st Brigade: General Kinloch — Royal Rifles,
Bedfordshire Regiment, 15th Sikhs, 37th Dogras,
Field Hospital.
2nd Brigade : General Watertield — Gordon
Highlanders, Scottish Borderers, 4th Sikhs,
Guides' Infantry, Field Hospital.
3rd Brigade : General Gatacre — Seaforth
Highlanders, The Buffs,
Gurkhas, Field Hospital.
Divisional Troops —
Guide Cavalry, nth Ben-
gal Lancers, 13th Bengal
Infantry, 23rd Pioneers,
Royal Artillery mountain-
batteries, Nos. 3, S, 2
[Dera-jhat), Bengal Sap-
pers, Nos. I, 4, (> com-
panies Engineer Field
Park, Field and Veteri-
nary Hospital. Lines of
communication : General
Hammond — East Lanca-
shire Regiment, 20th and
30th Punjabis, Hospital.
In the press appeared
forebodings. The bones
of this expedition, like
those of the first ill-
starred one to Cabul,
were also to whiten the
passes. The desperate
Talour of the hillmen,
starvation, Afghan guile,
and Russian intrigue were to smite us. But
the good organisation and reticent generalship
of Low, the dash of Kell\-, the dogged defence
by Robertson, and the steady courage of our
troops, falsified pessimist prophecy.
Ascertaining that both the Malakand and
Shahkot passes were occupied by the enemy —
the latter most numerously — General Low issued
false orders for a simultaneous attack on both
passes, his intention being to concentrate the
three brigades at Dargai, before the Malakand,
on April 2nd. General Kinloch was left in the
belief that his brigade was to force the Shahkot
Pass, and the cavalry under Colonel Scott were
sent with sealed orders, to be opened at the foot
of the pass. These orders were to countermarch
the same night.
The feint was successful, and the defenders of
the Shahkot remained at their posts, while the
Malakand was forced, and did not oppose Gene-
ral Low till the 4th of April, when they were
checked bv Kinloch's brigade at Khar-kotal.
A deluge of rain delayed the transport
animals, and w?.s trying to men en bivouac.
Nevertheless, the leading brigade marched briskly
to the attack on the morning of the 3rd. The
Guide cavalry felt the way, and the mountain-
guns shelled the sungars along the higher crests.
The enemy's position was mostly on the left
of the pass. Their banners betrayed the sungars
(breastworks of loose stone), piled along the faces
THE CHITRAL CAMPAIGN.
Passes
of tM
f.FROSriKS-
and on the crests of the hills — the lowest on a
precipitous hill, 3,000 feet above the valley.
After a brief artillery fire, the 4th Sikhs and
Guides were ordered to climb the hills on the
left, carry the sungars, work along the crests,
and turn the flank. As soon as they came within
range, the hillmen opened fire, to which the
attack could not adequately answer, as it took
the men all they knew to climb. Those de-
fenders who had not firearms rolled an avalanche
of rocks on the assailants ; they, being in open
order, could avoid them, though not the rifle
fire.
The defenders seem to have marked the
ranges and picked out the officers, distinguished
from their men by wearing helmets instead of
turbans.
Major Tonnochy, Captain Buchanan, Lieu-
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
tenant Harman, and three native officers were
wounded before two-thirds of the ascent had
been got over. Lieutenant Ommane}-, of the
Guides, was also wounded.
The tribesmen stuck to their defences until
rushed by the bayonet.
It took nearly four hours to carry the crest of
the position. The Sikhs and Guides had been
nineteen hours under arms. In addition to the
British and native officers mentioned, four sepoys
Were killed and eleven wounded.
before the crest was reached a small party of the
Gordons, under a non-commissioned officer,
crept up a watercourse and dropped into a
sungar, from which a party of Swatis were enfil-
ading the Borderers. The tribesmen could
hardly handle their tulwars before the bayonet
silently did its work — not always with impunity,
for a gallant Gordon and a huge Pathan were
found locked in a last embrace.
If Britons take their pleasures sadly, they do
their fighting with a dash of comedy.
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In the meantime the Scottish Borderers and
the Gordon Highlanders worked up the centre
of the pass. The mountain-guns, having been
brought up a hill directly under the Malakand
peak, shelled the main defences and the village
on the summit. After half-an-hour of artillery
fire. General Low gave the order for the main
assault by infantry. The Borderers took the
centre, the Gordons the right, the Mxxims going
up as far as practicable with the fighting line.
The ascent was steep and tortuous. It was
afternoon before the assailants were up to the
defences. The Borderers and Gordons bore the
brunt of the fighting, and suffered most.
Though the hillmen defended step by step,
they rarely waited for the Scottish bayonet ; but
Half-wav up the steep of Malakand panted a
ponderous sergeant, breathless and drenched with
sweat. A bullet splashed the mud in his face.
Looking up, he shook his fist at the sungar and
shouted, " Ye blank brutes, if ye was on the flat
I'd eat yer I '' Iij the strife of battle men
laughed.
The last climb was precipitous ; the men
hauled each other up. Lieutenant Watt, of the ,
Gordons, was the first to top the ridge. The
enemy rushed at him. He shot two with his
revolver, and shouted to his men below. As
they could not at once reach him, he was fortun-
ately able to get down, until a fuller rush could
be made.
This officer had his shoulder-strap carried
BuOOHIST f?IOC
Camps on the Kojal [^alaK. a.nd ftss
LowAF^i Pass
SmOVVINO the Tf^^CK^ IN 1"HE SNOW
VIEWS IN THE CHITRAL COUNTRY.
174
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
away bv a bullet, which first passed through the
brain of his corporal.
General Low, seeing the difficulties of the
main attack, sent Kinloch's infantry up the
hill in support — King's Royal Rifles on the left,
Bedford? and Dogras on the light.
The 15th Sikhs only were held in reserve. By
2 p.m. the pass was carried and the village in
flames. The fighting was severe on the summit,
and from the wooded plateau the defenders had
to be dislodged by the bayonet.
The Gordons and Borderers, now mixed, col-
lected outside the village to rest and get breath,
while the Bedfords, who were in good order,
passed through the fighting line, and, with the
Dogras in hot pursuit, drove the enemy across
the ridge behind Malakand into the Swat valley
beyond Khara, where Colonel Patterson allowed
his wearied Bedfords to bivouac.
The commissariat was far on the other side of
the pass, but in the deserted village men found
native food — rice, flour, sugar, calves, and goats
— so the force fared sumptuously and slept peace-
fully, for no mountaineers were near save the
dying and the dead.
The Sikhs and Guides occupied the corre-
sponding crest on the left, the Dogras on the
right.
Meanwhile, the mountain gunners and their
mules began to scramble up the pass, followed
by the mule transport of the ist Brigade. The
baggage of the 2nd Brigade being on camels,
could not be got up until a pathway had been
made for the unwieldy brutes. Late in the
evening an order was flagged to the summit of
the pass for the 2nd Brigade to come down to
their rations. The descending stream of soldiers
and the baggage of the ist Brigade struggling
up made a block in the pass.
Night fell, the unencumbered soldiers got
down, but the transport mules had to be un-
packed, and some doolies with their suffering
load of wounded waited for the day. Officers
who carried tins of Bovril in their haversacks
gave them up for the wounded men, smoked a
pipe for supper, and lay down under the universal
sky blanket.
Our casualties were eight officers and sixty-
one men. The strength of the enemy v.-as esti-
mated at 12,000, their killed at 500. Their
wounded must have been many.
The little pathways down to the Swat valley
were streaked with blood, showing where the
wounded had been carried or dragged them-
selves along.
The pencil diameter of the Lee-Metford
bullet will drill a hole even through a bone
without bringing down or always stopping the
rush of a man of a fighting religion.*
What the hillmen said they feared was " not
the child-rifle, but the devil guns, which killed
half-a-dozen men with one shot (shell), which
burst and threw up splinters, as deadly as the
shots themselves."
An ancient, unused road, said to have been
of Buddhist construction, was discovered, and
soon made passable for the clumsy camel.
The indefatigable sapper had already made i'
fit for wheel traffic.
Lionel James, war correspondent with the
force, thinks the original engineers were
soldiers rather than priests. Alexander of
Macedon entered India via the Malakand, we
are told ; and if the army of Alexander the
Greek, why not a Russian Ale.xander ?
Unlike the Greek, the Russian consolidates
his conquests slowly, but surely.
The Greek soldier has left more than hi.s
impress on roads, for many of the tribes about
the mountain gates of India are of a Greek
type, especially the women : they are fair and
tall, absolutely diff'erent from the squat Tartar
figures and hideous featureless faces of the
Ladakis on our north-eastern frontier.
Modern Buddhist roads with their long lines
of prayer-graven stones lead straight across the
hills, and are unfit for load-carrying animals ; the
Buddhist pilgrim carries nothing but personal
filth and his hand praying-machine.t
But we must pass from Buddhist priests and
the soldiers of either Alexander to those of
Victoria.
On the morning of the 4th the Bedfords and
Dogras returned from their swoop into the
valley of the Swat, and rejoined their brigade
on the summit of the Malakand. The whole
brigade was ordered to march on Khar. The
Bedfords gave the advanced guard going down
the ancient pathwav, followed by the mountain-
guns, the K.O. Rifles, and the baggage. The
* The Maxim must stop man or horse if it has the-
range, for the rapidity of fire is so great that four or five
bullets will strike a man before he can fall. The Martini-
Henri calibre Maxim has a large bullet, but the smoke of
black powder draws fire. Smokeless Maxims would be
invaluable for the defence of frontier posts where the
ranges can be marked and ammunition stored,
t A little revolving copper cylinder in which are
written prayers ; each revolution counts for a whole
book of prayer, and the pilg'^m twirls out his prayers
as he walks leisurely along.
THE CHITRAI, CAMPAIGN OF 189:
175
Dogras and 15th Sikhs, taking another path,
Jebouchfd upon the plain about the same linic,
passing a village they had burnt the evening
before.
The party of sappers, road-making in the
advance, reported the enemy in force on a low
ridge to the right front, and ascending in great
strength a high rocky ridge which ran parallel
to the road.
The Bedfords seized the mouth of the defile
through which the road ran, two companies on
each flank ; another of Bedfords and one of
K.O. Rifles ascended a spur on the right.
The guns came into action against the enemy
on the high ridge. The Dogras advanced
across the plain, supported by the Sikhs, and
attacked the low ridge to the right front,
driving the enemy over it, and beyond. They
got under the fire of the heights, and were
repeatedly assailed by rushes of the hillmen,
but they stood their ground. Major Cunning-
ham advanced his guns, and the ring shell
began to find the enemy.
Captain Cambridge's two companies of Bed-
fords met the sudden onset of a large body of
tribesmen with magazine fire at short range,
which they could not stand. Most of the brave
fellows succeeded in regaining cover, though
few could have escaped unwounded.
Here is the account given to a war correspond-
ent by a wounded Swati : —
" We fought hard, because the mullahs urged
us to defeat the Kaffirs before the devil-guns
could be brought over the pass, and they told us,
to give us heart, that the guns could not be
brought over the pass for days ; but it was false,
for presently we heard the deep boom of these
guns, and from them there was no safety and no
cover. But the mullahs urged us on, and so
about 300 of us determined to rush the guns,
for they alone made us cowards.
" But we met many Kaffirs (infidels) on the
side of the hill, whom we had not seen, for they
fired without making smoke and we were so
close to them that we could not escape being
wounded.
" But their fire killed few, though it was very
rapid, and many of us, who had escaped into
the nullah, believed we were unwounded until
we found blood on our clothes.
" We were all more or less wounded. I got
this (pointing to his thigh), but only a few were
badly hurt.
" This did not stop us fighting.
" But the Kafifirs stood still, and we could not
make it out. Thev made no attempt to drive
us from our position.
" Then our mullahs said, ' They are afraid ;
the day is ours.'
" So a great party came down from the hill
into the plain, for we were full of the belief that
the Kaffirs were afraid.
" Suddenly there was a shout, and the Kaffir
horsemen were upon us.
"Now we know nothing of horsemen, and we
never believed they could come up the Malakand
with big horses.
'' With one accord we fled — some to the hills,
others to Badkhel, and others into the nullahs.
" The horsemen killed a few ; but for the
softness of the ground they would have killed
man}'.
" It was night, and the mullahs said, ' The
river is rising ; let us go to the other side ; then
they will never pass.'
" Some said, ' Let us attack them to-night,' but
we were beaten ; we had about 200 dead on that
ridge.
" We feared the horses and the guns, and we
went to Tanna that night. . . .
" We of Swat lost heart when we saw the
smoke of Khar ascending to the sky.
" Most men had lied ! My wound was sore,
but I was able to walk ; it was only a little stiff,
as it had not bled much."
The Kaffir horsemen of the narrator were a
tired party of the Guides' cavalry under Adams
and Baldwin : they had marched right through
from Dargai, over the Malakand, that morning
without even watering or feeding. Adams
formed them behind a khotal held by the Dogras,,
and charged home through soft cornfields almost
knee-deep.
The hillmen, who had faced magazine-rifle
fire, would not face horsemen with that queen
of anncs blanches the lance ! They mostly
took it in the back ; some faced about, squatted
and sliced at the legs of horse or rider ; Lieu-
tenant Baldwin, four sowars, and si.x horses were
wounded.
Major Cunningham's guns gave the sungars a
last benefit : the shooting was good, and the last
fire of the day had a demoralising eiTect.
The brigade bivouacked where it stood.
The force opposed to us was a fanatic gather-
ing, probablv d.goo, composed of the remnant
of the Malakand defenders, those of the Shahkot
pass left out of the first engagement, and men
from the Bonar and Bijour countries.
Their losses were more than at Malakand, the
1/6
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
guns doing most of the damage, getting shell
into the masses on several occasions.
Our loss was slight — men killed, two ; officers
wounded, three ; and men wounded, fifteen ;
horses killed and wounded, eight.
General Low's headquarters with 2nd Brigade
(excepting Gordons and Gurkhas, holding the
Malakand) reached Khara on the fth. No
.serious resistance was met until the Swat river
was reached.
On the 6th the brigades again changed places,
the second being ordered to the front. The
mules were being used for supplies only ; when
available for general transport, they were sent on
to 2nd Brigade instead
of back to 1st Brigade.
The bare and pre-
cipitous hills of Swat
contrast with the fer-
tile valleys, long green
stretches of waving
corn in spring, due to
the moisture from the
watershed above, and
alluvial soil ■ washed
down by floods.
Trees are scarce —
mostl}' mulberry, wal-
nut, apricot. The cli-
mate in spring is de-
lightful, but summer
is hot in the val-
leys. Our troops will
doubtless be can-
toned on the heights,
where they will be far
healthier than being poisoned in Peshaw ar.
The valleys of Swat, Bijour, and Chitral re-
semble each other : the people handsome and
intelligent — the men brave but volatile, the
women gracious and full of charm.
The Hunza-Nagar valleys, at the foot of the
eastern passes, are barren, the people more Tar-
taresque and less intelligent.
On the 6th of April the 2nd Brigade en-
camped opposite the crossing of the Swat river,
north of the village of Alladand.
Reconnaissance showed that the gatherings
we had fought on the 3rd and 4th had retired up
the Swat valley, without entirely dispersing.
Where the Swat river has five beds — reported
fordable, but swift — were two villages, Chakdara
and Adamderai, on wooded knolls.
They were occupied bv the enemv, swarming
in from the north-east, making a strong position
GE.NER.^L LOU'.
to defend the ford. On the right, about 2,000
yards, rises a knoll, and beyond a ridge of hills
parallel with the river, completely commanding
the passage. There were no corresponding
positions on our bank.
Two companies of sappers under Major Alymer
were sent down to conmience bridging at day-
break ; they v.-ere fired upon from the opposite
bank, and unable to work.
The Maxim of the K.O.S.B. and No. 8 Moun-
tain Battery, R.A., were brought down ; the
ground the latter had to cross was bogg)-. By
the time they got into action it was found
the enemy were in greater force than was
thought probable at
this point. As the
strength of the enemy
developed, regiment
after regiment was sent
into action — 4th, 15th,
Sikhs, and Borderers.
The firing became
general all down the
river, and the guns,
having got the range,
were doing good work
against the sungars on
the ridge.
The nth Bengal
Lancers and Guides,
under Colonel Scott,
were ordered to find
a ford. Among the
enemy were noticed
some of Umra Khan's
cavalr)-. It was a
difficult task to ford the Swat, through fire
and water, for the torrent swept over the
holsters. Lieutenant Sarel's horse shied at
the splash of a bullet, lost its footing, and was
swept away ; the rider saved himself by
gripping the lance held out by a sowar. Shual
Singh, of Captain Wright's squadron, was
the first man across. The ground on the other
side was broken and marshy ; the enem}-, already
flying, had a long start, but before thev got into
the high ground the lancers were among them,
inflicting severe loss, until stony ground and
heavy going made further pursuit impossible.
Of the tribesmen, but few stood to bay, knelt
down, and shot their man before the lance could
reach them. Five sought shelter in some bushes
over a dry well, and pulled the first sowar, horse
and all, into the well with them. His comrades
dismounted and prodded that well. The sowars
THE CHITRAL CAMPAIGN OF 1S95.
177
were merciless — not that the tribesmen were
less so ; tor a wounded Swati, finding a worse
wounded lancer, chopped him up. One must
have seen a charge of native lancers, and heard
the exultant shout of the trooper as he transfixes
his foe as accurately as he would a tent-peg, to
realise the innate ferocity of man.
Shortly after the cavalry had crossed, the
wounded ; the Sikhs two sepoys drowned, two
lancers were killed, and several wounded. The
sappers had a few casualties. The enemy had
assembled 4,500 to oppose the passage, and their
losses were considerable. If the tribes had stood
to their defences, the cavalry must have suffered
severely, but positions impossible to cavalry
attack were abandoned. The 3rd Brigade passed
THE PASSAGE OF TUE SWAT.
Scottish Borderers, linked arm-in-arm like their
ante-types of the " Island of the Scots," had also
forded the Swat higher up, opposite the small
Fort Ramorah, which they carried undercover of
theDera Jhul mountain-guns. The Sikhs crossed
in like fashion lower down, and occupied the
villages of Chakdara and Adam Dhara.
Such feats of infantry-fording are onlj- possible
with the modern brass cartridge and breech-
loaders ; in the old days of paper cartridges,
musket and pouch had to be held above water.
Our casualties at the passage of the Swat were
few. The Borderers had one man killed and two
60
the Malakand on the 8th. To feed the troops
on the north side of the pass, General Low had
been obliged to utilise, during the 4th, 5th, and
6th, all the mules of the force, as these were the
only animals that could cross the pass ; and it
was not till the 8th, when camels had been
streaming across for two days with supplies, that
it was possible to equip the 2nd and 3rd Brigades
with transport, tents, baggage, and twenty days'
supplies. The 2nd Brigade were entirelv across
the Swat by the evening of the 8th, and head-
quarters next day, the 3rd Brigade encamping
on the opposite bank at ^Vlladand. On the
78
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
loth the 2nd Brigade marched to Ganibat, cross-
ing Katgola pass, over which Umra Khan's
horsemen had disappeared Irom the pursuit of
Wright's tired squadron.
The 3rd Brigade passed the Swat, now bridged.
' General Kinlock's Brigade was left to guard the
Swat valley and communications. On the nth
General Low and 2nd Brigade reached the
Panjkora river at Sado ferry. Owing to the
difficulty of the " Shago Kas" defile, the baggage
did not get into camp till very late that night,
being fired into en route by the hillmen who
still hung on our flanks and rear. The advanced
guard of cavalry. Guide infantry, and 4th Sikhs
had arrived at Sado on the 10th. Cavalry
forded the river, and reconnoitred up the Bijour
valle}' ; they found L^mra Khan's forts still held,
and that evening, owing to the river rising, the
cavalrj- had considerable difficulty in recrossing.
The Panjkora bridge was commenced by Major
Alymer and sappers. It was built on raft piers
from logs lying on the banks.
On the evening of the 12th, foot-men could
cross. There being every hope that the re-
mainder of the brigade and their baggage could
cross the following day, Colonel Battye and his
Guides passed over to cover the bridge and form
a tetc-de-pont at the apex of a re-entering angle
of the right bank. The post had a level space
of some hundred yards in its front, and was
commanded by high ground on the left bank.
Before daybreak on the 13th the river rose
suddenly, swollen with melted snow.
The tribesmen had set adrift huge logs, which
bore dowji upon the bridge and swept it away.
A suspension bridge was then commenced at a
suitable site about two miles lower down. The
cables were twisted strands of telegraph-wire,
but this was work requiring three or four days.
A new road also had to be cut on the opposite
bank to the mouth of the Bijour valley. This
could only be done by holding the right bank.
On the 13th the Guides were ordered to march
down the right bank and punish certain villages,
from which men had been persistently firing on
the transport. The route intended for the
Guides to follow was in view of the left bank,
and could be covered by fire from our side. By
some misunderstanding, never now to be ex-
plained. Colonel Battye led his Guides up the
Ushiri river into Bijour.
When the helio flashed the news that over-
powering masses of the enemy were bearing
down on the separated parties of the Guides
engaged in burning the walled villages, the
2nd Brigade was ordered out to cover the
retirement. The Sikhs hearing that their
sister corps, the Guides, were in a tight place,
broke into a shout, got under arms, and
five minutes after the long-drawn notes of the
assembly had died away were marched off,
followed by Captain Peebles and his Maxim, the
Borderers, and the Gordons. The range south-
west of the camp was climbed, and the brigade
lined its western face. On the summit of the
corresponding ridge, across the river, the Guides
were engaged out of range of support. They
were hard pressed, for the enemy saw the bridge
was carried awa}'. A delayed helio message was
even now received by Colonel Battye to carrj-
out the order of the previous evening. It was
immediatelv countermanded by an order to
retire on the camp. Then Colonel Battye
obeyed, and retired deliberate!)- as a good soldier
should. His party was divided into three ; the
right retired last, covering the others, and
Colonel Batt\-e remained with it. The left party
found an easy descent, and were not pressed by
the enenn, who threw themselves fiercely on
the two remaining columns, in spite of the
artillery fire which had now begun to touch.
The right and centre retired slowly, covering
each other with flank fire, until the centre party
had to climb round a precipitous spur, losing
sight of Colonel Battye, who held on until
assured of their safety by seeing them below.
Meanwhile Lieutenant Codrington with the left,
seeing the right had ceased to retire, again began
to ascend in support of his chief, while Lieu-
tenant Lockhart with the centre took up a
position to cover the retirement of both when ,
they would have to cross the open. The tribes- 1
men, swarming above Colonel Battye, poured a ;
heavy and continuous fire upon his little party,
which must have been annihilated but that the
hillmen fired high, under the e.xcitement of close
quarters, as all soldiers will, in spite of the lessons
of all campaigns since the introduction of fire-
arms.* That the Guides behaved splendidly
goes without saying — always. Their severest trial
was just when they reached the open plain, and
the fire across the river could not support them
on account of the nearness of friend and foe.
At this critical moment Colonel Battye fell.
The Afridi Company, without orders, fi.\ed
bayonets and turned savagely upon the foe to
avenge the man they loved like a father — Alera
Bap ! (as the sepoy calls his colonel). They
* The Germans keep their bayonets fi.xed, which has a
tendency to keep down fire.
THE CHITRAL CAMPAIGN OF i8q;
179
rolled back the enemy to the very foot of the
liill, which they began to re-uscend to their
inevitable destruction. The officers could be
seen here and there to seize an infuriated sepoy
by the coat collar and hurl hiui back into tiie
ranks. Sullenly the Guides obeyed, carrying
their dying colonel, the last of four brothers who
have died on fields of honour.
The dogged resistance of the Guides and the
covering fire of the 2nd Brigade had hardly
stayed the enemy. At nightfall 2,000 men lay
in wait in the cornfields for the signal to rush
the camp of the isolated— but still stout-hearted
— Guides, who had not tasted food for forty-eight
hours, and marched and fought the long day
through. But, said a Pathan prisoner, " Sud-
denly the night was turned into day, and then
again and again our courage forsook us. The
devil guni were firing the stars at us."*
That same evening a company of the 4th Sikhs
and Peebles with his Ma.xim managed to cross on
mussack rafts to the support of the Guides. t
During the night the enemy fired stray shots,
but only wounded a couple of sepoys. At day-
break their fire was more accurate and killed
the gallant Captain Peebles and wounded a
Devon man with the Maxim.
The enemy retired, and the Guides and Sikhs
took up a forward position. The party that
attacked the Guides was about 4,000 strong ; by
their own account they lost 500. Our loss was
only two officers and three men killed, and
twenty-two wounded.
On the 13th, Umra Khan sued for terms,
sendmg in his prisoner. Lieutenant Edwards,
and Fowler, three days later.
The rains were incessant, and the rivers con-
tinued to rise; it seemed likely that the bridge
over the Swat, in General Low's rear, and the
suspension bridge over the Panjkora, would
both be swept away.
The two remaining mussack rafts (one had
been overturned, and two unserviceable from
bullet holes) were not sufficient to cross supplies.
The Guides and Sikhs were ordered to pack
ammunition and baggage in their entrenchment
* Star shell were fired across the river by the artillery.
But star shell are to be discontinued in our service, and
parachute light balls are seen only in our military
museums.
t Mussacks are skins of animals used as water-bags.
When inflated with air they support a raft, being very
buoyant and suitable for crossing mountain torrents,
impact with a rock does not injure them as it would a
more solid support or pontoon, but crossing under fire is
risKv as a single bullet-hole lets out the air.
and hold thcmsches in readiness to re-cross by
the suspension bridge before what there was of it
was swept awav, for the flood threatened the
piers, and was rapidly rising to the roadway,
but the river falling on the ]6th, they were
ordered to stand fast.
On the 17th, General Low crossed with the
3rd and 2iul Brigades. They Iiad been pre-
ceded by a squadron of the Guides under
Colonel Blood, who found the enemy advancing
from the village of Miankalai. The enemy
occupied the hills on the south and two villages
to the west. The 4th Gurkhas were directed
up the southern hills, to move along them to
the west ; the Seaforth Highlanders on the
slopes below, and the 25th Punjabees in support.
The Buffs occupied the hills to the north with
the Dera-jhat battery in action on a knoll in the
centre. While the infantry cleared the hills,
the lancers advanced up the centre of the
valley, but they got no chance to charge, the
ground being broken.
The enemy did not show the bold front of
previous days, but retired as the infantry
advanced, and though the guns were pushed
forward about 1 ,000 yards, the loss of the enemy
was trifling. Our casualties were four Gurkhas
and a Highlander, four troopers and twelve
horses wounded.
On the 1 8th, General Low, with the 2nd and
3rd Brigades, marched on Mundia, Umra Khan's
home, a stone fort with four flanking towers,
the interior a village intersected by lanes, the
principal buildings being the mosque and Umra
Khan's harem. The place was abandoned and
empty save for a couple of ancient cannon,
the toilet articles of native ladies, some rag-
dolls, and a letter from an enterprising Bombay
firm offering to supply Umra Khan with the
newest weapons and ammunition at the lowest
rates.
But L'mra Khan had been fairly supplied
from several sour/:es, and had gone to his Afghan
friends at Asmar, at the date of General Lovv's
visit.
On the same evening General Gatacre, with
the Buffs, Gurkhas, half a mountain-battery,
two Maxims, a half-comjiany of sappers, and
twenty days' supplies, was pushed on to Barwa,
en route for Dir and Chitral.
On the 20th, the remainder uf the brigade,
Seaforths and Punjabees, were brought on
by General Low to the foot of the Janbatai.
Having news that the Chitral garrison were
reduced to great straits, Gatacre was ordered to
i8o
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
push on with 500 men, supported by the Sea-
fort hs.
The following daj- news came that Sheer Afzul
COLONEL EATTYE.
(Fhatit, J. Biitke ir- Co., Kinitick Mara.)
had abandoned the siege, and was a prisoner in
the hands of our ally the Khan of Dir.
When the relief of Chitral by Colonel Kelly's
column was known, orders were sent to Gatacre
not to press his men. His advanced troops
were at Dir. The Lowari pass, 10,400 feet, was
knee-deep in softening snow, and could only
be crossed by a battalion at a time. Umra
Khan had crossed with several tiiousand men
in January when the snow was hard. Though
our men suffered, they endured cheerily.
There is a good deal of " bogey " talk about
our men funking the mountain-passes and the
snows: they do not in the least, but enjoy the
change from the sultry plains.
A man of the Buffs (the old London City
Regiment) smacking his arms after the fashion
of a cabby, said to his pal, " Well, I likes this —
it reminds me more of the Old Country than
anything I saw since I left."
They rivalled the mountain Gurkhas, tobog-
ganing on nothing, down the steep snow slopes
of the abrupt descent ; and a sporting Madras
Drabie unpacked his mule and tobogganed down
astride on a rum cask, disappearing in a whirl
of snow rather faster than he liked.
General Low's steady advance, securing his
communications as he marched, and his five
decisive defeats of the enemy, drove LTmra Khan
■across the border, and Sheer Afzul to despair,
thus rendering possible the relief of Chitral by
Kelly's gallant little column.
Adjectives only weaken the bald chronicle o^
Chitral defence as told by Dr. Robertson.
The fort of Chitral on the river (to which
there is a covered water-way) is about eighty feet
square, with towers at the angles ; the walls, eight
feet thick, are stone filled into square wooden
crates. It is naturally commanded from every
side, and the indefatigable enemy built sungars,
giving them a protected command. Abcmt fifty
yards from the fort was a stone wall enclosing
the mosque and stables, solid stone buildings,
which had to be destroyed by the garrison, as
they were not numerous enough to hold them,
March ist, the garrison consisted of 370 fighting-
men, 90 Sikhs, the remainder Kashmir Imperial
Service Rifles ; Captain Campbell commanded
the whole. When he was wounded the com-
mand devolved upon Captain Townshend. The
other European officers were Captain Baird and
Lieutenant Harley, Dr. Robertson, British Agent,
Lieutenant Gurdon, his assistant, and Surgeon-
Captain Whitchurch. On 3rd March came news
of the approach of Sheer Afzul and a large force.
A reconnaissance was made toward Drosh, Captain
Baird led the advance, the British Agent and
Captain Gurdon accompanied the force ; thev
were repulsed from a fortified village, and in re-
tiring, their flanks were overlapped. Campbell
was shot through the knee, but mounted his
horse and remained. The two Imperial Service
Kashmir officers. General Baj Singh and Major
Bhikran Singh, were shot dead, one on each side
of Captain Townshend, who drew off the party
and reached the fort, covered by the Sikhs.
Dr. Robertson's native writer, carrying orders,
received eighteen tulwar wounds, and is pt'.ve
^^, ;. ^{[fSt^
" LIEUTENANT HARLEY, AT THE HEAD OF FORTY SIKHS AND SIXTY KASHMIRIS, RUSHED THE HOUSE
OVER THE MOUTH OF THE MINE " (A 182).
l82
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
to write still. Captain Baird, mortally wounded,
was brought in by Surgeon-Captain Whitchurch
and thirteen Gurkhas, who had been cut off;
they were nearly all wounded, but fought their
way back through enclosures, with the body of
the dying ofiicer, who was carried by White-
church. Our loss was 22 killed and 36 wounded
out of 150 engaged. In the fort were stored
seventy days' half-rations, 350 rounds of Martini,
and 240 Snider per man.
The enemy tried every means, beginning with
Afghan wilti, offering Dr. Robertson and party a
safe conduct to Mastuj, while arrangements were
made for their destruction en rotttc. They made
the fiercest assaults and carried on incessant fire.
Day and night the garrison watched, fought,
and toiled, building traverses and prados with
any available material, and screens of tents and
carpets. Boots were utilised as fire buckets. On
the 25th the enemy set fire to the water-tower;
they were repulsed and the fire extinguished.
On the 14th they again assailed the waterway,
and failed ; Dr. Robertson was wounded in the
shoulder, and other casualties occurred. On
the i6th a letter was sent in from Edwards, and
a truce granted with the hope of obtaining his
release ; it was futile, for, on the 17th, it was dis-
covered that the enemy had run a mine to
u-ithin a few feet of the walls ; the playing of
native bagpipes and tom-toms had prevented the
sound of mining from being heard. Lieutenant
Harley, at the head of 40 Sikhs and 60 Kashmiris,
rushed the house over the mouth of the mine.
The order was, " No firing; ba\-onet only." Three
powder-bags were carried, the garden gate was
quietly thrown open at four p.m., and the party
rushed out and bayoneted 35 of the enemy; the
powder-bags were placed, the fuses lit, the
assailants barely escaped being blown vip with
the defenders, the turban of the last retiring
sepoy caught fire from the explosion, which laid
open the whole mine like a ditch to the foot of
the tower. We lost 8 killed, 13 wounded; the
enemy about 60. Their wounded went up with
the fiery blast ; their souls to the Paradise of
fighting-men ; their charred remnants fell back
into the crater of the exploded mine.
The garrison now sunk counter-mines to con-
tinue the fight under the earth, as well as upon it.
The siege lasted forty-six days ; one fifth of
the garrison were killed or wounded. On the
night of 1 8th, Sher Afzul and his retainers fled.
Our ally the Khan of Dir was advancing in
one direction, Colonel Kelly in another, and
Low's force getting near.
On the 20lh April Colonel Kelly's column
marched into Chitral. They left Gilgit in two
parties on'23rd and 24th March. First party, 200
Pioneers, with addition of two mountain-guns,
under Lieutenant Stewart, K.A., who joined
eti route, also Lieutenant Oldham, R.E., with
40 Kashmir sappers and 100 Hunzanagur levies:
Lieutenant Gough with 60 Kashmir troops. It
had snowed for five days, and Kelly waited at
Ghize for the second party. On April 1st the
whole attempted the Shundar Pass, 1 1 ,000 feet.
Eight miles from Ghize the mules sank above
the girths in snow, and Colonel Kelly returned
to Ghize with half the Pioneers, leaving Captain
Borradaile at Taru with the rest, ten days' sup-
plies, and all the coolies.
On the 3rd, Borradaile pushed on with his
command, guns and carriages in pieces, partly
on sleighs, partly on the backs of coolies, to
the foot of the pass, where they slept in the
snow, having no tents. Next morning the}-
made a track through the pass to Langar, reach-
ing it in the evening ; there they entrenched
themselves. The following day they brought
the guns through — killing work for men at that
altitude, where the rarefied air makes breathing
diflScult, and brings a taste of blood into the
mouth. Thirty men were struck with snow-
blindness, 26 frostbitten in the first party alone.
They carried 15 lb. kit, eighty rounds a man,
and wore poshteens (sheepskin coats).* On April
5th Colonel Kelly, with 50 levies, started after
Borradaile, who had advanced towards Gasht.
The people of Langar had been taken by sur-
prise, and made salaam. On the 7th there was
a halt to collect transport. Rig-Ackbar arrived
* We are slow to apply the military experience to be
gained in various parts of our empire. Lieutenant de
LotLiniere, RE., an officer from the Canadian Military
College, for some years roadmaking in the passes about
Gilgit, asked the Government to import snow-shoes
sufficient to instruct his men, and invaluable to keep
open the passes when the snow is soft. Englishmen
acquire the use of snow-shoes in a few days, and why not
sepoys ? The requisition for snow-shoes probably
puzzled and never got beyond the Baboos of the Indian
Finance Department The rigid doolie, with its curtains
(an incomparable litter in the plains), is unsuitable for
mountain warfare A dandy or net hammock, as recom-
mended by Major Carter in his paper on mountain war-
fare, is more suitable. But during the long peace from
Waterloo to the Crimea we forgot more than we seem
to have learned since, for many a brave fellow was car-
ried from a Peninsular battlefield in his silk net sash But
the military tailor has long since swept away the rational
adornments of the British army to substitute expensive
futilities.
THE CHITRAL CAMPAIGN OF l8q^.
183
with 50 levies. The Yasin people were frieiully,
and gave assistanee. April Sth, Colonel Kelly's
advance was led by Huinayan, the Prime
Minister of Hunza, whose levies skirmished to
perfection. These are the people we conquered
about two years ago. The old story : conquer
the Asiatic and take him into your service, or
accept the alternative of fighting him for ever.
April Qth, the levies under Lieutenant Beynon
turned the enemy's right. The main body
advanced down the valley of the river. The
guns opened on the sungars ; a few shells drove
out the defenders, who suffered in their flight
from the rifles of the Pioneers. But they only-
retired to a second line of sungars.
Again the guns opened with a like result ; we
had only five casualties. Same day the force
marched to within two miles of Mastuj, which
Lieutenant Moberly had held for eighteen days
witli 46 Sikhs and 250 Kashmir troops against
Mahomed Isa with 1,500 men. Moberly had
previously rescued Lieutenant Jones and his
14 sepoys from Puni, after the destruction of
Captain Ross and his party. The enemy were
strongly posted about a mile north of Langar.
On the 13th, Colonel Kellv, with all available
men, the guns now carried on country- ponies,
attacked Nisagol. Similar turning tactics (in
some instances, lowering ladders with ropes
down cliffs) compelled the astonished enemy
to abandon apparently impregnable positions.
On the !4lli, Drasun was occupied after a
difficult march of twenty miles. On the 15th,
snow storms had turned to pelting rain.
On the 17th, at Barnas, the river, 4 feet deep
with snow-w-ater, had to be forded. On the
18th the food supply was reduced to two and a
half days. Foraging parties secured another day's
supply. On the lOth the force reached Kogasi
without opposition, and found the enemy had
abandoned the siege of Chitral.
Bv his flank march Colonel Kelly baffled the
•enemy, who had expected him by the same
route on which Captain Ross had been destroyed.
Sher Afzul, with 700 Chitralis, hemmed into the
snows by the Khan of Dir, surrendered. He
was sent prisoner to General Low's camp on the
27th, protesting that he had always been our
friend. He wore a Russian military great-coat,
with the buttons of the Czar's army. His coat,
like his policy, was reversible.
General Low humanely released the 700
Chitralis, and sent them to their villages. Sher
Afzul he sent to India, probably to be pensioned.
Ten thousand rounds of rifle ammunition were
found buried in the Fort of Dir. The natives
say it was sent from the north (about a month
before the campaign opened) by the Ameer of
Kabul. It was thought that a further amount
was sold out of our own magazines, but contra-
dicted on official inquiry.
With the flight of Umra Khan and the sur-
render of Sher Afzul active operation ceased,
excepting the occasional stalking of an incautious
British sentry, and the curiously treacherous
attack on Lieutenant Robertson while surveying,
by the man given him as a guide by the Khan
of Dir.
Lieutenant Robertson, with the usual British
confidence, had given his sword to the guide to
carry. The man had been a follower of Umra
Khan, and carried a double-barrelled sporting
rifle of his own. Suddenly he fired both barrels
at the lieutenant, who was riding in front ; one
bullet grazed the pony's ear. Robertson jumped
off, drew his revolver, and fired at the man, who
was coming at him with his own sword —
wounded, but did not drop him. The revolver
jammed, and the Englishman was cut over the
head, but he closed with his assailant and got
him down. Seeing two more men making for
him with drawn tulwars, he made a dash for his
Gurkha escort, only a few hundred yards be-
hind. His assailant fled, but was subsequently
captured by the Khan of Dir, tried, and shot. The
incident, like a hundred others, is typical of the
ineradicable treachery of the Afghan character.
The Imperial Government, in accordance with
that of India, have decided to occupy Chitral
with a few native troops and a native mountain-
battery.
A glance at the accompanying map shows the
situation, and that the last swoop of the Russian
eagle brings the frontier within fifty miles of
Chitral.
Lake Victoria, named after the Empress of
India, is henceforth in the territory of the Czar,
whose conquests, so fiir as England is concerned,
are always those of peace.
The Russians will not knock their heads
against our fortified lines of Ouetta, to reach
which they must have gained the Afghan, and
after taking or masking which they would have
a desert march of some 200 miles before reach-
ing populous India.
They can turn our defences through the fer-
tile vallej-s of Kashmir and its dependencies,
which afford pleasant resting-places, assembly
grounds, and bases for further operations.
The passes of the Hindoo Koosh, as marked
i84
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
on Captain Younghusband's map, may be divided
into two groups — an eastern group which leads
down into the Hunza-Nagar assembly grounds,
and a western group which leads down to the
Chitral assembly grounds, thence direct to
Peshawar, without entering Afghanistan proper.
The eastern group — Kilick, Mintaka, Khun-
jerab — are very difficult passes, down which
only small detachments could come ; moreover,
a wedge of Chinese territory is supposed to con-
trol (whatever that may be worth) their northern
inlets. The western group — Baroghil, Darkot,
and Khara-Bhart — are much more practicable,
and a fairly large force could march by them
and be concentrated in Chitral.
It is true we have ceded the intervening
territory of Wakhan to the Ameer of Kabul.
Hitherto a buifer State has only afforded a pre-
te.xt to the strong and unscrupulous to punish
a foray or the theft of a flock of goats, by the
annexation of territory. We must have a
definite boundary, the crossing of which by
either party is a casus belli-
To consolidate our frontier is a mere question
of mule roads, which the hillmen would gladly
make under our supervision.
One great cause of dislike to our occupation is
the compulsory coolie transport enforced by the
Kashmir Government to carry supplies to our
posts. Even the sahib's beer has to be carried on
men's shoulders. It is true the forced labour is
paid, but the more warlike tribesmen would
rather fight us than carry our burdens.
That we should not improve our communica-
tions for fear our enemies might use them is
not the argument of a sane person, else Europe
would be destitute of railways. The Roman
made his road and entrenched his castra as he
advanced : we let a political agent reside in the
heart of a native village, without escort, whereas
a strategically-selected post, a Ma.\im gun, with
a large supply of ammunition and a small
garrison, and a good road to it, would prevent
the perpetual e.xpense of punitive expeditions,
whose only result is hatred of us and our
wobbly ways.
SURGEON-MAJOR ROBERTSON.
THE disastrous Russian campaign of
1 812 had shown that the great Na-
poleon was not invincible, that his
combinations were not ahvays superior
to the influences which sway human affairs,
and that he could no longer calculate on
the assistance in arms of conquered countries
which had been forced to give him unwil-
ling allegiance. The '' Grand Army '" had
ceased to exist. Famine, the slaughter of
many battlefields, and, above all, the horrors
of the winter retreat had destroyed it. A
few scattered remnants, principally gathered
from those corps (Tannrc which had been the
last to enter upon the fatal campaign and
had not vmdergone all its trials, were re-
treating through Prussia, under the command of
the devoted and chivalrous P^ugene de Beau-
harnais, who had taken up the burden after it
had been suddenly relinquished hy Murat in his
anxiety to return to his kingdom of Naples, and
his selfish desire to be relieved from a task in
which there was much difficulty and little glory.
The spirit of the superior officers in the army
of France was now no longer what it had been
in previous years. In spite of the adventurous
career which they led, many of them had
married and established homes, and, though
they still were on occasions capable of the most
brilliant actions and the noblest self-devotion,
they were no longer the hard and fiery warriors
who thought little of the past and recked not of
the future, who entered lightly on the most
arduous enterprises, who carried all their
property with them into the field, having no
interests beyond the fires of their bivouacs. But
the great emperor was himself still indomitable,
his energy unabated, his capacity as stupendous
as ever. Undismayed by the terrible blows
dealt by fortune, he had set himself to work to
repair the losses of the past, to provide for the
necessities of the future, and astonished Europe
saw fresh armies spring into existence at his
bidding, and the power of France in his hands
still loom great and unconquered. He arrived
in Paris from Russia on the 1 8th , December,
1S12, and the moment he was again at the
centre of the vast system which he had created,
he had made it vibrate to his war cry from end
to end. From Rome to Brest, from Perpignan
to Hamburg, the whole empire rose in arms at
once ; while he, master of the wide extent, with
consummate knowledge of every detail in its
organism, was able to direct all its resources w^ith
a judgment so clear, with a hand so firm, and
vi'ith calculation so unerring, that in three
months the materiel and peno/iiic/ of an army of
300,000 men had been created, enrolled, and
organised ; and this enormous mass of soldiers,
clothed, armed and equipped, was set in motion,
and was about to find itself concentrated within
reach of the enemy, ready for battle. Of all
the administrative feats performed by Napoleon
during his reign this was one of the most
marvellous. Infantry, artillery, a proportion of
cavalry, supplies, ammunition, transport, all were
provided, and, both in forming these masses and
in the smallest details of their equipment and
organisation, nothing was neglected, nothing
forgotten. It is said that at any moment of the
day or night, whatever had been his pre-
occupation, the emperor was able to tell the
numbers, composition, and actual value of each
of the numberless detachments of all arms which
he had put in motion in every part of his.
empire, the quality of their clothing and arma-
ment, the number of stages in the line of march
of each, and the day, even the hour, when each
should arrive at its destination.
It has been said that Prince Eugene was
retreating slowly through Prussia. He was
pressed upon, but not hurried, in his still defiant
i86
RATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
Tiiarcli, by the overwhelming numbers of the
following Russian army. For three months he
had been able to dispute the possession of
Poland, Saxony, and Prussia. At last his re-
treat, bringing his feeble force within reach of
t^upport, came to an end at Magdeburg. On his
right and left, however, his enemy still poured
forward their legions. They crossed the Elbe —
Hamburg was passed bv them. They occupied
Dresden and Leipsic, and the empire of France
itself was threatened. Prussia, so long cowed
by Napoleon and forced to furnish a contingent
to his armies, had roused herself in national
revolt against his iron domination, and had
declared war against him, putting into the field
95,000 men, and with them the veteran Bliicher,
who within the ne.xt three years was destined to
reap so great a harvest of glorj-. But the
onward movement of the enemies of France was
now no longer to have before it only the debris
of the hosts which had retreated from Russia,
but its way was barred bv the newlv-raised army
vmder the immediate command of the greatest
warrior of the time. Napoleon had left Paris on
the 15th April, and, rushing to the centre of the
long line now held by his lieutenants, -he was
prepared to carry out his strategic scheme of
surprising and turning the Russo-Prussian right,
and thus rolling up and hurling back the forces
of the allies who had dared to think that his
power had been irretrievably shattered.
On the west of Leipsic lies the great plain in
the centre of which is Lutzen. Here was the
scene of the last and most famous of the victories
gained by Gustavus Adolphus. Here the great
Swedish monarch fell, and here his tomb marked
the spot of his glorious death, the limit set by
fate to his Protestant championship. To this
plain as a gathering place had been directed the
masses of troops with which Napoleon intended
to operate as his field army. Hither came, under
the command of the renowned generals of
France, the numerous columns which had been
formed in so many different countries — from the
east of Europe, from the centre of Spain, from
Italy, from the north, west and south of the
threatened empire, all concentrated and fell into
line with the utmost precision, with the most
perfect unity of purpose.
On the night oi the ist of May, Napoleon was
at Lutzen. Alreadv, at Weissenfels, the young
conscripts who filled the ranks had had their
first encounter with the enemy, and, led by the
heroic Marshal Ney, had borne themselves with
the steadiness and valour of old soldiers. So
brilliant had been their conduct, so decisive the
success which they had obtained, that they filled
their leaders with pride and confidence. The
army of France seemed about to enter upon a
fresh career of triumph. But there fell one dark
cloud upon the success which had so far been
achieved. Marshal Bessieres, Duke of Istria,
one of the emperor's oldest and most devoted
adherents, who commanded the cavalry of the
guard, was suddenly struck down by a stray
cannon shot while reconnoitring not far from
his master's side. As his body was borne from
the field wrapped in a cloak, the fate of his old
comrade painfully impressed Napoleon, who
said, " Death is coming very close to us all."
On the 2nd May the emperor rose at three
o'clock in the morning to give his orders and
dictate his correspondence. The reports of
spies, more e.xplicit than any which he had yet
received, led him to believe that the united
Russo-Prussian army was moving from Leipsic,
sheltered by the Elster, towards Zwenkau and
Pegau. It seemed that they had not realised
that the French were directly in their front,
and that their commander, Wittgenstein, was
looking for his enemy nearer to the southward
mountains. Cavalry was the one arm which
Napoleon had been unable to extemporise in
sufficient numbers, and, in default of the more
perfect knowledge to be gained by widely
scouting squadrons, he made his arrangements
for a forward movement with a prudence and
caution which would enable him to retrieve an
error if unhappily he should make one. He was
only four leagues from Leipsic, and he resolved
to push boldly on and to secure the passage of
the Elster at that town. If he could carry out
his plan, he believed that he would be on the
flank of the enemy and cut their line of com-
munications, after which he could give battle
with every advantage in his favour. Prince
Eugene was ordered to lead the advance with
the corps of Lauriston and Marshal Macdonald,
supported by the cavalr\- division of Latour-
Maubourg and a strong reserve of artillery.
Lauriston was to seize Leipsic, and Macdonald
was to move on Zwenkau, at which point it was
probable that the advanced troops of the enemy
would be encountered. The emperor himself,
with his guard, would follow in support of Prince
Eugene. Meantime, in case, as was possible, the
enemy should throw themselves against the
French right. Marshal Ney was to establish him-
self with his corps d' fir mcc in the neighbourhood
of Lutzen ; and a group of five villages was
LUTZEN.
I '57
pointed out to liim as a strong defensive position
which would form a pivot for all the operations
of the French army. There remained the corps
of iMarmont, Bertrand,and Oudinot, wliich were
still more distant from Leipsic. Thev were
ordered to move forward and to form on the
rigiit of Ney if the enemy made an attack on
that marshal's position. If no such attack was
attempted, tlie whole was to press on to the
passages of the Klster between Zwenkau and
Pegau.
The whole French army was in motion.
Prince Eugene's columns were on the march
towards I-eipsic and the Elster. The Old and
Young Guard were following in the same direc-
tion. Ney's corps was taking up a defensive
position in the villages south of Lutzen. Mar-
mont, Be.'trand, and Oudinot were all pressing
forward to tal^e part in the great struggle which
was evidently imminent, though its e.xact locality
was still uncertain. At ten o'clock the emperor
liimself mounted, and, followed by the crowd of
war-worn leaders of men who formed his staff,
galloped towards Leipsic. As he passed along-
side the masses of his soldiers that were toiling
over the plain, repeated cries of " I'ne C Ein-
percnr .''' greeted his appearance. Nothing in
the histor}' of the time is more striking than the
manner in which military ardour and veneration
for the person of their emperor mastered the
conscripts as soon as they found themselves in
the ranks of the army ; with what enthusiasm
they followed the man, who had been the author
of so many wars in which the blood of French-
men had been poured out like water, the man
who had come to be detested by their country-
men for the sacrifices which he demanded, and
who had only lately torn themselves from their
peaceful homes to figlit his battles.
As the Imperial cavalcade approached Leipsic
the attack on the town by Maison's division of
Lauriston's corps was being vigorously carried
out. Great were the natural obstacles and stern
the defence which the French had to encounter.
The town was covered b}" a wide belt of marshy
and wooded land, traversed by several arms of
the Elster, and the only passage across this belt
was by a road following a long series of bridges.
General Kleist, who commanded the garrison,
had filled the clumps of wood with light infantr}-,
and had covered the entrance to the bridges by
a strong battery of artillery, supported by heavy
Prussian columns. The gallant Maison, having
driven in the enemy's light troops and brought
up some artillery and infantry to reply to the
Prussian fire, detached a battalion, which, fording
one of the branches of the Elster, threatened
Kleist's flank. He then formed a column of
attack, and, [)lacing himself at its head, carried
the first bridge with a bayonet charge. The
Prussians stood their ground siubbornly, but
were swept away by the fierce rush, and Napoleon
saw his soldiers entering Leipsic pell-mell with
their flying foe. The town was at his mercy,
and the first portion of his plan of operations
was apparently carried out with complete success.
It was eleven o'clock. Napoleon no longer
thought there was any fighting to be done,
except in his immediate front. There he be-
lieved that he had found the main force of the
enemy which he wished to crush, and there he
had struck a first successful blow. Suddenly the
roar of many piece* of artillery struck his ear,
resounding from his right rear apparently in the
direction of the villages which he had left to
the guardianship of Ney's corps. As we have
seen, the chance of an attack on his flank had
been foreseen and provided for, and he was
neither surprised nor disconcerted. After listen-
ing for a few moments to the cannonade, which,
increasing in volume, became more and more
terrible, he said calmly, " While we have been
trying to outflank them, they have been turning
us. However, there is no harm done, and they
will find us everywhere prepared to meet them."
Marshal Ney had accompanied him to Leipsic.
Him he sent back at once, at a gallop, to rejoin
his corps, impressing upon him that he must
hold his position like a rock, which he should be
well able to do, as he had 48,000 men at his
disposal, and he would after a time receive the
support of other troops on his right, on his left, and
in rear. Then, with the composure of a mind
prepared for any emergency, he issued orders
for all his advanced troops to reverse their order
of march, the most delicate of operations to
execute with precision, especially in the case
W'here enormous masses have to be handled.
Lauriston was ordered to maintain his hold on
Leipsic with one division, while the other two
divisions of his corps were to move towards
the left of Ney's position. Macdonald's corps
was to fall back from Zwenkau also towards the
leit of Ney. Prince Eugene, with his reserve
artillery and the cavalry of Latour-Maubourg,
was to support Macdonald. So much for the
strengthening of Ney's left. On his right,
Marmont, who was now on the march north of
Lutzen, was ordered to hurry into position ;
while Bertrand, still distant, was to connect
i88
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
■with Marmont and make every effort to appear
on the enemy's left and rear. Finally, as a
support to the centre of the new battle-line, the
whole of the Guard was to retrace its steps and
form behind the group of villages held by Ney.
No conscripts were these, but a mass of 18,000
war-hardened old soldiers who could be relied
upon to maintain the prestige of French arms
luider any circumstances. His orders given, and
having seen the wide and complicated manoeuvre
well commenced, the emperor betook himself to
the point where Ney's corps was sustaining the
Battle of LUTZEN.
May 2nd. 1813.
English Miles
first onset of the allied army, and where long
hours must be passed in strenuous resistance
before the much-needed succours could make
themselves felt.
The Emperor of Russia and the King of
Prussia were present with the allied armies,
which had entered on the campaign under the
command of the veteran Kutusof. Kutusof Avas
dead, however, though this was not publicly
made known for fear of the influence the fact
might have on the superstitious minds of the
Russian soldiery. It was given out that he was
absent, and the supreme command was placed in
the hands of Count Wittgenstein, who had as
chief of the staff General Diebitch, afterwards so
well known in the Turkish war of 1828. The
allied generals, well served in reconnaissance by
their numerous cavalry, were aware of all the
movements of the French army, and had
detected Napoleon's scheme of attacking Leipsic.
They had conceived the apparently very feasible
plan of falling on the flank of the long-drawn-
out French columns as they passed over the
great Lutzen plain. Knowing their inmiense
superiority in cavalry, they considered that they
would easily break up a newly-raised infantr,-
which had with it hardly enough squadrons to
perform ordinary scouting duties. If they could
succeed in penetrating the French line of march,
they considered that Napoleon must inevitably
suffer a shattering disaster. It was
therefore arranged that, on the night
of the 1st May, the Russo-Prussian
forces should cross the Elster at Zwen-
kau and Pegau, and should be directed
on the group of villages south of
Lutzen, the very villages near which
the French emperor had placed Ney's
corps. E.xcellent as their plan was,
however, it failed in one of the data
on which it was founded. It was sup-
posed that no great force would oppose
them in the villages, as only a few
bivouac fires, such as those of ordinary
outposts, had been seen in their neigh-
bourhood, and, till the crash of battle
came, it was unknown that five strong
divisions were lying hidden behind
them, formed and ready for action.
Let us examine the position held by
Marshal Ney, on the maintenance of
which in French hands depended the
chance of victory for the French army.
Flowing northward through the plain
towards Lutzen are two streams — the
Flossgraben and the Rippach. Between them,
south of Lutzen, are the five villages — Gross-
Gorschen, the most southerly ; Rahna and
Klein-Gorschen, a little farther to the north ;
Starsiedel, towards the west ; and Kaya, towards
the north-east near the course of the Flossgraben.
The three first named lie in a slight depression
of ground, cut up by streamlets bordered with
trees, which form here and there pools for water-
ing cattle and eventually discharge their waters
into the Flossgraben. Starsiedel and Kaya both
stand on rising ground.
The allied forces which were about to pour
themselves on this position were ;:4,ooo men,
under Count Wittgenstein in person and General
d'York, who had commanded the Prussian con-
tingent of Napoleon's army in the advance
against Russia, and had been the first to
LUTZEN.
189
desert tlie emperor when misfortune overtook
him. After crossing the Elster, these leaders
joined Rliicher, wlio had with him 25,000 men.
In support were 18,000 of reserves, and the
Russian Imperial Guard. Some 12,000 or 13,000
The Russo-Prussian army rested its right
flank on the Flossgraben and its left on thu
ravine through which the Rippach flows, and, as
it deployed its long, dense columns, the Emperor
Alexander and the King Frederick William rode
HE THEN FORMED A COLUMN OF ATTACK " (A iS?)
cavalrv, under Wintzingerode, had covered the
movement of the infantry and artillery, and
were now prepared to complete the success
which seemed to await the decisive action of
the combined armv. Resides these, another
corps of 12,000 men, under Miloradovich, was
operating farther to the south, and might
be expected to come into line in time for the
coming battle.
through its ranks, encouraging their soldiers and
receiving their enthusiastic acclamations. The
two monarchs then placed themselves on an
eminence commanding the battle-field, from
which they could watch the fortunes of the day.
Of Ney's corps the most advanced division
was that of General Souham, a man who had
grown grey in war, imposing in appearance
by his great stature, cool, determined, and of
I go
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
undaunted courage. The division was formed
near Gross-Gorschen. Not till about ten o'clock
was there any sign of the approaching storm, but
at that hour the advanced sentries could see the
long blue lines near the Flossgraben, which the
old soldiers in the ranks recognised as regiments
of the enemy, deploying from column of march.
On the other side, near the Rippach, the glint
of the sun on brass and steel showed the pre-
sence of the dragoons and cuiras.siers of the
Russian Imperial Guard, while the black clouds
that wheeled and hovered near and far were the
pulks of Cossacks, whose name even then was
one of dread to Western Europe. To the
j-oung soldiers of France who had not been
three months under arms, it seemed that all
was lost, and that it W'ould be impossible for
them to hold their ground against such odds till
help came.
The fiery Bliicher, though bearing the weight
of seventy years, commanded the first line of
the attack on the French with all the vigour
and impetuosity of youth, with all the patriotic
enthusiasm which animated the soldiers of Ger-
many. Covered by the fire of twenty-four guns
and supported on the left near Starsiedel by the
Russian cavalry, his leading division advanced ;
but Souham stood fast with his men formed in
squares, for, young as they were, they could not
have been trusted in a looser formation. The
French artillerj-, inferior in numbers, replied to
the Prussian fire, but was unable to subdue the
torrents of grape that tore through the French
ranks, and whose every discharge was followed
by the ominous order from Souham and his
officers, " Close vour ranks," as gaps were made
in the serried masses. The conscripts fought
like veterans, and, when the Prussian infantry
charged with loud cries of " Vatcrlaud ! Vatcr-
laiid !" repulsed them once and again, but, de-
cimated bv the ruthless artillerj' fire, threatened
on their right bv powerful squadrons, they
gave way and fell back from Gross-Gorschen
to Rahna and Klein-Gorschen. The cavalry,
which had menaced them, thought to convert
the retreat into a rout and swept down from
Starsiedel ; but General Girard's division, su]>
ported b)- the divisions of Generals Marchand,
Ricard, and Brenier, received the hostile squad-
rons with so steady and deadly a fire that they
drew rein and retired. The divisions of Souham
and Girard then occupied Klein-Gorschen and
Rahna, and for the time checked the further
advance of the Prussian infantry.
Rallied in their new position, the brigades of
Souham regained all their original steadiness,
and, with Girard's division formed on their right,
were, again prepared for vigorous resistance.
The watercourses, enclosures, and ponds, which
were the main features of the villages, became
important means of defence, and the long-
e.xpcrienced generals of the French army knew
well how to make the most of the advantages
they offered. The general situation was changed,-
moreover, and fresh confidence put into the
young soldiers by the arrival of Marshal Mar-
mont, who, with his arm in a sling from a recent
wound, debouched near Starsiedel with the divi-
sions of Generals Campans and Bonnet. These
two divisions were at once formed in a series of
squares, and occupied all the ground between
Girard's right and Starsiedel. Campans's divi-
sion was composed entirely of marines, who had
been drafted from their service afloat and the
seaport garrisons to swell the ranks of the field-
arni}- ; and nobly did these men maintain the
maritime honour of France in one of her
mightiest conflicts ashore. As they came under
the terrible fire of the Prussian batteries, they
bore themselves proudly and unflinchingl}-^
giving back no step of ground and securing the
right of the army with soldierly persistence.
When the allied sovereigns and Bliicher saw the
new and firm attitude of their enemy, it became
evident to them that the French had not been
so much surprised as they had hoped would be
the case, and that it would be no easy task to
carrj- the villages now so strongly held. But
Bliicher, undaunted by any obstacles and re-
cognising that victory could alone be gained by
forcing the French centre, left their flanks to be
neutralised by the allied cavalry, and hurled
himself at the head of fresh troops — Ziethen's
division, supported on right and left by two of
d'York's divisions — against Klein-Gorschen and
Rahna.
Furious was this second assault, and the battle
became a series of independent struggles be-
tween detached bodies, in the defence and
attack of each incident of the scene which
offered a post of vantage. In houses, gardens,
enclosures, across watercourses, from tree to
tree in the groves, the stalwart Germans and
the French recruits fought it out hand to hand.
There was no time to load, and the issue was to
be decided with the bayonet. Backwards and
forwards the conibatants swayed, but, bravely as
they struggled, boys could not stand against
men. Klein-Gorschen and Rahna were carried
by Bliicher and his sturdy followers, and the
LUTZEN.
rgi
debris of the two divisions which had defended
the villages fell back towards Kaya and Star-
siedel. Debris they were indeed. When the
roll was called, scarce a third of each company
replied " Present." The centre of the French
line was rudely shaken, but still Souham and
(iirard were able again to re-form under cover of
Kaya, held by Brenier and Ricard, and Strr-
siedel, where Campans's marines and Bonnet's
division still stood immovable and defiant.
It seemed as though the impassioned vehem-
ence of Bliicher, the patriotic ardour and courage
of the soldiers who followed him, were destined
to success in driving the great wedge of attack
into the heart of the French army ; but at this
moment a new and tremendous force, though it
was only the magnetic personality of one man,
appeared in the field against them. Marshal
Ney, whom we have seen with Napoleon near
Leipsic, now arrived at a gallop to assume the
command of the army corps, which had hitherto
been battling without him. The presence of
the hero of countless battlefields, the victor of
F^lchingen, the great Prince de la Moskowa, the
noblest of the rear-guard in the dread retreat over
the frozen steppes of Russia, was like a draught
of strong wine to the men who were staggering
under their enemy's fierce attack. The very
aspect of the marshal's face, whose every feature
told of uncompromising energy, the vivid light-
ning of his eye, the rudely-cut upturned nose,
the massive dominant jaw, inspired confidence,
and the athletic, powerful frame seemed a tower
of strength which no force could overthrow.
Nev at once grasped his corps d^arntec in his
strong hand. Marchand's division he detached
across the Flossgraben towards the hamlet of
Eisdorf to threaten the enemy's right and to
effect a junction with Macdonald, whose arrival
on the field could not now be long delayed. He
himself, at the head of the divisions of Brenier
and Ricard, pressed forward to retake the
villages which had been abandoned. But the
Prussians had already left the villages behind
them, and the line of French bayonets crashed
into Blucher's men at the foot of the eminence
on which Kaya stands. If the Prussians fought
to restore the dignity of their country, so long
ground beneath the heel of Napoleon, the
French generals, officers, and men fought with
equal desperation to maintain the glory of their
loved France and reassert her predominance in
Europe. But nothing could resist the leader-
ship of Nev. Death passed him by on every
hand, and, while others fell on his right and left.
he seemed invulnerable. Forward he pressed and
ever forward till at last the bloodstained ruins of
Klein-Gorschen and Rahna were again in the
possession of Brenier and Ricard, the relics of
Souham's and Girard's divisions following hard
on their forward track ; and, despite every effort
of Bliicher, the Prussians were hurled back upon
Gross-Gorschen.
The French supports began to close at last on
the scene of conflict. Macdonald and Prince
Eugene were following the east bank of the
Flossgraben and approaching Eisdorf, the Guard
was hurrying towards the north of Kaya, and
though the head of Bertrand's columns was not
yet in sight, his early arrival might be counted
upon. Napoleon himself rode on to the field of
one of the bloodiest engagements in modern
war. The personal presence of the greatest
general of the time was allowed by his adver-
saries to be worth at least ten thousand men ;
and his soldiers, believing that where he was
defeat could not be, hailed his appearance as a
presage of victory. Still the determination of
Bliicher and his resources were not exhausted,
though division after division had crumbled to
pieces in his hands, while they sacrificed them-
selves in following where he led. The Prussian
Royal Guard and reserves had not yet been
engaged, and Bliicher called upon them in turn
to conquer or die. On his right he sent two
battalions across the Flossgraben to check the
head of Macdonald's advancing columns. On
his left he launched the cavalry of the Royal
Guard against Marmont's squares, and in the
centre he placed himself at the head of the tall
Pomeranian Grenadiers to attempt a last attack
on the position which had so long defied him.
Again Frenchman and German closed in the
shock of deadly strife. Against the furious
charges of Prussian cavalry, supported by Wint-
zingerode's squadrons, Marmont's squares re-
mained unbroken, like iron citadels, vomiting
fire from their living walls. No check could be
given on the right to Macdonald and Prince
Eugene, but in the centre the four divisions of
Ney's corps, already rudely handled and battle-
weary, gave way before Bliicher. Klein-Gorschen
and Rahna were carried for the second time.
The German leader was severely wounded in
the assault, but, refusing to quit the field, the
old warrior gave his men no breathing-space
and pressed up the slope towards Kaya. Even
there the French could not again rally in time,
and the last village, the key of the position, was
at last wrested from them.
103
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
The French centre was pierced, and, if the
Russian army had at once followed in support of
the conquering Prussians, the day would have
been lost to Napoleon. But the movements of
allies always lack unison, and the opportunity
which had been gained by the determined
gallantry of Bliicher was lost by the inactivity
<if the Russian commanders. Napoleon's cool
glance marked that the Prussian Guard, though
for the time successful, was shaken by its ad-
vance, and that no fresh troops were behind
them. Riding into the midst of the shattered
bands of conscripts and exclaiming, '' Young
fell upon the Prussians, who had so lately driven
them back. The divisions of Souham and
Grenier also rallied in their attenuated ranks
under the mastery of Ney's adamantine energy-,
and again plunged into the fight. Welcome
sound to French ears, the roar of guns was
heard on their left flank. It was Macdonald,
who at last was making his presence felt on the
other side of the Flossgraben. Far away on
their right deep columns were deploying into
fighting formation, relieving the pressure on Mar-
mont's corps. Bertrand had arrived, and from
both flanks the allies were exposed to a cross
COSS.\CK OUTPOST.
men, I have counted on you to save the empire,
and are you flying ? " he succeeded in restoring
some order. Ricard's division had suffered less
than the others, and was still in battle formation.'
To its head he sent Count Lobau, one of his
most trusted generals, bidding him lead it again
into the fight. It was a last despairing effort.
The emperor had no longer under his hand the
eighty squadrons, led by the brilliant Murat,
which, in similar circumstances, he had been able
to launch at his foe at Eylau and Borodino. These
had perished in the Russian snows. He was ob-
liged to trust his fate to battalions of half-drilled,
weakly, inexperienced boys, already shaken b)'
heavy loss and worn out b)' fatigue. And the
boys failed him not. Inflamed by the warrior
spirit of their countrv, they responded gallantly
to the appeals of their emperor and the leader-
ship of Count Lobau. With the baj-onet they
fire. Over a front of two leagues the carnage
raged. Even the oldest of the warriors present
had never seen an issue so bitterly contested,
none that had demanded such a tribute of death.
The last charge of Ney's corps carried all
before it. The Prussian Guard reeled back, and
Kaya, the key of the position, was lost to
Bliicher. A vast crescent of fire was now
in front of the allied armv, but still, if the
centre of that crescent could be cut through, its
horns could be held of comparatively little con-
sequence. They must fall back if their connec-
tion was destroyed. Although 40,000 men had
been expended bv Bliicher, there still remained
the corps of Wittgenstein untouched, the corps
of d'York, which had suffered little, and the
infantry of the Russian Imperial Guard. It was
six o'clock in the evening, and the effort must
be made at once or not at all. Wittgenstein
\ 16
Napoleon rallying the Conscripts at Lutzen.
LUTZEN.
193
decided to make it, and led the fresh
troops over the ground where hiy the piles of
French and German dead and wounded which
marked where the tide of success had ebbed and
Howcd. Masses of cavalry supported the move-
ment, and, under Wintzingerode, neutralised
the French right. Macdonald's infantry had
not yet been able to come into action, and the
allied advance was, for a time, imchecked. But
what is that long line of bearskins crowning the
height stretching from Starsiedel to Kaya ? what
are those six steady masses in the rear ? what is
that huge battery whirling into action ? It is
the infantry and artillery of Napoleon's Imperial
(juard, which has at last arrived. Si.xteen bat-
talions of the Young Guard are in columns of
attack, under Dumoutier, supported by six batta-
lions of the Old Guard. Druot is putting eighty
guns into action. No one can conceive the para-
lysing effect upon a foe of the appearance of the
invincible French Guard. Trained by twenty
years of war — survivors of all the campaigns
Irom the revolutionary times till the great suc-
cesses of the empire — their eagles have always
looked on victory, and, in fair field, they have
never yet met their superiors. They have
just arrived from Leipsic, and have been mar-
shalled under Napoleon's own eve. Now their
stately advance pauses to give Druot time to
pour a shower of grape and cannon-balls on
Wittgenstein and d'York, and now again they
move forward with levelled ba\onets and set,
determined faces. Vain is now the bravery
of Wittgenstein and d'York, vain the hopes of
Alexander and Frederick William. Shattered
by the combined artillery and infantry fire, their
troops stand still, waver, recoil.
The steady squares on the French right throw
back the cavalry of Wintzingerode, the serried
columns in the centre, flanked by Druot's
artillery and Macdonald's infantry which is now
in line, press against the Russian battalions, and
now the whole allied army must retreat, having
permanently gained no foot of ground, no single
military advantage during the long day of un-
daunted effort and patriotic devotion.
But though victor}-, after hovering doubt-
ful over the combatants, at last rested with
Napoleon, though his young army had proved
its spirit equal to that of its predecessors which
had marched resistless over Europe, no trophies of
success could be gathered, no crowds of prisoners
swelled the triumph as in the days of bygone
conquests. The grand cavalry of the past had
disappeared never to be replaced. The pursuit,
which alone could have so much demoralised
the allies as to render them incapable of future
action, was impossible. The Russo-Prussian
army retired unmolested, slowl}-, sullenly, de-
feated but not finally overmastered, again to gather
strength and cohesion. Great and undoubted
as was his victory at Lutzen, it was but the
prelude to the succession of shocks, which left the
edifice of Napoleon's Empire in crumbling ruins.
MARSHAL MACDONALD.
61
194
IN the year 1876 there had been some serious
troubles in Bulgaria. Opinions diflfered,
and always will differ, as to their origin ;
it may be taken as certain, however,
that a partial insurrection broke out on the part
of the Christian population of a small district,
the movement having been got up and fo-
mented by outside agitators. Many of the
Moslem inhabitants were murdered, and in
revenge the Turkish Bashi-Bazouks, or ir-
regulars, perpetrated massacres on a much
larger scale. These, greatly magnified and
exaggerated, created much excitement through-
out Europe and aroused a widespread feel-
ing of indignation against Turkey. For a
time it seemed that Russia was about to take
the opportunity of striking a final blow at her
old enemy, but not being fully prepared, her
agents incited Servia to declare war against
Turkey, although she had no grievance what-
ever against her neighbour. Large numbers of
Russian officers and soldiers, for the most part in
civilian dress, made their way to Servia and
were throughout the war the backbone of the
Servian force.
The Turks, expecting that the first step on
the part of the enemy would be the invasion
of the district of Widdin, lying upon the
Danube, which was completely open to such an
attack, collected a force under Osman Pasha for
the defence of that district, while another and
larger force was assembled at Nisch, near the
southern frontier of Servia. After one or two
minor skirmishes, in which the Servians were
worsted, Osman Pasha took up his position near
the river Timok. The country around Widdin,
a town of some fifteen thousand inhabitants, was
for the most part fertile, and showed every sign
of prosperity and comfort. In spite of the fact
that large numbers of Turkish irregulars had
joined Osman Pasha's force, women and girls
were workinw fearlessly in the fields. Herds of
cattle grazed peacefully, and the whole aspect
of the population showed how utterly unfounded
were the reports so industriously spread by the
Servian and Russian agents of rapine and
murder.
At Adlieh, a large and busy Bulgarian
village, some four-and-twenty miles from Wid-
din, life went on as usual, although the Turkish
army was encamped a few miles distant, and
parties of men frequently came over to make
purchases. No amount of inquiry- could elicit a
single fact in support of the tales of Turkish
atrocity, and indeed the inhabitants scouted the
idea that they had any cause of complaint what-
ever. The consuls and vice-consuls of the
various Christian Powers, they said, were so
vigilant that no Turkish pasha, however power-
ful, would venture to extort money, still less to
allow violence to be offered to the Christians.
They might perhaps grind down their co-
religionists, who had no one to take their part ;
but as for the Christians they had no complaint
whatever to make, and the writer can state
positively that during the whole of the time he
was in Turkey, the story he heard at Adlieh was
everywhere repeated, and that he never heard a
single tale of ill-treatment from the Christians, or
any expressions of discontent with Turkish rule.
Indeed, the appearance of the country- spoke foi
itself, and in point of material comfort the con
dition of the peasantry was at least equal to thar
of any English agricultural population.
In July the harvest was going on, men and
women, and sometimes women without men,
were at work reaping the corn with small sickles,
while women and girls were busy in the to-
bacco and maize fields hoeing and tarthing-up
the plants — and this within sound of the guns of
the combatants. Masses of yellow and white
camomile, blue and j-ellow cornflowers, white
convolvulus, and madder, rose campion, yellow
rockets, blue larkspurs, yellow moss dragons, and
THE TURKS BEFORE ALEXIXATZ.
I<15
borage and bluish-white hollyhocks, covered the
tracks of uncultivated ground. Herds of cattle,
sheep and goats, and a great many horses, fed un-
tended, and a prettier and more peaceful scene
could scarcely be imagined. Near Adlieh the un-
dulated ground rose into hills, and thence on to
the Timok low ranges of undulations succeeded
each other. In the neighbourhood of the village
was a brigade of Turkish regulars, under Fazli
I'asha, and a still larger number of irregulars, all
under canvas, not one of them being cjuartered
in the village.
Hostilities began in earnest on July 20th ; the
Servians crossed the river in two columns and
moved in the direction of Adlieh, passing the
flank of Osman Pasha's forces at Izvor. Osman
faced his troops round and engaged the Servians,
while Fazli moved out with his brigade and fell
upon their flank. For some time the Servian
infantry fought fairly, but when two squadrons
of Circassian horsemen charged down upon
them they were seized with a panic ; two
battalions threw away their arms and fled
wildlv, and the rest at once gave way before
the advance of the Turks and retreated to
the village of Zaichar, where they had alread}-
thrown up some earthworks. Zaichar stood on
steeply-rising ground with the Timok w'inding
round its foot ; and as so far Osman had received
no orders to cross the Timok, there was for
a time a pause in hostilities, broken only by a
musketry fire across the river by the skir-
mishers. The fortnight that followed, however,
greatlv strengthened the Turks. At the out-
break of hostilities the Servians had already
placed under arms about i::o,ooo men. Against
these the Turks were for a time able to oppose
only from 15,000 to 18,000 men at Nisch,
while Osman had but some 5,000 troops at
Widden.
Had the Servians possessed the slightest
amount of energy or military skill they could
have placed 30,000 men to hold the Turks
at Nisch in check, have poured 80,000 across
the Timok into Bulgaria, and have marched
almost unopposed across the country to
Varna, capturing Widdin and Rustchuk on
their wa}-. It is probable, however, that the
fact that this success would have disclosed to all
Europe the utter falsity of the pretext Servia
had made for declaring war against Turkey —
namely, that the latter had collected a great
army with the intention of invading her — had
something to do with the inactivity displayed.
The complete defeat of the division that had
encountered the Turks at Izvor had also, no
doubt, a cooling effect upon .Servian enthusiasm.
They had lost in that battle some 2,000 men
and five cannons, and the fugitives reported
that Osman Pasha had at least 25,000 men ;
whereas, in fact, including Fazli's brigade, he
had only some 8,000 men engaged. In another
direction the Servians had attempted an ad-
vance : 6,000 men crossed the frontier and took
up their post at Palanka, thereby interposing
between Sofia and Nisch, but were attacked
and defeated with a loss, as acknowledged by
themselves, of considerably over 2,000. Other
raids had been made, but these partook rather
of the character of brigandage than of regular
warfare.
On the 1st of August the Turkish army at
Nisch advanced up the valley towards Ale.xinatz ;
but Osman 's force, which was now considerably
increased in strength, remained inactive, to their
great disgust. Their contempt for the Servians
was now supreme, for si,\ battalions of the latter
that had crossed the river had been utterly
routed by a single Turkish battalion, and there
was a confident feeling among officers and men
that if Osman received orders to do so they
were perfectly capable of marching unaided to
Belgrade, even if the whole Servian army barred
the way. On the 7th of August some two
hundred Circassians, four battalions of infantry,
and three guns, marched some four miles up the
Timok and there crossed, the Circassians gallop-
ing on ahead. Presently they came to a village
occupied by a considerable number of Servian
troops ; these fired their muskets and fled, but
numbers were cut down by the wild horsemen,
who pushed on until close to Zaichar itself. The
Servian batteries, some eight or ten in number,
opened fire. Osman's guns replied, and a
vigorous cannonade was kept up for half an
hour. A larger force of Circassians now crossed
the river, and being strengthened by two
squadrons of regular Turkish cavalry, crossing
this time by a ford in front of Zaichar, enter
the place without opposition, the entire Servian
force having retired as soon as the first Circas-
sians had shown themselves.
The Circassians at once scattered over the
country round to plunder, and soon returned
with great numbers of cattle, sheep, and goats,
the greater proportion of which were at once
sent off under small escorts to their distant
villages. The Turkish officers and the men
of the regular army were full of indignation
at this wholesale plunder. The Circassians,
196
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
indeed, were, throughout the campaign, respon-
sible for the greater portion of the deeds
charged to the discredit of the Turks. They
had been brought over and settled in Bulgaria
at the time of the conquest of Circassia by the
Russians. They retained all their primitive
savagery, were wholly undisciplined, and fought
solely for plunder. As irregular cavalry the}'
were extremely useful ; absolutely fearless of
danger, they would start in little parties of
twenty or so and traverse
the enemy's country, ut-
terly disregarding the
stringent orders of the
Turkish generals against
plundering, ill-treatment
of the natives, or firing
houses. Smoke from burn-
ing villages marked their
path, and thev would re-
turn loaded with plunder.
Nothing could escape
their keen vision, and as
the eyes of the army thcv
were invaluable.
The Turkish soldier,
on the other hand, is
obedient to orders, wholly
adverse to violence, patient
in hardship, easy and
good-tempered to an ex-
tent unequalled by the
soldier of any other army
in Europe ; and through-
out the war the writer
never witnessed a single
Turkish soldier engaged in
plundering. Surprise was
freely expressed among
the Turkish officers that
Osman Pasha, who was a strict and strong com-
mander, did not punish the Circassians for their
disobedience of orders, but had he done so it is
certain that the whole of these troops would at
once have ridden away to their villages, and the
influence of their compatriots at Constantinople
would have been amply sufficient to have caused
the Turkish general to be recalled in disgrace.
The next morning Zaichar was occupied.
It was a pretty place covering a considerable
extent of ground, for the houses, with the
exception of those in two or three of the
principal streets, stood in orchards. On the
13th of August, Fazli Pasha received an order
to take twelve battalions of infantry, a squadron
A CIRCASSIAN
of cavalry and two batteries, and to march
through Servia and join the army of Aj-oub
Pasha before Alexinatz, towards \vliich place it
was crawling along by slow stages.
The march led through a remarkably pretty
country, and was wholly unopposed : the villages
were deserted, the whole population having
apparently fled as soon as the news came that
the Turks were advancing from Zaichar. The
transport was miserably insufficient, and the
only food taken forward
was hard baked bread,
and the supply of this
was very insufficient for
the needs of the force.
The Turks eked out their
scantv rations bv gather-
ing heads of maize and
roasting them in the ashes
of the fires. Occasionally
they obtained a supply
of grapes from the vine-
3'ards, but these were but
exceptional feasts, and for
the most part they sub-
sisted entirely upon this
stone-like bread and
water. Only one place
larger than a village was
passed. When the troops
entered it, it was already
in flames, the work of the
plundering Circassians,
who had attached them-
selves to the column, and
who were raiding the
whole country around.
The last two days' march
led across very hea\y
country, where a few hun-
dred resolute men could have made a long stand,
but resolute men were scarce in Servia and the
force marched on in high spirits, notwithstand-
ing scanty rations and long marches. At last
the division encamped — or rather bivouacked, for
they had no tents — on a sort of plateau a few
hundred yards across, rising from a plain and
dominated b}' several eminences within easy shot.
In front was a valle}-, beyond which rose a steep
wooded hill, and from the camp one of the forts
erected to protect Alexinatz from attacks by a
force advancing east could be seen. Ayoub
Pasha had not yet arrived in the valley on the
other side of Alexinatz, but was still two days'
march away. The position, had the Servians
THE TURKS BEFORE ALEXINATZ.
197
possessed any vigour, ucuild liave been a peril-
ous one, as the great bulk of the Servian army
lay within four miles of us, and there was
plenty of time for them to have thrown them-
selves upon Fazli's force before Ayoub could
prevent any attack upon the main body. He
had skirmishes with the enemy, whom he found
holding several positions on the face of the hill.
After their flank was secured, the main divi-
sion marched forward. All went well until they
"if^U J' V''"
A BASHI-B.^ZOUK.
have arrived to his assistance. Fazli had no
idea of awaiting an attack ; and, leaving his bag-
gage carts at the spot he had decided to occupy,
he started at once to reconnoitre the forts on the
hill behind Alexinatz, and, if he saw an oppor-
tunity, to make a dash at them. Emin Bev,
with a regiment of foot, went on in advance,
passing through a large and very thick bush,
his mission being to clear the heights and to
reached an almost impenetrable forest which
covered the last two miles to be traversed.
Here progress was made verj- slowly, and the
leading battalion arrived alone at the edge of
a clear space, some five hundred yards across,
which served as a glacis to the fort. They at
once attacked and drove off a body of Servians
posted there. An order was sent to them to
prepare a place for the artillery to throw up a
ig8
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
parapet and clear the approaches. The battalion,
which was known as that of Silistria, had a
friendly rivalrv with another battalion as to
Avhich would be first engaged, and seized the
first chance offering itself. The men thought
then that this was the opportunit}' — there was
the fort and there was their enemy ; the natural
conclusion was, let us go and take it. The
men at once requested leave of their major to
go on and attack the fort. The major entered
into the spirit of the thing, and, placing himself
at the head of the battalion, advanced alone and
unsupported with the reckless feeling of an
Irishman entering a scrimmage of whose merits
he neither knows nor cares anything.
Advancing in open order, they found them-
selves under a very heavy cross-fire from the
fort and from batteries supporting it, while a
rolling fire of musketry broke out from trenches
round the work. The Turks were to some extent
sheltered from the musketry fire by the fact
that the ground rose in steps, but the shell
burst among and around them thick and fast.
They kept on, however, until they reached a
depression within fifty 3-ards of the fort, and
here they took shelter, being so close under its
guns that these could not be depressed suffi-
ciently to play upon them ; and from here they
kept up a continuous fire against the Servians
in the trenches. The battalion was but half-
way across the glacis when Ahmet Pasha, who
commanded the brigade, arrived at the edge of
the wood with two more battalions ; he pushed
forward one on each side of the ridge so as
to support as much as possible the Silistria
battalion b}- keeping up a heavy musketr}- fire
upon the fort, while that battalion was ordered
by bugle to retreat.
Presently a man made his way back to say
that they could not retreat without being al-
together destroj-ed, but that if they had
another tv/o battalions with them, they could
take the fort. Fazli Pasha himself had now
come up, and with immense difficult}- brouglit
a battery of artiller\- to the edge of the wood
and opened fire on the fort. But all the Servian
guns that could be brought to bear opened up
upon the battery, with such effect that it suffered
very heavily and could not have maintained its
position had not night been at hand. Two more
battalions were now pushed forward, and their
fire enabled the Silistria battalion to hold its
position until nightfall, when it made its way
back, having lost in killed and wounded nearly
tvvo hundred men. The supporting battalions
and the artillery also suffered heavily. The
position of the diyi-ioii that night was a painful
one : the forest was so thick that even in the da}-
time it was difficult to make one's way through
the trees, and at night the darkness was absolute.
The force was therefore obliged to remain
where they were when darkness fell until morn-
ing ; then seeing a large force advancing from
Ale.xinatz, Fazli marched back to the spot where
he had left his waggons. This position pro-
tected the flank of Ahmet Pasha's army, which
the next day came up the valley of the Morava.
On the following day a very strong force of
Servians, who had come out by a circuitous
route from Alexinatz, advanced in four or five
columns to attack Fazli in his isolated position.
A breastwork had been thrown up round the
knoll, and in a short time six batteries opened
fire upon it from different points, while the
Servian infantry advanced in skirmishing order
supported by a strong column. Fazli did not wait
for attack, but launched his infantry to meet
them, while his artillery engaged the Servian
batter\-. The fight, however, was never very
serious : the Servians would not stand the
Turkish advance, though willing to maintain
themselves on broken ground and to keep up
their fire until the Turks got into movement ;
and the day closed without an}- decisive result.
The next day the Servians were reinforced by-
five or six battalions and some more artillery,
and the shell fell thick and fast into the camp.
The loss, however, of the Turks was much less
than might have been expected, for the soil was
deep and the shell sunk so far into it before
exploding that but few men were killed. Several
times the Servians crept up close, under shelter
of the brushwood, but each time the Turks
dashed out and drove them back. Reinforced
by fresh battalions, the Servians again and again
attempted to storm the position, but never
succeeded in reaching the breastwork. The fight-
ing lasted from eleven in the morning until
seven at night, when the Turks took the offen-
sive in earnest and drove the Servians in dis-
order far away into the hills. On the same
day the Servians attacked the division of Assiz
Pasha, which formed the connecting link be-
tween Fazli and the division of Hassan Pasha
down in the valley : but in each case they were
repulsed with heavy loss.
Two days later Fazli Pasha descended into
the valley of the Morava, crossed the river on
two trestle bridges, and then ascended the hill
facing Alexinatz — the Servians, disheartened
THE TURKS BEFORE ALEXINATZ.
199
bv their defeats, making no attempt to inter-
fere with the movement. Alexinatz stood on
ihe slopes of the opposite hill : it was a place of
110 importance, and was simply a large village
round which fortifications were erected for the
defence of the valley of the Morava. The capture
of the hills facing the place opened that valley to
the Turks, but at the same time they could
scarcely move forward and leave the Servian
army gathered round Alexinatz in their rear.
Ten miles
further up the
valley the moun-
tains closed in
"'Bsi'''
N\
^"-pp \l
\ "^
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\ '^''^?'*'^^ 0
[(Alexinatz ^ >
-o?i!"°VJw*. ^
vvi>
^4
i\
lfli«''""'»'7t'
1
Xr ,
X«»''%iif">ffla;rj.. -.jfrJ'"^
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e
THE CorNTRV NEAR
ALEXINATZ. (1876) »\
'■""i\,....
"""">„
Ciifilibh Miles.
, . 5 , ,
on either side of the river, and here a number
of very formidable redoubts had been erected
by the Servians under the direction of their
Russian ofhcers.
Two da3-s later the Turks attacked the Servians,
who in strong force occupied the hill higher
up the valley. Their position was covered by the
fire of seven redoubts, and for some time the
fight was simpK' an artillerv duel.
At two o'clock in the afternoon the infantiy
advanced. The Servians held their positions
with some obstinacy, but gradually fell back at
the Turkish advance. At last, however, the
Turks went forward in earnest, and the Servians
very speedily broke into flight ; their redoubts
were all captured, and they were driven across
the river. The Turkish loss was 400, that of
the Servians three times that amount. For a
week nothing was done, and the position of the
Turks deteriorated, as the Servians, now threat-
ened in no other direction, were able to con-
centrate their whole force to oppose them ; and
fully a hundred thousand were gathered within
a short distance of Alexinatz. The Turkish
general was an utterly incapable man and wholly
unable to come to any decision whatever ; in-
deed, a more perverse, feeble, and obstinate old
man was never in command of an army. A
sudden rush would have certainly resulted in
the capture of Alexinatz, although the position
was an exceedingly strong one. The fortifications
were at first formidable, and had been immensely
strengthened during the last fortnight.
The Turks had consequently become rather
the besieged than the besiegers. Bands of
Servians frequently moved along the hills on
their side of the river, coming down into the
valley and cutting the Turkish communications
with Nisch ; and several times considerable forces
advanced from Alexinatz as if to attack in
earnest. They never pushed these home, how-
ever. The most serious one was made on the
Turkish rear by some 20,000 men, who, covered
by a heavy fire from twenty-eight guns, pushed
up nearly to the Turkish trenches. The mus-
ketrj', however, brought them to a standstill,
and, in spite of the efforts of their officers, they
began to fall back. As soon as they did so
six battalions of Turks advanced against them.
The Servians retreated rapidly until they reached
a wood, where they made a stand. After wast-
ing a good deal of powder the Turks again
advanced, drove the enemy through the wood
down into a valley and up into another wood,
where they were largely reinforced and made a
fresh -stand. The Turks, however, were not to
be denied, and pushed the enemy far up the hill-
side fully two miles beyond the farthest point
to which their advance had previously extended.
The Servian loss was over 1,500 men; indeed,
some estimated it at fully double that amount.
There had now been some fourteen engage-
ments, more or less serious, and in every one
the Servians had been defeated with ridiculous
ease ; and the Turks were of opinion that they
were fully a match for them at the odds of one
to three. They gained nothing, however, by
their successes, being altogether paralysed by the
incapacity of their general, and the delay was
the more provoking inasmuch as it was known
200
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
that the European Powers were exerting great
pressure upon Turke}" and endeavouring to put
a stop to hostilities, which, if continued, were
certain to attain much more serious dimensions.
The Turkish soldier knew nothing of this. His
view of the matter was that he had an army of
men whom he absolutely despised in front of
him. He had been called out by a most wanton
attack by these men. He had been taken from
the matter been left to the generals of divisions,
there would not have been a delay of more than
twenty-four hours before Alexinatz ; and before
the European Powers had had time to think of
remonstrating, the Turks would have been in
possession of the Servian capital. The bitterness
of feeling on their part was not directed against
the Servians, but against the Russians, who were
the real authors of the war and who used
"RUSSIAN OFFICERS COULD BE SEEN THRASHING THE MEN WITH IHE FLATS OF THEIR SWORDS."
his family and his home, and as he considered
himself in a position to thrash the enemy to
his heart's content, to march to their capital,
and to dictate any terms the Porte might
choose, he failed to comprehend what seemed
to him the mysterious delay in operations. The
feelings of the soldiers were more than shared
by the officers, and the commander-in-chief,
Kerim Pasha, and Ahmet, the general of the
army, shared between them the blame of the
delay.
Both were indeed utterly unfit for their
position — Kerim was not only old, but so fat as
to be almost incapable of walking a dozen yards.
Ahmet was incapable, intensely lazy and ir-
resolute, but at the same time obstinate. Had
Servia as a catspaw. As later on in Bulgaria
the Russians came to be hated by the Bulgarians
with a passion that had never been excited by the
Turks, so in Servia the overbearing behaviour of
the Russian officers was already rendering them
intensely unpopular. Their principal offence,
however, was that they endeavoured to force
the Servians to do what they most objected to —
namely, to fight.
In many of the encounters the Russian officers
could be seen thrashing the men with the
flats of their swords and driving them before
them like sheep. They themselves showed
extraordinary gallantry, exposing themselves
with absolute recklessness under the heaviest
fire, in the hope of animating their men. To
THE TURKS BEFORE ALEXINATZ.
201
them the disappointment had been bitter,
thousands of Russian soldiers had gone down
to Servia in the full belief that the braggadocio
of the Servians meant something, and that the
whole of Bulgaria was ready to rise against what
they had been told was the horrible t3Tanny
of the Turks, and their disappointment was
naturally extreme.
Day by day skirmishing and occasionally
severe fighting went on, but beyond the loss
of life caused, nothing came of it. In spite of
their hardy nature and excellent constitution,
the ranks of the Turks had been thinned by
maladies brought on by the insanitary state
of their camps, by tainted water, and bad and
insufficient food ; and undoubtedly a serious out-
break would have taken place had the army
been kept much longer on the same ground.
But, unknown to the Turks before Alexinatz,
the efforts of the Powers to put a stop to a
state of things that was certain ere long to
bring Russia into the field, were approaching
success. Russia was arming, and would, it was
certain, ere long be ready to take the field in
support of the situation she had created and
which had so disappointed her expectations.
In every town Slavonic committees had been
formed for sending volunteers to Servia. The
feeling of hatred to the Turks had been in-
dustriou-ly fanned, and in view of the absolute
failure of the attempt to overthrow the Ttirkish
power in Bulgaria, i\te feeling had grown to a
point when even the Russian Government could
scarcely have submitted to a failure of the hopes
it had excited. Thus, then, palpable as was
the hardship that Turkey should abstain from
punishing the insolent little State that had so
wantonly attacked her, and had put her to so
great an expense, it was evident that a con-
tinuance of the war would involve her in a life-
and-death struggle with Russia, and she there-
fore acceded to the urgent advice of the other
Powers and consented to an armistice, the news
of which came like a thunderbolt upon the army
before Alexinatz.
Never was there a case in which a country was
so defrauded of the fruits of victor3\ Turkey lost
all the advantages obtained by her troops ; time
was given for Russia to prepare for the war
upon which she was bent, and the moderation of
Turkey was rewarded by an invasion as costly
and wanton as that of Servia had been. Servia
herself, regardless of the fact that she had
been spared by Turkey, had time to reor-
ganise her forces and join Russia against the
Power that had spared her ; while Europe, which
had arrested the arms of Turkey, raised no voice
on her behalf when she suffered for having
listened to its advice. The treaty that followed
the armistice may be considered as a monu-
ment of unfairness and of the success attending
calumny and misrepresentation.
*^^^^^*c^5t1J'>-
VIEW IjN wiudin.
202
THE thunders of the cannon of Waterloo
were in the ears of Enghshmen when
Ochterlony beat to their knees the
pluckiest soldiers in Asia. In the
supreme excitements of Napoleon's struggle and
overthrow and the great game of " grab "
that followed afterwards at Paris, men had
scarcely time or patience to follow the for-
tunes of the armies which on the north-eastern
frontier of India, in one of the most difficult
countries in the world, faced by the bravest
hill-warriors who ever crossed steel with us, and
dogged by the deadly Terai fever, won a great
stretch of country for India and changed the
fiercest of enemies into the staunchest of friends.
Whenever and wherever in our Asiatic wars
the stress has been greatest, whenever the bugles
have shrilled for some desperate charge, side by
side and shoulder to shoulder with the British
soldiers rejoicing in the joy of battle, the little
Gurkhas have charged with our men.
On the eastern shoulder of India the long
line of the Himalayan snows — those peaks that
are giants amongst the mountains of the world
— thrust up their white towers and pinnacles to
the sky ; and from this great barrier ridge after
ridge of smaller mountains dip to the dhuns —
fertile valleys that lie between the Himalayan
foot-hills and an outer barrier of hill, known as
the Sandstone range to the south and the
Suwaliks further north. Between this outer
barrier, through the ravines of which come
tearing down the mountain-rivers, and the broad
sun-kissed plains of India lies the slope of the
Terai, a great grass jungle where it touches the
plains — the finest tiger-preserve in the world — and,
towards the line of hills, a forest of great trees,
where the trunks are so close to each other that
the foliage closes overhead and the glades are as
dim as the aisle of a great cathedral ; where the
foot of the traveller sinks deep into the cushion
of decaying leaves ; where the song of a bird is
never heard. It is a silent forest, a dread place
where in the hot months a fever almost as deadly
as a cobra's bite claims as a victim any one who
sleeps in its shade.
From where the Sarda foams round its rocks,
rushing from the snows to join the mighty
Gogra, to Darjeeling, the British hill-station that
looks across the deep valley to the great peak of
Kinchinjunga, towering in mid-air, is now the
kingdom of Nipal — terai and dhun and moun-
tain ; but when the British bayonets clashed
with the Gurkha kukris the conquering Nipalese
generals had won a broader stretch and held
the mountain land as far north as the Sutlej.
Nipal is the hermit kingdom of the world.
The great ones of the European world who
travel in India in the cold weather are asked as
the guests of the king of Nipal to shoot tigers
in the terai, and at Khatmandu, the capital, a
British Resident, like a caged bird, is held in his
walks and rides to the limits of the valley ; but,
excepting the Resident and his suite and occa-
sional visitors to the capital, who are allowed to
journey by one path only, no white man passes
that first barrier of sandstone hills.
But every year in the spring the little Gurkhas,
the Nipalese hillmen — jovial little fellows, broad-
chested, and big-limbed, short in stature, with
Tartar ej-es, noses like pug-dogs, and great good-
natured gashes forYnouths — flock down to enlist
in our regiments. Brave as lions, vain as pea-
cocks, faithful as dogs, with few prejudices in
peace and none in war, the Gurkhas are the
special friends and companions of our men.
The stately Sikh throws awaA- his food if a white
man's shadow falls on it, and between Moham-
medan and Christian is always the bar of religion ;
but on a campaign the Gurkha eats his food
with as few formalities as Tommj- Atkins, drinks
his rum, and is good company at the camp fire.
THE GURKHA WAR.
203
When Captain Younghusband, travelling on
the Pamirs with an escort of Gurkhas, met the
giant Russian explorer, Gromchefski, the native
officer of the little men asked leave to speak to
Younghusband. " Tell him," he said, pointing
to the big Ku->ian, " that though we are small
men, all the rest of the regiment are taller than
he is." When, after the assault of Bhurtpore,
where the Gurkhas raced with the grenadiers of
the 5qtli for the breach, the British soldiers
praised them fur their bravery, they returned
the compliment by the following characteristic
remark : — " The Eng-
lish are as brave as
lions; they are splendid
sepoys and vcrv nearly
equal to us."
Those are examples
of the vanity of the
little men. The mutiny,
the Ambeyla cam-
paign, every frontier
expedition, have proved
their loyalty and gal-
lantry, and when Lord
Roberts, the hero of
Cabul, had to choose
" supporters " for his
arms, he placed on
one side a private of
the Highlanders, on
the other a Gurkha
sepoy.
But if we are brothers
and friends now with
the Nipalese, it was not
until after a tremendous
bout of fisticuffs that
we became so, and so well did the Gurkhas hold
their own that they ver\- nearly brought down
on us all the great disaffected princes of India.
The Nipalese highlanders, the men of the
Gurkha kingdom, a nation of conquerors, looked
down from their hills on to the Indian plains,
and, conscious of their own strength, longed to
try their mettle against the army of India. The
cause for a war was soon found. There were
some lowlands in dispute. We established police
posts to protect our rights, and the Gurkhas
came down and murdered our officials and police-
men. Lord Hastings, the Governor-General,
declared war in the autumn of 18 14, the begin-
ning of the cold season.
Both sides knew exactl}- what was coming,
and both were prepared.
LORD H.'\STIN-GS,
In the sea of razor-backed hills and single
peaks, west of what is now the summer capital
of India — Simla — Umar Sing, the best general of
Nipal, had his troops. It was the northernmost
portion of the Nipalese kingdom, a country of
great grassy slopes of a marvellous steepness
with rocks breaking through the grass and here
and there broad patches of treacherous shale,
with on the sheltered slopes stretches of forest,
and, where the streams race down the hill-side
and tumble in cascades over the rocks, strips
of undergrowth like an English copse.
A strangely mi.xed
array Umar Sing had
under him, long-nosed
Brahmins as well as
the pug-nosed little
Gurungs and Magars,
men in scarlet coats of
the cut of those of our
infantry and turbans,
men in their loose na-
tive garb with the little
lop-sided cap that is
characteristic of Nipal,
but all armed with fire-
locks which put them
nearly on an equality
with our troops, and
with that deadliest of
weapons the kukri, the
blade of which looks
like a crooked laurel-
leaf, all fighting on
familiar ground, all in-
tensely patriotic.
Opposite to him,
with six thousand men
— all natives, except the artillery — was General
Ochterlony, the man of the campaign.
" Ould Maloney," as the Irish soldiers used" to
call him — " Loniata," as the natives jumbled his
name — had behind him in his career the bad
dream of Carnatic prisons, had been most des-
perately wounded, had in a memorable siege
thrust back Holkar from the walls of Delhi, and,
now seeing further with his one eye, so the
men said, than any other general in India,
cautious when generalship and not the mettle
of his troops had to win the day, splendidh'
audacious when rashness was necessary and he
had tried troops under him, " Ould Maloney,"
v/ith his sepoys of the plains, was going to try
conclusions with the best fighting hillmen ot
the East.
204
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
Further south, facing the hills where the
lighlest-hearted of the Anglo-Indian world now
dance and flirt at Missouri, was Gillespie, as daring
a man as ever wore the British scarlet, with her
Majesty's 53rd, some dismounted dragoons, some
artillery, and 2,500 native infantry. Bulbudhur
Sing, Umar's best lieutenant, was in the hills
with 600 men waiting for the hot-headed soldier
who, single-handed, had galloped a few years
before to help the besieged residents of Vellore.
Further south again, facing the passes which
lead to the richest towns and most productive
country of Central Nipal, was Major-General
range, the Suwaliks, pushed through the valley
beyond, the Dehra Dun, and occupied the little
town of Dehra at the foot of the first slopes of
the Himalayas.
On a hill thrown out from the higher slope,
some five miles from Dehra, was a stone fort. It
was of the simplest type, four stout stone walls,
loopholed, with here and there towers to give
flanking fire. It stood some 600 feet above
the ground that sloped up to the first rise of
the hills and commanded the path up which
Gillespie intended to take his men into the
higher mountains.
"THE GREAT PEAK Ol- KINCHINJUNciA TOWEKING IN .MID-AIR " (/. 202).
11
John Sullivan Wood with her Majesty's 17th
and 3,000 natives ; and further south still, threat-
ening the passes which lead to the capital —
Khatmandu — was Major-General Marley with a
force of 8,000 sepoys, stiffened bj- her Majesty's
24th.
Ochterlony and Gillespie were to open the
ball, and Wood and Marley were to thrust their
forces through the passes later on.
Gillespie, with characteristic hot-headedness,
was going to be first in the race. Lord Hastings
had warned the handsome devil-may-care soldier
against knocking his head against fortifications
when there were Gurkhas behind them ; but
Gillespie believed in dash, and the Indian army
was used to victory, so he disregarded the
Governor-General's little lecture, and made his
rush forward. He seized a pass in the first
Bulbudhur Sing with his 600 men waited
here for Gillespie's advance, strengthening the
primitive fort by outside stockades.
Gillespie was only too anxious to try con-
clusions with the Gurkhas and their leader ;
so, after reconnoitring the position, he made his
scheme for an attack on the last day of October.
Four columns were to make the attack on the
little fort, which was first to be battered by field-
pieces to prepare for the assault.
The field-pieces were carried up in the dark-
ness bv elephants to a little table-land which
commanded the fort and was within range, the
four attacking columns, each with a company of
the 53rd to lead, were in position, and as soon
after 10 o'clock as the guns had done their work,
a signal given by gun-fire was to stt all four
columns racing up the hill at once.
THE GURKHA WAR.
20;
Gillespie, impatient and hot-headed, stood by
tlie guns, and watched the shot striking the
tliick stone walls and making no impression.
The little brown faces of the enemy looked
through the embrasures and laughed at him ;
some of them danced on the tops of the walls.
The general grew angry, angry at the futile
cainionade and the mocking enemy. His men
into the shelters of drj- grass under which the
Gurkha garrison slept. The grass took light,
and the pioneers to save themselves dropped the
ladders. A flaming hillside, a hail of lead, no
ladders, the assailants had no chance, and the
first column and the second, which had begun its
advance, slid back down the slippery hillside to
shelter leaving many red-coats lying on the slope.
-^-
■THEV SLID BACK DOWN THE SLIPPERY HILLSIDE TO SHELTER."
lying all round, close against the lower slopes,
had scaling-ladders, then let them use them !
And so, an hour before the time fixed, the gun-
signal for an attack was given. Only one of the
waiting columns heard the signal and acted on
it, though another followed later. Up the steep
grass slope went the company of the 53rd that
led, slipping and scrambling, the pioneers who
carried the scaling-ladders tugging desperately
at the heavy weights. A hail of lead came from
the loopholes that had framed the little grinning
faces, and by mischance the pioneers stumbled
The general's blood
companies of the 53rd
w-as up. Three more
had come up, and a
Horse Artillery. He
and determined to lead
battery of the Bengal
ordered a second assault
it in person.
In the rear face of the fort there was a little
door, and Gillespie intended to be the first man
in through that. The 53rd out their backs to
the work and hauled up two of the galloper-
guns by drag-ropes on to the ridge at the back
of the fort, a light stockade that barred the way
was hacked at and kicked and shaken till it gave
206
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
way, and ll;f two guns were brought close to
the door. J'he general, with some dismounted
dragoons about him and the 53rd crowding
behind, went with the guns, while the other
columns again started up the slopes.
The light guns fired a couple of rounds at the
stoutly-barred door and did not shake it, and
from the walls and loopholes came a blaze of fire
in response. The general fell shot dead, the
bullets ploughed into the closely-packed mass,
and when the attack had definitely failed, as it
did, the British carried out of action 4 officers
and 29 men killed, and 15 officers and 213 men
wounded.
First blood to the Gurkhas.
Meanwhile, Ochterlony was making his way
into the hills, but with all requisite caution.
Passing without difficulty the outer range of
hills, which here are small and have many gaps
in the chain, he encamped at Plassea, facing the
Himalayan foot-hills. The mountain country
into which he had to win his way is a series of
broken ridges running north-north-west, and
each ridge forms a strong position.
On the outermost ridge was the fort of
Nalagur — a stout stone fort with towers for
flanking fire, and its outpost, the little square
fort of Taraghur. The slope of this outside
ridge was covered with bamboos and thorny
shrubs, and the only paths up were along the
stony beds of dried-up torrents.
Behind the first ridge was the Ramghur ridge,
crowned with stone forts, and behind that again
towered the Malaun heights.
A corps of reserve of the light companies of
the different battalions, and the 3rd Native
Infantry, under Colonel Thompson, cut off the
communication between the fort and the out-
post, and Ochterlony occupying all the surround-
ing heights got his guns with infinite difficulty
into position, and battered away at the stone
walls of the fort. The Gurkhas had only jingals
. — throwing balls of three or four ounces — to
reply with ; and Chumra Rana, who was in com-
mand, came to the conclusion that resistance
was hopeless, and surrendered with a hundred of
his men, the rest of the garrison having slipped
away by night to join Umar Sing.
A night march anticipated any resistance that
might have been offered on the way, and on the
8th of November Ochterlony faced the centre of
the Ramghur position.
The fort of Ramghur was the right of the
Gurkha position, their left rested on a fortified
peak called Rotka Tiba.
Ochterlony moved on to the Gurkha left flank,
but sent his battering-train, with one battalion,
to keep the Gurkhas employed at Ramghur.
Then came the second reverse that Ochterlony 's
troops sustained during the campaign.
The battery before Ramghur shelled a
stockade, which defended the road, without
effect, and Lawtie, the field-engineer, took a
hundred sepoys under a British officer to recon-
noitre the ground before he brought his guns
nearer. The sepoys dislodged the Gurkhas from
a small breastwork they found in their advance.
" Thus far," to quote an eye-witness of the
affair, " had the spirit of the officers actuated
their men. But when the enemy, getting re-
inforced, came back with superior numbers to
retake their post, the sepoys could not be pre-
vented from wasting their ammunition by keep-
ing up a useless fire as their opponents were
approaching. The upper layer of their cartridges
being at last expended, some voices called out
for a retreat, alleging as a reason that they
would not have time to turn the boxes. The
place appeared tenable with the bayonet ; the
Gurkhas, however, were now at hand, and
arguments, threats, entreaties, proved equally
vain to avert the disaster which ensued. Our
men broke in confusion and turned their backs :
the enemy, plunging among the fugitives, cut to
pieces all whom their swords could reach."
But worse news still was to reach Ochterlony
from the column which Colonel Mawbey, of the
53rd, now commanded in the place of the dead
Gillespie. Bulbudhur and his Gurkhas still held
to the fort and heavy guns had been sent for
from Delhi. When they arrived the fort was
bombarded. On the 27th of November a prac-
ticable breach was made, and on the 28th the
two flank companies and one battalion company
of the 53rd and the grenadiers of the native
corps, under Major Ingleby, tried to storm it.
Lieutenant Harrison and some men of the
53rd got into the breach, but penetrated no
further, and the storming column withdrew with
4 officers, 15 Europeans, and 18 natives killed,
and 7 officers, 215 Europeans, and 221 natives
wounded.
It was said that the men of the 53rd were dis-
contented, and that, though they mounted the
breach, they would go no further; and later on,
as a sequel to this most misfortunate day, some
duels were fought between the officers of the
two battalions of the 53rd.
The fort was afterwards beleaguered and its
water supply was cut off, when Bulbudhur Sing,
THE GURKHA WAR.
207
refusing to surrender, cut his way through the
cordon surrounding him, and left the fort, with a
ghastly garrison of dead and desperately wounded,
to IMawbev and his men.
Ochterlonv knew the mettle of his enemy and
how skilful a strategist he had to meet in Umar
Sing, and he played the game of war with the
greatest caution, drew away Umar Sing's allies
from him, made roads, reduced outlying forts,
cut the Gurkha lines of communication, and in-
tercepted their supplies. Umar Sing, as each
position became untenable, retreated to another,
and at last took his stand on the Malaun ridge.
It was April now, and if the campaign was to
close successfully, Ochterlonv had to gain a de-
cisive victors', for the other three columns had
fared badlv.
Major-General Martindell had been appointed
to the command of the force which had received
such a check from Bulbudhur Sing and his
gallant six hundred. Runjoor Sing, the Gurkha
general, a son of Umar Sing, opposed to him
had, following Umar Sing's tactics, fallen back
upon a strong position at Jytuk, striking hard
at our forces whenever he got a chance ; and
Martindell was irresolutely investing him there.
Further south and east .again Major-General
John Sullivan Wood had advanced through the
forest towards Butwal, where, on the jungle-
covered sandstone range, a fort and some shelter-
trenches guarded the first pass on the road to
the towns of Central Nipal.
Through the dense silent forest the advance-
guard of men of the light compan)- of the 17th,
on elephants, made their way, and the column
followed as best it could. When the men of the
advance-guard were close upon the far edge of
the forest, fire was opened upon them from a
breastwork, the mahouts could not control the
frightened elephants, and they rushed back
crashing through the forest. It was difficult in
the dense dark forest to tell friends from foes,
for the Nipalese were wearing red coats like
our men, and for a little all was confusion ; but
Captain William Croker with his company drove
the enemy up a rocky, wooded spur which ran
down from the hills on the right of the breast-
work, killing Sooraj Thappa, one of their leaders,
and the enemy were streaming away from the
breastwork, when the 17th, pushing on eagerly,
were intensely disappointed to hear the "retire"
sound.
General John Sullivan Wood judged the hill
behind Rutwal too strong a position to attack,
and with the light company covering their
retirement, the disappointed troops with-
drew. .
Later in the cold weather General J. S. Wood
made another reconnaissance to Butwal, but
without penetrating the hills.
Further south and east again, where the
passes lead from the plains to the capital, Khat-
mandu, Major-General Marley had two advanced
detachments at Summunpur and Persa sur-
rounded and overpowered, and Major-General
George Wood, who succeeded him in command,
judged the season too late to attempt any im-
portant operations.
A gleam of encouragement came from Kumaon,
where Colonel Gardner with some Rohilla levies
and Colonel Jasper NicoUs, who was afterwards
to be commander-in-chief in India, won success
after success, and finally captured Almora, the
chief fort in those parts.
The success or non-success of the campaign
lay then with Ochterlony, who was now at close
quarters with Umar Sing, the best of all the
Gurkha generals, who had under him as his
chief lieutenant Bucti Thappa, whose deeds are
sung to this day throughout Nipal as the bravest
of the brave.
The Malaun position, where Umar Sing waited
for Ochterlony, is a range of bare hills with
peaks at intervals. The citadel of Malaun
guarded the Gurkha left, the fort of Soorujghur
their right, and the peaks between were held as
stockaded posts — all but two, the peak of Ryla
towards the enemy's left and the peak of Deothul
almost under the guns of Malaun.
Ochterlony, who throughout the campaign
had been consistently cautious, knew now that
the time had come to risk everything.
During the night of the 14th April, Lawtree,
the field-engineer, stole up to the Ryla peak,
and, seizing it without difficulty, set about
stockading it with the few men he had with him.
At daybreak on the 15th five columns were
sent out. Three moved on Ryla, two under
Colonel Thompson marched on Deothul and
seized those positions without difficulty, for the
attention of the Gurkhas was distracted bv
an attack on their stockades below the citadel
of Malaun, an attack which cost us many lives
— amongst them that of a gallant officer, Captain
Showers, who in single combat, in view of the
two forces, killed his opponent, a Gurkha leader,
before he was himself shot — but answered its
purpose well.
There was desultory fighting about Deothul
all through the day, but our men held their own
2o8
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
and busied themselves erecting stockades. Two
littld-picces were sent up to Colonel Thompson,
and through the night shots were exchanged
with the Gurkhas, while the men finished their
work at the stockade, which became a strong
work with embrasures for the guns.
During the night Bucti Thappa slipped away
from the fortified position he held between the
peaks in possession of the British, and joined
Umar Sing at Malaun. Both the Gurkha leaders
knew that, unless Deothul was recaptured, the
game was up. An attack was planned for next
morning, and Bucti, who was to lead it, swore
a solemn oath in the durbar-hall, before all the
higher officers of the Gurkha force, to conquer
Though it was a forlorn hope, Bucti Thappa
gathered some men together, and for a fourth
time tried to charge up that desperate hill on
the slopes of which lay dead the flower of the
Gurkha army, and Thompson, knowing that the
victor}' was gained, led out his men to meet him.
The battle was decisive. They counted 500
of the Gurkha dead, and our men had some 300
killed and wounded. Our two guns suffered
terribly, and at the end of the day Lieutenant
Cartwright, with the only unwounded man ot
the gun detachments, served one gun, while
Lieutenant Armstrong, of the Pioneers, and
Lieutenant Hutchinson, of the Engineers, worked
the other.
f X - f ^wf
,., ..■■.....»«,^.^.,..,.„ ^- The Battle of MALAUN.
^j^ ^^»^ gS|^,, ,.,iacH,«r%
"ToV
I Stoclcaded posts licl
1-y Gurfch.is. 0\'illaffes
»Litics if a(lv.iiicc '">f Pritisl
THE GURKHA h>
WAR. 1814-16.
''''•^^^!i>llil/^lgf0^-~
or remain dead on the field. He warned his
wives to prepare for the funeral pile, gave his
son over to the protection of Umar Sing, and
then went down to take command of the 2,000
Gurkhas, who in the darkness were forming in a
semicircle at the base of the Deothul hill.
Colonel Thompson had inside his stockade
two native battalions and two guns.
With daylight the great trumpets of the
Gurkhas sounded, and the attack began. The
hill blazed like a sheet of flame with the Gurkha
musketr)-. The hillmen strove to get to close
quarters, reserving their fire till they were within
pistol shot ; but grape and canister and musketry
fire struck away the Gurkhas charging kukris
in hand. No man turned, but the attacking
force was swept out of existence. The trumpets
sounded again, and a second body charged and
went down like corn before the wind, and then
a third.
When the last remnants of the attacking force
were hurled down the hill, our men found the
body of Bucti Thappa amongst the slain ; and
Thompson, honouring a noble enemy, had it
wrapped in a shawl of honour and sent it to
L'mar Sing.
Next day a funeral pile was built in the valley
between Deothul, where the victorious British
stood to their arms, and Malaun, where what
was left of the Gurkha army crowded round the
grey walls of the fortress.
From the gate of the citadel a sad little part)-,
headed by Brahmins, wound down the hillside.
The smoke rose from the p\Te, and, to accom-
pany the Gurkha hero to paradise, two of his
wives dared the fire with him and died on the
funeral pile.
L^mar Sing sulked. His men and his allies
were deserting him day by day, but it was not
until the walls of Malaun began to crumble
■THE FRIGHTENED ELEPHANTS RUSHED BACK CRASHING THROUGH THE FOREST" (> 207).
62
210
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
under the fire from the British guns that
he would consent to sign a convention, which
gave to the Britisli all the land between the
Sutlej and the Sarda. Those of the Gurkhas
in that part of the country who did not come
over to us retreated across the latter river, and
Umar Sing himself, with his son Runjoor,
retired to Khatmandu.
The fierce old warrior, beaten and broken-
hearted, gave to the Nipalese durbar his advice
never to make peace with the Christians, and
then retired to a temple he had built, and died
soon after the Gurkha defeats of the next year
ended the war.
* # » * *
Malaun, though three-quarters of the English-
men who read of battles have never even heard its
name, was second only to Plassy in asserting the
dominancv of the European in India, for all the
wolves were afoot thinking that the lion was
very sick indeed ; and, if Ochterlony had failed
before that Himalayan ridge, vve might have
found ourselves in worse straits than even the
mutiny brought us to.
*****
Diplomacy failed where the sword had been
successful. The Nipalese durbar haggled, chaf-
fered, and temporised ; but old Umar Sing's
advice was very much to the liking of the
council presided over by the Prime Minister,
and though the great nobles hoped to spin out
the cold weather in negotiating, on one point
they had thoroughly made up their minds — they
would have no British Resident in Khatmandu.
Ochterlony had struck, in 1814-15, where the
capital scarcely felt the blow ; Lord Hastings
determined that this time, in 1816, the blow
should reach the heart of Nipal.
Without waiting for a formal declaration of
war, Sir David Ochterlony was ordered to make
his advance against the capital, and as he led his
brigades through the terai he was met by the
Gurkha emissary bringing down the declaration
of war from Khatmandu.
It was now February, i8ib. In a month
the fever that haunts the terai would make a
campaign impossible.
Sir David Ochterlony was a K.C.B.— a reward
for his services in the last campaign. He had
under him nearly 20,000 fighting-men ; he had
a reputation that he could not fall short of.
Beyond the deserted jungle and the dense,
deadly forest, where he was assembling his force,
there lay the labyrinth of hills of the sand-
stone range, jungle-covered, with long walls of
precipices facing towards the plains. The few
passes that led through to the dhuns were all as
difficult as Nature could make them, and all were
stockaded. And towering above the lower
range were the Himalayan foot-hills, which
would give an armv as much trouble and more
than the first range.
He divided his force into four brigades.
Colonel Kelly, with the first brigade of 4,000
men, all native infantry except his own regiment,
her Majesty's 24th, was despatched to Ochter-
lony's right to force a passage by the gorge of
the Bagmatti or some neighbouring pass ;
Colonel Nicholl was sent off to Ochterlony's left,
with her Majesty's 66th and some 3,800 natives,
to find his way up the valley of the Rapti — a
small river that flows into the majestic Gandak ;
Sir David Ochterlony with the 3rd and 4th
brigade, her Majesty's 87th, and seven-and-a-
half native regiments, 8,00c men in all, appeared
before the Bichiakoh pass, the direct road to the
capital.
Other columns from Gorakpur and the newly-
captured Almora were to keep the Gurkhas
employed further north-west ; but as they had
no effect upon the war we need not trouble-
about their doings.
On the loth of February, 1816, Sir David
had his men safely through the dreaded forest
of the terai and camped within sight of the
first Gurkha stockade in the pass. On the nth,
Nicholl and Kelly began their marches ; but for
four days Ochterlony left his men in camp and
did nothing. The hot-heads amongst the
officers began to grumble and to ask to be
allowed to tr}* their luck against the stockades^
before them. But Sir David knew that the
stockaded defences of the Bichiakoh were im-
pregnable, and had called on his Intelligence
Department to find him some path by which
he could turn the position. Captain Pickersgilf
found him one. This very active officer in his
search along the range met some smugglers of
salt, and they, being heavily bribed, agreed to
show him the path they used into Nipal — a path
unknown to any Nipalese officials.
On the night of the 14th, as the men were
preparing to turn in, a whisper went through
the camp of the third brigade to fall in ; and
leaving all tents standing, and all provisions and
baggage, at nine o'clock, just as the moon rcse
in a cloudless sky, the column — a long, dark
snake — wound out of the camp northwards and
into a dark gap in the hillside, the gorge of the
Balu stream. First went the light company of
THE GURKHA WAR.
211
the 87th, and next Sir David, on foot like the
rest, led the long column on its desperate en-
terprise.
It was a ilaring venture for so cautious a
player of the game of war, for if the column had
been discovered in the gorge by the Gurkhas
not a man would have escaped.
The men moved in single file, scrambling as
best they could over the rocks, sometimes high
in the air, sometimes deep down in what seemed
to be a pit. " Through five miles of this
passage," says an historian of the war, " three
thousand men moved with the silence of a
funeral procession. The lofty banks being
clothed with trees, their branches from opposite
sides in some places intermingled above, in
others the clear moonlight showed tremendous
rocks at a great height, rising over the column
in cliffs and precipices. The only sounds which
interrupted the stillness were caused by the
a.xes in removing some trees which had grown
or fallen across the way."
When the grey of dawn came, those behind
in the narrow watercourse could distinguish the
" Light Bobs " scrambling up a final three hundred
yards of hillside almost as steep as the side of
a house, holding on to the shrubs and grass, being
pulled up by the officers' sashes, which were
iniwound for the purpose.
The rest followed, and by seven in the morn-
ing the third brigade was on the ridge of the
sandstone range, and the Bichiakoh pass was
turned.
They marched five miles further to bivouac
by a stream, and then came two bad days, while
the pioneers made the path practicable for
elephants, during which there was no food for
the troops : for there had been a muddle, and
the three days' provisions ordered had not been
served out to them before starting.
The Irish boys of the 87th took it all right
cheerfully : they cut down boughs of the trees
and made shelters for the general and staff as
well as themselves. Barefooted, cold, foodless,
on constant harassing outpost work, these
gallant fellows knew that they had won the first
move in the game ; and as the stern " Auld
Maloney " came striding round the pickets the
men, setting discipline for the moment at de-
fiance, greeted him with an Irish yell of triumph.
The fourth brigade ioined Sir David, marching
up through the Bichiakoh pass, which the
Gurkhas had deserted when they found that
Sir David was in rear of them, and as the hot-
headed young officers who were so keen to
attack passed the stockades, they were forced to
admit that to assault them would have meant
certain defeat. Colonel Kelly had crossed the
first range without opposition, and was facing
the fort of Huriharpur, where Kunjoor Sing,
General Martindell's old opponent, was in com-
mand. Colonel Nicholl, also unopposed, was
marching up the valley of the Rapti. On the
27th February the third and fourth brigades
marched through the tree-covered dhun to
where the brick fort of Mukwanpur towered on
a hill to the east — our right — and from this a
long broken ridge, jungle-covered on the upper
slopes but naked on the lower, led down to a
fortified village on our left.
The slopes of the hill were strongly stockaded,
and there was a force of Gurkhas in the village.
At breakfast time on the 28th two of the men
of the 87th were brought up before the colonel
of that corps for straying beyond the pickets.
They had been for a walk, and, seeing none of
the enemy about, had gone into the fortified
village, where they found only an old woman.
" Fall in, the light company ! " shouted the
colonel, and the men ran to their arms. " Ould
Maloney " was on the spot at once, and the
gallant " Light Bobs " — the two culprits of the
morning with them — went off for the village at
the double, and the light company of the 25th
Native Infantry were sent after them in support.
The village was deserted, as the men had said ;
and Pickersgill, taking Lieutenants Lee of the
S7th and Turrell of the 20th Native Infantry, a
volunteer, and some twenty men, began to re-
connoitre the Mukwanpur hill. He posted two
parties on the wooded ridge to cover his retreat,
and went on with one or two men higher up
the jungle-covered slope towards the fort.
Meanwhile the Gurkhas in Mukwanpur had
seen what had happened, and the original gar-
rison of the fortified village was sent down to
retake it. They swept away Pickersgill's two
parties, driving them down the narrow footpath,
killed Lee, and were only prevented from hack-
ing to pieces the other officers by the splendid
gallantry of Corporal Orr and Private Boyle,
who, fighting coolly with the bayonet, held the
rocky path as a rear-guard.
Sir David had thrown reinforcements into the
village, and the 87th came up the hill to help
their retiring comrades, and checked the ad-
vancing Gurkhas where a glen cut through the
ridge.
212
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
Ill the stockades the great trumpets were
blown, and down the hill, bringing some guns
with them, streamed a shouting torrent of some
two thousand (iurkhas. From the camp Sir
David sent more men across to the village, till
on our side we had one European and two
camp, was directing the fight, was killed by a
ball. A lucky shot blew up the enemy's reserve
ammunition, and the Gurkhas began to charo-e
less resolutely.
The action had lasted since ten in the morn-
ing, and it was now near five. Sir David sent
SIR DAVU5 nCHTF.RLON'Y.
{From the Piihttiiif; by A. lt\ Dev/s.)
native battalions before the village commanding
the glen. From the camp the artillery pounded
at the Gurkhas swarming down the ridge.
■ It was bayonet against kukri. Again and
again the Gurkhas charged over the open slope
up from the glen, and again and again those not
swept away by bullets and shells perished on the
bayonets of the 87th, who yelled, in answer to
ihe Gurkha shouts, as they charged to meet the
rush of the little, brown demons.
The Gurkha gunners, finding that they could
not make any effect on our men before the
village, turned their guns on the camp. The
shot came hurtling through the tents, and Sir
David's old servant, who stood inkstand in hand
by his master, where the general, in front of the
the Sth Native Infantrv to finish the fight
before sunset. The}- deployed and with a shout
swept up the hill, capturing the Nipalese guns
and sending the beaten Gurkhas flying through
the thickets, leaving their wounded and dead
uf)on the ground.
It was a horrible sight that the setting sun
went down upon. Ensign Shipp, of the 87th
AVrote of it :^" The dying and wounded lay in
masses in the dells and the ravines below. In
our own company we had, I think, eleven killed
and twenty w-ounded, pur total number being
eighty only. As long as it was light, we could
plainly see the last ■ struggles of the dying.
Some poor fellows could be seen raising their
Jciiees up to their chins and then flinging them
THE GURKHA WAR.
down wilh all their inij^ht. Some altcnipted to
rise, but failed in the attempt. One poor fellow
1 saw get on his legs, put his hands to his bleed-
ing head, then fall and roll down the hill to rise
no more."
The fight at Aliikwanpur broke the Gurkha
power, and hard on the heels of the messenger
who brought the news to Khatmandu came
others telling that Kelly had routed Runjoor
Sing, who had fled, leaving his picked guard, the
Band of the Moon — the men with silver crescents
on their turbans — defeated and disheartened,
behind the walls of Huriharpur, and that Nicholl,
come safely through the Rapti valley, had joined
Ochterlony.
On the 4th of Alarch, 181 6, in kill durbar, at
the general's camp in the valley of Mukvvanpur,
with the vakeels of all the great princes of India
to witness, Chunda Seka, the Nipalese envoy,
on his knees presented to Sir David Ochterlony
a treaty which gave to the British everything
that they claimed.
Here let us leave the s^out eld veteran at the
moment of his supreme triumph. It is better
to think of him as the brilliant commander of
1S16 than as the politician of 1824, rebuked and
superseded, and dying like his great antagonist,
Umar Sing, of a broken heart.
THE P..\LACE OK THE KING OF NEPAUL.
214
~V3(J»
ONE morning in Spain, in the ancient
capital of Valladolid, Napoleon was
holding a grand review. A Grenadier
regiment of the Imperial Guard had
paraded for his inspection in front of the grand
old palace of Charles V. Napoleon passed
slowly down the ranks, followed by a glittering
staff; then, returning to the saluting point, he
came upon a group of superior officers anxious
to make their bow before their Imperial master.
Suddenly he halted before one of them, whom
he addressed in a voice of thunder :
" Can it be possible that you dare to come
into my presence ? — that you can show your-
self in public branded with infamy, with disgrace
which affects every brave man in the army ?
And your right arm there — why does it not
hang withered by j'our side ? It was with
that hand that you affi.xed the seals to the
capitulation of Baylen ! "
The wretched man who stood there speechless
and abashed while he was thus cruelly apostro-
phised was General Legendre, who had been
General Dupont's chief of the staff when that
general surrendered to the Spaniards at Baylen
on the 20th July, 1 808.
Napoleon never forgot or forgave this capitula-
tion. It is said that in after years he could never
think of Baylen without a shudder — never speak
of it without an outburst of the fiercest indigna-
tion. No one ventured to talk of it, even to
mention the name, in his presence. Long after
the occurrence it was kept a profound secret.
When King Joseph, Napoleon's brother, was
forced by it to retire from Madrid, the Mijiiitciir
explained the retrograde move by a far-fetched
storv : it was publicly announced that the French
headouarters in Spain had moved " to a place
where it would have the benefit of milder air
and better water." This was Bayonne, within
the French frontier.
That Napoleon should be shocked and humili-
ated by Baylen was not strange. It was the first
contretemps — the first real misfortune — that had
befallen the French arms since the star of the
great Corsican had risen over France. The
shame of it eclipsed in Napoleon's mind his most
brilliant victories. The glory of Marengo,
Wagram, Austerlitz, and Jena faded before the
dishonour of Baylen. Nor was it the actual fact
alone that a large force of French soldiers laid
down their arms in a battle which was not yet
full}- decided; it was the consequences of the capi-
tulation that give it such immense importance.
'' In its moral effects," says Napier, '' the battle
of Baylen was one of those events which, insig-
nificant in themselves, cause great changes in
the affairs of nations." Not in itself, for the
fight was small, the forces engaged on either side
comparatively few, the generalship indifferent ;
but Baylen was a new point of departure in the
Napoleonic struggle. Till then the emperor had
triumphed all along the line. His hold of Spain,
although shaken by the tardy but fierce revolt of
the Spaniards, was tightening. He had crushed
the insurrection, north, east, and west ; his
brother's Court was established at Madrid. The
English expeditionary force, which was to change
the whole current of events, had not yet landed
in the Peninsula ; and it is more than probable
that but for Baylen, Arthur Wellesley would
never have become the Duke of Wellington.
To understand and fully appreciate the mo-
mentous issues that hung around this battle it
is necessary to hark back to the beginning, when
Napoleon's restless ambition led him to interfere
in Spanish politics. The dissensions at the
Court of Madrid gave him his opportunity ; his
troops poured across the Pyrenees, and, on the
plea of replacing one detested king b}- another
of the people's choice, he took possession of the
country. The principal Spanish fortresses were
BAYLEN.
2i:
secured by treachery. One army corps occupied
Cataldiiia, another old Castile ; Junot crossed the
entire Peninsula and entered Lisbon ; Bessieres,
with movable columns, ranged the northern
provinces and was ready to attack. Galicia. A
part — and not the least part — in the general
plan was the invasion of Andalusia in the
south, the conquest of which was of paramount
importance. It was a rich province, amply en-
dowed by Nature ; in one of its principal cities —
Seville — was a cannon foundry, and in another —
Cadiz — a large arsenal, from which a great artil-
lery train could be equipped. It was full of
troops, mostly well-disciplined, veteran troops,
probabl}' the only serious opponents left to be
encountered in Spain.
The movement against Andalusia was en-
trusted to General Dupont ; and, as this officer
was soon to become notorious through his mis-
fortunes, some account of him should appear
here. Dupont's failure and collapse are not
easily explained. Napoleon, in his rage, con-
demned him as having shown " inconceivable
incapacity. He seemed to do very well at the
liead of a division ; he has done horribly as a
chief" But, up to Baylen, Dupont was one of
tlie coming men : it was confidently said of him
when he startetl from Madrid that he would find
liis baton as a Marshal of France at Cadiz. He
had already done good service, had earned many
laurels in early years, and he was still in the
prime of life. He had fought at Valmy and in
the Argonne, when Dumouriez made such suc-
cessful resistance to the Prussian invasion of
France ; he contributed largely to the victory of
Marengo, which was one of the first foundations
of Napoleon's fame. At that battle it was Du-
pont who, as chief staff-officer of the reserve, had
rallied and sent forward a number of beaten
troops. Again, in commanding the right wing
of the army of Italy, he had seized Florence,
had defeated 45,000 Austrians with 14,000 men,
and had earned for himself the sobriquet oi
'■ the bold general" {Ic general (iiidacicux). At
Jena he had given further proof of his right to
the epithet by holding a bridge with five bat-
talions against 22,000 of the enemy, supported
by powerful artillery — a feat characterised as
one of tremendous daring. " I would not have
attempted it," said the great leader, " with less
than bo, 000 men." Once more, at Friedland,
he showed great courage and determination,
and was decorated with the grand cordon of
the Legion of Honour on the field.
Yet this was the man who later surrendered
at Baylen, who "stained the French flag," who
was '"guilty of cowardice" in this "horrible
affair." Such are the vicissitudes of fortune
that wait on all who follow the profession of
war. It has been urged in Dupont's defence that
at the time of the catastrophe he was suffering
from illness, as indeed were many under his
orders ; and that he had been badly wounded
was reason sufficient to account for a temporary
loss of head. Napoleon himself long after-
wards, at St. Helena, admitted that Dupont had
been more unfortunate than guilty, yet previous
to the great final catastrophe it was plain that
his fortitude was breaking down and that in his
conduct he had lost all his old enterprise and
audacit}'. A more serious complaint against
him was that he thought more to preserve the
plunder he had recently amassed than to fight
through his foes. Dupont was no doubt largely
tainted with the brigandage and love of "loot"
which disgraced so many of Napoleon's greatest
subordinates in the field, especially in Spain.
To return to the operations in Andalusia.
Dupont left Madrid in the latter end of Ma}-,
crossed the rugged mountains of the Sierra
Morena by the great pass of Despeiiaperros, and
reached Andujar on the 2nd of June, 1808. He
had with him an infantry division — Barbou's
— Fresia's cavalry, some Swiss regiments, and
a marine battalion of the Imperial Guard —
in all about 24,000 combatants. On arrival
at Andujar he first learnt that all Spain had
risen, that war to the knife had been pro-
claimed against the French, and that all Anda-
lusia was in arms. He knew that to reach
Cadiz he must fight his way there ; and, accord-
ing to the best critics, he should now, in the face
of this entirely new situation, have demanded
fresh orders from Madrid, and meanwhile waited
in a strong position of observation backed up by
the hills. But he decided to push on at once
to Cordova, which he summoned to surrender,
stormed, carried at the point of the bayonet, and
then proceeded to pillage. It was at Cordova
that the treasure and valuables which were
afterwards to prove such a fatal encumbrance
were chiefly secured.
The loss of Cordova spread consternation in
the neighbouring city of Seville, where a sort of
provisional government for the south of Spain
was established, and a general stampede verv
nearly followed. No serious resistance would
have been offered Dupont if he had boidlv
continued his advance, and all Andalusia would
probablj have been easily won. But here his
2l6
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
weakness and vacillation first showed them-
selves. He sat still where he was and hurried
back courier after courier to Madrid with des-
patches full of despondency and fear, earnestly
imploring reinforcements. Many of these
letters fell into the hands of the Spaniards
and gave them heart of grace. All could
not be quite lost if such was the situation
BATTLE OF BAYIEI.
English .Miles
o 3 6 Q 12
of the French. Castanos, the captain-general
of whom Napier writes as " the first Spaniard
who united prudence with patriotism," was in
command of the Spanish forces. Even he had
despaired at first. Although he had gathered
men together, including those of his own camp,
at St. Roque, originally intended for the siege
of Gibraltar, he had been so little sanguine that
he had already embarked all his heavy artillery
and stores. But as troops joined him, he began
to hope that he might yet get the better of
Dupont. His strength was first doubled, then
quadrupled — all classes had taken up arms, high
and low, rich and poor. In a few weeks an
arm}' of 39 battalions and 21 squadrons, with
a well-formed and well-organised artillery, was
collected about Seville. Castaiios was supported
by two capable officers : one a French l:migri\
Coupigny, the other a Swiss soldier of fortune
named Reding. An Irish general called Feli.x
Jones was also under the orders of Castanos, so
that he and his lieutenants were representatives
of four different nationalities.
The Spaniards now prepared to take the
offensive against Dupont, both by front attack
on Cordova and by menacing his communica-
tions through the passes of the Sierra Morena.
Their impatience to attack was forestalled by
Dupont's frantic anxiety to retreat. Finding he
could not regain the'
golden opportunity lost
by his ten days' inactivity
of Cordova, he exchanged
the forward for a retro-
grade movement, and from
that moment his troubles
and embarrassments began.
On the 17th of June
he evacuated Cordova and
fell back on the Guadal-
quivir at Andujar, the
.Spaniards pressing him
with their advanced guard.
It is possible that Dupont's
fears were aggravated by
the horrible nature of the
contest, and the ferocitv
displayed b}' his Spanish
enemy. All along his line
of retreat he came upon
ghastly proofs of their
bloodthirsty and implac-
able character : they cut
off and butchered his
stragglers, seized and slew
his sick in hospital, his doctors, couriers, and all
non-combatants. One French officer. Colonel
Rene, returning from a peaceful mission in
Portugal, was taken prisoner, mutilated, placed
alive between two planks, then his body was
sawn in two. A timorous general (yet this was
Dupont rmidticicux .'), not strangely, was greatly
affected by these terrors. His despatches, while
magnifying his dangers, were filled with the
most painful misgivings and the most piteous
appeals.
So desperate did he conceive his situation
that he wrote as follows to Madrid from Andujar
— a letter which was intercepted, and which, no
doubt, greatly increased the confidence of his
enemy : —
" We have not a moment tp lose. We must
immediately fall back from a position where we
are unable to subsist. M\' men being always
under arms have no time now as heretofore to
reap the corn and bake their own bread. . . .
BAYLEN.
:i7
" For Heaven's sake hurry up reinforcements
with all haste ! What we imperatively require
is the assistance of a firm and compact body of
men, able to support me and to support each
other. . . . Send me medicines with all
speed, and linen for my wounded. The enemy
for a whole month has intercepted all supplies
both of food and ammunition."
Yielding to Dupont's repeated applications,
Cleneral Savary, who was Joseph's military right
hand at Madrid, had ordered Vedel's division to
push through the pass of Despenaperros ; and
that general; although harassed in his march
b}- Spanish irregulars, got past safely and
reached Baylen (soon to become historical) with
some 14,000 men. Another general, Gobert,
had also been sent in support by Savary, an-
ticipating Napoleon's permission. Dupont was
This opinion was dictated at Bayonne on
the 2 1st of July — the verj^ day of Dupont's
capitulation.
There was no vigorous initiative left in
Dupont : a bold stroke might have got him out
of his mess, but he remained inactive, clinging
tenaciously to a vicious position. He had en-
trenched himself at Andujar on the far side of
the river, fortifying the bridge against attack.
He thought to cover the pass and his communi-
cations, but he was too far forward, and his defen-
sive line was weak, easily to be turned on either
flank. The river Guadalquivir was nearly dry,
and fordable at many points ; below him on the
right was the bridge of Marmolejo ; higher up,
his left, his weakest flank, was assailable by the
fords of Mengibar, and pressure along this line
would make his whole position untenable. In
c o R D o V .\ .
now strong enough to have resumed the offen-
sive— Napoleon fully e.\pected him to do so.
The emperor could not believe him to be reallv
in danger. Commenting upon the situation
from a distance, he wrote : " Dupont, with 2.5,000
men, ought to accomplish great things. As a
matter of fact, with only 21,000 the chances
would be eightj- per cent, in his favour.''
fact, he was altogether in the wrong place. His
excuse is that he held on to Andujar because
Napoleon had approved of his halt there ; but
the emperor was not then in possession of the
latest news, and he always hoped that Dupont
would not remain idle. His safest course would
be to fall back, concentrate at Baylen, strike the
Spanish columns as the}' showed; and then, even
2lS
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
ii defeated, his retreat through tlic mountain
passes would have been secure.
At that time, no doubt, Dupont's army was
weak and in wretched case ; and this added
greatly to his anxieties. The soldiers were
mostly conscripts, young unfledged recruits,
barely formed as soldiers, having hardly learnt
discipline, ignorant even of their drill. They
were half-starved, too, and suffered greatly in
heakh. It was the height of the " dog days,"
the heat almost tropical ; the supplies were very
short ; there was no wine, vinegar, or brandy ;
only half-rations were issued, often only quarter-
rations of bread. The banks of the river were
dangeroush" unhealthy, the " eternal home of
malarious fever." Si.x hundred men went to
hospital in less than a fortnight, and the rest
lost all heart and strength. Dupont occupied
a position too wide for his numbers. He himself
was at Andujar, V'edel at Baylen, Gobert away
back at Carolina, just as he had come through.
Being besides continually harassed by guerillas
threatening his communications, he was obliged
to break up his force into fragments, and keep
them constantly moving to and fro in large
patrols along his whole front. This greatly
increased the sufferings and hardships of the
French troops, who, always marching to and
fro, badly nourished and under intense heat,
became greatly exhausted and fatigued.
The Spaniards so far had failed to realise the
faulty dispositions of their opponent. Castaiios,
of his own accord, would not advance to attack;
he did not even prepare to do so until he re-
ceived positive orders to that effect from Seville.
Then he slowly approached the Guadal-
quivir : even now, notwithstanding the strength
of his very mixed force of regulars and ir-
regulars, which numbered some 50,000, he was
so little in earnest that he still talked of retreat.
He could not see that Dupont, bv holding to
Andujar, was giving himself into his hands.
No doubt what Castanos presently did was just
as a skilful general would have acted ; but it
was more by luck than good management, the
mere chance of the lie of the land than wise
action following profound military forethought
and science.
At last, in accordance with the definite de-
cision of a council of war, the Spaniards began
active operations on the i8th Juh'. The plan
arrived at was, as it happened, the best possible.
Dupont's false position was his enemy's oppor-
tunity. The true system of attack was to en-
courage Inr.i to remain at Andujar by strong
feints in his front, while the real stress was laid
on his left — his extreme left, far away where his
line of retreat lay exposed. This, in effect, was
what happened. On the 13th, General Reding
advanced from Mengibar towards the ford of that
name, and drove the French outposts across the
Guadalquivir ; next to him, on his left, came
Coupigny, then Felix Jones. This movement
was threatening enough, but, as it was not per-
sisted in, Dupont seems to have neglected it,
mistaking its dangerous intention. Moreover,
Castanos now strengthened him in his unwise
resolves to hold to the right, for the Spanish
general began serious demonstrations against
Andujar ; he covered the heights opposite with
a great multitude, and apparently " meant busi-
ness." Dupont, terrified, stood fast, and only
sent frantic appeals to Vedel for help. Then
Castaiios opened with his artillery against the
Andujar bridge, and despatched a body of ir-
regulars across the river at Marmolejo lower
down with orders to manceuvre around Dupont's
right rear.
Now Reding, pressing forward, forced a passage
at the Mengibar ford. Dupont, hearing this,
countermarched Vedel, who was approaching
him, and directed him to protect Bavlen, which
was now exposed and within easy reach of Men-
gibar. Vedel, having made one useless march,
was again to be of no service ; for. Reding
having crossed the direction of his march, in-
dicated an intention to strike at Linares and
the pass bevond. Accordinglv Dufour, who
commanded after Gobert 's death, hurried off to
Carolina, hoping to forestall Reding ; and Vedel,
equally anxious, quickly followed Dufour. Thus,
these two French generals with their divisions
were separated on the 17th July by five-and-
twent}' miles from their chief and comrade,
Dupont, at Andujar. All this was enormously
to Reding's advantage. He was joined on the
17th by Coupignj-, and now the two together,
20,000 strong, seized Baylen. Here Reding,
after throwing out a detachment towards
Carolina, took up a position facing Andujar
and the west.
In order to fully appreciate this most compli-
cated state of affairs, it vi'ill be necessary to recapi-
tulate the positions of the opponents. Dupont,
with one-half of the French f >rces,was at Andujar,
the extreme end of a front of forty-five miles ;
Vedel and Dufour were at the other end, quite
cut off from him, about Carolina. Reding
was in between the two ends, holding Eavlen,
the key of the position. Castaiios was in strength
BAYLEN.
219
opposite Diipont, having thrown troops across
the river to tlneaten Dupont's exposed right
flank. Whether intentionally or not, it was
dear that the Spaniards had quite outmanneuvred
the French, and, if not absolutely masters of the
situation, they had undoubtedly the best of it.
Dupont only learnt in the course of the 18th,
and with the deepest dismay, that an enemy's
force was established at Baylen, thus severing
his communications and cutting him off from
the rest of his army. He knew nothing of
Reding's strength, but he saw that he must at
all costs regain touch with Vedel and reopen his
line of retreat. Possibly he now awoke to the
grave military error he had committed in hold-
ing on to Andujar for so long. At any rate his
preparations were made with great secrecy and
in all haste : the move was an escape rather than
a retreat, carried on in the depth of the night
and with extreme precaution. The force, some
11,000 strong, was divided into two portions —
half for the advanced-guard, half for the rear-
guard— both protecting the precious train of 800
waggons, laden with plunder and sick, which,
thus guarded, dragged along in the centre of
the column. Dupont feared most for his rear,
believing Castanos more formidable' than Reding,
and therefore the head was weaker than the tail
of his force.
Ca-.tafios — negligent, dilatorv, slow to move —
had no inkling of Dupont's withdrawal for many
hours after the Frenchman had started, and too
late to interfere with his march. By daybreak,
about 3 a.m., Dupont's advance reached a
mountain torrent called the Tiedras, and got
touch of Reding's outposts. By 4 a.m. the
French, leaving a force at the bridge of Rumblar
to watch for Castanos behind, were engaged
M'ith the enemy in front. It was of the utmost
importance to drive back Reding and get
through before Castanos could come up ; and to
secure this Dupont should have attacked imme-
diately with all his strength, eager onlv to get
on. But he paused to make elaborate disposi-
tions, thus wasting the precious hours, and only
charged Reding with the puny efforts of small
successive columns. Nevertheless, the French,
fighting with their customarv gallantrv, gained
ground at first and drove in the first line of
defence ; but in the second the Spaniards stood
firm, and their artillerv fire being heavier, over-
mastered the French guns. At 10 a.m., Reding
made a counter attack, advancing with great
energy, to be checked in turn bv the brilliant
charges of the French cavalrv. Yet now tb.e
Spanish reserves restored the fight, which, as
the day grew on towards noon, manifestly
slackened on the French side.
Dupont's men were horribly exhausted. They
had been marching all night, fighting all the
forenoon ; they were covered with dust and ex-
posed to a tropical sun ; they were mad with
thirst and there was no water to be had. Already
1,500 men had been struck down, the Swiss
regiments in the French service had gone over
to the Spaniards, large numbers of officers were
wounded, Dupont himself included. At this
time the French general declared he could not
dispose of more than a couple of thousand men,
although it was never properl}- explained why
his forces had dwindled to so few. Thousands
could never have fired a shot, and it w-as openly
said afterwards that the care of the general's
personal baggage, swollen with church plate and
plunder, so fully occupied a great part of his
whole force that it was never brought into action.
Now at this critical moment the guns of the
pursuit were heard in the rear about the Rum-
blar bridge. Castaiios had come up at last, and
the French were taken between two fires. Poor
Dupont had no news of Vedel, and was in
despair. He proposed a suspension of arms,
which Reding willingly granted, because, as a
matter of fact, he himself could hardly hold his
own ground. Nevertheless, Vedel was really
near at hand. He had been aroused by the
distant sounds of battle, and had left Carolina
that morning at 5 a.m., working, as a good
soldier should, towards the noise of guns. Yet
now, although time was of the utmost conse-
quence, he tarried by the way and halted for
several hours six miles short of Baylen to let his
men breakfast and rest. He only resumed his
march when the firing had ceased, to arrive on
the ground after Dupont had asked for an ar-
mistice. Being ignorant of this, Vedel attacked
Reding to good purpose, and captured 1,500
prisoners. Then an aide-de-camp from Dupont
came and told him to desist, informing him
that negotiations with the enemy were in
progress.
Thus the battle was lost when on the point of
being won. It would have been easy enough to
reopen the strife, and with every prospect of
success. Vedel clamoured for a joint attack on
Reding, and was supported by his subordinates.
Dupont would not consent, ordered Vedel to give
up the prisoners he had taken and withdraw to
Carolina. This did not please Castanos, who
insisted that Vedel should also surrender, and
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
threatened in default to massacre all Dupom's
force. Here was an opportunity of quashing the
negotiations and resuming hostilities. Dupont
and Vedel together, 18,000 French soldiers, were
strong enough to give a good account of a raw-
Spanish armv ; and if Dupont was caught between
Castanos and Reding, Reding was in equally
Negotiations recommenced, and now Castanos
imposed harder terms. At first he would have
permitted the French troops to return to Madrid,
but at this moment a letter from General Savary,
recalling Dupont to .Madrid, fell into the Spanish
general's hands. Castafios not .strangely declined
to carry out Savary 's views, and insisted that the
KEPT THEIR COWARDLV AiSAlLAMS AT 1:AY >\Viil;l) IN HAND "(.'•. 22lV
critical condition between Vedel and Dupont.
It was an occasion when a bold stroke for free-
dom would probably have resulted in triumphant
victory. Had Dupont been the man of Marengo,
Jena, and Friedland he would have cut his way
through his difficulties swofd in hand. But he
was completely broken down, and could only
assemble a council of war, upon whom he
threw the responsibility of decision. Heroic
resolutions such as alone could have saved the
French were not to be expected from a number
of different opinions, and the council came to the
conclusion that further resistance was hopeless.
whole French force — Dupont's, Vedel's, and
Dufour's — should lay down their arms and sur-
render at discretion. Meanwhile, Vedel had
again drawn off, but Castafios demanded his
return, and that he should be included in the
capitulation. E.xtraordinary as it will appear,
Dupont sent Vedel peremptory orders to come
back ; and Vedel, although well out of danger,
and at the head of a force armed and intact,
actually returned. Nor was this all. A French
officer with a Spanish escort scoured the country
to pick up small parties and outlving French
garrisons, and include them in the surrender.
RAYLEN.
22 1
'' And,'' as Napier says, " these unheard-of pro-
ceedings were quietly submitted to by men be-
Icnginj;' to that army which for fifteen years had
been the terror of Iturope.'' Twenty thousand
French soldiers gave themselves up at one stroke
of the pen to an enemv for whom they had had
the greatest contempt. There is no more preg-
nant truth in military art than that the conduct
of soldiers depends greatly upon the character
of their immediate chief.
General Dupont undoubtedly failed when put
to a supreme test. It was the first occasion on
which he had been in independent command,
and he was unequal to it and its peculiar diffi-
culties. According to all accounts he was a man
of livel}' imagination, apt to vary between the
two extremes of enthusiasm and despondency.
He is described as an affable, agreeable person, a
good talker, with strong literary tastes, and, even
when a general, he had competed for poetical
prizes. His writings are full of fine rhetoric,
but his military despatches were wanting in
force and decision. Whatever his faults were,
he e.xpiated them to the full. On his return to
France he, with the other generals concerned in
the capitulation, were arraigned before a special
commission and treated with the utmost rigour.
Dupont himself was sentenced to be degraded
from his rank ; he was to give up all his medals
and decorations, to forfeit the rank of count and
all money grants made him, and to be imprisoned
indefinitely. He lingered on in a state prison
until the fall of Napcileon in 1814, when the
Bdurbons, on return to power, released him, and
he was at once made Minister of War. A special
royal ordinance restored him to his rank and
honours, and he occupied a (irominent military
position until his death in 1838.
It only remains to be said that this capitulation,
" shameful in itself, was shamefully broken.''
The French prisoners, on their march down to
Cadiz, where, according to the treaty, thej- were
to be embarked and sent home to France, were
treated barbarously by their Spani-sh captors.
Many were murdered in cold blood : eighty officers
were massacred at Lebrija, but not before they
had kept their cowardly assailants at bay sword
in hand, to be shot down treacherously from
houses around. All who survived to reach Cadiz
were there cast into the convict hulks and sub-
jected to horrible ill-treatment. The wretched
remnant were afterwards transported to the
desert island of Cabrera, where " they perished
by lingering torments in such numbers that few
remained alive at the termination of the war."
Baylen is a dark spot in history, disgraceful
to both sides engaged. Yet from it started the
career of one of England's greatest generals, and
it was the first serious blow that assailed the
fabric of Napoleonic power.
i»"i-'«r "1 •?"?-».,
. , Dufont iRj>rt(ojiiir unAndslui. .
A SPANISH CARICATURE ON 1 HE CAI'Il UUATION OK DUPONT.
SlD
THE New Year's day of 1871 was a dark
one for France. Two whole armies
were captives in Germany. The Prussian
flag flew over Metz and Strasburg.
Paris was besieged — held fast in a ring of iron
through which it had proved impossible, so
far, to break a way. The armies of the pro-
vinces, Faidherbe's in the north and Chanzy's
on the Loire, for all their gallant efforts
had suffered repeated defeats. Faidherhe
had lost Amiens ; Chanzy had been forced to
abandon Orleans. And yet amid all this dark-
ness there was just one gleam of hope ; and,
while most of the defenders of France fought
only with the courage of despair, there were
among her chiefs some who thought that even
at the eleventh hour the tide of conquest might
be turned back. Fired with this hope, they
played a bold game, and nearly won. For a
brief moment in the midst of defeat they had
the joy of victory.
After the surrender of Strasburg the 14th
German corps, under the command of General
von Werder, which had captured the place, was
ordered to complete the conquest of Alsace — on
the one hand keeping in check the corps of
frauc-tircitrs and volunteers, which, if they were
allowed to make any progress in the Vosges,
might endanger the communications of the
main army with Germany ; and, on the other,
reducing one by one the minor fortresses of the
east of France. A division of Baden troops,
provided with a siege-train, was brought across
the Rhine ; and Werder, having secured Stras-
burg by the end of September, pushed forward
by Epinal towards Dijon, while, protected by
this movement, the Badeners had by the end of
October reduced the little fortresses of Neuf-
Brisach on the Rhine and Schlestadt on the 111.
During November Werder held Dijon, fighting
a number of minor actions with the new French
levies under Garibaldi and Cremer ; whilst the
Badeners, reinforced from his army, began the
siege of Belfort, the one place in Alsace over
which the tricolour still flew.
Between the southern end of the main range
of the Vosges and the first outlying ridges of
the Jura there is a gap some miles wide, where
the mountains sink down into low hills. Through
the central valley of these hills the canal that
joins the Rhine and Rhone makes its way. The
gap is known to French geographers as the
troitcc dc Belfort, taking its name ft-om the
fortress on its northern side, which closes it
against an invader coming from the direction of
the Rhine. Belfort has been a place of strength
ever since it was acquired by France under
Louis XIV. and fortified by Vauban. Perched
on a spur of the Vosges, with its citadel sur-
rounded by a triple girdle of works, it was prac--
tically impregnable in the days of the old short-
range artiller}'. If attacked with modern guns,
it could be brought under fire from several
of the adjacent hilltops. Under the Second
Empire some of these were crowned with out-
lying forts, but the system of defence was still
very incomplete when the war of 1870 began.
Colonel Denfert-Rochereau, a man of great re-
source and determination and a skilful engineer,
was put in command of the place after the 4th
of September by Gambetta, and he at once pro-
ceeded to fortify with earthwork redoubts a
circle of positions round the town ; working with
such a will that, while on September 4th the
circuit of the outworks was five miles, on Novem-
ber 3rd, when the Germans closed in upon the
northern works, they had to occupy a line of
investment nearly twelve miles long. With a
garrison of 17,000 men, chiefly mobiles, national
guards, and volunteers, Denfert-Rochereau dog-
gedly defended every inch of ground ; and it was
not till November 2;th that the Germans w-ere
villp:rsexel.
able to complete even the investment of the
place. Till the end of the year they were still
battering at his outworks, and the citadel and
the town were untouched.
After the second battle of Orleans, on Decem-
ber 4th, the left of the Loire army under Chanzy
had retired towards Vendome along the right
bank of the river, pursued by the Germans
under Prince Frederick Charles. The right,
composed of the 15th, i8th, and 20th cnrps-
d\irmci\ had retreated by the left bank, then
to the southward and eastward by Gien to-^the
neighbourhood of Bourges, where General Bour-
baki rallied and reorganised it. Ill-fed, incom-
pletely equipped and badly uniformed, the
troops had suffered terribly in the retreat to
Bourges, but a few days' rest did wonders for
them, and by the middle of December the army
was again ready to take the field. Gambetta
himself had come to Bourges to encourage the
troops and co-operate with Bourbaki ; and on
the 19th the army began to move northward
towards Paris, its object being to threaten the
communications of Prince Frederick Charles
with Versailles and so force him to slacken his
pursuit of Chanzy.
On this same day M. de Serres, a young en-
gineer, who had often acted as Gambetta's
adviser, arrived at Bourges with a new plan
which the Government at Bordeaux had already
approved — a plan for sending Bourbaki's army
to the east of France, where it was to raise the
siege of Belfort, and, uniting with Garibaldi and
Cremer's troops and the corps which was being
formed by General de BressoUes at Lyons, it was
to strike northwards at the German communica-
tions or make a raid across the Rhine into
southern Germany. It was hoped that Bour-
baki's forces could be rapidly conveyed by
railway to the east ; that Werder could be over-
whelmed before he even realised that he had
any serious force in his front ; and that Belfort
and Langres and the south of France could be
made the basis for a new campaign, the first
effect of which would be to force the Germans
to stop their advance on the Loire and think
more of guarding the communications by which
they were supplied from Germany than of hunt-
ing down Chanzy or reducing Paris.
At first sight the plan looked a wild one, but
it was sound, and it very nearly succeeded. It
is difficult for most people to realise what are
the ciinditions under which an army of some
Soo,ooo men maintains itself in a hostile country
in the depth of winter, carrying on at the same
time the siege of a great capital like Paris. It
is true that some supplies could be obtained in
France itself by purchase and requisition, but
by December the resources of the districts oc-
cupied were nearly exhausted. The army before
Paris, the armies that faced Faidherbe in the
north and Chanzy in the west, had to be sup-
plied in great part with the ordinary necessaries
of life from Germany itself. Ammunition for
the Paris siege-guns, renewed supplies for the
armies in the field, all this came by the lines of
railway that stretched across eastern France
through Champagne and Lorraine, guarded
partly by detachments on the lines themselves
and in the towns through which they passed,
but chiefly protected by Werder's army prevent-
ing any stroke from the southward and Man-
teuffel holding back the levies of the north.
Werder had at most 43,000 men at his disposal.
He had had some difficulty in holding on at
Dijon and at the same time maintaining before
Belfort a sufficient force to press the siege. If
80,000 or 100,000 men, even of inferior quality to
his own, could be suddenly thrown against him,
he must go, and then the main German army-
would have to take swift and effectual means to
stay the French advance in the east. Otherwise
it would be cut off from Germany and starved.
But the crisis in the east would coincide with
renewed sorties from Paris, a renewed advance
on the Loire and in the north ; and it might
well be that, under such pressure, the siege of
Paris would be raised if only for the brief period
necessary to refill its magazine, bring out a large
number of the civil inhabitants, reinforce the
provincial armies with some of Trochu's best
troops, and so change the whole face of the
situation.
As in the earlier project for raising the siege
of Metz by the march of MacMahon's army to
Montmedy, everything depended on rapid move-
ment. Otherwise this bold stroke for the de-
liverance of Belfort and of France would end in
another disaster like that of the previous enter-
prise. But in the first few hours there was
certainly no loss of time. When de Serres
submitted his plan to Gambetta, the dictator
hesitated to approve it. The movement north-
wards towards Paris had begun that morning ;
he based great hopes on it, and this stroke at
the German communications seemed too daring.
He told de Serres he would leave the decision
to Bourbaki himself, and the engineer hurried
off to Baugy, north of Bourges, where he tound
Bourbaki had established his b-'adquarters in
224
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
one of the houses of the village. By candle-
light in the little room the engineer and the
general bent over the map of the east of France,
and discussed the plan. The conference was a
brief one. Bourbaki thought the bold game
could be successfully played, and gave de Serres
a note in which he informed Gambetta that, as
soon as he received an authorisation cancelling
previous orders, he would put his army in move-
ment for the east of France. The order came
back by telegraph, and next morning the troops
were being moved to the points where the}-
were to entrain, and the
were collecting engines and
mission to Chislehurst, and, when he was refused
permission to re-enter the fortress, he at once
offered his sword to Gambetta, not that he was
southern railways
rollincr stock about
Bourges.
Gambetta expected great things of Bourbaki.
He was one of the most popular soldiers of the
Second Empire. He had a record of service ex-
tending over thirty-four years. He had fought in
Africa, the Crimea, and Italy — everywhere with
distinction. Englishmen should remember his
name as that of the brigadier who brought up
the two first French battalions to the help of
our hard-pressed soldiers on the terrible morning
of Inkerman. At the outbreak of the war
GENERAL VOX WERDER.
with Germany he was in command of the Im-
perial Guard. He had been brought out of
Metz before the end of the siege on a mysterious
GENERAL BOURBAKL
a Republican, but because all dynastic and part}'
feelings disappeared in the general interest of
the defence of France against the invader. But
unfortunately, Bourbaki during this his last
campaign seems to have been a different man
from the fiery soldier of Algeria and the Crimea.
On the battlefield, when he heard the cannon
again, he showed something of his old vigour ;
but on the march and at the council-board he
hesitated, changed his plans, and seemed to
labour under a depressing feeling that as an old
general of the Empire he could not rely upon
those who now followed him to stand by him
after a single check. " If it rains or snows too
much," he wrote to a friend, " they will say it is
my fault, and that I have betrayed them."
Though everything depended on speed, the
railwa}- transport of the troops to the eastern
departments was terribly slow. All was con-
fusion. Trains were blocked for hours on the
line, while the men, huddled together in the
carriages, shivered with cold, for the ground was
deep with snow and all the streams were frozen.
Only a single line was available for the greater
part of the way from Bourges to Chalons-sur-
Saone. The 24th corps from Lyons reached
the same point by another line. It had ori-
ginally been intended to move only two corps —
the 1 8th (General Billot) and the 20th (General
VILLERSEXEL.
225
ClinchaiU) irom Bourgcs, leaving ihe 15th to
hold ill check the Prussian corps of observation
under Zastrow, which had moved southwards
from Versailles. But Bourbaki, though the re-
sources of transport were already taxed to the
utmost, insisted on the 15th being also placed
at his disposal, and after some hesitation the
Government granted his request. At last, in
the first week of January, the four corps were
concentrated between Besangon and Chalons-sur-
result was some skirmishing between the German
scouting parties and Bourbaki's advanced troops.
Three days later the German headquarters staff
at Versailles telegraphed to Werder irders anil
information which showed that Moltke con-
sidered that a very serious danger was threaten
ing the Germans in Eastern France. Werder
was informed that he would be largely reinforced
from the north, and that Manteuffel would pre-
sently take over the eastern command. Mean-
i
" THE GERMANS TOOK THE DEFENDERS OF THE B.\RR1CADE ].N REVERSE " (/>. 22^).
Saone — a movement which ought to have been
completed before New Year's Dav.
Werder had already found out that a con-
siderable force was being accumulated in his
front, and on December 26th he abandoned his
advanced position at Dijon. One of the German
regiments marched out of the town carrying its
gaily-decorated Christmas tree on a cart, and as
they passed along the street the soldiers threw
some of the bonbons to the children. In order
to be ready to oppose any attempt to relieve
Beifort, Werder concentrated his forces between
Vesoul and Villersexel in the valley of the
Ognon. On January 4th he received orders to
push reconnaissances to the southward, and the
63
while he was at any cost to keep Beifort
blockaded ; use the most severe measures of
repression in case the population of the oc-
cupied departments attempted an insurrection ;
fall back before Bourbaki if he could not hold
his ground, but even so take care not to lose
touch of him. At the same time he was directed
to be ready to block the southern passes of the
Vosges, and to prepare to destroy the Basle and
Mulhouse railway-, so as to make a French cotip-
dc-main on the upper Rhine more difficult.
A hundred thousand Frenchmen were gathering
round Besan^on, and Werder was outnumbered
nearly three to one.
Bourbaki had been hesitating as to whether
226
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,
he should march direct on Vesoul in order to
strike at the tield-army under Werder, or move
immediately to the relief of Belforl. On this
same 7th of January he decided on the latter
course. On the 8th he concentrated three of
his corps about Montbozon in the Ognon valley
— Billot on the left, Clinchant in the centre.
Bressolles on the right. Two battalions and a
squadron of cavalry were pushed forward to the
little town of Villersexel, where there was a
bridge across the river and an important junc-
tion of roads. The main body of the French
was about eight miles south-west of the town.
Eight miles north-west of the same point
Werder had concentrated his armv about Noroy-
le-Bourg, intending next day to fall on the flank
of the French, trusting to the superior quality
of his troops to more than compensate for
inferior numbers.
Early on the morning o*" the qth the two
armies were thus converging on Villersexel,
which was held b}- the French advanced guard.
The first division of Billot's corps (nine battalions
and fourteen guns) was moving up the right bank
of the Ognon, and had reached the village of
Esprels at nine in the morning, when the cavalrj'
scouts brought in news that the Germans were
about a mile in front near the village of Marast.
This was Von der Goltz's infantry division,
forming Werder's right. Within half an hour
the two divisions were in contact, and all day
long the fight continued among the snowy
woods between Marast and Esprels. The
French, mostly young troops, stood their ground
well, and resisted every effort of the Germans
to break through or turn them. Once only,
towards one o'clock, there was a temporar\'
panic in the Bois des Brosses, which was held
by chasseurs and franc-tirciirs. The 34th
Pomeranian infantry- fought their way into the
wood, and had captured half of it when they
were driven out by a counter attack made b\-
fresh troops, a brigade of linesmen and mobiles
which was gallantly led to the charge b}- its
brigadier. General Robert. On this part of the
field the fighting ended with the short winter
dav, soon after four o'clock.
But in Villersexel itself and on the other side
of the river the fight was a much more serious
affair. In iS-q the town numbered about 1,500
inhabitants. It is built on the slope of a hill on
the left bank of the Ognon. The main street
runs from the Place Neuve (at the point where
the Belfort road enters the town) to the stone
bridge which crosses the river. Close to the
bridge several side streets run into the main
street. On the west side of the town stood the
splendid chateau of Grammont — a three-storied
building, with two wings, ending in high-roofed
pavilions. Beyond the chateau extended a
wooded park, and at the western end of the
park a large island divided the Ognon, and bcth
branches were crossed by foot-bridges, that
nearest the park being a small suspension bridge
On the evening of the 8th the town had been
occupied by two battalions of the 20th corps
(Clinchant), one being a battalion of Corsican
mobiles and the other a battalion of mobiles of
the Vosges. General Se'gard commanded this
advanced guard. He barricaded the stone bridge,
loopholed the houses along the river, and put a
company of the Corsicans into the chateau ; but
by a strange oversight he took no precautions to
guard the foot-bridge at the end of the park.
At nine on the morning of the qth the
sound of cannon was heard away to the left on
the north bank of the river. It was the begin-
ning of Von der Goltz's attack on Billot's first
division. This put the little garrison of Viller-
sexel on the alert, and soon they saw the head
of a column issuing from the wood of Le Grand
Fougeret, opposite the town. They opened fire
from the houses and the barricade, and the
Germans threw forward a line of skirmishers,
while two batteries took up a position on the
high ground beyond the wood, and began to
throw shells into the streets and the park.
Higher up the German engineers had bridged
the river near Aillevans, and a division wa:
crossing there, with orders to move down to the
eastward of the town and stop the advance of
the main body of the 20th corps, which wac
coming up in that direction. The Germans re-
peatedly advanced towards the long bridge as if
they meant to rush it, but each time they fell
back under the heavy fire from the houses.
Along the banks of the river the rival firing
lines exchanged volley's at close range. Twelve
o'clock came, and the Germans had made no
progress. But about this time a heutenant, with
half a compan)- of the 25th Fusilier regiment
working along the river bank, reached the
hamlet of La Forge, and, to his surprise and
delight, found an unguarded foot-bridge leading
across to the big island in the Ognon. Cau-
tiously reconnoitring the island, he came on the
suspension bridge, giving free access to the park.
He could hardlv believe his good luck. Sending
back word to his captain of what he had dis
covered, he hastened to secure a footing among
VILLERSEXEL.
227
ihe trees of the park. The rest of the company,
and after it the greater part of the battahon,
stole across the bridge into the trees, and then
ihe word was given to advance. The chateau
was taken with a rush. Surprised by an attack
from a quarter which they thought quite secure,
some of tile Corsicans were bayoneted, about a
hundred were taken prisoners, the rest fled into
the town. Pressing down through the streets,
the Germans took the defenders of the barricade
in reverse, and the bridge was
captured. By one o'clock the
(lermans held the town. To
the eastward the heads of their
columns hud reached \'illers-la-
Ville and the woods towards
iMagny.
Between one and two o'clock
there was a lull in the fight
on the south side of the
Ognon. Then Bourbaki and
Clinchant, the commander of
the 20th corps, rode up by
]\lagnv and directed a general
attack upon the positions held
by the Germans. Two divi-
sions moved against their left,
while a third pushed forward
to attempt the recapture of
Villersexel. Further down the
river, at Pont-sur-Ognon, a
division of the i8th corps
crossed to the south side of
the stream to support its com-
rades of the 20th in their
attack on Villerse.\el. It was
commanded by Admiral Pen-
hoat, a brave Breton sailor,
who that day showed himself
a good general. Between
three and four o'clock \'illers-
la-\'ille was captured. It was a strong position :
the village, with a wood close beside it, stands
at the crest of a long, gentle slope — a natural
glacis, like that which made the attack of St.
Privat so terrible for the Prussian Guard on
August 18th. Now, covered as it was with deep
snow, this long slope gave the garrison of the
village a splendid field of fire. Nevertheless,
Logerot's brigade of two battalions of the
mobiles of the Jura moved steadily to the at-
tack, a battalion deployed on each side of the
road, the general on horseback between them,
quietly signalling, now to one, now to the other,
with his kept, escaping the balls that whistled
round him as it by a miracle. But, bravely as it
was made, this front attack would probably have
failed if it had not been combined with a turn-
ing movement against the left of the village by
Polignac's brigade. Under this double attack
the Germans gave way.
But they had a further reason for not making
a prolonged or desperate defence of this part of
the position. Werder was now aware that he
had in his front on the south side of the river
iFrtne\ htadqK
Ihe day iftfor*
Uontbozo;
COUNTHT ROinSTD
' VILLERSEXEL.
Enpiish Mik-s
_i 5 t-
the three divisions of Clinchant's corps and one
of Billot's. True, all these troops were not
actually engaged, but they could come into
action very soon. Further east, the 24th corps,
under de Bressolles, was marching by the villages
of Grammont, Georfans, and Villechevreu.x^a
movement which outflanked the whole German
position. Bressolles, with a woeful lack of in-
itiative, was marching quietly to the points
assigned to him in the general order for the
advance of the armv on the qth. He could hear
the cannon thundering away to his left, but only
four companies of one of his battalions marched
towards the fight and took some part in it. Had
228
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
de Bressolles pushed boldly in behind Werder's
left, the battle might have been, not a defeat,
but a disaster for the Germans. Werder, used
as he was to the German habit of each corps
commander moving at once to the help of a
comrade who was actually engaged in a battle,
evidently expected some such movement on his
left ; and, seeing that the French were making
a good fight of it, and that there were nowhere
signs of that collapse of the new levies on which
in Africa and in Italy, was well up to the front.
When the mobiles of the Pyrenees and the
\'osges began to fall back under the heavy fire
that met them as they advanced against the
park, Bourbaki pushed through them, and, sword
in hand, placed himself at their head. " A mot,
Vinfaiitcric !'^ he called out. "Stand by me.
Have French soldiers forgotten how to charge?"
And they rallied and dashed forward with the
shout of " Vive la France I Vive la Republiqtic ! "
BE LFORT.
he had counted, he sent an order between three
and four o'clock to withdraw all the troops to
the north bank of the river, e.xcept those actually
holding Villerse-xel. His guns retired partly by
the stone bridge in the town, but mostly by
the temporarv bridges at Aillevans.
Then the French attack came rolling on to
the boundary walls of the park and the outlying
houses of the town. A little after four the sun
had set, and the attack on Villerse.xel began
amid the gathering twilight of the winter even-
ing. But the sky was clear, the stars began to
come out, and the moon, near the full, shining
on the snow gave light enough to continue the
struggle. Bourbaki, flushed with something of
the old eagerness which had made him famous
One of Clinchant's divisions was attacking
the town. Admiral Penhoat's battalions won
on their way with the bayonet into the park
and attacked the chateau. The Germans set it
on fire as the}- gave way. But the victors
arrived in time to e.xtinguish the flames and
to rescue the French prisoners made earlier in
the day.
It was after si.x o'clock, but the fight w.is not
over yet. On the north bank the cannon were'
silent, but in the town, at the end of ever}- _
street. Frenchmen and Germans were firing into •
each other at close quarters, or fighting hand-to-
hand with the bayonet. Several houses were
on fire, and the struggle was becoming a fierce
one, in which there was very little thought of -
2^0
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
quarter. At one point, as the French pushed
into the courtyard of a house held by the
Germans, an olTicer appeared at one of the
windows, and, raising his hand, said something.
All that the French heard was the word '' pri-
sonnicr " ; but they concluded, perhaps incor-
rectly, that he was asking to be allowed to
surrender with his garrison. The French captain
ordered the " Cease fire," and entered the court-
yard. The ne.xt moment he and several of his
men fell under a volley from the windows. The
whole may have been one of those unfortunate
mistakes which occur in all wars. But the
Frenchmen thought it was a piece of murderous
treachery. Faggots soaked with tar were brought
up, under a heavy fire ; they were piled up
against the door and walls of the house and
ignited, and not a man of the German garrison
came out of the house alive. It was Bazeilles
on a smaller scale.
Nine German battalions held the town —
Landwehr men from the eastern provinces,
Poles, and Pomeranians — determined men,
mostly about thirty years of age, coming of good
fighting races, and veterans of the war of 1866.
Outnumbered as they were, they made a dogged
resistance. Towards seven o'clock four Land-
wehr battalions tried to retake the chateau.
Thev actually got possession of the lower floor,
but the French held out in the basement cellars
and in the upper stories. There was a hard
fight in corridors and on staircases — here with
crossed bayonets, there with the rifle, firing
through holes cut in floors and ceilings. The
chateau at last took fire, and both parties had to
abandon it. Colonel von Krane, who led the
attack, narrowly escaped being cut off and
burned to death. By the light of the blazing
building the Germans were driven back into the
streets of the town. At ten they broke into the
park again, only to be once more repulsed.
Gradually the fight became confined to the
streets near the bridge, where both sides fought
behind barricades rapidly improvised, by the
French to secure the ground they had won, by
the Germans to maintain themselves in the
streets and the little square near the bridge end.
For three hours, from ten till after one, this
(i.'sperate street-fight went on by the light of
blazing houses. In narrow lanes, in courtyards,
inside the houses, men fought hand-to-hand.
It was one of the hottest fights in the whole
war. Strangely enough, both sides seemed to
think only of pushing new forces directly into
the narrow space where the battle was raging —
the Germans by the stone bridge from the
north bank, the French by the streets leading
to the park. Neither party tried to push rounci
beyond the town and enter it from other points ;
and outside the streets the troops not actually
engaged listened to the din that rose from the
little town, and watched the flames that shot
up from the blazing chateau and the burninr;
houses — flames in which many of the woundetl
were destroyed. One of the horrors of the fight
was the smell of burning flesh in the crowded
lanes.
It was between one and two in the mornin;;
of the loth when the Germans at last let g"
their hold of the town and retired across th ■
stone bridge. General Billot watched the fight
from the ground he had held all day on the
north side. The Marquis de Grammont stood
beside him, in the light of the flames that still
rose from the ruins of his home on the other
side of the river. He offered the general to
guide through the darkness a column which
could fall on the rear of the Germans and cut
off their retreat, but his proposal was rejected.
It was felt at the moment that enough had been
done. A victory had been won, and there was
no disposition to run further risks in the hope
of still greater results.
When the chateau was recaptured by tht
French about seven o'clock, M. de Serres, Gam-
betta's delegate, rode back to the point near
Rougemont (more than five miles from \'iller-
sexel), to which the field-telegraph had been
brought up, and thence, a little before 8 p.m.,
he telegraphed to the Government at Bordeau.x :
•' The battle ended at seven p.m. The night
prevents us from estimating the importance of
our victory. The general commanding-in-chief
bivouacs in the centre of the battlefield, and
the army has occupied all the positions assigned
to it in the general orders for the march issued
yesterday. Vill«rse.xel, the key of the position,
was stormed to the cry of ' Vive la Fitince .'
Vive la Repiibliquc .' ' "
The Government telegraphed its congratu-
lations to Bourbaki. He received them whilt»
the night battle was still going on. De Serres,
in his eagerness to send the good news, had said
that the battle ended at seven. It continued
for something more than si.x hours after that.
The Prussian staff made a more serious mis-
take in its report. It declared that Werder had
held his own "against the 18th and 20th corps
and part of the C4th." But neither the J 8th
nor the 20th brought all its troops into action
VILLERSEXEL.
231
(though doubtless their being near the field
influtiKcd the result) ; and as for the " part of
Uie 24th," it amounted to only four companies.
It is not easy to say how many troops were
actually engaged in the fight from first to last.
Probably Werder had about 20,000 men in
and near Villersexel, on both sides of the river,
of which about 12,000 were seriously engaged.
Bourbaki had about 50,000 in the i8th and
20th corps, and 20,000 more in the 2.^th on his
extreme right. But of these 20,000 not 300
were engaged, and of the 50,000 about half must
have been in action at one time or another. In
the fighting in the town and the park after
sundown there were about 7,000 or 8,000
Germans against 9,000 French. Everywhere —
except, perhaps, in Billot's fight against Von der
Golz, where the opposing forces were about
even — the advantage of numbers was on the side
of the French ; but they were mostly new levies,
and they had to expel a veteran enemy from a
very strong position. The mobiles and volun-
;:eers who fought their way through the streets
of Villersexel were brave soldiers, and Bourbaki
might well build high hopes upon this first
battle in his campaign for the relief of Belfort.
Considering how much street-fighting there
was in the evening and night, the losses were
not heavy. The Germans admitted a loss of
over six hundred men, the Frencn about seven
hundred. The Germans carried away some
hundreds of French prisoners with them. Of
the townspeople of Villersexel only one is known
to have taken part in the fight, and he was a
Polish refugee, Felix Romanowski, who had set-
tled at Villersexel after fighting in the Polish
insurrection of 1863. He shouldered a rifle on
the morning of the 9th, and was unwounded at
the end of the day. It is not unlikely that part
of the time he was firing at his own fellow-
countrymen of the Polish provinces of Prussia.
To win a battle is one thing ; to reap the
full fruits of victory is another. Time was
all-im|fortant to Bourbaki if his enterprise was
to have any chance of success. Yet, instead of
pressing Werder with all his available forces
next day, and driving him northwards away
from the roads leading to Belfort, he lost
precious hours and days in hesitation, only to
find, when at last he resumed his advance, that
the Germans, largely reinforced, were ready once
more to throw themselves across his path. The
victory of Villersexel was almost the last flicker
of hope for France. Hericourt, Montbeliard, and
Pontarlier witnessed the collapse of the daring
plan, the e.xecution of which had been so wel'
begun in the hard fighting through the short
winter day and the long night at Villersexel.
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{PluW, Carjat, Paris.)
232
MM
^
^F CANADIANS INf^THE FIELD
THREE FEATURES OF,ji:THE WR
BY "ANOUS
^
MANY deeds of daring done duri;ig the
War of 1812 are remembered in the
history of North America. Indeed,
the bitter struggle between the
Americans and Canadians was rich in brilHant
exploits, either side having to its credit a
number of memorable events. The needless
conflict, which began about nothing and ended
in nothing, caused a great deal of bitterness to
be harboured at the time in the hearts of both
parties to the quarrel. But, fortunately, that
bitterness has quite died away ; and, although
the two halves of the great continent occa-
sionally do look a little black the one at the
other, the difference is merely a familj^ one, with
small chance, indeed, of growing into anything
more serious than a scowl.
The War of 1812 furnishes a rich field for the
student of independent and disconnected fight-
ing. It was more or less a guerilla war from
start to finish. Small bands of soldiers did
wonders. Battles were fought with such de-
termination and bitterness that the killed and
wounded were desperately out of proportion to
the number of soldiers engaged. The troops of
both sides were born riflemen, never wasting a
shot and always shooting to kill. Many engage-
ments took place in the woods, and the Indians,
who served on the Canadian side, were as ever
ruthless and cruel. There can be no gainsaying
that America had good ground to complain of
the red man's doings. On the other hand, the
Canadians found themselves obliged to defend
their homes against powerful armies of invasion.
No help could be looked for from across the
Atlantic, for the United Kingdom had to grapple
with the greatest danger she ever encountered
in all her history. During the years the War of
1812 was dragging its course, Britain got ready
to meet Napoleon, met him, and fought the
battle of Waterloo. Canada, meagrely popu-
lated, was thrown on her own resources. Against
her she had a great Union, practically unlimited
as to territorj', money, and men. She therefore
had to use every card in her hand, and one of
the strongest cards was the Indian. Under
Tecumseh and the younger Brant the red man
fought with all his wonted cunning.
This article deals with the exploits of Laura
Secord, the Glengarries, and the great Shawnee
chief Tecumseh. That these feats were all per-
formed for the Canadians is in no way implying
that the records of the United States army
are barren in daring deeds successfulh' carried
through. On most occasions the Americans
fought with dash, and their greatest successes
were made when matters looked blackest for
them.
Laura Secord's name is revered by the Cana-
dians in much the same way as is that of Grace
Darling in England, or, still better illustration,
for each was concerned in war, Jeanne d'Arc in
the land of " dame and dance.'' Of her deed
the verse-writers of Canada, and they are man}^
have, one may say without exception, spun their
rhymes ; and no historv of the wonderful north-
land would be acceptable to the Canadians did
it fail to mention her name and chronicle her
heroism. Tales have been told, dramas woven,
songs sung to her honour ; and as time goes on,
her memorv is surelv destined to be kept green by
the warm-hearted people of the great Dominion.
For with heroic determination she pressed
stoutly on through dark woods and across
swollen streams to save the little army of
Canadians from surprise and annihilation.
Mrs. Laura Secord was a daughter of Thomas
Ingersoll, a L"'^nited Empire Loyalist who re-
moved from the United States to Canada after
the war for independence and founded Ingersoll,
now a flourishing town of some five thousand
inhabitants. Laura married Mr. James Secord,
CANADIANS IN THE FIELD.
233
and at the outbreak of the War of 1812 the two
were Hving in Oueenslon on l!ie banks of the
Niaj^ara river. When news came to the Cana-
dians that an arnij- for invasion was being
formed on the opposite bank, James Secord, like
most Canadians able to bear arms, vohniteered
for the defence of his country. He ranked as
captain when the first decisive battle, Oueenslon
Heights, was fought. That he bore himself
gallajith- and fouglit with all his might there
can be no disputing, for towards the end of the
awful day his wife Laura, as she picked her way
among the wounded and dead — while the war-
whoQps of the frenzied red men still rang from
the cliffs where the invaders were clinging to
came into her possession, her husband was still a
cripple, and she herself determined to risk all
and make the long journey alone.
The battle of Oueenston Heights — a decisive
Canadian victory — cleared the Americans out of
Canada, but in the spring of 18 13 they obtained
possession of a strip of territory along the
Niagara river. Oueenston and, of course, the
Secord's home lay inside the territory occupied
by the Americans, and James Secord and his
faithful wife were cut off from all conniiunicalion
with the Canadian army. General Dearborn,
leader of the American army, had secured a
firm footing on Canadian soil. Once safely
across the frontier, he attempted to drive his
5.
"a band of INDIANS POUNCED UPON HER" (/. 235).
.the face of the rock, with above the savages and
below the swirling river— she came upon her
husband lying among the dead as one deaij.
The wife gathered the wounded volunteer into
her arms, and made her way with as great speed
as the burden would allow to their house.
There she found that, although he had received
two desperate wounds, he still breathed. All
that winter she nursed and tended him, and
when in June the secret of the invading army
army like a wedge into the interior of the
country, but the Canadians fought fiercely. For
them everything was at stake. Indeed, this war
was carried on more like a war of extermination
than a fair fight such as one would expect be-
tween two peoples speaking the same tongue.
Devastation and rapine ever3-where, neither side
having a monopoly of the blame ; villages, home-
steads, crops were all g ven over to the flames,
and the capital of each country was in turn
■^34
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
burnt. It was a cruel, heartless, revengeful
war.
In his attempt to penetrate the countn,-, Dear-
born met for a time with success ; but at length
the Canadians managed to check him at two or
three points, and forced him to retire to the
Niagara again. This caused much dissatisfaction
in the United States, for Dearborn's army was
considered quite large enough for the enterprise,
and the general found himself likely to be
superseded in command should he not without
loss of time pick up the evacuated territory and
continue to advance instead of to retreat. Not
only the people of the United States, but the
soldiers themselves considered that there had
been no cause for such a right -about-face, and
were eager to get away from the river, on whose
banks the}- seemed destined to linger. Retreat-
ing, the Americans were, to be sure, pressed
closel}- bv the Canadians, who, although scarcely
strong enough to attack, hastened to take pos-
session of all the strategical points in the countr)-
evacuated by General Dearborn. In doing this
a body of the Canadians, commanded by Fitz-
Gibbon, a light-hearted Irishman who played an
energetic and not altogether unhumorous part
in the war, entrenched themselves at De Cou's
house, a spot commanding a number of high-
ways leading into the interior of Canada. Until
FitzGibbon and his men were driven from their
stronghold. Dearborn could not move. Once
De Cou's house was stormed and burnt, a high-
way into the heart of Canada would be thrown
open before the invaders. Dearborn planned to
surprise FitzGibbon. For this purpose Colonel
Boerstler was given command of 600 men, in-
cluding fifty cavalry and two field-guns, and with
the utmost secrecy, as he thought at the time,
marched off through the bush for De Cou's.
As a reward for the valiant part he had plaj'ed
at the battle of Oueenston Heights, James Secord
had been granted bv the Canadian Government
a small tract of land, which lay some distance
outside of the village of Oueenston. On the
farm he and his wife lived, himself crippled and
sorely distressed ; and to their house, on the
evening of the 22nd of June, 1813, came two
American officers, who demanded food. While
awaiting for or partaking of this, they fell to
discussing the situation and Dearborn's plans,
and, most imprudently as it turned out, carried
on their conversation in a tone of voice loud
enough for Mrs. Secord, who was waiting on
them at table, to overhear everything thcv said.
Soldier's wife that she was, and patriotic Canadian
as well, she quickly guessed that some de-
cisive move against her country's troops was
meditated, and she paid careful but cautious
attention to everxthing that passed between her
two unbidden guests. When they had fini.shed
their meal and departed, Laura Secord repeated
to her husband all that she had heard, and he
agreed with her that an attempt to surprise the
Canadians would certainly be made. If the
surprise succeeded, the whole of western Canada
must fall. That night the husband and wife
discussed the pros and cons of the situation, and,
the husband being unable to leave the house,
the wife decided to make an attempt to steal
through the American lines, and thread, by a
circuitous route, twenty miles of bush to warn
FitzGibbon of his great danger.
Laura Secord arose at dawn. She had planned
every step of her journey and arranged the
strateg}' by which she hoped to pass the vigilant
pickets, whom the American general had thrown
out at the skirt of the wooas to prevent the
accomplishment of just such enterprises as she
had undertaken. Dressing herself onh" in a
jacket and short flannel skirt and without shoes
or stockings, she took her milking pail in one
hand, her three-legged milking stool in the
other, and set out to where her cow was lying,
not yet having arisen from her night's sleep. As
soon as she quitted the house, she beheld the
pickets at their stations all alert with the vigil-
ance of a coming crisis. She had not gone a
rod from her house before the soldiers detected
her. and. although they would know that, on a
farm, woman's first duty is to milk the cow
(it takes precedence over ever3-thing, the object
being to allow the beast to eat her fill before
the scorching heat of da}- and the swarms
of flies drive her to take shelter under a tree),
they still kept strict watch over her actions.
But to all outward appearances the good
woman's only ambition was to get the milking
over as soon as possible, for she walked straight
to the cow and, causing her to arise, set down
pail and stool, and commenced to milk. The
beast had always been a quiet one, but this
morning something was wrong. The soldiers,
as they looked on, saw the animal kick over the
pail and run a short distance towards the woods
before being brought to a standstill by the en-
treaties of the farmer's wife. Again Mrs. Secord
settled down to milk, and again the cow kicked
over the pail and ran still nearer to the dark
forest. One of the Americans, no doubt himself
born and bred on a rich New England farm
CANADIANS IN THE FIELD.
^?'5
where cows had often kicked and run, sauntered
over and oflered his assistance ; but Mrs. Secord
expressed a determination to master the brute
if she had to follow her about all day. Then
she sat down and once more slily pinched the
astonished animal. In this way, by short and
easy flights, and all under the observation of the
unsuspecting and completely befooled pickets,
the cow and the woman reached the edge of the
wood, passed into the wood, far into the wood,
and finally deep enough into the wood for the
woman's purpose.
iMrs. Secord leaped to her feet. Flinging pail
and stool aside, she darted into the deepest
gloom, and as fast as her bare feet would cany
her, and with nothing but a vague knowledge
of the lay of the land and the way, made off to
warn the Canadians and their faithful allies the
Indians of approach of a foe.
Those who have never traversed a Canadian
wood can have but a poor conception of the
difficulties that are encountered even in a short
w.ilk. Laura Secord's journey was both a long
and an an.vious one. For half her distance she
was in danger of coming upon American scout-
ing parties and pickets (the Americans held the
country for that distance around Oueenston) ;
and, besides this, many creeping animals lay in
her path, animals that a woman with bare feet
does not like to encounter. On her journey
that da\' Laura Secord met with a thousand
harassing impediments.
Underfoot the beech roots raised their gnarled
and knotted backs through the soil ; fallen trees,
their dead branches held up as if, like a drowning
man, in appeal for help, lay at every angle to be
scrambled over as best she could; tangled clumps
of briars and scrubby thorn, interwoven under-
brush and rank grasses, and limbs of standing
trees so low that she found it impossible to pro-
ceed upright. Again and again she was under
the necessity of driving the rattlesnakes from
her path by slashing at them with a goad which
she carried for the purpose. (Those venomous
reptiles were once to be found in great numbers
in the peninsula formed by Lakes Ontario and
Erie and the Niagara River, the scene of the
brave Canadian's exploit, and in the month of
lune are very active.) But without pausing or
paying more than momentary heed to the
promptings to return to her home which must
have on occasions surged upon her, she pressed
on ; the soil, loosened by the long winter's frost,
treacherous under lier feet, the gloomy closeness
of the woods causing the perspiration to run
from her brow ; down into deep gullies she
passed and up their steep sides again, over rocks,
through morasses and cold spring swamps, across
rapid streams on the trunks of fallen trees, keep-
ing an anxious look-out in front of her for sign;,
of friend or foe.
Night falls early in the woods. Dimness in
the clearing is blackness under the interlocked
branches of the forest. Owls began to hoot
from the tree-tops and to flit past her with tlu.
soft rustle of ghosts ; strange sounds awakenet.
on the air : warm, sweet, enervating smells oozed
from the ground where lay the leaves of ages ;
the whip-poor-will cried sharply and clear. The
passage through the woods had been terribly
trying to her, and during the last part of the
journey she made but little progress. Her cloth-
ing was torn, her feet blistered and bleeding,
and her strength all but left her. So it was that
when, with whoop and spring, a band of Indians
pounced upon her, she could not have been
entirely unthankful that at length her long
journey was ended for weal or woe. It hap-
pened that the Indians were allies of the Cana-
dians ; and Laura Secord, woefully bedraggled,
was carried before the commander, FitzGibbon.
He heard her story, and had her carefully at-
tended to, for she was in sore straits.
FitzGibbon and his Indian allies acted with
promptitude and decision, and the result of
Laura Secord's remarkable journey through the
woods was the complete discomfort of the
American army. FitzGibbon captured every
man and officer.
When the Prince of Wales was in Canada he
visited Mrs. Secord, then an old, old ladv ; and a
few days later she received a handsome present
from the "neir to the Throne of England.
THE GLENG.^RRIES AT OGDEXSBURGH.
The storming of the old French fort Presen-
tation at Ogdensburgh must be looked upon as
one of the most curious and daring exploits
of the War of 1812. The business was coolly
planned, and carried out with irresistible dash.
But then, what but valour and dash could be
expected from men who had inherited the very
spirit of self-reliant bravery from the same
sources as they had inherited their sturdy
frames and determined, if fiery, tempers ? High-
landers of the real fighting stock, heirs to the
deeds of a long line of valiant warriors, nianv of
them the direct descendants of those hot-headed
mountain men who poured down from the hills to
be scattered at Culloden, and who, for their failure
236
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
to win or to fall, were transported to the shore
of the then savage continent, North America.
The sons of those who had fought at Cullodeii
again fought a hapless fight against Washington
in. his struggle for freedom, and when the war
for independence ended they left their all in the
United States and journeyed to Canada rather
than live under any flag but the Union }ack.
It was these men and their sons that stormed
Ogdensburgh.
Anticipating the arrival of many United
Empire Loyalists — as those were called who
quitted the United States after the struggle
for independence — the Government of Canada
set aside a large tract of land along the northern
bank of the St. Lawrence. In the county of
Glengarry these Highlanders made their houses,
taking up farms, and by their industry soon
turned that part into the garden spot of Canada.
They beat their swords into ploughshares, and
were as successful civilians as they had been
brave soldiers.
To the settlement thus formed, about 1803
came a very welcome addition. When peace
with France was patched up in the first years
of this century, the authorities in England,
believing that war had run its course for a
time, disbanded a number of splendid regiments.
Among these was a Highland regiment, Roman
Catholics all ; a regiment that had been raised
for Continental service by the individual exer-
tions of a priest, Alexander Macdonnell, of Glen
Urquhart. He was a fighting clergyman, one
of the old sort, who could with equal faith lead
his flock in prayer or into battle. In the
regimental marchings to and fro, Father Mac-
donnell went with his men as chaplain of the
corps with true paternal love in his heart and
true fighting fire there as well. The Treaty of
Amiens signed and orders issued for the dis-
bandment of this regiment. Father Macdonnell
applied to the British Government to be allowed
to take his men to Canada. Not only did he
obtain the desired permission, but he was also
given the means for transportation ; and the
men with their priest at the head marched in
to the highland settlement of Glengarry, no
doubt one and all welcomed to the land of the
maple and beaver. Probably when they settled
down upon the banks of the St. Lawrence to
clear their farms for the plough, they dreamed
that their fighting days were past for ever. If
so, they were unfortunately mistaken.
The war broke out, Oueenston Heights had
been carried and retaken, and the harsh winter
of the northern zone of America came down and
effectively put an end for a time to active
hostilities. But long before this took place— in
fact, at the first serious news from Washington-
Father Macdonnell's fighting blood had stirred
in him and the fiery cross was sent through the
land. The Highlanders lay by their axes,
doimed their tartans, took down their broad-
swords from their places on the ceiling beams,
and repaired to the rendezvous where Colonel
George Macdonnell — " George the Red,"' as he
was called, after the Highland manner of dis-
tinguishing one of a name from another by
some personal peculiarity — was read}- to drill
the men and lead them afterwards. '' George
the Red " was a near relative of the priest's, and
a fighting Highlander through and through.
The men he gathered around him were called
the Glengarry Fencibles, and during the war
proved themselves sore stumbling-blocks to the
ingenious and valiant Americans.
The Glengarries were given a great stretch of
the St. Lawrence to guard, their headquarters
being at Prescott, in Grenville County, Ontario.
After their long schooling against the highly
trained troops of France, it must have been a
curious experience for these men to engage in the
semi-guerilla fighting that took place in the War
of 18 1 2. On the American side of the river and
directly opposite to Prescott is Ogdensburgh, a
thriving place to this da}'. Between the Canadian
and the American towns the St. Lawrence flows,
at this point quite a mile and a quarter in width,
a strait of beautiful waves in summer, but a
mass of grinding ice-floes in early winter
and early spring. In the depth of winter
it presents a curious spectacle : a wind-
swept plain, glittering in the sunlight and
eeriely white under the moon, broken into
rugged furrows and dotted here and there by
air-holes — breathing-places an acre or more in
extent, from which ascend, when the tempera-
ture is very low, clouds of vapour as if from
huge caldrons. The freezing over of the great
rivers of America is a gradual process, the ice
growing out from either bank until one clear
night the ice-floes are jammed, their ragged
edges are joined, their giddy whirlings cease,
and the grinding roar is hushed. As the days
pass the ice becomes so thick that it can bear
any burden that man ever places upon it. Such
was the river in the month of February, 1813.
At Ogdensburgh stood an old French fort,
and in this fort a Captain Forsyth held command
with five hundred American soldiers and a
'MUSKET BALLS BEGAN TO DROP IN THE RANKS, AND MEN LEAPED INTO THE AIR TO FALL FLAT
UPON THE GLITTERING ICE" (/>. 238).
238
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURA.
proportionate number of artiller)-. Early in
February, Forsyth, with a small company at
his back, had crossed the river late one night on
a foraging expedition. This audacious proceed-
ing enraged the " Glengarries." Father Mac-
donnell and " George the Red '' laid their heads
together. The outcome was the order that
Ogdensburgh must be stormed, and stormed
without delay. The leader at once set about
preparing for the action.
His plans were as simple as bold. A stretch
of ice more than a mile wide, offering no shelter
from shot or shell, lay between the Highlanders
and their foe. From the walls of the fort eleven
cannon looked over this ice-plain. But Mac-
donnell cared nothing for the strange footing, and
hoped to reach the cannon before the cannon
would have time to reach him. Morning after
morning the red leader marched his men out
upon the frozen surface of the river, and for
hours at a time used the ice as a drill ground.
To the Americans at Ogdensburgh, who at first
watched ever)' movement of their dangerous
I'leighbours, it appeared as though Macdonnell
was determined to keep his men in thorough
training for the spring campaign. Not only did
the Highlandmen march and countermarch,
but thev hauled with them a couple of ugly-
looking field-guns. Day by day they ventured
farther out upon the ice in their practice, until
the centre of the river was reached if not passed.
On the morning ofthe2.:nd February the High-
landers as usual turned out upon the ice. Four
hundred and eighty of them there were all told,
and the everlasting two old field-pieces dragging
behind them like the tail of a beaver. From
the walls of the fort at Ogdensburgh the usual
number of soldiers took their places to watch
the drill. Captain Forsyth himself watched the
spectacle for a time, but having seen enough of
it, hastened to his breakfast. As he sat over his
meal an officer came to him and said that he
thought there was something suspicious about
the looks of the Highlanders this morning.
Forsvth thought otherwise, and went on with
his breakfast. The junior officer, unfortunately
for the Glengarry men, felt uneasj- and sceptical,
and resolved to keep a suspicious watch over the
goings-on on the ice. Not many minutes passed
before his shout from the walls of the fort caused
the soldiers to spring to their arms. The High-
land hosts had suddenly rent asunder, and two
columns dashed straight for opposite sides of the
fort.
" George the Red " himself headed the left
wing. His men held the ropes of the two field-
guns. ForemosL in the right wing ran Captain
Jenkins, a Canadian born and bred. On they
dashed for the fort, running as fast as legs would
carry across a frozen river. But half a mile of
ice is a long, long road to travel, and before the
columns had progressed many hundreds of yards
the first cannon-load of grape shot came sweeping
across the field of ice to meet the oncoming
columns. Another hundred yards forward and
the musket balls began to drop in the ranks,
and men leaped into the air to fall fiat upon the
glittering ice.
Macdonnell's men carried the guns. It was
the leader's plan to plunge into Ogdensburgh,
brush out of his way any opposition that might
there be offered, and plant the artillery in a
position to fire into the fort from the rear, in
this way preparing a breach for Jenkins, who
was to storm the fort at the opposite side. But
Macdonnell had not counted on his movements
being so quickly discovered, nor that he would
encounter such obstacles when he approached
the bank. His men reached the American
shore, swept through the village with irresist-
ible fury ; but when they reached the chosen
spot for planting the guns, the guns were not
forthcoming. They had, it turned out, become
buried in a great bank of snow and ice that
skirted the marge of the river. It took a weary
time to hoist them out of their helpless position,
tumble them up the river bank, and plant them
in a commanding position. Meanwhile the
Americans, rare marksmen and cool fellows, did
not let the minutes slip unprofitably by.
While Macdonnell's men were floundering in
the snowdrift, poor Jenkins and his band were
having a very bad time of it. No sooner had
he started forward than seven cannon were
pointed at him, and the grape played havoc with
his men, momentarily throwing them into con-
fusion. He himself had his left arm shattered
by the very first shot from the fort, but calling
bravely to his men they all sprang forward.
However, they had not gone many yards before
a second shot struck the leader, this time on the
right arm, completely disabling that also. Not-
withstanding his terrible wounds — his left arm
had to be amputated and his right was never
afterwards of any use to him, although it hung
by his side — the gallant Canadian pressed stoutly
forward to inspire his men, but at length fell e.\-
hausted on the ice from loss of blood. His men,
however, never lost heart. Leaving their com-
mander where he lay, they breasted the fire from
CANADIANS IN THE FIELD.
239
the fort, scrambled up tlie bank, formed in
proper ortier, and charged over the breastworks,
depending on their bayonets to carry the day.
In the nick of time " George the Red" got his
guns into position, and with a " Hurrah ! " both
wings made for the old French fort. Forsyth,
seeing all lost, retired with those men who were
able to follow him, escaping into the woods that
surrounded the place. The Highlanders secured
the fort, burnt four armed vessels that lay in the
bay, carted a vast quantity of stores across the
ice to Prescott, and having destroyed the fortifi-
cation, retired to Canadian soil.
The Canadian loss in the gallant aftair
. unounted to eight killed and fifty-two wounded,
most of them struck down on the ice by the
raking grape-shot.
TECIIMSI'.H, \V.\K-CHIHF OF THH SHAWNKES.
A few tame buffaloes where once roamed count-
less thousands ; a few patches of ragged forests
where once waved a continent of forests ; a few
red men, tamed but not civilised, where once
the smoke from many villages of wigwams and
tepee curled through green branches and drifted
into the blue sky. The triumph of the white
man in North America has been won by the
extermination of well-nigh everything indigenous
to the continent. The very climate has changed.
Europeans from Spain, France, Holland, and our
own island kingdom set foot on American soil
only to fly at the throat of all things un-
European. Beasts, wild-flowers, forests — all
have been dislodged ; streams diverted, rivers
bridged, railways set to crawl over the face
of nature, land laid bare to the glaring sun,
and a unique continent turned into a second
Europe. But the most deplorable sacrifice to
white man's convenience was the sacrifice of
the forests and the Children of the Forests.
Some of the grandest figures in American
history are Indians. Among these Pontiac and
Tecumseh stand out in commanding proportions,
and it is a strange coincidence that both of these
mighty warriors, during the years in which their
greatest deeds were done, had their wigwams
pitched on the banks of the Detroit river.
Pontiac, than whom no greater war-chief ever
swung the tomahawk, personally directed the
operations against Fort Detroit, then garrisoned
by British soldiers, and conducted the greatest
siege that is recorded in the historj- of the red
man. Tecumseh^ the next striking figure in
Indian history, fought on the banks of the same
stream side b)' side with the British, whom his
great forerunner had attempted to expel from
American soil. As a striking figure of the War
of 1812, this Tecumseh may be placed shoulder
to shoulder with Sir Isaac Brock, hero of Queens-
ton Heights, whom he knew and loved. Tecum-
seh was a born leader, eloquent in speech, lofty
in principle, and brilliant in war. His death in
the battle of the Thames caused a thrill of
sorrow to pass through Canada, sorrow only less
intense than that which moved the Canadians
when they heard of the death of Brock on
Oueenston Heights.
Tecumseh, war-chief of the Shawnees, was
born about 1 770. His earliest recollections were
of war, for his people, turbulent and fierce,
found themselves in unending trouble with the
Americans. He was twenty years old when
General Harmer, commanding a large body of
American troops, was sent to punish his tribe.
The Shawnees met the Americans, and the cruel
fight that resulted was altogether disastrous to
the white men. They were forced to fight at
great disadvantage, and finally had to take to
heels to escape a general massacre. Next year
General St. Clair undertook to avenge Harmer's
defeat, and the end of this expedition was that
the Americans were again almost annihilated.
This, of course, could not last. The United
States Government, two years later, fitted out 3
column, giving the command to General Wayne.
Ample troops for the war were placed under the
general's care, and Wayne most effectively ad-
ministered the punishment which in the pre-
vious attempts had failed to be given. The
Shawnees lost a greater part of their territory
and a large number of their best warriors.
The disaster to his people had a curious effect
on the mind of Tecumseh. At that time a
young and no doubt unimportant buck, the
defeat rankled in his heart without in any way
cowing his independent nature. A great hatred
for the Americans grew in his breast, and he
formed a determination to overwhelm them in
the west and drive them east of the Alleghanies.
To do this he saw clearly that he must not
begin by leading one tribe to war against the
soldiers, but that all Indians on the continent
must be formed into a confederacy and made to
act in concert. It was a dream cherished by
most of the great Indian chiefs, but none set
about its accomplishment with clearer intel-
ligence and sterner determination to surmount
all obstacles than Tecumseh.
His resolve once formed, he without loss of
time set out to preach the crusade among the
240
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
neighbouring tribes. His oratory, rich in the
metaphor which the Indian loves and thrilHng
with martial fire, touched the hearts of the rest-
less warriors; and when in 1804 Tecumseh's
brother, the then chief of the tribe, proclaimed
himself a prophet sent by the Great Spirit to
lead the Children of the Forest back to their
original ways of life and ancient heritage, and
at the same time renounced the chieftainship
in favour of Tecumseh, the young warrior found
himself at the head of a splendid band of
warriors, which his own and his brother's fame,
General Harrison's officers offered a chair to the
chief, saying —
"Warrior, your father, General Harrison,
offers you a seat."
Tecumseh gazed into the sky before an-
swering :
" My father ! The sun is my father, and the
earth is my mother. She gives me nourishment,
and I will rest on her bosom."
Having spoken, he flung himself on the turf.
The interview was short and unsatisfactory.
Tecumseh refused to relinquish his idea of form-
WHERE TECUMSEH STOOD AT BAY.
ringing through the land, was causing to be
increased every day by ambitious spirits from
friendly tribes. So threatening did the move-
ment among the Indians appear to the United
States that the President instructed General
Harrison, himself President in after years, to see
Tecumseh and learn his intentions.
This was the first meeting between Harrison
and Tecumseh. They last came face to face
in the swamp-lands of the valle}- of the Thames
in Canada, and Tecumseh, fighting like a moun-
tain-cat, fell riddled with buckshot.
This first meeting threw into relief the cha-
racter of the Indian war-chief. Both Americans
and red men arranged to meet unarmed.
Tecumseh at the head of his warriors appeared
at the appointed place punctually. One ot
ing a confederacy, unless the President, on be-
half of the United States, undertook to keep
the white man within the boundaries already
occupied by him.
Immediately after the interview the Shawnee
chief set out to preach his favourite scheme to
the Indians of the south. During his absence
his tribe got into further trouble with the troops,
and were again sorely cut up and defeated.
Tecumseh returned home, gathered around him
the warriors who had escaped destruction, and,
the War of 1S12 breaking out, he hastened with
his band to Detroit, there to place himself at the
disposal of the Canadians. From that daj' to
the day of his death he led his braves with a
judgment and brilliancy scarcely equalled in the
annals of Indian warfare.
CANADIANS IN THE FIELD.
241
To Tccumsch and his vvairicirs lull the dis-
tinction of striking the first tcUing blow in the
War of 18 12. An American army commanded
bv Hull had crossed to Canadian soil, expecting
1(1 easily subdue the western part of Canada.
Hull's army depended on the west for sup-
plies, and Tecumseh, knowing this, beset the
road leading from Ohio, and ambushed a large
army behind the stockades of Detroit, leaving
Tecumseh to return triumphantly to Amherst-
burgh. This was a characteristic beginning to
a war for the most part fought in the bush.
Fresh from his victory over V'an Home,
Tecumseh, war-chief of the Shawnees, met for
the first and last time Brock, commander of the
forces in British North America. It is recorded
'SPRANG OUT OF THE MORASS AND FLEW AT THE THROATS OF THE RENOWNED RIFLEMEN" (p. 243).
convoy under Van Home. The Americans
were taken Jby surprise, but held their ground
bravely against Tecumseh and his warriors. A
fierce fight followed, but the Indian chief had
the advantage of position, and moreover his
braves were used to fighting in the woods.
Under green trees and among tangled under-
brush, as in the marsh-lands, none could war so
well as the Indian. After fighting the fight of
despair. Van Home's little army was scattered ;
most of the troops were killed and important
despatches captured. At the news of this
disaster Hull retired from Canada, and shut his
64
that the two took a great liking to one another.
Brock certainly looked upon Tecumseh as a
remarkable man, in whom all trust could be
placed. Un-Indianlike, the Shawnee chief scorned
liquor. He had been a heavy drinker in his
youth, but seeing how liquor was carrying off
his people he renounced its use. In victory he
refused to plunder, and his valour was above
suspicion. Brock and Tecumseh planned the
storming of Fort Detroit, although the force
they had for the purpose was far weaker than
that under Hull, who held the fort. Tecumseh
undertook the cutting-off of the fort from all
242
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
communication with the outside world, and
with his thousand warriors completely sur-
rounded Detroit, besetting every highway and
path ; and when Brock summoned Hull to sur-
render, Tecumseh drew in his circle of ferocious
followers, and their war-whoops, ringing from
the woods and re-echoing from the old stock-
ade, hastened the American general's resolve to
open the gates. From that day to the day of
his death Tecumseh was looked upon by friend
and foe alike as one of the great leaders in the
war. The Canadians found him an invaluable
ally, and the Americans a leader to be reckoned
with. Few Indian chiefs ever had such responsi-
bilities placed on their shoulders b}'^ the white
man as had Tecumseh. It is scarcely too much
to say that Brock looked to the Shawnee to
hold the territory of Michigan and defend
Western Canada from attack. Proctor, who
commanded the few troops Brock could spare
from his hard task at Niagara, no doubt held
actual command, but Tecumseh was the fighting
force. And right well he did his duty.
In January of 1813, Proctor and Tecumseh
led out their small force and surprised a brigade
of Harrison's army, killing close upon 400 men,
and capturing Brigadier Winchester, three field-
officers, nine captains, twenty subalterns, and
more than 500 men. Considering the small
armies in the field at this time, the number of
killed w-as appalling. Unfortunately some Indians,
losing control of themselves, commenced to
massacre the wounded, and a number of un-
fortunate American soldiers were in this way
done to death before the red men could be
brought under control.
News of this action spread among the tribes
of the forest and plain, and Tecumseh's band
was swelled by volunteers from near and from
afar — bucks anxious to see fighting or to avenge
the blood of killed tribesmen. Proctor, elated
with the success of his offensive operation,
determined to pursue the forward policy, and
with 1,000 regulars and militia, and 1,200
Indians, he in April laid siege to Fort Meigs.
At this siege Tecumseh again distinguished
himself by cleverly leading Colonel Dudley and
400 American troops into an ambush, with the
result that half were slain and the remainder
captured. Although Proctor found it impractic-
able to continue the siege, he managed during
the operation to take 550 prisoners, and the
slain of the American forces were estimated at
about 500 men. After this General Harrison's
army was strengthened to such proportions that
the small army of Canadians and Indians found
it imptjssible to act on the offensive with any
success, and when Commodore Perrv in a gallant
action swept the upper lakes of the British fleet.
Proctor found himself compelled to evacuate
Fort Detroit and retreat towards Niagara.
Against this movement Tecumseh protested in
one of the finest e.xamples of Indian oratorj- tha '
has been handed down to us from a time not so
long passed, but passed for ever, when the Indian
was still a great orator and a sturdy warrior. In
the course of his speech he protested strongly
against any retreat not preceded by a defeat. To
quote a few sentences from his oratory : —
" Father, listen ! our fleet has gone out ; we
know they have fought ; we have heard the
great guns ; but we know nothing of what has
happened to our father with that arm. Our
ships have gone one way, and we are much
astonished to see our father tying up everything
and preparing to run the other.
" Father, listen ! the Americans have not yet
defeated us bj- land ; neither are we sure that
they have done so by water ; we therefore wish
to remain and fight our eneni}- should the\
make their appearance.
" Father ! you have got the arms which our
Great Father sent for his red children. If you
intend to retreat give them to us and vou mav
go. Our lives are in the hands of the Great
Spirit. We are determined to defend our lands,
and if it be his will, we wish to leave our bones
upon them."
The Great Spirit willed, and Tecumseh left
his bones on Canadian soil.
Proctor began his disastrous retreat on Sep-
tember 2Sth. The countn,- through which his
route lay is as peculiar in its way as anj- on the
North American continent. Once upon a time
this tract of land was covered by Lake St. Clair,
but through the ages the water receded from
the face of the earth, leaving a great alluvial
plain of waving reeds and coarse grasses, the
paradise of the wild duck. Through this the
Canadians and Indians made their way, and,
coming to the River Thames, set out along its
northern bank through an open forest.
Closely following on their footsteps cpme
General Harrison with 3,500 men, 1,500 of these
Kentucky riflemen mounted on horses that
understood the woods as well as any woodsman.
Proctor found it impossible to make much
progress owing to the terrible state of the
ground ; and Harrison, with his mounted men,
soon caught him up.
CANADIANS IN THP: FIELD.
243
On October the 5th the hitle band of regulars
and Indians was forced to halt and prepare for
battle. The position he secured was a favourable
one. On his left the River Thames flowed, deep
and treacherous. On his right, in the security
of a swamp, lay Tecumseh and his warriors,
delighted at the prospect of another meeting
with their foe. The small force of regulars were
deployed from river to swamp, and all was ready
for the appearance of Harrison.
Tecumseh held a position that appealed to
the Indian heart. A tangled mass of under-
brush, long grass, and gnarled swamp-oak hid
him from view ; underfoot the soil shook like
jelly and scarcely would bear the weight of a
moccasin foot, being quite impossible to horse-
men. In such a place the mighty warrior
awaited in all confidence the time when he
might spring whooping from his cover to fall
upon the flank of the Americans. The last
words he spoke to Proctor as he was about to
retire to the fastness of the marsh-lands were,
" Father, have a big heart ! "
Notwithstanding the telling position he had
secured, Proctor neither took ordinary precau-
tions to escape surprise nor did he or his men
ilisplay valour in the fight. At the first charge
of tile American horsemen, and before the
Indians had an opportunity to begin the battle
according to the arrangements come to between
Proctor and Tecumseh, the regulars broke and
ran. In fact, many did not go to the trouble of
attempting to escape, but threw their weapons
on the ground and surrendered.
Tecumseh saw what happened, and his rage
was great. He and his warriors might very well
have withdrawn and saved themselves, for no
army could hope to catch the red man in the
woods ; but instead of doing this he resolved to
give battle, and at the head of his bucks sprang
out of the morass and flew at the throats of the
renowned riflemen. The Kentucky men, hunters
and trappers every one of them, were familiar
with Indian tactics, and used to fighting under
trees. They met the Indian charge with great
coolness, and although badly cut up, held their
ground.
In the savage struggle that followed, the
great Shawnee Tecumseh met instantaneous
death, being riddled with buckshot. His death
put a stop to all fighting. The Indians quickly
melted away among the trees, leaving their chief
dead on the banks of the muddy Thames.
Tecumseh's end was one after his own heart.
Pontiac died from a tomahawk-blow delivered,
It is said, in a drunken squabble ; but Tecumseh
died with tomahawk in hand, the heat of battle
in his brain, and his face to the foe.
A COUNCIL OF WAR.
244
THE history of most of the South
American repubhcs, since their suc-
cessful revolt against Spain in the
first quarter of the century-, has been
diversified with frequent civil wars. Here the
party that has been beaten at the elections
tries to reverse the verdict of the polls by an
appeal to arms ; there a president develops
into a dictator, and answers the protests of the
local congress with rifle bullets. A playful ex-
aggeration described the condition of a Spanish
republic by saying that there was a revolution
in the capital whenever it was too hot to work.
But there is one South American State which is
a notable exception to this condition of affairs.
In Chili there was an abortive attempt at in-
surrection in 1 85 1, but for nearly forty years
from the day of its failure the country enjoyed
internal tranquillity. It supported Peru in its
resistance to Spain in the sixties. It carried on
a successful war with the same sister republic at
the end of the seventies, gaining thereby ex-
tension of territory and some reputation for
hard fighting by sea and land. But this long
period of internal peace and growing prosperity
closed when in 1800 an ambitious president
tried to usurp something like dictatorial power.
Balmaceda was by all accounts an able man, and
many of his ideas as to the lines on which the
wealth of the country could be developed were
excellent. But unfortunatelv he tried to make
himself the arbitrary master of the State instead
of its constitutional head, and towards the end
of the year he brought matters to a crisis by
throwing into prison some of the leading men of
the majority in the Congress, which opposed his
views.
On January 1st, i8gi, the Congress, with the
exception of his few personal adherents, formallv
declared that Balmaceda had violated the Con-
stitution. Those leaders of the majority who
were still at liberty and many of their followers
then went on board the fleet, which had through
its oflScers promised to support the Constitution
against the would-be dictator. The army, how-
ever, for the most part stood by Balmaceda, and
the fleet steamed away to the northwards, and
took possession of Iquique, which became the
temporary capital of the provisional govern-
ment, while Balmaceda was for the time supreme
at Valparaiso and Santiago and throughout the
south and centre of the Republic. Coquimbo
marked the northern limit of his power, and for
a time the rival claimants to the dominion of
Chili were indeed at war, but unable to strike
any effective blows at each other. The difficult
nature of the countrv between Coquimbo and
Iquique, the fact that the Congressists com-
manded the sea, and the fear that a large with-
drawal of his forces from the south would lead
to a rising against him, all combined to prevent
Balmaceda from attempting to do more than
stand on the defensive. The Congressists, on
the other hand, though they bombarded Coronel
and other points on the coast held bv their
rivals, had only a small untrained and badly
armed land force at their disposal, and could
therefore make no serious attempt to drive
Balmaceda from the capital and the great port
of Valparaiso. The dictator, through his agents
in Europe and the United States, set to work to
obtain a fleet, and the Congressists imported
arms and rapidly levied an army in the north.
It was a race between them to see which would
first be ready for effective action. The dictator
had nearly all the organised machinery of the
regular government at his disposal, maintaining
himself by something like a reign of terror in
Valparaiso. The Congressists, though nominally
rebels, were reallv preparing to defend law,
order, and the constitution against their worst
enemy.
THE FIGHT FOR VALPARAISO.
245
Fuitimalcly for Chili, the Congressists secured
the help of a remarkable man to form, train,
■xiul direct their new levies. Emil Korner had
learned the soldier's business in that e.xccllent
school the general staff of the Prussian army.
He had seen war on a grand scale in France in
1X70-71, and he had come out to Chili to act as
a professor in the '' Academy of War " or Staff
College of the Republican army. Refusing to
give his adherence to Balmaceda, he made his
way to the headquarters of the insurgents at
Iquique, and was at once appointed chief of the
staff to General Del Canto, who commanded
their land forces. For three months Colonel
Korner worked night and day. He super-
intended the training of the recruits. He gave
lectures and practical instruction to the officers.
He drew up and had printed a little bot)k
experiment. By the beginning of August the
Congressist leaders decided that the time for
action had come. Korner would perhaps have
wished for a little longer time for preparation,
but Balmaceda had purchased a powerful iron-
clad and some other warships in Europe, and
their arrival would deprive the Congressists of
the great advantage of an unchallenged com-
mand of the sea, which indeed was the first
element of success in their plan of campaign.
The Congressist or Constitutional army was
less than 10,000 strong. There were three in-
fantry brigades, varying in strength from 2,500
to 3,000 men, a couple of batteries of mountain-
guns and a few field-pieces, six squadrons of
cavalry, mustering in all less than 700 sabres,
three companies of engineers, and a detachment
of sailors from the fleet with si.\ Hotchkiss
VALPARAISO.
with elaborate diagrams on the modern infantry
attack. He imported some thousands of Mann-
licher repeating-rifles, and armed his best regi-
ments with this terribly effective weapon.
Finally he compiled and issued a series of maps
of the country in which the army was to operate,
and drew up a plan for the coming campaign.
The Mannlicher had never yet been used upon
the battlefield, and the struggle for the posses-
sion of Valparaiso would therefore be, from the
scientific soldier's point of view, an interesting
machine-guns. None of the infantry had had
the Mannlicher rifle in their hands for more
than six weeks ; some of them had onl}- eiilisted
a fortnight ago. It was a daring enterprise to
throw such a force as this on a hostile coast
within a few miles of a great city held by a
regular army at least 25,000 strong. Korner, in
advising the attempt to be made, trusted partly
to the effect that would be produced by the new
rifles, parti}- to the notorious fact that the Bal-
macedist army was in part composed of recruits
246
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
enlisted by force, and old soldiers whose sym-
pathies were not with the dictator, but who
were terrorised into following his generals by
the frequent military executions of those who
showed tlie least hesitation in obeying orders,
the least leaning towards the Constitutional
cause.
The troops embarked at Iquique, Caldera, and
Huasco in the second week of August. They
were crowded on board of seven large steamers
and three war-ships, these last being the ironclad
Almiraiitc Cochrane (named after the British
admiral who did so much for South American
freedom) and the cruisers Esmeralda and
O'Higgtns. The members of the provisional
government were on board of the ironclad,
together with General Canto, Colonel Korner,
md the staff. All went well, and at noon on
Vugust iqth the fleet assembled at the ap-
pointed rendezvous at sea, si.xty miles west of the
port of Ouintero, the destined landing-place.
The orders were that the fleet was to approach
Ouintero under cover of the darkness of the
next night. The steam launches of the war-
ships were to go into the bay and drag it, to
make sure that there were no torpedoes laid
down. At dawn the vanguard battalion was to
surprise the little town ; the rest of the army
was to disembark under the cover of the guns
of the fleet ; and, as soon as it was complete, it
was to march southwards for Valparaiso, distant
about fifteen miles. The men were to land carry-
ing three days' provisions, and the infantry were
to have 1 50 cartridges in their pouches, the small
bore of the new rifle making it possible to carry
this large supply of ammunition without over-
loading the men.
When the sun rose on Thursday, August 20th,
it was found that instead of being off Ouintero
the fleet had, through miscalculating the drift of
a current, been carried ten miles to the north-
ward of the port, the mistake resulting in some
loss of valuable time. The harbour was found
to be clear of torpedoes, and the only garrison
in the town was a few dragoons, who retreated
southwards as soon as the boats of the vanguard
put off from the side of the steamer. The
dragoons tried to drive away with them a large
flock of 3,000 sheep, but, on being pursued, the3'
abandoned this valuable prize to the Congressists.
The telegraph office was occupied, and the wires
cut, but before their flight the Balmacedists had
got off some long messages to Santiago and
Valparaiso. It was a bad piece of negligence on
the part of the invaders that they had not
landed small parlies above and below the town
to cut the wires in the dark.
The disembarkation at Ouintero had been
timed for 5.30 a.m., but the fleet did not reach
the bay till seven, and it was not till half-past
nine that the first boatload of troops were towed
to the shore. At ten the vanguard began its
march southwards towards the Aconcagua river,
but it was not till twelve hours later that the
last of the troops were ashore, and the march of
the third brigade did not begin till midnight.
The Aconcagua, which is fordable at several
points, runs into the sea through a valley about
half a mile wide, the parallel lines of heights on
either side being from 450 to 600 feet high.
Rumour said that the dictator's troops were
concentrating on the southern heights to dispute
the passage, and the scouts pushed on in advance
by the Congressists confirmed this report. They
found the enemj' holding a position on the
southern hills, with his left near the sea on the
heights above the village of Concon Bajo, and
his right about two and a half miles further
inland. His force was estimated to be about
11,000 strong, with several batteries of cannon
and machine-guns. It was certainly pushing
daring to the verge of rashness to attack such a
force in such a position, w-ith inferior numbers
and hardly any artillery. But General Canto
and Colonel Korner decided that the risk of in-
action would be still greater. It would dispirit
the volunteers, it would add to the strength of
the enemy's forces, and finally there was the
danger of a break in the weather. Levied in
the rainless districts of the north, the Congress-
ist army was formed of men who could not be
expected to carry on a campaign in wet weather
without suffering serious losses by sickness, and
being reduced to a state of depression that would
not leave much inclination for fighting in the
survivors. The}' were good soldiers, these
volunteers of the Constitution ; but, like the
French duellist with the umbrella, though they
did not mind being shot they had not bargained
for catching cold.
Soon after sunrise on Friday, the 21st, the
Congressists began to throw shells from their
mountain-guns across the valley into the Balma-
cedist lines. Their object was to make the
dictator's batteries reveal their positions bj-
opening in reply, and soon Korner's staff-officers
were able to note, not only the points where the
enemy's guns were, but also the positions into
which he was moving his infantry battalions.
While this desultor}' cannonade was echoing
THE FIGHT FOR VALP.-VRAISO.
24'/
along the valley, the fords of the Aconcagua
were reconnoitred, and it was finally decided
that Korner was to send across the first brigade
by a ford, partly sheltered from the enemy's view
and fire, near the village of Concon Bajo, and
attack the Balmacedist left, while Canto, with
the two other brigades, crossed higher up at
Colmo and attacked their front. The fleet was
to steam close in to the shore near Concon Cove
and support the right attack with its long-rang-
ing guns. It was the battle of the Alma all over
again on a small scale. Like Gortschakofif, the
Balmacedist generals, Barbosa and Alcdrreca, did
not oppose the actual landing, but disputed a
river crossing lying between the invaders and
their objective ; and in the actual, fight Korner's
advance from Concon Bajo was exactly parallel
to Bosquet's attack on the Russian left near the
sea, while Canto's advance with the two other
brigades represented the main frontal attack. of
the English and French armies.
The attack from Concon Bajo had the great
advantage of the support of the fleet. Alcerreca
saw that this would be so, and strongly urged
Barbosa, who was his senior, to give battle at a
point further from the coast ; but his colleague
had an utter contempt for the new levies of the
Congressists. As he saw them advancing on the
morning of the battle of Concon, he said, using
a Chilian e.xpression of contempt — " They are
four cats. I shall sweep them back to their ships
this very morning ! "
A little after eleven the battle began in earnest.
Signals from the shore told the fleet where to
direct its fire, and the Cochrane, the Esmeralda^
and the O' Higgiiis working their guns as safely
as if they were at target practice, searched with
their shell-fire every hollow in the hills near the
coast where the dictator's reserves might be
concentrated. At the same time a battery of
mountain-guns opened from Concon Bajo on the
small bodies of the enemy who were watching
the ford, and a company of rifles advanced
against them, and for the first time the rapid fire
of the repeating-rifle was heard on a battlefield.
Under this shower of bullets and shells the
Balmacedists fell back, and the ist brigade,
in a long column of fpurs, plunged into the river
at the ford. Before they advanced the men
threw down their packs and cloaks, going into
action with only their haversacks, water-bottles,
rifles, and ammunition. The ford was nowhere
more than waist deep, and as the column reached
the opposite bank regiment after regiment ex-
tended into fighting formation. As the first line
reached the crest of the height a large flag was
displayed, a signal to the ships to cease firing,
for after this their shells would have been as
dangerous to friends as to foes. All the high
ground near the sea was clear of the enemy, but
supported by a battery of artillery, the Balma-
cedists held the further edge of a ravine which
ran across the hill, nearer to Concon Medio, and
against this the attack of the first brigade was
directed, while the cavalry crossed by the ford
and, riding up the heights, protected its right,
which was threatened by a mass of Balmacedist
lancers.
Meanwhile Canto had heard the firing towards
the sea, and took this as a signal to begin his
own attack at the ford of Colmo. Covered by
the fire of a mountain-battery and the machine-
guns landed from the fleet, the first battalions of
the 2nd brigade forded the Aconcagua. The
3rd brigade was still far from the field, but
messengers were despatched to hasten its march,
and especially to urge the artillery to push on as
rapidly as possible. The Colmo ford was not at
all as good a place for crossing as the ford of
Concon Bajo. The bottom was irregular, the
current was strong, and the place was under fire
from the Balmacedist position. Several men were
=48
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
shot down in the water, and still more were
swept away bv the current, or missed the ford
and were drowned. But nevertheless the Con-
gressists pushed on ; and once across, the very
steepness of the river bank sheltered them as
thev formed for attack-
There was now a sharp infantry fight in pro-
gress at two points — on the Congressist right,
where the 1st brigade was steadily forcing back
the Balmacedists along the ridge, and between
Colmo and Concon
Medio, where Canto
with the 2nd brigade
was struggling for
the possession of the
long green hillside
above the river. At
both points the ra-
pid fire of the new
rifle told strongly in
favour of the attack ;
but it had also its
dangers and draw-
backs, for the regi-
ments first engaged,
partly trained as
they were, did not
husband their car-
tridges, and though
they had 150 to
begin with, thev
were soon beginning
to run short of am-
munition. This was
especiallv the case
on the right. The
Iquique regiment
had got to within
two hundred vards
of the Balmacedist
battery, and the gunners were firing case-shot.
The guns were in imminent danger, when
the fire of the attack all but ceased. Their
ammunition was gone, and they would have had
to fall back if at that moment the cavalry had
not come to the rescue. The two squadrons
that charged had not quite three hundred sabres,
but thev decided the fight on this part of the
field. Sweeping round the flank of the infantry
they dashed with a wild cheer in amongst the
guns and captured the whole battery, the Iquique
men coming on with their bayonets fi.Ked the
moment the rush of horsemen stopped the tire
of the guns.
In the attack of the 2nd brigade cartridges
PRESIDENT TOS6 BALM.'^CEDA.
had run so short that the men searched the
bodies of the dead and wounded for further
supplies. Here it would have gone badly with
the attack had not part of the 3rd brigade ar-
rived, tired after their night march, but with
their pouches well filled with cartridges. The
Balmacedists had been gathering round Concon
Medio for a counter attack, when in their front
the sudden outburst of heavy volley firing from
the newly-arrived battalions, and on the left the
sight of their own
troops retiring in
confusion followed
by Korner's ist
brigade, told them
that the battle was
lost. While the mass
of the Balmacedist
army retired towards
Valparaiso, some
1,500 threw down
their arms and were
made prisoners.
Others dispersed in
various directions)
and altogether Bar-
bosa did not muster
more than 3,000
men h\ evening out
of the 1 1 ,000 that
he had put in line
of battle in the
morning.
In the battle of
Concon the victors
lost 86q men, of
whom 2 1 6 were
killed, 531 wounded,
and 122 returned as
'' missing." Of these
most were drowned, or shot and swept away by
the river during the difficult passage of the
Colmo ford. Of the Balmacedists 1,648 fell in the
battle, of whom S^^^ w-ere killed and 815 wounded.
It will be noticed that the number of killed and
wounded was nearly equal, those killed on the
spot being slightly in the majority. No previous
battle since firearms were invented showed any
such result. This was largely the result of some
of the Balmacedists having fought behind breast-
works, where if a man was hit it was by a bullet
through the head. On the other hand, com-
paratively few of the wounds inflicted by the
Mannlicher had fatal results after the battle.
There were not man}- bullets to extract — most
thp: fight for Valparaiso.
249
of tliL-m had gone through, niakuig a small clean
woiHul with very little bleeding, and if no vital
part was penetrated there was generally a rapid
recovery. Most of the wounded were out of
hospital by the end of September.
After the fight many of the prisoners took
service with the Congressist army, and the guns
captured by the cavalry proved a very welcome
and it was with the utmost ditliculty that a
moderate supply of shell and cartridges was
put on the road for the captured positions. The
troops bivouacked for the night on the ground
they had won, and here there was another diffi-
culty. Many of the men had eaten all their
reserve rations on the march, others had thrown
them away. Supplies had to be hunted up in
^c-"
THEY DASHED WrrH A WILD CHEER IN AMONGST THE GUNS AND CAI'TURED THE WHOLE BATTERY" [p. 248).
reinforcement to its artillery. If Canto and
Korner could have followed up their victory by
an immediate march on Valparaiso the war
might have been ended next day ; but this was
out of the question, because most of the regi-
ments had fired away so much ammunition that
there were not ten cartridges per man left. The
machine-guns and the mountain-batteries had
also nearly exhausted their supplies. And it
was not so easy to refill the empty pouches and
limbers. The disembarkation of the baggage
animals and the transport of the ammunition
columns had been going on slowly at Ouintero,
the neighbourhood during the evening after the
battle. Then, too, nearly all the infantry were
without their cloaks and packs. They had
thrown them down before they entered the
fords. They shivered through the night for the
want of them, and those who recovered them
next day were fortunate. Some had to wait for
them till the end of the campaign.
After the battle, the 1st brigade had pushed
on to a point about ten miles from Valparaiso.
It was not till noon on the 22nd that the ammu-
nition supplies of the army were brought up to
120 cartridges per man. Bj' this time it had
2-0
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
been ascertained that the strong position of
Vina del Mar, north of Valparaiso, was en-
trenched and held in force by the Balmacedists.
All night trains had been moving along the
railway between Ouilpue and Vina del Mar,
bringing up troops from the direction of Santi-
ago. In the afternoon firing broke out in the
Balmacedist lines, and later on came the sound
of regular volleys. The Congressist staff rightly
guessed that there had been an unsuccessful
attempt at mutiny in the enemy's camp, promptly
followed b}' militarj- executions. During these
last days there was a reign of terror in the camp
and in Valparaiso, and counting on the notorious
disaffection of many of the dictator's troops, the
Congressist leaders resolved to try the effect of
a surprise attack on the Vina del Mar position
at dawn on the 23rd.
But the Sunday morning saw the first failure
of the Congressists. The troops destined for
the attack did not reach their positions till the
sun was already risen, and then surprise was out
of the question. There were no signs of a revolt
among the garrison of the lines, which had been
further reinforced by rail during the night.
When the artillery of the attack opened, it was
answered by a still more powerful artillery in
the lines, and on the left of the defence the
heavy guns of Fort Callao co-operated in this
cannonade. The fleet stood in towards the bay,
and engaged the northern forts, but was unable
to produce any effect upon them. B\' nine
o'clock it was decided that a successfiU assault
on the lines was out of the question ; the fleet
steamed out to sea, the infantry withdrew to
their bivouacs of the night before, and the
artillery retired with them. But Colonel Korner
had already suggested, and Del Canto had ac-
cepted, a new plan for the capture of Valparaiso.
The army was ne.xt day to march to Ouilpue,
cut the railway there, and then moving round
to the south of Valparaiso, attack the city on
the side where Balmaceda had no entrenched
position ready for his army, and where the forts
could not co-operate in the defence.
" The only road practicable," writes Colonel
Korner in his official report, " was through
Ouilpue and the farms of Las Palmas and Las
Cadenas. The practicability of this road depends
entirely on the state of the weather : very good
when it is dr}', it becomes boggy after a little
rain. A much more serious inconvenience was
the distance which had to be traversed — rather
more than twent3'-eight miles. An army well
trained in marching could do the distance with-
out difficulty in twelve hours ; but the Consti-
tutional army had not had time to become
trained to this work. Besides, volunteers, always
ready to fight, submit without difficulty to in-
struction in fighting, but by no means so readily
to the more arduous training in forced march-
ing, which is the only means by which one can,
in time, form a ' marching arm}-.' Accord-
ingh', it was necessar}- to allow two days for this
relatively short distance."
The actual time taken was even longer.
Korner was anxious to mislead the enemy as to
his intentions, and accordingl\- on the Monday
the 1st brigade pretended to be preparing for
an attack on Vina del Mar, while the other
two marched on Ouilpue. When they had
seized the town, the ist followed them. The
railway was torn up and the tunnel of Limache
blocked by sending a locomotive into it, blow-
ing the engine up on the line, and wrecking a
quantit}' of rolling stock on top of it. At
Oujlpue a committee of gentlemen had arranged
to watch the station for the three previous
days and nights, counting the carriages that
passed through and estimating the number of
soldiers they contained. They told the Con-
gressist staff that Balmaceda must have con-
centrated about 14,000 troops, including some
Indians. The Congressist force numbered now
about 10,000 men.
Tuesday was a day of rest, and endeavours
were made to lead the dictator to e.xpect
an attack along the railway line. At dawn
on the Wednesday the march was resumed,
Soon after it began a regiment of 300 hussars
deserted from the dictator and joined the
popular forces. The hot hours of the middle
of the day were given to rest, and in the evening
the march from Las Palmas to Las Cadenas was
resumed, but little progress was made in the
darkness : the ground to be traversed was cut
up with stream.s, marshes, and woods ; and at
last the troops bivouacked without reaching the
ground where the generals had hoped to attack
the enemj- soon after daybreak. The battle was
therefore adjourned till the next da}- — Friday,
the 28th.
The troops were concentrated on Thursday
morning. In the afternoon a council of war
was held in a farm-house, where Korner, a piece
of chalk in his hand, explained, with the help of
a rough diagram drawn upon the floor, what
each was to do in the next day's fight. The enemy
held a succession of ridges, steep-sided, and with
narrow summits, which run out into the plain
thp: fight for Valparaiso.
2^1
near the village of La Placilla. Korner knew
the ground well. As professor at the StafT
School he had directed tactical e.\ercises u|ion
it, and he judged that if one extremity of the
line were briskly attacked the enemy would
tind it difficult to move up supports from the
rest of his position on account of the deep
ravines that traversed it. The hill on the
enemy's right approached by the La Placilla
road was chosen for the point of attack.
The battle of La Placilla was short, sharp, and
decisive. The artillery began to exchange fire
about 7.30 a.m. on Fritlay. An hour later the 1st
Congressist brigade, always to the front, moved
up from La Placilla, with the 2nd to support it
on the right, while the 3rd kept the rest of the
Balmacedist line in play. The troops had been
warned to husband their ammunition this time,
and not to open fire till they were within 400
yards of the enemy, which is pQint-blank distance
for the long-ranging Miinnlicher. So, silently
and steadily, with a few skirmishers in front, the
1st brigade went up the hill, finding some diffi-
culty in passing lines of deep pits and entangle-
ments of barbed wire prepared for its reception
by the enemy. At last it got within the pre-
scribed range, and the volleys of the repeating-
rifle rang out.
To its left, the 2nd brigade had made a bad
mistake. Seeking for cover from the storm of
fire that came down from the heights, its
leaders had diverged from the true direction,
and had got too far towards the sea, with the
result that there fell upon the 1st the full
weight tif all the strength that Barbosa had
massed on the height above Placilla. The gal-
lant regiments of the brigade were giving way
under this pressure, when again the Chilian
horsemen turned the day in favour of the
popular cause. Six squadrons, which had gained
the heights in rear of the advancing infantry,
charged the Balmacedist right. The enemy
broke before the storm of horsemen, and this
respite enabled the ist brigade again to advance,
while the 2nd came up on its left, and the 3rd
pressed forward on its right. The enemy gave
way in all directions. The collapse of the right
decided the fate of the whole line. Barbosa and
Alcerreca fell while they tried to stem the rout
— perhaps shot by their own men. A little after
ten the fight was all over. Thousands sur-
rendered where they stood ; the rest were
driven back into the streets of Valparaiso, where
no further resistance was attempted, and where
the Congressist troops, as the)- marched in with
the stains of battle upon them, were hailed by
cheering crowds as a rescuing army.
For all night long disbanded soldiers, released
criminals, all the scum of the great city, had
been burning, looting, and killing, Balmaceda
having given the cit}' up to pillage when he
saw the impending collapse of his ill-gotten
power. The foreign warships had landed
armed parties to protect the European quarter
on the high ground above the town. In the
city below whole blocks of houses had been
burned. No wonder that Canto's sturdy volun-
teers marched in to the sound of ever-repeated
" Tlras ! " for the Constitution and for the
victors. Canto was the hero of the moment.
Beside him rode, all unrecognised by the crowd,
the studious German staff-ofTicer who had or-
ganised the army of the Congress, and showed
it the way to victory.
The fight had cost the victors much more
loss than the battle of Concon. They had 485
killed and 1,124 wounded. Of the Balmacedists
q4i had been killed and 2,422 wounded ; the
killed showing nothing like the same proportion
to the wounded that had been the feature of
the losses at Concon. Balmaceda had not
shared the dangers of either fight. When the
victors marched into Valparaiso most of his
colleagues had taken refuge in the consulates
and on board the foreign warships. He himself
was crouching in the hiding-place in which
some days later he was found dead, slain by his
own hand.
-^
INKERMAN has been rightly called the
" Soldiers' Victory," but it might be still
more justly styled " The British Soldiers'
Battle." It was from first to last — from
its unexpected opening at early dawn, through
all its changing episodes in the hours before
noon and until mid-day brought the crisis,
through attack and counter-attack, offence
and defence, onslaught and recoil — one of the
finest feats of arms accomplished by British
troops, one of the chiefest glories of our long
and eventful military annals. It takes rank
with Agincourt, Rorke's Drift, the defence oi
Lucknow ; with Plass}', Meanee, Waterloo : equal
to the best of these, overshadowing some, sur-
passing others ; in its way unique — a bright and
shining tribute to the warlike courage of a
nation already laurel-crowned.
Many British battles have been won against
great odds, under tremendous disadvantages ;
but none have better shown our inflexible, un-
conquerable tenacity than Inkerman. It was
fighting for safety, too : our backs were to the
wall ; had we been defeated at Inkerman our
army would have been swept into the sea : but
these great issues were not fully realised by the
rank-and-file. They knew they must win the
day : that was their business, as it always is. But
the fact that they were so near losing it made
no great difference to them — all they thought
of was to come to blows, to try conclusions with
the enemy, to charge him, bavonet him, shoot
him : always supremely indiflFerent to his vast
numerical superiority, and quite undismayed
by his courage.
So it was that the strange spectacle was seen
of a handful resisting thousands, of a weak
company charging through battalion columns,
of stalwart soldiers engaging a crowd of the
enemv single-handed and putting them to rout.
When ammunition ran short, as it often did in
the deadliest episodes, our men tore up great
stones and hurled them at the foe ; a few scores
of gunners, when hard pressed, fought on with
swords and rammers and sponges and sticks,
even with fists — for the story of the Clitheroe
bruiser who felled Russian after Russian with
knock-down blows is perfectly true. Men so
eager for the conflict found officers as willing to
lead them ; there was no hesitation, no waiting
to re-form, to rejoin regiments ; any broken
body gathered round any commander, all were
read}- to stand fast and die, go forward and die,
do anything but retire. '' What shall I do ? "
asked Colonel Egerton, at the head of his bare
200, when pitted against unknown numbers.
" Fire a volley and charge ! " at once answered
the brigadier ; and his aide-de-camp, young Hugh
Clifford, sprang to the front to be in with the
first flight. General Pennefather, at the end of
five hours' fighting, when he had lost more than
half his small force, did not abate his confidence
one jot : if Lord Raglan now would only give
him a few more men, he said, he would finish
the battle out of hand and " lick the enemy to
the devil." Waterloo was '' hard pounding," as
Wellington quietly remarked afterwards, but it
was nothing to Inkerman.
The battle of Inkerman was brought about
by the restored confidence that great and over-
whelming reinforcements gave the Russian
generals inside Sebastopol. After the successful
landing, the victory of the Alma, the unimpeded
flank march to the south side of the still incom-
plete fortress, the allied English and French
had achieved no fresh triumphs. Prudence
had overruled the daring but not quite un-
warranted counsels to go straight in against
Sebastopol ; an immediate attack was deemed
too dangerous, the golden opportunity passed,
and it became necessary to sit down before the
stronghold and reduce it by the slow processes
INKERMAN.
253
of a siege. Tlic allies were thus planted in a
corner of the Crimea, committed to the high-
land or upland of the Chersonese, as it was
called, the unlv ground they could possibly
occupy when attacking Sebastopol from the
south side — ground that no one would have
selected had choice been unfettered, for it was
rugged, inlnospitable, very extensive, and above
all exposed on one flank right round, almost to
the verj' rear. Balaclava, the British base of
supply, at a distance of six miles from the front,
lay open to attack by an enterprising enemv,
and almost the whole length of road which con-
nected it with the British camp. How fully the
Russians realised this, how nearly they overbore
the weak resistance offered by the Turks who
defended this vulnerable point, how nobly a
Prince Mentschikoff, who commanded the
Russian forces in and about Sebastopol, exult-
antly foresaw the complete annihilation of the
allies. He believed that thej' were at the end
of their tether. In his reports to St. Peters-
burg he declared that the enemy never dared
now to venture out of his lines, his guns were
silent, his infantry paralysed, his cavalry did not
exist. The Russians, on the other hand, were
once more enormously in the ascendant : troops
had been pouring into Sebastopol continuously
all through the month of October ; a whole
army corps had arrived from Odessa ; two other
divisions were close at hand on the 2nd Novem-
ber, and by the 4th, the eve of the battle of
Inkerman, the total of the land forces assembled
in and around the fortress must have been quite
THE VALLEY OF INKERMAN.
handful of British cavalry spent itself in beating
back disaster, has been told in the story of
Balaclava. That glorious battle, gained at such
terrible cost, was only the prelude, however,
to another more tremendous effort ; for the
Russians, although foiled in this first attempt,
felt strong enough and bold enough for a
second. They were encouraged to fresh en-
deavours by their own gathered numbers and
the knowledge that their enemies were growing
daily more and more unequal to the transcendent
task before them.
120,000 men. This total was just double tliat
of the allies, including the Turks, available for
all purposes, including the siege of a great fort-
ress, which alone might claim the whole efforts of
the army. No wonder, then, that Mentschikoff
was full of confidence, that he counted upon an
easj^ triumph, nothing less than sweeping the
allies off the upland into the sea. '' The enemy,"
he wrote, " cannot effect his retreat without ex-
posing himself to immense losses. Nothing can
save him from a complete disaster. Future times,
I am confident, will preserve the remembrance
2 54
BATTLES OF THE NIXETEEN'TH CENTURY.
of the exemplary chastisement inflicted upon
the presumption ot the allies." Two of the
Czar's sons were hurried post-haste to the
Crimea to stimulate the enthusiasm of the troops
and witness their splendid triumph.
Some inkling of the impending disaster — pre-
maturely so called, as was soon to be proved —
crept out and gave general uneasiness even at a
distance from the theatre of war. Friends in
Russia warned friends in England to anticipate
terrible news. The great effort approaching
was prepared under the direction of the Czar
himself, and was of a nature and extent to
deal an overwhelming blow. In the Crimea
itself vague intelligence reached the allied
commanders that a terrible struggle was near
at hand. Reports of the reinforcements arriv-
ing, of the stir and activity within the fortress,
the repair of roads, the mending of bridges,
all the indications that are plain as print to the
experienced military intelligence, warned Lord
Raglan and General Caurobert to be on the
look-out for another momentous battle, for
which, in truth, thev were but badly prepared.
Some idea of the disproportion between the
armies about to come into collision will rightly
be given here, so that we realise at once how
overmatched were the allies, how marvellous
therefore was their prolonged resistance and
eventual triumph on that now historic 5th
November, the Inkerman Sunday which in
British annals has eclipsed that other anniver-
sary of the Gunpowder Plot. It has been said
above that the Russian forces totalled 1 20,000
in all. Of these rather more than half, or 70,000
men, were actually present in the field. All
took part in the action, but some onl\- as cover-
ing forces or engaged in feints : these numbered
some 30,000 ; the remainder, just 40,000, com-
posed the attacking columns, and fought the
battle of Inkerman. The whole allied strength
that day upon the upland of the Chersonese was
65,000, but barely a quarter of these numbers
could be or, as a matter of fact, were used in the
coming action. From first to last the total
French and English forces on the ground were
just 15,685 — half of each, but more exactly 7,464
English and 8,219 French — and of the latter
3,570 were actually engaged. There is no mis-
take or exaggeration in these figures, which are
based on official returns on both sides. It must,
moreover, be carefully borne in mind that only
a proportion, and a small proportion, of these
15,000 were on hand in the early stages of the
I'Sfht. For hours the brunt of the battle fell
upon the 2nd division, which was barely 3,000,
although opposed to 40,000, and the reinforce-
ments came to them in driblets slowl}^ and afford-
ing but meagre assistance and relief. It is from
the extraordinarv tenacity shown by our soldiers
in their prolonged and indomitable resistance
against such tremendous odds that such great
glory was achieved at Inkerman.
The allied weakness, of which Lord Raglan
was fully aware, was caused by the stress laid
upon their forces by the siege operations and
the need for protecting their communications.
The troops, taking them from west to east and
so to the south and rear, covered a front which
was twentv miles long. Before Sebastopol the
French were on the left, the English on the right ;
but General Canrobert, always anxious for the
rear of his position, kept a large force on the
heights above the Tchernaya valley, and the
English perforce garrisoned and defended Bala-
clava. Hence on the right flank of the British
front, round about Inkerman as it came to be
called (although the real site of old Inkerman is
on the opposite side of the Tchernava river), the
defence was greatly impoverished, being limited
in the first instance to a few weak battalions ot
the 2nd division. Its immediate support — none
too close — was a brigade of the Light Division
under General Codrington on the Victoria Ridge
adjoining, but on the other side of a wide rough
ravine ; behind, and three-quarters of a mile off,
was the brigade of Guards, twice that distance the
2nd brigade (Buller's) of the Light Division ; the
4th and 3rd divisions, fronting Sebastopol and
more or less appropriated to the siege works,
were two or three miles removed from the ex-
treme right flank. A French army corps under
Bosquet was, how'ever, within the lesser distance,
holding the eastern heights which gave General
Canrobert so much concern. But the forces
thus described made up the sum total of the
allied armed strength, and every portion had its
particular place and specified duties. None
could well be withdrawn from any part without
denuding it of troops or dangerously weakening
the long defensive line. There were, in fact, no
reserves, no second line to call up in extreme
emergency to stiffen and reinforce the first.
The allies were fighting with their backs to the
wall. Retreat was impossible because there were
no fresh troops to interpose and cover it.
The weakness of this 2nd division in such an
isolated and exposed position had long been a
source of serious misgiving. Its commander,
Sir De Lacy Evans, deemed his force — weakened,
INKERMAN.
i^3
moreover, by constant outpost dutj- — to be peril-
ously small. He called it " most serious." Sir
George Brown, who commanded the I-ight
nivision, was equally solicitous. Lord Raglan,
the general-in-chief, knew the danger too : he
reported home that his men of the and division
were well posted, " but there were not enough
of them." But he was ever buoyant and hope-
ful, anticipating no great trouble, yet alive to
his perils and fully prepared to meet them.
" We have plentv to think of," he wrote to the
English War Minister, '• and all I can say is that
we will do our best." Strange to say, that best
did not include any artificial strengthening of the
position by entrenchments. The ground was
admirably suited for defence, and might have
been made all but impregnable — or, at least,
capable of withstanding even determined attacks.
Earthworks would have gone far to redress the
balance of numbers telling so heavily against
the allies ; but only one meagre barrier was
erected, and even this was destined to prove of
inestimable value in the battle. The prompt
use of the spade was not then deemed an essen-
tial part of a soldier's field training, and, as the
opening of the trenches before Sebastopol had
entailed much labour of that kind, the troops
were spared more of it, even although indis-
pensably necessary as everyone now knows.
The Russian general had not failed to detect
the inherent defects in the British line or to note
carefully its weakest point. Upon this he based
iiis plan of operations. He meant to envelope
and crush the exposed right flank by vastly
superior numbers, while well-timed demonstra-
tions that might be expanded into attacks should
occupy the allied forces at other parts of the
field. This simple and perfectly plausible scheme
was to be worked out as follows : —
I. Two great columns, making up a combined
strength of 40,000 men, with 135 guns, were
to constitute the main, the most \veighty, and
as it came to pass, the only real attack. Both
were drawn from the newly-arrived 4th or
Dannenberg's Army Corps. One, called the
loth Russian Division, commanded by General
Soimonoff, which had entered and was actually
quartered within Sebastopol, was to take one
tlank,the left of the English position ; the other,
under General Pauloff, the nth division, still
outside the fortress and lying north of the
Tchernaya river, was to attack the English
right.
(1. Soimonoff's force was strengthened by other
regiments in ganison, and its infantr}' strength
was iq,ooo, his guns ,-^8 in number. He was to
issue from Sebastopol at a point between the
MalakofFHill and the Little Redan, then follow
the course of the Carenage ravine, and to come
out on the northern slopes of Mount Inkerman,
where he was to join hands with —
h. Pauloflf, who, marching from the heights of
Inkerman on the far side of the Tchernaya, was
to cross that river and the low swampy ground
that margined its course by the bridge near its
mouth. This general commanded 16,000 in-
fantry and had with him g6 guns. His orders
were to ascend the northern slopes of Mount
Inkerman and push on vigorously till he met
with Soimonoff.
When thus combined, the whole force of
40,000 (including artillerymen) was to come
under the direction of the Army Corps com-
mander, General Dannenberg, and his orders
were to press forward and carry all before him.
It was confidently e.xpected that nothing could
withstand him — that he would "roll up" the
weak opposition of the English right, beat all
that he encountered, and sweep victoriously on-
ward right past the Windmill Hill tn the eastern
heights in the rear, and within easy distance of
Balaclava.
2. Meanwhile, Prince GortschakofT, who now
commanded the army hitherto known as
Liprandi's, in the valley of the Tchernaya, and
had under him a force of 22,000, with 88 guns,
was to " contain " Bosquet — occupy his attention,
that is to say, by feints and false attacks upon his
position, so that he should be held to these
heights and unable to reinforce the English right.
Later, when the main attack had prospered and
Dannenberg's victorious troops were seen well
to the south of Windmill Hill, Gortschakoff's
demonstrations were to be converted into a real
attack. He was to go up against the heights
with all his force, drive back Bosquet, join hands
with Dannenberg, and the Russians would then
be in triumphant possession of the greater part
of the Chersonese upland. After that the siege
must be raised, the allies must be swept off the
plateau, destroyed, taken prisoner, or hurried
into disastrous flight upon their ships.
3. A third conditional operation was entrusted
to the troops remaining in garrison, under the
command of General Moller. He was to closely
" watch the progress of the battle," cover the
right of the attacking troops with his artillery
without attempting to reply to the fire of the
allied siege-guns. Whenever confusion showed
itself in the trenches, due to the great wave of
2^6
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
victory setting from the eastward, he was to
move out in force, attack and seize the siege-
batteries.
Capable militar_v critics have not failed to con-
demn the foregoing plan of operations. It erred,
in the main attack, by trusting too entirely to
numbers, crowding great masses of men on
ground not spacious enough to hold them.
There was not sufficient room, indeed, upon the
Russian battlefield for half the forces engaged.
play a waiting game, and give no effective Aelp
until that help was no longer urgently required.
He was to do nothing, in fact, until the main
attack had actually succeeded. The longer the
enemy resisted, the longer he remained inactive.
Had he exerted a stronger pressure, had his
feints been pushed with more insistence, he
would have paralysed the movement of the
French with Bosquet, and by the very direction
of his attack weakened the English defence at
'^/.
^XanciieteT
Battle of INKERMAN.
November 5. 1854.
T/tc sketch sfio7i's approxijiiaiely the
J't'sitioii a little after S.a.7n. after the
repulse of the first great attack.
Scale of One Mile.
..Pritish.
..Russians,
o
jWoreover, this ground, imperfectly known to
the men who held it and might have carefully
studied it, was cut in two by a great ridge, which
divided the two columns intended to join forces,
and prevented their combined action. General
Dannenberg appears to have realised this diffi-
culty and wished his two generals, Soimonoff and
Pauloff, to act independently, the former direct-
ing his efforts against the Victoria Ridge, alto-
gether to the westward of Mount Inkerman, and
leaving the latter ample space to manoeuvre.
But Dannenberg's wishes were not distinct
orders, and Soimonoff, obeying Mentschikoff, the
general-in-chief, held on to the original plan.
Again, Gortschakoff's ro/e condemned him to
Tyfc. Etching Cp.Sc-
Inkerman. '' His advance was, however, left to
depend upon a contingency that never occurred "
— and while he waited for it his 22,000 men
were of absolutely no use in the fight.
A brief description of the theatre whereon
this great performance was played should precede
any account of the varying fortunes of the day,
and details will be best understood by referring
to the plan.
The battle of Inkerman was mainh' fought on
a long ridge of ground running from south to
north and a little west of north, with many
spurs jutting out on each side of it, the intervals
between them dropping into long hollows or
ravines. This ridge has come to have the
INKERMAN'.
257
'general title of Mount InkcTnian. A second
ritlgc iicarh' parallel to it but separated from it-
by the Careiiage ravine, and which is known as
the Victoria Ridge, played a secondary part in
the engagement, but the brunt of the business
was transacted on the first-named, and at about
'ts central point, where another smaller crest
crosses it, christened by Mr. Kinglake the Home
Ridge. This lesser ridge trended forward at its
eastern end, forming a right angle, and the salient
was called the Fore Ridge. A road — the post-
road from Balaclava — intersected the Home
Ridge, and just above where it dropped into the
Ouarry Ravine the advanced pickets had thrown
up a small breastwork — a mere stone wall or
•shelter-trench, which was known as the Barrier.
This was some 400 vards in advance of the Home
Ridge. At nearly double that distance, and
much lower down the eastern slope, there was
another shelter, once a more ambitious work,
constructed of sandbags to hold two i8-pounder
,guns, and hence known as the Sandbag Battery.
It was useful neither for defensive purposes, as
the wall was ten feet high and there was no
means of looking over it, nor, for the same
reason, as a lodgment to favour assailants. But
its possession was nobly contested by the soldiery
of all the nations engaged, and it gained the
•dread name of the " Slaughter-house " from the
French in consequence of the losses incurred
there. This sandbag battery stood on a salient
^pur known as the Kitspur, to the north-east or
right spur of the Home Ridge ; to the left or
:north-\vest was another — the Miriakoff spur,
which also was the scene of a determined
>truggle. The w"hole surface of the field of
battle was thickly covered with brushwood and
.low coppice, amidst which crags and rocky
boulders reared their heads. In some places the
•.voods gathered into dense forest glades, and in
•others the ravines were steeplj^-scarped quarries
ilifficult of access.
Soimonoff started at 5 a.m. amid darkness
and mist, which so favoured his march that he
leached Mount Inkernian unobserved, and then
and there seizing its highest point. Shell Hill,
he placed his guns in battery on the crest quite
unknown to our outposts. The night had been
reported unusualh" quiet, although some of our
people fancied they heard the rumbling of distant
wheels — the wheels, in fact, of Pauloff 's artillerv.
Just before dawn, too — it was Sunday morning —
all the bells ot Sebastopol rang out a joyous peal,
not for worship, but to stimulate the courage of
the pious Russian soldiery. But our outpost
65
duty in those days was imperfectly performed,
and the enemy was on top of our pickets before
the alarm was raised. They were pressed back
fighting, while the guns on Shell Hill opened a
destructive fire. General Pennefather, who was
in temporary command of the 2nd division,
realised at once that serious events were at hand.
It was not in his nature to retreat before the
coming storm. He was a "fine fighter''; in
another rank of life he would have been in his
element with a " bit of a twig " at Donnybrook
Fair. " Wherever you see a head, hit it " was
his favourite maxim in war ; and now, where a
more cautious leader would have drawn off and
lined the Home Ridge in defensive battle, he
thrust forward with all his meagre forces to meet
the Russian attack. This daring system was
greatly aided by the state of the atmosphere ; in
the fog and mist no notion of the pitiful number
of their opponents reached the Russians, and
the handful of English forgot that they were
unsupported and so few. Pennefather's plan,
born of his fighting propensities and indomitable
pluck, found favour with his superiors, for when
presently Lord Raglan, the English commander-
in-chief, came upon the ground, he did not
attempt to interfere, but left the audacious Irish-
man the uninterrupted control of the fight.
They were meagre indeed — these first English
defenders of Mount Inkerman. Pennefather
had of his own barely 3,000 men all told, and
only 500 men came up in the first instance to
reinforce him. But he sent all he had down
into the brushwood out in front till it was filled
with a slender line. Meanwhile Soimonoff,
waxing impatient and having all ready, was de-
termined to begin without waiting for Pauloff's
co-ofieration. His guns on Shell Hill had " pre-
pared '' his advance, and soon after 7 a.m. he
sent three separate columns against the left of
our position on Home Ridge. The first of these,
on the extreme right, under road column, as it
was called, got a long way round, when it met a
wing of the 47th under Fordyce and a Guards
picket under Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar,
before whom it turned tail ; the second column
had no better fortune on the Miriakoff spur ;
the third, following up the course of the Miria-
koff glen, encountered a wing of the 4qth under
Grant, who at once gave the order to " fire a
volley and charge."' His counter-attack was
delivered with such determination that it carried
all before it ; the Russian column was fairly
broken up and driven helter-skelter under the
guns on Shell Hill.
2:8
BATTLES OF TllK NIXETEENTH CENTrRV
Now Soimonoff came on in person al the
head of twelve battalions, nearly q,ooo men.
His aim was the centre and left centre of our
Hue, and for a time he made good progress.
But the first supports, those from tile Light
Division, arriving, Pennefather at once used
them against Soimonoff. He sent on the 88th
Connaught Rangers, 400 of them who, feeling
the whole weight of the attack, recoiled, and
retreating left the three guns of Townshend's
battery in the enemy's hands. Then the 77th
under Egerton, but led also by the brigadier
Buller, came up and caught Soimonoff's outside
column — caught it and smote it so fiercely that
it fled and was no more seen on the field. These
Russians were 1,500 strong. Egerton had no
more than 2 ;o, but he never faltered, and his
men, answering like hounds to his cry, tore
straight on at the run and smashed in with irre-
sistible furv. There was an interval of raging
turmoil in which the bayonet made fearful liavoc;
then the Russians ran, Egerton pursuing at the
charge to the foot of Shell Hill. About this
time General Soimonoff was killed. Egerton's
action had wide-reaching consequences. Through
it the abandoned three guns were recovered, the
88th rallied, the 77th themselves or their rem-
nant held fast for hours the ground it had se-
cured. These combats disposed of about half
the forces Soimonoff had put forward in this
attack. The remainder had advanced courage-
ously against our centre by both sides of the
post-road ; but they also were beaten back,
partly by the fire of our tield-guns, partly by the
spirited charge of a couple of hundred men of
the 4Qth under Bellairs.
Thus in less than an hour Soimonoff's great
effort was repulsed ; he himself was slain, and
his men driven off the field. For this portion
of the loth Russian division never regained
cohesion as a formed military force. It was no
mere defeat but an absolute overthrow, in which
regiments melted away and the whole force was
ruined. Many e-xcuses have been offered for
their want of success : the dense mist giving
exaggerated value to the handful that faced
them, they perhaps thought the enterprise too
difficult. It is also certain that the English fire
was murderously effective upon these dense
compact columns of attack ; some were ab-
solutely decimated, others lost nearly all their
officers, and all were so shattered and disor-
ganised that no part of them returned to the
fight. They ought, nevertheless, to have done
better ; with such greatly superior forces, backed
up by the incessant fire of a fornu'dable artillery,
success would probably have awaited bolder and
braver men.
Meanwhile a portion of Pauloft's division had
arrived by a shorter and more direct road, whilc
the rest had circled round after Soimonoff.
Some of these people of Pauloft's were at once
attracted by the Sandbag Battery, and, soon
taking it from the sergeants' guard that held it>
made this hollow vantage-ground their own. A
mass of men, three great columns, suppf>rted
this attack, and Pennefather sent General Adams
against them with the 41st Regiment. He went
forward in extended order with a wide front of
fire, and the Russians soon fell away ; those in
the battery evacuated it ; the columns support-
ing broke and dropped piecemeal into the valley.
In this splendid affair 500 men disposed of 4,000.
Again, at the Barrier, which the rest of PaulofTs
men approached with great determination,
a small body, the wing of the 30th Regiment
under Colonel Mauleverer, achieved an equal
triumph — that of 200 over 2,000. Here it was
the British bayonet that told, for the men's fire-
locks were soaking wet and the caps would not
explode. But Mauleverer trusted to the cold
steel. Officers leapt down daringly in among the
Russians; men followed at the charge : the head
of the leading column was struck with such
impetus that it turned in hasty retreat, causing
hopeless confusion in the columns behind, and
all fled, a broken throng of fugitives, hundreds
upon hundreds, chased by seven or eight score.
This ended the first Russian onslaught. Half
Soimonoff's division was beaten out of sight ;
b,ooo men were lost to Pauloff. At least 15,000
out of 2;,ooo were " extirpated," as the Russians
admit in their official accounts, and this by no
superior generalship but by the dogged valour,
the undismayed resistance, of just 3,500 English-
men. It was a good omen for the issue of the
day's fighting, but the end was not yet, and a
further terrible stress was still to be imposed
upon our overmatched troops. Supports, such
as they were, had now begun to arrive. The
alarm had spread across the upland rousing
every soul, and in every camp near and far the
assembly sounded, men rushed to arms, half-
dressed, fasting, eager only to hurry into the
fight. Some of the Light Division, as we have
seen, had been already engaged, (jeneraf Cod-
rington with the rest was in battle array, holding
the Victoria Ridge with scanty forces. The
Guards brigade, 1,200 men, under the Duke of
Cambridge, was approaching, 700 already close
INKERMAN.
259
JO the Home Ridge ; the 4th division under Sir
George Cathcart, 2,000 strong, was also near at
hand. These, with the tield-batteries, raised
the reinforcements to a total of 4,700 men.
Two Frencli battalions had been despatched to
support Pennefather, although from some mis-
understanding they were not utiHsed, and Bos-
quet, who had come up with them, returned to
the Eastern Heights, where he was still menaced
by Gortschakoff. It was not until much later in
the day that General Bosquet realised that the
Russians in front of him were only pretending
to attack, and then he hurried with substantial
forces to Mount Inkerman. But until then he
allowed himself to be tied, ineffectively, to the
wrong place, giving no assistance in the main
fight and certain to be " rolled up " in bis turn
if that tight ended disastrously for the English.
General Dannenberg had now assumed the
chief command, and, undaiuited by the first
failure, he set about organising a fresh attack.
He had at his disposal 10,000 fresh and un-
touched troops; Soimonoff's reserves and Pauloff's
regiments which had come round by the lower
road. The latter, 10,000 strong, were sent
against the English centre and right, their first
task being the re-capture of the Sandbag Battery.
General Adams was still here with his 700 men
of the 41st Regiment, and he made a firm stand :
4,000 men attacked him again and again with far
more courage and persistence than any Russian
troops had yet shown; and at last, still fighting
inch by inch Adams fell back, leaving the battery
in the enemv's hands. Now the Guards came
up under the Duke of Cambridge, and replacing
Adams, went forward with a rush and recovered
it, only to find it a useless possession. It was
presently vacated by one lot, re-entered by the
Russians, recaptured by another lot, and then
again the Russians, imagining it to be an essen-
tial feature in our defence, concentrated their
forces to again attack it. Once more they took
it, once more the Guards returned, and with
irresistible energy drove them out. Thus the
tide of battle ebbed and flowed around this
emptv carcase, and to neither side did its posses-
sion mean loss or gain.
The 4th division, under Sir George Cathcart,
had now arrived upon the ground. He had just
2,000 men, and of these four-fifths were speedily
distributed in fragments to stiffen and support
Pennefather's fighting line just where he thought
they were most required. With the small resi-
due, not 400 men, Cathcart was readv for any
adventure. There wae a gap in our line between
Pemiefather's right and the Guards struggling
about the Sandbag Battery, and this opening
Cathcart was desired to fill. The order came
direct from Lord Raglan, who was now in the
field; but Cathcart thought fit to act otherwise,
believing that there was an opening for a deci-
sive flank attack. He meant to strike at the left
of the Russians, and leaving his vantage ground
above he descended the steep slopes with his
400 men. The offensive movement was taken
up by the troops nearest him — Guards, 20th,
f)5th. All our men gathered about the Sandbag
Battery rushed headlong like a torrent down the
hillside, and following up this fancied advantage,
jeopardised the battle. For the gap which Cath-
cart had been ordered to occupy became filled
by a heavy column of Russians, who took our
people in reverse and cut them completely off.
" I fear we are in a mess," said Cathcart, taking
in the situation ; and almost directly afterwards
he was shot through the heart. Only by a
desperate effort, a series of personal hand-to-hand
combats fought by small units courageously led
by junior officers, even by non-combatant doctors,
did our men regain touch with their own people.
They were aided, too, bv the opportune advance
of a French regiment, which took the interpos-
ing Russians in flank and drove them off. But
if this mad adventure of Cathcart's escaped the
mo.st disastrous consequences, its effect, never-
theless, was to still further break up and dis-
seminate our already weakened and half-spent
forces.
All this time Dannenberg had been pressing
hard upon our centre. Here his attacking
column met first Mauleverer with his victorious
army of the 30th, and forced them slowly and
reluctantly back, but was itself repulsed by a
fresh army of the Rifle Brigade and driven down
into the Ouarrv. Thence it again emerged, re-
inforced, and moved by the right again.st the
Home Ridge. It was in these advances that
they penetrated the gap just mentioned and got
upon the rear of Cathcart and the Guards. But
the westernmost columns were charged by a
portion of the 4th division, the 21st and 63rd
regiments, overthrown and pursued ; while the
Russian attack on the right of the Home Ridge
was met by General Goldie with the 20th and
57th, also of the 4th division. Both these regi-
ments were notable fighters, with very glorious
traditions : the '' Minden yell" of the 20th had
stricken fear into its enemies for more than a
century, and the 57th " Die Hards " had gained
that imperishable title of honour at Albuera.
26o
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
"Fiftj'-seveiUl!, rciiicmbcr Albucra 1 "' was a
battle-cry that .scut them with terrible fury itito
theKussian rank.s, and these two gallant regiments
hunted their game right down into the Quarry..
Once more the most strenuous efforts of the
enemy had failed, with what a cost of heroic
lives history still proudly tells. Dannenberg,
however, if disheartened was not yet hopeless.
He knew that the allies were hard pressed ; if
he himself had suffered so had they, and more
severely. He had still lo.ooo men in hand ;
many of them, although once worsted, were still
not disorganised or dis-
heartened, and his re-
serves — 9,000 more --
were -still intact, while
guns a Jiundred in num-
ber held the mastery
from Shell Hill. Of the
English forces, never
more than 5,000 strong,
half had been destroyed
or aiuiiilled. True, the
French had come upon
the ground with two
battalions, [,600 men ;
but Bo.squet, with the
main part of his com-
mand, was still a long
way behind. Dannen-
berg resolved to make
another and more deter-
mined attack upon the
centre of the English
position, aiming for that
Home Ridge, as it was
called, which was the
inner and last line of the
allied defence.
The Russians came on v.-ith a strength of
6,000 assailants, formed, as before, in a dense
column of attack. One led the van, the main
trunk followed, flanked bv others, and all coming
up out of the now memorable Ouarrv Ravine.
Pennefather had some 500 or 600 to hold the
ridge, remnants of the 55th, Q5th, and 77th regi-
ment.s, and a French battalion of the 7th Leger,
with a small detachment of Zouaves. These
were very inadequate forces, and the Russians,
pushing home with more heart than thev had
hitherto shown, crowned the crest and broke
over the inner slopes of the ridge. The 7th
Leger' had not much stomach for the fight, but
were salUed on by the Zouaves and the men of
the 77th, still led by the intrepid Egerton. By
-M,\RSI1.\L CANKOliEKl
this time the main trunk column of the enemy
had swept over the Barrier at the head of the
Ouarrj-, and the small force of defenders retired
suUenlj- behind the Home Ridge.
Now the position seemed in imminent danger,
and this was, perhaps, the most critical period in
the battle. But the advance of the Russians,
although in overwhelming strength, was checketi
by another daring charge — that of a handful ot
the 55th (thirty, no more) under Colonel Dan-
berry, who went headlong into the thick of one
of the rearmost Russian battalions. This small
body of heroes tore
through the mass by
>heer strength, as if it
were a football scrooge,
using their bayonets and
their butt-ends, even
their fists, fighting des-
perately till they " cleft
a path through the bat-
talion from flank to
flank, and came out at
last in open air on the
east of the great trunk
column." The noise of
tumult in the rear and
the vague sense of dis-
comfiture and defeat
shook the leading assail-
ants, and the Russians
first halted irresolute
then turned and retired.
At this time, too, one
of the flanking columns,
moving up on the Rus-
sian right, encountered
the 2ist and 63rd regi-
ments, and was promptly
charged and driven back by these regiments,
which re-possessed themselves of the Barrier and
held it. Then the Russian left column, worsted
by our artiller\' and the French 7th Leger, also
retired.
It was now but a little past 9 a.m., and as yet
the battle, although going against the Russians,
was still neither lost' nor won. They still held
the ascendant on Shell Hill, still had their re-
serves. Lord Raglan, on the other hand, could
not draw upon a single man, and Bosquet's main
force was still a long way off. Now, too, the
French got into some diflRculty upon our right
above the Sandbag Battery, and were in im-
minent danger of defeat. Moreover, the Russians
made a fresh effort against the Barrier, coming
/
I:
f-^nietf lVAo!^«^6
--- Tj^..-.>-r^
•THIS SMALL BODY OF HEROES TORE THROUGH THE MASS" (/. 260).
17
INKERMAN.
The Barrier
261
up once again out of tlve Quarry,
was held by the 21st and 03rd, but the stress
put upon them was great, and Pennefather
sent on such scanty support as he could spare
-^fragments of the 4')th, 77th, and Rifle
Brigade. Great slaughter ensued in this con-
flict. General Goldie, who was now in com-
So eager were our gunners thai these two
famous eightecn-pounders were dragged up to
the front with " man harness," by some hundred
and fifty artillerymen and a crowd of eager
officers. The guns were placed Jn a cpnimand-
ing position and worked splendidly under the
very eyes and with the warm approvaJ of Lord
*' ONXE MORE THE GUARDS RETURNED, AND WITII IRRESISTIUI.K ENERGY DROVE THEM OUT " (/•
m;.nd of the 4th division, was killed, and other
valuable officers.
The Russian artillcrv did deadly mischief, but
row, by Lord Raglan's unerring foresight, it was
to be met and overmatched by our guns. At
an earlier hour of the morning he had sent back
to the Siege Park for a couple of cighteen-
pounders, guns that in the enormous develop-
ment of artillery science we should think
nothing of nowadays, but which at Inkerman
were far superior to the Russian field-batteries.
Raglan. They soon established a superiority of
fire and spread such havoc and confusion among
the Russian batteries on Shell Hill that the
power of the latter began to wane. Victory, so
long in the balance, was at last inclining to
our side.
Still the battle was not won. li tlic Russians
did not renew their attacks, they .still held their
ground ; and Bosquet, coming up presently with
his whole strength, made a false move which
nearly jeopardised the issi:e. The French
20 :
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
general, having with him ;,ooo infantry and 24
guns, " hankering alter a flank attack," reached
forward on the far right beyond the Sandbag
Battery and the spurs adjoining. Here he fell
among the enemy, found himself threatened to
right and to left and in front, and, realising his
peril, hastily withdrew. Happil\-, the Russians
did not seize the undoubted advantage that
mere accident had brought them bv Bosquet's
injudicious and hazardous advance. Had they
gathered .strength for a fresh and vigorous on-
slaught upon our right, they might perhaps have
turned the .scale against us. The French were
clearly discomfited and out of heart for a time.
Then as the Russians made no forward move.
Bosquet regained confidence ; he threw forward
his Zouaves and Algerines, and these active
troops came upon some Russians which were
slowly climbing the slopes, and hurled them
down again in great disorder. Our old friends
the 6th and 7th French regiments, the earliest
on the field, advanced along the post-road
towards the Barrier, Avhere they were covered
by us. This, briefly told, was the sum total of
the French performances at the battle of
Inkerman.
It is well known to all who studv war that,
when the crisis of a battle comes, victory is for
him who has the best disposable reserve in hand.
Of the forces now engaged the French alone
were in this happy situation ; the English were
all but exhausted. Lord Raglan, as has been said,
had not a spare man. As for the Russians,
GortschakofTs supineness had robbed hiscomrades
of the assistance of 20,000 men, and the general-
in-chief, Mentschikoff, although close at hand on
the field, did not see fit to bring up the reinforce-
ments from the garrison of the town. But now
Marshal Canrobert, never a daring leader, was
moved to desist from the fight. When he learnt
that the English were all but spent, he would do
nothing more, although he had a very large
force of all arms now up and well in hand. No
arguments, no appeals of Lord Raglan's would
move him. ' " What can I — what can I do ? "
he asked querulously ; " the Russians are every-
where." Had it been left to the French, the
field would have been abandoned to the Russians,
who were .still in possession of the greater part
of Mount Inkerman, and the battle would have
been practically drawn.
On the other hand, a vigorous onslaught by
the still fresh and untouched French might have
carried the Flagstaff bastion and led to the
capture of Sebastopol itself. But Canrobert was
not the man to take so great a risk or jeopardise
so manj- lives. It was left to Haines, who still
held the Barrier, to move up against Shell Hill.
Lord West seconded him in this bold endeavour,
a young lieutenant of the 77th, Acton by name,
also went on with a mere handful, and Colonel
Horsford came on in support with the remnant
of the Rifle Brigade. All this time, too. Lord
Raglan's i8-pounders were dealing death and
destruction among the Russian batteries ; and
at last Damienberg, under stress of this " mur-
derous fire " — they are his own words — decided
to limber up his guns and retire his whole force.
This, in fact, was done, and about i p.m. the
Russians threw up the sponge.
If in this grand contest the allies were greatly
outnumbered by the Russians, the latter suffered
the most, their losses being four times as great
as those of the victors. They had 12,000 killed
and wounded, a large proportion of them left
dead upon the field, among them 256 officers.
The English lost 507 killed, 30 of them officers
and 3 general officers ; i ,760 men and q i
officers wounded. The French lost 13 officers
and 130 men killed and 36 officers and 750 men
wounded. These figures show plainly on whom
the brunt of the fighting fell, and the enormous
losses of the Russians was mainl}- due to the
density of their columns of attack and the
superiority of our musketry and artillery fire.
A very large part of the English infantry at
Inkerman were armed with the new-fangled
Millie rifle, and what powerful aid was afforded
by the two i8-pounder guns has been already
shown in the course of the narrative.
263
BECAUSE of his ruthless massacres of
unaniiLtl men and helpless women
anil children, the name of Te Kooti
has been held in detestation througli-
out New Zealand since 1868 ; and in conse-
quence it is not surprising to find but little
disposition to dilate on his undoubted abilities
amongst the Pakehas (white men) who have
chronicled his doings, though the Maoris dwell
fondly on his prowess.
A great leader of men this celebrated Maori
undoubtedly was, and, more than that, an
organiser of no mean ability, a first-rate military
leader, and finally a man of such hardihood,
steady courage, and resource, that his exploits
would seem well-nigh incredible did they not
form part of the well-authenticated history of
New Zealand.
Himself langata tiitiiti (a common man) he yet
acquired a mastery over the jealous and sus-
picious Maoris, who preferred to be led by a
jhieftain of undoubted birth, and managed to
keep faithful to himself men of different tribes,
whose hereditary disposition was to take opposite
sides. Badly provided with arms and food,
followed by only a few hundred men at most,
and traversing a savage and inhospitable country,
he yet managed to maintain a constant struggle
ugainst the Government of New Zealand, and
many Maori chiefs friendly to the whites, for
over three years, duiing the greater part of
which period hundreds of armed men were in
the field against bin;, and rewards ranging from
^'500 at first to _^'5,ooo in the end, were offered
for his apprehension.
Te Kooti '\\\ Ruld Te Riki-Rangi, to give
him his full title, was of the Ngatikahungunu
tribe of Maoris, which was settled on the East
Coast of New Zealand, in the Hawke's Bay and
Poverty Bay di>tricls, and therefore was one
th.at came early into contact with the whites,
who spread down the east coast from Kororareka
in the north — the nearest port to Sydney.
Europeans were first located in New Zealand
in 1792, or four years after the establishment of
New South Wales, from which colony New
Zealand was first settled ; and as Te Kooti was
not born till about the year 1833, it will be
readily understood that he was in no sense a
''wild" Maori, as were most of the Uriweras,
Waikatos, and other tribes, but, on the contrary,
a man well acquainted with the ways of Euro-
peans from his youth up. For some years he
served as a sailor on a schooner trading between
Poverty Bay and Auckland, and earned the
reputation amongst the whites of being a
turbulent and troublesome man. During the
Maori war of 1866 a number of Hauhaus* were
besieged by a mixed force of Europeans and
" friendlies " in a pah at Waerenga-a-hika, near
Poverty Bay, and amongst the besiegers was Te
Kooti, who was then a stalwart and vigorous
man of about thirty-three years of age. When
the final assault had been made and the pah
captured, a large number of prisoners were taken,
and at this time a friendly Maori chief named
Paora Parau was .seen holding Te Kooti by the
collar and presenting a pistol at his head. Asked
his- reason for thus treating a man who was an
ally, he declared that Te Kooti had supplied
ammunition to his (Te Kooti's) brother, who
was one of the besieged, and was, therefore, a
traitor to the cause he pretended to serve. Te
Kooti indignantly denied this accusation, but it
was apparently believed by the whites, for it
was repeated by a settler, and Te Kooti was then
placed amongst the Hauhau prisoners and taken
to Napier, where he made three distinct appeals,
* Hauhaus were fanatical Maoris whose religion wa:i
a strange jumble of native and Biblical creeds. The)-
continually ejaculated the word " Hau " in battle, believ-
ing that thereby they secured immunity from wounds.
26a
BATTLES OF THE NINETEEXTII CEN'ITRY,
through Mr. ITaniHn, to the Govcrnnicin to be
tried, or, at all events, told definitely of what
crime he was accused ; but all in vain, and tinallv
he was, with about 150 of the most dangerous
of the Hauhaus, shipped away from Auckland to
the Chatham Islands, which lie >ome 400 miles
GROUP 01-' MAORIS.
to the eastward of New Zealand, in latitude
44° S.
Thus Te Kooti, an ally of the Europeans,
found himself treated as an enemv, and sent
without trial away from his native land. He
repeatedly asked to be released, and it is said
that a promise to release all the prisoners at the
end of two years was made ; but when that time
came the Government steamer .SV. Kilda arrived
at the Chatham Islands with seed potatoes,
ploughs, and provisions for the prisoners, which
looked to the latter very much as if their exile
was to be continued fcjr ever. Te Kooti lost all
faith in Pakeha promises, and hatched a plot
with the other prisoners to escape after the
steamer hati departed. A schooner, thj RiHc-
iiiaii, belonging to, or chartered by, a Mr. Hood,
was lying at anchor at the island, and it was-
determined to seize her and sail to-
New Zealand. The guard over the
prisoners had been reduced from 35
to 0 men, under the command ot
Captain Thomas, and these few men
were easily overpowered and their
arms taken from them. Captain
Thomas was marched into the
court-house between a double guard
of .Maoris, armed with carbines,
and made to open an iron safe
containing about X5°° '" coin
which mone\' was seized, and to-
gether with 40 or 50 stands of arms,
and some provisions taken on board
the Rificmaii, the mate and crew of
which were threatened with instant
death if they attempted any resist-
ance to the seizing of the ship. All
the prisoners — 163 men, 64 women,
and 7 1 children — embarked, and the
European mate and crew of the
schooner (the captain was on shore)
were ordered to navigate her to
New Zealand — or be shot.
The alternative was not a pleasant
one, and seeing that Te Kooti
meant exactly what he said, thev
hauled up the sails and steered out
of the bav. The escape had been
managed with the loss of only one
life, as Te Kooti had made his men
promise to respect the lives of the
Europeans if thev made no re-
sistance. The man killed was one of
the guards, who was tcmiahawked
by a Hauhau, named Tomoana
Tiki-Tiki, through some jealousy on account
of the hitter's wife, and therefore Te Kooti was
in no way responsible for the deed. Another,
more cruel, mnst be laid to his door, however,
for on a dead calm prevailing just when they
had passed out of the bay, Te Kooti declared
that Tangaroa, the god of the ocean, was
angry, and required a sacrifice, and this he'
conveniently found in a relation of his own, an
old man who had warned the Pakehas of the
intended rising. Despite his cries, the old man's
hands were tied together and he was thrown
TE KOOTI'S RAIDS.
26;
overboard. Singularly enough, a breeze at once
sprang up, and the Maoris sailed away, snapping
their fingers at the outwitted Pakehas, who
could not even pursue, as Te Kooti had, before
embarking, cut the cable of the only other ship
in port — the ketch Florence — and set her adrift,
having previously forced her crew to land.
These events took place on July 4th, 186S,
and si.K days later — namely, on July loth — the
Rijlcmun arrived at Whareongaonga, si.x miles
their ship, departed to Wellington, some 250
miles distant, instead of giving warning at the
nearest settlements on the coast.
Consequently it was only by chance thai
Major Biggs, the resident magistrate at Poverty
Bay, heard of the landing. He lost no time in
taking action, however, and, on July 12th, set
out with a force of eighty friendly Maoris and
forty Europeans, and coming up with Te Kooti's
band, found them strongly posted in a position
TE KOOTI TELL ON THEIK CAMP AND CAriURED ALL THEIR HORSES " '/. 266).
south of Gisborne, on the New Zealand coast.
During the voyage Te Kooti, fully armed, re-
mained on deck almost the whole time ; and a
jealous watch was kept on the mate and crew,
who were not even allowed to cook their own
food, this office being performed for them bv
one of the escapees, a half-caste named Baker.
Directly the anchor dropped, all the Maoris,
save those told off to guard the crew, landed,
and at once set about discharging the cargo ot
the schooner, which Te Kooti had no diffidence
about annexing. Working all night, the cargo
was landed by the next morning, and the
crew were then released, and, setting sail on
which enabled them to guard their stolen
goods.
To the demand to surrender Te Kooti gave a
scornful replv, but stated his determination not
to molest anyone if he were allowed to depart
in peace. Major Biggs, on receiving this answer,
gave the order to attack ; but the friendly Maoris,
who composed the greater part of his force,
refused to move, giving as their reason that the
enemy were too strongly posted ; and the same
evening Te Kooti avoided Major Biggs's force,
and retreated inland over marvellously rough
country, carrying all the loot taken from the
schooner. When the escape was discovered.
266
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Major Biggs despatched Mr. Skipwitli with a
few friendly Maoris to dog the rear of the
escapees and watch all their movements.
Meanwhile the commander himself fell back
and collected reinforcements, with which four
days later he marched to Paparatu, where he
hoped to intercept Te Kooti on his march in-
land. A camp was formed, and for four days
the force waited, but there was no sign of the
enemy, and, supplies running short. Major Biggs
departed to hurr\- up the reliefs who were bring-
ing provisions.
While he was awav Mr. Skipwith arrived,
and declared that Te Kooti was advancing, but
slowly, as his followers were very heavily laden.
On the morning of the sixth day Captain
Westrupp, who was commanding in the absence
of Major Biggs, sent out three scouts, who were
very soon seen returning at speed as if pursued.
The force was now ordered to get under arms,
and cheerfully obeyed, though the men had had
nothing to eat for thirty-six hours except an old
tooar, which they consumed, skin and all, to the
last morsel.
A picket had previously been posted in a
strong position on a hill commanding the spur
up which Te Kooti would have to advance, and
to the support of this picket Captain Westrupp
sent a strong force ; but before they could
arrive Te Kooti had captured the hill and driven
the defenders down the slope, and there was
now nothing to be done but endeavour to re-
take the position. Charging up the hill, the
Europeans managed to secure possession of a
small ridge, which was separated from the higher
ridge occupied by the Hauhaus by a small gully,
across which a continuous fire was exchanged.
When this had continued for some time, a
European volunteer, to whom the name " Billy
the Goose " had been given by his comrades, was
shot dead, and another was severely wounded.
Te Kooti's men now managed to take their
opponents in flank, and soon wounded two
•others. Encouraged by these successes, they
made a number of feints as if they were about
to charge with fixed bayonets, but the Europeans
stood firm and were not to be intimidated.
Ammunition began to run short, and anxious
glances were cast in the direction from which
Major Biggs with the reliefs was expected, and
with joy the exhausted men at length saw figures
on the distant track. Alas ! for their hopes,
however, the reliefs proved to be only nine
friendly Maoris, " most of whom were exces-
sively drunk," says the historian, they having
broached a cask of rum which was amongst the
provisions they carried. Te Ko<jti now executed
a flank movement which utterly routed his foes,
for, marching round the force that had been
keeping him engaged, he fell on their camp and
captured all their horses, saddles, baggage, and
accoutrements to the value of £1,200, and forced
them to hastily retreat, leaving two men dead
on the field and carrying away ten more
wounded out of a total force of fifty. Te Kooti
lost only two men, and his first encounter with
the Europeans was thus a marked success for
him. He made himself comfortable with his
followers in the camp of the Pakehas — whose
swords, horses, provisions, etc., made their con-
querors rich indeed — and when his men had
rested sufficiently, he leisurely resumed his march.
Meanwhile weak, famished, and embarrassed
by their Avounded, two of whom had to be
carried every step of the way, the Europeans
retreated over a country of terrible roughness
to Tepatoho, where they were joined bj- Colonel
Whitmore with thirty Napier volunteers, and
on the da\- following the meeting the pursuit of
Te Kooti was taken up, but long before he was
overtaken he had been intercepted by another
force at Te Korraki, and had again defeated his
enemies. This force was raised by Mr. Deighton,
R.M., and Mr. Preece, Clerk to the Bench at
Wairoa, and was composed of Europeans and
friendly Alaoris. After scouring the country in
various directions, this force, which had been
joined by Captains Wilson and Richardson, at
length (on July 24th) came in sight of the
enemy, who were seen descending a distant spur
of the Ahimanu range.
Te Kooti's victory at Paparatu had brought
him fame amongst the Maoris, and he had now
fully 200 men under him ; and his force, as it
descended the hill with its long train of women,
children, and horses, looked formidable indeed
to the few Europeans and their lukewarm ]\Iaori
supporters. The latter, indeed, thought it foo
formidable, and sixt\' of them under Paora Te
Apatu incontinent!}' bolted, leaving a ven.- weak
contingent indeed to oppose the confident Te
Kooti, who assured his followers that he was
" an instrument in the hands of Providence and
appointed to carry out its instructions," and
generally worked on their superstitions.
When Paora Te Apatu fled, the Europeans
were obliged to follow, but next day (July 25th)
the whole force advanced against Te Kooti
across the Hangaroa river, and a smart action
followed ; but in a very short time Te Kooti
TE KOOTI'S RAIDS.
267
threw forward liis left flank against the position
held by Paora Te Apatii, whereupon that re-
doubtable warrior offdin tied with fifty of his
tribe, and this time kept on ruiniing till he
\ anished in the dim distanee. Mr. Preeee and
Captain Riehardson were then obliged to fall
baek to the next hill, which they held until
evening, when their ammunition gave out, and
they were deserted by Rakiora and some of
his men. Seeing the chief moving off in the
direction of Te Kooti's force, Mr. Preeee asked
him where he was going. " To get a drink of
water," he replied; but, says Mr. Gudgeon, the
historian, " he must have gone a long way, for
he was absent four years ! "
The Europeans and friendlies now retired to
Te Wairoa, having lost two men (Maori allies)
killed and several wounded, and Te Kooti re-
sumed his march in triumph.
His success now began to cause great alarm
to the whites. Government took action : the
militia were called out, and Colonel Whitmorc's
force was strengthened. The Te Wairoa force
under Captain Richardson and Mr. Preeee was
reorganised and brought up to a strength of 200
men by the accession of a body of friendly-
Maoris under Ihaka Whanga. On the 2nd of
August the advanced guard reconnoitred all the
country about Te Reinga Falls, when it was dis-
covered that Te Kooti had crossed the river and
had made off in the direction of the Papuni.
Captain Richardson had received orders not to
follow the enemy in this direction ; so he re-
turned to Te Wairoa, but had hardly reached
there when an orderly arrived and instructed
him to follow up Colonel Whitmore's march with
twenty picked men and a store of ammunition.
While the Te Wairoa force had been re-
connoitring, marching, and counter-marching.
Colonel Whitmore had been steadih- following
Te Kooti's tracks, which pursuit he had taken
up after the Paparatu light as already stated.
He had with him the Napier and Poverty Bay
volunteers and some friendly Maoris — in all 130
men ; while Major Eraser, with fifty armed con-
sfabulary, was following another line of pursuit
along the Hangaroa track. The di\ision with
the colonel had very rough work, as they were
exposed to violent snowstorms on the Ahimanu
range, and ran (Uit df provisions before they
reached the Waihau Lakes, where Major Eraser
joined \\ith his constabulary, and reported that
Te Kooti's trail led in the direction of the
Ruakituri gorge. The colonel determined to
follow at once despite the lack of provisions.
but the Poverty Bay volunteers, who had some-
thing of a grudge against the commander, re-
fused to go any further, and Colonel Whitmore
was obliged to continue the pursuit with a
greatly reduced force, consisting of fifty armed
constabulary, a few volunteers, and about sixty
friendly Maoris. Up the bed of the Ruakituri
river the force marched, finding camp after
camp of the Hauhaus ; and at length, on the
evening of August 8th, when the men were
thoroughly exhausted, the enemy, some .250
strong, were found posted in the Ruakituri gorge.
CHATHAM
SLANDS
)
Led by Captain
Carr and Ser-
geant - Major
Withers, the
advanced guard
of six men pro-
ceeded in single
file up the narrow gorge, and on rounding
a bend were suddenly received with a volley
from the Hauhaus, who were posted only fifty
yards away. No damage was done, and thi
advanced guard managed to get under cove; ,
but the main force, which stood in a long line in
the river bed, was more exposed to a raking fire
from Te Kooti's men, who lined the base of the
hill and river bend. Several men were killed,
and Captain Tuke was severely wounded in an
attempt to scale the banks and get the force out
of the trap in which it was caught.
The advanced guard could not be supported,
and being hotly pursued by the enem\-, was
forced to leave its shelter in the thick scrub
and fall back on the main body, its leader,
Captain Carr, and Mr. Canning, a volunteer,
being killed in this retreat.
Having got rid of the advanced party, Te
268
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
Kooti quicklv worked down on the main body
through the scrub, and very nearly succeeded in
cutting off its retreat. In this onslaught he was
himself, however, shot in the foot, and this woinid
affected his health for the remainder of his lite.
The friendly natives under Henare Tomoana
now beat a retreat, leaving the Pakehas to their
fate ; and seeing that they were greatly out-
numbered, the latter also fell back, and after
awaiting further attack at an island a mile and
a half in the rear of the gorge, finally retreated
to their camp at Te Reinga. Only a few of the
strongest men reached the camp that night, how-
ever ; the rest, utterly exhausted and almost
starving, lay down in their tracks and passed a
miserable night in the desolate bush — rain falling
in torrents on their unsheltered and emaciated
bodies.
The loss of the assailants was five killed and
five wounded, while Te Kooti had eight men
killed and three wounded — one of the latter
being himself as stated above.
The indomitable Maori had now won his third
fight, and disdaining to retreat any further, he
formed a camp at Puketapa, near the scene of
the fight, and occupied it from August 8th to
October 28th, during which time he proclaimed
himself saviour of the Maori people, and sent
messengers all over the North Island urging the
tribes to rise and join him.
Their defeat at the Ruakituri gorge was a
fatal one for the Europeans, for it reduced their
prestige amongst the Maoris, increased Te
Kooti's mana (or fame), and caused that leader
to give up his idea of retreating to some safe
place where he could live in peace, and substitute
for it a scheme of relentless war against the
Pakehas, whom he evidentlv hoped to e.Ktermin-
ate altogether. The dreadful massacres which
followed, and which have made Te Kooti's name
execrated in New Zealand, would probably
never have taken place if the Ruakituri affair
had inflicted a severe check on the daring
JMaori. That Te Kooti was a cruel and heart-
less man has already been shown by his treat-
ment of his luckless old relative on the Ritic-
?naii, and here a later atrocity of his may be
mentioned.
Shortlv after Paparatu, Colonel Whitmore
despatched an orderly, named Brown, toWairoa ;
but unfortunatel}^ for himself the man was inter-
cepted by the Hauhaus, and brought before Te
Kooti, who ordered his instant execution. He
was shot, and his bodv, with that of his dog,
was thrown into a ditch, where some days later
Colonel Whitmore's pursuing column found the
remains.
Being left unmolested, Te Kooti occupied
himself in constructing a pah at Puketapa, in
extending his influence amongst his followers,
and in securing recruits. In this last matter he
was very successful. Te Waru and Reihana,
chiefs of the upper Wairoa tribes, joined him
secretlv while pretending friendship to the white
man, and Nama, with forty men of the Temai-
onarangi tribe, joined him openlv. Rigid dis-
cipline was kept up in Puketapa by Te Kooti,
who would not even allow his men to eat or
smoke except at stated times. " There is a time
for all things," he said. His punishment for
disobedience was death, and such ascendancy
had he acquired over his turbulent followers
that they dared not dispute his orders openly,
but being well-nigh starving, would often steal
from the pah into the open, where thev would
shoot their horses for food. No better proof of
Te Kooti's wonderful force of character could be
found than the fact that he kept together at
Puketapa some hundreds of turbulent Maoris
under conditions of discomfort, and such priva-
tion, that when he finally broke camp and started
on his great raid, some of his men dropped in
their tracks and died from the sheer weakness of
starvation, their skeletons being found long after-
wards by the Europeans. Te Kooti would
allow no interference with his authority in
Puketapa, and a Uriwera chief who resented
his dictation found himself in a position ot
danger and fled from the pah, only to be pur-
sued, brought back, and slain by the ruthless
Te Kooti. After this none dared to question hie
authoritv, and he stood the acknowledged leader.
The position he held at Puketapa enabled him
to descend with ease either on the settlements
at Poverty Bay or those at Te Wairoa, and as it
was known that he had vowed vengeance on the
Pakehas, much anxietv was felt by the settlers.
Men were set to watch the tracks by which the
Hauhaus might come, but Major Biggs seemed
lulled into a state of false security, and a move-
ment at Poverty Bav to erect a fort, or place of
strength, to which the settlers could retire in
the event of attack, fell through, and Te Kooti
met with no opposition when he arrived.
By the end of October he had completed all
his arrangements, and his terrible raid on
Poverty- Baj- commenced. Setting out with his
half-starved force from Puketapa, and having
with him manv of the Uriwera tribe in whose
countrj- he then was, he marched to Pahekeheke,
THE HAUHAUS SHOT OK
|;A\UNLTLU THEM—MEN, WO.MEX
TO ESCAPE • (A 270).
AXD CHILUREN'-AS THEV AITEMPTKO
BATTLES OF THE XIN'ETEEXTH CENTURY.
where tie was joined by the cliiefs Nania and
Te Waru and their men, and thence tiie united
force swept down on the plains. Many of Te
Kooti's half-starved men were very weak, so
he left his main body at Pukepuke with the
women and children, continuing his march with
about 200 of the strongest men. The ^illage of
Patutahi was captured, and its people forced to
ioin the Hauhaus, who next moved on to the
white settlement at Matawhero.
At midnight on the 8th of November, 1868
(some say the 9th of November), the Hauhaus
crossed the Patutahi ford and entered the settle-
ment. The first house the}- reached was that ot
Mr. Wylie, and the owner was seen seated by a
table writing ; but Te Kooti felt so sure of this
victim, v.hom he specially hated, that he de-
termined to deal with the other settleis first and
then return for Wylie. The Hauhaus now broke
up into parties, and, going to house after house,
roused the settlers, and then shot or bayoneted
them — men, women, and children — as they at-
tempted to escape. To give the details of the
massacre would be impossible in the compass of
a brief chapter, but w^hat happened in the case
of Major Biggs — the unfortunate victim of over-
confidence — may be related as showing the
modus operandi of the Hauhaus. When the
latter reached Biggs's house, they knocked at
the door as if they were peaceful visitors, and
the owner asked them what they wanted. " We
want to see you," they replied ; and Biggs sus-
pected that the long-dreaded raid had come.
He opened the door, at the same time calling to
his wife to escape by the back, but she refused
to leave him. The Hauhaus fired, and the
Major fell dead on his own verandah. They
then rushed in, and tomahawked Mrs. Biggs,
her babv, and the servant.
Captain Wilson's case may be quoted, for,
though similar to Major Biggs's in most respects,
it yet exhibits the treachery of the Hauhaus in a
stronger light. Wilson defended his house with
a revolver, and the assailants thereupon adopted
the easy plan of burning him out. They set
fire to the house at either end, and then offered
to spare the lives of Wilson and his family if
he would surrender without further opposition.
He did not set much value on their promises,
but, as the alternative was being burned alive,
he accepted the offer, and, with his servant, a
man named Moran, was led towards the river
bank. Suddenly a Hauhau rushed at Moran
and killed him with a blow from a hatchet, and
at the same moment Captain Wilson was shot
in the back. Mrs. Wilson and the children were
then ba3-oneted, but one little boy escaped, and,
concealed in the scrub, was witness to the awful
tragedy. Poor Mrs. Wilson was not killed,
though she was repeatedly stabbed, and beaten
with the butts of muskets; and, after the mur-
derers had gone, she managed to crawl to the
b.irn, where her little bov fed her with eggs as
best he could, and kept her alive for seven days
till relief came. But her wounds were too severe
and the shock of the tragedy too great for re-
covery to be possible, and she died shortly after-
wards at Napier.
The work of slaughtering and plundering
went on during the night and early morning,
and was continued throughout the district at
intervals for two davs until twenty-nine Euro-
peans and thirty-two friendly natives hid been
slain, and the terrified survivors fled to Gisbornc,
whence the women and children were shipped to
Napier ; and the men fortified the place in daily
expectation of attack, but none was made. Te
Kooti, contenting himself with what he had done
and with looting and burning the houses of the
-settlers, finally retreated with great piles of
plunder heaped up on the carts taken from the
unhappy settlers.
Here may be related what had happened in
the case of Mr. Wylie, whom Te Kooti had
fondly hoped to "make sure of on the first
night of the massacre. Alarmed by the sounds
of firing, Wylie and some other settlers had
managed to make good their escape ; and, when
the Hauhau leader returned for his cherished
vengeance, he found the house empty and his
hoped-for victim flown. Raging, he searched
the house, and, finding some promissory notes
signed with Wylie's name, he proceeded to cat
them, under the delusion that they were mone\-
belonging to Wylie, whom he determined to
injure in some way if he could not kill him. He
had hopes of a more satisfactory vengeance yet,
however ; and, flinging himself on his horse and
followed by twenty mounted men, he dashed ofl
in the direction he believed the fugitives had
taken. Galloping up to the native village by the
ford on the river, he ordered the chief, Tutari,
to point out the way the settlers had gone ; but
the brave old man refused to do so, whereupon
the infuriated Te Kooti ordered him to be killed
with his two children, which bloody deed was
performed before the eyes of the wife and
mother, Avho in turn was threatened with death
if she did not give the information required.
She saved her life by pointing out the direction,
TE KOOTI'S RAIDS.
27r
and, swcLiring tluit lie wiuikl cut little pieces off
Wylic when he caught him, Te Kooti galloped
ofl" with his savage followers, all drunk with
liquor and slaughter, and ripe for even more
horrible atrocities than they had yet committed.
When they had gone several miles, however,
they learned that the woman had outwitted
them and set them on the wrong track, and,
furit)us, they returned to the settlement, while
Wylie and the other escapees made their way
to a place of refuge.
The savage Poverty Bay massacre naturally
made Te Kooti the best-hated man in all New
Zealand — by Europeans and friendly Maoris
alike — and from that time on, for several years,
a fierce and determined pursuit of him over
mountains, rivers, and lakes, through bush,
swamp-land and fern, was maintained by whites
and natives ; but though always outnumbered,
repeatedly surrounded, hungry, wounded, and
ill-supplied with ammunition, he escaped again
and again, and fighting ever, retreated from fast-
ness to fastness, and eluding his pursuers, swooped
down on distant settlements, bringing murder
and ruin in his train, till his name became a
veritable terror to the young colony, to whose
financial burdens he was adding at the rate of
five hundred pounds a day. " One thousand
pounds a day " was the cost of the Maori wars
at this date, and of this sum Te Kooti must have
been responsible for fully one-half, if not more.
Within a few days of the massacre, Lieutenant
Gascoigne collected a force of Europeans at
Turanganui (Gisborne), and was joined by
Henare Potae and his friendly Maoris, and a
week later by Major Westrupp and Captain
Tuke, wlio came from Napier with 300 friendly
Maoris.
The force set out for ]\Iatawhero, where the
melancholy duty of burying the bodies of those
slain by the Hauhaus was performed, and then
marched in hot pursuit of Te Kooti. On
November 21st his rear-guard was overtaken at
Patutahi, and two of them were .shot. Quan-
tities of loot which the Hauhaus had been un-
able to carry away were found here, and also the
dead bodies of friendl}- Maoris shot b}- Te
Kooti's orders.
At Pukepuke more bodies were found, and
the carts and sledges of the murdered settlers.
The trail grew w-arm, and on the evening of
November 23rd the pursuers came up with the
main body of the Hauhaus on the Te Karetu
Creek. A furious fire was at once opened, but
the assailants were beaten back with a loss of
five killed and twelve wounded, amongst the
former being Hamuera Teiroa and Karauria, two
chiefs of the friendlies. Twenty Hauhaus were
killed, but the enemy held the position, and the
assailants were obliged to retire to a ridge twelve
hundred yards from the Hauhaus, who were
strongly entrenched.
Rifle-pits were pushed towards the entrench-
ments, and for a whole week heavy and con-
tinuous firing was kept up, and a number of men
on both sides were killed and wounded. Te
Kooti now executed one of his daring outflanking
movements, and sixty of his men under Baker,
the half-caste, captured the base of the attacking
force's supplies at Patutahi, carried off eight kegs
of ammunition and a quantity of provisions, and
so alarmed the force at Te Karetu that the
attack was on the point of being relinquished ;
but on December ist powerful reinforcements
arrived from Te Wairoa — namely, 370 friendly
Maoris, under the renowned chief Ropata — and
on the following morning a fierce attack was
made on the Hauhau entrenchments. Forty
Wairoa natives, under the command of Mr.
Preece, commenced the assault, and being pre-
sently aided by the Ngatiporu, under Ropata,
drove the Hauhaus out of two lines of entrench-
ments into their last line of rifle-pits on the
creek. The toils had now closed about Te
Kooti, and it seemed as if an early vengeance
for the Poverty Bay massacre was to be taken.
Three columns of attack were formed, the
Wairoas on the left, Ngatiporu in the centre,
and Napier tribes on the right, and a furious-
rush was made for the Hauhaus' last position.
They stood for a moment, but the fury of the
attack was too much for them, and they broke
and fled across the river, under a terrible flanking
fire from the left column, which killed thirty-
four and wounded many more. This flanking
fire, however, saved Te Kooti, for the Ngatiporu
were unable to cross it in pursuit, and Te Kooti.
weak, worn, and lame from the wound in his
foot received at Ruakituri, was carried up the
river bed on a woman's back ! and got clear
away, though hundreds thirsting for his blood
were just behind. What would have happened
to him had he been captured may be judged by
what occurred in the case of Nama, his ally,
who was wounded, but taken alive. His com-
plicity in the Poverty Bay massacres and other
atrocities had rendered him particularly objec-
tionable to the Wairoa and Ngatiporu friendlies,
and they settled all scores by roasting him over
a slow fire, the Europeans " looking the other
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
way " apparentlv. Fourteen dead Hauliaus were
tound in a single pool in the river, and one of
these was floating with his face out of the water
in such a singular manner that Hami Tapeka,
a Ngatiporu, was much surprised, and gently
prodded the "corpse" with his bayonet. "It"
TE KOOTI.
started up out of the water very much alive,
and would have escaped but for the prompt
action of Hami, who made certain of matters
this time by an ounce ball from his musket.
In this action two Europeans were wounded,
in addition to the casualties amongst the friend-
lies. After this severe defeat Te Kooti made
.good his escape to a pah which seems to have
been previously prepared, on the highest point
of the bush-clad mountain of Ngatapa.
This pah Ropata discovered on the morning
after the fight, and on the 5th of December he
proceeded to attack it with his tribe and some
Wairoa natives under Mr. Preece. For two
miles the force wound upwards through thick
bush, and then suddenly found themsehes in
front of the pah, which was defended by tM'o
lines of strong earthworks extending across a
small flat and resting on a cliff" at each end.
The position was, in fact, impregnable against
such a small force ; imd to make matters worse
many of Ropata's men retreated, leaving Mr.
Preece and a few men to make the
attack, which they gallantly did, and
actually stormed the outer earth-
work, but were ultimately forced
to retreat. Ropata was in such a
towering rage with the men who
had deserted him that he refused
to have anything more to do with
them, and was retreating in dudgeon
to the coast when he met Colonel
Whitmore with 300 constabulary- marching to
his relief.
Even then he would not turn back, but
promised to return later with recruits, and
Whitmore went on alone. His scouts brought
in news that Te Kooti was burning his whares
(huts) on Ngatapa, and rashly concluding that
this was but a prelude to retreat, Colonel
Whitmore drew off his forces to the coast,
whereupon the ever-vigilant Te Kooti, well
served by his spies, swooped down {toi\\ his
mountain on the settlements, where he killed
j-oung Mr. Wylie (son of his old enemy), Mr.
Fergusson, and a friendly Maori, and plundered
various homes. Hearing of this raid. Colonel
Whitmore endeavoured to cut off Te Kooti's
retreat ; but the skilful Maori easily eluded
him, and retired again to his fortress on Ngatapa,
which he strengthened, and then calml\- awaited
attack.
On December 24th Colonel Whitmore marched
on Ngatapa, and on the 30th was joined by
Ropata with 370 friendlies. Te Kooti had chosen
his position well. Ngatapa was a conical hill
rising to a height of 2,000 feet from a mass of
bush-clad hills, and was crowned by the pah,
which was defended in front by three lines i f
earth and fern-tree parapets, with ditches in
front in the European style. These parapets
abutted on steep scarped slopes at either end ;
the outer line was about 250 yards long and
seven feet high ; the second line was shorter as
THE CROWS-NEST, TAUI'C.
{Ffv>ii a phot.-graf'ft by Burton Brothers^ Ditnctiin.)
TE KOOTI'S RAIDS.
273
the peak contracted ; the third hue was a huge
work fourteen feet high, and dotted all over
with loopholes formed with sandbags, through
which loopholes the enemy could tire with hut
little risk of being injured themselves. Each
line was joined to the next by protected pas-
sages, through which the defenders could retire.
The rear of the work was situated on an almost
perpendicular cliff, and altogether Ngatapa would
have been a formidable position for the best-
disciplined troops to attack, especially when
Ropata attacked the pah from the rear with
fifty picked men, and in the teeth of the de-
fenders this division commenced to scale th e cliff,
a heavy fire being kept up by the Hauhaus and
replied to by a large force of European and
Maori coverers. Finally, with a loss of eight
men, Ropata's stormers climbed the cliflF, broke
into the trenches, and seized the first line of
defence. Te Kooti was now apparently doomed,
for he was surrounded on all sides save one — a
nearly precipitous cliff— by a force greatly out-
IN IHt TAll'O i-OUMRV.
> Photo, Warrtn.)
held by such a bold and skilful leader as Te
Kooti.
On January ist, 1869, the assault was com-
menced with spirit, and in a very brief space
the only supply of water available tor the de-
fenders was captured. Ritie pits were carried
within 100 yards of the outer line of defence,
and the artillery having brought up a mortar
opened a hot fire with shells which had to be
carried on men's backs for a distance of three
miles over a countiy of extreme roughness.
The siege was pressed vigorously, and a very
heavy fire was kept up on both sides. Captain
Brown of No. 7 constabulary division being
shot dead on the 2nd, and Captain Capel being
seriously wounded on the 3rd. On the 4th
66
numbering his hungrv and weakened band. He
had very little food, and no water at all, for
several days, and would have been obliged to
surrender but for rain opportunely setting in
and enabling the defenders to catch sufficient
water in blankets and shirts to keep themselves
alive.
A storming partv, 200 strong, formed in the
trench taken by Ropata, and sat down to wait
for morning, but at 2 a.m. a Maori woman
within the pah called out that Te Kooti had
gone ! And so he had, with all his men and
women, except those wounded. In the morning
it was found that the defenders had slipped away
by means of the one unguarded and supposedly
impassable side, and were now miles off in the
274
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
bush. The enraged Ropata at once set out in
pursuit, and, as the Hauhaus from want of food
were obhged to break up into small parties, he
captured 120, all of whom he summarily shot ;
but Te Kooti and many of his men easily
escaped and proceeded to visit the Uriwera
tribe, with whom they remained unmolested for
some time.
A number of his men returned to tlieir homes,
and the indignation of the settlers became ex-
treme when they saw red-handed Poverty- Bay
murderers walking about unmolested in their
midst ; and a Mr. Benson, who had lost relatives
in the massacre, openly shot a Maori whom he
knew to have had a hand in the murders of his
friends. Next day Benson was requested by a
constable to sit as a juror in the inquest held on
the Maori's body. " But I shot him," said
Benson. " I have nothing to do with that,"
replied the guardian of the peace ; " all I have
to do is to find jurymen, and if you don't attend,
I'll summon you ! " Benson then proceeded
with eleven other intelligent jurymen to try
himself, and, having gone into the box and given
evidence against himself, he, with the others,
retired to consider the verdict, which was soon
found, and ran as follows : — " SJiot by some
person unknown^ and serve him right ! '^
The foregoing pages will give a fair idea of
Te Kooti's fighting methods, wonderful skill,
and great hardihood, and space will only permit
of a hurried glance at the remainder of his
stirring career.
In April, 1869, operations were recommenced
against him and his allies, the Uriweras. After
some desultory fighting, he was brought to bay
at Tauaroa by Major Mair and 400 men ; but
again he escaped in the night with all his men,
and earlv in May swooped down on Mohaka on
the coast, and, taking the Huka pah by treacher\-
and courage combined, killed there in cold blood
seven Europeans and fiftj'-seven Maoris, and looted
the whole settlement. He nearly lost his own
life here, however, for Heta, one of the defenders
of the pah, when he recognised the Hauhau's
treachery, said, " If I die, you die too," and,
raising his rifle, fired point-blank at Te Kooti,
who was, however, saved by one of his men,
who struck up the muzzle. Heta was at once
shot, and a general massacre followed.
Te Kooti next besieged the pah Hiruharama,
but this held out gallantly, though it was largely
garrisoned by little Maori boys and girls, who
had to stand on boxes or mounds of earth
in order to fire over the parapet. Trooper
Hill and a few Maoris managed to charge
through Te Kooti's men and supplement the
garrison of the pah. All night Hill, curiously
armed with a double-barrelled gun, a rifle, and a
long spear, stood at a threatened angle of the
pah, physically supported by two full-grown
men, two little boys, and three girls, and morally
supported by the Maori parson of the pah, who
" came round every hour and prayed for his
success,'' says the historian. Provisions were
very short, and, having received in fortv-eight
hours (as a great favour) from his Maori friends
a pannikin of tea, one apple, and a biscuit.
Sergeant Hill was not sorry when Te Kooti's
bugles sounded the retreat, and the siege was
raised. For his conduct in defending this pah
Hill received the New Zealand Cross.
Te Kooti's next murderous raid was on Opepe,
where, by treacherv, he cut off from their arms
and slew nine European troopers.
He then withdrew to Taupo, and was joined
by the chief Te Heu-heu, and it was feared that
Tawhiao, the Maori king, would join him with
the powerful Waikato tribes, so the Govern-
ment put a price of five hundred pounds on Te
Kooti's head, and offered five pounds for every
rebel Maori captured and one pound for everj'
Maori killed in fair fight, a policv politely depre-
cated by the British Minister for the Colonies,
Earl Granville, but defended by the New Zea-
landers, who reproached Britain with deserting
them in the hour of their greatest need, and
hinted at a determination to throw off allegiance
to that country and seek assistance from the
United States of America. It must be recollected
that Te Kooti was dealt with without British
assistance, which had been freely accorded in
the earlier Maori wars.
Te Kooti w-as pursued with the most unre-
lenting vigour, and to describe all his hairbreadth
escapes would be impossible in a few pages.
On October 3rd, i86q, he was defeated at
Pourere by Colonel McDonnell, with a loss of
seventy men, and was himself severely wounded
by a ball which struck him as he was taking a
cap for his rifle from his waistcoat pocket. The
bullet wounded the thumb and forefinger, cut
the third finger clean off, and then passed through
the fleshy part of his side. He retreated into
the King country, but was after a time forced to
leave by the Waikatos, and was again surrounded;
but just when his capture seemed certain, he
eluded his pursuers and made one of his raids
on a native settlement on the Wanganui River.
Hotly pursued by boo men, he was next heard
TE KOOTI'S RAIDS.
275
of iicrir the sctlluincnt of Cambridge in the
Waikato, and from this place he wrote to the
Government asking for peace ; but there was
to be no peace for him — just yet, at all events
—and Colonel McDonnell, with a force of 600
Maoris and Europeans, was soon on the trail.
On January 24th, 1870, McDonnell defeated
Te Kooti, who was posted in a strong position
at Tapapa, and shortly afterwards surrounded
his supposed retreat with nearly 800 men, but
in a few days word was brought that Te Kooti
was at Kuruni, many miles away.
All through February the pursuit was kept up,
and short of provisions, worn and exhausted, Te
Kooti seemed in desperate case, but he managed
to reach the Uriwera country in safety, and in
this wild country- the pursuit could not be con-
tinued for lack of provisions, and once more the
hunted Maori gained a respite.
Not for long, however, for the Maori chiefs,
Ropata, Te Kepa, and Topia, in the pay of the
Government, with their men, were close to him
early in April, but before they could come up
with him he swooped down on the Opape settle-
ments and carried off 170 friendly Maoris and
also forty guns, some ammunition and provisions,
of which he stood much in need. He then retired
to a pah at Maraetahi, but on April 24th this
was captured by the pursuers, and Te Kooti lost
eighteen men killed, many who were taken
prisoners, and a great reserve store of ammuni-
tion which he had " planted " near the pah.
He retreated to the wild bush country of Te
Wera on the borders of Uriwera, and thence
suddenly made a raid on Tolgo? Bay with forty
or fifty men. Here he killed several friendly
Maoris, and was instantlv pursued by a mixed
force of Europeans from Poverty Bay and friendly
natives. Traced to Mauganahau, his camp was
completely surrounded, and some of the Euro-
peans got within thirty yards of it and plainly
saw Te Kooti — whom they well knew and hated.
Trhey could easily have shot him, but it was
thought better to wait till morning and capture
all in the camp.
In the end one of the friendly Maoris fired
his musket as if accidentally, but undoubtedly
with the intention of warning Te Kooti, for
whom almost all the natives had a sneaking
regard, and in a moment the much-sought-for
chief had vanished in the bush, though his wife
Huhaua was captured
Te Kooti was now left in peace till January,
1 87 1, when Ropata once more set out in search
of him in his forest lair in Te Wera, and on the
25th of that month the column reached the
watershed between the two coasts. As an ex-
ample of the difficulties encountered by those
who pursued Te Kooti, the following extract
from Mr. Gudgeon's work may be given : —
" Te Rakiora, late Hauhau and personal friend
of Te Kooti, acted as guide, and although he
was travelling in his own country, so den.se was
the (forest that he lost his way continually,
rendering frequent halts necessary that he
might climb trees so as to get the general direc-
tion of their march. Nothing could be worse
than the travelling through this country. Thick
scrubby bush, interlaced with supplejacks, covered
the hillsides, which were e.vcessively steep, so
that for days the column had to follow the
narrow beds of mountain torrents, over slippery
rocks, where a false step might be fatal, for each
man carried nearly forty pounds of biscuits,
besides blankets, ammunition, etc. None of
these things could be replaced in a black birch
forest, where a rat can barely live, and where
the traveller will hardly ever hear bird or insect."
The truth of this description can be vouched
for by those who, like the present writer, are
familiar with the New Zealand bush.
After following Te Kooti's traces through this
terrible country till the 2nd of March, Ropata's
men, who had been living on hinau berries for
some days, knocked up, and he had to relinquish
the pursuit, but took it up only a week or two
later. This time he found a cave, in which Te
Kooti had hidden six rifles, two watches, and
some money, but the owner was not seen, though
defiant letters from him were found in one or
two of his lairs. In June, 187 1, four parties re-
sumed the pursuit, the leader of one being a
European — Captain Porter ; but they were down
to hinau berries again by the middle of July, and
had to return.
In August the pursuit was resumed in two
columns, and this time Captain Porter and
Henare Potae surrounded at night Te Kooti's
camp, in the wildest part of the Uriwera country,
and lay on their arms waiting for light. A dog
scented the ambush and barked; a woman, who
was recognised as Te Kooti's wife Olivia, chased
it with a stick, and at the same time Te Kooti's
voice was heard asking what had alarmed the
dog. " Nothing," said someone, and again all
was quiet. Surelv they had him now !
No ; the inevitable warning musket was fired,
Te Kooti shouted " Ko Ngatiporu, tenei kia whai
morehu " (It is the Ngatiporu, save yourselves),
and hurling himself bodily through the back
2-6
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
wall of his hut (he was far too warj- to escape by
the door, which he knew would be watched), he
disappeared in the bush, and never again did
European or friendl}' Maori have a chance of
securing vengeance for all Te Kooti's bloody
deeds and outrages. He escaped across the
Taupo plains to the King countn,-. His mana
was now great, both as a fighting-man and a
preacher, and the powerful Waikatos rallied
round him in such numbers that it w-as hopeless
for the Government to continue the pursuit,
which would have involved them in a general
war with the natives. At this time the reward
for Te Kooti's apprehension w^as ^^5,000, and
this remained in force till 1883, or for nearly
twelve years after his escape, during which time
he lived peaceabl}- in the territories of Tawhiao,
the Maori king. In 1883 he was pardoned by
the Government, and from that time to his death
lived quietly at his settlement — Otema, on the
Waipa river — of which a writer in the New
Zealand Graphic saj's : —
" Otema was, perhaps, without exception, the
fairest sample of what discipline and good
management will effect, even amongst Maoris.
The whares were well built and clean, the fertile
soil under careful and systematic cultivation,
the people observed very regular habits in their
domestic duties . . . under Te Kooti's super-
vision. At the settlement hospitality was shown
to European visitors by Te Kooti himself."
The old guerilla's health was completely broken
down towards the end, as a result of the terrible
privations of his warlike years. He was bowed
down and prematurely aged, and was afflicted
with a harassing cough and constant asthma.
How many men could have lived through his
experiences at all, though ? He avoided those
Europeans who regarded him as an object of
vulgar curiosity, but " his bent and battle-worn
figure, and his straggling white beard, with a
slouch hat on his head, were familiar to many
colonists whose business brought them into con-
tact with him.'' He died at the age of about
sixtj', in April, 1893, at Ohima, on the east coast,
when " his once turbulent spirit passed away on
the evening-tide " — the fat J>o, as the Maoris say.
The old Maoris liked to " go down with the sun."
-#^^&; A MAORI WAR-CANOE.
(From a photograph by Burton Brothers-, Duttedin.)
277
THE battle of Albuera, because of its san-
guiiiarv nature, and the fact that
Napier, the historian of the Penin-
sular War, has enwreathed its memory
with some of his most picturesque sentences,
stands out as one of the prominent and popular
episodes of war. If the eloquent Napier has
described it so ablv, it mav ho asked, whv repeat
a well-told tale ? Napier, though anxious to be
just and accurate, often allowed himself to be
influenced bv prejudices for or against corps and
persons, and has not been free from this defect
in his account of Albuera. Many think that he
displayed prejudice, not to say virulence, towards
Beresford ; and, as a matter of fact, a violent and
heated controversy between the commander and
the historian followed the publication of the
'' Peninsular War."
Before we come to the battlft and the events
which led up to it, let us glance for a moment
at the antecedents and personalities of the two
opponents. Marshal Soult and Lord — then Sir
William — Beresford.
Soult, universall}- recognised as one of the
ablest of Napoleon's lieutenants, born in 1760,
was the eldest son of a provincial notary. Fairly
well brought up, he was destined for the law ; but
his father's death, when he was still only a boy,
caused the idea to be abandoned. He is said by
some to have been of Jewish origin ; but we can
find no confirmation of the statement. In 1785
he enlisted in the regiment of " Royal Infantry,"
and, thanks to his education, he became six
years later a sergeant. The revolution gave
him an opening, and, in I7qi, he was appointed
instructor to the 1st Battalion of the Volunteers
of the Bas Rhin. He soon obtained the rank of
adjutant-general, and in 1794, after the battle
of Fleurus, he was made general of brigade.
During the following four years he saw much ser-
vice in Germany luider Jourdan, Moreau, Kleber,
and Lefebvre. In 1790, promoted to general of
division, he distinguished himself in Massena'--
Swiss campaign, especially at the battle <(
Zurich. In the following year he was second
in command to Massena when that general con-
ducted his magnificent defence of Genoa. In 1802
he was appointed one of the four generals hold-
ing the position of colonel in the Consular Guard.
Though one of Moreau's officers he was discreet,
acute, and pliable enough to attach himself to
his old chief's rival. Napoleon ; and in 1803 wa>
given b}' the latter the command of the camp
of Boulogne. In 1804 he was one of the first
marshals created, and in the following year
mainly contributed to the victory of Austerlitz.
He subsequently greatly distinguished himself
in Germany and Spain; and when, in 1813,
Wellington was about to invade France, he was
sent to withstand him, and carried out an offen-
sive-defensive campaign with remarkable energy
and abilit\-. At the first abdication of Napoleon,
Marshal Soult — Duke of Dalmatia — declared
himself a royalist, and was appointed Minister
of War by Louis XVIII. On the emperor's
return from Elba Soult joined him, and was
major-general — or chief of the staff — during the
Waterloo Campaign. On the second restor-
ation of Louis XVIII. Soult was exiled, but was,
after a short time, allowed to return to France,
was re-created marshal in 1820, and again played
the part of a fervent royalist. After 1830 he
became a partisan of constitutional royalty ; but
in 1848 he again changed, and was once more a
republican. This was his last tergiversation, for
in 1 85 1 he died. The Duke of Wellington had
a great respect for his talents as a commands'-,
and was doubly cautious when oppo.sed to him.
Beresford, the illegitimate son of the first
Marquis of Waterford, was born in 176N.
Having spent a year at the military academ}- of
Strasburg, he was in 1785 gazetted ensign to the
278
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
6th Foot, which regiment he joined in Nova
Scotia. While out shooting in that colony, he met
with an accident which caused the loss of his left
eye. He took part in the*defence of Toulon,
and also served in Corsica, but it could not be
said that during his first ten years of soldiering
that he had gained much experience in the held.
Ten years, however, from the date of his first
commission, and at the early age of twenty-seven,
he found himself lieutenant-colonel commanding
the 88th Regiment. Mone^- and interest had
pushed him on. In 1800 he landed in Bombay,
and, having become full colonel, was appointed
brigadier in the force despatched to Egypt
under Sir David Baird. When, however, after
a long voyage and a terrible march across the
desert Sir David arrived at Cairo, ■ the struggle
was over. In Sir David Baird's expedition to
the Cape of Good Hope Beresford accompanied
his old chief as brigadier, but in the conquest of
the Dutch dependency he saw no fighting.
In the following year, however. Sir Home
Popham, without any orders from Government,
prevailed on Sir David to send a smaU force with
him to effect the conquest of Buenos Ayres.
Beresford obtained the command of the land
forces, which were brought up by troops at St.
Helena to 1,025 nien, besides a naval brigade,
800 strong. Ascending the river Plate, he
landed twelve miles from that city on June 26th,
behaved with the audacity and courage of a Cortez,
and was everywhere victorious. On the day of
disembarkation he drove off an opposing force,
capturing four guns, and on the morrow entered
the citv, expelling its garrison of Spanish militia.
The Spaniards, however, rallied from the blow,
and, collecting troops, compelled Beresford, after
a short struggle in which he showed the personal
courage for which he was always conspicuous, to
capitulate. Arriving in England, he was for-
tunate enough to find that the enthusiasm at his
original success had not been altogether ex-
tinguished by his subsequent ill-fortune. Pro-
moted to the rank of major-general, he was sent
to hold Madeira for Portugal. A year later he
was ordered to Portugal and commanded a
brigade in Sir John Moore's glorious but unfor-
tunate campaign. In i8oq he was appointed to
the command of the Portuguese army. It was
not an unsuitable appointment. He was in the
prime of life, was of commanding stature and
fine presence, had seen — if not much actual fight-
ing— a great deal of active service, was a good
disciplinarian, and possessed some acquaintance
with the Portuguese and their language. His
success in organising and disciplining the Por-
tuguese army is universally admitted. He took
part in the campaign of 1809 in Northern Por-
tugal, and in September, 1810, was present at
Busaco. In December of that year, Hill having
gone home on sick leave, Beresford was given by
Wellington the command of the Anglo-Portu-
guese troops on the left bank of the Tagus. At
the end of the following March he was ordered
to relieve Campo Maior and besiege Olivenza and
Badajoz. His force consisted of 20,000 infantry,
2,000 cavalry, and eighteen guns. His enter-
prise opened well. It is true that Campo Maior
had been captured by the French on March 21st,
but Beresford, thinking that he might surprise
the captors, moved towards it on the 23rd. On
the 25 th his advanced guard, consisting of cavalrv
supported by some infantry under that gallant
and capable man Colonel Colborne — afterwards
Lord Seaton — who commanded a brigade in the
second division, arrived unexpectedl}' in sight of
the town.
Latour-Maubourg, learning that the British
were close at hand, evacuated the place in haste
and confusion, his force consisting of some 1,200
cavalry, three battalions, a few horse-artillerv
gims, and a battering-train of thirteen pieces.
The advanced guard followed in hot pursuit, Col-
borne being on the right at some distance, while
the 13th Light Dragoons, under Colonel Head,
supported by two squadrons of Portuguese cavalrv
under Colonel Otway, took the shortest line.
The heavy cavalry, i.e. the 3rd Dragoons and 5th
Dragoon Guards, under Major-General the Hon.
Sir William Lumle\', were mustered on the left,
but at first close up. With the 13th Light
Dragoons, Colonel Head had only five troops with
an aggregate of 203 of all ranks with him, one-
troop being detached to skirmish. When ht
drew near, two bodies of French cavalrv ap-
peared from the rear of their infantry, one body
charging the Portuguese under Otwa\-, the
other the 13th. The former appear to have held
their own, but there is no record of their per-
formances. With respect to the 13th, they and
their opponents charged with such fierceness
that they rode right through each other, many
men on both sides being dismounted in the
collision. Both French and English sought at
once to re-form, but the British being quicker,
were among their adversaries before the latter
had got into order, and a severe hand-to-hand
fight ensued. One French squadron wheeled
inwards and fell on the fiank of the 13th, but
were driven off. Finally the French cavalry,
ALBUERA.
27q
thoufjh Ir.rgely superior in number to those im-
mediately opposed to them, were, for all practical
purposes, disposed of. The French intantrv
squares had with their fire taken part in the
combat, but without any substantial effect.
Disregarding tlys fire, the 13th, believing that
they would be supported by the heavy cavalry,
threw themselves on the French artillery, cut-
ting many of them down, and then galloped
forward in pursuit of the fugitives, partly of
design with a view to cutting off the whole
party, partly carried away by the excitement
of their success. Reaching the bridge of Badajoz,
they were fired on by the guns of the fortress,
and obliged to fall back. On their return
they encountered the flying French artillery.
Sabring ma-iy drivers, they captured both guns
and baggage. Continuing their retreat, the
13th found themselves in face of the unbroken
French infantry and the remnants of the beaten
French cavalr\-. Seeing no appearance of sup-
port, being now few in number, and men and
horses alike being exhausted, the gallant Light
Dragoons abandoned all, save one, of the cap-
tured guns, and, making a detour, escaped.
Their loss in this brilliant scuffle was 12 men
killed and 33 of all ranks wounded, and 20 of all
ranks missing, amounting to within a fraction of
30 per cent, of their total strength. The loss of
the French on this occasion was 300 of all ranks
killed, wounded, or prisoners. Among the killed
was Colonel Chamarin, of the 26th Dragoons,
who was slain in single combat by Corporal
Logan, of the 13th. The corporal had killed
two men of the French 26th Dragoons, which
so enraged the colonel that he dashed forward
and attacked him. Both adversaries ^ were
well mounted and good swordsmen, and seem
to have been allowed to fi.ght the matter
out without aid or interference by their com-
rades. The deadly duel was short but sharp.
Probably the hard hitting of the Englishman
was too much for the scientific swordsmanship
of the Frenchman, who, after the manner of his
countrymen, preferred the point to the edge.
Twice did the corporal cut the colonel across
the face, and on the second occasion the latter's
helmet came off, leaving his head exposed. The
Englishman's opportunity had come, and with
one mighty blow he nearly cleft the French-
man's skull asunder, the edge of the sword
passing through the brains as far as the nose.
It has been held that Beresford on this occa-
sion neglected to follow up this success. His
excuse was that it was reported to him that the
13th had been cut off"; he wou/d not therefore
risk further loss in his small force of cavalry by
allowing the Heavy Dragoons to charge. The
information was incorrect, and even had it been
accurate surely the last chance of savnig the
regiment would have been to have at all events
made a demonstration with the two heavy regi
ments.
Though the affair had not been so successful
as it might have been owing to Beresford's
moral timidity, it must nevertheless have exer-
cised a depressing effect on the French. Instead,
however, of profiting by that effect and follow-
ing up his blow, he contented himself with
blockading Elvas, alleging the want of supplies,
shoes, and bridging material. There never
yet was wanting a plausible excuse for doing
little or nothing. Be in this case, however, the
argument valid or not, the effect was that the
French had time given them for placing Badajoz
in a state of defence.
Beresford, ordered by Lord Wellington to
cross the Guadiana at Jerumenha, encountered
great difficulty from the want of materials for
a bridge. However, his commanding engineer.
Captain Squire, was a man of energy and re-
source. With timber obtained from the neigh-
bouring villages he constructed a trestle pier on
each bank, filling the interval with five Spanish
boats. The bridge was completed on the 3rd
April, and the troops were assembled with a
view to crossing at daybreak on the 4th. Un-
fortunately, during the night there was a freshet,
which swept away the trestles and rendered
the neighbouring ford impassable. No more
materials were to be found. Squire, however,
did not recognise the word " impossible." With
the boats, therefore, he constructed a flying
bridge for the cavalry and artillery, while with
the few pontoons in his possession and some
casks found in the neighbouring villages, he
made a light bridge for the infantry. Beres-
ford's force commenced the passage la^e on the
5th April, and by the evening of the 6th all the
troops were across the river. On the 7th, Latour-
Maubourg, who had hitherto occupied himself
mainly in collecting food, forage, and monev
contributions, took the alarm, and advanced to
prevent Beresford from crossing the Guadiana,
but found his adversary not only over the river
but occupying a strong position on the eastern
side of it. The French commander was there-
fore compelled to fall back. Beresford was at
this time either joined or came practically into
close communication with several fragments of
28o
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
the Spanish armies, but he was cautious, and
prudently was not thereby stimulated into under-
taking a vigorous campaign, for the success of
which he would have been dependent on the
loyal co-operation of allies whom a bitter ex-
perience had proved to be unreliable. He there-
fore constructed entrenchments at the bridge
head, and directed that the bridge itself should
be solidly reconstructed. Having taken these
precautions to secure his communications, he in-
vested Olivenza with a portion of his armv, while
with the remainder he advanced to Albuera.
'\ BRITlliH L
11 FURritiLK^
BATTLE
of
ALBUERA
Scale of One Mile.
I O Allied positions at the beginning of the Battle.
I B •» ■' after the change of front.
1 ^ French positions.
On the 15th April Olivenza surrendered, on
which Beresford advanced towards Zafra, his
object being to drive Latour-Maubourg over the
Sierra Morena and to cut off General Maransin,
who, having defeated Ballasteros, was pursuing
him towards Salvatierra. Receiving, however,
information of the approach of the allies, Maran-
sin managed to elude the columns which were
threatening to prevent his retreat.
Whilst these movements were taking place, a
smart cavalry action occurred on April i6th
near Los Santos between two regiments of
French cavalry, advancing from Llerena to
collect contributions, and the British cavalry.
The brigade consisted of the 4th Dragoon
Guards, the 3rd Dragoons (now 3rd Hussars),
and the 13th Light Dragoons, the brigadier being
Colonel the Hon. G. dc Grey. The accounts of
this spirited cavalry action are very meagre.
The numbers were about equal, but the French
were broken and hunted for si.\ miles with a loss
in prisoners alone of 200 men, every attempt
made to rally being baffled. The regimental
records of the 13th Light Dragoons — which, by
the wa}^, claim all th'e merit for that regiment-
says nothing about the casualties, but the records-
of the 3rd Dragoons admit some loss but say
that it was " very little." That the 13th Light
Dragoons were, if not chiefly, at all events hotly
engaged is proved by the fact
that the French^ commander,
whose gallantry excited the
admiration of his opponents^
A\as killed by Private James
Beard of the regiment.
On the 1 8th April, Latour-
Maubourg fell back to Guadal-
canal. About this time the
army was joined by General
Alten with his brigade of two
light infantrj- battalions of the
King's German Legion. On
the 2 1st Lord Wellington
himself arrived at Elvas, and
Beresford hastened to meet
him. The commander-in-chief,
drawing the infantry nearer to
Badajoz, demanded that the
Spanish troops should co-
operate in carr\-ing on and
covering the siege, and laid it
down that, if Soult advanced
to the relief of the place, he
was to be fought at Albuera.
The Spaniards, in accordance
with their usual practice, were slow in carrying
out an agreement. Lord Wellington therefore
hurried northward again in order to withstand
Massena on the Agueda, leaving directions with
Beresford that he was not to undertake the
siege until he was reinforced by him or obtained
the co-operation of the Spaniards.
After his departure Beresford fixed his head-
quarters at Almendralejos, and, finding that the
French were sweeping the country between the
two armies of forage, he sent Penne Villamur
with a brigade of Spanish cavalrj-, reinforced by
five squadrons, and Colonel Colborne with his
brigade, to which had been added two Spanish
guns and two squadrons, to put a stop to these
French parties. Colborne and Penne Villamur
not only accomolished this object, but also
ALBUERA.
28;
induced Latour-Maubourg himsclt' to tall back.
On Ihe stli May, the Spaniards having at length
consented to perform their part in the siege of
IJadajoz, the investment of the town was begun,
and, being completed on the 7th, batteries and
trenches were constructed with energy. Owing
to the want of proper siege materials and a
of Badajoz, and on the 15th arrived at Santa
Marta. Beresford's information was good, for
on the night of the 12th of May he received
intelligence of Souk's approach. He at once
suspended all operations against Badajoz, and on
the following day, in spite of the remonstrances
of his engineers, he raised the siege under cover
"SABRI.NG MANY DRIVERS, THEY CAPTURED BOTH GUNS AND BAGGAGE" (/• 279).
sufficient number of trained sappers and miners,
the operations were carried on at a disadvantage
and at the cost of much loss of life.
Soult, on the loth May, started from Seville
with the view of relieving the beleaguered
fortress. He had with him 3,000 heavy dragoons,
two regiments of light cavalry, a division of
infantry, and a battalion of grenadiers. On the
following day he was joined by Marasin, and on
the 13th picked up Latour-Maubourg, who was
at once appointed to the command of the heavy
cavalry-. On the 14th he was within thirty- miles
of the 4th division and a body of Spaniards.
On the same day, after a conference with Blake
at Valverde, he finally decided on giving battlc
to Soult at Albuera, the Spanish commander
promising to bring his army into line before
noon on the 15th. On the morning of that dav
the British armv occupied the left of the selected
position, but there was no sign of the approach
of Blake. About 3 p.m. on that day the whole
of the allied cavalry came in hurriediv and in
some confusion, closely followed bv the French
light cavalry. In plain English, the allied
2^2
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
cavalry were driven in, effecting their retreat in
so unmilitan,' a fashion that they only sought to
reach the main army, and abandoned the wooded
heights in front of the position. Yet on two
recent occasions the British cavalry brigade had
displayed the most heroic valour, and the dis-
credit of the manner in which Beresford's horse-
men rejoined him may fairly be attributed to
the incapacity of General Long, commanding
the whole of the allied cavalry, who, feeling the
responsibility too much for him, surrendered
that da}- his command to General Lumley.
Beresford promptly formed a temporary right
wing, and at once sent to hasten Blake and his
own detached troops. Blake was so slow that
his main body did not reach the ground till
II p.m., and his rear -guard not till 3 a.m. on
the ibth. Orders were at once sent to call in
Cole and Madelen's Portuguese brigade. By
some mischance the message did not reach
Madelen at once, but Cole with his two brigades,
the infantry of the 5th Spanish army, and two
squadrons of Portuguese cavalry, arrived at 6
a.m. on the i6th. The Spanish infantry joined
Blake's army, the Portuguese cavalry joined
Otway's brigade of Portuguese cavalry in ad-
vance of the left, while Cole formed up in rear
of the 2nd division. Colonel Kemmis's brigade
of the 4th division marched to join Beresford
vM Jerumenha, and consequently did not arrive
till the 17th.
The position occupied by the allies consisted
of a ridge about 4^ miles long, having the Aroya
de Val de Sevilla in rear and the Albuera river
in front. In front of the right of the position of
the allies was a wooded hill, lying in a fork
formed by the junction of the Faria stream with
the Albuera river. All these streams seem to
have been easily passable above the village, but
there was a bridge near Albuera in front of
the left centre of the allies, where the road to
Valverde crossed, and another where the same
road crossed the Aroya de Val de Sevilla, com-
monly called in English descriptions Aroya.
The position was first occupied as follows : — On
the extreme left came General Hamilton's divi-
sion of Portuguese with their left on the road,
which at Albuera quits the Valverde road to go to
Badajoz. On the right of the Portuguese came
the 2nd division, under Major-General the Hon.
W. Stewart, and consisting of the brigades of
Colonel Colborne, Major-General Houghton, and
Colonel the Hon. A. Abercrombie. On the
extreme right, on the highest, broadest, steepest
part of the position, were the Spaniards under
Blake. The allied cavalry were drawn up, the
main body across the V^alverde road in rear of the
Aroya and the 2nd division. The remainder of
the cavalry were distributed along the .A.lbuera
river from in front of the allies' right to a spot
beyond the Badajos road and below the village
of Albuera. Major-General Alten, with his
brigade of Germans, held the village.
The numbers on both sides were appro.\imately
as follows : The allies at — Spaniards 12,000, Por-
tuguese 8,000, British 7.500, guns 30 ; French,
20,000 infantrj-, 3,000 cavalry, and 40 guns.
About 9 a.m. on the i6th a heavy force of
French light cavalry and Godinot's division of
infantry were seen, accompanied by artillery,
advancmg to attack the bridge in front of the
village of Albuera. This force was followed by
Werle's division. The assailants were stoutly
resisted by Alten's Light Brigade and the four
guns of D Troop Roj-al Horse Artillery — two
guns had been left at Lisbon — under Captain
Lefebure. It soon became evident, however,
that the real attack was on the right, not the
left of the allies, for Werle did not follow
Godinot closely. Indeed, soon after 8 a.m.,
some French cavalry had issued from the Ile.x
wood, opposite the prolongation of the allies'
right, and crossed the Albuera. Beresford there-
fore sent an order to Blake, as a measure of pre-
caution, to form all his second and part of his
first line on the broad elevated plateau running
at right angles to the general direction of the
allies' position. He at the same time directed
Stewart with the 2nd division to take ground to
his right in order to support Blake. General
Hamilton was ordered to move to his right and,
while sending one brigade forward to support
Alten at the village and bridge, to hold the other
in readiness to carry assistance to an}^ part of
the field where it might be needed. The two
Portuguese regiments of light infantrj- under
Colonel Collins were attached to General Hamil-
ton's division. The heavj- cavalr}-, 3rd Dragoon
Guards and 4th Dragoons, and D Battery Royal
Horse Artillery under the personal direction of
Major-General Hon. William Lumley, the bri-
gadier being Colonel the Hon. G. de Grey, were
placed on a small plain in rear of the magnificent
brook called the Aroya de Val de Sevilla. The
4th division was drawn up in echelon to the
cavalry about 100 yards to their left rear. The
13th Light Dragoons were posted above the
bridge to watch the enemy, while Otway's
cavalry were drawn up below the bridge on the
e.\treme left watching the French.
ALBUERA.
283
Napier says that the Albuera was fordable
both above and below the bridge, but there are
otliLT statements to the effect that below the
bridge it was not fordable on that day. At all
events, even if the hVencli tiid nut try and cross
below the bridge, Otwa\- was well posted to fall
on their flank shoidd they pass at the bridge.
While these changes of position were taking
place, the rain came down and helped to screen
the advance of the French infantry through the
wood and over the Albuera on the right ; but
Reresford was soon shown clearly what the in-
tentions of Soult were, for Werle, leaving only
a battalion of grenadiers and a few squadrons
to watch Otway, rapidly countermarched and
hastened to join the main body of the French
army, while the light cavalrj', galloping along
the bank of the Albuera, crossed it and placed
themselves on the right of Latour-Maubourg's
heavy cavalry. Godinot, however, continued
the fight at the bridge either with the view of
distracting the attention of the allies or watch-
ing for a chance to cross the river. Beresford,
as soon as he saw Werle's countermarch, rode in
all haste to Blake, who, vain and punctilious,
had refused to obey the first order carried by
Colonel Hardinge, whom he told with great
heat that the ital attack was at the village and
bridge. He had similarly disregarded a second
message, and, when Beresford arrived in person,
the Spaniards still occupied their original posi-
tion. At this moment, however, the obstinate
old don had it pointed out to him by a German
officer' on his staff that heavy French columns
were appearing on his right. Yielding to the
evidences of his eyesight, Blake proceeded to
change front, but, to quote Napier's words, " with
such pedantic slowness, that Beresford, impatient
of his folly, took the direction in person." Un-
fortunately, the movement was too late, and, be-
fore the Spaniards could be drawn up in order on
the summit of the before-mentioned plateau, the
French were upon them. Whatever may have
been the conduct of the Spaniards later in the
day, it is conceded that at this period of the battle
they behaved gallantly, and fell back fighting
and in fairly good order. Beresford strove to
induce them to recapture the plateau, but failed ;
so ordered Stewart's division to pass through
the Spaniards and drive away the French. Col-
borne's brigade was at the head of the division.
It is difficult to ascertain in what formation the
brigade advanced. We know that every regi-
ment was in column of companies, but whether
in a line of contiguous columns or in mass, i.e.
one regiment in rear of another, we cannot say.
Colborne, a cool, skilful, and experienced soldier,
wished to deploy before ascending the hill, but
General Stewart, full of ardour, would not wait
for this manoeuvre, and the brigade advanced in
column of companies, each regiment deploying
in succession as it reached the summit. The
BufTs on the right were first formed, and opened
fire; the 48th on their left were the next to deploy,
then the 66th. Somehow or another the 66th,
while still in column, were rear rank in front.
Though under a heavy artillerv fire, they counter-
marched on the move with the utmost precision,
and then wheeled into line and opened fire on
the enemy, who were in close column. The
66th were ordered to charge, but had not ad-
vanced far when the "halt," followed by the "re-
tire," was sounded. Immediately afterwards the
order was given to advance again. Probably the
48th likewise fired and advanced at the same
time. We know that the Buffs did. Suddenly a
fearful catastrophe occurred. It would seem that
the Buffs were ordered to re-form column and
with their right wing to cover the rear of the
brigade. They were consequently faced about,
when suddenly four regiments of Polish Lancers
and light cavalry fell on the right flank of the
brigade and swept along it. The authority for
this statement is the late Colonel Clarke, who
commanded a company of the 66th in the
battle. He says that in his regiment the men
formed groups of six or eight, the officers snatch-
ing up muskets and joining them. A fierce
hand-to-hand fight ensued, the French infantry
having taken advantage of the confusion to take
part in the struggle. In a few minutes two-
thirds of the brigade were killed, disabled, or cap-
tured, and six of our guns taken. Fortunately,
the 31st was still in column at the moment, and
was thus able to hold its ground. The French
cavalry owed their success to the fact that,
owing to the thickness of the atmosphere and
the cloud of smoke, they had been able to
approach unseen, and, even when perceived,
were mistaken at first for Spanish cavalry. The
conduct of the Polish Lancers — as afterwards at
Waterloo — was most brutal. They gave no
quarter, and even speared the disabled. One
young officer. Ensign Hay of the 66th, was first
pierced right through the body by a Polish
lancer, who afterwards repeated the thrust ; this
time, however, the point of the weapon was
caught on the breast-bone. Another lancer
attacked Beresford himself, but the latter, being
a powerful man, avoided the thrust, and, seizing
2S4
BATTLES OF THE NINETEEXTH CENTURY.
his adversaiy by ihe throat, cast him from his
saddle. According to the narrative of the Mar-
quis of Londonderry in his history of the
Peninsuhir ^\'ar, another lancer, who attacked
the Portuguese staff, was disposed of with more
difficulty. To quote the e.xact words, "A very
difltrent fate attended the personal exertions of
the Portuguese staff. They, too, were charged
by a single lancer, who knocked down one with
the butt of his pike, overset another man and
horse, and gave ample employment to the entire
headquarters before he was finally despatched.
These heroes declared that the man seemed
possessed by an evil spirit, and that, when he
fell at last, he literally bit the ground."
The Buffs, being on the right of the brigade,
«ere the first to suffer from the furious rush of
the French cavalry, and an heroic defence was
made of their colours. Ensign Thomas that day
carried the regimental colour : called upon to
surrender his precious charge, he replied sternly
that he refused to do so, but, being thereupon
mortally wounded, the colour was captured.
Ensign Walsh carried the King's colour, and,
when the regiment was broken, the sergeants of
!he colour part}- w-ere slain valiantly defending it.
Left alone and anxious to preserve his charge,
he made an attempt to carry the colour to the
rear. Pursued by several lancers, he was over-
taken, surrounded, wounded, and taken prisoner.
At that instant Lieutenant Latham, who had
seen his peril, rushed up, and, before the
French could carry off the colour, had seized it.
A host of foes, emulous of the glorj' of cap-
'.uring a standard, fell eagerly upon the gallant
Latham, who was soon bleeding from several
wounds, but who, defending himself valiantly
with his sword, refused to yield. A French
iiussar grasped the colour staff with his left
b.and, and, rising in his stirrups, aimed a vigorous
blow at his head. He failed to cut him down,
but inflicted a grievous wound, severing one side
of his face and nose. The indomitable English-
man, however, would not even then give in.
The French horsemen, crowding round, strove
to drag the colour from him, calling fiercely on
him to yield the trophy. His reply was, " I will
surrender it only with my life." His words were
unintelligible, but his meaning was plain, and a
hu.ssar with a vigorous cut severed his left arm.
Not vanquished yet, Latham dropped his sword,
seized the colour with his right hand, and con-
tinued the struggle, which must have ended
quickly and fatally for him, had it not been that
i:is adversaries in their eagerness to secure the
prize jostled and impeded each other. He was,
however, at length thrown down, trampled on
by horses, and pierced by lances. At this
critical moment a charge of British cavalrj' took
place, and the French horsemen fied without
having attained their object. Latham, though
desperately wounded, exerted what little strength
remained to him in tearing the silk from the
staff and concealing the former under his bod)-.
He then swooned. A little later in the da)- the
7th Fusiliers passed over the spot where Latham
lay apparently dead, and Sergeant Gough, espy-
ing the colour, took it up and eventually restored
it to the Buffs. After a time Latham came to
himself, and, crawling down to the brook, was
found striving to quench his thirst. Removed
to a neighbouring convent, his wounds were
dressed, and he ultimately recovered. Ensign
Walsh managed to escape and rejoin his regi-
ment, when he told the story of Lieutenalit
Latham's conduct. The officers of the regiment,
proud of the intrepidity of their comrade, sub-
scribed 100 guineas for a gold medal com-
memorating Lieutenant Latham's exploit, and
this medal he was allowed by the Horse Guards
to wear. He was prom.oted for his heroism to a
company in another regiment, and brought back
to the Buffs as a captain.
The Prince Regent granted him an interview-
when he arrived in London, and, with that
graciousness of manner which distinguished him,
and that nobility of mind which he occasionally
displayed, induced Latham to undergo an opera-
tion by an eminent surgeon for the diminution of
the disfigurement caused by the wound in his
face, his Royal Highness undertaking to pay the
heav}- fee. It is a singular fact that, though few
men have ever been so seriously injured and
sur\-ived, in the official returns of the battle
of Albuera Latham was returned as '' slightly
woimded."
It is always difficult to follow the course of a
battle and give the correct sequence of events.
The difficulty is particularly great with regard
to Albuera. Napier's account is eloquent, bril-
liant, and full of dramatic force, but it is not
clear. Nor are other accounts more intelligible,
and there has been much controversy with
regard to certain points. After consulting many
books, we have come to the conclusion that the
story is in the main as we are about to tell it.
Colborne's brigade having been cut to pieces
alike by the musketry and grape from their
front as by the charge of cavalry on their flank
and along their rear, the confusion was excessive.
'A FIERCE HAND-TO-HAND FIGHT ENSUED" C*. 2^3).
286
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
So great, indeed, was the disorder that the
Spanish persisted in firing straight to their front,
though there were British soldiers between them
aiid the eiieniv. Indeed, at one period of the
action a Spanish battalion and a British battaUon
exchanged shots for some time under the behef
that thev were foes. Beresford did his utmost
to induce the Spaniards to advance, but they
would not move ; and it is stated in all accounts
of the battle that Beresford, having appealed to
the oflScers in vain, at length seized a Spanish
ensign and carried him with the colour he bore
some distance to the front, but the fellow ran
back as soon as released. To have actually
carried him Beresford must have dismounted ;
so what probably really took place was that the
marshal, while on horseback, seized the ensign
by the collar and dragged him forward. Whilst
this was going on, the French cavalry had
prettv well surrounded the remains of Colborne's
brigade, which, as we have mentioned above, it
had broken up with the exception of the 31st
on the extreme left. Among other damage
Captain Cieeve's batterv, having accompanied
Colborne's brigade on its right, was ridden over
and the six pieces captured ; they were, however,
all, except one howitzer, eventually recovered.
It was at this critical moment that General
Lumley sent four squadrons of the heavy
brigade, supported by the fire of Captain Le-
feburc's four horse artillerv guns, to fall on the
French cavalrv. The latter apparently did not
wait for the shock, but retreated. The next
act in the drama was the advance of General
Houghton's brigade, accompanied by General
Stewart, who, warned b\- the catastrophe which
had just occurred, deplo3-ed the regiments before
thev advanced, the 2qth being on the right, the
48th on the left, and the 57 th in the centre.
The weather, which had been wet and misty,
now cleared a little. Houghton's brigade estab-
lished itself on the hill, and the 31st fought by
its side. The fire was dreadful, musketry being
fired at close, and grape at half, range. Stewart
was twice wounded ; Houghton, after having
been several times wounded, at length, struck
by three bullets, fell and died ; Colonel Duck-
worth, of the 1st battalion of the 48th, was
killed : Colonel White, of the 29th, was mortally
wounded ; Colonel Inglis, of the 57th, was
severely wounded, and the 2qth men fell in
swathes. Two-thirds of each of the three regi-
ments were on the ground ; ammunition was
beginning to run short. Werle's division was
coming up in support of the French. Lumley,
powerfullv aided bv his four horse-artillery guns,
made valiant efforts against the superior numbers
of the French cavair\, but could only just
manage to hold them in check. Lefebure's
battery was from time to time ridden through,
and one of its guns was for a short time in the
possession of the enemj- ; it was, however, soon
recovered.
The battle, by all the rules of the game of war,
was lost, and Beresford himself was of that
opinion. From the vague and somewhat con-
flicting accounts it would seem that Beresford,
having ridden to the bridge in front of Albuera
to ascertain why a brigade of General Hamilton's
Portuguese division for which he had sent had not
arrived, found that it had been moved further to
the east — the left of the line. He then ordered
Colonel Collins to advance to the attack of
the hill.
We have the positive assurance of the late
Sir Alexander — then Major — Dickson, command-
ing the Portuguese artillerv, and who was at the
bridge at the moment, that he was ordered to
retreat with his artillery towards ^'^alverde, and
Baron Alten bv order withdrew from the village
for a moment. Fortunatelv, Colonel Hardinge
(afterwards Lord Hardinge) was, at his elbow,
and, gathering from his manner and orders what
his intentions were, he said, "I think, sir. I
ought to tell \'0u that you have a peerage on the
one hand and a court-martial on the other," and
Beresford, after a moment's reflection, said, '" I
will go for the peerage." Either on general
instructions or on his own initiative, knowing
what the general wanted, he directed General
Cole to attack with the 4th division, and, as
soon as he saw his left brigade — the Fusilier
brigade — approaching the left of Houghton's
brigade, " I went to Abercrombie," commanding
Stewart's 3rd brigade, '' and authorised him to
deplov and move past Houghton's left. While
Houghton's brigade held the hill, M_vers and
Abercrombie passed the flanks on the right and
left, and made a simultaneous attack on the
enem\-, who began to waver and then went off
to the rear. Myers and Abercrombie, in my
opinion, decided the fate of the day."' The
above is a literal extract from Lord Hardinge's
own journal.
The Fusilier brigade was on the left of Cole's
division, and Hervev's Portuguese brigade of
Cole's division on the right. We are told that
Colonel Hawkshawe, with a battalion of the
Lusitanian Legion, flanked the advance. Cole
brought his division up somewhat obliquel\-,
ALBUERA.
287
(lis right being thrown forward. What the
position of Captain S\-nipher's battery, belonging
to tlic 4tii division, was we are nowhere told, but
\VL- know that, when Cleeve's battery w-as cap-
in red by the French cavalry, three guns of a
.'-ritish battery were also captured. The only
British field-battery was Captain Haw^ker's. It
must have been, then, three of his four guns,
which fell temporarily into the hands of the
enemy.
An interesting little book, called "' Rough
Notes of Several Campaigns," by Sergeant S.
Cooper, of the 7th Royal Fusiliers, who was
present at Albuera, says that si.\ nine-pounders
were on the right of the division. Now, either
there were onl\- four guns, in which case they
constituted Captain Hawker's battery, or there
were six guns, in which event they were Captain
Rraun's Portuguese battery of Hamilton's divi-
sion. Colonel Collins's brigade was probably
somewhere in this part of the field, for we know
that he himself was badly wounded.
Hervey's Portuguese brigade of Cole's division
behaved with great gallantry, and repulsed a
charge of the French cavalry ; but the brunt of
the fighting was borne b}' the Fusilier brigade,
consisting of two battalions of the 7th, and one
battalion of the 23rd Fusiliers had been pre-
viously deployed, and advanced steadily in line
under a heavy fire of musketry and artillery.
As they neared the hill, the French executed
a charge on some Spanish cavalrj- in front of
the brigade. A volley fired into the mass ot
the combatants checked the French, and the
Spaniards, galloping round the left flank of the
brigade, took no further part in the action.
The 'jrigade, continuing its progress, gained the
summit of the hill, and then ensued a furious
'luel. The French guns vomited forth grape in
a continuous stream, while under cover of their
fire the heavy French columns strove to deploy,
but the musketry of the brigade swept away the
heads of their foes' formations, though not
without suffering fearful loss themselves. Myers,
the brigadier, fell stricken to death. Cole, the
commander of the division, and Colonels Ellis,
Blakeney, and Hawkshawe were all disabled, and
many other officers, together with hundreds of
men, were killed or wounded.
The brigade, indeed, seemed on the point of
being vanquished by annihilation. To quote
Napier's eloquent words, " The Fusilier battalions,
struck bv the iron tempest, reeled and staggered
like sinking ships. But, suddenlv and sternly
recovering, they closed on their terrible enemies.
and then was seen with what a strength and
majesty the British soldier fights." Firing and
advancing, the brigade pressed steadily but slowlj'
onward, leaving behind it a constantly expand-
ing field of dead and wounded men. In vain
did Soult encourage his splendid troops ; in vain
did the latter fight with the historical gallantry
of their race ; in vain did the reserve, pushing to
the front, strive to stem the ebbing tide. Our
men were not to be denied, the French reserve
was swept away by the fragments of the leading
combatants, and, again to quote Napier, " the
mighty mass gave way, and like a loosened
cliff" went headlong down the steep. The river
flowed after in streams discoloured with blood,
and fifteen hundred unwounded men, the rem-
nant of six thousand unconquerable British
soldiers, stood triumphant on the fatal field."
It is but common justice to record that the
conduct of Abercrombie's brigade at the crisis
was as gallant as that of the Fusiliers. Indeed,
all the British, Portuguese, and German troops
behaved splendidly. The battle began a little
before g a.m., and ended about 2 p.m., the fight-
ing during the remainder of the day being con-
fined to a desultory distant cannonade and an
occasional exchange of musket shots between
the advanced troops. Beresford, though he had
driven his adversary' over the river, had sufiFered
too heavily to permit of following up the victory.
Indeed, he was in some apprehension of a re-
newed attack on the morrow.
The field of battle presented a dreadful sight.
Major Dickson, writing of the scene, said that
on the hill, where the battle chiefly ranged on
a space of 1,000 by 1,200 yards, "there were
certainly not less than 6,000 dead or wounded."
In Colborne's brigade the Buffs lost 4 officers and
212 men killed, 13 officers and 234 men wounded,
and 2 officers and 176 men missing. The 2qth
had only 2 captains, a few- subalterns, and q6 men
left. The 48th and the 66th also suffered heavily.
In Houghton's brigade, as we have seen, the
general was slain, as was also Colonel Duck-
worth ; whilst Colonel White was mortallv, and
Colonel Inglis and Major Wray were severely,
wounded. In fact, every field-officer of the
brigade was either killed or wounded, so that at
the close of the action the brigade was com-
manded by Captain Ceme'tiere — strange to say,
of French origm — of the 48th Regiment. In
this brigade the 2qth lost 7 officers and 77
men killed, 13 officers and 232 men wounded,
and II men missing. The ist battalion 48th
Regiment also lost heavily. The 57th lost,
288
BATTLES OF THK NINETEENTH CENTURY.
out of 30 officers ami 570 men, 20 officers and
420 men, and was brought out of action by the
adjutant, who in ilie morning had been fourteenth
in seniorit}'.
The last-named regiment received on this
occasion the honourable name of the " Die
Hards," which has survived till this day. At
Inkerman, at a critical period of the battle,
when a heavv Russian column threatened the
weak remnants of the 57th, Captain Stanley,
who commanded, called out, " Die Hards, re-
member Albuera ! " and the men, responding,
made a gallant and successful effort. The sobri-
quet was gained under the following circum-
stances : — The regiment, when on the top of the
fatal hill, was losing officers and men every second.
The regimental colour had twenty-one holes in
it, the Queen's colour seventeen, the latter also
having its staff broken. Ensign Jackson, who
carried it, being hit in three places, went to the
rear to have his wounds dressed. On his return
he found Ensign Kitch, who had succeeded him,
severely wounded but obstinate in refusal to
give up his charge. Many companies had all
their officers killed or wounded, and, owing to
the heavy losses, the line presented the appear-
ance of a chain of skirmishers. There is a
tradition in the regiment that on the following
morning after the battle the rations of No. 2
company were drawn by a drummer, who carried
them away in his hat. Captain Ralph Fawcett, a
young officer of only twenty-three years of age,
although mortally wounded, caused himself to be
placed on a small hillock, whence he continued to
command his company, calling out from time to
time to the men to fire low and not to waste
their cartridges. Colonel Inglis, commanding the
regiment, being struck bj- a grape-shot which
penetrated his left breast and lodged in his back,
refused to be carried to the rear, and remained
where he had fallen in front of the colours,
urging the men to keep up a steady fire and to
" die harcir
Marshal Beresford, in his despatch, said that
the dead, particularly those of the 57th, were to
be seen " lying as they had fought in the ranks,
and every wound in front."
General Stewart was twice hit, but would not
quit the field. General Houghton, who had
received several wounds without shrinking, at
last fell dead, as we have mentioned, pierced
by three bullets, whilst cheering on the men
of his brigade. Early in the morning, hearing
of the enemy's advance, he hurriedly turned out
in a green frock-coat. Whilst on horseback in
front ot his brigade, his servant came up with
the general's red coat. Without dismounting,
Houghton with the utmost coolness made the
exchange of garments, though at the time he
was under the fire of the French artillerv.
In the Fusilier brigade the Royal Fusiliers
went into action with 31 officers in each batta-
lion. Of these the ist battalion lost 4 killed or
died of their wounds and 10 wounded ; while
in the 2nd battalion there were 3 officers killed
and 13 wounded, i sergeant and 63 men were
killed, and 14 sergeants and 263 men were
wounded. In the 2nd battalion, which went into
action 435 non-commissioned officers and men
strong, the losses were — killed, 1 sergeant and 46
men ; wounded, 16 sergeants, I drummer, and
26q men. From the account of the late Sergeant
Cooper of this regiment, we learn that, when
the Fusiliers had mounted the hill, there were
constant cries of " Close
up!
I "
' Close
! "
" Fire away ! " " Forward ! " Sergeant Cooper
relates as an illustration of the great opinion
which the army even then entertained of their
illustrious leader that, when he (Cooper) was
going into action, a comrade said to him,
" ' Where's Arthur ? ' meaning Wellington. I
said, ' I don't know. I don't see him.' He re-
plied, ' Aw wish he were here.' So did I."
The 23rd Fusiliers lost 2 officers and 74 men
killed, 12 officers — of whom 2 died subsequently
of their wounds — and 245 men wounded, and
6 men missing. At the end of the action one
company was commanded by a corporal.
The gallant leader of the Fusilier brigade,
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir William Myers, Bart.,
was among the slain. Through the interest of
his father, who was a lieutenant-general, he was
granted a commission while still a child, and in
1800, when barely si.xleen, joined the Coldstream
Guards from half-pav. Wounded at the landing
in Egypt in 1801, in the following year he be-
came a lieutenant-colonel, and very sensibly
spent the ne.xt two years at the senior depart-
ment of the Royal Military College. At the
end of 1804, being only twenty )-ears of age, he
obtained the command of the 2nd battalion
Roval Fusiliers. The two battalions of the regi-
ment being sent to Portugal in 180Q, thev were,
with a battalion of the 23rd Fusiliers, formed
into a brigade, the command of which was given
to Sir William Myers, scarcely then twenty-five
years of age. At Talavcra the brigade and its
young brigadier plaved a distinguished part, and
Sir William was recognised as one of the most
rising officers in the army. Albuera cut short his
ALBUERA.
28q
promising career, and it is asserted that his
letters betray a presentiment of his approaching
fate. When ordered to advance, he turned to
his brigade, exclaiming with exultation, " It will
be a glorious day for the Fusiliers." His horse
being shot under him, he proceeded on foot till
a second horstJ was brought. He had scarcely
Houghton to be buried at Elvas. He thereupon
expressed a wish to be buried where he died.
He did not, however, expire till the next day,
when he breathed his last at the age of twenty-
six, and was buried close to V^alverde.
It maj- here be mentioned that a company of
the 5th battalion of the both Rifles was present
•CAPTAIN KAWCEIT, ALTHOUGH .MORIALLY WOUNDED, CONTINUED TO COMMAND HIS COMI'ANV" (/>. 2SS).
mounted the latter when he received a bullet
which struck him in the hip, passing obliquely
\ipwards through the intestines. He did not
fall, but kept on encouraging his men. At
length it became necessary to take him from the
saddle, and he was borne off the field by a party
of Fusiliers. He wished a hut to be erected
■over liim, but his servants, anxious to obtain for
liim the comfort of a bed, carried him to Val-
verde, a distance of ten miles. On the road he
passed by a mule carrying the body of General
at the battle of Albuera, attached to the 4tli
division, and suffered some loss on the occasion.
The total casualties of the British and Por-
tuguese was 984 of all ranks killed, 2,095
wounded, and 565 missing. The loss ot the
Spaniards was nearly 2,000 ; that of the French
was about 0,000, including five generals.
During the night of the i8th, Soult retreated,
much to Beresford's relief, for the circumstances
of his victory- had brought with them little
exhilaration.
67
290
IN writing an account of a Red Indian cam-
paign one finds considerable difficulty in
conveying to the reader's imagination
anythmg approaching any adequate idea
of the severity of the fighting, or even a
clear picture of the field. The great value of
the Red Indian as a warrior lay in his level-
headed recognition of facts. No plan of
battle can be drawn to describe an Indian con-
test, unless, indeed, it be a map of a thousand
or so sqviare miles of territory. The red man
never took up a position with the intention of
holding it a moment longer than it afforded
him ample protection from the white man's
bullets ; for his triumphs consisted in the main of
masterly retreats, punctuated here and there by-
subtle ambush and lurid massacre.
A United States general, given the job of
punishing the tribes of the West for outrage
committed, had as disagreeable and dangerous a
task on his hands as his worst enemy could wish
him. Hard riding, a long series of unsatisfactory
skirmishes lasting over many days and hundreds
of miles of rugged, ragged country, all the while
straining every nerve to bring about a definite
battle which never would come ; chasing, one
may say, a most dangerous will-o'-the-wisp ; and
then, when all was over, little glory won, nothing
to show but bad wounds, decimated ranks, and
graves like links in a great chain running across
the bad lands. In the end there were no
prisoners to march to the forts, for the warriors
once disheartened, faded from sight as com-
pletely as a rainbow when the shower is over.
As a strategist no less than as a brave, prudent,
fearless fighter, the red man is to be admired.
In a few of the more important Indian cam-
paigns, however, the forces on occasion became
so concentrated as to admit of the arrangement
of soldiers and warriors. In the fight of the
Little Big Horn, for instance, when General
Custer and his 7th Cavalrymen were annihilated,
the battlefield is known, as is also the case in-
the frontier fight of which this is a record.
This is the account of a wonderfulh" plucky
defence, during a siege which lasted for nine
days, of a little island in the Arickaree Fork of
the Republican River, bv Colonel (now General)
George A. Forsyth, of the United States Army,
and fifty picked frontiersmen, besieged by Chief
"Roman Nose" and some i,cco Sioux warriors.
The long-settled East had just been linked to-
the great West by the construction of the Union
Pacific Railway, and population, like a tidal wave,
surged over the broad prairies. It soon became
apparent that white and red could not live to-
gether in peace. It consequently was imperative
that the boundaries between the territories to be
occupied by the Indian and those for the Cauca-
sian should be sharply defined.
The Sioux — in fact, all Western tribes — were
nomads of the most pronounced type. For cen-
turies they had followed the buffalo in their
range over thousands of square miles of prairie ;
their cities of wigwams were constantly shifted.
Abroad on the prairies all was freedom. Astride-
his shaggy pony the red man galloped from
dawn into the rim of night, across undulating
plains, rich in grasses and flowers ; around him
grazed countless buffalo and herds of wild deer ;
the prairie chicken flew from beneath his ponj-'s
unshod hoofs, the prairie dog sat atop his burrow
and watched him pass, the prairie hawk stained
its dark shadow across his path. All for hini
was space and fresh air, wildness and freedom.
So when the navvy marched into his domain
spinning from his store the long straight lines of
glittering steel, the Sioux saw their ancient
hunting-ground invaded, and angry runners
preached war in every camp.
They who had never learned to exist within'
restricted limit were asked to give up the prairie
THE FIGHT OF THE ARICKAREE FORK-.
to the hated pale-face. Without a moment's
warning war-parties of painted braves descended
upon the httle settlements, the outposts of civili-
sation, and soon the nights were ablaze with the
light of burning cabins and stake fire^. War
lollowed.
When it became known that the United States
Army was in for a serious campaign against the
Indians, many officers serving in districts not
affected by the war, officers who were unlikely
to be called upon for service, but who, neverthe-
less, were anxious to have a hand in the work,
applied to General Sheridan for a command.
Among these was Brevet-Colonel George A.
Forsyth, a man whose account of the affair at
Arickaree F"ork shows him to be as gifted a
writer as he proved himself gallant soldier.
Sheridan must have had considerable confidence
in Forsyth, for one hour after the colonel made
his application for active service he was handed
the following letter : —
" Colonel, — The general commanding directs
that you, without delay, employ fifty (50) first-
class hardy frontiersmen to be used as scouts
against the hostile Indians, to be commanded by
yourself, with Lieutenant Beecher, 3rd Infantry,
as your subordinate. You can enter into such
articles of agreement with these men as will
compel obedience.''
It is probable that the colonel in his most
sanguine moments did not dream of so congenial
an undertaking as this of recruiting frontiers-
men for the e-xciting and diversified business of
scouting against the savage Indian tribes of
the West. However that may be, he lost not a
moment in getting his men together. In two
days at Fort Harker he enrolled thirty grisly
scouts, and, marching to Fort Hayes, enrolled
twenty more, thus completing his complement.
The American frontiersman was a definite
type, almo.st as lurique a man as the Red Indian
himself, and, unfortunately, is as certain to dis-
appear as is the red man. Indeed, the latter
must long outlive the frontiersman. The one
has the short life of an individual, the other the
comparatively long life of a race. The frontiers-
man was a strange blending of the virtues and
vices of the white and red, spending half his
time in the frontier villages and forts and half in
the wilds scouting, hunting, trapping, prospect-
ing ; extravagantly exuberant in his drinks, care-
less of his own or another's life, yet cool-headed
and resourceful in danger, and when he found
himself compelled to give up his life, selling it
as dearly as possible ; a dead shot, a weather
prophet, a topographical expert, a pony connois-
seur, an Indian thought-and-sign reader. No
other nation has produced his like. He was a
compound of the virtues of courage, coolness,
and common-sense. To lead fifty such men was
to lead an army.
On August 20th, iSoS, Colonel Forsyth got
his marching orders. They read : "' I would sug-
gest that you move across the head-waters of
Solomon to Beaver Creek, thence down that
creek to Fort W^allace. On arriving at Wallace,
report to me by telegraph at this place.'' " This
place " was Fort Hayes in Kansas, and the order
was signed by Major-General P. H. Sheridan.
So away rode the little company of frontiersmen
and soldiers, no doubt expecting to meet with
some few adventures, but little dreaming of
fORSYIHS CAMTAIC-S
agrainst the SIOUX.
1868.
taking part in such a stirring drama as Fate had
in store for them.
To be sure, all were mounted. Soldiers afoot
were of no practical use against the wily Sioux.
A force to be effective had to move rapidly, for
Indians were given to covering an incredible
distance in a short space of time. So each
trooper was equipped with " a blanket apiece,
saddle and bridle, a lariat and picket-pin, a
canteen, a haversack, butcher-knife, tin plate,
and tin cup. A Spencer repeating-rifle (carrying
six shots in the magazine besides the one in the
barrel), a Colt's revolver, army size, and 140
rounds of rifle and 30 rounds of revolver am-
munition per man — this carried on the person."
Besides these fighting materials, four mules were
loaded with camp kettles, 4,000 extra rounds
of ammunition, picks, shovels, medicine, and
rations. As it turned out the mules not only
carried the food on their backs, but themselves
were used up as such.
Of the little company which set out on this
292
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
roving journey into the Indian country, Colonel
Forsyth, as has been told, was leader, and his
second in command was Lieutenant Fred H.
Beecher, a nephew of the pulpit orator
Henry Ward Beecher. J. H. Mooers, of the
Medical Department, U.S.A., joined the party as
surgeon. Abner T. Grover, a splendid Indian
fighter, held the position of chief scout, and
Sharp Grover acted as guide. The others were,
of course, picked men — hunters, trappers, plains-
men ; and the whole, although not soldiers in
the accepted sense of the word, were organised
into a company of cavalry. It is interesting to
know that one of these, Martin Burke, had been
a British soldier, and served in India. But with
four exceptions only, Forsyth tells, all were
Americans born.
At a rattling pace the little band set off across
the prairie, and, when the fort sunk below the
horizon, the soldiers found themselves quite out
of touch with all things pertaining to civilisa-
tion. On every side were buffalo quieth' grazing,
wolves slunk through the long prairie grass,
antelopes sprang nimbly out of the wa}- to stand
gazing with great eyes at the strange cavalcade.
To the frontiersmen, however, these were sights
familiar in the last degree, and no bullets were
sent after the retreating game. The men rode
on more serious business. For some days — in-
deed, until September 3th — the command scouted
the country without learning much of the move-
ments of the " hostiles," and ultimately reached
SIOIW SljUAW.
SIOUX INDIAN.
Fort Wallace without striking adventure. But
here they found serious news awaiting them.
The Governor of the State of Kansas telegraphed
that the settlers in Bison Basin were urgentlv in
need of protection. Following on the heels of
this alarming news came word of a massacre at
Sheridan, a small place some thirteen miles from
Fort Wallace. Colonel Forsvth, with his little
band, made for the scene of the outrage without
losing a moment.
The Indians had disappeared. The scouts
carefully examined the ground about the scene
of the massacre, and came to the conclusion
that the bucks who had taken part in the attack
numbered about twentj--five. A scouting party
merely, an offshoot from the general body of
warriors, no doubt somewhere in the vicinity.
To follow the trail was to come up with the
main body. So, keeping a vigilant watch ahead
— and indeed on all sides, for the red man is a
master of the art of surprise — Forsj-th's com-
mand struck the trail and pushed forward.
Following the tracks of this war partv proved
to be no easy matter. It soon became evident
the bucks had discovered that they were being
pursued, for at a point the scouts found that the
party had dispersed, the hoof-prints of their
ponies opening like a great fan, radiating off in
a score of leads. This was unfortunate. In-
stead of a certainty the scouts had now to
depend on a shrewd guess. Towards the Re-
publican River seemed the most likely direction
THE FIGHT OF THE ARICKAREE FORK.
293
lor the warriors to head, and towards the Re-
publican River rode the scouts. For five days
llicy continued their march before happening
upon a clue. This proved to be what Colonel
Forsyth calls a "vvickie-up" — young willows
some feet apart bent over and tied so as to afford
support for blanket or buffalo-skin, and forming
a rather snug night's lodging for a buck on the
war-path. After this discovery the command
Indian ponies and trailing behind, had scored
deeply into the soil, and everything betokened a
great gathering of warriors and squaws at no
great distance ahead. Some of the scouts grew
suspicious of the trail, and suggested to their
leader that everything pointed to their meeting
with more bucks than the fifty of them could
well take care of in a fight ; but Forsvth, while
admitting the soundness of their reasonings,
'ASTRIDE HIS SHAGGY I'ONV THE KED MAN GALLOPED ACROSS UNDULATING PLAINS " (f. 290').
came upon other important Indian " signs," and
soon a trail became so plainly marked as to be
followed with ease.
As the scouting partv continued on the tracks
of the Indians, the trail became cleared, for at
frequent intervals it was noticeable that other
bands of warriors had joined the first war party,
or at least taken up the same trail ; and after the
Republican River had been crossed and the
Arickaree Fork reached, the trail became a
veritable road, so man}' ponies, cattle, warriors,
squaws, and dogs had tramped along it. Manv
lodge-poles, strapped to the sides of the' shaggy
decided that as the Government had sent him
out to fight he would offer battle, irrespective of
the number of the enemy he might meet.
Early in the evening of September i6th
Colonel Forsvth halted his command to spend
the remaining daylight in putting all things in
order for a dispute, which he felt sure would
soon take place. The scouts all that day had
followed the windings of the Arickaree, and had
reached the middle of a valley rich in pasture.
The waters of the Arickaree were low at this
point, running not more than a foot deep, and
in the centre of the stream rose a small island.
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
about seventy yards from either bank, but only
some few inches above the shallow water, an
island covered with long rank grasses. The
scouts, now that thev knew themselve.s to be in
the immediate neighbourhood of Indians, were
specially particular about everything pertaining
to their efficiency and safety. Each man personally
attended to the tethering of his horse, driving
the pin deep into the ground, and giving the
lariat an e.xtra knot so that, should the Indians
during tlie night trj- their old game of stam-
peding the horses, their attempts would fail.
Not only this but the beasts were hobbled.
Sentries were carefully posted, and men lay
down beside their horses, each with his rifle in
his arms.
That night Colonel Forsvth could not sleep,
but time after time arose and made the rounds
of the sentries posted among the bushes and
along the bank of the quiet stream. The night
was cold, and the. line of the high ground was
clearly marked against the sk\'. Many sounds
were on the air, but not one of them brought to
the minds of men used to all the cries of prairie
and forest the suggestion that Indians were near
at hand.
At length the eagerly-looked-for dawn flushed
the eastern sky. ' The stars one by one faded
into the pale light, the lines of the hills grew
gradually more distinct against the sky, and from
the bushes and the long sedge grasses birds and
beasts stirred drowsilv. Forsyth stood beside a
sentry, neither speaking a word but both keep-
ing an eagle eye for any sight of the foe and a
sharp ear for sound. In Indian fighting the
early dawn is quite the most dangerous time.
Indians move little at night, but the morning i.s
their favourite season for attack, on the chance
of taking a sleepy camp by surprise. Of a
sudden Forsyth and the sentry cocked their
guns. Each had seen a moving object out in
the darkness. The ne.xt instant the report of
their riHes rang- out on the morning air, the
sleeping men sprang to their posts, and spilling
over the hills came mounted Cheyenne, Ogal-
lalah, and Brulc-Siou.x, led by the great fighting
chief, " Roman Nose." As the outposts of the
scouts, firing their rifles, ran in to the main body,
the Indians swept down the slope, yelling fero-
ciously and beating drums to stampede the
horses.
But the stampeding party met willi a recep-
tion for which it was evidently not prepared.
The scouts, first taking a turn of the lariats
around the left arm so \hat there could he no
breaking awa\- of horses, levelled their rifles and
fired such a voile}- into the shrieking savages as
to quite put a stop to a charge never intended
to be a fight, but arranged only to cause the
hc)rses to break away and so leave the scouts in
the hands of their foes. Seeing their design
frustrated and that the scouts were wide awake
and in fighting trim, the Indians careered off
out of range, and galloped back to a position on
the rising ground, appearing in the half-light of
morning like uncanny blotches of black on the
shoulder of the sullen hill. The only spoils they
secured were two mules and two horses.
In the few minutes of confusion in the
enemy's ranks the scouts saddled and bridled
their mounts. Although the first charge had
been successfully withstood, the outlook was far
from comforting to Forsyth and his lion-hearted
men. A.s the light increased, it was seen that
the vi'hole country — valle}' and hillsides — was
alive with warriors on horseback and on foot.
To charge the Indians meant annihilation ; to
retreat was utterh" out of the question, for the
scouts found themselves surrounded completely.
The only thing left was to take up a position
and defend it to the last.
It turned out to be a luck\- accident, indeed,
that the scouts had bivouacked on the particular
spot chosen the evening before, and equally for-
tunate were they in that the Indians had failed
to realise the strategical value of the little sand
island out in mid-stream as a place for entrench-
ment. Forsyth saw that he was in for a de-
sperate siege. In a moment the idea of en-
trenciiing his command on the island occurred
to him. The water, being only a few inches
deep, in itself, of course, aflForded him no pro-
tection, but the river bed was at least free
from bushes, behind which the Indian riflemen
might take refuge and " pot-shot " at his camp.
Besides this, the bucks must charge across a
considerable stretch of " clear country " before
they could come at the scouts, and during this
passage the latter would undoubtedly make good
practice. There was no time to lose. Forsyth
gave the order promptly, and promptly it was
obeyed. A few of the best shots clapped down
in the long grass to cover the retreat, and the
remainder, leading their horses, made off as fast
as they could run for the island. Once there
the animals were tied in a circle, and the men,
throwing themselves at full length, opened fire
across the stretch of rippling waters, while their
companions, who had gallantly held back the
savages, ran in.
THE FIGHT (3F THE ARICKAREE FORK.
295
The instant the movement was successfully
4iccomplished the Indians discovered the mistake
they had made in overlooking the island, and
with a savage yell the circle of bucks narrowed
■in, the warriors dismounting and running for-
ward towards the banks shooting with deadly
accuracy at the little force on the island. One
scout already lay dead, and a number more were
sorely wounded, while the poor horses, tethered
there on the island, presented a fair target to
the savages, and were being riddled with bullets
as they plunged and screamed at the lariats- in
pain and madness. Mean-
while the scouts kept
wonderfully cool heads
•on their shoulders, and
fired not oftcner than
:thev were reasonablv
likely to make the bullets
tell on the dark-skinned
warriors. It did not take
the Indians long to realise
that the scouts' position
could not be carried all at
■once ; so they fell back
to shoot at longer range
until such time as their
chiefs could decide on a
definite plan of action.
The cessation in the
liot firing allowed the
frontiersmen to breathe.
During the interval of
•comparative inaction the
scouts, using their knives
and pans and hands,
scooped little pits in the
sand, about two feet deep and long enough
for a man to lie in at full length. The sand so
displaced was thrown up into tiny breastworks,
each man making his own miniature fort.
Colonel Forsyth, bolt upright in all the tire,
superintended the placing of everj- man under
his charge. At length all were in their proper
places, and the leader, whose every action had
been level-headed in the last degree, decided not
to e.xpose himself any longer now that the
occasion for doing so had passed, but instead to
seek protection in one of the pits.
Strange to tell, the very moment he had
stretched himself at full length, a bullet struck
him in the right thigh, giving him a ragged and
le.xcruciatingl}- painful wound. For a time he
lay panting and unable to speak. The bullet for
die nionieiit shattered his nerves. Nor did the
CHEYENN'E INDI.VN
gallant colonel'^ misRirtunes end here. No
sooner had he got control of himself after the
staggering blow than, in giving an order, he was
under the necessity of exposing his left leg. By
luck or bv splendid shooting no one can say
which, a redskin's bullet crashed through the
bone between the ankle and knee. This was
indeed the hardest of hard luck. As he quaintly
puts it in his account of the battle, " In my
present condition, with my left leg broken and a
bullet in my right thigh, I was for the nonce,
save for the fact that I still retained command,
something of a spectator."
Scarcely a comfortable
condition in which to
begin a defence which
Fate destined to last for
nine long days I
All this happened before
eight o'clock in the
morning. So far the In-
dians had got much the'
worst of the fight, for the
scouts were unequalled
shots. But the latter had
no great cause to rejoice,
for their position was dan-
gerous in the extreme.
The next definite point
in the dispute was the
tracking of the colonel's
skull b\- a bullet, his thick
felt hat perhaps saving
his life. By this time the
scouts must have begun
to think that their leader
Mas in for all the wounds
and misfortunes. But a far v.-orse catastrophe
followed. Dr. Mooers, who from the moment
the trouble began had conducted himself with
the greatest bravery, shooting with unerring
skill, and working at the temporary fortifications
as hard as any man of the whole company, was
struck by a bullet squarely in the forehead. He
fell across his little sandbank. The poor fellow
lingered unconscious for three daj-s, then died a
soldier's death. This was a terrible blow to all,
but more particularly to the wounded.
The sun rose in the heavens, and shortly after
eight o'clock an ominous silence fell upon the
battlefield. The mounted warriors had for some
time been making off over the brow of the hill,
and the bucks, lying behind the bushes and
banks, only fired desultorily. The scouts a:
once suspected that a grand charge was brewing
2q6
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
The Indians, confident in their numbers, had
made up their minds to ride over the American
command and annihilate it at one decisive blow.
During the short space of comparative quiet-
ness Colonel Forsyth — who, although desperately
wounded, still retained command and fought on
with Anglo-Saxon pluck — ordered his men to
make ready to resist a charge. Nor was the order
given a moment too soon. From behind the
rising ground there appeared a host of mounted
warriors, fantastically caparisoned in feathers
and beads and flaming colours, and at their head
of a savage warrior it has been my lot to see.*'
After clustering them on the brow of the hilJ
and seeing that all were in position, this chief
(a man of si.K feet three in height and naked but
for a sash around his waist) led on his four
hundred bucks down the slope and straight for
the scouts' stronghold, while the women, children,
and unmounted warriors crowded the adjacent
heights and added their shrill cries to the din
made by clattering hoofs and the war-whoops of
the charging men.
At the word of command the scouts sprang
I.NDIAN' WIGWAJIS.
rode the grand chief, '' Roman Nose." He and
his warriors rode barebacked, their feet twisted in
the horsehair lariats that encircled their horses,
their left hands grasped bridle-rein and mane,
and in their right they carried their rifles.
" His face was hideouslj- painted in alternate
lines of red and black," writes Colonel Forsyth
of "Roman Nose," " and his head crowned with
a magnificent war-bonnet, from which, just above
his temples and curving slightlv forward, stood
up two short black bufifalo horns, while its ample
length of eagles' feathers and herons' plumes
trailed wildly on the wind behind him ; and as
he came swiftly on' at the head of his charging
warriors in all his barbaric strength and grandeur,
he proud!}- rode that day the most perfect type
from their sandpits, lined up, and prepared to
receive the furious host that was rapidlv ap-
proaching. To be ridden over meant instant
destruction. Old plainsmen, trappers, and scouts
as they were, they were quite alive to the great
danger. At the instant the galloping column
came shouting, screaming, within range the
scouts, now reduced to forty, taking cool aim,
fired a vollev into the ranks. The only answer
to this was a wild hoarse shout of war-whoops :
but, although some horses sprang into the air
and some warriors disappeared into the stream,
still the charge came on. The next volley from
the frontiersmen plaved greater havoc with the
rapidlv approaching savages ; the third volley
proved murderously effective, and horses and
THE FIGHT OF THE ARICKAREE FORK.
men fell in a row, but still the rearward savages
urged (in their snorting ponies. At the fourth
volley the ehargers were staggered ; their medi-
eine-man with a death cry drops from his horse
into the water; at the fifth, "Roman Nose," great
war-chief, (lings his arms into the air, and with
2q7
he had survived
mother ! " died. Poor fellow
the slaughter-pens of Gettysburg only to die
of a shot wound in his side away west on the
plains.
Before nig.1t fell a second, but somewhat half-
hearted, charge was defeated, and the first day's
"AT THE FIFTH VOI.I.EV, 'ROMAN NOSE ' FLINGS HIS ARMS INlo THE AIR AND FALLS DEAD.'
his splendid steed falls dead ; the si-\th volley,
and the charge is stopped ; at the seventh and
last the infuriated braves turn tail completely
shattered, and make off helter-skelter, defeated,
maddened, and leaderless, leaving the stream
strewn with their dead. The splendid steadiness
of the scouts had saved the position.
A few minutes after this grand charge had
been repulsed, Lieutenant Beecher, second in
command of the scouts, lay down, placed his
head on his arm, and, murmuring " My poor
doings concluded. Lieutenant Beecher, Surgsion
Mooers, and three scouts were dead, two more
scouts fatally stricken, and si.\teen wounded,
mostly severe wounds, and the commander with
a bullet in his thigh, a leg broken, and his skull
cracked. The outlook must have been far from
cheerful.
All the night the Indians were busv removing
their slain from the stream, and the shrill wail-
ing cries of the squaws and children, mourning
for the dead, sounded on the night air. During
:o8
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
the hours of darkness the dead horses were cut
up for food, and portions buried in the sand to
keep the meat sound as long as possible ; their
saddles were used to build breastworks, the
wounds of the men were dressed, and Pierre
Truedeau, an old trapper, and Jack Stillwell, a
nineteen-year-old j-outh, undertook to steal
through the Indian lines and make away for
assistance. Those who could of the men then
ate some raw horseflesh, and made the best of
an anxious night.
The second day of the siege found the scouts
much better able to hold the island on account
of the fortifications erected during the night.
But the day proved warm and close, and the
wounded suffered severely, while the smell from
the dead horses soon grew obnoxious. There
was great wailing in the Indian camp continu-
ouslv, the women loudh' bemoaning the death
of so manv braves. The Indians, while using
no exceptional means to carry the island, kept
up a harassing fire all day long. That night two
more men were despatched for assistance. It
was seen that the warriors had received such a
bitter check on the first day that the\- desired to
trv no more charges, and had determined on
starving the scouts out.
On the third day of the siege the Indians
made an attempt to find out the condition of
the Americans by advancing under the protec-
tion of a flag of truce, but the scouts were up
to all the red men's strategy, and drove them
away. When darkness came down, two scouts
again started off for assistance.
The fourth day turned out to be broiling hot.
Wounds, only attended to in an amateurish way
became well-nigh unbearable, the horse-meat
turned putrid, and many of the men grew de-
lirious. Colonel Forsyth took his razor out of
his saddle-bag, and himself cut deep into his
thigh, and at last managed to extract the buried
bullet with his fingers. None of his men would
■do the job as the bullet lav so near to an arter}-,
but as the pain was maddening he took all risks
■by attending to the matter himself. The Indians,
fortunately, were getting very tired of the task,
and although they still fired on the island, they
•did so from a respectful distance, so that the
scouts were able to move about more freely.
They boiled the putrid horse- and mule-flesh,
and by " peppering " it well with gunpowder
managed to swallow enough to keep life in their
bodies. A tiny coyote, too, unwarily approached
■"vithin the range of a scout, with the result that
a bullet put an end to its miserable existence,
and its bones boiled and boiled and boiled until
every particle of nourishment was extracted.
The fifth and sixth daj- passed quieth', the
Indians having pretty well withdrawn, only leav-
ing enough warriors to prevent the company
from quitting the island. Two more days,
feverishly hot, and of intense suffering to the
wounded, who bore their hurts as stoutly as men
could. Indeed, these frontiersmen were brave to
the last degree, although, truly, their condition
was abjectly pitiable. For instance, one had an
eye shot out, the bullet lodging in his head, but
he only ceased firing long enough to wrap a
handkerchief around his brow. Tnere were two
frontiersmen named Farley in the company,
father and son. The father at the beginning of
the fight received a mortal wound, but althougl:
quite unable to stand, he lay on his side, and
fought through the entire first day. His son,
about the same time that his father received his
death-blow, was shot through the shoulder, but
said nothing about the desperate wound until
the day's fighting was done. And, again, a
marvellous accident happened to a man named
Harrington. He received a flint arrow-head
f:iirly in his frontal bone — so firmlv driven
into him, indeed, that it seemed altogether out
of the question that anyone but a surgeon could
remove it. However, some time later a bullet
cut across his brow, struck the arrow-head, and
both bullet and flint fell at his feet. He, too,
bound a handkerchief around his brow, and con-
tinued to fight with the best of them.
The ninth morning of the siege dawned.
Well and wounded were alike in great straits.
Starved and overwrought, ragged, nerves un-
strung, footsore, cramped, and many delirious, it
is easy to understand what a wild shout of joy
arose from the long sedge grass of the sand
island when over the brow of a neighbouring
hill came galloping a troop of cavalrj-, and rock-
ing and rattling across the rough ground a string
of ambulances, the drivers flogging the mules
into a furious run. Colonel Forsyth admits that
he could not trust himself to watch the arrival
of succour, but curled himself up in his sandpit,
and pretended to read a novel he happened to
ha^e in his kit. A few minutes after being
sighted. Colonel Carpenter and hi* troop of the
loth Cavalry came splashing across the shallow
river and swung to the ground to grasp the
hand of the gallant Forsyth, while troopers
and frontiersmen alike sent up a great cheer.
A surgeon 'vas soon busy among the wounded,
and, these attended to, the loaded ambulances
THE FIGHT OF THE AKICKAREE FORK.
299
made oft" for Fort Wallace, more than a hundred
miles away.
In the tight at Arickaree Fork of the Re-
publican River the Indians lost close upon one
liu'.ulred of their finest warriors, including the
cliief of all, "Roman Nose." Of the frontiersmen
and scouts more than one-half were killed and
wounded. Had they not been a picked body
of men, trained to Indian warfare, alert, well
led, and dead shots, there is no doubt the
whole command would have been, like Custer's,
wiped out.
I.NLIIAN 10M.\H.A.WK. I'lPE.
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iatjP!>Jl i«^g5 HB : B an Mma>TSJ^^S^i^^W^IIim^'^ ' B ]i^U^' g ;■■< £«»: g ' <^
THe TRAGEDY OP KHARTOUM
llls^ 19 JAN:- 6 FEB: 1S35. byj:harles lowl
IN a previous article on "The Desert Fights
— Abu-Klea and Abu-Kru," it was set forth
how, in the autumn of 18)^4, the Gladstone
Government resolved on despatching a
military expedition, under Lord Wolseley, to
relieve and rescue General Charles Gordon —
the Bayard of the nineteenth century — and
the Egyptian garrison of Khartoum, which v.as
besieged by the Mahdi, or False Prophet of the
Soudan, with 20,000 of his fiercest warriors.
It was shown how, after incredible exertions
in ascending the Nile and struggling with the
difficulties and dangers of the "cataracts," this
expedition at last attained to Korti about the
end of the year, where intelligence reached it
of the pressing peril of the gallant Gordon and
his garrison ; how then the expedition was
divided into two forces — one, Under General
Earle, called the River Column, which was de-
tached to occupy Berber, and on the wav inflict
condign punishment upon the Monassir tribe for
the treacherous murder of Colonel Stewart and
his companions, whom Gordon had previously
sent down to Dongola ; and the other, known as
the Desert Column, under Brigadier-General Sir
Herbert Stewart, |o make a bold and rapid dash
across the Bayuda waste of sand and scrub with
intent to establish a foothold at Aletamneh, on
the Nile, whence, with the aid of Gordon's
steamers from Khartoum, it would then ascend
the river and relieve the beleaguered garrison.
It was also shown how this Desert Column,
composed of picked men from all the e/i'te regi-
ments of the British armv, with a superb detach-
ment of Bluejackets, yet aggregating less than
2,000 combatants — how this eager and audacious
column, mounted on camels, pushed across the
parched Bayuda Desert, and covered itself with
glory by vanquishing all its foes : hunger, thirst,
sleeplessness, and, worse than all, the fanatical
spearmen of the ]\Iahdi ; how at Abu-Klea (ijth
January ), when marching in square 1. 500 strong,
it was suddenlv set upon, as a lighthouse rock is
assailed bv raging seas, by a roaring flood of more
than 5,000 death-despising savages ; and how,
after only about five minutes' desperate and
bloody hand-to-hand fighting, in the course of
which it lost the heroic Colonel Fred Burnaby
and ibS officers and men killed and wounded —
being all but submerged in this human deluge
of the desert — it at last raised a rousing cheer in
token of victory.
The further difficulties of the march were then
narrated : the incidents of the zeriba, or extem-
porised fortalice, near Abu-Kru, including the
death of two war-correspondents and the fatal
wounding of the commander of the column ; the
final march of the fighting square for the river ;
the scattering of a second onset of Alahdist
warriors with a few well-directed volleys ; and the
final arrival of the square on the banks of the
river, the sight of whose blessed waters was
hailed by them with as much enthusiasm as
had been the distant Euxine by the home-return-
ing soldiers of Xenophon after their perilous
and toilsome march through the mountains of
Armenia.
That night (Monday, loth January, 1885) the
flving column bivouacked as best it could on
the bank of the river, sleeping as it had never
slept before — all but the surgeons, who, though
tired to death, were heroically unremitting in
their attentions to the wounded.
Earh' next morning the men were again
paraded to return to the zeriba. On the wav
the village of Gubat was burned, and at about
eight o'clock, the enemv offering but little re-
sistance, the entrenched position was reached
once more.
While the square was on the march the dav
before there had been considerable fighting at
the zeriba, but ultimatelv the Arabs had been
"FIVE MINUTES DESPERATE AND ELOODV HAND-TO-HAND FIGHTING" (J. 30=).
;o;
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
compelled to give way before the fierce and well-
direeted fire from rifles and guns alike. Break-
fast was just ready when the fl\"iug column was
seen returning, Colonel Talbot, commanding the
Life Guards, walking as composedly in advance
through the scrub as though he were returning
from a field-day in Oi^ien Anne's Walk. On
the column coming up it was received with be-
fitting cheers, for it had done its work well, or
" tastefully," as was remarked by an Irishman of
the Royal Sussex.
Abu KI6alWeUS
./
Cciifal S!nvart JL,'
ts"7ar.\'^
Blielacat Wclls+ IS
ABU KKTIi
4^' — "'^-••■■
GTOAT ;:£L^ .£^.?/'\r.zi'
AMNEH
d' tiufi
f-j Kit</ji Cum)
An hour later the whole force moved away in
columns of regiments from the zeriba, taking as
much of the stores as possible, and leaving
behind a guard of fifty men. Five-and-twenty
wounded soldiers had to be carried on hand-
stretchers, for hundreds of camels had been lost.
The enemy dared not again to attack the force,
which reached the river village of Abu-Kru by
nightfall. The wounded were placed under
cover in the huts, and the outlying houses were
loopholed for defence, whilst the troops settled
down for the night on the ground outside.
Sir Charles Wilson had been ordered to occupy
Metamneh as a basis of operations, and thence
ascend the Nile without delay to the relief of
Gordon. But Metamneh he occupied not at all,
and his ascent of the Nile he only commenced
after the lapse of four precious days. How was
this ? What were the circumstances which had
thus compelled the commander of the relief
column to play the apparent part of a Fabius
Cunctator, and imperil the achievement of the
object for which this column had already made
such heroic efforts and sacrifices ?
As for Metamneh, Sir Charles Wilson had
come to the conclusion that the political effect
of not taking it would be so ^reat that its
capture ought to be essayed ; and accord-
ingly, at the first glimmer of dawn on
Wednesday, the 21st, he paraded for this
purpose a force of 1,000 men, which advanced
in double column. Sir Charles had- pre-
viously sent a summons, of surrender on
favourable conditions to the Emir command-
ing the town, but^ this was treated with con-
temptuous silence.
The line of advance was from west to east
— the course of the Nile at this part — but Sir
C. Wilson had heard that on the north of the
town there was a large Government build-
ing, and he determined if possible to attack
this, feeling convinced that if it were only once
secured the place would be his. According!}',
the attacking columns under his command
were given a direction which
should bring them, by a detour,
over against the north instead of
the west front of the town ; but
what was his astonishment, on
looking back from a point to
which he had ridden forward to
confer with Barrow and his re-
connoitring hussars, at behold-
ing his advancing columns march-
ing due south instead of north
by east ! Boscawen, the second in cc-.rimand,
sent to explain that he had seen a bod}' of
dervishes moving on the south side of Me-
tamneh in the direction of the camp, and had
deemed it advisable to strike away across
to intercept them. Sir Charles himself couKl
discern no dervishes in the direction indi-
cated, and doubtless concluded — just as Ciesar
did in the case of Publius Considius. his
scouting-master in the war with Dumnori.x the
^duan — that Boscawen " had seen what, as a
matter of fact, he had not seen " (rcnimtidssr
pro fiso qiKid mm ridissct).
Neverthless, thinking that the dervishes might
possibly be lurking among some cotton bushes
THE TRAGEDY OF KHARTOUM.
.yO}
111 the plain between tlie town and the river on
the south side, he acquiesced in the new direc-
tion which had been given to his troops of
assault, who now began to skirt the town on the
south side. Hitherto the Arabs had given no
sign, but now tlieir fire was drawn by the daring
Mr. Bennett Burleigh, of the Daily Telegraphy
who had ridden on towards a point where, with
the true instinct of the war-correspondent, he
had suspected a possible source of interest. The
troops now advanced in square in case of a
sudden rush of spearmen, and the eneni}- opened
a brisk fire from loopholed walls. Occasionally
the square halted, and the men lay down whilst
skirmishers were sent out to reply to the fire of
the enemv ; while Sir Charles tried his guns,
though thev produced no eflfect on the mud
walls, the shells going as clean through them as
revolver bullets through a target of cardboard.
Presently, however, Barrow sent to say that
he could see some large flags in the rear, and
that he was certain they were on steamers, and
the ubiquitous Burleigh rode off to meet them.
Sir C. Wilson also sent Stuart-Wortley to com-
municate with them, and, to the e.Kceeding joy
of all, thev turned out to be four vessels which
Gordon had sent down from Khartoum to co-
operate with his relievers.
" The steamers,'' wrote !Mr. Burleigh, " were a
curious sight. Three of them were about the
size of large river-steamers, and the fourth was
even smaller than a Thames penny-boat. The
hulls of all four were of iron ; the sides and the
bridge were boarded up like a London street
bill-hoarding. In place of their pine-boards,
howeyer, there were heavy sunt-wood timbers,
two or three inches thick, and as impervious to
rifle bullets as steel plates. In the forward part
of each vessel a raised wooden fort had been
built, the inside plated with old boiler iron. Pro-
jecting through a poit-hole, closed against bullets
by an iron plate when necessary, was a short
brass-rifled gun four inches in bore, such as are
used by the Egyptian army. On the main deck
another gun was placed. Gordon must have
lavished hours and days of hard labour to get
the material together for making these four
steamers into iron- or wooden-clads so strong that
they could safely run the gauntlet of the rebel
cannon and rifle fire."
Meanwhile Sir C. Wilson had withdrawn his
force to a village fronting the west side of
Metamneh — first north, then south, then west ;
and no sooner had he begun this retiring move-
ment than the enemy opened on him from
an advanced battery with blind shell, though
luckily only one came into the square. "I heard
the rush of the shot through the air," he said,
" and then a heavy thud behind me. I thought
at first it had gone into the field-hospital, but
on looking round found it had carried away the
lower jaw of one of the artillery camels, and
then buried itself in the ground. The poor
brute walked on as if nothing had happened,
and carried its load to the end of the day."
The sudden appearance of the steamers had pro-
duced quite a stage effect ; and the black troops
on board, hastening to disembark and eager for
the fraj-, were lustily cheered by Tommy Atkins,
who was not in a particularly pleasant frame of
mind at having thus been made to pass the
morning hours in imitation of the storied king
of France and his thirty thousand men. The
swarth}- Soudanese, who behaved like perfect
children in their joy at the prospect of their
being able to show a thing or two to Tommy
Atkins, came on as keen as possible, and ran
four guns into action at once. " Being sent to
their guns with orders," said Lieutenant Douglas
Dawson, of the Coldstreams, "I stayed with
them for half an hour, while they made some
first-rate practice on the town, and though the
gun-fire drew down the bullets pretty thick,
they didn't appear to mind a bit. It seemed ex-
traordinary what good troops the master mind
of Gordon had made out of such rough material.
Never have I seen men so pleased as they were
at meeting us. Gordon's name mentioned was
like that of a god whom they worshipped. It
was even difficult for these enthusiastic allies ta
retire, as we explained to them that we did not
intend for the present to attack the town."
For, alas I that was the conclusion to which
Sir C. Wilson had now been forced by a calm
survey of all the circumstances of the situation.
Lord Cochrane, of the 2nd Life Guards, pleaded
very hard for leave to storm the town, and, under
cover of the smoke from the windward side,
drive the Arabs into the river, but Sir Charles
did not think the result would justify the risk.
Boscawen managed the withdrawal cleverly and
well, without confusion or hurrj-, and always
giving the enemy a chance to att'.ck if they
wished. Shortly before the withd awal began,
Poe, of the Marines, received a drjadful wound
in the thigh, necessitating amputation very high
up. Ever since leaving Korti he had worn a red
coat, almost the only one in the force, and this
had made him too conspicuous to the marksmen
of the enemy. He was shot while standing up
304
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
ill the open talking to his men, who were lying
down.
By the time the force had returned to Abu-
Kru its involuted line of march resembled as
nearly as possible the figure eight. The intended
attack of Sir C. Wilson on Metamneh had re-
solved itself into a mere reconnaissance in force ;
and he himself admitted that the moral effect of
this was bad, giving the enemy fresh heart. But
he was not without his substantial reasons for what
he had done. By death and wounds the effective
Gordon's diaries up to the 14th December (it
was now the 21st January), together with a note
in the beleaguered hero's own handwriting,
dated 2qth December : '" Khartoum — all right ;
can hold out for vears." Where, then, was the
hurry ? Ah, but there was another letter from
Gordon to a private friend, Watson, dated 14th
December (the date of the last entry in his diary),
in which he said he expected a crisis within
the ne.xt ten daj's, or about Christmas day !
And now it was nearly a month after Christmas!
AR.\B HORSEMEN OUTSIDE METAMNEH.
force at his disposal had already been decimated,
and he could therefore ill afford to risk the
further diminution of his combative strength,
the less so as he now had reason to fear that
bodies of the Arabs were advancing against him
from Khartoum as well as Shendy — north and
south. Besides, even if he had taken Metamneh,
he estimated that the force at his disposal, after
deduction of the loss in storming, would be in-
sufficient to hold it against all comers. For
these and other reasons he decided not to press
the attack. But, after all, he had established
himself on the Nile with Gordon's steamers at
his service, and thtit was the main thing.
These steamers had brought down with them
Gracious heavens ! was this not enough to fill the
relieving force with the keenest apprehension,
and rouse to the ver}- utmost all the energies
of its commander? Gordon's "Khartoum — all
right" note was evidently a blind : the real stress
of his position was conveyed in his private
letters ; and thus, rightly discerning the situation.
Sir C. Wilson resolved " to carry out the original
programme and go up to Khartoum."
At once? No, various circumstances seemed
to render this impossible, and, indeed, unne-
cessarj*. To begin with, a rumour had reached
Sir C. Wilson that a hostile force was approach-
ing from the south, and it therefore behoved
him — so he thought — to descend the Nile in
THE TRAGEDY OF KHARTOUM.
305
one of Gordon's steamers and inquire into the
trutli of tliis report, as " I would not leave the
small force in its position on the Nile with-
out ascertaining whether it was likely to be
attacked." Moreover, in spite of Gordon's
gloomy forebodings. Sir C. Wilson knew that,
although Omdurman — on the left bank of the
White Nile over against Khartoum — had fallen,
Khartoum itself was still holding out ; while
he also calculated that the besieging pressure
on the town would be relieved by the large
number of men detached by the Mahdi to meet
the steamers carefully — that the crisis at Khar-
toum, which had been deferred from the 25th
December to the 19th January (it was now the
2 1st), would be hurried on, " or that a delay of
a couple of days would make much difference."
Besides, Lord Wolseley had ordered that Lord
Charles Beresford was to man Gordon's steamers
with his Naval Brigade, and take Wilson with a
few red-coats up to Khartoum. But the officers
of the Naval Brigade,
like the heroic fellows
that they were, had all
1M.4.1OR-0RNERAL GORDON, r.B., R.E.
the English, and that news of their victories
would be sure to have penetrated into Khar-
toum and given fresh heart to Gordon and his
garrison.
In Wilson's opinion there was nothing to
been killed or wounded, save Beresford ; and
Beresford was so ill that he could not walk.
Not, therefore, to the immediat'e relief of
Gordon at Khartoum in the south, but to tne
carr3'ing out of an aquatic reconnaissance towards
Shendy in the north, did the commander of the
Desert Column now address himself. He was
accompanied by Lord Charles Beresford, who
had to be helped on board and placed on a seat
in the cabin, and bv two companies of mounted
infantry under Major Phipps. The result of the
reconnaissance, which was not without its lively
risks and incidents, went to show that the Eng-
lish had nothing to fear from any force advancing
southwards towards Metamneh, for several davs
show — and he questioned the commanders of at least ; and as a token of their gratitude for
68
3o6
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,
the valuable information which thev had thus
gleaned, the three steamers, before returning,
hauled off into mid-stream and threw sixty shell
screaming and crashing into mud-built Shendy.
The bolder spirits of the party had pleaded hard
■with Wilson for leave to land and storm the
place outright ; but again, as at Metamneh, the
combative impulses of these fiery Hotspurs were
repressed by the just and cautious reasonings of
their sagacious commander.
Thus, then, passed Thursday, the 22nd. Before
leaving the steamer b)- which he had gone down
to Shend}-, Wilson ordered preparations to be
made for a start to Khartoum next day — the
23rd. But, alas ! unexpected difficulties again
cropped up, rendering it impossible for the two
selected steamers to be got under weigh. For
it was found that the engines had to be over-
hauled, wood had to be collected as fuel, rations
drawn for the crews, pilots selected for the catar-
acts ; and, above all things, those crews had to be
assorted in conformity with the express instruc-
tion of General Gordon, who insisted strongly
on our taking actual command of the steamers,
and removing from them all Pashas, Be\^s, and
men of Turkish or Egyptian origin, whom he
describes as " hens." " So the hours slipped
by," said Sir C. Wilson, " and we failed to make
a start " (on the 23rd).
Nor was it till eight o'clock on the following
morning (Saturday, the 24th) that the two
steamers at last began to churn the waters of
the Nile and head for Khartoum, amid the part-
ing cheers of the lads they left behind them.
These vessels were the Bordciu and the Tcln/ia-
U'lyc/i. ' On board the former were Sir C. Wilson,
accompanied by Khashm-el-Mus, Captain Gas-
coigne, ten men of the Royal Sussex, one petty
officer, one artificer R.N., and no Soudanese
troops, the " hens " having all been weeded out.
The Tclahawiych carried Abd-el-Hamid, Captain
Trafford, and ten men of the Royal Sussex, in-
cluding a signaller. Lieutenant Stuart-Wortley,
one artificer R.N., and eighty Soudanese troops ;
but she also had in tow a nugger laden with dhura
(grain) for the famished garrison of Khartoum,
and fifty additional Soudanese soldiers.
It had been originally intended to send fifty
men of the Royal Sussex up to Khartoum, but
Sir C. Wilson did not feel justified in taking
with him an escort of m.ore than twenty. Happy
fellows, to be thus chosen for such an honolirable
and risky enterprise, and greatly envied by the
war-correspondents, who, for all their hard plead-
ing, were not allowed to share their peril. Lord
Wolseley had particular!}- wished the escort to
enter Khartoum in red coats, and these had been
sent to the front. But somehow or other they
had been lost or looted ; so a call had to be
made for scarlet tunics, and a sufficient number
were raised from the Guards or the Heavies,
though these hung rather loosely on the less
massive frames of the men of Sussex.
" Now, what was it we were going to do ? "
wrote Wilson. " We were going to fight our
way up the river and into Khartoum in two
steamers of the size of penny-boats on the
Thames, which a single well-directed shell would
send to the bottom ; with crews and soldiers
absolutely without discipline, with twenty Eng-
lish soldiers, with no surgeon — not even a dresser
— and with only one interpreter, Muhammed
Ibrahim, still suffering from a flesh wound in his
side."
The filth in the steamers was something in-
describable, the stench which rose up from the
holds overpowering, and the rats countless and
ubiquitous, no place or person being too sacred
for them. With such a motley crew^, moreover,
the noise on board was sometimes deafening, and
King Kurbash had frequently to assert his sway.
The top of the deck-house or saloon in either
boat was assigned to the ten Sussex men, with
their arms and ammunition, kits and food, who
were thus in a kind of citadel which could com-
mand the whole ship in case of a mutiny or
anything going wrong.
All kinds of botheration occurred to impede
the progress of the steamers. For they were
heavily loaded and the water was low, and they
could only move by da\-. They had to stop fre-
quently to take in more firewood (village houses
having to be pulled down for this purpose), to
parley with friendlies, or to clear the banks of
foes, and more than once they ran aground. It
was a novel sensation, said Wilson, going to
sleep on a steamer hanging on a sunken rock,
with water running like a mill-race all round
her. On such occasions the disastered steamer
had practically to be emptied, hauled off, and
re-loaded, causing a most exasperating loss of
time.
In this manner three days were spent, and on
the evening of the 26th two Shagij'eh friendlies
came on board the Bordetn, who reported that
for the last fortnight there had been hard fight-
ing round Khartoum — Gordon always victorious ;
that the advance of the English was much
dreaded ; and that the Shagiyeh tribe were only
waiting for the turn of the tide to join the
THE TRAGEDY OF KHARTOUM.
307
British. Ahis ! by this time, if they had only
known it, all was over, and Gordon had already
won at once the hero's and the martyr's crown.
More cataracts, sand-shoals, mountain-gorges
— not unlike the "Iron gates" of the Danube —
stoppages to take in wood, trepidations, tra-
casscrtes of all kinds, dropping shots from the
river banks, counter-fusillade from the slowly-
moving steamers — until, on the afternoon of the
27th, a native on the left bank hailed the
B'trdew, shouting out that a camel-man had
just passed down with the news that Khartoum
was at last taken, and Gordon killed. Incredible !
So much so, that " we dined together in high
spirits at the prospect of running the blockade
next day and at last meeting General Gordon
after his famous siege " — a siege which had lasted
for 317 days, or only nine days less than that of
Sebastopol.*
Starting at 6 a.m. on the 28th, the steamers
had advanced to a point whence the towers of
Khartoum could at last be descried in the far
distance — Wortley and his signaller with the
heliograph now getting ready to try and attract
Gordon's attention ! — when another Shagiyeh
shouted out from the bank that Khartoum had
been taken, and Gordon had been killed two
days before.
Soon afterwards a heavy fire was opened on
the steamers from four guns and many rifles at
from boo to 700 yards. The bullets began to fly
pretty thickly, rattling on the ships' sides like
hailstones, whilst the shells went screeching over-
head, or threw up jets of water in the stream
around. " Our men replied cheerily, and the gun
in the turret was capitally served by the black
gunners, who had nothing on but a cloth round
their waists, looking more like demons than
men, in the thick smoke ; and one huge giant
was the very incarnation of savagery drunk
with war."
This was at Halifiyeh, and, after the gauntlet
of Arab fire had here been run, the large Govern-
ment House at Khaftoum could be seen plainly
above the trees. But where was the Egyptian
* On the gth December Gordon had written in his
diary : " We are only short of the duration of the siege
of Sebastopol 57 days, and we had no respite, like the
Russians had during the winter of 1854-55. ... Of
course, it will be looked upon as very absurd to compare
the two blockades, those of Sebastopol and Khartoum ;
but, if properly weighed, one was just as good as the
other. The Russians had money — we had none ; they had
skilled officers — we had none ; they had no civil population
— we had forty thousand : they had their route open and
had news — we had neither."
flag which Gordon, for nearly a year, had ever
kept flying upon his topmost roof? Not a trace
of it now visible ; nevertheless, Wilson would
not yet believe in the worst, and pressed on up
stream with his boilers strained almost to the
bursting-point, and further threatened by the
guns of another battery which, with a heavy
rifle fire, now opened upon him from the right
bank above Shamba, and blazed away at his
vessels until they were within range of the guns
of Omdurman.
And what is that fire from a range of rifle-
trenches on Tuti Island, fronting Khartoum
at the confluence of the Blue and the White
Niles ? Wilson, always in the optimist vein,
thought that the island might still be in the
hands of Gordon's men, who had thus begun
to co-operate with the steamers. But, alas ! no.
Drawing near to address them and ask for news,
Wilson was driven back into his turret by a
shower of hostile bullets. Mahdist riflemen
those, and no mistake.
But might not Khartoum itself still be holding
out ? Forward again, and let us see ! But " no
sooner did we start upwards than we got into
such a fire as I hope never to pass through again
in a penny-steamer " — nothing to greet the score
of English red-coats but the roar of hostile guns,
the continuous roll of musketry from either
bank, the loud-rushing noise of Krupp shells,
the grunting of a Nordenfeldt or a mitrailleuse
— such a devils' concert and carnival of welcome
as English red-coats had not got for many a day.
No flag flying in Khartoum, and not a shot
fired on shore in aid of the steamers. Could
the most eager and optimistic of Wilsons fail at
last to read the true significance of all that ?
Certainly not ; seeing was now believing. " I
at once," wrote Wilson, '' gave the order to turn
and run full speed down the river. It was hope-
less to attempt a landing or to communicate with
the shore under such a fire. The sight at this
moment was very grand : the masses of the
enemy with their fluttering banners near Khar-
toum ; the long rows of riflemen in the shelter-
trenches at Omdurman ; the numerous groups of
men on Tuti ; the bursting shells, and the water
torn up b}^ hundreds of bullets and occasional
heavier shot — made an impression never to be
forgotten. Looking out over the stormy scene,
it seemed almost impossible that we should
escape."
The Sussex red-coats had been very steady
under all this frn (/^cnfer, and done much execu-
tion among the ranks of the enemy. All on
",o8
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
board had very narrow escapes from bullets
and bursting of shells — Wilson's field-glass, for
example, being shattered in his hand ; but,
fortunately, the enemy's gunners were bad shots.
Some of the Soudanese soldiers did things
which, if they had been English, would have
entitled them to the Victoria Cross, and the
Sussex drummer picked up and threw overboard
the burning fuse of a shell which had burst
overhead.
When the steamers got clear of the last guns,
after having been under fire more or less for four
hours, it was past 4 o'clock ; and then it was,
the tension of the fight being over, that all on
board realised to the full the terrible nature of
the situation.
As for the Soudanese,
depths of despair at the
in which the fall of Khartoum must have
involved their families ; and Khashm-el-Mus,
their chief, collapsed entirely.
So would Wilson, too, he said, had it not
been for the thought of how he was to get his
steamers down the cataracts again — a much
more dangerous business than that of bringing
them up — down to Abu-Kru with the awful
news that Khartoum had fallen, and that Gordon
was undoubtedly dead. Sir Charles had been
acting as chief of the Intelligence Department
before the command of the Desert Column
they were all in the
thought of the ruin
devolved upon him by the wounding of Herbert
Stewart, and now here he was racing down the
Nile on his battered penny-steamer, the bearer
of these terrible tidings.
The steamers continued their down-stream
course until dark — the TcUiliinviych had grounded
but soon got free and followed her consort — when
they made fast to an island south of Jebel
Rovan. From this place messengers, in the
Alahdi's uniform, were sent to ascertain the fate
of Gordon, and on their return they stated that
the town had fallen on the morning of Monday,
the 26th, through the treachery of Faragh Pasha,
that Gordon himself had been killed, and the
town given over to a three days' pillage.
Faragh Pasha had originally been a black slave,
whom Gordon freed and entrusted with the
command of the Soudanese troops. This un-
grateful scoundrel, it was said, had opened the
gates and let in the roaring flood of Mahdist
murderers.
In what particular manner Gordon himself
had met his doom is still subject to some little
doubt. All the best evidence tended to prove
that he was killed at or near the palace, where
his body was subsequently seen by several wit-
nesses. The only account by a person claiming
to be an eye-witness relates : " On hearing the
noise I got my master's donkey and went with
him to the palace. We met Gordon Pasha at
SIR CHAKI-ES WILSON.
the outer door. Mohamed Bey Mustafa, with
my master, Ibrahim Bey Rushdi, and about
THE TRAGEDY OF KHARTOUM.
309
twenty cavasses, then went with Gordon towards
the house of the Austrian Consul Hansel, near
the church, when we met some rebels in an open
place near the outer gate of the palace. Gordon
I'asha was walking in front leading the party.
The rebels fired a volley, and Gordon was killed
opening of the gates by Faragh Pasha, but from
sudden assault when the garrison were too ex-
hausted by privations to make proper resistance.
If such were the case, the fact disposes completely
of the reasoning of those who argued that, even
if Sir Charles Wilson had been able to start at
" BERF.SFORD ANCHORED I!IS WKNG-CLIPT LITTLE VESSEL AND LAY STERN ON TO THE ENEMV" (/. 3II).
at once ; nine of the cavasses, Ibrahim Bey
Rushdi, and Mohamed Bey Mustafa were killed;
the rest ran away."
The massacre in the town lasted some si.\
hours, and about 4,000 persons at least were killed.
Major Kitchener, of the Intelligence Depart-
ment, who made very careful inquiries into the
circumstances of the fall of Khartoum, came to
the conclusion that the accusations of treachery
were the outcome of mere supposition. In his
deliberate opinion the city fell, not through the
once from Metamneh instead of after a delaj' of
four days, he would not have been in time to
save Gordon by stiffening the courage of his
garrison with the presence of his red-coats, who
were but the avant-cmcriers of more to come.
But " Too late I Too late ! by only a couple of
days ! '' — such were the cruel, the crushing
words which ever rang in the ears of Wilson and
his companions as they did their downhearted
best, amid their disaffected and almost mutinous
crews, to steer their steamers down through
310
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
cataracts, sunken rocks, and sandbanks far more
treacherous than Faragh Pasha, back to Abu-Kru
with the woeful burden of their tidings. Danger
after danger were overct)nie, and the hearts of all
had just begun to beat more blithesomely when
shock, crash, wrench — the Tclalum'ixch .struck
heavily on a sunken rock opposite Jebel Kovan
and commenced to sink.
The rock lay in mid-stream in front of a sand-
bank, and the catastrophe was caused by a dispute
between the captain and the rets (pilot) as to
which side of the shoal the}- should take the
steamer. The captain held up his hand one
way the rcis the other, and the helmsman,
puzzled what to do, kept straight on, thus
hitting the rock.
The Bordcin at once lay to, and, by the cool
e.Kertions of the English officers, most of the
stores were saved from the Tclahawiych^ and no
lives lost — nothing but most of the ammunition.
That same night a messenger from the Mahdi,
riding on a white camel, under a fiag of truce,
overtook and boarded the Brjrdcm with a mis-
sive from his master confirming the fall of Khar-
toum and the killing of Gordon, and summoning
all to surrender and embrace the faith of the
Prophet. " Do not,'' he said, " be deceived and
put confidence in j'our steamers " (alas ! only one
now) " and other things, and delay deciding until
you rue it ; but rather hasten to your benefit
and profit before your wings are cut."
The answer returned to this masterful
summons was of an evasive kind ; but the
colloquy between the messenger and the crews
had a very bad effect, and the natives now began
to desert.
This mutinous movement, indeed, was only
checked by an opportune, if unfounded, rumour
that the English had now taken Metamneh, and
that their reinforcements were alread\- swarm-
ing across the desert.
Countless dangers of navigation were now
surmounted, and by lo a.m. on the morning of
the 31st Januarv the descent of the last rapid
was accomplished, leaving a clear stretch of un-
broken water all the way to Metamneh. The
one difficulty still ahead was the running the
gauntlet at Wad Habeshi, where it was known
that Feki Mustapha — bad luck to him ! — had a
large force and a battery. All was going on well
and the worst of dangers were thought to be
over, when, at 3.30 p.m., while steaming along
in smooth water, the Burdcin, in descending the
channel to the west of Mernat Island, struck
heavily on a sunken rock and at once began to
fill. Everyone, Wilson included, thought that
the long-deferred end had now come. Had
native treachery been at work here, too ?
The sinking steamer was laid alongside a sand-
spit running out from an island, situated about
fifty yards from the larger one of .Mernat. Guns,
ammunition, and stores were landed with all
alacrity, and Captain Gascoigne was sent to
select a suitable place for a zereba on Mernat
Island, commanding the smaller one, against
which the Bordcin was beached. Finding the
position wholly unsuitable for defence, Wilson
at first thought of making a forced march down
the right bank of the river to opposite Abu-Kru,
while sending on Stuart-Wortley in a boat to
report upon the situation and beg for a steamer
to be sent up to protect their flank. But it was
impossible to do anything with the native troops,
and so he had to content himself with securing
his position on the island as best he could, and
despatching Wortley down stream to beg for
succour from the Desert Column.
At 6.45 p.m. Wortley started in the ship's boat,
having with him four English soldiers, including
the signaller, and eight natives. His start was
timed to enable him to pass Feki Mustapha's fort
at Wad Habeshi in the interval of darkness be-
tween sunset and moonrise. He rowed on to
within about half-a-mile of the fort, and then,
shipping his oars, ordered the crew to lie down
in the bottom of the boat, which, floating down
stream, gradually neared the enem^-'s position.
So near did it drift to the shore that the men's
faces could easily be distinguished as they sat
over their camp fires, and they were even heard
discussing whether the black object which they
saw upon the stream was a boat or not.
Suddenly their doubts were di-spelled by the
rising of the moon on the eastern horizon in a
straight line behind the boat, which was thus at
once rendered plainly visible. The shout which
followed this discovery soon warned the crew
that further concealment was useless, and spring-
ing to their places they pulled away with a \\'ill
amidst a rain of bullets which ploughed up the
water on every side, but did no harm. A few
hundred yards brought them to another island,
by following the right side of which they were
enabled to continue their journe\' under cover
for a considerable distance, and on again emerg-
ing into the main channel, they found that they
were only followed by a few camelmen, ap-
parently with rifles. At 3 a.m. on the ist
February the partv reached the camp of the
Desert Column.
THE TKAGP:DY of KHARTOUM.
-Jii
" No member of our small force," wrote I.ieiit.
Douglas Dawson, "will ever forget this morning.
Just at dawn I was waked by someone outside
our hut calling for Boscawen. I jumped up and
went out to see who it was, and then made out,
lo mv surprise, Stuart-Wortley, whom we all
tliought at Khartoum. I looked towards the
river, expecting in the faint light to see the
-Steamers ; then, seeing nothing, and observing
by his face that there was something wrong, I
said, ' Why, good heavens ! where are the
steamers ? What is the news ? ' He said, ' The
very worst.' Then it all came out."
* * # » «
Holla there ! A Beresford to the rescue !
Scottish Gordon had started to relieve Khar-
toum ; English Wilson had followed to relieve
Gordon ; and now in turn it was necessary for
Irish Beresford to rush to the. rescue of Wilson.
Though not 3'et quite recovered from his
illness, the gallant Lord Charles — " fighting
Charlie " Napier's successor by name and nature
in the Navy — at once offered to embark upon
the most perilous enterprise which the cam-
paign had j-et entailed ; and by two o'clock on
the day on which Stuart-Wortley had reached
the camp of the Desert Column with his doleful
and distressing news, Beresford was steaming up
the Nile as fast as ever the boilers of the Stifich
could carry him and his combatant companions,
consisting of a portion of the Naval Brigade
under Lieut. Van Koughnet, twenty picked
marksmen of the Roj-al Rifles, with two Gard-
ners and two 4-pounders. And now let Feki
Mustapha and his gunners at the Wad Habeshi
battery, which intervened between the Saficli
and the scene of the Bordcin wreck — let Feki
and his swarthy gunners have a care of their
ugly heads.
The ascent of the Safich was marked by no
particular incident till the third morning, when
the Arab earthworks at Wad Habeshi were
sighted, and beyond them in the distance the
funnel of the disastered Bordcin. When within
1,200 yards of the fort. Lord Charles opened fire
with his bow-gun, which was at once replied to
by the Arabs ; and then, full-steam ahead, he
proceeded to run the blockade of the batterv,
just as at the bombardment of Alexandria he
had carried his little Condor close under Arabi's
guns and battered them out of action. Owing
to the shallowness of the water, it was necessaiy
for the Safich to pass within eighty yards of the
river-bank redoubt ; but into the embrasures of
this redoubt Beresford's gunners and riflemen
rained such insufferable showers of shells and
bullets that the Arabs were totally unable to lire
their pieces fronting towards the river.
No sooner, however, had the Safich passed up
— 200 yards or so — to a point whence it was im-
possible for it to concentrate such a hail of
missiles on the fort, than the Arabs wheeled one
of their guns to an up-stream embrasure and
sent a well-directed shot clean through the
steamer's stern and into one of its boilers — of all
places in the boat. A cloud of dense steam at
once poured out, scalding severely all those in
the stokehole ; and the column of vapour was
perceived afar off by Wilson and his party, who,
concluding that the vessel was in dire e.xtremit}'
of some kind, made haste to descend the right
bank and co-operate with it against the Feki
Mustapha gentr\' on the opposite shore.
In the paddle-wheels of the Safich there was
still revolving power enough left after the burst-
ing of her boiler for her to be moved a wee bit
further up stream, and then, heading towards
the right bank, Beresford anchored his wing-
clipt little vessel and lay stern-on to the enemy
at about 500 yards' range.
Here was a nice predicament for a penny Nile-
steamer to be in ! But, then, there was a
" fighting Charlie " on board, and that made all
the difference in the world. On the bursting of
the boiler the Feki Mustapha clanjamfrie had
raised a j-ell of triumph that might have been
heard at Cairo, but this was shouting before
they were out of the wood. Nevertheless, what
mattered all their shouting, when their shooting,
which was the main thing, was made impossible ?
From eight o'clock in the morning till sunset,
so heavy and continuous a fire was kept up from
the crippled Safich that the Arabs were never
once able to bring'a gun to bear upon her, while
their rifle practice during all these twelve long
and anxious hours was of a kind that would
certainly have disqualified them for competition
at Bisley.
As, however, under cover of the night the
Arabs might haul their guns up stream to a
position that would prove fatal to the Safich
with the break of day. Lord Charles saw that
his boiler must somehow be repaired by morn-
ing light, and that meanwhile he must delude
the enemy into the belief that he meant to
desert his ship, so as to make them think it
not worth their while to shift the position of
their guns.
The morning dawned, and lo I by this time
the damaged boiler had been repaired by the
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
heroic efforts of Mr. Henry Benbow, chief en-
gineer, who, working ahnost alone upon it, and
under fire — which killed a pettj- officer and
wounded Lieut. Van Koughnet — had again suc-
ceeded in supplying the little vessel as with wings
of steam. At this discovery the Arabs at the
redoubt raised another deafening yell, accom-
panied by a hail of bullets ; but presently they
were to be made to veil for a totallv different
reason.
For, sending the revivified Safieh about 200
yards up stream so as to have ample turning
room. Lord Charles put about and darted down
again past the redoubt, raining such a storm of
various projectiles into its front, embrasures as
precluded the bare possibility of its guns being
laid and fired on the passing vessel. A few hun-
dred yards further on the Safieh came upon the
nugger of the Bordcin full of sick and wounded,
under Captain Gascoigne, hard and fast upon a
rock, on to which it had drifted in its nocturnal
passage down stream. Under a sharp fire from
the enemy the nugger was lightened and taken
in tow, and a little further down Beresford was
able to embark Sir Charles Wilson and his partv,
who had descended the right bank and formed
a zeriba.
At a quarter to si.K o'clock on the evening of
the 6th February the Safieh safely reached the
camp of the Desert Column, Lord Charles Beres-
ford being received with great cheering on
account of his dashing exploit, " which we all
look on,'' said Lieut. Dawson, " as the most
brilliant business of the expedition."
On the following evening Sir C. Wilson set
out for Corti to communicate in detail to Lord
Wolseley the tragic story of his attempt to reach
Khartoum ; but by this time the news had
reached England, and divided the hearts of the
people between sorrow for the fate of the gallant
Gordon and admiration of the heroism which
had been so vainly displayed by the soldiers of
the expedition to save him.
How the other half of that expedition, under
General Earle, comported itself at the battle of
Kirbekan, and how the Desert and the River
Columns again united at Corti, must form the
subject-matter of a separate story.
BRINGIjNG the news of GORDONS DEATH TO MET..1MNEH.
313
HFTER the battle of Liitzen, on the left
bank of the Elbe, in the beginning
of May, 1813, the allied Russo-Prussian
forces, retiring before Napoleon, were
obliged to recross that river, to evacuate
Dresden, and to fall back into Silesia. Thev
were again defeated with heavy loss at Bautzen
and Wurschen on the 20th and 21st May,
thus losing the line of the Oder. In one month
the young and hastilj-organised French army
had been victorious in three great battles,
besides several minor engagements of advanced
guards. At the same time Marshal Davout had
retaken Hamburg and Liibeck, and on the 2qth
May the French eagles were seen everywhere
triumphant from Hamburg to Breslau. The
honour and prestige of French arms, which had
suffered so grievously in the Russian campaign,
were completely re-established, and the coalition
of European Powers which menaced the French
Empire was paralysed, the monarchs in flight,
their armies in disorder. But the legions of
Napoleon were themselves worn out with con-
stant effort, and required repose to give them
tmie again to consolidate. The position of the
Crown Prince of Sweden, Bernadotte, the rene-
gade French marshal, was threatening in Pome-
rania ; the death of his old and trusted comrade,
Duroc, had saddened the emperor ; and at the
instance of Austria, till then neutral. Napoleon
consented to an armistice, which was signed on
the 4th June.
But the policy of Austria was opposed to
Napoleon. Confident in her strong armaments
and her position on the French right flank,
she felt that, ' if she cast her sword into the
scale, she must be the arbiter of future events.
The Russo-Prussian coalition had failed because
it had been surprised, before its complete de-
velopment, by Napoleon's inconceivable rapiditv
o'' action. Even now the number of combatants
which it could put into the field was nearly
equal to that of the French armies. With the
additional forces that could be raised during an
armistice and with 130,000 men which Austria
could dispose of, the numerical odds against the
French Emperor would be almost overwhelming.
Fully alive to these facts, the diplomatists of
Austria, in arranging an armistice and in pro-
viding that during its continuance a congress
should be assembled at Prague to consider con-
ditions of peace, resolved to insist upon such
cessions by Napoleon as would bring the swaj-
of France within normal limits and restore to
other European nations the influence of which
they had so long been deprived. Austria, in
fact, let it be known that her neutrality was at
an end, that it was for her to decide on the future
of Europe, and that she would make common
cause with Russia and Prussia unless the terms
formulated by the congress at Prague were ac-
cepted by the French Emperor. Hard these
terms were, including demands for the cession of
Illyria and the greater part of Italy, the return
of the Pope to Rome, the vielding up of Poland
to Russia, the evacuation of Spain, Hoiland, anc
Belgium and the re-establishment of the Con-
federation of the Rhine ; but it is certain that
even the proud spirit of Napoleon hesitated for
a time whether he should not accept them. On
one hand he had an immense army with his own
unequalled genius to direct it : on the other he
saw the advantages and indeed the necessity of
peace to France worn out by long years of war.
One of his ministers, whose name is unknown,
struck the note which gave a key to his final
decision, saying, " Ah, sire, and your glory ! "
How could he, who had distributed so many
sceptres, descend to the level of the crowd of
kings, conquered or created by himself? The
die was cast. The loth August, the dav when the
armistice expired, passed v.'ithout his acceptance
314
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
of the proposals made to hini, and Austria, with
Russia and Prussia, forthwith declared war.
In the presence of enemies so formidable,
whose united forces numbered nearly 500,000,
Napoleon found it necessary to remain on the
defensive. His own army, including the Im-
perial Guard as a reserve, did not much exceed
300,000 combatants, and was distributed from
the frontier of Bohemia, following the course of
the Katzbach, to the Oder. The time of the
armistice had been employed on both sides in
preparing for war, in completing, organising,
and instructing the troops, and both the French
and their allied enemies were fresh and ready to
enter on a new campaign.
The army of Austria was the factor of the
future which Napoleon had principally to con-
sider. If it marched on Dresden, it would tem-
poraril}- be checked by the ist and 14th Corps
under Vandamme and Gouvion St. Cyr until the
emperor could rush to their assistance. If it
moved into Silesia, the whole French army
would be gathered to meet it at Goerlitz or
Buntzlau. In an}- case, Dresden was the base of
Napoleon's system, as the bridges at Meissen and
at Konigstein enabled the French to manoeuvre
on both sides of the Elbe. The town w-as there-
fore put into a defensible condition, and made
secure against a coup-de-main. The old fortifica-
tions were repaired, the faubourgs were fortified
and covered by advanced works, field fortifica-
tions were constructed between the Hopfgarten,
the public park, and the Elbe, and the park itself
was made available for the occupation of several
battalions.
Shortly before this time the French army had
suffered a severe loss, which not only deprived
it of the services of a singularly able and ex-
perienced officer, but also shook its moral as
.showing that entire confidence could no longer
be placed in soldiers of foreign extraction, even
though they wore the uniform of a French
general. General Jomini, a Swiss by birth, the
chief of Marshal Ney's staff, deserted to the
allies, taking with him the field states of the
French army and complete notes of the intended
plan of campaign. Jomini owed everything to
Marshal Ney, who had raised him from a very
humble employment to the high position w'hich
he occupied. Basely did this man betray the
trust reposed in him, and it was to the astonish-
ment of ever\- one that the Emperor Alexander
of Russia rewarded his treason by making him
his aide-de-camp. Even the Emperor of Austria
was so shocked by seeing Jomini present at a
dinner given by Alexander that he exclaimed,
" I know that sovereigns are sometimes obliged
to make use of deserters, but I cannot conceive
how such a one can be received into their per-
sonal staff or found at their table."
Having thus transferred his services, and, as
said before, bringing with him Napoleon's orders
for the movement of his several army corps, .
Jomini urged the allied sovereigns to commence
hostilities two days earlier than had been their
intention, so that time should not be given to
the French Emperor to alter his plans. He is
also credited with having given them the sage
advice always to fall upon the French armies
wherever their great commander was not. With
what fatal effect that advice was followed in the
ensuing campaign history may tell. It no doubt
inspired the allied movements in the campaign's
commencement, though for that time these
movements were not crowned with success.
The first blow was struck by the impatient and
fiery Blucher, who hurled himself upon the
French army under Marshal Macdonald in
Silesia. His intention was to draw Napoleon
himself to that part of his line of defence and
to retreat before him, while the main Austro-
Russian-Prussian army of 200,000 men, under
Prince Schwartzenberg, which had been concen-
trated at Prague, would then be able to attack
Dresden opposed only by the great warrior's
lieutenants.
The plan was only partially successful. The
emperor, indeed, met Blucher and drove him
back, but he had divined the intended movement
of Prince Schwartzenberg upon Dresden and
prepared to return to the defence of that town
b}' forced marches, at the head of the 2nd and
6th corps of infantrj' and the whole of his guard,
together with the ist corps of cavalry and the
Polish cavalry. Vandamme was also directed
to march with the first corps of infantry upon
Konigstein, and, restoring the bridge there, to
threaten the enemy's flank.
The great allied army crossed the chain of the
Erz Gebirge on the 22nd August, and debouched
by Gottleuba, Altenberg, Sayda, and Marienberg.
The only French troops then in front of them
were the 14th corps, 20,000 strong, commanded
by Marshal St. C\t, which occupied the environs
of Pirna, about eighteen miles from Dresden.
Weak as this force was, it was in the hands of
one of the most able captains who had been pro-
duced b\- the many previous years of war.
Gouvion St. Cyr, of tall and dignified figure,
sparing of speech, but when he spoke clear,
DRESDEN.
315
concise, and trenchant, bad a calm and method-
ical mind. War was for him an art to be loved,
and, constantly studying- it, he aimed to carry it
on purely by rule. He calculated military issues
not only b}- the place, the circumstances, and
the numbers engaged, but by the character of
the enemy opposed to him and that of the chiefs
and soldiers whom he commanded. He knew
always how to gain the confidence of his subor-
dinates, to mould them to his purpose, to inspire
them with pride in themselves, and, in the midst
of the greatest perils and privations, to raise
their courage to the level of his own. He sought
glory, but it must be gained by following prin-
ciples, otherwise for him it lost its value. He
preferred to succeed by prudently-calculated and
wisely-combined manoeuvres, leaving as little as
possible to chance ; and he was often known, by
able strategy, to turn a stubborn and prolonged
defensive into an offensive, unforeseen and vic-
torious. This great soldier had the fault that
he did not show all his value except in a position
of separate command. Independent by elevation
of character as well as by pride in his own
abilities, he ill brooked an equal and still less a
superior. Caring not to share his glory with any-
one, he but coldly seconded his chiefs, and gave
to his equals the smallest measure of support.
Such as he was, no better man could have
been found to carry out the task which now fell
to him. He knew that the emperor would
hasten to secure Dresden, but that time was
above all things necessary. With a weak corps
of 20,000 men he had to check the overwhelm-
ing masses of the allies till an adequate force
could be present to give them battle. No finer
tactical display could be possible than his gradual
withdrawal to the defences of Dresden, inflicting
heavy loss on his enemy during three days of
fighting, and then placing his troops beiiind the
works which had been already prepared. Ad-
mirable as his dispositions were, however, and
brilliant as was his leadership, he owed much of
his success to the delaN's of Prince Schwartzen.
berg, who, proverbially slow- and cautious in the
field, would not risk, even against a feeble enemy,
a bold attack on Dresden till the corps of General
Klenau had come into line. If the Austrian
commander-in-chief had nerved himself to use
fully the crushing forces already under his hand,
he might have cut the French line of communi-
cation and secured the passage of the Elbe
before Napoleon appeared on the scene with
the men drawn from Silesia. v
On the morning of the 26th August the situa-
tion was this — Marshal St. Cyr with his corps
was holding the field-works which protected
Dresden, while the great allied army, still hesi-
tating to make a determined attack, occupied in
strength the heights of Zschernitz and Strehlen
to the south of the town, while at the same time
spreading themselves out towards both flanks.
Napoleon was hastening towards the threatened
town at the head of the troops which were to
secure its defence. Even then an attack in force
by the allies would have been successful, and in
the race for the possession of the important posi-
tion they might have outstripped the succours
which were toiling breathlessly to the critical
point. But still Schwartzenberg delayed to grasp
the prey which was really in his power ; still the
columns of his army stood inactive. The oppor-
tunity slipped away, not again to return. At
nine in the morning the French Emperor arrived
on the outskirts of Dresden. He paused for a
moment to inspect the battery which had been
placed on the right bank of the Elbe to flank the
left of the French position, and ordered that it
was to be strengthened by the first pieces of
artillery which should arrive. Then he pressed
on to the front of St. Cyr's line, and by twelve
o'clock he had mastered all the details of the
situation. His presence produced a magical
effect upon the sorely harassed 14th corps, and
everywhere shouts of "Vive I'Empereur" gave
voice to the renewed confidence of the soldiers,
who felt that they were no longer called upon tc
struggle against hopeless odds.
An hour or two after mid-day Prince Schwart-
zenberg at last resolved that he would no longer
wait for the arrival of General Klenau's corps,
but would move forward to the attack. Three
cannon shots gave the signal, and at once si.x
columns, each covered by the fire of fifty guns,
threw themselves against the entrenchments of
Dresden. The combined discharge from such a
formidable artillery was crushing in its effect,
and, making the outworks untenable, gave for a
time an easy success to the infantry columns.
General Colloredo carried the main redoubt in the
centre of the French line; General Kleist obliged
the troops who had occupied the park to fall b.ick
upon the faubourg ; and the corps of General
Wittgenstein debouched near the Elbe, threaten-
ing to turn the left of the French position. The
whole of the reserves of the 14th corps were
now engaged, and the shot and shell of the
attack were falling in the streets of Dresden. A
few short hours earlier such an assault so de-
livered must have driven St. C3r into hopeless
.-6
BATTLES OF THK NLXETEENTH CENTURY.
retreat, but now it was too late. Even while
the allied armies were making their effort, un-
known to them masses of French soldiers were
entering the town and forming for hattle. The
Old and Young Guard were both there, the in-
fantry division of General Teste, the cavalry of
Latour-Maubourg had moved to the e.xtreme
right, and a numerous artillery was ready to
come into action. Napoleon, who had been
watching the progress of events, judged that
the time had come to show the hidden strength
upon which the allies had unwittingly closed.
The French centre was secured bv the old forti-
of the sorties, which now issued from everj' gate
of the city. They were driven out of the re-
doubts which they had taken earlier in the day,
and in their retreat to the heights which they
had occupied on the past night they suffered
heavy loss from the charging squadrons of
Latour-Maubourg. In the fighting of that one
day Prince Schwartzenberg, while gaining no
foot of ground, had lost 5,000 men killed and
wounded, and nearly 3,000 prisoners. Thus
ended a glorious day for France, but one whose
gfory for a time hung onlv on a thread, for, as
has been seen. Marshal St. Cyr and his corps had
IJ 1; 1; ^ I ' 1; N .
lications of the town, so he was at liberty to
disregard thai point and operate against the
tlanks of the enemy. Two divisions of the
Guard, under Marshal Ney, were sent to the
right, while two others, under Manshal Mortier,
were directed to the left, where also were Teste's
division and Latour-Maubourg's cavalry. The
allies were surging up to the old walls, driving
the 14th corps, still sternly fighting, before them.
No thought had they but to sweep victorious
over the frail battlements into Dresden, and,
shouting "To Paris !" as their war-cry, their order
was relaxed in the expectation that no further
resistance would be met. Suddenly the gates
opened and the stately battalions of the Guard
appeared in battle array. It was like the appari-
tion of Medusa's head. Startled into sudden
discomfiture, the allies fell back before the charge
made their last effort and fired their last car-
tridge before the Imperial Guard came tc their
assistance.
During the night the light infantry of General
Metsko, forming the advanced guard of Klenau's
corps, joined Schwartzenberg, and prolonged to
the left the vast semi-circle occupied by his
army. His tight rested on the Elbe above
Dresden, and he intended Klenau's corps to fill
the gap between his left and the Elbe below the
town. But Klenau's march was still delayed by
the state of the roads ; the position which he
should have occupied was insufficiently held by
Metzko, and the left of the allies was practi-
cally en Fair. The French also received a great
accession of strength, for the corps of Marshals
Marmont and Victor, with Nansouty's cavalry,
had followed the Imperial Guard, and were now
DRESDEN.
;i7
at Napoleon's disposition. The night of the
2tith was most trying to both armies. 'I'he rain
tell in torrents, and both French and allies
bivouacked in mud and water. A portion of
the former were certainly able to find some
shelter in the city, but the greater part of them
had no such resource. How often has it hap-
overcast. No single gleam of sunshine cheered
or warmed the chilled and famished soldiery
who rose from their flooded resting-places. The
allied army occupied a strong position on the
b.cights surrounding Dresden, while the French
occupied the plain immediately outside the town.
So completely were the troops of Napoleon
"llUlll FRENCH AND ALLIES blVoUACKED I.\ .MUD ASD WATER."
pened that, on the eve of a great conflict, the
soldiers who are to take part in it, and whose en-
durance and courage are to be tried to the utter-
most, have been exposed to every hardship which
can reduce their stamina and depress their
spirits ! In studying the great deeds recorded in
history, how much our admiration of the heroes
who performed them is increased by the know-
ledge of the surrounding conditions, to whose
evil influence they rose superior !
The morning of the 27th broke dull and
e.vposed to view, that Schwartzenberg could not
fail to know how great was the advantage in
numbers which the allies still possessed. Thus
were the French marshalled : on the extreme
left were two divisions of the Young Guard
under Mortier, supported by Nansouty's cavalry;
next to them was the 14th corps under St. Cyr ;
in the centre was the emperor with the infantrj'
and cavalry of the Old Guard, two divisions of
the Young Guard under Nev. and the 6th corps
under Marmont ; towards the right was Victor
3i8
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
with the 2nd corps ; and on the open ground on
the extreme right was massed all the remaining
cavalrv under Murat, the King of Naples. Murat
had only joined the army on the 17th August.
For some months after he had suddenly given
up the command of the shattered Grand Army
during the retreat from Russia, he had been in
disgrace with his great brother-in-law, and had
even gone so far as to enter into negotiations
with the English with the view of saving his
crown of Naples if Napoleon's star liad for ever
set in the Russian snows. When the new French
army was, however, organised and about to take
the field. Napoleon sent Murat a message of for-
giveness and a pressing invitation again to serve
as a soldier of France. Whether the emperor
did this in order to withdraw the King of Naples
from the intrigues into which he had so unfor-
tunately entered, or in order to give to his
cavalry a chief worthy to lead them in battle,
can never be known. Probably both motives
influenced the invitation, which Murat accepted,
again to prove himself the leading paladin of
French chivalry, the most formidable cavalry
officer who ever sat in a saddle.
The allied army was deployed, as we have
seen, in a great semi-circle, having its centre on
the heights of Zschernitz and Strehlen, with its
right under Wittgenstein resting on the Elbe.
Its left was, however, not complete, and only a
part of General Ginlay's corps, with the divisions
of Lichtenstein and Metsko, was pushed across
the deep ravine formed by the river Weisseritz.
If Klenau's corps had arrived, the left would
have rested on the Elbe, and there would have
been no want of natural strength in any part of
the position. In the general arrangement the
Russo-Prussian armies were on the right and the
Austrians on the left.
At si.x o'clock in the morning of the 27th,
Napoleon was himself at the outposts of his
army reconnoitring the dispositions of Schwart-
zenberg. His keen glance soon detected the
weakness of his enemy's left, and, an.xious that
the Austrian general should not have time to
repair the fault which had been committed, he
gave the order for the skirmishers and the artil-
lery to commence the action all along the line.
He resolved that he would seize the advantage
of being the attacker — an advantage which,
besides being so congenial to the spirit of a
French army, gave him the initiative in select-
ing the scenes of bitterest combat. As on the
previous day his most important movements
were against the allied flanks. Marshal Mortier,
with his divisions of the Young Guard, was
directed against Wittgenstein, while Murat and
his cavalry, with the assistance of Marshal
Victor's corps, were to fall upon and roll up the
Austrians on their weakly-held left. He him-
self, in the centre, intended to maintain a hea\'y
fire from his artillerv and light troops so as to
engage the enemy's attention and cause them to
anticipate other attacks from wew directions.
One of the first shots fired in the morning
inflicted a serious loss on the allies, shattering
both legs of General Moreau, who was riding
near the Emperor Alexander of Russia. Moreau,
who had been one of the most illustrious
generals of France, had been in e.xile for some
years, having fled from his native land, suspected
of complicity in schemes against Napoleon's
power. Within the last few days he had taken
service with the enemies of his countn,-, and v>'as
now aiding them with his great military talents.
It is yet uncertain how far Moreau was deservedly
an exile, but there can be no doubt that the
victor of Hohenlinden threw a dark cloud over
the end of his life, whose beginning had been so
glorious, by appearing in arms against France
and advising her foes how best they might con-
quer her sons. He was removed from the field
in a litter, and both his legs were amputated.
Four days later he died in the house of a Saxon
cure, cursing himself for his conduct and sa3'ing,
" To think that I — I, JMoreau — should die in
the midst of the enemies of France, struck down
by a shot from a French cannon ! " A curious
story, told of the manner in which the death of
this celebrated man became known to Napoleon's
army, may be mentioned here. On the evening
of the 27th a French hussar found, after the
battle, a magnificent Danish hound which
seemed to be searching for a lost master. On
the hound's neck was a collar with the in-
scription "I belong to General Moreau." This
led to inquiries being made, when it was ascer-
tained from people who had seen the event that
Moreau had indeed been mortally wounded. A
stone now marks the place, bearing the legend
" Hicr fid dcr held Moreau " (Here fell the
hero Moreau).
To return to the battle, it was never intended
by Napoleon that the combat in which Mortier
engaged should have more importance than
attached to the object of keeping the enemy
employed and uneasy. That marshal therefore
did no more than take one village and, during
the early part of the dav, dispute the possession
of another with the Russia!^- The real effort
DRESDEN.
319
was to be made on the French right by Murat
and Victor, who were to crush the allied left
and, if possible, cut off Schwartzenberg's line of
retreat by the Freyberg road, throwing him
back on the almost impassable mountain tracks
which lead to Toplitz by Dippoldiswalde and
Altenberg. This manoeuvre would be seconded
by Vandamme with the 1st corps, who, having
been two days previously ordered to pass the
Elbe at Konigstein, was now pushing before
him General Ostermann, the guardian of the
bridges.
Murat and Victor, unlike some of the great
French leaders on other occasions, acted without
jealousy of each other, and gave that mutual
support which doubles the tactical value of
masses of infantry and cavalry. While Murat,
with Latour-Maubourg's horsemen, made a long
detour to gain the flank of the Austrians, Victor
made a direct attack on their front and secured
the Weisseritz ravine, thus cutting them off from
the main body of their army. Then were the
Austrian squares victims to the brilliant cavalry
leader. Murat led the charges which he com-
manded with all the impetuosity and determina-
tion which had marked him in so many battles
in so many lands. Never had he directed more
effectively his " whirlwinds of cavalry." The
Cuirassiers, familiarly known in the French army
as " les gros frcrcSy'' reaped most of the day's
honours, and scattered the most solid formations
in their path. Lichtenstein's division was
driven back into the ravine by the squadrons
of Bourdesoulle ; the Austrian cavalry, which
bravely strove to support Metsko's division,
was overthrown by the dragoons of Doumerc,
and Murat himself, charging Metsko's division,
forced it to lay down its arms. All these
movements lasted from ten in the morning
till two. Rarely has cavalry ever produced such
an effect on a battlefield. Rarely have cavaln,'
and infantry worked together with greater
unison for a common end. As Murat said in his
report to the emperor, " the cavalrv covered
itself with glory, rending sword in hand the
masses of troops opposed to it, in spite of a most
stubborn resistance. The infantry charged the
enemy with the bayonet, and the generals well
directed in these difficult attacks the inex-
perienced bravery of their j^oung troops." In
these early hours of the day Murat took 6,000
prisoners and thirty pieces of artillery, besides in-
flicting on the enemy a loss of 4,000 or 5,000
killed and wounded. There was one circum-
stance which undoubtedly gave a considerable
advantage to cavalrv in the battle of Dresden.
At that period all soldiers were armed with flint-
lock muskets, wliich it was almost impossible to
discharge if the powder in the pan became at all
damp. As we have seen, there had been a con-
tinuous downpour of rain on the night previous
to the battle, and, on the 27th August itself, the
driving storm never ceased. The firearms of the
Austrian infantry were, therefore, nearly useless,
and the cavalry had nothing to fear from them
in charging up to their formation. With refer-
ence to this an incident of the day is recorded.
A bod\^ of Cuirassiers, commanded by General
Bourdesoulle, found itself in front of a brigade
of Austrian infantry- formed in square, and sum-
moned them to surrender. The enemj-'s general
having scornfully refused, Bourdesoulle rode to
the front, and called out that he knew that none
of the muskets could be fired. The Austrian
replied that his men would defend themselves
with the bayonet and that with the greater
advantage because the French cavalry, whose
horses were struggling up to their hocks in mud,
could not possibly deliver a charge with suflScient
pace to make it effective.
" I will destroy your square with my artillerj'."
" But you have not any, for it is stuck in the
mud."
" Well, if I show you the guns, now in rear of
my leading squadrons, will you surrender ? "
" Of course I must, for I will then have no
means of defence left to me."
Bourdesoulle ordered the advance of a battery
of six guns to a distance of thirty paces from the
square. When the Austrian general saw the
guns each with an artiller\'man standing by it,
portfire in hand, ready for action, he, perforce,
surrendered at discretion. *
Artillery, indeed, took a principal r6le on
both sides during the whole of the 27th, and
more markedly the French batteries, which were
at all times able to accompany the other troops
and to come into position wherever required.
The foresight of Napoleon had specially pro-
vided for the difficulty to be expected in crossing-
ground soaked and heavy with wet, by doubling
all the gun-teams, and for this purpose he had
made use of the horses belonging to the trans-
port waggons, which were for the time in safety
within the walls of Dresden.
Learning the complete success of Marat's
action on his right and that Mortier was surely,
if slowly, thrusting back Wittgenstein on his
left. Napoleon began to press the centre of the
allies. Columns of attack were formed by the
320
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
14th corps, the cavalry of the Guard were
pushed forward in threatening mancEuvre, and
che heavy cannonade from every available gun
was redoubled. Ney, with the whole of the
Guard, strengthened Mortier's forward move-
ment. Above all, the emperor threw himself
with his Guard into the battle, exciting every
soldier by his personal presence and stimulating
their valour by the electric vigour of his purpose.
Superior as the allies still were in numbers to
the French armv.thev were evervwhere worsted.
from his first blows, and now the whole French
army was directed to complete its victorj-, of
which the first results were the enemy's loss of
20,000 killed and wounded, 10,000 prisoners with
200 pieces of artillery, and caissons and several
standards. Schwartzenberg was retiring on
Toplitz by all the tracks and footpaths through
the Bohemian mountains, and thither the de-
feated army was to be followed, there the last
annihilating blow was to be struck. Vandamme,
from his position near Pirna, was now to lead
Schwartzenberg saw his left crushed, his centre
demoralised and barely holding its ground, his
right rapidly giving wa}^ Murat had cut his
line of retreat by the Freiberg road, and Van-
damme, with the 1st corps, was on the route by
Pirna. Napoleon's strategy had been completely
successful, and there were no roads open to the
allied army but those through the mountains
towards Toplitz. At four in the afternoon the
Austrian general began his retiring movement,
and soon Napoleon saw the great host which
had threatened so much, melting away before
him defeated and disheartened.
After his successes before two o'clock, Murat,
stili supported by Victor, had followed them up
by pressing in pursuit of those who had escaped
the pursuit. Ney, Mortier, the whole of the
Guard were, on the morning of the 28th, march-
ing to support him, while St. Cyr and Marmont
were to join him by other routes. The fortune
of the campaign, even the final event of the
war, the empire of Europe, were to be decided
at Toplitz. Nothing was wanting but to press
forward and, having united the various corps, to
strike one last blow. At mid-day on the 2Sth
all were i i movement. Immediateh" afterwards
there was a general halt. Vandamme alone,
who was acting independently, continued his
march, alas ! now unsupported. At this decisive
moment, when all depended on his personal
supervision and impulse, the health of the em-
peror broke down. Whether it was the long
DRESDEN.
^21
exposure to rain and storm, the anxieties of the.
closing days of the armistice, or the strain of
war which at last took effect, cannot be known ;
but certain it is that the cord snapped, the
physical and mental powers of Napoleon al-
together gave way, the great strategy which he
alone could have directed collapsed, and the
pursuing movements of his army ceased. Van-
dannne marched on unsupported to be defeated
and taken prisoner at Kulm, the first of the
great series of misfortunes which now fell upon
the French armies, leading to the invasion of
France and the abdication of her ruler at Fon-
taincbleau. The battle of Dresden was the last
of Napoleon's great victories. Some transient
gleams of success did afterwards from time to
lime fall upon his arms, but never again did he
appear as an invincible conqueror. Never did
French soldiers gain by their conduct more
glory than on the 26th and 27th August. Never
were such great deeds followed b}- sequel more
disastrous.
MARSHAL GOUVION ST. CYR.
(From the Picture by Vemet.'\
m
722
IN the spring of 1865, after four years of
bitter and bloody civil war, the Great
Rebellion was approaching its end. With
the simultaneous defeats of Gettysburg
and the surrender of Vicksburg on the 4th of
July, 1863, the Confederacy had lost its chance
of independence ; yet, such was the stubborn-
ness of the rebels, nearly two years more of
battle, murder, and sudden death were to
elapse before the closing scene at Appomattox
Court-house. During the memorable " cam-
paign of the Wilderness " from the beginning
of May, 1864, to the beginning of the in-
vestment of Petersburg in the third week of
June of the same year. Grant's losses had ex-
ceeded 40,000 men, and there is little doubt that
the almost continuous slaughter of that awfully
bloody period had told on the nerves of his
soldiers of the Army of the Potomac. But for
the resultant deficiency of ardour and an unfor-
tunate miscarriage of orders, it is all but certain
that Petersburg could have been carried with no
delay and without serious loss. But the oppor-
tunity passed away. The defences of Petersburg
were continually being strengthened, and for
ten months the Armies of the Potomac and the
James lay about Petersburg without gaining that
city and the lines which were the complement of
the defences of Petersburg and of Richmond. The
delay was tedious, but the troops of the invest-
ment during the rigours of winter were com-
fortably hutted, fully supplied with warm clothing,
and fed with unexampled profusion and punc-
tuality. Lee's army, on the other hand, was
gradually wasting away under unsupportable
privations. His gallant men were in rags, worn
with constant duty, attenuated by poor and
scanty food, suffering from scurvy and other
maladies, their spirit weakened by the certainty
of ultimate inevitable defeat. The discrepancy
of strength between the two armies was immense.
Grant's effective at the beginning of the final
campaign in the end of March, 1865, amounted
to close on 125,000 men with 370 guns. On
February 20th, the date of the last report of the
strength of Lee's army, his total effective was
55,000 men, but between that date and the
abandonment of Petersburg and Richmond on
the evening of April 2nd the rebel force had
been undergoing much demoralisation and suffer-
ing depletion by v/holesale desertions. According
to the Confederate estimate, Lee's marching-out
strength from Petersburg did not exceed 35,000
men.
As the spring of 1865 opened it became daily
more apparent that the catastrophe was imminent,
and that a forced evacuation of the beleaguered .
cities was near at hand. To this day are easily to
be traced the vast circuit of the fortifications and
counter-fortifications round Petersburg, stretch-
ing from the James River at City Point for a
distance to the south-west of more than five-and-
thirty miles. Grant was strong enough with his
immense force fully to man every yard of his
triple and, in many places, quadrupal lines of
entrenchments, and still have troops available for
the active offensive. But it was far otherwise
with Lee's scant}^ troops, who had to confront
entrenchment with entrenchment, but who, too
weak to hold continuous lines, had to be hurried
almost without cessation from one threatened
point to another, one poor, brave, ragged, hungry
wretch called on to do the dut}- of three sturdy
well-fed men.
Grant, in the campaign of the Wilderness,
had suffered an experience so bloody at the
hands of Lee, that before Petersburg, not-
withstanding his overwhelming superiority in
strength, he preferred the tedious comparative
passiveness of a long siege to adventuring the
doubtful issue of a strenuous and resolute assault
in force. Lee, he realised, was scarcely the man
THE COLLAPSE OF THE CONFEDERACY.
tamely to surrender as the result of a blockade.
He would either fight to keep open his routes of
supplies, or quit Petersburg and Kichinond
altogether and break out into the open. In the
end of March there remained open to the Con-
federate army but two avenues of supply, the
Southside and the Dansville railroads. Those
roads were so important to Lee's very existence
while he remained in Richmond and Petersburg,
and of such vital importance to him even in
case of retreat, that naturally he would make
most strenuous efforts to defend the possession
of them. But if he were to detach a portion of
his scanty force on that errand, there was the
risk that in protecting his extended right he
should weaken his centre, on which point an
assault on the part of the Federal force would
then be almost certain to be successful ; and, as
a matter of fact, Grant had assigned his several
corps to make that assault when the proper
time should arrive.
On March 2qth Grant moved out with all the
available army after leaving sufficient force to
hold the lines about Petersburg. Sheridan, with
his magnificent corps of cavalry, <:),ooo strong,
was despatched to Dinwiddle Court-house away
to the south-west, with instructions to move
from that place by the road leading north-west
to Five Forks, thus menacing the right of Lee's
line. Grant reinforced Sheridan with Mac-
kenzie's cavalry division and the 5th Corps, com-
manded by General Warren. The latter officer
was so slow in his movements on the afternoon
of April 1st that the ardent and impetuous
Sheridan relieved him from duty and gave the
command of the 5th Corps to General Griffin. On
that day the Confederate General Pickett, with
some 15,000 infantrv and 2,000 cavalr\-, lay en-
trenched along the White Oak road, looking south-
ward for about a mile on either side of Five Forks,
which was his centre and where his artillery was.
About the middle of the afternoon Sheridan
was close up to the point whence to make his
designed assault on Pickett's position. The
frontal attack he assigned to his own second-in-
connnand. General Merritt ; he himself led the
;th Corps to the attack on the left flank of the
Confederate position. A momentary panic oc-
curred in Ayres's division during its advance
through the thick woodland. Sheridan rallied
the faltering troops, encouraging Aj-res's officers
and men by his fiery enthusiasm, his reckless
disregard of danger, and his evident entire belief
in victory. He brought order out of confusion
by his ma2'netic example, turned about the
panic-stricken regiments, and brought their faces
to the foe again. Then, when the line was
steadied and was moving forward to the attack,
he took his standard in his hand, and where the
fighting was hottest led on the line, his famous
black charger " Rienzi " plunging wildly under
him — mad with the excitement of the roaring
musketr\-, the hissing of the leaden shower, and
the crashing of the troops through the woods.
Balls riddled the flag, and the sergeant who had
been carrying it was killed ; but Sheridan seemed
to have a charmed life. His dismounted cavalry
and the 5th Corps went over the Confederate
p-irapet almost simultaneously. At Pickett's
centre, while the Confederate guns were emitting
fierce blasts of canister, the Federals were swarm-
ing in like bees. Pickett afterwards told how,
while he was trying to hold his own in the battery,
a Yankee cavalryman, astride of a mule, jumped
over the works and ordered him to surrender
and be damned to him, and how he (Pickett)
was almost surrounded before he could gallop
away. With him rushed off the remnants of
his force, followed at full speed for several miles
bj' the fierv Crawford and the bloodthirsty Custer
to the further side of the Southside railroad.
The Confederate troops at Five Forks consisted
of Lee's two best divisions, and they fought
stoutly ; but nearly 6,000 of them were captured,
and their losses on the field were heavy. They
lost all their artillery, train, and ambulances, and
the fugitives, losing their morale threw away
their arms. Grant's object was to break up and
wreck this isolated moiety of Lee's army, and to
drive away to the westward such portion of it as
had escaped ; and that this was accomplished so
thoroughly was owing to Sheridan's skill and
zeal. Untrammelled by orders, he recognised a
great opportunity, planned and fought a great
battle with intelligence, energ}', and gallantry,
and won a victory which had no equal in the
war for completeness and productiveness of
momentous events.
About 9 p.m. Sheridan desisted from further
pursuit. He left his cavalry west of Five Forks,
but the 5th Corps he brought back to the south-
west of Petersburg and facing toward the town.
On learning the result of Five Forks, Grant
ordered the assault of Petersburg by the 6th and
qth Corps to be made at 4 a.m. of the 2nd.
Then Wright and Parke advanced under heavy
fire, cleared the parapets, and threw themselves
inside the enemy' s line. Parke could advance
no further, but Wright swept everything before
him up to the inner defences immediately sur-
^2J.
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
rounding the city. On reaching Hatcher's Run,
the bth Corps faced about and moved towards
Petersburg. The Southside railroad had come
into the possession of the Federals, and the
broken Confederate troops who had been in that
vicinit\' fell back towards Petersburg, followed
by the commands of Generals Wright and Ord.
They had to pause in front of some advanced
works closing upon the Appomattox river west
of Petersburg. The most important of those
were Forts Gregg and Whitworth. Both were
exceptionally strong. Fort Gregg was enclosed
at the rear with a ditch, ten feet deep and as
many wide, and the parapet was of correspond-
ing height and thickness. Fort Whitworth was
of similar dimensions, but open at the gorge.
The President and the members of the rebel
Government left Riclimond by train the same
afternoon on their way for Dansville.
Lee's headquarters having been attacked bv
hostile infantry, were removed within the in-
terior lines of defence, where he was greeted
with shouts of welcome by his ragged but un-
daunted soldiers. Orders were given to hold
the position, if possible, until night. At 3 p.m.
Lee gave the final orders for a retreat, which
began at 8 o'clock. Grant had not pressed
his attack, and time was thus given for the Con-
federate troops to complete their preparations
for departure. The artillery preceded the in-
fantry, the waggon trains using the roads on
which no troops were marching. Along the
The 200 infantrymen m Fort Gregg made a
desperate resistance, and although assailed by
a whole division, it was not until Gibbon's men
had succeeded in climbing upon the parapet
under a murderous fire that the place was finally
taken at the point of the bayonet. Fifty-five
brave dead Confederate soldiers were found in-
side the fort, while the Federal loss in carrying
it amounted to ten officers and 112 men killed
and twenty-seven officers and 565 men wounded.
On the morning of April 2nd General Lee
sent to the Government authorities in Richmond,
informing them of the disastrous situation of
affairs and of the necessity of his evacuating
Petersburg that same night. President Davis
was in church when he received Lee's message,
which was immediately read by the oflSciating
clergyman, and the service was interrupted, the
congregation being dismissed with the intima-
tion that there would be no evening service.
north bank . of the Appomattox moved the
columns through the gloom of the night, over
the various roads leading to the general rendez-
vous at Amelia Court-house. By midnight the
evacuation was completed, and then a death-like
silence reigned behind the breastworks which
for nine months had been " clothed in thunder,"
and which had so long kept at bay a foe of
threefold strength.
As the troops moved noiselessly onward in the
darkness that preceded the dawn, a bright
light like a broad flash of lightning illumined
the heavens for an instant ; then followed the
roar of a tremendous explosion. " The maga-
zine at Fort Drewry is blown up," ran in Avhispers
through the ranks, and again silence reigned.
Once more the sky was overspread by a lurid
liffht, not so fleeting as before. It was now the
conflagration of Richmond that lighted the
night-march of the soldiers of the Confederacy,
THE COLLAPSE OF THE CONFEDERACY.
325
and many a stout heart was wrung with anguish
for the fate of the city and its defenceless in-
habitants. The columns from Petersburg and
its vicinity reached Chesterfield Court-house
soon after daylight of the 3rd. After a brief
halt for rest and refreshment, the retreat was
of orders the provision train from Dansville
destined for Amelia Court-house had been
carried on to Richmond without unloading its
stores, with the result that not a single ration
awaited the hungry troops. A reaction from
hope to despair fell upon the spent soldiers, and
RICHMOND FROM HOLLYWOOD.
resumed with renewed strength. A sense of
relief pervaded the ranks at their release from
the lines behind which they had stood so
staunchly for many weary months. Once more
in the open field, they were invigorated with
hope, and felt their ability to cope with the
adversary'. It was not until the morning of the
fth that all the troops reached Amelia Court-
house, where a bitter disappointment awaited
them. Through an unfortunate misapprehension
on Lee's noble countenance came a deeper
shadow than it had yet borne. Grant was pur-
suing him with all haste. The only chance
remaining to the Army of Northern Virginia
was to reach the hill-country without delay,
but a distance of fifty miles lay between it and
adequate supplies. Yet no murmur came from the
lips of the men to the ear of their beloved com-
mander, and on the evening of that unfortunate
day they resumed their weary march in silence and
^26
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
composure. A handful of parched corn was now
a feast to the worn veterans as they trudged on
through the April night. On the morning of
the 3rd the Mayor of Richmond had surrendered
the city of Richmond, the capital of the Con-
federacy, to the Federal commander in its
vicinity, who at once proceeded to enforce order
and to arrest the conflagration, while with great
humanity he endeavoured to relieve the dis-
tressed citizens.
On the evening of the 2nd, Grant had given
orders for the assault of the Petersburg and
Richmond lines early on the morning of the 3rd,
but when the troops were mustering it was dis-
covered that the Confederates had abandoned all
their entrenchments. Grant then issued his
directions for the interception of Lee's retreat
by whatever route he might take. General
Sheridan, with his cavalry and the 5th Corps,
was to hasten in a westerly direction, south of
and near to the Appomattox River, and to strike
the Dansville railroad between the bridge over
that river and its crossing by the Lynchburg or
Southside railroad at Burke's Station. General
Aleade, with the 2nd and 6th Corps, was to
follow Sheridan. General Ord, with the qth
and 24th Corps and Mackenzie's cavalrj-, was to
move along the Southside railroad to Burke's
Station. The general pursuit began on the
morning of the 3rd, but on the previous even-
ing General Merritt, Sheridan's second-in-com-
mand, had been pursuing a detachment of rebel
cavalry along the Namozine road towards Scott's
Corners, north-west of Sutherland Station. Al-
though Lee's main army was marching west-
ward to the north of the Appomattox River,
Anderson's corps had been directed to follow the
road south of the river towards Amelia Court-
house, on the way to which he was joined by
the remnant of Pickett's force and the troops
of the late General Hill, now under General
Cooke. Anderson's flank and rear w£re covered
by the cavalry of FitzLee.
On the morning of the 3rd, as Sheridan was
riding to join Merritt at Scott's Corners, the
evidences were very patent of the demoralisation
of the enemy. Scouting parties of cavalry were
constantly bringing in scores of prisoners from
the woods on either side — gaunt, ragged, hungry
fellows who would throw down their arms and
express their gratitude for being captured.
Arms, ammunition, knapsacks, and ragged cloth-
ing littered the line of march. Merritt was out
beyond Scott's Corners skirmishing, but it was
not until he reached Deep Creek several miles
further on that he encountered a strong bod\- of
hostile infantry, which he attacked with spirit
and success, driving it from the ford and pur-
suing it vigorously as it fell back towards the
Dansville railroad to join General Lee's main
army approaching Amelia Court-house. The
5th Corps followed Merritt all day, but was not
engaged ; and in rear of Sheridan's column rode
General Crook with his cavalry division, the
retreat of the enemy having relieved him from
guard duty about Petersburg. During the day's
ride on ever)- hand were visible signs of the wreck
of the Confederacy. The negroes were jubilant,
grinning vast grimaces of delight. " Where are
the rebs ? " asked Sheridan of a grey-haired con-
traband, who was doing uncouth homage and
flourishing wonderful salaams with a tattered hat.
" Siftin' souf, sah — siftin' souf," answered the old
man with an extra wide grin and quaint caper.
At daylight on 4th April Sheridan's command
was again on the march, separating now into
three columns for the covering of a wider terri-
tory. Merritt and IMackenzie struck off to the
right in pursuit ot the enemy which had re-
treated before them on the previous evening,
Crook heading for the Dansville railroad at a
point midway between Jetersville and Burke's
Station, thence to advance along the railroad
northward towards Jetersville, a station eight
miles from Amelia Court-house ; and the 5th
Corps moving out direct for Jetersville. At
Tabernacle Church Merritt had a sharp fight
with a body of rebel infantry and cavalry, through
which he found it impossible to force a passage,
but he was able to seize a number of their
waggons before they could hurr\- forward troops
to protect them. The advance of the 5th Corps,
after a march of sixteen miles, reached Jeters-
ville late in the afternoon.
While Sheridan was at West Creek with the
5th Corps, a few miles short of Jetersville, a
scout brought him the intelligence that Lee's
army was at Amelia Court-house, and was
moving thence down the railroad towards Jeters-
ville. A despatch just written by General Lee's
Chief Commissary, ordering 200,000 rations to
be sent up from Dansville, was captured in the
Jetersville telegraph-office by Sheridan's advance.
Sheridan had it sent on in hopes that the Dans-
ville Commissary should forward the supplies
into the Federal lines, but despatches from other
sources had reached Dansville to the efTect that
Federal troops had gained possession of the road,
and therefore no supplies were sent forward.
On the evening of the 4th, when at Jetersville,
THE COLLAPSE OF THE CONFEDERACY.
327
Sheridan realised that his ardour had brought
him into a critical situation. He had with
him only Crook's cavalry division and the
leading division of the fth Corps. Lee's army
was at Amelia Court-house, only eight miles
north-east of Jetersville, and the fact that the Con-
federate cavalry pushed a reconnaissance down
upon Jetersville that same evening, although
it was driven back by Crook, forcibly suggested
to Sheridan that it might be followed by the
mass of Lee's force. In effect at this juncture
that commander had now his only opportunity
for escape in the direction of Dansville. Across
his path there stood at Jetersville. as has been
said, a single cavalry division and the head of
one corps of infantry, with no other force within
supporting distance. Sheridan was prepared for
a resolute stand in his Jetersville position, but he
was conscious of his inferiority of force, and
realised that Lee, with his whole army at his
back, could sweep Sheridan's command out of his
path. That accomplished, the road to Burkes-
ville would lie open to Lee, and thence by way
of Dansville he could effect a junction with
Johnston's army in North Carolina.
Lee's opportunity was fleeting. The whole of
the 5th Corps reached Jetersville during the
night of the 4th. Sheridan's galloper rode
straight and fast back to Deep Creek, and gave
his message to General Meade. That com-
mander had the 2nd Corps in march on Jeters-
ville at I o'clock on the morning of the 5th,
the 6th Corps followed promptly, and both corps
reached Jetersville on the afternoon of that day.
Merritt's cavalry had arrived earlier, and so, on
the afternoon of the 5th, all Sheridan's cavalry
and three infantry corps were assembled at
Jetersville — a strength far superior to that of the
whole Confederate army, so that Sheridan no
longer felt anxious as to the possibility of Lee's
breaking through his lines.
On the morning of the 5th, since the enemy
still made no demonstration, it occurred to
Sheridan that Lee, having shunned a combat at
Jetersville, was intending to pursue his retreat in
a north-westerly direction. This speculation was
so far correct that, on the 5th, Lee sent forward
his spare artillery and trains by roads on the
outward flank of the route his troops would
take later on the march towards the Lynchburg
objective. Sheridan sent out Davies's cavalry
brigade towards Paine's Cross-roads, about eight
miles north of Jetersville. There Davies found
a waggon-train moving westward, escorted by
a cavalry force ; he attacked it, drove off the
escort, burned the waggons, and captured five
guns. The papers of General Lee's headquarters
were burnt in the destruction of this train.
Davies brought away 1,000 prisoners and several
battle-flags, but he presently found himself hard
pressed in flank and rear by a strong hostile
force, which had moved out from Amelia Court-
house to intercept him ; and it was found neces-
sary to hurry reinforcements in support of him,
when some sharp fighting ensued.
There came in with Davies a negro bearing a
pathetic little note, which a Confederate officer
had entrusted to his care for delivery. It was
dated Amelia Court-house, April 5th, and read
thus : " Our army is ruined, I fear. We are all
safe as yet. Theodore left us sick. John Taylor
is well ; saw him yesterday. We are in line of
battle this afternoon. General Lee is in the field
near us. My trust is still in the justice of our
cause. General Hill is killed. I saw Murray a
few moments since ; Bernard Perry, he said, was
taken prisoner. Love to all. — Your devoted son,
W. B. Taylor, Colonel."
At sunset of the 5th, Longstreet's corps, the
head of Lee's column, had crossed Flat Creek
by the bridge at Amelia Springs. Lee still
hoped, by a well-conducted night march west-
ward, to get so far ahead that by passing through
Deatonsville, Rice's Station, and Farmville he '
might reach Lynchburg. The march of the
Confederate army was continued during the
night, the head of Longstreet's column arriving
at Rice's Station on the Lynchburg railroad
about sunrise of the 6th, where it was joined by
General Lee in the course of the morning.
There Longstreet was to await the coming up of
the rest of the army. Delays occurred, and
Ewell was still at Amelia Springs at eight o'clock
on the morning of the 6th. Gordon formed the
Confederate rear-guard. The trains, which were
long, kept to the roads on the outer flank of the
troops, and were to cross Sailor's Creek near its
confluence with the Appomatto.x, the troops
crossing about two miles higher up on the road
to Rice's Station. The bridges over Flat Creek,
by which Lee's troops and train had crossed,
were destroyed.
On the morning of the 6th, Sheridan's cavalry
were out early, Crook heading for Deatonsville,
Merritt following him, both moving in parallel
line with the enemy's trains, and watching for
an opportunity to break in upon his line. De-
finite information was obtained that Lee's main
body had moved westward during the night, and
two of his columns were visible on the march in
22i
EATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
LIEUT. -GENERAL P. H. SHERIDAN".
(Photo, C. D. Mos/ter.)
a north-west direction. ^Nleade directed the 2nd
Corps on Deatonsville, the 5th Corps on Paines-
ville on the right of the 2nd, and the 6th to
take position on the left of the 2nd. Bridges
were rapidly built on Flat Creek, but some of
the troops waded across with the water up to
their armpits. The skirmishers of the 2nd Corps
pushed forward eagerly, maintaining a sharp
running fight 'with the Confederate rear-guard,
which was continued over a distance of about
fourteen miles during which several partially-
entrenched positions were carried. The country
was broken, consisting of woods with dense
undergrowth and swamps, alternating with open
fields, through and over which the lines of battle
followed closely in the skirmish line with sin-
gular rapidity and good order. Artillen,- moved
in the skirmish line.
The Confederate general Anderson halted in
the morning of the bth about three miles west
of Deatonsville, at a point where the road forks,
one branch turning sharp to the right down
Sailor's Creek at about a mile's distance from it ;
the other branch is the road to Rice's Station
and does not change its direction. At the forks
Anderson thwarted Crook's effort to cut off the
enemy's trains, and repulsed a second attempt
on the part of Merritt. Pickett had crossed
Sailor's Creek, and when the head of Gordon's
corps, which was the rear-guard, began to arrive
at the forks, Anderson crossed the creek and
with Pickett formed across the road to Rice's
Station, where they threw up some temporary
breastworks. EwcU followed Anderson across
the creek, halting upon u.
Merritt and Crook harassed the enemy's left
flank, crossing the creek alongside of it. Custer
found a weak point and broke in, destroying a
number of waggons and several guns. Stagg's
cavalrj- brigade remained near the forks, and
later joined the 6th Corps in its attack on Ewell.
Gordon, after the passage of the main trains (if
Lee's army, took the right-hand fork, covering
them ; and Humphreys, at the head of the 2nd
Corps, pursued him closely. The running con-
test lasted for three miles longer, tho track
strewn with tents, camp equipage, baggage, ir.d
waggons. Gordon's last attempted stand was.
near the mouth of Sailor's Creek, where, just
before dark, after a short sharp fight, the 2nd
Corps possessed itself of thirteen battle-flags, four
guns, 1,700 prisoners, and a mass of Confederate
trains huddled in utter confusion, the whole of
which were burned.
Beyond the creek on high ground General
Crook found Anderson behind breastworks on
the Rice's Station road, and presently Sheridan
saw detachments of his cavaln,- making for
Anderson's rear and flanks. In another moment
a huge column of smoke shot up into the air,
which told him that his troopers had fired the
massed waggon trains which Anderson had been
covering. For Sheridan's further information
there came across the creek to him a galloping
young cavalryman, who had just been charging
GENERAL LEE
THE COLLAPSE OF THE CONFEDERACY.
329
with Custer beyond the crest, and had ridden
througli the enemy's line to tell of the doings of
the cavalry.
P.y this time the 6th Corps was ready to take
the offensive in earnest, and Sheridan gave the
order to attack Ewell's position on the further
side of Sailor's Creek. Seymour on horseback,
commanding the right division, gallantly started
his command, carried it through the stream
amidst a storm of bullets, and in the teeth of a
infantry rallied in their front ; in their rear
swept down the irrepressible cavalry of Merritt
and Crook like a hurricane, Custer blazing in
the van ; and all was over for Ewell and his
gallant unfortunates. For one bewildering
moment they fought on every hand ; but then
they saw how hopeless was further fighting, and
they threw down their arms and surrendered.
It was a great capture. Ewell himself was
a prisoner ; the whole of his command were
Ct.NEKAL GRANT READING 1 HE TERMS OF SURRENDER
furious fire led his men up the slope. Ewell's
gallant rebels dashed down on him at a run, and
mingled with Seymour's men in the open ;
there was a moment of desperate fighting, and
then the Federal division was borne back and
hurled into the creek. A brigade of Confederate
marines followed the retreating Union troops
with an clan that never was surpassed : their
standard-bearer led them on dauntlessly till he
planted his flag-staff on the water's edge, where
he defiantly waved the stars and bars. But as
the ground was cleared of broken Yankees,
eighteen guns opened a fire which mowed down
the Confederate soldiers in sections. The Union
reported either killed, wounded, or captured,
except 250 men of Kershaw's division. Kershaw
himself, Custis Lee, Semmes, Corse, and other
general officers of the Confederacy were among
the captives, with inferior officers by hundreds
and enlisted men by thousands. The number
captured was never ascertained, nor the loss in
battle : Humphrevs, the historian of the cam-
paign, himself a participant in the day's fighting,
estimates the total Confederate loss at 8,000 men
with fourteen guns and a great number of
waggons. Ewell frankly admitted to Sheridan
that there remained now no more hope for the
Confederacy, and he begged Sheridan to send
330
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
General Lee a flag of truce and a demand for
his surrender in order to save any further
sacrifice, a suggestion which Sheridan naturally
ignored.
At dark on the bth, Longstreet, with three
divisions, marched westward to Farmville on the
Appomattox, where rations were distributed to
Lee's army, 80,000 having been forwarded thither
to await its arrival. He then crossed to the
north bank of the river, and on the morning of
the 7th moved out on the road leading by
way of Appomattox Court-house to Lynchburg,
leaving some force on the river to delay the
crossing of the Union forces. On the same day
General FitzLee, with all his cavalry, followed
Longstreet acting as his cover. Gordon's com-
mand and Mahone's division crossed the same
morning b}- the High Bridge to the north side
of the river, and followed Longstreet's route.
The general movement on the part of the
Federals was now in the direction of Farmville.
On the morning of the 7th, General Ord followed
Longstreet to that place, whither also Sheridan
sent Crook. General Meade directed Generals
Humphre3-s and Wright with the 2nd and 6th
Corps to continue the direct pursuit of Lee's
army as long as it promised success. The 2nd
Corps, in the early morning of the 7th, crossed
by the High Bridge east of Farmville in face of
Mahone's Confederate division, and soon after
noon came in contact with the enemy on the
Lynchburg road. It having been ascertained
that Lee's whole army, estimated at about iS,ooo
infantrj-, was in a strong entrenched position
with artillerv in place, General Gibbon with the
24th Corps, and General Wright with the 6th
Corps, were ordered to cross the river at Farm-
ville and attack Lee jointly with the 2nd Corps.
But since no bridge at Farmville could be avail-
able by the evening, Humphrevs attacked alone,
only to be repulsed with considerable loss. By
halting to fight on the 7th instead of pressing
his retreat, Lee sacrificed his last chance. The
purposeless detention had wasted invaluable time
which he could not make up by night-marching,
lost him the supplies awaiting him at Appo-
mattox Station, and gave Sheridan and Ord
time to post themselves across his path at Ap-
pomattox Court house. It was on the evening
of the 7th that there was sent from Grant
to Lee the first letter of a memorable corre-
spondence, the tone of which reflects on both
the writers higher and truer honour than the
most glorious victory either ever achieved.
Grant's share in the correspondence is the finer.
His spontaneous chivalry is very grand, especially
as manifested in his final letter.
Pending the arrangements for a meeting of
the two high commanders, the retreat and the
pursuit were actively prosecuted on the morning
of the 8th. Humphreys and Wright marched
close on the heels of Lee's rear-guard, callous to
Lee's requests that the}' should not press upon
him while negotiations were going on for a
surrender. About eleven o'clock the 2nd and
6th Corps had come up with Lee's army en-
trenched in the vicinity of Appomattox Court-
house. They were being formed for attack
when General Meade arrived, who sent a letter
to General Lee suggesting a temporary truce, in
view of the negotiations for a surrender. Lee
halted for the night of the 8th in the vicinity' of
Appomattox Court-house.
On the 7th, Sheridan with his cavalry- passed
through Prince Edward's Court-house, leaving
Crook to make a reconnaissance to Farmville ;
and, crossing the Dansville road and the Buffalo
River, bivouacked near the Lynchburg railroad.
Next morning he started due west, followed by
General Griffin with the 5th Corps and General
Ord with the 24th Corps, and moved rapidly
toward Appomattox Station. On the way a
scout met him with the intelligence that there
were four trains of railway waggons at that
station waiting Lee's arrival. An hour before
sundown Custer, who was in advance, caught
sight of the freight cars and the smoke of the
locomotives. He promptly- ordered his leading
regiments to make a circuit to the left through
the woods and regain the railroad in the rear of
the trains ; while he Vv'ith the rest of his division
rode straight down the road and made himself
master of the long lines of waggons. They
were being moved off towards Farmville when
Sheridan came up, to be greeted by an artillery
fire opened on him from the woods on his right.
Custer captured most of the guns, and drove
before him towards Appomatto.x Court-house
t'ne surprised and demoralised Confederate troops
who were the advance of Lee's army, fighting
far from their thoughts.
Earlv on the morning of the Qth, Crook's
cavalrv division of Sheridan's corps was out to
the front, holding his ground stubbornly against
heavy odds. But he was gradually being forced
back ; and, ordering Crook to retire slowly,
Sheridan sent word to Ord and Griffin to hurry
forward. Seeing the Federal troopers retiring and
so apparently opening a way of retreat, the Con-
federate troops yelled, quickened their pace, and
THE COLLAPSE OF THE CONFEDERACY.
331
doubled their fire. But their yell died away
when the long lines of Federal infantry presently
emerged from the woods in the Confederate front.
Lee's soldiers fell back in utter surprise as the
serried lines of Union troops reached the open
ground with cavalry massed on either flank. The
lines halted as there came out from Appomattox
Court-house, now plainly visible, a horseman
bearing a flag of truce, to ask for time to con-
summate the surrender. Sheridan consulted
with Ord, who was his superior officer, and the
two generals rode towards the Court-house
through the groups of broken Confederates.
They were met on the neutral ground by the
Confederate generals Gordon and Wilco-x, who
asked -for a suspension of hostilities, and added
that General Lee was prepared to surrender his
army. Longstreet joined the group with a letter
from Lee to Grant, with which Sheridan im-
mediately despatched a staff-officer to find the
Union commander-in-chief. In no long time
Grant rode up to where, at the end of the
"broad grassy street of the village. Generals Ord,
Sheridan, and others were waiting to greet him.
" Is General Lee up there ? " asked Grant.
" Yes," replied Sheridan.
"Well then, we'll go up," was Grant's terse
remark : he never wasted words.
On the right-hand side of the street was Mr.
McLean's house, and to it General Grant was
conducted to meet General Lee. Ord and
Sheridan, each with three or four staflf-officers,
accompanied him to the fence of the lawn, where
all dismounted. Grant, with one or two officers
of his personal staff, entered the house. The
other officers sat down in the piazza and waited.
The contrast in appearance between General
Lee and General Grant was marked. The Con-
federate chief was a man of noble presence, of a
tall, soldierly figure, with a full grey beard. He
was dressed in full uniform of the rebel grey,
with a high grey felt hat with gold cord, long
buckskin gauntlets, high riding-boots, and a
valuable sword. Grant was in rough garb, which
was splashed with mud. He wore a soldier's
blouse with the shoulder-straps of a lieutenant-
general, and carried no sword. The two men
fell, into conversation about old army times in
Mexico. The conversation grew so pleasant that
Grant almost forgot the object of the meeting,
and Lee had to recall his attention to the busi-
ness in hand, suggesting that the terms of the
surrender should be committed to writing.
Grant took pen in hand and wrote swiftly. He
voluntarily conceded everything to the broken
soldiers of the Confederacy. Officers and men
were to be paroled. The Confederate arms and
public property were to be given over, with the ex-
ception of the officers' side-arms and their private
horses and baggage. This done, officers and men
were to be permitted to return to their homes.
When Grant read the terms regarding the side-
arms, horses, and private property of the officers,
Lee remarked with some feeling that this favour
would have a happy effect on his army. He
then remarked that in his army the cavalrymen
and artillerists ow ned their own horses. Grant
replied that he would take it upon himself to in-
struct his parole officers to allow every man of
the Confederate army who claimed a horse or
mule to take the animal to his home ; and Lee
acknowledged with gratitude the humanity of
the concession.
Lee in a sentence accepted the proffered
terms, and in effect the great rebellion was now
at an end. At Lee's request, and on his state-
ment that for several days his men had been
living e.Kclusively on parched corn. Grant under-
took to supply rations for 25,000 men, the
remnant existing of the Confederate army.
Then the two commanders saluted cordially and
parted. As Lee stood in the porch while his
horse was being bridled up, looking over into
the valley towards his army, he smote his hands
together several times in an absent manner,
apparently unconscious of the Federal officers,
who had risen respectfully as he came out, and
seeming to see nothing until he was recalled to
himself bv his horse being brought up.
When definite intelligence of the surrender
reached the Union lines, the firing of a salute of
100 guns in honour of the great event was
begun, but Grant immediately ordered that it
should be stopped. In his own words — words
that honour him — he wrote : " The Confederates
were now our prisoners, and we did not want to
exult over their downfall."
As Lee rode slowly along his lines, his devoted
veterans pressed around their chief, trying to
take his hand, touch his person, or even lay a
hand on his horse. The general, then, with
head bare and tears streaming down his face,
bade adieu to the army. In a few words he told
the brave men who had been so true in arms
to return to their homes and become worthy
citizens.
Thus closed the career of the '' rebel " Army
of Northern \'irginia.
O":
you may bully us, but go and take
Bhurtpore ! " was, in the early decades
of the century, a common saying
among the petty chiefs and rajahs
of Hindustan, when they were coerced by
British rule. This powerful Jat fortress had, in
1805, been attacked by th^^ great Lord Lake,
but there that brilliant commander's career of
victory was checked by the strong, well-armed
works, staunchly held by numerous defenders,
and he was obliged to withdraw his army after
suffering heavy losses. Bhurtpore had thus,
among the natives of India, acquired the cha-
racter of being impregnable, and was considered
to mark the limit of British conquest, to be the
point from which the menacing tide of British
s'wav must always recede.
Li the later years of the life of Runjeet
Singh,* the rajah who had successfully defended
his stronghold against Lord Lake, that ruler
had maintained pacific relations with the British
Government, probably influenced by the strong
measures for the settlement of Central India
which had at that time been so effectually carried
out. On his death, however, internal dissensions
arose in the Bhurtpore state. He was succeeded
by his son, Buldeo Singh, who, apprehensive of
the ambitious designs of his younger brother,
Doorjun Sal, applied to Sir David Ochterlony,
British agent at Delhi, to recognise, in the name
of the British Government, the heirship of his
son, Bulwunt Singh.
After some consideration. Sir David Ochter-
lony, one of the wisest and ablest among the
many wise and able men who have made our
Indian Empire, consented to give the young
prince, Bulwunt Singh, the desired recognition,
invested him with a dress of honour, and ac-
• He must not be confounded with the Sikh Runjeet
Singh, '■ the Lion of the Punjab."
knowledged him as the heir-apparent to the
musund. Soon afterwards Buldeo Singh died,
not without suspicion of poisoning, and the
troubles which had been apprehended broke out
in the fashion so common in Eastern states.
Doorjun Sal grasped the rule of Bhurtpore.
The citadel was seized, the young rajah, Bulwunt
Singh, was thrown into confinement, and English '
influence was defied. On this. Sir David Ochter-
lony, with the spirit and energy which he had
ever shown in his long military' and civil career,
issued a proclamation to the people of Bhurt-
pore, urging them not to desert their rightful
sovereign, who, he promised, would be supported
by the authority of the British Government,
backed by a strong military force which was
even now being as-tmbled.
Ochterlony's words were no empty threats,
and he was on the point of marching on Bhurt-
pore to put down the usurper when his move-
ment was arrested by peremptory orders from
the Supreme Government. It is impossible to
know why Lord Amherst, the then Governor-
General, inflicted so great a slight, such a marked
censure, upon a most distinguished public ser-
vant, who had only acted in the spirit of orders
which he had received and in pursuance of a
policy whose first steps had met with approval.
It is to be feared that some inimical influence
was brought to bear against Sir David Och-
terlony. In an}' case the end of his long and
distinguished career was clouded by the quasi-
disgrace inflicted on him, and the high-spirited
old general died within the year of a broken
heart.
In 1825 the Indian Government was carrving
on a war with Burmah. Its military operations
in that countn,- had not always been successful,
and exaggerated stories of failure had reached
the chiefs and peoples of India. Speculations
BHURTPORE.
333
even were afloat as to the possible impending
downfall of the Company's raj, and it was only
upon the urgent advice of Sir Charles Metcalfe,
the successor of Ochterlony at Delhi, that the
additional serious business of crushing Doorjun
Sal at Bhurtpore was at length decided upon.
the purpose required, and orders were issued for
the preparation of a very powerful army to be
at the disposal of Sir Charles Metcalfe, in whose
hands were placed the issues of peace or war.
The safety of India was practically staked upon
the action of this great civilian. It was his to
A GROUP OF J ATS.
If this usurper's defiant attitude had not met
with condign punishment, general commotion
would have been stirred up in the whole of
Upper India, and the prestige of English power
would have been most gravely compromised.
Although Sir David Ochterlony had previously
collected a strong force, it was considered that,
now that Doorjun Sal had had time to con-
solidate his power, this, force was insufficient for
restore Bulwunt Singh, by diplomacy and per-
suasion if possible, or, if these failed, to use the
arm}' at his disposal with promptitude and
vigour. Never was confidence better placed,
and in all the many onerous positions which Sir
Charles (afterwards Lord) Metcalfe filled both
before and after the Bhurtpore war, never did
he acquit himself more ably.
The commander-in-chief in India at that time
334
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
was an old officer, in infirm health and unfit to
take the field, who had long wished to resign.
The intelligence of the probable necessity of
war with Bhurtpore had reached the Court of
Directors in England, and, in the appointment
of a new commander-in-chief, it was above all
things necessary to select a soldier of high re-
putation, who could be trusted with the conduct
of great operations. The choice fell upon Lord
Combermere, who, as Sir Stapleton Cotton, had
been the able and daring leader of the British
cavalry in the Peninsula, who had served in
India in the last war with Tippoo Sultaun, in-
cluding the taking of Seringapatam, and who
in his early youth had gained experience and
rapid promotion in the Flanders campaign of
1704. With regard to Lord Cbmbermere's
present selection, it is said that a deputation of
East India Company's directors sought the
Duke of Wellington, in order that he might
indicate to them a commander likely to accom-
plish what even the victorious Lake had been
unable to effect. In answer to their inquiries as
to whom the great duke considered the most
fitting person, he replied, " You can't do better
than have Lord Combermere. He's the man to
take Bhurtpore." It was well known that the
duke's opinion of his cavalry general's capacity,
despite his great services, was not high. When
he named Lord Combermere, therefore, the
astonished deputation could not help remarking,
" But we thought that your Grace did not think
very highly of Lord Combermere, and did not
consider him a man of great genius."
" I don't care a d n about his genius. I
tell you he's the man to take Bhurtpore," ex-
claimed the duke. After this emphatic recom-
mendation there could be no further doubt
about the appointment, and in June, 1825, Lord
Combermere sailed for India.
Bhurtpore is situated about thirty miles west
of Agra, and is surrounded by a wide, sun-baked
plain, whose surface is broken by a few insigni-
ficant eminences and some low rocky ridges.
In 1825 the town was about eight miles in
circumference, enclosed by an enceinte of thirty-
five semicircular bastions connected by curtains.
These fortifications were built of clay, mixed
with straw and cow-dung, and, as this composi-
tion had been put together in layers, each of
which was allowed to harden in the sun's rays
before another was added, while the whole was
strengthened by rows of tree-trunks buried
upright, it was considered almost impossible
with the artillery of the time to establish a
practicable breach in the city walls. From the
construction of the bastions enfilade was also
very difficult in many cases. On some of the
bastions there were cavaliers, and the body of
the place was completely commanded by a
citadel of very great strength, rising to a height
of one hundred and fourteen feet above the level
of the ground. Since the attack by Lord Lake
many additions had been made to the defences.
The enceinte had been strengthened, and one
new bastion, the Futteh Boorj, the bastion of
Victory, was said to have been built up on the
skulls and bones of the thousands of the ill-fated
" gora log '' (white men) who had fallen in
Lord Lake's attempt to storm the Jat fastness.
Outside the enceinte was a strongly-revetted
dry ditch a hundred and fifty feet broad and fifty-
nine feet deep, and this could be filled with water
by cutting the bund, or embankment, which
separated it from the Moti Jheel (the Pearl lake),
situated a short distance from the place. The
garrison numbered 25,000 men, belonging to
some of the most warlike races of India. Strong
in position, armament, resources, and, above all,
in the proud remembrance and prestige of former
victorj', truly Bhurtpore stood a formidable
antagonist, challenging the full might of Eng-
land's Eastern dominions.
The army of which Lord Combermere was
about to take command had been assembled at
Agra and Muttra. It was composed of nearly
30,000 men of all arms, including a powerful
siege-train, and was drawn from the flower of
the European and native armies. Major-General
Reynell commanded the right wing at Muttra,
and Major-General Nicholls the left at Agra.
Everything that skill, prudence, and foresight
could devise as necessary for the operations in
view was carefully prepared, and the whole force
was animated by the most confident spirit, the
highest hopes that it would honourably accom-
plish its great task.
On the 5th December Lord Combermere
arrived at Muttra. There he was joined by Sir
Charles Metcalfe, who, having e.xhausted all
peaceful means to induce Doorjun Sal and his
followers to give way, now used the authority
vested in him to set the army in motion, and
placed the further conduct of affairs in the
hands of the commander-in-chief He himself
remained with the army as a spectator of its
operations. The movement from Agra and
Muttra commenced on the 8th and Qth Decem-
ber, General Nicholls being directed to take up
a position on the west of Bhurtpore, while
BHUKTPORE.
335
General Kevncll, with whom was Lord Comber-
mere in person, was to estabhsh himself opposite
the north-east angle, and it was expected that
the two wings of the army would communicate
on the lOlh by the bund to the north of the
town.
The first object to be secured was the safety
of this bund. It was known that the enemy
would at once cut it, as soon as Bhurtpore was
seriously threatened, so as to let the waters of
the Moli Jheel pour into the ditch. To frustrate
such an attempt, the success of which would
have added enormously to the difficulties of the
siege, General NichoUs sent forward an ad-
vanced guard of the ibth Lancers and Skinner's
Horse, supported by the 14th Regiment. This
detachment arrived in the very nick of time.
The bund was found strongly held by the enemv,
who had just begun to make an opening, through
which the waters of the Jheel were beginning
to flow. Five minutes later it would have been
impossible to stop the rapidly-increasing current.
Skinner's Horse was at the head of the advanced
guard, and without hesitation charged the Jats,
who, taken by surprise, resisted obstinately, but
' were driven back to the town. They were fol-
lowed so close by the irregular cavalry and the
1 6th Lancers that the enemy shut the gates
upon their own men, for fear that their pursuers
might force their way in with the crowd of
fugitives. Meanwhile, by great exertions, the
engineers managed to close the gap which had
been made in the bund, and General Reynell
provided for its future security by stockading it
and making it a strong military position. This
first exploit of the besieging army was afterwards
held to be the fulfilment of a prediction made
by Brahmin astrologers. These learned men
had said that Bhurtpore could only be taken by
an alligator, which should drink up the water of
the ditch surrounding the town. The Sanscrit
word for alligator is Kowbccr, which in the eyes
of the natives was sufficiently near to the name
of the chief, who, if he did not drink up the
waters of the ditch, at least prevented the ditch
from being filled by the Moti Jheel. When
* Lord Lake attacked Bhurtpore, he had erred in
thinking that the defences could be carried at
once by vivc force, and Lord Combermere, with
the warning of the past before him, resolved not
to break ground until a most careful examination
had been made of the obstacles to be overcome.
After the investment was completed on the nth
December, therefore, the following nine days
were employed by him and the engineer officers
under his command in reconnoitring every part
of the fortress and its surroundings. The pro-
longed reconnaissances in different directions
had besides the useful effect of diverting the
enemy's attention from the point of attack
eventually selected, and were profitably em-
ployed by the troops in making the many
thousands of gabions and fascines which would
be required in the siege works. On the 20th
the examination of the scene of action was com-
plete, the siege train and engineer park were all
present, wanting in nothing, and Lord Comber-
mere decided that the north-east angle of Bhurt-
pore's defences should be the point of attack.
It was true that here the defenders would be
able to concentrate the fire of the largest
number of their guns, but this fire would only
be effective while the besiegers were at a certain
distance from the ditch. As they approached
closer, however, the guns on the fortifications
could not be depressed sufficiently to reach
them, and they could only be fired at by match-
locks in the hands of men themselves exposed
to the concentrated discharge of artillery and
musketry from the parallels of approach. The
great points in favour of selecting the north-
east angle were that here the defences were
totally unflapked, the ditch was more shallow
than at other parts, and there was a ravine
falling into the ditch, which gave cover to any
parties who might have to descend into it.
The point of attack having been determined,
it became necessary to seize two positions,
hitherto held by the enemy, about eight hundred
yards from the place and the same distance from
each other — the village of Kullum Kundy and the
pleasure-garden of Buldeo Singh. This was done
with little loss, and both positions were strongly
fortified and stockaded to serve as flanking sup-
ports for the line to be occupied by the engineer
working parties. The line of investment was
drawn closer round Bhurtpore, and, on the 23rd
December, the first parallel was traced about six
hundred yards from the ditch. It was about
this time that one of those difficulties arose from
the caste prejudices of the pampered Bengal
sepoys which so frequently neutralised the
value of their good service, which on more than
one occasion produced grave disaffection, and
which long years later culminated in the terrible
catastrophe of 1857. The native infantry work-
ing parties detailed for the trenches objected to
parading in camp with pickaxe and shovel and
marching with their tools to the scene of their
labours, on the score that this made them look
336
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
like low-caste coolies. They were, in fact, on
the point of refusing to work at all. For-
tunately, by a nii.xture of conciliation and firm-
ness. Lord Combermere was able to overcome
the difficulty before ill-feeling had time to spread.
If it had come to a serious head, the siege must
inevitably have been raised.
Heavy gun and mortar batteries were now
constructed, and, from the morning of the 24th,
a rain of shot and shell was poured on the
■defences and into the town of Bhurtpore. Offers
had been made to Doorjun Sal of permission
for all women and children to quit the doomed
town under safe conduct, but it was not till the
:25th that the rebel chief allowed all the women,
not belonging to the royal family, to depart,
and these were suffered to pass through the
besiegers' lines unscathed and unsearched. It
was afterwards discovered that the fugitives had
carried off immense treasures secreted about
their persons. Nor were they the only persons
who made good their escape. A large body of
the enemy's cavalry made a vigorous sally at a
weak point in the line of investment, and suc-
ceeded in cutting their way through to the open
country.
On the 25th happened also a
fortunately almost unknown in
army. A bombardier of artillery,
bert, deserted to the enemy. For
possible motive could ever be discovered. He
was a man of very good character, wore a
Waterloo medal, and must have known the fate
that awaited him when the city fell, as fall it
«:>ertainly would. Not only did he desert, but he
was afterwards seen laying the guns on the
circumstance,
the English
named Her-
his crime no
ramparts, laying them too with such good effect
that Lord Combermere himself narrowl\- escaped
death from a shot aimed by the renegade.
Needless to say that at the close of the siege,
when he fell into the hands of his former com-
rades, he was tried by court-martial and hanged.
As had been foreseen, it was possible to carry
on the siege works without the men engaged in
the trenches suffering much from the enemy's
artillery fire. The guns of the defence could not
be sufficiently depressed, and were really only
effective when they were laid on the approaches
and on the reserves of materiel. A long, heavy
brass gun in the citadel constantly pitched its
shot into the camps with such precision and
damaging results that the tents had to be moved
beyond its range. An ammunition
tumbril in rear of the trenches was
exploded by a chance shot, with the
result that a large quantity of powder
blew up and some storehouses \\\x.\\
their contents were burned. In the
beginning of the siege too the reliefs
for the trenches used to march off at
4 p.m. The passage of such large bodies
of men raised great clouds of dust above
the trees and vegetation of the out-
skirts, at which the enemy, who knew
the ground and distances perfectly, were
in the habit of firing with fatal effect.
On one occasioii the 35th Netive Infantry
lost fifteen ri.en by one shot, which
struck the third section of the leading
company and ploughed its deadly way
through the column. The hour for the
reliefs was immediately changed to dusk, when
no tell-tale signs betrayed their movements.
From the 25th till the 31st the siege works
were steadily and rapidly carried forward, the
parallels and batteries crept nearer and nearer
to the great ditch, till at last the counterscarp
was crowned, and the last breaching batteries
contemplated by the engineers were established.
The operations were daily covered bv sharp-
shooters, principally taken from the Ghoorka
Sirmoor battalion, whose fire was so constant
and accurate that scarcely a single enemy dared
to raise his head over the parapet of the city's
ramparts, and the musketry fire of the defenc2
was thus almost completely subdued. The
results of the unremitting discharge of the siege
artillery were, however, not encouraging. So
strong was the construction of the fortifications
that but little effect was produced upon them, and
the prospects of taking the town b}' breaching
■CARMICHAELb FOLLOWERS FIRED INTO THE DENSE CLUSTER OF MEN IN FRONT OF THEM (/. 339X
70
338
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
alone seemed to become more and more
remote. Efforts were redoubled, new and more
powerful batteries were brought to bear, and for
four more days the crushing storm of shot smote
bastion and curtain so heavily that a great gap
was at last formed, which, as it was seen from
the counterscarp, appeared to offer a way for a
storming party. So practicable did it seem that
Lord Combermere, under the advice of the
engineers, ordered an assault to be made on the
yth Januar}-. Among the troops detailed were
600 dismounted men from the different cavalry
regiments with the army, eighty from the nth
Light Dragoons, the same number from the
lOth Lancers, 200 from Skinner's Horse, and
forty from each regiment of native cavalry. A
touching story is told of the valour and faithful-
ness of the men of Skinner's Horse, one of the
earliest formed of the many distinguished native
irregular cavalrj' corps which have fought for
England. They had served their gallant colonel
for many long years in frequent wars, and obeyed
and loved him, more as tribesmen do a chief
than as paid soldiers follow an officer. The
party for the assault was told off according to
roster for duty, for the whole regiment had
volunteered for the dangerous service. Skinner
placed at their head Shadull Khan, one of his
oldest, most faithful and trustworthy native
officers, and then addressed them : " This is the
first time of 3'our going into danger when I
cannot accompany you ; but such is my affec-
tion for you all that I cannot allow yau to part
from me without carrying with you something
dear to me." Then, taking his son b\- the hand,
who had only lately entered the corps, he con-
tinued— '■ See, here is my son ! Take him and
gain for him such honour as you have « on for
his father." On this old Shadull Khan scepped
forward, and, taking young Skinner by the arm,
called out in repl}- : " Farewell, our own com-
mander. Trust in God, who never deserts those
faithful servants who do their dut}-, and who,
please God, will now do their utmost to main-
tain the honour of the corps."
But the assault was not delivered on the 6th,
and the cavalry were not, after all, called upon
to ascend the breach. Curiously enough, it was
not to the professional engineers that was due
the countermanding of an attempt, which, even
if successful, must have been attended with a
tremendous sacrifice of life, but to Colonel
Skinner, the grey-haired veteran of Indian war,
who had twenty years before been present with
Lord Lake at this verj^ spot and whose sword
had seldom been sheathed in the intervening
time. He .was attending Lord Combermere in a
reconnaissance, and was by him asked his opinion
of the breach. Skinner diffidently said that,
though not an engineer, he did not believe it to
be practicable, and that, from his experience of
Indian sieges, he thought that the men of the
assaulting force would sink up to their armpits
in the loose rubbish. An engineer officer on
the staff maintained that it was practicable, but
said that he would soon ascertain the fact, and,
gallantlj' rushing forward, crossed the ditch
under the enemy's fire, e.xamined the breach,
and found it as Skinner had said. He returned,
fortunately unscathed, and patting Skinner on
the back, said, " Old boy, you are right and I
am wrong."
The result of this and other reconnaissances
was the determination no longer to place the
chief reliance on the breaching batteries, but to
make mines the principal feature of future
operations. Some mining work on a small scale
had already been done, and an attempt had been
made to spring a mine under the north-east
bastion. Owing to the smallness of the charge,
however, very slight effect had been produced,
but in the attempt a jemadar of native sappers
gave an example of brilliant and devoted
gallantry. It had been his business to fire
the mine. The port-fire was, unfortunately,
damp and ineffective, so the jemadar, reckless of
results to himself in the performance of his duty,
applied the match to the hose itself. So rapid,
in consequence, was the e.xplosion, that the
unfortunate man had not time to withdraw
himself from the influence of the mine, and was
fearfully burned and injured. He was carried
back to camp, where he lingered in agony for
several days ; but his last hours were comforted
by immediate promotion, carrying a pension
for his family, bestowed b}- Lord Combermere.
His native comrades were much touched by this
act of the com.mander-in-chief, and said that it
was good to serve a general who " thought less
of pice than of brave acts."
Lieutenant Forbes, of the Engineers, appears
to have the credit of devising the great combined
system of mines which was now to form the
principal part of the future operations. A deep
and heavily charged mine was to be sunk under
the angle of the bastion, a subsidiary mine was
to be placed under the right breach, so disposed
as to improve the ascent and destroy the enemy's
countermines, while a third mine was to blow in
the counterscarp and facilitate the descent into
BHURTPORE.
339
the ditch. It should be here mentioned that
three breaches were now in process of formation,
the main breach in the next bastion to the south
and a smaller breach in the adjacent curtain.
General Keynell's division was encamped in
front of the first, while General Nicholls's division
faced the remaining two.
The history of the siege after the 7th January
is a record of continuous battery and bombard-
ment, and of constant and persevering effort in
mining and countermining. There was oppor-
tunity for many gallant deeds, and many gallant
deeds were done. Did the enemy construct a
gallery in the scarp which gave them easy access
to the ditch, at once Captain Taylor and Sub-
Conductor Richardson of the Engineers, with
ten sappers, volunteered for the perilous duty
of destroying it, and succeeded in their object,
favoured by the good fortune which ever favours
the bold. Did the general desire to know what
operations the enemy were carrying on near
the breach, forthwith a havildar with twelve
Goorkhas crossed the ditch and gained the
required information in the teeth of determined
resistance. Over and over again we find the
names of Captain Irvine and Captain Taylor of
the Engineers mentioned for acts of cool and
desperate daring which, in our more fortunate
days, would have gained a Victoria Cross, but
which were then held to be sufficiently acknow-
ledged by a mere letter of thanks from the
adjutant-general. And whenever there was
any service requiring the utmost audacity and
militarj- prowess, the soldiers to whom it was
most often confided were the Goorkhas, then a
recent addition to our native arm\-, who, equally
formidable with the British musket as with their
native weapon — the short, heavy, keen-edged
kookrie — never failed in any task, however
perilous. Well have these little mountaineers
maintained on many subsequent battlefields the
reputation which they began to build up at
Bhurtpore, of being the bravest, the most loyal,
and the best disciplined of the many native
races which furnish soldiers for the service of
England.
An e.xploit performed by Captain Carmichael
of the 5qth Regiment deserves more than passing
notice on account of the soldierly spirit which
dictated it and the brilliant completeness of its
execution. A report had been brought by spies
into the camp that the Bhurtporeans had cut
trenches across the breach opposite to General
Nicholls's division, and had otherwise so fortified
it as to make it impregnable to the headlong
onset of a storming party. General Nicholiswas
anxious to obtain exact information as to the
truth of the report, but this could only be gained
by personal inspection, in broad daylight and
under the observation of the numerous defenders,
whose muskets and spearpoints could be seen
glinting on the ramparts. Captain Carmichael's
intrepid spirit prompted him to volunteer to lead
the small party which would undertake to clear
up the well-guarded secrets of the defence. It
was the bighnoon of the sultry Indian day, the
hour when it is the native custom to yield for a
time to sleep and when the extreme vigilance of
the enemy might be expected to be somewhat
relaxed, that he chose for his heroic enterprise.
The Grenadiers of his own regiment, the 59th,
and a detachment of Goorkhas were on duty in
the advanced trenches. No need to call upon
such men for volunteers to follow him and share
his adventure. All sprang forward eager to be
chosen, and the only difficulty was to keep the
numbers employed within the desired limits.
The total number taken was only twelve, half of
wTiom were 59th Grenadiers and half Goorkhas.
Captain Davidson of the Bengal Engineers also
joined the little party, which, headed by
Carmichael, stole quietly out of the trenches.
With breathless anxiety their rapid rush across
the ditch to the foot of the breach was watched
by their comrades left behind. At every pace it
was feared that a hail of bullets would pour from
the ramparts and sweep them away. But no,
either drowsy or careless, the Jats gave no heed.
Carmichael and his men cleared the wide ditch
unnoticed and found themselves at the foot of the
pile of stones and dried mud where the strong
wall of the fortress had been shattered. They
commenced the steep ascent and, scrambling on-
hands and knees, in a few moments stood within
the fortification which they had so long watched
from a distance. Startled into wakefulness by
the sudden appearance of their foe so close to
them, whom they doubtless took to be the head
of a storming party, the Jats seized their arms
and gathered for resistance. Carmichael's fol-
lowers took full advantage of the surprise and
deliberately fired a volley into the dense cluster
of men in front of them. Then, as the smoke
cleared awav, thev carefully surveyed the interior
of the fort and noted all its features, having even
the audacity, moreover, to pelt their enemy with
the lumps of mud and stones which were to
hand. The Jats realised at last how feeble was
the party that insulted them, and rushed forward
to punish their temerity. Carmichael's object
340
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
had been gained, however, and he plunged down
the breach in retreat. Tliere was a rush, in
pursuit, of the exasperated' enemy to the top of
the breach, and the little reconnoitring band was
in deadly danger from the many weapons about
to be pointed at them. But the muskets in the
English trenches were ready and aimed. Fingers
were now on the triggers, and the first crowd of
the enenw was swept awaj- fcy the calculated
discharge before they could use their matclilocks.
The places of the first that fell were quickly sup-
plied, but ever the heavy and well-aimed fire from
the trenches flamed forth with crushing effect,
VISCOl.NT .;i>My;l RMERE.
(Photo, Mayall.)
and, covered by the friendly storm which hurtled
over their heads. Captain Carmichael and his
men regained the shelter of their lines almost
unscathed. The sole casualty was one grenadier,
struck dead and falling into the advanced English
trench, so nearly had he achieved safety. The
result of the daring adventure was the knowledge
that the breach, though a formidable obstacle,
was not impregnable, a knowledge which was
soon to be of inestimable value.
On the 17th January the engineers reported
to Lord Combermere that the mines on which
the issue of the siege depended would be read}-
that night. They were, as before noted, three
in number : one under the angle of the north-
east bastion, loaded with 10,000 lb. of powder
connected by a train 300 feet long leading under
the ditch ; another^ less heavily loaded, destined
to improve and extend the breach ; while a
third, still smaller, was to blow in the counter-
scarp. The hour of final and decisive action
was at hand and the orders were given for
the assault on the following daj-. Two columns
were formed for the service, placed under
Generals Reynell and Nicholls respectively, and
these again were divided into smaller forces for
the purposes of support and mutual assistance.
The direction of the principal attack was given
to General Reynell and was to be thus carried
out : — The main breach was to be stormed by
two brigades acting under General Reynell's
personal command. The leading brigade,
Brigadier McCombe's, was to be headed by the
Grenadiers of the 14th Regiment, followed by a
spiking party of artiller\-men. The brigade was
to consist of four companies of the 14th, the
58th Native Infantry, and 100 Nusseeree
Goorkhas. Brigadier Patton's brigade, con-
sisting of four companies of the 14th, the 6th
Native Infantry and five companies of Goorkhas,
was to support Brigadier McCombe in the first
rush. After the top of the breach should be
gained, the leading brigade was ordered to turn
to the right along the ramparts ; the other
brigade to the left. This main attack was to be
supported on its right by a column under Lieut. -
Colonel Delamain, composed of two companies
of the 1st European Regiment, the 58th Native
Infantry, and 100 Goorkhas, which was to
storm a small breach near the Juggeenah Gate.
General Xicholls's main attack was to be made
on the left breach b}- Brigadier Edwards at the
head of seven companies of the 59th Regiment,
the 31st Native Infantn,-, and 100 Sirmoor
Goorkhas. This, again, was to be flanked bv
a strong escalading attack under Lieut. -
Colonel Wilson, which was to ascend the wall
by ladders at a re-entering angle near the main
breach. Other smaller subsidiary- attacking
parties were detailed, but ever}- column, ever\
storming party, received the most minute in-
structions, and no contingency was left unpro-
vided for. Sappers with tools for breaking
through walls of houses, men carrying ropes with
nooses to be slipped over the beams in the
rampart and thus to form hand ropes, artiller}--
men to spike the guns — all were ordered to
be present, readv to follow the first stormers.
Brigadier Fagan, with the 21st, 35th, and 15th
Native Infantry, was ordered to support General
Nicholls's attack, and a reserve column under
Brigadier Adams w^as to be formed in the
trenches to cover a retreat in case of failure.
BHURTPORE.
341
At half-past four on the morning of the 18th
the troops silently entered the trenches, where
they were to remain hidden till the signal for
?.ssault was given. The most advanced parallels
taken to keep the assemblage of soldiers hidden
from the enemy with whom they were so soon
to grapple hand to hand. Not a head was raised,
not a bayonet was to be seen over the trenches,
'the JATS, making a FRAN lie LEAP FOR SAFETY, WERE BURIED IN ITS DEPTHS" !/. 343).
were not occupied, as it was feared that the
debris of the exploding mines would cause
many injuries to people within their influence.
The commander-in-chief himself inspected each
column, made sure that his orders had been
carried out and that every precaution had been
not a sound was to be heard in the still morning
but the low hum rising from a mass of men
quivering with excitement and with difficulty
restraining their pent-up feelings. A little after
eight o'clock an engineer officer reported to
Lord Combermere that the tnines were ready,
342
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
and the order was given that they should at
once be fired. Every eye was turned to the
points of the expected explosions, and followed
with keenest suspense the lightly curling smoke,
which showed the gradual ignition of the trains.
At last with a mighty roar the two lesser mines
exploded, doing all the work that had been
expected from them. Alarmed by the sudden
and mighty shocks and fearing an immediate
assault, the garrison crowded to the angle of the
bastion, the sunlight gleaming on their white
garments, their armour, and waving weapons.
Little did they think that death was even now
leaping towards them, and that their time on
earth was to be counted by seconds. Even as
they gathered and shouted defiance, there was
the convulsion of the great mine's explosion.
The whole bastion heaved and rent. An ear-
splitting crash like loudest thunder shook the
air, and where the bastion had been, a dense
cloud of dust and smoke arose, mingled with the
bodies and limbs of the ill-fated wretches, with
stones, timbers, masses of earth, and indefinable
debris. To the authors of that terrible destruc-
tion the spectacle was appalling ; among the
sufferers by this gruesome expedient of cruel war
were scattered broadcast confusion, dismay, and
death in its most horrible forms.
Nor were the effects of the great explosion
■ronfined to the defenders of Bhurtpore alone.
Even more far-reaching than was anticipated
spread the shadow of death. Scattered frag-
ments of the upheaval were hurled into the
English trenches, where the stormers were lying
ready for action and Lord Combermere himself
was present in command. Two sepoys standing
close by the commander-in-chief were killed.
Brigadier McCombe was struck down, and Bri-
gadier Patton, with Captain Irvine, Lieutenant
Daly of the 14th, and nearly twenty men of the
14th, were either killed or wounded. When the
echoes of the mighty crash had ceased, the
whole scene was still hidden by the thick cloud
of smoke and dust which hung like a veil over
rampart, ditch, and trenches. As it slowly
cleared away, the Grenadiers of the 14th and
59th were seen charging impetuously up the
steep faces of the breaches. Staggered as the
enemy had been by the mine, they yet gathered
bravely in defence, and poured a heavy fire of
grape and musketry on the attackers. Major
Everard, who led the 14th, made good his ascent,
and in a few moments the colours of the regi-
ment were seen floating on the summit. The
59th were equally successful. Their band played
the stirring strains of the " British Grenadiers "
as they left the trenches. The breach was
steeper, the fire to be encountered heavier than
at the main attack, but, unchecked by difficulties,
undismayed by the fierce resistance, they pressed
stubbornly on till they also stood triumphant
within the enemj-'s works. The remainder of
the columns directed by Generals Reynell and
NichoUs followed where the 14th and 59th had
led the wa\-. There was a moment of hesitation
in one native infantry corps, but when General
Reynell himself, standing on the top of the
ruined bastion exposed to the heavT fire from
the citadel, called out to them to follow him,
they answered to the appeal and plunged with
confidence into the fight.
As had been directed in orders, the head of
General Reynell's column turned to the right to
clear the ramparts as soon as the breach had
been crowned, while the native infantry pene-
trated into the town and moved through it
parallel to the storming party. The defenders
of Bhurtpore rallied gallantly and, facing Everard
and his Grenadiers in hand-to-hand conflict,
disputed ever}- inch of ground. There was no
time for the actual combatants to load and fire.
The melee was between tulwar on one side and
bayonet and musket-butt on the other. Match-
lock fire from the adjacent houses told heavily
on the English, but still the 14th fought their
way on, driving their enemy before them. And
of that enemy many brave men died where they
stood rather than step one backward pace. The
Jat gunners in particular would not forsake the
pieces which they had served so well, and, at
the close of the fight, were almost to a man
found lying dead, sword in hand, round their
loved artiller}-.
It will be remembered that Lieut. -Colonel
Delamain had been detailed to lead a column to
the attack of a breach near the Juggeenah Gate
on the right of General Reynell's main assault.
He also had won his way into the town, though
with heavy loss, as a mine had been fired by the
enemy beneath the feet of his stormers and blown
up many. His success was complete, however,
and, clearing his path to his left along the
fortifications he met Major Everard, who was
coming in the opposite direction. And now one
of the most terrible catastrophes of the day
happened to the defeated but still desperately
fighting Jats. Betv.-een Colonel Delamain and
Major Everard there yawned a steep and narrow
gorge, about sixty feet deep, and the two bodies
of English troops arrived at the opposite sides of
BHURTPORE.
343
this gorge, simultaneously pressing their foes
before them. From hoth sides the Jats were
driven backwards at the point of the bayonet
towards the abyss and, either victims of shot or
steel or making a frantic leap for safety, were
buried in its depths. In a few minutes several
hundreds lay piled at the botton^ of the gorge, a
helpless, groaning mass. To add to the horror
of their condition many of them wore armour of
quilted cotton, impervious to sword cut and even
to musket ball. This armour had in many cases
been set on fire by the close discharge of musket
or pistol, and the wretched wearers were slowly
roasted till death came as relief to their incon-
ceivable torture. A noble attempt was made to
rescue some of them and a few were extricated,
but time and means were not available for
the work of mercy, and, a few hours later,
nothing was left but " a confused mass of burned
and burning bodies."
It has been said how the 59th Grenadiers, at
the head of General Nicholls's column of assault,
carried the left breach. They were followed and
well supported by the remainder of the column,
and were, soon after entering the town, joined
by Brigadier Patton's brigade of General
Reynell's division. Colonel Wilson, who had
been detailed to lead an escalading party, had
little opposition to encounter, and, though he
himself and about thirtv men mounted the wall
by ladders, the greater part of his command found
it easier to enter the town by the breach.
All the storming parties were now in Bhurt-
pore, and while some of them cleared the circle
of ramparts of their defenders, the remainder
traversed the town in every direction, driving
the enemy from their positions in the streets
and out of the houses, from which a desultory
tire was being kept up. Brigadier Fagan, who
commanded General Nicholls's second brigade,
following in support of Brigadier Edwards, found
ample work for his force in quenching the
last embers of resistance in the great city, and
Brigadier Adams, who commanded the general
reserve, when the success of the day was assured
entered by the Agra gate to bring fresh and
unbroken troops for the duty of keeping order.
The fighting, which continued from house to
house and from street to street, took a heavy
toll of loss from Lord Combermere's army before
all was quiet, and, amongst others, Brigadier
Edwards received his death wound while bravely
leading his men.
The commander-in-chief had himself shared
to the full the toils and dangers of his armj-,
and that he was not the first to mount the
breach was less due to his own prudence and
caution than to the more than verbal dissuasion
and influence of his stafT. The blood of the old
Peninsular sabrcitr boiled at the sight of the
stormers' charge, and, casting his dignity to the
winds, he yearned to join personally in the first
shock of conflict. He was induced, however, to
wait and follow the leading sections, though
even thus the enemy's bullets pattered on the
ground as he passed over it, lie made his way
to the glacis of the citadel and summoned it to
surrender. As no reply was given, he sent for a
couple of twelve-pounders to blow open its
gates, while some field-guns which had been
dragged up the breach opened on it a heavy and
well-directed fire. By three o'clock in the
afternoon the twelve-pounders had arrived, and
everything was prepared for blowing in the gate
when a deputation came out with an offer of
unconditional surrender. The 37th Native In-
fantry was sent for to take possession, and after
brief delay they entered and the king's colour
of the regiment was hoisted on the battlements
of the citadel — a sight of joyous triumph, for it
told the completion of the day's stern work.
Shortly afterwards the news \^as brought in
that Doorjun Sal had been captured by the
cavalrj', which hemmed in every outlet from the
town. When he saw the fortune of the day
going against him, he had collected a vast
amount of treasure, and with his wives and* ,
children, at the head of a picked body of horse-
men, he had thought to cut his way to escape.
But the toils were set too close, and he had to
yield to Lieutenant Barbor of the 8th Light
Cavalry. Every horseman of his escort had from
1,200 to 2,000 gold mohurs, equal to from _^i,q2o
to _^"3,200, sewn in the lining of his saddle.
The loss of the garrison of Bhurtpore is es-
timated at about 13,000 killed and wounded
during the siege, of whom 4,000 were slain in
the assault. Most of the remainder were taken
prisoners, the cavalry alone having captured
6,000 or 7,000 after the town was stormed. The
British casualties during the siege and in the
assault amounted to 1,050 killed, wounded, and
missing, including seven officers killed and forty- ^
one wounded.
Thus was captured the great fortress, a feat of
arms which, though now almost forgotten, yields
in brilliancy to few of our country's military
achievements, and had an influence on the fate
of England's rule in India that can hardly be
exaggerated.
344
The Defeat of Abd-el-Kadr by the French
I SLY: August 14. 1844
Major Arthur Grifilhs
THE scene was an improvised garden in
North Africa, just across the frontier
hne between Algeria and Morocco, on
the banks of the river Isly. The time
— night : a cool breeze had succeeded the torrid
heat of dav, and the French camp was alive with
gaietv, brilliantly illuminated bv many coloured
lanterns which blazed upon the pink blossoms
of the oleanders and the tamarisks.
A military " punch," as it is called by the
French arm\-, was in progress — a kind of festive
entertainment given by the officers to some
newly-arrived comrades.
The only thing wanting to complete success
was the presence of the commander-in-chief.
Marshal Bugeaud — Ic pcrc Bugeaud, as he was
styled affectionately by his soldiers — had retired
fo his tent, and was already asleep on his
truckle bed. He was worn out with fatigue. A
momentous battle was imminent. The marshal
had been busily engaged all day in preparing
written instructions for all commanders of corps
under his orders. Who would dare awaken him ?
The only one bold enough for the task was a
civilian — M. Leon Roche, the principal inter-
preter of the army and long the marshal's close
associate and intimate friend. Even he was
sharply received when performing this unpleasant
duty. But when the old man heard the reason
he got up ; dressed, still grumbling, and started
for the centre of the camp. Here he found him-
self surrounded by an animated concourse.
All the officers of rank crowded round him
and welcomed him warmly. Then it was that
he delivered himself of a famous little speech,
which is said to have had no insignificant effect
upon the fighting of ne.\t day.
" It will be a great day, you may depend," he
said with much animation. " We shall be terribly
outnumbered. Our army has only 6,500 bayonets
and 1,500 horse ; the Moors, so I am told, are at
least 60,000 strong — all horsemen. Yet I wish
there were three or four times as manj- : the
more numerous the}^ are the greater will be
their disorder, the worse the disaster when they
are attacked.
" You see, ours is an army ; the Moors have
only a mob, and this is what, I think, will
happen. I shall form mv men^in the shape of a
boar's head. The right tusk will be General
Lamoriciere, the left Bedeau, the muzzle will be
Pelissier, and I shall be behind the ears. Who
shall stop our penetrating force ? M\' friends,
we shall split the Moorish army up as a hot
knife cuts into butter. I have only one fear,
and that is that the enemy will not wait for us."
This spirited speech evoked the wildest en-
thusiasm. A report of it, and of the words the
old marshal had used, rapidly spread through the
camp; it was repeated from mouth to mouth, and
fired the troops with their leader's desperate but
self-confident courage. All, like him, were only
afraid the floors would escape out of their hands.
The battle of Isly, then imminent, maj- be
called the final stroke for supremacy in Algeria.
Although not actually fought on Algerian soil
nor against the Algerian Arabs, it yet stamped
out their opposition by utterly destroying the
power of Abd-el-Kadr, the great Arab chief who
alone had successfully resisted the French for so
long. These two men, Marshal Bugeaud and
Abd-el-Kadr, the one a Frenchman, the other
an Arab, are really the most prominent person-
ages in the history of the Algerian conquest :
both earned great distinction — the one as a
soldier, the other as a patriot. Before dealing
with the last great episode in this struggle, which
had e.xtended over fifteen j-ears and is not de-
finitely ended even now — for to this day Arab
submission cannot be called complete, and in-
surrection is always possible — some account
should be given of the two remarkable men who
ISLY.
345
were so closely connected with it. Isly may be
said to have firnil}' established the fame of the
one, Bugeaud, and to have practically closed the
independent career of Abd-el-Kadr, the other.
Marshal Bugeaud was a product of the Napo-
leonic regime, one of the last of the great
soldiers turned out by the Grande Arniee. Born
of a family but recently einiobled, he liked to
call himself a man of the people : he always said
he was prouder of his grandfather, the black-
smith, who had founded the family fortunes, than
of his father, the aristocrat, who had dissipated
them. Bugeaud was but badly educated, and at the
age of twenty, when a big, burly, stalwart youth,
he enlisted as a private soldier in the Imperial
Guard, to find literally in his knapsack the field-
the courage of his opinions he had to fight
several duels in defence of them. In 1X36 he
entered once more upon his natural sphere,
and was sent to Algeria as a general of brigade.
At this time Thomas Bugeaud was a hale man
of fifty, tall, muscular, and broadly built, every
inch a soldier, with the imperious manner and
decided air of one practised to command ; he
had an iron constitution, w-as " greedy of fatigue
and inaccessible to the infirmities of age."
Bugeaud was the idol of his men : his first and
last thought was for them ; their comfort, well-
being, and instruction were his most constant and
unremitting care. A dozen stories are preserved
of him proving this. He was known to dis-
mount from his horse to help a muleteer to
A 1. G I E K S .
marshal's baton which, the proverb declares, everv'
French conscript carries there. He won his
epaulettes a couple of years later at Pultusk, in
Poland, and he took active part in many of Napo-
leon's campaigns ; but his promotion was not
rapid, and he was only a colonel at Waterloo.
After his master's fall he shared the emperor's dis-
grace, and retired into private life, onlv to return
to the army and gain the rank of general after
the revolution of 1830. He took then to
political life, and as an outspoken deputy with
replace the bundles which had fallen from a pack
saddle. " I have seen him," reports an ej-e-
witness, " take the trouble to shift the sentries'
posts after nightfall so as to deceive the keen-
sighted Arabs and keep his men out of fire."
He would fall back to the rear-guard to admonish
and encourage his soldiers, talking to them one
by one in the kindest and most friendly way.
Sometimes he would halt a column on the
march and order the men to undress. Woe then
to the commanding officer if any soldier was
346
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
found to be without the regulation flannel belt !
The best story told is, perhaps, that which
earned him the sobriquet of the Pfere Casquette
(Father Flat-cap). On one occasion his camp
was surprised : through the carelessness of the
outposts the Arabs broke in and opened a heavy
fire. All was dire confusion at first, but the
marshal rushed out of his tent and restored
order : indeed, with his own strong hands he
struck down two of the assailants. But when
all was over and the Arabs driven back, the
marshal, as he stood in the strong light of the
camp fires, saw that all eyes were directed to
his headgear, and that every one was laughing.
Putting his hand to his head, he found that it
was still covered with his night-cap ; so he called
someone to bring him his kepi or casquette, and
the cry was set by some soldier-composer to
music that very night. Next morning, when the
bugles sounded the rouse, a battalion of Zouaves
accompanied the music with a chorus about the
cap —
As-tu vu
La Casquette,
La Casquette ?
As-tu vu
La Casquette
Du Pere Bugeaud ?
The impromptu air pleased the old marshal
mightily. Ever afterwards the first bugle-call
at dawn was called the "casquette," and the
marshal himself was often heard telling a bugler
to sound the casquette. Sometimes, when the
troops were wearied and footsore, he would order
the favourite tune to be played ; the men, taking
heart, would strike up the chorus, in which the
general himself would join.
What especiall}- endeared Bugeaud to his
soldiers was his unfailing readiness to share their
privations. Nothing annoyed him more than to
see infantry officers riding saddle-horses. He
issued a peremptory order once on the subject :
" This abuse must be immediately stopped. In-
fantry officers must not lose sight of the fact
that the surest method of obtaining from their
soldiers the self-denial and energy required to
endure toilsome marches under a burning sun is
to set the example of going on foot as the men
do." Upon one occasion the marshal was roaming
through his camp alone and unobserved when
he heard a dispute between an old and a young
Zouave. The latter was bemoaning his fate: for
three days he had been wet to the skin, and not
a chance of drying himself ; not a bit of bread
nor a glass of brandy was to be bought at the
canteen. " Conscript," cried the other, taking
him sharply to task, " if you had been on sentry
at the Pere Casquette's tent as I was yesterday,
you would give up grumbling. He is a duke
and a marshal of France, but he was gnawing
at a bit of biscuit like the rest of us, and drink-
ing a mug of water." There was a loud shout of
applause from all around, and the marshal, when
he afterwards told the stor\-, said he had never
felt so proud in his life before.
A leader of this sort was certain to be wor-
shipped by his men, but old Bugeaud was equally
humane and considerate to the Arabs. It is on
record that when governor-general of the pro-
vince he looked out of the window one morning
as he was shaving, and saw a Maltese strike
an Arab brutally. Without a second's thought
the marshal ran out in his shirt-sleeves just as
he was, with the soapsuds on his face, turned
out his guard, and had the Maltese arrested and
given in charge of the police.
When Bugeaud first reached Algeria he was
very much dissatisfied with the plan on which
the war had been waged : he was certain that
the Arabs would be best tackled by light mov-
able columns unencumbered with baggage or
artillery-. In spite of the marked disapproval of
his lieutenants he persisted in carrying out this
system. At this time Abd-el-Kadr was the most
formidable antagonist the French had in Algeria,
and it was with him that Bugeaud was now
to try conclusions. He did so victoriously at
the battle of the Sickack, when at small cost he
all but broke up and dispersed .Abd-el-Kadr's
forces. But the Arab chief was still a danger,
and Bugeaud was desired, if possible, to bring
him to terms. The moment was rather critical,
for Clausel had just failed in the siege of Con-
stantine, and the French hold on Algeria was
growing precarious. It was said that Bugeaud
was to renew the war against Abd-el-Kadr if he
could not induce him to make peace, but in this
he presently succeeded, and the celebrated Treaty
of Tafna was the result. By this the French
recognised the emir as an independent ruler
over the western part of Algeria and the moun-
tainous interior, in return for which Abd-el-Kadr
acknowledged the sovereignty of France. The
Arabs on each side were to be free to come and
go, and those within the French limits were to
have full religious toleration.
It was hoped that this treaty would be the
first step to a pacific settlement of Algeria, and
as soon as it was signed the high contracting
parties met to make each other's acquaintance.
ISLY.
347
General Rugeaud (he was not yet a marshal) was
very eager to meet the Arab ehiet'tain who had
so long defied the power of France. It was now
seven years since Abd-el-Kadr had set himself
up in opposition to the French by heading the
Arabs of Tlemcen in a holy war against the
iiiiidel invader. When the French first in-
vaded Algeria he was a remarkable youth, barely
four-and-twenty, the son of a marabout, or priest,
of great sanctity whom the tribes had invited
to take the lead. This marabout, bv name Ma-
hiddin, refused, but passed on the offer to his son.
Great things had been prophesied of Abd-el-
Kadr : he had accompanied his father to Mecca,
and there had been hailed by a holy fakir as a
future sultan of the Arabs ; and he undoubtedly
proved the most remarkable man who had ap-
peared among the western Mohammedans for
more than a centurv. Towards the end of his
career, in 1843, Marshal Soult classed him among
the onlj' three men then alive — all Mussulmans
— " who could legitimately be called great."
These were Schamyl the Circassian, Mehemet
All the Egvptian Pasha, and Abd-el-Kadr.
The son of Mahiddin, as he was called, first
took up arms against the French in 1833 by
attacking Oran. Although repulsed, hegradually
consolidated his power bv his indomitable energy
and the personal influence he e.xercised over the
Arab tribes. Thousands of them flocked to his
standard, and for four years he proved a most
redoubtable antagonist. The person of Abd-el-
Kadr at the time when Bugeaud met him was
prepossessing, and gave outward proof of his
inward remarkable character. A prisoner who
spent some time in his camp describes him as
very small in stature, with a long deadly pale
face and large black languishing eyes, an aqui-
line nose, small delicate mouth, thin dark
chestnut beard, and slight moustache. He had
exquisitely-formed hands and feet, which he was
continually washing and trimming with a small
knife. In dress he studied the utmost simplicit}',
wearing fine white linen without a vestige of gold
or embroider}'. Bugeaud thought his appear-
ance quite that of a devotee, but he was skilled
at all martial exercises, was a fine horseman, and
alwa\'s beautifullv mounted in the field.
The contrast between the stalwart old French-
man and slightly-formed Arab must have been
very great. Both were anxious to maintain
their dignity ; neither at first would give way.
When Bugeaud dismounted, Abd-el-Kadr hesi-
tated, but at length did the same ; they sat side by
side on the grass and talked for forty minutes.
Then Bugeaud rose to go, but Abd-el-Kadr did
not move from his seat. This might have been
intentional disrespect, and was not to be borne,
so old Bugeaud protested. " I fancied," as he
afterwards told the French Chamber, " I saw in
it a certain claim to superiority, and so I
made my interpreter tell him ' when a French
general rises, 3'ou should also rise.' \Vhile
my interpreter was translating the words, I
took Abd-el-Kadr by the hands and lifted him
up. He was not very heavy."
A special interest attaches to the meeting of
these two men, for they were again to be pitted
against each other in the coming years. The
Treaty of Tafna was only a truce. Abd-el-Kadr
accepted the terms in order to get time for fresh
preparations and to consolidate his power. He
was now at the zenith, holding authority over a
large territory, feared and obeyed by thousands
of adherents. In France the treaty was viewed
with extreme disfavour, and after the fall of
Constantine it was clear that a fresh appeal to
arms would be gladly entertained at home.
When Abd-el-Kadr protested against a demon-
stration made bv Marshal Vallee into the moun-
tain country through the celebrated Iron Gates
or partes dc fcr, the French Government decided
to resume offensive operations. They were,
however, forestalled by Abd-el-Kadr, who again
raised the standard of a holy war, and much
fighting with many massacres followed. De-
sultory operations, by no means favourable to
the French, dragged on for three years, during
which they lost hold' on the interior and were
more and more restricted to the ports and strong
places on the coast. At last General Bugeaud,
who was once more in France actively engaged
in politics, was offered the supreme command in
Algeria, and went back as governor-general to
the scene of his old successes.
Bugeaud was a soldier of broad views and
abounding common-sense. He saw that he had
now to deal not with an army, but with a nation
in arms. He knew that it was useless to operate
with large bodies of troops against wild tribes
constantly on the move ; that he must catch
them on the run, defeat them wherever he found
them, compel them to lav down arms, then
overawe them into peaceful submission. It was
the further development of the lesson he had
learnt in 1836. He organised his forces in small
compact columns : a few battalions of infantry,
a couple of squadrons of cavalry, two mountain-
howitzers, a small transport train on mule- and
camel-back ; as speed was the first consideration.
348
BATTLES OF THE -NINETEENTH CENTURY.
he employed only picked men, those inured to
the climate and to fatigue. They moved in the
lightest marching order, carrying only muskets,
ammunition, and a little food. A strip of canvas
served as haversack, but was unsewn ; three of
these could be joined together, and thus form a
shelter for three men. This was the origin of
the famous tcntc d'ahri, the only form of en-
campment for a large portion of the French
armv in the Crimea.
Tj-fo. J.tcl
The command of those movable columns was
entrusted to the smartest of the young officers
Bugeaud found around him. He had no lack of
choice. The campaign in Algeria had now
lingered on for many years, and had served as an
admirable militar}' school, in which some of the
most eminent soldiers, men to be hereafter more
widely known, won early distinction. Among
these were Changarnier, Cavaignac, Lamoriciere,
Bedeau, St. Arnaud, Canrobert, Pelissier, and the
king's son, the Due d'Aumale. The chief, ever
active and enterprising, could count upon lieuten-
ants eager to vie with him and give full effect to
his views. Bugeaud set them a fine example.
The old general was indefatigable, ready to move
at a moment's notice to any point that was
threatened, to take the lead in any important
operation. When he was at Algiers, a steamer
lay in the bay with steam up prepared to take him
anywhere along the coast. He slept very little,
and when he woke at any hour he roused hi>
secretaries and kept them busy with dictation
for hours. Throughout it all he was full of
gaiety and wit ; he delighted in talking, in
lecturing his staff, and telling amusing
stories. Yet nothing was too small for
his attention ; he never missed or ne-
glected an opportunity.
A couple of years saw a very marked
change in the position of the French in
Algeria. Marshal Bugeaud's method of
warfare was entirely successful. He
won combat after combat, driving Abd-
el-Kadr further and further into the
hills. One by one he took the Arab
chieftain's strongholds. The fort and
citadel of Tackdempt, which was Abd-
el-Kadr's chief arsenal and stronghold,
was captured and destroyed ; then a
second fortress among the hills fell into
French hands ; after that Boghar anc'
Thaza were taken from Abd-el-Kadr,
and he was driven back into the Atlas
Mountains, while his power was much
shaken throughout the province of
Oran. But he was not yet crushed,
and while the French were engaged
against the mountain tribes, Abd-el-
Kadr made a descent upon the coast
near Cherchell, which spread general
alarm through the colony. Again he
was driven back and continually pressed
by several corps, which, converging,
sought to enclose him between them.
One of these, commanded by the Due
d'Aumale, captured by a bold stroke Abd-el-Kadr's
smala/i, the great collection of tents with all his
family, followers, and possessions, which he was
in the habit of moving about with him wherever
he went. Afterwards, when a prisoner in French
hands, the emir declared that there were bo.oco
people in his smalah when attacked by the Due
d'Aumale. This multitude consisted of trades-
men of all kinds, armourers, saddlers, tailors,
smiths ; an immense market was held within it
weekly ; all Abd-el-Kadr's treasure was there,
his wives, his horses, all he owned.
The Due d'Aumale, with a small force, had
come upon the smalah after a long pursuit and
ISLY.
349
a fatiguiniT march of thirty hours ; his men had
hardly slept, the)' had eaten with their bridles
over their arms, and onlv chocolate or biscuit,
for they were afraid to betray their presence by
lighting fires. 'I'he great numerical strength of
the enemy suggested prudence, but the duke
five thousand. " To attack such a superior force
in this way," wrote a military critic afterwards,
'• a leader must be five-and-twenty, like the Due
d'Aumale ; he must hardly know what danger is,
or have the very devil in him." The French
horsemen had covered ninety miles in thirty-si.\
'CAPTUREU BY A HOLD STROKE AHD-EL-KADr's SMALAH " (/. 348).
was for immediate attack. " Mj- ancestors never
retreated," he said. " Gentlemen, I will not be
the first to do so." With a few brief words to
charge both flanks and centre at once, he dashed
on overbearing all resistance. Almost at a blow
four thousand prisoners were captured, including
the emir's wife and mother, much treasure, all
the tents, standards, and stores. The rest fled.
It was an instance where conspicuous daring
tells — where six hundred intrepid men defeated
hours, and the supporting infantry were still
eighteen miles to the rear. " Yet the duke at-
tacked without hesitation : it was good ; it was
brave ; it was brilliant ! " This was the verdict
of General (afterwards Marshal) St. Arnaud.
The effect of this victory was disastrous to
.Abd-el-Kadr's cause. His adherents began' to
fall away from him ; he was driven into the
western corner of Algeria, and at last, despairing
of other help, he crossed the Moorish frontier
3?o
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
and threw himself upon the mercy of the
Emperor of Morocco. This monarch, Abder-
rhaman by name, at that time the most power-
ful ruler in Northern Africa, a descendant of the
Prophet, aud a most devout Mussulman, at once
promised his help. War against Abd-el-Kadr's
new ally became inevitable, although the French
Government were not disposed to enter upon it
lightly. Thev first remonstrated with the em-
peror, insisting that he should neither receive
nor succour the enemy of France. As the
answer was a haughty negative. Marshal Bugeaud
did not wait for definite instructions from home
(it was long before the days of the electric tele-
graph), but proceeded with all promptitude to
take the initiative. Hostilities had already com-
menced on the frontier. There was sharp skir-
mishing at the outposts, but it was not till the
middle of June that all hopes of an amicable
settlement were at an end. By that date
Marshal Bugeaud had embarked at Algiers with
reinforcements, and proceeded to the mouth of
the Tafna. There he disembarked, and ad-
vanced to Lalla Maghrina in the direction of the
Islv river and some fifty miles south-west of
Tlemcen. He was backed up in this by another
son of the French king, at that time command-
ing a French fleet off the coast of Morocco--
the Prince de Joinville, who joined the marshal
heartily in his desire for vigorous action. The
prince without hesitation at once bombarded
Tangier, and sent the news to the marshal,
whose answer was characteristic. The message
reached him the 1 2th of August ; the reply ran
as follows: "Prince, you have drawn a bill upon
me ; I engage to honour it. To-morrow I shall
execute a manoeuvre that will bring me within
touch of the emperor's army before he is aware
of it ; the day after, I shall defeat it."
This bold prediction was fully verified. On
the 14th of August the battle of Isly was fought
and won.
Abderrhaman's son commanded the Moorish
army, which was mainly composed of cavalry,
estimated afterwards by Marshal Bugeaud at not
less than 45,000 strong. It was posted on the
western or further bank of the little river in a
series of camps, seven in number, " occupying,"
said an eye-witness, " a greater space than the
circumference of Paris." The French had re-
connoitred the enemy's position with their
foraging parties sent out daily some distance to
the front to cut barley and grass for the cavalry
and transport animals. As a good plan to de-
ceive the Moors, the foragers were despatched as
usual on the 13th, with orders not to return at
nightfall, when they would be reinforced in
their forward position by the whole French army.
By this stratagem the entire force was got
within easy reach of the enemy unobserved.
E.xpress orders were issued forbidding the men
to light fires or even to smoke their pipes.
At daylight Alarshal Bugeaud made a demon-
stration across the river, but encountered no
enemy. His advanced line, however, verified
the position of the Moorish camp ; and now as
he prepared to cross with his main body, the
Moorish cavalry came down to dispute the
passage of the river, but were driven off by the
fire of the French skirmishers. The French
attack was to be directed upon the highest point
of the hills opposite where the Moorish prince
had his headquarters surmounted by his standards
and his parasol. The advance was made in the
formation devised by the marshal when he
called it a boar's head. The right and left tusks
were represented by infantry in columns ready
instantly to form square when threatened by
the Moorish horsemen. These now swooped
down in immense numbers and with determined
courage upon the flanks or " tusks," and were
received by the squares " prepared to receive
cavalry," while the skirmishers ran in and lay
down for shelter under the bristling bayonets.
The mounted men could not face the deadly fire
now opened by the French infantry, and began
to waver. Their charges were made in columns
of great depth ; the first line, being checked,
threw the second into disorder, and both fell
back upon the third, causing great confusion.
The Moors, although good marksmen, could not
return an effective fire, and their bullets went
too high. Now the French artillery, no more
than four light field-pieces, did great e.xecution,
and the enemy's onslaught had obviously failed.
]\Iarshal Bugeaud saw that the critical moment
had arrived, and proceeded to use his own
cavalry with great promptitude and effect. It
was in two portions, commanded respectiveh' by
Colonels Tartas and Morris. The first half of a
total of nineteen squadrons was, with its right
pivoted on the river, to circle round to the left
and charge the camp ; the second, under Colonel
Morris, was to repel a threatened attack upon
the French right flank by charging the enemy's
left. The first of these movements, headed by
Yusuf — an Italian by birth, who had once been
an Arab slave, but who had joined the French
on their first arrival and entered the Spahis — was
entirely successful : his six squadrons of Spahis,
ISLY.
351
supported by three of Chasseurs, carried all
before them, and, in spite of a well-sustained
artillery fire, entered the camp and captured it.
Everything — guns, tents, the shops of the
artisans, all stores, ammunition, and food — fell
into the victor's hands.
At this time a body of still unbeaten cavalry
menaced Bugeaud's right flank, and was met by
Colonel Morris with six squadrons of Chasseurs.
He encoLUitered a stubborn resistance, but was
presently supported by Bedeau's infantry, when
the Moors gave way. Morris now pursued, but
the enemy faced round
again, and, rallying his
forces, seemed inclined to
try to retake the camp.
There were some twenty
thousand of them, and they
only yielded to a fresh
attack made bv the three
arms : the artillery went
into action on the western
bank, the infantry under
cover of the guns, the whole
of the cavalry followed, and
the Moors were completely
overthrown. The enemy
now retreated in hot haste,
and were pursued for several
miles. There was one epi-
sode in this last phase of
the fight which might have
proved disastrous to the
Morris adventured too far with his horsemen,
and found himself surrounded and in danger
of being cut off. But he succeeded in holding
si.K thousand horsemen at bay with his five hun-
dred Chasseurs until assistance could reach him.
The victory, gained at but small expenditure
of life, was yet decisive. From twelve to fifteen
hundred Moors were killed or taken prisoners ;
more than a thousand tents, many guns, a large
quantity of small arms, and vast stores of war
material were captured. At noon the French
marshal entered the Moorish prince's tent, and
beneath its magnificent shelter was regaled upon
the tea and cakes prepared in the morning for
that unfortunate youth. He himself had fled
MARSHAL
{A/itr an
French. Colonel
many miles to Thaza, and orders were already
issued to continue the pursuit, when the em-
peror sent two chieftains into the French camp
with proposals for peace. The terms eventually
agreed upon were a substantial war indemnity,
a rectification of the frontier between Algeria
and Morocco, and finally the expulsion of Abd-
el-Kadr from Moorish territory with an under-
taking that he was never again to receive
support or assistance.
But Abd-el-Kadr was still at large. He ap-
pears to have taken no part in the battle of
Isl}-, although he must
have been in the imme-
diate vicinity. The day-
after, he was reported to be
only a day's march distant,
and a bold attempt was
made by General Yusuf to
seize him. The chief of
the Spahis disguised a hun-
dred of his troopers in
Moorish dresses taken from
the spoils of victorj-, the
pointed headgear, long
gun, and black burnouse,
and after a forced march of
fifteen miles he came un-
expectedly upon an out-
post which he charged and
captured. There was no
Abd-el-Kadr, but his secre-
tary was made prisoner, carrying the official seal
and with papers on him indicating his chief's
movements. To know where the emir was going
did not mea.T his capture. For three years longer
he ranged the mountains or the desert of the
interior, a proscribed fugitive without a vestige
of his former power. At length in 1847 he
came in voluntarily, and surrendered to the
Due d'Aumale, who was then governor-general
of Algeria, and the conquest of the province
was complete.
Abd-el-Kadr was sent to France and kept
there in a sort of open captivity for a number of
years. Eventually he was permitted to with-
draw to Damascus, where he lived as a French
pensioner until his death in 1853.
ISUGEAUp.
oU print.)
352
"The purple haze of legend blends
The dawning and the afterday.
Thro' thy dream-past his sinuous way
In the dim shade the Red Man wends,
Strides down Time's weird mysterious glen
And leaps into the world of ken."
To Ciinada.
LUNDY'S LANE ! Strange, savage
I struggle ; struggle in which Briton,
i Canadian, American, Iroquois, and
Huron all met in chaotic deadly
grapple on the bank of the great river, and
by the side of the thundering falls whose veil
of white spray hung from heaven like a
winding - sheet. Lundy's Lane ! where the
red man's war - whoop mingled with the
frenzied shout of the white, where the sharp
crack of the musket cut the sullen roar of the
cataract as lightning slashes the black cloud ;
fight of the early evening, of the long gloaming,
of the night, dark before the moon hung m the
sky. And when her pale face looked down
between the slowly-drifting clouds, although her
light fell upon many a blanched face, she saw
crowds of maddened men still slashing with
sabre, thrusting with bayonet, swinging their
clubbed muskets around their heads as they
battered a path, this way and that, for the posses-
sion of the field. It was the battle of battles in
the War of 1812, Lundy's Lane. The sides that
fought were blood-brothers. Their officers cried
their orders in the same tongue, the men cheered
the same cheer ; the same courage, the same
determination, the same unconquerable spirit
animated all who fought the fierce fight across
the narrow highway, Lundy's Lane, that led into
pastoral Ontario.
Besides its being famous as a fight, Lundy's
Lane has some peculiarities. Looked at from
a purely military standpoint, the battle was in a
way lacking in brilliant points and movements,
being in fact a fair and square stand-up bit of
slogging on both sides, the British holding a
position and the American general, by repeat-
edly hurling his full force against the red-coats,
atte.npting to carry the position. The pecu-
liarities to which I now refer lay outside the
actual fight.
In the first place, the battle can be called by
an)' one of three names. The Canadians have
named it Lundy's Lane, the Americans Bridge-
water, and some few Canadians and British, and
a good many American writers, refer to it as the
Battle of Niagara Falls. Seeing that the fight
took place on Canadian soil and across Lundy's
Lane, it may be as well to accept the name the
Canadians have given it. Certainly the}' should
know best. They had everything to lose had
the battle gone against the L^nion Jack, as at
one point appeared not at all improbable, and the
ground over which the fight raged is to them
sacred ground. Another strange feature of the
battle is that each side claimed a decisive victory.
Search the histories of Canada and the United
States and victory is credited to British or
American according as the history is written by
an Englishman or an American. Now, a battle
can scarcely be won by both sides competing.
One may be drawn, but that actual victory can
never be won by both the opposing forces
is certain ; and with all due respect to the
Americans, and the evidence their vi-riters bring
forward to support their contention, an impartial
student of the battle will find great difficulty in
discovering much logic in their claim. The
American army came very near to winning a
X
H
71
354
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
brilliant victory, but that they did not win is
quite evident from a recital of the undisputed
facts of the fight. Admittedly the Americans
captured the British guns — the key of the whole
position — and admittedly they drove the British
back and secured for a time possession of the
position, and it looked as if all was over for the
army of Drummond. But the British and
Canadians charged again, regained the guns —
this was all done in the dead of the night ; and
when the morning's sun rose the British army
was in exactly the same place as it had been
when the battle began, and the American army
had retired to Chippewa. But subsequent events
placed beyond all question where victory really
rested. The next morning after the battle the
British moved forivard and the American army
fell back, General Drummond finally cooping the
Americans securely in Port Erie. The fact of the
matter seems to be that the battle of Lundy's
Lane was, as a fight, a duplicate on a grand
scale of the battle of Chippewa, which imme-
diately preceded it. At Chippewa the British
attempted to carry a position, found the task an
impossible one, and retreated to Lundy's Lane.
At Lundy's Lane the Americans attempted to
carry a position, found the task an impossible
one, and retreated to Chippewa. No British
writer claims Chippewa as a victory, and no
American writer has any substantial grounds for
looking upon such a reversal as the American
army received at Lundy's Lane as a victory.
Lundy's Lane was fought on July 25th, the
evening and the night of that date, 1 8 14. Three
summers had this cruel war dragged its course,
and the little army of Canada, sorely battered on
many an occasion, losing its ablest generals, and,
moreover, far more of the rank and file than it
could well aflford, still fought grimly against the
invading Americans, who swarmed to the borders
to overrun the Britjish possessions and to add
another star to their flag by annexing Canada to
the Union. The war had dragged horribly. The
people of Canada, a country then of only some
300,000 souls, were suffering intensely. Every
man, young or old, who could bear arms and
could be spared, had been drafted to the defence
of his country, and women found that it fell to
their lot to do the work that formerly had been
done by husband or son, now stationed at the
various forts along the American frontier. Up
to the year of the battle of Lundy's Lane Canada
expected and, indeed, received but little assist-
ance from the Mother Country, for Waterloo had
not yet been fought, and all eyes were turned to
the great danger that threatened England
from the Continent. So it came about that the
war with such a powerful nation as the United
States pressed gallingly upon the Colony. vBut
all the suffering was not confined to Canada.
The people of the Republic, too, had suffered.
Taxes grew to enormous proportions, their foreign
trade completely died out, their ships rocked
and rotted in the harbours, and their pride had
suffered blow after blow, for their armies of born
fighters had been kept in check and repeatedly
defeated by small numbers of British and
Canadians, the latter fighting fiercely for their
homes. Nor does this convey anything like a
complete idea of the difficulties America found
herself in. Many of the New England States
totally disbelieved in the war, and threatened to
withdraw from the L'nion if an arrangement
with Great Britain was long delayed. The
American generals who first had power put into
their hands almost without exception turned out
to be incapable, and the soldiers, although true
fighters, when the\' came to battle were lacking
in discipline, and on more than one occasion
their insubordination and grumbling caused their
leaders to rush in when prudence cried caution.
During the summers of 1812-13 there had been
much fighting and little progress, and when the
winter of the latter year closed down on the land
and put a stop to hostilities, each side set its
heart on doing something decisive before the
summer of 1814 passed over.
All the winter there were great goings on in
the harbours around the lakes. British and
Americans each strained every nerve to build a
fleet that should sweep the other from the lakes,
and the war-cry sounded from village to village,
and floated into many a quiet farmhouse, into
many a rude log cabin in the woods calling for
volunteers to the cause. Even in the wigwams
of the red men the martial note was struck, and
many a warrior sat over the fire of a cold winter's
night polishing his flintlock, whetting his scalp-
ing knife, and hefting his tomahawk, while his
squaw, muffled in blankets, sat as silent as a
heathen idol, her black eyes fixed upon the glow-
ing coal. Tecumseh was slain, but other chiefs
had led out their bands to thirl the wood in
search of scalps. Canada had been fortunate in
her Indians. She had Tecumseh, Brant, Norton,
and many other steadfast fighters. But now she
was no longer to have it her own way in this
respect.
Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or to give him the name by
which he is known to the white man — Red
I
I
LUNDY'S LANE.
35:
Jacket — one of the most famous Indian orators of
histor}-, great chief and sachem of the Senecas,
had been wooed and won to the American cause,
and his orations addressed to his tribesmen were
not long in setting the hot blood coursing
through the veins of the Iroquois. His ringing
appeals, addressed in the proper tone and rich in
metaphor and legend, thrilled the minds of the
bucks, and soon the Six Nations — the most fear-
less fighters that ever trod the American forests,
whose war-whoops had rung on the air at many
a stubborn contest between British and French
— took up the hatchet and threw in their lot
with the " Long Knives," as they called the
American soldiers.
During the summer of 1814, at Chippewa,
Lundy's Lane, Fort Erie, and many other bitter
fights, the tomahawks of Seneca, Mohawk,
Oneida, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Tuscarora
whirled through the air at the heads of their old-
time allies the British. Red Jacket, although in
all conscience a feeble-hearted warrior, still was
able to apply the torch of oratory to the brands
that lay ready for the fire in every Indian's
breast. The fever for the fight ran from wig-
wam to wigwam like fire through autumn leaves,
and when the campaign of 1814 opened, the
Iroquois painted their cheeks with ghastly
colours, danced the war-dance before the great
tent, and set their faces to the north to confront
their Redskin brothers who fought under the
Union Jack.
The campaign of 1S14 opened early. Indeed,
the frost had not relinquished its hold on the
continent when the American troops were set in
motion for their various points of concentration
near the Canadian border. March is proverb-
ially a harsh month in that part of North
America through which the border line runs ;
but through the frost and snow the Americans
trudged on their way. Four thousand troops —
a woefully large number for the small forces
in Canada to hold in check — under General
Wilkinson, were the first to commence action
at a little place known as Lacolle Mills. To reach
this place the Americans had to cross Lake
Champlain on the ice. This rather startling
enterprise ended in disaster to the Americans,
and General Wilkinson's military career closed.
Some of his troops were forwarded to Buffalo, to
figh: under General Brown, on whose shoulders
was placed the responsibility of making yet
another attempt to conquer Canada.
After two vears of fighting it was onlv natural
that those officers who held command but lacked
the necessary ability to conduct a campaign
should be found out, and ofTicers of the true
metal placed in their stead. The Americans at
first were wretchedly officered. But now Dear-
born and Van Reussalaer, whj had opened the
war, were in retirement — there is reason to
believe that they were men of real capacity
but were hampered by public opinion and the
unmilitary independence of their picturesque
troops ; Hull and Hampton had left the service
in disgrace ; Winder, Winchester, and Chandler
were prisoners in the hands of the British ; and
now Wilkinson was relieved of command. So it
came about that the troops concentrated at
Buffalo were placed under the charge of General
Jacob Brown, who led them against the British
at Lundy's Lane.
Brown was then a man of about forty. He
had been a county judge in New York State,
and in 1809 was made colonel of militia,
advanced to brigadier-general in 1 8 10, and in
1812, at the declaration of war against Great
Britain, was given command of the frontier from
Oswego to Lake St. Francis, a strip of country
some two hundred miles in length. So satis-
factory to his Government were all his doings,^
that in January, 18 14, he was placed in charge
of the army of Niagara, with rank as major-
general. Rapid promotion this, but Brown
seems to have merited all the good things that
fell into his lap. He proved to be a man of con-
siderable executive ability and decision, and
earned the confidence and respect of his officers
and his men.
Under him he had a sound officer in Brigadier-
General Winfield Scott, who, with untiring per-
severance, spent the winter in drilling the troops,
so that when they took the field no higher dis-
ciplined soldiers ever marched on the American
continent. The very first battle these troops
took part in proved their efl'iciency — their cool
and soldier-like behaviour at the battle of
Chippewa surprised their own leader quite as
much as it did the British.
And now for the third year in succession
Canada was to be invaded. On the previous
occasions the Americans, officers and men alike,
had set out with a light heart, looking upon the
task of overrunning the country as a simple one.
But events had shown that there was to be no
walk over.
Early in July Brown set his army in motion.
Brigadier-Generals Scott and Ripley marched
their men to the Niagara River at a point where
it receives the waters of the upper lakes to
356
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
tumble thcni over the great falls, and success-
fully landed on the opposite shore, their feet
once more upon the threshold of Canada. With-
out opposition, there being no sufficient force
to offer any, the Americans took possession of
Fort Erie.
The news of this movement spread like the
wind through Canada : horsemen galloped the
well-worn roads, canoes rippled the waters of
many a forest stream, and the couriers ran
through the woods to apprise the people of their
danger, and to speed fencibles, militia, and all
to the front. That this invading army was an
extremely dangerous one all very well knew.
General Riall commanded the British forces on
the Niagara frontier. He, too, was an officer of
Operations on the
NIAGARA RIVER, 1814
great parts, and when the news reached him that
General Brown had taken the initial step he
energetically prepared to fight. His force in
comparison with Brown's was ridiculously small.
But during this war small armies well led had
done wonders, and Riall made up his mind to
fight without losing a moment. There can be
no doubt that he under-estimated the Ameri-
cans somewhat as regards their numbers and
woefully as regards their discipline, and he
suffered a severe repulse as a consequence
of these jnistakes. On Independence Day,
July 4th, Brown quitted Fort Erie and marched
his army down the Niagara to Chippewa.
The troops held close to the river, while
the Iroquois crept by their side, dodging
behind the bushes and trees, and completely
scouring the country. On July 5th the Ameri-
cans reached Chippewa. This was as far as Riall
had any intention they should proceed before he
offered them battle.
Riall's force consisted of 1,500 regulars. 60c
militia, and 300 Indians. Brown had 4,000 well-
trained Americans occupying a strong position.
But up to this time the Canadians had won so
many fights against well-nigh overwhelming
numbers that Riall determined to strike without
vraiting for reinforcements. The British troops
charged in splendid order, and with a fierceness
that was characteristic of this war. But the
Kentucky riflemen stood firm as a rock, the
Iroquois, too, fought with all their old-time
bravery, and Riall found he was but smashing
his head against a stone wall. Consequently,
after a vicious little battle lasting an hour, Riall
drew off defeated in his attempt to carry the
Americans' position. But he retired his force
in perfect order without losing a gun
or a prisoner. He retreated to Twelve
Mile Creek, where, meeting with re-
inforcements, he ceased his rearward
inarch and returned to take up a posi-
tion at Lundy's Lane, the Americans
all this time remaining inactive at
Chippewa. Chippewa was an effective
repulse rather than a defeat, if such
a distinction be allowed.
Riall was not destined to lead the
British at Lundy's Lane. The chief
in command was yet to arrive. Sir
George Gordon Drummond, lieu-
tenant-general and second in com-
mand in Canada to Sir George Prevost,
heard of the invasion of the Americans
when he was at Kingston, and at
once set out for Niagara.
Drummond, like most of the British officers
who commanded in Canada, had studied the art
of war on many a hard-fought field. He was a
Canadian by birth, and entered the arm}' as
ensign in the Royal Scots in 1780, joining his
regiment in Jamaica. Rapid promotion placed
him in charge as lieutenant-colonel of the 8th
or Iving's Liverpool regiment, a regiment with
which he was closely connected all the remainder
of his life. With it he served in the Netherlands
in 1705-6, he was with Sir Ralph Abercrombv
in the West Indies, and, promoted to the colonel-
ship, he fought in Minorca and Egvpt, greatly
distinguishing himself at Cairo and Ale.xandria.
To Jamaica again, and in 1808 transferred to
the staff in Canada, he was made lieutenant-
general in 181 1. His life had been a bustling
one, and the generals he fought under were the
brilliant teachers of an apt pupil. Drummond,
when he heard of Brown's across-river movement,
LUNDY'S
lost not a monienl, but made all speed to
Lundy's Lane.
His arrival at Niagara, as a matter of fact,
brought about the battle of Lundy's Lane.
Brown and his army still lay at Chippewa, satis-
fied apparently that a serious rebuff had been
LANE.
557
American bank of the river to take possession of
Lewiston, a town then held by a few Republican
soldiers. Couriers rode in hot haste to General
Brown, and told him that the British army was
marching upon Lewiston. When the American
general heard this, he jumped to the conclusion
'wall's escort CLOSEB AROU.NTl HIM AND HURRIED HIM TO THE REAR" [p. 359).
given to the defenders of the country and look-
ing forward to a campaign of little difficulty.
Riall lay at Lundy's Lane, and only a few miles
of broken country, wooded in places, stretched
between the opposing forces. It seems not to
have been the intention of either side to strike
at the other, at least not for some time. But
when Drummond reached Niagara, and before
he knew the e.\act state of affairs, he sent
Colonel Tucker with a small force alone; the
that his supply depot, Schlasser, was to be sub-
jected to an attack. Nothing could save his
stores, he felt sure, if it was really the purpose
of the British to make a general movement
against them. To call back the British by attack-
ing the forts at the mouth of the river was the
best plan that presented itself to Brown. With
this object in view he ordered Scott to at once
move his brigade down the river and to set
about the forts in good earnest. How badly
358
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
Brown must have been served by his scouts is
shown when it is told that drawn up right across
Scott's proposed route of march were the full
available British forces prepared for battle.
Scott had pushed on his troops not more than a
mile or so when he got a great surprise. Instead
of on the opposite bank of the river, there
on the top of a slight eminence, drawn up in
splendid strategical position were the regulars,
militia, and Indians — the British army — under
Drummond. Scott seems to have been within
musket-shot of the British before he made the
discover}'. He had gone too far to turn back.
The Oueenston road skirts the Niagara river
on the Canadian side. It was along this road
Scott marched his brigade. From the road and
at riglit angles to it, and but a short distance
down the river from the great Falls, shoots out
Lundy's Lane, a narrow highway making from
the Falls to the shore of Lake Ontario. Near
to where Lundy's Lane joins the wider Queens-
ton road it runs over a small hill, rather a bit of
slightly rising ground. This elevation is about
200 yards from the river. On the top of this
knoll Drummond had instructed Riall to station
his little army — there were onlv 1,600 in position
when the battle began — so as to form a shallow
crescent. On the brow of the knoll were planted
seven small guns. Behind these as a support
lay the Royal Scots, the 8qth Regiment, and the
light companies of the 41st. The left wing,
resting on the Queenston road, consisted of a
detachment of the 3rd Buffs ; the right wing
was formed of the Glengarry Light Infantry.
In the rear laj* a squadron of the iqth Light
Infantry. The position taken up was as strong
a one as could be found in the neighbourhood,
but the force at the disposal of Drummond was
altogether inadequate for the occasion. Rein-
forcements to the number of 1,200 were in the
immediate vicinity, and these arrived before the
battle had ended. At best General Drummond
had less than 3,000 troops to fight Lundy's
Lane. The American army numbered close
upon 5,000 soldiers.
Scott halted his brigade — he had i ,800 in his
personal command — when he found himself con-
fronted by the British. He rapidly summed up
the situation. Although he had not been look-
mg for a fight at the moment, he saw that retreat
would probably demoralise his soldiers. To
^tand there was equally out of the question.
There was nothing for it but to "pile in.''
Hastily despatching a messenger to inform his
commanding general of the true state of affairs,
he without loss of time began the battle, opening
fire on the slender line of British and Canadian
soldiers who stood so grmily still and silent along
the crest of the knoll.
The fierce July sun had now sunk far into the
west, splashing the heavens with crimson and
glorious gold ; not a zephyr stirred the parched
grass, lazy clouds scarcelv moving in their course
hung in the blue ; the birds that all the day had
sat in the deep shades of the bushes to escape
the blistering heat, now hopped to the topmost
twig and sang farewell to the light, and all the
time the floods from Superior, Michigan, Huron,
and Erie poured over the stubborn ridge of rock
and fell to the level of Ontario with a hoarse
sullen roar as of distant thunders.
It was a sultry evening. Nature herself seemed
to pant for breath. Even before the battle began
the perspiration stood on the brows of the gallant
men who confronted each other. Seemingl}',
the only cool beings were the red men, who
already were snaking their way through the long
grass on the alert for an unexpected dash upon
their foe.
In his swift glance round General Scott noted
that the strip between the Oueenston road and
river was unoccupied by British troops. It
occurred to him that if a force could secretly
occupy this territor\' and une.xpectedly fall upon
the Buffs, the British left might be turned. He
hurried orders to Major Jesup, commander of
the 25th Regiment, ordering him to creep under
the shelter of the bushes, occupy the position,
and wait his opportunity. This Jesup did most
successfully.
The battle began. Both sides opened fire at
the same moment ; a steady fire it was all along the
line, Scott moving his men forward cautiously,
carefully, and all the time keeping a sharp watch
for any opening likely to lead to a successful
storming of the knoll, the British remaining
stationar}- in the position which, bv its strength,
enabled them to oppose a much larger force with
prospects of withstanding the onslaught. Early
in the engagement it was clearlj- seen that the
little battery which hung on the brow of the
slope was destined to play a large part in the
fight. From the mouths of the half-dozen and
one guns fire shot wickedly out, and grape swept
down the slope and into the ranks of the Ameri-
cans, with results altogether disastrous to the
assailants. Suddenly General Scott called upor
his men to charge, and belter skelter the}- broke
from their semi-cover and, with a shout, bounded
forward for the height. But it proved a disa«trous
LUMDrS LANE.
359
move. Tlie Royal Scots, the Buffs, the Glen-
garry men, regulars, feiicibles, and Indians, each
and every one stood grim and immovable, and
fired volley after volley into the ranks of the
Republicans. Before the foot of the slope had
been gained, the Americans' charge was checked,
and the soldiers rapidly fell back to a more
respectable distance. This proved to be the first
of a series of desperate charges, which resulted in
regiments on both sides being shot to pieces.
During the hot fight in front Jesup's flanking
regiment had not been idle. The Americans of
the 25th Regiment had been steadily making
their way around to the rear, and one company,
pushing on much further than the others, fell in
with a stroke of great good fortune. This was
nothing less than the capture of General Riall,
second in command of the British, and his escort.
It came about curiously enough. Riall, at the
very outset of the fight, received a bad wound.
His escort closed around him and hurried him
through the British lines to the rear. Suddenly
the aides with the wounded general in their
charge came upon a company of soldiers, which
they took to be Canadian reinforcements, and
one of Riall's attendants shouted, " Make room
there, men, for General Riall." Now this request,
as it turned out, was addressed to the adventur-
ous company of the 25th, who with the greatest
alacrity " made room '' as requested, and cap-
tured the whole part)-. Delighted with their
good luck, the American captain called upon his
men, and, with General Riall in their midst, they
charged unexpectedly right through the British
left and rejoined their command. Riall was
hurried into the presence of General Scott, who
treated him with every consideration.
From sundown to close upon nine o'clock the
battle raged. Scott, furious at being checked,
charged time after time, only pausing long
enough after each repulse to form for a fresh
onslaught. Already the slope was thickly strewn
with the dead and dying. But over all the
Kentucky riflemen and the New England
volunteers made their way, firing as they ran,
in a vain attempt to capture the guns. On a
number of occasions the leaders got so close as to
baj-onet the artillerymen as they served the field-
pieces, but, struggle as they might, they were
rolled down the slope by the red-dripping bayonets
of the regulars and volunteers who fought under
the folds of the Red Cross of St. George.
Close upon nine o'clock a hush fell upon the
field. General Brown had just arrived from
Chippewa, bringing with hun Ripley, Porter, and
their men, and, strangely enough, at exactly the
same moment Colonels Gordon and Scott, with
their commands, consisting of parts of the JO^rd
and 104th Regiments, and the Royal Scots, in all
about 1,200 men, reached the battlefield to tlie
reinforcement of the sorely-pressed defenders of
Lundy's Lane.
After the clamour of battle the stillness was
appalling. Once again the hollow sound as of
the beating of gigantic wings came rolling across
from the Falls ; and from the slope, from the top
of the knoll, and from the level plain arose the
piteous appeal of the stricken for help and for
water. Only a few yards distant water enough to
quench the thirst of the world growled over the
precipice, but not one drop of it fell on the
parched tongues of the poor fellows who lay on
the ground through that sultry July night.
Brown's first order was that Ripley's men
should relieve Scott's. The latter had fought
a fatiguing fight, and the weary men fell back
while the fresh men from Chippewa stepped
into their places. Drummond's men were not
£0 fortunate. The British general's force was
too small to admit of any being spared from
the front. With the new-comers Drummond
strengthened his line.
The short calm was truly in this instance to
be followed by a furious storm. Brown deter-
mined to force the position and to sweep back
the British without a moment's delay. On top
of the knoll the little army lay prostrate from
fatigue. Men dropped to the ground where
they had stood panting and putting their cheeks
to the cool earth. The gunners leaned against
their guns, matches alight, but muscles rela.xed.
The night was black, and for the most part it
was impossible for foe to see foe. General Brown
called Colonel Miller to him, and ordered the
colonel to take his regiment, the 21st, and
capture the guns.
Colonel Miller first spoke to his men, ordering
that complete silence be observed in the ranks
and discovering to them his plans. At the
order every man of them dropped, to earth, and
began anexciting crouching crawl for the slope.
Close to the ground the blackness was intense.
Over the dead and among the wounded the 21st
made its way, noiseless as serpents, steadily on.
Half-way up the slope the Americans caught a
sight of the guns looking like blotches of black
against the sky, and by them, as silent as ghosts
stood the artillerymen, weary, but alert for the
slightest sound, thpii' matches glowing in the
murk like fireflies.
;6o
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
Miller halted his men. Before him zigzagged
a rail fence. Across this the riflemen lay their
guns, aimed with cool deliberation, and at a
signal a sheet of flame cut the night air. It is
told that every gunner leaped into the air and
fell below his gun.
The next instant Miller and his men were
among the guns. Ripley's whole battalion, too,
sprang forward up the slope, and down upon the
Americans came the Royal Scots, the Glengarry
men — every man indeed in the British ranks.
Guns were clubbed, bayonet thrust, war-whoop
and cheer rang together. Officers, realising that
no order could be heard, sprang into the mass
and slashed with sword and sabre, all joining in
one savage mclcc, fighting for the position on
the hill.
Half the British force that fought that night
across Lundy's Lane were Canadian volunteers,
and when the news of the battle spread, from
the knobs of many a door, town-house, and log-
cabin fluttered the long strip of crape that told
of death.
The Ro\-al Scots and the 89th lost more than
half their men in the frightful scramble on
top of the hill, American regiments were cut
to tatters on the slope, General Drummond
had his horse shot under him, and, while
fighting on foot, was shot in the neck and dan-
gerously wounded. Colonel Morrison of the
.Sqth had to be carried from the field. Generals
Porter and Scott were also badly stricken, and
General Brown himself so severely wounded
that he had to relinquish his command and leave
Ripley to look after the American interest.
The last hour was an indescribable jumble and
tussle hand to hand round the guns. There
could be no definite formation in the darkness,
and every man fought for himself. At length
the Americans began to waver. Riple}' saw this,
and, finding the task of holding possession of
guns and field an impossible one, gradually and
in order withdrew his men from the fight, taking
with him as a souvenir of the hardest-fought
battle of the War of 181 2 one si.\-pounder.
The Americans retreated to Chippewa that
night, and the British slept under the stars on
the hard-held field.
On the field lay so many dead that Drum-
mond's little force was unable to bury them, and
word had to be sent to the Americans to come
and assist in the work. For some reason the
Americans did not do this, and the British were
obliged to burn a large number of bodies of the
slain. July's fierce sun admitted of no delay.
The official report of the losses were given
as follows: — American losses: 171 killed, 570
wounded, 117 missing; total, 858. General
Drummond's report : 84 killed, 559 v/ounded,
193 missing, 42 prisoners ; total, 878.
OLD FORT ERIE.
36 1
THE story of Sebastopol, that pR)tracted
year-long siege, so prodigal of effort,
so rich in achievement, so costly in
human life, must be viewed by all
Englishmen with a pride not unmixed with
reproach. The pride is in the heroic endurance
of our troops, the reproach in the maladminis-
tration that , left them the helpless victims of
unnumbered ills.
Sebastopol is scarcely glorious for its triumph-
ant feats of arms, although these were not wanting.
Although we English failed in the final attack, it
was from causes that carried with them no dis-
grace. We gained no such great success as in
the open field, but our soldiers earned a perhaps
nobler fame by their dogged indomitable pluck
in facing the accumulated horrors of the ever-
memorable winter of '54. The tenacity with
which we held on to the siege not only against
enormous odds but in the teeth of the most
ctuel hardships, prolonged for months and
months through sickness, starvation, want, ex-
posure, must command universal admiration.
To stand thus firm, a mere remnant, continually
harassed and always suffering, implies a higher
fortitude than that of animal courage. It is this
which sheds lustre on that hard-pressed handful
for ever on duty, always ill-fed, worse-clothed,
weltering knee - deep in mud, decimated by
disease and the unceasing fire, which was j-et
never turned from its purpose. In the glory
of this great record we can afford to forget
the neglect and mismanagement that sent the
flower of the British arm}- into an arduous
undertaking inadequately prepared for war.
The severe stress laid upon the Crimean army
and the sufferings of our soldiers form, indeed,
the salient features of the first half of the siege.
Nine days after Inkerman, when the troops
should have been securely housed against the
coming winter, foreknown to be always rigorous
upon that dreary upland, a terrible gale swept
away in one disastrous morning the greater part
of their resources. Tents were blown clean into
the sea, depots of food and forage at the front
were destroyed, communication with the base was
stopped. Out in the open sea the storm worked
wild havoc among the crowds of shipping. It
was a lee shore ; numbers of transports with
precious cargoes were wrecked, and went down
with all on board. One of these. The Prince, a
large steamer, carried everything that was most
wanted — warlike stores, warm clothing, guern-
seys, great-coats, long boots, medicines, surgical
instruments. The chief ammunition ship was
also lost ; so was another carrying hay to last
for twentv days.
After that the troubles commenced. The
winds and the rain which fell in torrents con-
verted the soft soil into a quagmire, and the road
to Balaclava, reallv no road at all, became nearly
impassable for men or beasts ; as the latter were
far too few and only imperfectly fed, the soldiers
had mostly to do their own carrying. After
nearly incessant trench duty five nights out of six,
constantly exposed to the enemy's shot, knee-deep
in water, and soaked to the skin, they were obliged
to spend their well-earned rest in drawing rations
six miles distant, and, in the absence of fuel, to eat
them raw unless they coulfl dig up some chance
roots around the camp ground. They had never
a warm drink ; the coffee was issued in the green
bean, and to roast it was impossible. Then-
clothing — summer clothing, remember, and that
in which they had landed months before — was in
rags : luckv the man who could find straw cr
hay -bands to swathe his naked legs ; many were
barefoot, or, fearing that if they drew off their
wet boots they might not get them on again,
wore them so continuously that circulation was
impeded ; frostbites supervened, followed too
often by gangrene or inevitable amputation.
362
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
With their rags, their dirt, their unkempt hair,
they lost all the outer semblance of soldiers ;
only the spirit, pure and unquenchable, burnt
brightly within. Officers were in nearly as bad
a plight as their men. A general order in the
depths of the winter implored them to wear
their swords : " there was nothing else to dis-
tinguish them." They must shelter themselyes
as best they could from the elements. A picture
of the period which would be grotesque if not so
infinitely pitiable is that of " an infantry major in
red morocco long boots — lawful loot from a dead
ofT to Constantinople to suffer fresh tortures on
the yoyage and then fill the great empty barn-
liiie hospital at Scutari to oyerflowing, where, in
the general dearth of all necessar\- comforts and
appliances, a frightful mortality ensued. B}- the
end of January' there were barely 1 1 ,000 men
left at the front capable of bearing arms. At
this time eyen the French, with their immensely
superior force, could not send more than 400
men by day and 200 by night to the trenches ;
while there were occasions on which the whole
of the English guarding their siege works were
"NUMBERS OF TRANSPORTS WITH PRECIOUS CARGOES WERE WRECKED "(/>. 361).
Russian — a fur cap made from the bearskin coyer
of his holster pipes, clad in a Tartar peasant's
sheepskin coat with an embroidered back, stalk-
ing through the mud to capture a pot of mar-
malade." Of this date was the grim joke that
appeared in Punchy .where one starving and
nearly naked guardsman, standing in a snow-
drift near dead horses tormented by swooping
\Tjltures, tells his comrade the good news that
they are to have a Crimean medal. " Very
kind," replies the other ; " may be one of these
days we'll have a coat to stick it on."
But there was no joke in the terrible realit}-.
The army was simply wasting away. By the
end of November there were 8,000 men in
hospital ; after weeks of anguish, untended, on
the muddy ground, the sick that survived the
jolting on mule-back to Balaclava were shipped
as few as 350, and on the 20th January the total
was only 290, " being," as one of the historians
writes, " about one-twentieth of the number of
the part of the garrison opposed to them, and
which might have attacked them — probably
an entirely unprecedented situation in war."
Yet through all this time of deep an.xiety and
danger no man despaired. " There was, no
doubt, no despondency," says Dr. (now Sir
William) Howard Russell, the first of modern
war-correspondents, " no one for a moment
felt diffident of ultimate success ... If
high courage, unflinching bravery, if steady*
charge, the bayonet thrust in the breach, the
strong arm in the fight, if calm confidence, con-
tempt of death, had won Sebastopol, it had long
been ours." Russell was fearless, outspoken, at
times, it may be, injudicious in his remarks, but
THE SIEGE OF SERASTOPOL.
363
he did no more than justice to the troops whose
perils he in a measure shared. " It was right,"
he said, " that England should know what
her soldiers were doing ; that they were not
merely lighting a stubborn enemy, but were
struggling with still mightier, still more terrible
foes ; but England might be certain that as they
had already vanquished the one, so they would
triumph over the other in the end." These foes
were the two gaunt spectres Generals January
and February, upon whom the Czar so con-
fidently relied, little reckoning that one of these
months would turn on him and bring him his
own death-blow.
Other besides the Times correspondent did
full justice to the steadfast courage of our troops
under this heavy burthen of woe. The Com-
missioners despatched from England to investigate
the causes of the Crimean collapse declared it
was doubtful whether the whole range of military
histor\' had furnished the example of an army
exhibiting such high qualities throughout a long-
campaign. " The army never descended Irom
its acknowledged pre-eminence. . . . Both
men and officers were so reduced that they were
hardly tit for the lighter duties of the camp,
yet they scorned to be excused the
severe and perilous work of the
trenches lest they should throw extra
duty upon their comrades. They
maintained every foot of ground
against all the efforts of the enemy,
and with numbers so small that
perhaps no other troops would have
made the attempt." There is no
exaggeration in this language ; all
the high encomiums passed were
richly deserved.
In order to better understand what
the siege of Sebastopol really was, let
us go back to the beginning and see
why it was undertaken, and what the
enterprise meant for the allies. This
great fortress, whose exact strength
was but imperfectl}- known and
therefore magnified, was deemed
the most important and j-et the
most vulnerable spot of the Czar's dominions.
Its vast harbour was a secure haven for a power-
ful Russian fleet — fifteen sail-of-the-line; it was a
dockyard and arsenal filled with great guns and
valuable war material. The capture of this
formidable place of arms would be a severe blow,
and would probably end the war. Sebastopol
became, then, what scientific soldiers call the
" principal objective," the great aim and object
of a campaign. " There was no prospect of a
safe and honourable peace," said the English
war-minister at that time, " until the fortress is
reduced and the Russian fleet taken or de-
stroyed."
Yet the operation was entered upon lightl}'
and with no sufficient knowledge of the difficulty
of the task. It was thought that the Russian
Crimean army would be inferior to that of the
allies ; that after the invasion a battle or two
would end the business ; that the fortress would
fall to a sharp assault without the trouble of a
protracted siege. The earliest operations were
so completely successful that this hope was fairly
justified. The allied armies landed without op-
position, the Alma was won triumphantly, the
road lay open as it seemed, and Sebastopol was
surely an easy prey. Whether or not it could
have been taken by a bold stroke at the very
outset was much debated at the time. The
French and English, advancing after the first
victory, were actually within sight of the northern
fortifications, and Todleben, the famous Russian
engineer, who was afterwards the life and soul
of the defence, always believed that we might
THE CEMETERY AT SCUTARI.
have captured it with ease. It is known now
that no such result was to be counted upon.
The northern forts were of solid granite mount-
ing innumerable guns, the garrison was equal
in number to their possible assailants, and the
Russian fleet moored within the harbour would
have lent overwhelming aid to the defence.
But the allies had made up their minds tc
364
BATTLES OF THE MXETEENTH CENTURY.
operate against the south, not the north side.
Here, again, an immediate attack was feasible ;
so hostile critics have always contended. Some
of the more adventurous spirits with Lord
Raglan, the English commander-in-chitf, were
assailants could not have sent forward a force
superior to that of the defenders, and thej- must
have crossed 2,000 yards of open ground swept
from end to end by the enemy's fire. To combat
the latter we had nothing but li"ht field-batteries
strongly in favour of it : Sir George Cr.thcart
was one, although he afterwards changed his
opinion ; so was Admiral Lyons, the second in
command of the fleet, a sailor whose advice in
military affairs was hardly worth much. The
chief engineer officer, Sir John Burgovne, was
clearly against it, and the views of this grand old
Peninsular veteran, who had won his first laurels
at Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo and who, al-
though advanced in j-ears, was still of conmiand-
mg intellect, full of sound judgment ripened bv
unrivalled experience, carried the dav. He was
entirely opposed, and no doubt rightlv, to any
assault without a preliminary bombardment.
Even at this early stage, when still incompletely
defended, Sebastopol on its south side seemed
all but impregnable. It was already encircled
with earthworks sufficiently strong, although still
far short of their subsequent dimensions, and
armed with hundreds of heavv guns. The
of artillery ; had we carried the Russian first line
of works their warships in the harbour would
have driven us out with their broadsides. Hardly
a man would have reached the fortifications alive.
Neither the finest resolution nor the most eager
courage will avail against shell and round shot.
All idea of a coup dc main was therefore
abandoned, and the allies prepared to " sit
down " before the place, to bring up their siege-
trains, open trenches, arm batteries, and en-
deavour to overmaster the enem\-'s fire. Then,
when breaches had been made in the ruined
works, the attacking columns were to go in
and win.
Some brief account must be given now of
the Russian defences. These included forts and
works to the northward, fronts on the sea front,
stone walls loopholed, and earthen batteries en^
circling the southern side. It will be well to
compare the following details with the map, so
THE SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.
^6:
as to understand the ground and the fortifica-
tions which sooner or later covered it.
The fortress lay on both sides, north and south
of a wide roadstead or harbour, running nearly
due east and west, and with deep water quite up
to the shore. At the mouth of this harbour
stood two principal stone forts, Constantine and
the Quarantine fort ; further in on the south
side were the Artillery fort and forts Nicholas
and Paul, the latter guarding the inner or man-
of-war harbour, an inlet at right angles to the
main harbour and separating the city of Sebas-
topol from its Karabelnaia suburbs. On the
north side was the great star-fort already men-
tioned with the outer ring of earthworks, and
there were other smaller earthworks at the
water's edge. On the south side, that which
was now to be besieged, there was as yet little
more than the outline of the many works soon
to become famous, although some were partly
executed, it is true, and the whole circle of the
battery. Bevond the great ravine which here
ran down and ended in the inner harbour,
several works had been planned to defend the
Karabelnaia suburb — viz. the Redan, the Mala-
kolT Tower, the Little Redan, and Bastion No. i,
the last ending the defences at the edge of the
main harbour.
Such was the great fortress as it stood when
Menschikoflf, with his broken army, came stream-
ing back into it after the defeat of the Alma.
The allies were at his heels ; Sebastopol was in
danger — less danger than he feared — but he at
once summoned a council of war to concert
measures for its defence. As a first step the
greater part of the Russian fleet was sacrificed,
and several warships were at once sunk across
the mouth of the harbour as an impassable
barrier to the enemy. This was not done with-
out protest from the Russian Admiral Korniloff",
who wished to sally forth and fight whatever
he met in the open sea. Had the Russian and
IN lllK HOSPITAL Al' SCITARI.
city was completely enclosed with a loopholed
stone wall.
These, beginning with the Quarantine bastion
near the sea front, were the Central and Flagstaft
bastions, and the soon-to-be-added Garden
allied fleets engaged there would have been the
biggest naval battle on record till Lissa came,
with its contest of ironclads, or the Japanese fell
foul of the Chinese last year in the far East. But
the sinking of the ships was the most prudent
366
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,
course, and its value was soon appreciated.
Menschil^off did not tarry now in the town. He
had the sense to see that he must keep open his
communications, his road northward to Russia
whence must come the suppHes, ever of vital
importance to the defence of the fortress ; so he
sallied forth at once with his reorganised field-
army in the direction of Bakshishari, a central
point in the Crimea. In this movement, strange
to say, he passed on the very fringe of the allies
advancing by the so-called " flank march " to
occupy the plateau or " upland " on the south
side. They were within a stone's-throw of each
other, these two armies ; yet neither was aware
of it, so little were the niceties and precautions
of ordinary warfare observed by them.
Sebastopol was thus left to make what head
it could against attack. Its total garrison now
was barely 36,000 men, made up mostly or
marines and sailors from the fleet, with 2,700
gimners from the coast batteries, 5,000 military
workmen, and a few militia battalions. But
this great Russian arsenal of the Black Sea
was exceedingly rich in war material : at the
commencement of the siege there were 172
pieces of ordnance, many very heavy guns al-
ready mounted upon the works, and almost
countless stores of artillery in reserve. Even
with all the wear-and-tear of a twelvemonth's
siege, when Sebastopol fell into our hands, there
were hundreds and hundreds of guns found still
unused in the artillery park — a fact patent to all
England nowadays, for hardly a town of any
importance is without its Russian " trophy'' gun
paraded in public gardens or in front of its town-
hall. Inexhaustible supplies of ammunition, 01
powder and projectiles, were ensured so long as
the place was not completely invested, and
Menschikoff's field-army, as has been stated,
continually prevented that.
Nor was it only in its personnel (its garrison),
or its materiel (its warlike stores) that Sebastopol
was strong. Chief among its defences must be
counted the intrepid spirit of the great Russian
engineer who was their life and soul. Colonel
Todleben's name is imperishablv allied with the
splendid resistance of the fortress, which, in a
measure, was created by his own hands. In the
very prime of life, with a highly-trained in-
telligence and full of dauntless energy, he joined
as chief engineer just before Sebastopol was
threatened, and at once proceeded to strengthen
the place. Under his animating control enorm-
ous numbers of men laboured continuously day
and night upon the works. The bastions and
batteries already detailed now took shape and
armament ; the fortress daily grew more and
more formidable ; within a week of the arrival
of the allied armies the Central and Flagstaff
bastions were heightened and thickened, a new
battery was placed between them, other batteries
were established to command the great ravine.
Now the Redan was reinforced by the construc-
tion of the great Barrack battery behind it, and
the Malakoff Tower was surrounded b}- earth-
works containing powerful batteries, and con-
tinuous entrenchments ran on to the Little
Redan, Bastion No. I, and the waters of the
harbour. Of a truth Sebastopol began to fully
justify old Sir John Burgoyne's warning that
" the more the allies looked at it the less they
would like it." It said as plainly as if its long
lines of works and its man\' murderous mouths
could speak, '' Come and take me if you can."
No doubt the allies were wise in not hazarding
an immediate attack. But still they were not
reconciled to the slow processes of a protracted
siege, nor did they look for a prolonged resist-
ance. Every effort was now bent upon bringing
up the siege-guns from the ships and establishing
them near enough to reduce the enemy's fire
preparatory to an open assault. This service
was so far forward on the 9th October that on
that date the allies " broke ground," as it is called,
or began their first parallels or trenches of ap-
proach. It had been arranged that the French
should take from the sea to the great ravine the
whole of the left front of attack ; and, as their
base of supply, the bay of Kamiesch, was close
behind their left, they experienced no great
difficulty in feeding their army or sending up
stores. In taking this, the " left attack," they
had also the advantage of better ground in
which to dig their trenches, and they could
approach the fortress within i ,000 yards. We,
on the other hand, having to deal with flinty-
soil sloping down towards the enemy's guns,
were obliged to build our parapets higher, with
more pains, and at a much greater distance. Our
nearest battery was between 1,300 and 1,400
yards from the Redan, while that known as the
Victoria or Lancaster battery was as much as
2,000 yards. Happily, our siege-guns were more
powerful than those of the French. Our whole
front of attack was a very extensive line, and in-
cluded Chapman's battery, Gordon's batter}-, and
those already named.
A fruitful source of trouble not yet apparent to
the British force before Sebastopol was the seem-
ing good fortune which surrendered to us this
thp: siege of sebastopol.
367
'• right " attack and the small port of Balaclava
as our base. Hitherto the French had taken the
right of the line, we the left ; but out of courtesy
and acknowledging that we had the first claim
to Balaclava as its first occupiers, General Can-
robert accepted the change of position. With
the honour of holding the right we gained the
distinct disadvantage of greatly drawn-out com-
munications. It was six full miles to Balaclava,
and no metalled road but the Woronzoff, which
was shortly to fall into the enemy's hands. Then
to the loss of a good highway was superadded
the inconvenience and danger of a flank con-
stantly threatened in its most vital point, the
" line of life," that by which we drew up our
rations, sent back our sick, and generally held
on to the sea. This entailed very serious con-
sequences, as. we shall find.
All, however, promised well on the morning
of the 17th October, when the allied batteries,
fully armed and admirably served, began their
first bombardment. By this time 126 siege-guns
were in position, 72 of ours, 53 of the French,
and ample stores of ammunition were at hand
in the trench magazines. To these 126 the
Russians directly opposed 118, but 220 more
were ready to fire upon the columns that might
presently be e.xpected to move out for the
assault. The bombardment, which the Russians
aptly termed a " feu c/\-itfci\" and which at that
date was unparalleled in modern warfare, began
at 6.30 a.m., and lasted without intermission for
four hours. Very visible impression had been
made : the MalakoflF Tower was ruined, other
works were seriouslv damaged, and all promised
well. Then came the first of a series of contre-
temps that signalised this memorable siege. An
explosion occurred in the French lines : a shell
had blown up the principal magazine, making
great havoc and forcing the French presently to
cease fire. In fact, just as the critical moment
had arrived for delivering a general attack, the
French were discomfited and put out of action.
With us it was just the reverse : our fire had
gradually silenced that of the Russians, and early
in the afternoon we had blown up the magazine
of the Redan, opening therein a yawning breach
inviting immediate assault. The defence, as
Todleben bears witness, was paralysed on this
side ; the Russian troops massed behind the
Redan to resist attack were quite demoralised,
and had taken to flight.
But we could not go in alone. It was to have
been a joint and combined attack, which the
French disaster now rendered impossible. At
the same lime the bombardment executed by
the allied fleets had failed of effect : their broad-
sides had fallen harmless against the casemated
granite forts, and all the warships had drawn off,
bearing more injuries than they had inflicted.
P'ortunately, the allied losses had not been very
severe : 100 French had been killed or wounded,
47 English, while the Russian casualties had
reached 1,100. There seemed no reason why, if
the PVench recovered sufficiently to reopen fire,
the attack should not be made the following day
Next day all such hopes vanished into thin
air. A few hours were enough for the inde-
fatigable and indomitable Todleben. During the
short space of darkness the great engineer gave
us the first touch of his quality, and built up his
ruined fortress anew. Sebastopol arose from its
ashes reconstructed — built, like Aladdin's palace,
in a single night. " Works reduced to shapeless
heaps, ruined batteries, and disabled guns " were
replaced before morning by fresh parapets, the
batteries were repaired, new guns from the in-
exhaustible supplies of the ships and the arsenal
had occupied the embrasures. The work of
the siege and bombardment was all to do over
again. It was now made perfectly evident that
we had entered upon a prodigious undertaking;
our opponent was full of recuperative power,
possessing seemingly boundless resources directed
by a scientific soldier of great knowledge and
inflexible spirit. The situation was, moreover,
complicated by the existence of an enterprising
field-army daily recruited by new arrivals, so
that the relative strength of allies and Russians
was fast growing disproportionate and greatly in
favour of the latter. This led to many other
efforts calculated to greatly impede, if not to
actually " raise " or terminate the siege.
Nothing daunted by their first failure, the
allies had set about to prepare for a second
bombardment on a still more extensive and de-
structive scale, when their very existence upon
the plateau was threatened, and the two famous
battles of Balaclava and Inkerman were fought
in the open field. In one the British cavalry'
was destroyed, and our line of supply dangerously
narrowed ; in the other, won against tremendous
odds, we yet suffered so severely that it was im-
possible for us to prosecute the siege with our
former vigour. Now, too, came the great storm
and the increasing horrors of the dread winter,
so that the siege-works were still further im-
peded. But, as has been said already, however
colossal our troubles, however remote loomed
ultimate success, the actual ascendancy of the
^68
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
allies was never n-.ore in doubt after the great
victories gained. The Russians never again
ventured to attack us in any strength, and then
not until quite desperate in the closing scenes.
Not even in the very height of the winter
troubles, when suffering and sickness had so
decimated our ranks that the guards of the
trenches were reduced to mere skeletons in
numbers and physique, did the Russian garrison
countrymen was mingled with an eager desire
to relieve them at all costs. All England was
aroused from end to end ; fierce indignation at
the maladministration which left brave men to
perish stirred up private eflfort, and vast sums
were subscribed, vast enterprises undertaken, to
supplement the shortcomings of the Government.
While the public voice loudly demanded the
punishment of those to blame, private people
SEBASTOPOL FROM THE "UIGIU'' ATTACK.
use their immense superiority against the weak-
ened force. So we ever felt that, although the
siege might be prolonged wearisomely, almost
indefinitely, vet with patience we must win in
the long run. The Russian commanders might
continually revictual and replenish the fortress ;
the allies, based on the sea and able to draw
across it unlimited supplies from home, could
also pla\' the waiting game and with a still
stronger hand. We may admire the heroic
resistance, but we must take a deeper pride in
the unvielding pluck and perseverance that never
despaired in the darkest hour.
Not the least memorable part of that dread
episode was the spirit it evoked at home. Ad-
miration for the constancy displayed by our
banded themselves together to create hospital
services, provide huts and food and warm cloth-
ing. It was then that lines like the following
found an echo in everv British heart : —
" That starving army haunts us night and day.
By our warm hearths : no fire have they.
Snow falls ; 'tis falling there!
Rotting in their own filth like mangy hounds.
Cramped, frost and hunger bitten to the bones.
Wrestling with death 'mid smells and sights and sounds
That turn kind hearts to stones.
To die for very lack of clothes and food, of shelter
bedding, medicine, and fire.
While six miles off lay piled up many a rood, all they
did so require! "
THE SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.
369
Slowly but surely ample and effective aid
arrived. Matters began to mend as the dread
winter gradually spent its force. Great gangs of
"navvies" constructed a railroad between Bala-
clava and " the front " by which the much-needed
supplies were sent forward ; the uncompromising
energy of Colonel MacMurdo, who came out
armed with full powers, created a land transport
service with thousands of animals, for whom at
last sufficient fodder was found ; Miss Nightingale
and her lady nurses arrived, and with unstinting
devotion revolutionised the pest-houses, wrongly
called hospitals. At '' the front " our arduous
share in the siege operations was lightened by the
friendl}- intervention of our allies ; although the
French had also suffered severely, their army
had been so constantly reinforced that by this
time it Was nearly four times as numerous as
ours. Then Lord Raglan suggested that they
should relieve us in our trench duty one night
in every three. General Canrobert preferred,
however, to take charge of our extreme right
attack, that which faced the MalakofT and em-
braced the battle-ground of Inkerman. This
timely assistance had the effect of setting free
some fifteen hundred British troops, and con-
centrated the efforts of the whole upon a more
limited area. From that time forward matters
began gradually to improve. With the spring
new hope revived, and, although the fortress
was still intact, the business now before us was
to fight men, not the season.
COLONEL TODLEBEN.
72
370
ON the 1 8th September, 1885, there oc-
curred in PhiHppopolis, the capital of
the then Turkish (though semi-auto-
nomous) province of East Roumelia,
one of the most remarkable revolutions known
to modern history : the Bulgarian populace
of that city rebelled against the Ottoman
Government, sent the Turkish officials about
their business, and proclaimed the union of
Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia — a union which
already the treaty of S. Stefano had practically
acknowledged in 1878, but which that "old
women's tea-party " (to quote an irate German
writer of the period), the Berlin Congress, had
subsequently cancelled.
Originally instigated by Russia, the rebellion
took a course directly opposed to that nation's
wishes '&nd intentions, a course which the Czar's
politicians had not dreamt of or provided for.
The aim which Muscovite statecraft had had in
view was to cause rupture and bloodshed be-
tween Turkey and East Roumelia, in which case
Russia would have appeared on the scene in her
time-honoured rule of pretended Liberator and
would have brought a fine province under her
thumb — a task which she had vainly essayed
already in 1877 and 1878.
But the unexpected always happens. Prince
Alexander of Bulgaria, treating Russian schemes
and intrigues, hints and commands, with the
contempt they deserved, identified himself with
the revolutionary movement, proclaimed on the
19th September in Tirnova — the ancient Czar-
city of the great mediaeval Bulgar-empire — the
union of the " Two Bulgarias," and arrived on
the 20th in PhiHppopolis to assume the reins of
government. The autonomous principality of
United Bulgaria was an accomplished fact, and
Russia was nonplussed.
From this moment there was an incurable
rupture and a deadly hatred between the two
Alexanders, which not only lasted while they
lived, but survived even beyond the grave in
their successors. The Czar, in order to pro-
claim his dissatisfaction with the course of
events, recalled the numerous Russian officers
serving in the Bulgarian army, and the vacant
places were filled by the voung lieutenants
and captains of the newly-established native
militia.
The unique feature of the PhiHppopolis rebel-
lion lies in the fact that the liberation of a large
and populous province from the supremacy of
an empire which could place a million armed
men in the field was accomplished without the
loss of human life.
Acting upon the earnest remonstrances of
Austria, German}-, and England, Turkey ab-
stained from military operations, for it had been
made manifest to her that the sending of one
battalion across the East Roumelian frontier
would set the world aflame by bringing about a
European war of unequalled dimensions and
horrors.
United Bulgaria, nevertheless, made strenuous
exertions to meet the oncoming storm. But the
cloud burst in an unexpected quarter. Turkey
remained inert in the East, whilst Servia's
armies, at Russia's secret mandate, crossed the
western frontiers on the 14th November, 1885.
A pretended (and most probably non-existent)
boundary transgression on the part of some
Bulgarian gendarmes furnished Servia with a
pretext for the declaration of hostilities.
Grandly United Bulgaria rose to the occasion.
Differences of creed and race were forgotten,
wrongs condoned, grievances laid by never to be
revived, and with masterly strategy the hero-
prince hurled every available man against the
ruthless invader.
In the beginning Servia had it all her own
way, for Bulgaria, prepared only to defend
THE SERVO-BULGARIAN WAR OF i88;.
371
her eastern frontier, liad baretl the western.
But finding that Turkey was pacific, Prince
Alexander, by train and road, by express and
forced marches, sent his troops westward to meet
the foe.
On the 17th November the Servians stood
before the Bulgarian position at Slivnitza, which
had been entrenched and fortified ; and here
took place the battle which was to spread the
fame of the young Bulgar army and its brave
commander over the whole of the newspaper-
reading world.
Slivnitza is an unattractive Bulgarian village
of less than a thousand inhabitants, situated
among hilly surroundings on the high road
between Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, and Nish
<n Servia. It is about fifteen miles south-east of
the eastern outlet of the Dragoman Pass, which
latter leads across the range of mountains that
lies just east of the Servo-Bulgarian frontier
and forms one of the walls of the plain of Sofia.
The latter city lies about twenty miles to the
south-east of Slivnitza, and Zaribrod, on the
river Nishava, the Bulgarian frontier-townlet,
almost the same distance to the north-west. At
that time the Turco-Bulgarian railway ter-
minated in Bellova, and the Servian system in
Nish and Vranja.
About two miles west of the village the
Bulgarian detachment — consisting on the i6th
November of nine battalions of regular infantry
and two of volunteers, thirty-two guns, and no
cavalry except a handful of mounted irregulars,
the whole (about ten thousand men) commanded
by Major Gutscheff — had utilised a little ridge of
hillocks for their encampment, and had very
cleverly and efficiently fortified the same. The
weather was abominable : snow and frost at
night, rain and thaw by daylight, with the icy
north-winds peculiar to the Bulgarian winters.
There was no habitation within the position,
with the exception of a pigstye which served as
headquarters to the gallant major and his staff,
and which was grandiloquently styled the " Guts-
cheff Palace," and a little improvised shed for
the field-telegraph. The soldiers slept in the
open trenches.
The Servians had occupied Zaribrod on the
14th, and the Dragoman Pass on the 15th
November, both after some sharp fighting with
the Bulgarian advanced guard, and on the early
morrow they descended into the plain of Sofia.
The position of Slivnitza became thus marked
as the place around which the decision would be
fought, since it lay midway between the invader
and the capital. Prince Alexander left Sofia in
the forenoon of the lOth, and arrived in Slivnitza
in the evening.
It was known among the Bulgarian troops in
Slivnitza that the hostile army numbered twenty
thousand or thirty thousand men, and had there-
fore, at the lowest estimates, double the strength
of the defending force ; it was also perfectly
well known that no Bulgarian reinforcements
could arrive from the extreme east of East
Roumelia — where the army had been concen-
trated with a view to possible hostilities with
Turkey — before the evening of the 1 7th at the
earliest.
These considerations, added to the exposure to
the horrible weather, might have struck dismay
into the stoutest hearts, but Major Gutscheff
and his gallant little host quaked not. They
were persuaded of the righteousness of their
cause, and that is one of the mightiest factors in
warfare. The arrival of their beloved prince
was made by them the occasion for the display
of much enthusiasm, and every man looked
with confidence towards the morrow and
victory.
The entrenched position of Slivnitza deserves
a brief description. It lay astride the Sofia-Pirot
high-road, had a straight front about three miles
long which faced almost due west, and was
covered to rearward by the long .straggling
village, the only — and exceedingly dirty — khan
of which served as quarters to the prince and
his staff. The high-road cut the position in
twain : about a third lay to the north, filling up
the little plain from which the southern spurs
of the Balkans rise precipitously, in a chaotic
jungle of rock, cliff, and abyss ; the bulk lay to
the south, with the southern end turned east-
wards en potence, so as to protect the left
flank. The whole front of the position showed
a quadruple line of trenches for rifle fire, one
above the other on the gently-rising ground.
Behind them there were to the north of the road
one, and to the south three, battery epaul-
ments, each for eight guns, and finally, at the
extreme left flank, behind the trenches turned
en potence, a powerful redoubt, which, for
want of men and guns, was unoccupied at the
commencement of the battle and garrisoned
only on the evening of the first day.
The Servian forces had been divided into two
armies : one (the Timok army) was to take
Widdin and invade northern Bulgaria ; the other
(the Nishava army, commanded by King Milan
in person) was to make straight for Sofia. This
BATTLES OF THE xMNETEEXTH CENTURY.
is the one with which we shall have to deal. It
consisted of lour divisions and an unattached
cavaln- brigade, and was powerfully equipped
with train, pontoons, engineers, sanitar}- detach-
ments, field post and telegraph, and all modern
devices of offence and defence, of support and
maintenance. In this
respect the Servians
were undoubtedly by
far in advance of their
foes.
Of this army there
fought on the first daj-
of battle two divisions
(Danube and Drina)
and the cavalry brigade,
a total of eighteen bat-
talions, nine squadrons,
and nine batteries, or
about twenty-two thou-
sand men and fifty-four
guns.
It is not onlv just and
generous but always
pleasant to record some-
thing in favour of an
enemy. The writer —
whom circumstances
had placed in the posi-
tion of a foe to that
amiable though ill-
governed people — is
glad to be able to bear
testimonj' to the e.xcellent behaviour of the
Servian soldiery on hostile soil. Not a single
sheep or fowl was stolen from a single Bulgarian
peasant ; not a twist of tobacco was taken from
a village-store, or a glass of brandy drunk in an
alehouse without being paid for. Let the much-
vaunted civilisation of England, France, and
German}- take an example from that far less
advanced nation ! Unfortunately, the Bulgarians
did not reciprocate, and in the flush of victorj'
they forgot the sacred rights of humanity, as
the woeful appearance of Pirot after the battle
abundantly testified. But this by the way.
The Bulgarian position was very strong — in
fact, impregnable in front, but weak on both
sides, though from two entirely different causes :
the north flank because the mountain slopes
lying beyond it would have afforded the enemy
a capital pjace for planting batteries, which, from
that elevation, could have annihilated the Bul-
garians without the need of a single rifle-shot or
the use of a single bayonet, and the Bulgarians
were not strong enough numerically to occupj'
each prominence ; the left flank because the
redoubts and the trenches there were well-nigh
deserted for want of men and guns. And j'et a
redistribution of the troops at the expense of
the front was totally impracticable. Had such a
one been attempted the
prince would have been
much in the position of
a man who takes in-
finite pains to bar and
bolt his back and side
doors but leaves the
front entrance open for
the enterprising burg-
lar. In fact, of the four
rifle-trenches in front
of the line only the
foremost was occupied.
The left flank was the
most vulnerable point,
and Prince Alexander's
plan was to draw the
attention of the enemy
away from it towards
the right flank by an
offensive movement in
that quarter, which
would also serve the
purpose of occupying
the most prominent of
the slopes, summits,
and plateaux. That
this bold project succeeded completely bears
testimony to the Battenberger's perspicuit\- ; and
that the Servians never even suspected the exist-
ence of ^vhat was virtually an open door to the
hostile position is not to the credit of their
military- far-sight. On the second day this
chance was lost, for the Bulgarians received re-
inforcements sufficient to man each phase of
the position.
The 17th November opened into a perfectly
abominable da}- : snow, sleet, rain, dirt, an icy
blast, and a thick fog withal. The battle of this
day was fought by both sides against an invisible
foe, for the mist lasted all day long.
The attack of the Servians was perfectly
frontal ; there was not the faintest attempt at
circumvention. That it failed completely was in
the nature of things. The artillery- combat com-
menced at an hour before noon, and towards
two o'clock it became most intense and deafen-
ing. The Servian artillen,-, despite its numerical
superiority, had decidedl}- the worst of it, for the
PRINCE ALEXANDER OF BULGARIA.
THE SERVO-BULGARIAN WAR OF i{
373
Bulgarians had a fine modern Krupp ordnance,
the Servians mostly obsolete guns, partly the
thrown-out pieces of the Russian army, pre-
sented to them by their former allies. So furious
was the duel that on repeated occasions Prince
Alexander had to enjoin economy in the use of
powder. In fact, two of the Bulgarian batteries
had shot themselves out by dusk, and had not
ammunition arrived from Sofia in the evening
the Bulgarians would have fared badly the next
day. The Servian infantry approached thrice
to within three hundred yards of the Bulgarian
front line, but had to turn tail each time in face
of the defender's quick and accurate rifle-tire.
A proper charge did not take place on this day,
except, as already stated, on the extreme right
Bulgarian flank. And here a little battle of its
own was fought, with the utmost dash and fero-
city, which deserves a paragraph of its own.
Here conmianded, on the Bulgarian side, the
captain of cavalry Bendereff, who disposed of
against an enemy of quadruple strength ; but
Prince Alexander gave the gallant captain per-
mission to utilise the general reserve of two
battalions for a more decided forward movement.
Leaving only a few companies to man the
trenches, Bendereff led his five battalions against
the enemy, and on the bare and precipitous
Balkan slopes a bayonet charge, executed with
the utmost tlan^ drove the Servians completely
away. In the flush of victory the Bulgarian
troops actually "bolted" forward, and it was
only in the village of Malo Malkovo that
Alexander's messengers brought them to a
standstill. Here Bendereff fortified himself hur-
riedly and roughly, and prepared everything
for the continuance of the combat on the
morrow. At five the first field day was over,
resulting so far in a Bulgarian victory. The
casualties were six hundred Bulgarians and
twelve hundred Servians, dead or wounded.
During the hours of darkness both sides re-
three battalions and a battery of eight pieces.
Faithful to the plan conceived by Prince Alex-
ander, Bendereff did not wait to be attacked,
but hurled two of his battalions against the
cautiously-approaching enemy almost as soon as
the cannonade had commenced. The Bulgarian
attack was not successful, for it was directed
ceived reinforcements, and the Servians actually
increased their already considerable numerical
superiority. Alexander obtained five battalions
and two batteries from Sofia ; Milan added to
his attacking force several regiments and bat-
teries from the other divisions of the Nishava
army. As the Bulgarians had to send out, in
374
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
the course of the second day, three battahons
(under Captain PopofF) to the south-west to
protect the town of Bresnik (threatened by
another division of the Nishava army), the dis-
crepancy became more pronounced : the Servians
had (in round figures) twenty-eight thousand
men and eighty pieces, the Bulgarians twelve
thousand men and fifty guns, toward the close of
the second day of battle.
One of those five Bulgarian battalions had
been so completely e.xhausted on its arrival in
Sofia by the long march from Bellova, that this
original mode of conveyance was adopted : the
horses of a regiment of cavalry stationed in
Sofia were borrowed, and the men rode to
Slivnitza, two on each animal !
At 8.30 a.m. on the 1 8th November the Ser-
vians commenced the attack, this time almost
exclusively against the left flank. But where
yesterday there had been trenches, redoubts,
and epaulments almost devoid of human beings,
there was now a solid array of five thousand
men, all fresh troops. The first Servian assault
failed completely ; then a whole division of ten
thousand men was brought to the attack, with
the like result. At noon the Servian leaders
recognised the futility of further fighting, and
withdrew their troops from this quarter, after
having incurred a loss of over six hundred men.
Some Bulgarian battalions, starting hastil}- in
pursuit of the routed foe, were with difficult}-
called back, for Prince Alexander recognised
that the time for a general offensive moment
had not yet arrived.
About an hour after noon the Servians
committed an almost incredible blunder ; they
attacked the front of the position with totallj-
inadequate numbers. Where yesterda)' whole
brigades had failed, to-daj- a few companies were
expected to succeed ! Needless to say, the
assailants were wiped off the face of the earth,
and Prince Alexander, unable to endure any
longer the sight of such useless slaughter, turned
aside and said to an officer : '' I cannot bear to
look at it ! It is a shame to compel me to shoot
those poor fellows down, and why? For the
sake of a stupid and infamous policy."
What was the result of that senseless attack ?
The Bulgarians fired a few hundred gun-shots
(for the enem)' never came within rifle range),
and the Servians lost some hundreds of good
men. Voila tout.
In the left flank and in the front the battle
was over before dusk, the result being, like that
of its predecessor, a total repulse of the Servians.
The rest of the day belonged to the right wing.
And here one of the most extraordinary and
comical occurrences ever known to have hap-
pened on " the field of blood and mud '' took
place. BenderefF's three thousand men in and
about Malo Malkovo, the victors of the previous
day, had totally disappeared — as if bj- magic
— when the morning of the 18th dawned !
Bendereff sent a disconsolate message to this
effect to his sovereign, and so incredible sounded
these tidings that they thought at headquarters
the poor fellow had taken leave of his senses.
Beaten and captured the missing men could not
have been, for there were no Servians within a
radius of several miles, and not a shot had been
fired during the night. However, towards noon
the mystery was cleared up : the men returned
in batches, having committed no worse crime
than a little victualling and foraging on their own
account, and lost their way afterwards. Owing
to the absence of any experienced guidance (for
the Bulgarian officers were all mere youngsters),
no steps had been taken to keep any of the
troops in the village, and positively not a single
man had been left behind.
Bendereff sent a jo^-ful message to the prince,
and said to himself, " I must do something to
wipe out the disgrace of this morning." This
something he did, and did uncommonly well :
he bared the whole countr)- of the Servians
almost as far as the village Dragoman. Look at
the map, reader, and you will find that by this
masterpiece of audacity Bendereff had actually
got right in the rear of the enem\- and on his
line of retreat. About a couple of miles outside
Dragoman he bivouacked for the night, fiilly
prepared to attack the enemy next day in the
rear. Alas ! he received not the princel}' sanc-
tion, and perhaps we cannot blame the Bulgarian
leaders for not giving their consent to such a
piece of unequalled foolhardiness. I, personall}',
have not the faintest doubt that Bendereff, given
a free hand and taking into account the shakj'
moral of the Ser\-ian troops after a two days'
defeat, ^would have inflicted upon the latter a
rout so crushing that the subsequent battle of
Pirot would have been avoided.
The second day of Slivnitza cost the Servians
about one thousand, the Bulgarians almost the
same number, in killed and wounded.
During the night to the iqth November the
Bulgarians received reinforcements sufficient to
make up their casualties and the loss accruing
from the absence of Popoff's three battalions.
The strength of the Servians was not materially
THE SKRVO-BULGARIAN WAR OF 1885.
37:
altered. Thus the figures were fifteen thousand
and twenty-eight thousand.
The morning of the iqth opened, to the
astonishment of all, into an autumn day of sur-
passing loveUness. Vanished, as if by magic,
had snow, rain, fog, frost, and icy north blast,
and in their stead there reigned blue sky, radiant
sunlight, and a mild, invigorating south-easterly
breeze. Add to this that stores of food and
comforts had arrived in camp, and you will
have no difficulty in understanding that the
brave Bulgarian defenders breathed more freely,
stretched their limbs, and rejoiced with an ex-
ceeding joy at Heaven's manifest favour. But
there is never light without shadow, and the
shadows lay deep and black on the hero prince's
noble countenance as he came from the filth of
the village into the air that blew, keen and
bracing, about the heights of the camp. " What
has happened?" asked* all, in consternation.
Briefly this : the Serv-ians had beaten PopofT,
taken Bresnik, and were on the road to Sofia — ■
so the reports said. What a world of calamity
was compressed into that single sentence will be
made manifest to the intelligent reader by a
glance at the map. The capital threatened and
the Slivnitza armj' taken in the rear — that was
the woeful prospect. Under these circumstances
Prince Alexander consummated an act of true
heroism : he left the pride, pomp, and circum-
stance of the battlefield, exchanging, for the
nonce, the r6le of the warrior for the less con-
spicuous but in such a case infinitely more useful
one of organiser. In a word, he hastened vciitrc-
d-tcrrc to the capital, to prepare it for defence.
Major Gutscheff was left in command of the
Slivnitza army, and the brilliant victory of the
igth November stands to the credit of that
officer.
In Sofia there was an ugly panic, for the
terrible " Hannibal ad portas " had struck fear
into the stoutest hearts. For a long time after-
wards it was a don mot in the capital that on the
igth November there had been onl}- one man
amongst the Sofian populace, and that was
Katinka, the pretty young wife of Karaveloff",
the Battenberger's principal adviser. She alone
kept cool and hopeful.
Prince Alexander worked like the proverbial
nigger. Defences and earthworks were planned
and commenced, ambulances were established
for the wounded coming in cartloads from Sliv-
nitza, stores were got in from the neighbourhood ;
the cash and securities of the National Bank, the
archives of the town, the documents and records
of the Government offices were despatched post-
haste to Plevna. Many thousands of inhabitants
commenced to migrate to less threatened regions,
and those who were unable to leave clamoured
and lamented noisily. And all the time the
growl of the cannon came incessantly from
Slivnitza, and the people listened to it spell-
bound, in awe and wonder. Two other men,
besides the prince, worked strenuously, though
in another direction and for a different purpose :
Tsankoff, the principal Russian agitator and spy
in Sofia, and Koyander, the Russian consul.
They went about, openly advising the people to
send the prince away and make peace with
Servia, in which case they, Tsankoff and Koyan-
der, would kindly and unselfishly condescend to
assume the reins of government under Russia's
guidance and tutelage. " Ne.\t to a violation of
the laws of God, there is no crime so terrible on
this earth as to offend Holy Russia — and that is
what that beggarly foreign bastard, your so-
called prince, has done '' — thus Tsankoff and
Company.
But once more the unexpected happened. It
was at three in the afternoon that the minister
of war, Tsanoff (the reader should not confound
this zealous, capable, and honest patriot with the
vile agitator afore-mentioned : the names are
much alike), was seen descending hurriedly the
stairs of the princely palace, the most e.xultant
joy and the most feverish excitement depicted
on his features and in his manner. " Bresnik
has been retaken, the Servians are thoroughly
beaten, Popoff is marching on Tern," he shouted
to the crowd assembled outside, and like wildfire
the glorious tidings spread through the town.
More good news came in rapidly successive
waves. At Slivnitza the Servians had been
routed, and Gutscheff was starting in pursuit ;
the unattached brigade of volunteers and ad-
venturers of Major Panitza — nicknamed the
robber-brigade — had actually entered Servian
territory north of Zaribrod, and the Timok army
had failed completely in its operations against
Widdin. Prince Alexander, accompanied by
Stambuloff and Tsanoff, returned immediately
to Slivnitza, the populace rejoiced with a joy
complete and tumultuous, and Tsankoff and Com-
pany hid themselves in fear and ignominy.
Verily, there never was a quicker or more per-
fect transformation.
It speaks well for the temper of the Sofian
rabble that the only harm which came to the
Muscovite agitators was that Tsankoff's effigy
was strung up in front of the Russian consulate,
370
BATTLES OF THE NINETEEXTH CENTURY.
and pelted with garbage, dead cats, and other
missiles dear to the street-arab.
It is now the narrator's pleasant duty to give
a brief account of the third field-day at Slivnitza,
than which there never was more glorious or
more honourable victorv-.
Bendereff had had a hard task before him, for
during the hours of darkness the Servians had
occupied all the hills and mountains in the
neighbourhood of Dragoman. But these were
taken by storm, one by one, with the bayonet
alone. It was a fight of the most bitter and
ferocious description, but the steepest precipices,
the most inaccessible summits presented neither
terrors nor obstacles to the brave lads of the
Balkans and the Rhodope. Even,' one of that
long train of charges succeeded ; in the end the
whole district was cleared of the Servians, and
the Bulgarians had firmly lodged themselves in
and around Dragoman.
A remarkable feature of the storming of those
heights is that Bendereff employed the music in
a manner never attempted before by any officer
in the field, and not likely ever to be tried again.
Not only was each storming party accompanied
by a band playing the " Djumi Maritza," the
national song, but in most cases the bands
actually preceded the charging battalions. In
this wise the percentage of casualties among the
musicians was often greater than that in the
front line of attack.
In the meantime the bulk of the Servian
desperate effort. At c.30 almost the whole of
two divisions was hurled against the left Bul-
garian flank, only to be hurled back with heavv
loss. And now Gutscheff recognised that the
psychological moment had come. " The whole
line is to advance," was the command that
was blazed forth by the bugles, and merrily
the victors started in a pursuit of the routed
foe, to which onlv the darkness put an end.
When Prince Alexander arrived in Slivnitza
camp in the evening, he found it deserted by
all but dead and dying, dogs and doctors, and
his victorious troops were already miles away.
The third iield-dav had cost the Servians eight
hundred, the Bulgarians about
half that number, in killed and
wounded.
Along the whole line Servians
retreated and the Bulgarians
pursued.- On the night of the
22 nd to the 23rd the fugitive
]Milan slept, for the last time on
Bulgarian soil, in the khan of
Zaribrod, and the next night the
victorious Alexander, close upon
his heels, occupied the self-same
bed. What an ironj' of fate !
And in the cellar of this house,
its owner, a mining engineer, had
stored — without any evil inten-
tions— enough dvnamite to blow
all the thrones of the globe into
elernitv ; but then rulers and
monarchs proverbially " dance
on volcanoes " I On the follow-
ing day the Bulgarian armies
began to cross the frontier, and the invasion of
Ser\-ia commenced.
The three da^-s' battle of Slivnitza had cost
the victors about two thousand, the defeated
about three thousand, in killed and wounded.
The former had also some hundreds of prisoners.
The effect of this battle on the campaign was
momentous and stupendous : it transformed with
one blow that which had bidden fair to be a
walk-over into utter rout ; it changed Serbian
conquest of Bulgaria into the invasion of Servia
by Bulgaria. Verily, contrast cannot be more
marked ! Unhappilv, the war in its entirety
remained without result to Bulgaria, thanks to
the fussv and wicked interference of that ridi-
culous old woman, European diplomacy. But
if the material gain was nil to the victors, a
moral result of the gravest and farthest-reach-
army, before Slivnitza, had made a last and ing nature ensued, for there was born on the
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378
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
blood-stained field of Slivnitza the idea of Bul-
garian nationality'. The thunder of cannon,
the clatter of company fire, the clash of steel
had roused Bulgaria to those most noble virtues,
national pride and love of the land.
I cannot pass over in silence a scene which
took place on the afternoon of November 20th,
the day after the battle, in the then deserted
Slivnitza camp, a scene of such inexpressible
grandeur that it will live for ever in the memory
of those who had the honour and the good
fortune to witness it. Prince Alexander, accom-
panied bj- his personal staff, the members of his
cabinet, the foreign journalists, and the diplo-
matic agents, was inspecting the improvised
ambulances and speaking words of comfort to
the poor maimed fellows, when a young officer
came up breathless, and uttered these words : —
" If it please your Royal Highness, the Bulgarian
army has arrived." For a moment the prince
could not exactly comprehend the meaning of
this laconic and mystical message ; but then it
suddenly dawned upon him that the troops
which had been concentrated on the Turkish
frontier soon after the Philippopolis rebellion,
and had been ordered post-haste to the west on
Servia's aggression, had at last arrived ; that now
all danger was past, and that United Bulgaria
was strong enough for half-a-dozen Servias.
And such was the case. The prince and his
companions rode to the back of the Slivnitza
position, and there stood, in the little plain just
east of it, faintly illuminated by the dying light
of day, but perfectly visible by the glamour of
endless files of rifles, of dense bristling forests of
bayonets — there stood, not a scratch division as
Gutscheff's, which had fought and suffered and
won at Slivnitza ; not a gallant little host of
youthful enthusiasts like BenderefT's audacious
following ; not a ridiculed flying column like
Panitza's famous " robber brigade "; not a hand-
ful of men sent out on an apparently hopeless
errand, and seemingly to certain destruction,
like PopofF's three battalions: there stood the
United Bulgarian East Roumelian army,
battalion bv battalion, battery by battery, all in
faultless order. And as the men caught sight of
the prince's noble form, looking like a veritable
Lohengrin, a great shout went up into the dim
heavens, where the very stars began to sparkle
with joy, and the nation of Bulgaria was an
accomplished fact. What had been conceived
in the streets of Philippopolis was consummated
on the plain of Slivnitza.
In giant's mavche': the^■ had come, through
the snow and the slush and the rain, now knee-
deep in the mire, now on solid ice, across trackless
mountain ranges and vast forest solitudes, making
thirty and forty miles a dav. One regiment had
covered sixty-three miles in thirty-two hours,
losing only sixty men out of four thousand five
hundred. This is of a suret}' the most stupendous
performance of its kind ever accomplished, and
leaves far behind even Osman Pasha's famous
march from Widdin to Plevna in Jul}-, 1877, in
which the writer had the honour to take part.
The Bulgarian central or Slivnitza army
numbered now fift}- thousand men, and eighty-
four guns, and with every available man and
gun Prince Alexander crossed the frontier — the
gross on 26th November — to invade Servia.
South of Zaribrod, Popoflf, with his small detach-
ment of five thousand men, made an aggressive
movement on his own account across the border,
and north of Zaribrod Panitzawas already firmly
lodged on Servian territory.
The Timok army continued to waste its ener-
gies and resources in futile attempts upon Widdin,
bravely defended by a small garrison, among
which some battalions of Turkish volunteers were
not the least conspicuous. The Nishava army,
after having made a feeble show of defending the
frontier on the 23rd, 24th, and 25th November,
concentrated itself in Pirot, and here the two
days' battle of that name constituted Servia's
last stand against the successful Bulgarian
invasion.
Pirot.
The Servian forces at Pirot consisted of nearly
the whole of the Nishava army ; that is, four
divisions and the cavalrj- brigade, amounting
approximately — after the losses incurred at
Slivnitza, Bresnik, and Tern, and during the
constant fighting on the retreat — to forty-
thousand men and one hundred and twenty
guns (to be exact, thirty-eight battalions, twenty
batteries, eleven squadrons), the nominal com-
mander being King Milan, the actual leader
General Tapolovitch. The Bulgarian army
operating against Pirot (inclusive of Popoflf's
and Panitza's detachments, which formed, as it
were, the left and right wings) counted about
forty-five thousand men, and eighty guns (to be
exact, forty-three battalions, twelve batteries,
thirteen squadrons), the leader being Prince
Alexander, the second Colonel NikolayefF, the
Chief-of-stafT Captain Petroft' (twenty-two years
old !). But of these, five thousand (Gutscheff's
detachment) did not take part in the fighting,
whilst the whole of the Servian arm\' was under
THE SERVO-BULGARIAN WAR OF 1885.
379
fire. The forces were thus as nearly as possible
equal.
On the 25th November King Milan left his
army to seek the comparative safety of his
capital ; the Servian leader responsible for the
defeat at Pirot is therefore Tapolovitch. The
latter, in accordance with telegraphic instructions
received from the diplomatic representatives of
the Powers at Belgrade, offered Prince Alexander
an armistice, which was, needless to say, per-
emptorily refused. The Bulgarian response to
this piece of impudence was the crossing of the
frontier by the bulk of the Bulgarian forces on
the morning of the 26th.
It was a beautifully clear winter day. The
dark blue sky, the mysterious grey-green of the
forests on the mountain-slopes, the brilliant
patches of snow on the summits, the pleasant
white house-fronts of picturesque and peaceful
Pirot, the waters of the Nishava sparkling in
the sunlight, all combined to make the scene
that greeted the aggressors as they approached
the town a picture of surpassing loveliness. It
was an ideal day for physical exercise — sunshine,
bracing air, keen but not cold wind.
Pirot, on the Nishava, a pretty but dirty town
of nine thousand inhabitants, is situated on the
great Sofia-Belgrade high-road, twelve miles west
of the frontier and thirty-six miles east of Nish,
which latter was in 1885 — next to Belgrade — the
principal station of the Servian railway. The
town lies in the centre of a little plain surrounded
by high and precipitous mountains.
As the Bulgarian army, in three parallel
columns, advanced upon Pirot, the Servian
troops retired before it — in faultless order, it is
true, and amid a slow but continuous fire from
both artillery and infantry, but without seriously
defending a single point. The Servian frontier-
hamlet, the Sukova bridge, the large and im-
portant villages of Krupatch and Sukova, the
one north, the other south of the high road —
these were each and all abandoned. The Servian
cavalry, repeatedly challenged by the Bulgarian,
carefully avoided combat, although the dead level
of the little Pirot plain offered an ideal battle-
field for large masses of horsemen. This singular
double motion went on all day, only a thousand
yards separating the titc of the Bulgarian van-
guard from the hindmost ranks of the Servian
rear-guard, until at 3 p.m. — that is, when the
winter day was nearly spent — the Servians made
a very brave but futile stand in Rzane, a village
about three miles south-east of Pirot. In the
meantime the Bulgarian advance-guard actually
took possession of the town, in which the Ser-
vians made but a poor show (doing reallj- nothing
but blowing up the fort and the magazine, which
terrific explosion killed forty of the retiring
Servians and only two of the advancing Bul-
garians), and as the combat at Rzane continued
after darkness had set in, the singular thing
happened that the Servians defended the village
when the town behind it was already in the
enemy's hands. The fighting lasted in a desultory
manner throughout the night.
The early dawn of the 27th November brought
a surprise : the Servians made a descent upon
Pirot and recovered it. Their plan of battle
is difficult to understand. If Pirot was to be
defended, why had it been abandoned the day
before ? If Pirot was not to be defended, but
the stand was to be made at Ak Palankah (which
would have been, strategically as well as tactically,
the correct thing), why was it retaken ?
The second field-day, 27th November, was of
the most sanguinary character. If on the first
the battle had languished, on the second it was
fierce, hot, and tumultuous.
Popoff's detachment, coming from Tern and
vicinity, attacked the Servian position south of
Pirot in the rear, while the gross of the Bul-
garian column made a dashing assault upon the
town. The latter was carried at about noon,
and at the same time the Bulgarians occupied
the marshy plains south of Pirot, called the
Keltash. It was here that the most blood was
spilt. But the Servians deployed — still in perfect
order — on the hills west and south-west of the
town, and for a long time their artillery did
considerable execution among the Bulgarians.
The heights to the north of Pirot were not
occupied by the Servians, since it was known to
them that Gutscheff's detachment (which had
effected a junction with Panitza's " robber "
brigade) was approaching by the Kniajevatz
high-road. As Gutscheff had hard fighting to
do during the whole of the journey, he did not
arrive in time to take part in the battle, but the
knowledge of his whereabouts acted upon the
Servians quite as effectively as if he had parti-
cipated in the combat. By dusk the fighting
was over, and the Servians bivouacked within a
few miles west of Pirot. Everything pointed to
a resumption of hostilities on the morrow, for
the Servians, though beaten, were not routed
or in disorder. Prince Alexander, if left alone,
would undoubtedly have attempted a repetition
on a minor scale of Sedan, for which purpose his
right and left flanks Vv-ere already thrust forward
^So
BATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
■ — that is, westward — north and south of Pirot
respectively. But the most astonishing thing
in this war of manv surprises occurred in the
early morning of the 28th November. Count
Khevenhuller, an Austrian statesman, arrived
in Prince Alexander's quarters, and an hour
later an armistice had been concluded.
The casualties in the two days' battle of Pirot
amounted to two thousand five hundred Bul-
garians and two thousand Servians, dead and
the 28th. Shells had struck the town and de-
molished many a house ; there had been several
street-fights during the Servian retaking and
the Bulgarian recovery of the place, and the
shops were in many instances mere gaping holes
of empty space. Such is the penaltj' of war.
King Milan's declaration of hostilities on Bul-
garia counts among the most ruthless and
rascally challenges of modern times, and his
luckless subjects paid the price.
BULGARIAN TY1>£S.
disabled, of which number quite three-fourths
fell upon the second dav.
During the night of the 27th to the 28th
November Pirot was badly sacked, the culprits
being almost exclusively the Macedonian volun-
teers, who had crossed the Turkish boundary by
the thousand to help their co-religionists, and
had been formed into nine battalions. The Bul-
garians proper confined their attentions to the
tobacconists' shops, and the next morning not
an ounce of tobacco or a single cigarette could
be obtained for love or money. The peaceful
inhabitants were, happily, not ill-treated, and
outrage or murder, the sequence and the curse
of many a goodly fight and many a glorious
v-ictory, cannpt be laid to the charge of Prince
Alexander's troops. It was Panitza's much-abused
brigade which, arriving during the night, restored
order. Thus it is due to these ill-named "rob-
bers " that no damage was done beyond the
sacking of the stores, shops, and warehouses.
Notwithstanding the kindly offices of Panitza's
men, Pirot looked gruesome on the morning of
A comic incident after the battle deserves
mention. Early on the morning of the 28th a
deputation of. the inhabitants of Pirot waited
upon Prince Alexander — whose quarters were in
a village a few miles awav — in order to implore
him to protect their lives and their property.
The first person whom they happened to en-
counter was the prince's valet, a Montenegrin
giant, dressed in the rich and fantastic costume
of his country, and formidably armed with
knives and pistols galore. Mistaking him for
the ruler of " Both Bulgarias," they knelt before
him and addressed him thus : — "'Art thou, oh
sir, the Chief of the Terrible? " The rascal —
who, in spite ot his ogre-like appearance, was
one of the most inoffensive and mildest beings
imaginable — glared at them, as well he might,
stroked his military moustache fiercelj-, and
personated the prince in so satisfactorj' and
convincing a manner, that the trembling petty-
dealers of Pirot went home in awe and wonder,
but quite reassured as to the kindly intentions
of the Chief of the Terrible. As a matter of fact,
THE SERVO-BULGARIAN WAR OF i88;.
381
not another shot was fired and not another theft
was perpetrated, and the Bulgarian soldiers
fraternised with the Pirot citizens in the wine-
houses, cursing with much volubility and hearty
goodwill the infamous polic}' which had brought
about the spilling of blood among brethren in
race and creed.
With the battle of Pirot the war was virtually
at an end, except that General Leshjanin, the
commander of the Timok army, made, on the
29th November, a third assault upon Widdin,
as futile as its predecessors. Some sa}^ that he
acted in ignorance of the truce ; others lay to
his charge a glaring violation not only of inter-
national law, but also of all precepts of equity
and humanity.
What had caused the Bulgarian Prince, who
was certainlv no faineant, to interrupt so
of an indemnity. Things remained simply in
statu quo ante : the frontier line was not altered
to the extent of an inch, and not a single coin
changed hands — surely a piece of gross injustice
to the provoked party, and an unnecessary
clemency towards that petted and worthless
darling of European diplomacy King Milan of
Servia.
To provide for all emergencies, Prince Alex-
ander brought his Pirot army up to eighty-five
thousand men just after the battle, and the
garrison of Widdin was increased (by river) to
twenty thousand. These must be considered fine
performances for a third-rate and sparsely popu-
lated principality, which had practically been
established but two months ago. Against these
forces Milan could have placed in the field — had
the war been continued, and without Austria's
i\- iilL l;l LGAK1A.\ >.ULi:,\i;\
...ll.NC. ASSAULT UPON THE
j7y
suddenly and incomprehensibly the onward
march of his victorious army ? Simply that the
Viennese Ambassador had intimated to him that
if his troops made another step forward on
Servian territorv Austria would consider herself
to be in a state of hostility towards Bulgaria.
Thus the latter was robbed of all the benefits of
her victories, for a conference of the representa-
tives of the Powers vetoed even the payment
help — no more than thirtv-five thousand at
Pirot and ten thousand at Widdin. (It is need-
less to remind the reader that Austria can
mobilise a million men within a month.)
But the truce was not broken, and the out-
posts fraternised so cordially that perhaps half
of Milan's troops would have refused point
blank to resume hostilities against their near
kinsmen.
^82
RATTLES OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
The total cost of this war, which had histed
exactly a fortnight, was about twenty-five thou-
sand men, dead and wounded.
The negotiations occupied the better part of a
month. On the 28th December the Timok
army retired from the neighbourhood of Widdin
across the frontier, and two days later the
Bulgarians evacuated Servian territory. Peace
was signed in Bucharest on the 1st March,
18S6.
The war had one result of which no ill-natured
interference could rob the victors : the unity and
independence of Bulgaria was an accomfjlished
fact. And Servia had received a lesson. The
echo of the thunder of Slivnitza will sound in
her ears for many a year to come, and it is to be
hoped that the campaign of 1885 will be the
third and last of her wicked wars of aggression.
The name Slivnitza is to-day to the Bul-
garians what Sedan is to the Germans, Waterloo
to the English, Plevna to the Turks : the symbol
of national heroism and supreme sacrifice, the
pride of the past, a warning in the present, and
a hope for the future.
liTLGARIAN BECvJAKS.
THE LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Santa Barbara
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