CHAPTER V.
The Regiment remained now encamped for more than a month on the slope of l’Arrhune. Extremely inclement weather set in; rain, wind, and sometimes snow. Occasionally tents were blown away, or falling on their sleeping occupants buried them under the wet canvass. The men on picquet also suffered severely. But notwithstanding the altitude and exposure of their camp and the severity of the weather, the health of the Regiment was uncommonly good; not one man, in the 1st Battalion at least, being sick. But this immunity from illness did not extend to all the officers; for Colonel Ross was obliged to leave the camp and the command of the 3rd Battalion, and to take up his residence in the village of Renteria.
During this time the French were busily employed in fortifying and throwing up entrenchments on La Petite Arrhune. The officers with these working parties frequently interchanged civilities with our officers, saying: ‘You will not be able to remain on these bleak mountains. You will have to retire into Spain.’ To which the reply was: ‘We will do so, if we are ordered.’ At last La Petite Arrhune exhibited a truly formidable appearance. Stone walls were built with loop-holes to fire through; the ground was escarped where it appeared accessible; and redoubts were built at intervals.
Pamplona surrendered at the end of October; and Lord Wellington being thus relieved from any enemy in his rear, immediate measures were adopted to advance into France. Heavy rains and the consequent impracticability of the roads postponed this movement, which was resolved upon in the first days of November, until the night of the 9th. On that day the commanding officers of the three Battalions had been taken up to the top of l’Arrhune, and from that commanding position the task laid out for each of the Battalions, and the ground over which they were to move, had been pointed out to them. After nightfall on that evening the Regiment moved to its ground, and about midnight took up its position, crouching behind the rocks within half-musket shot of the enemy’s picquet. All this was done in profound silence. No horse, nor even a dog, was allowed to go with the Regiment, lest their neighing or their barking should reveal the movement.
The signal for attack was a gun on the left. A little before daylight the Riflemen assumed their arms, and watched with anxiety the first tinge of sunlight on the peaks of the mountains. At last that streak appeared, the gun pealed forth among the hills, and the Riflemen sprang up from their lair. The enemy, though surprised (for their picquet was found seated round the fire), were not unprepared; but flew to arms and to man their works. The 1st and 3rd Battalions crossed the valley separating the two Arrhunes, and ascended and forced the steep sides of La Petite Arrhune. The 2nd Battalion, with the mountain guns, was stationed near the hermitage at the top of the greater Arrhune; but when the other two Battalions had advanced, they also moved forward and took their part in the fray. The French fought here with great determination, and clung to the works they had constructed with resolute tenacity. The officers were observed by the Riflemen to stand on the walls, and urge their men by their gesture and example to remain. One young man in particular excited their admiration by prodigies of valour; and refusing to the last to retire, fell forward pierced by a bullet. Later in the morning, when La Petite Arrhune had been carried and cleared of its defenders, General Alten led his Division across and attacked the enemy’s entrenchments on the opposite range. These were carried with less difficulty than those they had fought for in the morning. But towards the close of the day the 1st Battalion charged the right flank of the French, near a redoubt called the Signal redoubt; and the enemy being taken in flank at the same time by other troops, turned and fled, closely pursued by the Riflemen.
At this moment Barnard, who led them, fell from his horse, wounded through the right breast by a musket-ball. George Simmons, who was close to him, was at once at his side, and placed his head on his breast. It was evident that the lung was penetrated; for blood and air issued from the wound, and blood came from the mouth also. His first words were: ‘Do you think I’m dying? Did you ever see a man so wounded recover?’ Simmons assured him that though his wound was dangerous, yet that there were many instances of recovery from such wounds; and that his pulse indicated no appearance of sinking.[131] ‘Then,’ said the gallant chief, ‘you give me hopes. If any man can recover, I know that I shall.’ While he lay here, as at Barrosa, the enemy seeing they had brought down an officer of rank plied their fire on him and those who surrounded him. He was at once carried by four soldiers into a farm-house, whence three days after he was borne by his band of the 1st Battalion through the pass to the town of Vera, where he slowly recovered.
The loss of the Regiment in this action, known as the Battle of the Nivelle, was very severe. Of the 1st Battalion, Lieutenant-Colonel Barnard, Captain Charles Smyth, Lieutenants Haggup and Fensham were severely wounded; 2 sergeants, 1 bugler, and 3 Riflemen were killed; and 42 wounded.
Of the 2nd Battalion, Captain William Cox was slightly, and Lieutenants Charles Eaton, Henry Scott, and Doyle were severely wounded. Doyle died of his wounds. Five Riflemen were killed; 3 sergeants and 23 Riflemen wounded; and 3 missing.
Of the 3rd Battalion, there were Lieutenants Kirkman slightly, Loftus Jones severely, and 8 Riflemen wounded.
The Regiment bivouacked that night on the ground it had taken in front of Sarre. It rained hard all the following day, and for some days subsequently, and the troops suffered severely from the state of their camp. On the 15th the Regiment moved to Arbonne, where the men were quartered in houses, and on the 17th proceeded to Arcangues. Here the 1st Battalion occupied the château and some houses near it; while the 3rd Battalion were placed in some houses near the church, about a quarter of a mile to the rear. The village of Arcangues is built on high ground, from which three tongues or spurs run out like a trident. The enemy’s picquets were at the village of Bassussari, about 400 yards from our picquets posted on these tongues of land; and in fact the sentries of the opposing armies were so close that the reliefs passed each other. There were some houses in this line of posts in the possession of the enemy which it was important to take from them, and so to connect our picquets on the tongues by a line of sentries extending across the valleys between them.
Accordingly, on November 23 the Light Division was ordered to attack the houses. This task was given to the 43rd. They at once attacked and carried these houses; but unfortunately the officer commanding the company engaged went beyond, and attacked a fortified house which the French occupied in strength on their reinforcing their post there, and the 43rd became seriously engaged. The 1st Battalion were then ordered to move forward and cover this officer’s retreat. But he was made prisoner with many of his men, and his Lieutenant was killed. The 1st Battalion then held the houses which it was the object of this movement to secure.
While this was happening on the left projection, there were some houses also on the right in the possession of the enemy, which it was essential to take in order to secure access to a causeway, which ran along a marsh, and to some high ground near the Nive, occupied by another Division of the army; and on which stood a château, called, from the owner of it, ‘Garrat’s House.’
This task was also assigned to a company of the 43rd, supported by some other companies of that regiment, and by the 3rd Battalion. The houses were at once taken; but an order immediately arrived to evacuate them, and the 43rd retired. But ere long a counter-order was issued that they were to be held; when a company of the 3rd Battalion took possession of them. They had not, however, been long in them when a third order was given that they were to retire. Scarcely had they begun to obey it when they were charged by some cavalry, supported by a column of infantry. The officer in command of the company, anxious perhaps to fulfil the last orders, and not unnecessarily to engage himself with a superior force, ordered his company to run to the rear. He thus brought them off safely, with the exception of one man wounded; but rather to the offence of his brother Riflemen, who felt that he might have resisted, and punished the cavalry, and then have slowly withdrawn before a superior force of infantry.
One man of this company I have said was wounded. He was shot in the head; and came to the surgeon who was with the other 3rd Battalion companies in reserve, to have his wound dressed. As the surgeon was sponging it with water from a mess-tin held by the hospital orderly, a ball struck the tin, knocking it out of the hands of the orderly; but without injuring any of the party. There were also wounded of the 1st Battalion, Lieutenant Stilwell, 1 sergeant and 3 Riflemen, and of the 3rd Battalion, 1 sergeant and 1 other man.
The houses so often taken and evacuated were retaken next day by another company of the 3rd Battalion, who held them in spite of all attempts of the enemy to dispossess them. In taking them a young officer, George Cary, then a Second Lieutenant, advanced with his men on the enemy, who withdrew for some distance without much resistance; but on reaching a hedge some way in front of the principal house, they called to him to come no further, or they would fire. Cary, having placed his men under cover, called out to them (for he spoke excellent French) that they might begin their fire when they liked; but that he must have the house. They made no more resistance; but walking off planted their sentries within about forty yards of it.
This is but one of many instances of the good and chivalrous feeling that existed between the Riflemen and the French troops on outpost duty. On another occasion soon after, some French officers made signs of peace to those of our 3rd Battalion on picquet. These being courteously returned, the French officers advanced, and informed our officers that some of the inhabitants who had fled from their homes within our lines were desirous to return to them; and requested our officers to pass them through our outposts unmolested. This was of course readily agreed to, and promptly executed; and the officers on both sides parted with mutual expressions of esteem. ‘But the most remarkable instance’—(though it occurred a little later than the period of which I am writing, I will give it here, in the words of Sir William Napier)—‘happened on the occasion of Lord Wellington’s being desirous of getting to the top of a hill occupied by the enemy near Bayonne. He ordered the Riflemen who escorted him to drive the French away, and seeing the former stealing up, as he thought too close, called out to commence firing. With a loud voice one of those old soldiers replied “No firing!” and then holding up the butt of his rifle towards the French, tapped it in a peculiar way. At the well-understood signal, which meant “We must have the hill for a short time,” the French, who though they could not maintain would not have relinquished the post without a fight if they had been fired upon, quietly retired. And this signal would never have been made, if the post had been one capable of a permanent defence. So well,’ concludes the historian, ‘do veterans understand war and its proprieties.’[132]
The well-known signal was holding up the butt, and tapping the brass tool-box which was in the stock of the Baker, as it was also in that of the Brunswick rifle. It signified ‘We are in earnest;’ and was used by the Riflemen when they approached the French outposts to drive in picquets or with other hostile intent. Without this signal made they were unmolested.
On December 9 the Light Division was ordered to advance with a view to the troops under General Hill passing the Nive. The 1st and 3rd Battalions drove in the enemy’s outposts, the latter advancing along a ridge in their front. The 2nd Battalion was also actively engaged. A heavy fire was kept up by the French, to which the Regiment was more or less exposed all day. In the evening the Regiment fell back to the cantonments at and near Arcangues which they had before occupied. On the morning of the 10th no immediate fighting was anticipated; so little indeed that the Light Division had orders to fall back to Arbonne about four miles to the rear, and part of the second brigade had already marched; but General Kempt, not being satisfied with the look of things in his front, delayed his movement. The morning dawned with a thick drizzling rain; and the troops, having been as usual under arms at daylight, had turned in, when a sudden order was received to fall in and support the picquets, for the enemy were advancing. The position of Arcangues has been already described: the church, the château, the adjacent houses, the three tongues of hilly land; and there was a table-land, a sort of open common, at the top. The left tongue was occupied by picquets of the 52nd; the centre by those of the 43rd; the right by those of the 1st Battalion; and that near Garrat’s House by those of the 3rd Battalion. As soon as these Battalions turned out, they found the picquets vigorously attacked. The numbers of the assailants were overwhelming, and they had to retire. But though this had to be effected at the double—for there was much ground to get over to reach the plateau in front of Arcangues—and though they moved over bad ground, yet the moment they reached the flat ground at top, these apparently flying skirmishers resumed their formation, and presented a steady and impenetrable front to the advancing enemy. But some of the 1st Battalion retiring from the right-hand tongue were unable to head the enemy, who moving by the ravine, arrived at the plain before them. Some men[133] and one officer, Second Lieutenant James Church, were then made prisoners.
Two companies of the 3rd Battalion were pushed forward to cover the retreat of the picquets; and having done so, they retired gradually as the enemy advanced. This Battalion then lined a coppice at the foot of the high ground on which the church is situated and connecting the church with the château, whence the 1st Battalion, having loop-holed it and strengthened it with abattis and a kind of rude rampart, kept up a galling fire upon the enemy. This tiraillade continued till dark.
In this affair Lieutenant Hopwood of the 1st Battalion, Sergeant Brotherton and Private Patrick Mahon were killed by one ball, which passed through the heads of all three as they were standing one behind the other. They fell near a hedge which the Battalion had defended as they fell gradually back from one defensible point to another. During the day several French soldiers came through the hedge and approached their bodies; but as our men supposed that it was with the intention to plunder them, they shot every man who passed the hedge. For they were unable from the violence of the fire to go out themselves to remove their bodies. At last towards evening a French officer approached through the hedge waving a white handkerchief; and when our firing ceased, he brought out some of his men with spades, who buried Hopwood and the sergeant in one grave.
On this day the losses of the Regiment were: 1st Battalion: 4 Riflemen killed; 2 Sergeants, 1 Bugler and 21 Riflemen wounded; 2nd Battalion: 4 Riflemen killed, 3 Sergeants, 1 Bugler and 24 Riflemen wounded; 3rd Battalion: 1 Rifleman killed, 1 Bugler and 22 Riflemen wounded.
On that night the 1st Battalion continued of course in its occupation of the château d’Arcangues, while the 3rd Battalion bivouacked on the ridge extending from it to the church.
On the 11th the Regiment was not engaged. And on that day some French officers, continuing the good feeling which I have mentioned, and doubtless anxious to show their confidence, brought out some chairs and a table from a house occupied by their picquet; and having carried them into the middle of the adjoining field, within 100 yards of our sentries, placed some wine and glasses on the table, and sitting down saluted the officers of our picquet; bowing and holding up their glasses, as if drinking to their healths.
Yet this security of the outposts was sometimes broken through. For on this night a Sergeant of the 3rd Battalion surprised the French picquet. Taking a few men with him he stole past the sentries and got up to the picquet house undiscovered; and seizing their arms, which he found piled outside, broke them. And while the picquet, utterly surprised, were turning out, he and his companions ran back to their lines. I do not know the name of this daring soldier. He lost an arm at the battle of Toulouse, and was consequently discharged.
On the other hand: some of the 1st Battalion were, in one of the affairs of outposts about this time, ordered to drive in the French picquets in front of them. Lieutenant Gardiner, who commanded the party, observed that he would not shoot the French sentries. So, calling to them to begone, he told them that he was going to attack the post. I have already noted that he spoke French fluently. They retired; but had hardly done so, when the French officer ordered his picquet to fire on Gardiner, who was making his men fall in for the attack. The discharge was ineffectual; and the Riflemen were glad to hear afterwards that the officer in charge of the French picquet was not a real soldier, but one of the national guard.
On the 12th the enemy made a show of strengthening his position; constructing a six-gun battery on the height in front of Arcangues, which however his gunners never could have served; as the Riflemen would have shot them before they could have fired a second round. While therefore our people were strengthening the château of Arcangues by abattis and throwing up a breastwork, the older heads declared that it was all a sham. And so indeed it proved. For though some fighting was anticipated on the 12th, and though in the afternoon the 1st and 3rd Battalions fell in with the supposed intention of driving the enemy’s outposts further back from the ridge in front of Arcangues, yet nothing was done. And in the night between the 12th and 13th, the sentries of the picquets having reported that the enemy’s fires were burning more brightly than usual, the ruse was suspected. And an officer with a patrol, having crept up to their lines, found them almost abandoned. The truth is that Soult had withdrawn his force in front of the Riflemen, to attack General Hill’s force on their right.
In the morning the Riflemen moved forward to the ridge of Bassussari, and had some little firing with the rear-guard, which had not yet cleared off; but one of the known signals being made (an officer holding up his cap on the top of his sword), the firing ceased; and the Riflemen were suffered without any opposition to advance their outposts to the ground they had occupied before the attack on them on the 9th.
On this night an untoward event occurred, which gave the officers of the Regiment some annoyance. After dark, a French officer accompanied by two men, approached our position; when the Corporal in charge of the advanced post of the picquet at the abattis took up his rifle and shot the French officer, whom the two soldiers carried into their picquet. It was feared that this would endanger the good understanding of the French outposts with the Riflemen. For it was not known whether they came on a friendly visit, as they sometimes did; or whether it was a patrol sent forward to ascertain if we had withdrawn the picquets pushed forward in the afternoon. If the latter (and the presence of the two soldiers makes it probable that it was), of course those composing the patrol, risked the chances of war. However, no retaliation was attempted, and the outposts continued as friendly as before.
Here the Regiment remained without any other matter of moment worth recording for some weeks, during which they were hospitably entertained by the owners of the château of Arcangues, an aged lady and her grandson.
On January 3, 1814, they were moved to the right; and crossing the Nive advanced a league or two, in order to support some operations of the army on the Adour. These being effected they fell back to the Nive; and were cantoned in the villages of Ustaritz and Aurantz; the 3rd Battalion occupying the latter.
The weather now became very severe; rain, sleet and snow fell; and the roads were knee-deep for foot-passengers, and up to a horse’s girths.
On January 24 the 1st Battalion was transferred to the second brigade of the Light Division, and the 2nd Battalion was placed in the first brigade. This was in consequence of Barnard, commanding the 1st Battalion, being given the command of the second brigade.
On February 16 the Regiment moved from its cantonments, and may be said to have commenced the campaign of 1814. Crossing the Nive at Ustaritz, they moved to within a league and a half of La Bastide de Clarence and encamped on a wild heathy plain. Next day they marched to La Bastide itself, and encamped on a hill beyond it.
On the 18th they were moved into houses in consequence of the weather; which beginning with rain, changed through sleet into snow.
On the 19th the 1st Battalion marched for St. Jean-de-Luz to get their new clothing, for they were almost in rags; and the means of transport were not forthcoming, nor the roads easy for its conveyance. Therefore the Regiment went down to St. Jean-de-Luz, one Battalion at a time, to obtain it. Having received it on the 23rd the Battalion started on the 24th to rejoin the army, and passing though Ustaritz, La Bastide and Garris, arrived at St. Palais on the 28th. Here they were very much disappointed to find that the regiment which occupied it had orders to move to the front, leaving the 1st Battalion at St. Palais till a fresh regiment relieved them. For they had heard firing on the 27th, and now the tidings of the hard fight at Orthez had reached them. Here they remained some days, in a state of great anxiety and excitement, until, as they were trying to persuade some detachments which came up that they were a relieving battalion, an order reached them to move forward. And marching as rapidly as possible, they reached Sauveterre on the 7th March, Orthez on the 8th, and rejoined the other two Battalions at Barcelonne on the 11th.
But while the 1st Battalion was absent for re-equipment in clothing, the two other Battalions had moved from La Bastide to Esturi on February 21st, and to St. Palais on the 22nd, and on the 23rd they encamped near La Chere and Charite. And it was found that the enemy had blown up a bridge over the Bidouze. It was necessary therefore on the 24th to cross two branches of that river by fords. The first, the Gave de Mauleon, they passed at Nabes; and then moving forward to Gave d’Oleron, they found some French cavalry drawn up on the opposite bank to dispute the passage. A small cottage was on the bank; and George Simmons,[134] taking a few Riflemen into it, kept up a smart fire from the windows to cover the passage of the two Battalions through the ford. As it was very deep, they were halted, and made to take off their pouches and strap them on the top of their knapsacks, and then plunge in, Captains Miller and Duncan of the 2nd Battalion leading the way. The water was above the men’s waists, and they were obliged to link themselves together to avoid being swept away; while some of the men clung to the stirrup-leathers and tails of the horses of the mounted officers. On arrival at the opposite bank they found that the enemy had endeavoured to obstruct their mounting it, by drawing harrows with the point upwards to the slope. The cavalry however did not molest them. One man indeed galloped towards the bank, but he was instantly shot down by one of the 2nd Battalion men in the cottage. Under their fire, and that of a couple of guns, brought up to the left bank, they gave way and retired. This ford was near Villeneuve; and having passed through that village the Riflemen halted till the rest of the Division had crossed and formed up. While here George Simmons, being wet to the shoulders and very cold, entered a respectable house, and sitting down by the fire, asked the people to get him some wine and something to eat. Some ran to execute his orders, while the rest watched him with terror and aversion. A little child being present, he took it up on his knee and fondled it, and (as the people refused to be paid for the refreshment he had asked for) he put some money into its hand. On his setting it down a general feeling of relief seemed to pervade the bystanders, who then told him that Soult and his emissaries had informed the peasantry that the English were barbarians, who would carry off and murder their children.
On their march after crossing the Gave d’Oleron, they came in sight of a body of the enemy’s infantry moving parallel to them, and apparently making the utmost haste to escape from them. It was at first proposed to fall on them; but some wiser man having observed that their supports were probably not far off, they were allowed to depart in peace. The two Battalions bivouacked on a bleak exposed common not far from Orion.
The next day they passed through Orion; and on arrival there learned that it had been occupied as Soult’s head-quarters the night before. The wisdom of not attacking the retreating column the day before was now apparent; for the French being in force at Orion, would have moved out to their succour; and possibly might have overpowered, and certainly would have harassed, the soldiers weary with a long march and the passage of two fords.
Pursuing their march they arrived near Orthez and soon heard a loud explosion, which proved to be the destruction by the enemy of the stone bridge over the Gave de Pau. The two Battalions advanced to some high ground looking over the town of Orthez. Some troops of the enemy were observed filing through the town; and some guns being brought up opened on them, which induced them to quicken their pace, and their officers were seen riding up and down and urging them on. They also brought forward some guns which returned the cannonade without, however, doing much harm. The Riflemen bivouacked on this height.
On the 26th Lord Wellington after reconnoitring the enemy’s position ordered them about twelve o’clock to fall in. And they were soon after directed to move to the right, and cross a ford a little above the destroyed bridge. This promised to be a most deadly business as the French infantry were massed, with heavy guns, directly in front of the ford. However the Riflemen marched off, the 3rd Battalion leading. On the way a staff officer overtook them, and ordered them to conceal themselves as much as possible behind any irregularities of the ground. This they did and crept on; and just as they got to open ground leading down to the ford, and expected the artillery to open upon them, they were suddenly countermanded, countermarched, and moved far to the left. The truth is that this was a double feint. First, to make the enemy believe that our people were going to attempt the ford; and then, lest they should have suspected that any open demonstration to do so was a feint, to make them fancy, by our stealth and getting under cover, that it was hoped to conceal the movement from them. By occupying the enemy’s attention with this skilful manœuvre, three divisions of the army were enabled to cross the river by a pontoon bridge at a point near Salles, below Orthez. By this bridge the Riflemen were also to pass; and marching all day they bivouacked near the village of Salles and close to the pontoon bridge at night.
On the 27th they early crossed the Gave de Pau; and moved by the great road which leads from Peyrehorade towards the town of Orthez; and when within about two miles of it, turning to the left, they ascended the ridge which runs parallel with the river and in front of which the French were posted in a very strong position. Whether it was that the Light Division was weak, two of its regiments being absent, or that they were not needed, the two Battalions were not actively engaged. Lord Wellington was in front of them during the afternoon, and ordered that advance of the 52nd which, as is well known, broke through Soult’s centre and decided the fate of the day.
Then the enemy fled, and then the Riflemen were ordered in pursuit, but did not come up with the retreating columns. Their march continued for about two leagues, in the course of which they passed the river Lys de Béarn and bivouacked near the village of Bonne Garde. They were entirely without covering and suffered much; for it froze hard. The Commanding Officer of the 3rd Battalion (whether Ross or Balvaird, I am not sure) did indeed contrive to get into a hut; but there being no bed unoccupied, he lay down in a kneading-trough or flour-bin, and appeared in the morning more like a miller than a Rifleman.
On the 28th the two Battalions started early, and after crossing the Lys de France, arrived at Duerse, where they halted for the night.
On March 1, they passed the Adour, and after a long march entered Mont-de-Marsan, which the enemy evacuated just before they reached it. Here they were quartered in good houses, and had comfortable beds: a change very refreshing to them after their long marches, often in very bad weather, and after their exposed bivouacks.
On the next day the 2nd Battalion marched to Bertam, and the 3rd Battalion to St. Maurice; the march was through the pine forests and by the sandy roads of the Landes; and being made in a snow storm was very painful to the soldiers.
On the next day the 3rd Battalion moved on to St. Sever, where Lord Wellington had fixed his head-quarters. Here they continued till the 8th, furnishing the guards and duties of head-quarters. On the 4th the 2nd Battalion had marched to Bascom, where they remained till the 9th, when both Battalions re-united near Aire, whither the 3rd Battalion had marched, crossing the Adour on the 8th and moving to Grenade; and next day to Barcelonne opposite Aire on the right bank of that river.
On the 10th both Battalions marched at daylight to some poor cottages near Arblade, and on the 11th entered Tarsac, where they halted for the night. The 1st Battalion now rejoined the Light Division, and the Regiment was re-united.
On the 14th, as Soult assembled a considerable force and threatened General Hill’s corps, the Regiment was moved back through Tarsac and formed on the high road near a wood, where they remained the whole day expecting to be engaged; but the enemy retiring after making a demonstration only, they marched back to Tarsac and re-occupied their quarters there.
The enemy had left a rear-guard of cavalry, and as they remained during the next two days, it was determined on the 16th to attack them. The 15th Hussars were with the Riflemen at Tarsac; and accordingly on that morning this regiment moved out to attack the French cavalry. This consisted of the 13th French Hussars, and they sent one squadron in advance, the rest of the regiment being formed in support. The English cavalry adopted the same formation, and a squadron under Captain Hancox, supported by the 2nd Battalion, advanced to meet their opponents. The French were rapidly charged and upset; many of them sabred; and about twenty-five made prisoners, among whom was the French Captain. He was badly wounded, and died of his wounds in his father’s house, to which he was taken. For he was a native of the place, which it was said he had not visited for many years. The rest of the French cavalry rapidly retired and escaped.
On the 18th the Regiment advanced by the road by which the French had retreated, and crossing the Adour by a bridge at Arros (or La Rose) proceeded to St. Germain; whence, after a short halt, to Plaisance, where they remained for the night, three companies of the 1st Battalion being pushed across the river.
On the next day the Regiment marched to Obregon, where they halted for some hours; and in the evening halted at Aget.
The French were now falling back on Tarbes, and on this day the Riflemen heard much firing on their right, which was caused by the attack of Picton’s light troops on the retreating enemy near Vic en Bigorre.
On the 20th the Regiment marched early, and moving along the ridge on which they had last night encamped, arrived at Rabastens. Here learning that the enemy had taken up a position near Tarbes, they moved to the right, by the road leading from Auch to Tarbes. On approaching this town the French were found posted in a formidable position on a hill, or rather a succession of heights intersected with ditches and hedges, which gave it almost the form of entrenchments. It being at first supposed that no considerable force was engaged, for on marching along the road only a small party were observed, a company of the 2nd Battalion was sent to dislodge them. But when it was ascertained that the position was occupied by a considerable part of General Harispe’s division, the whole Regiment advanced to the attack. The 3rd Battalion were on the right, the 2nd in the centre, and the 1st Battalion on the left. The front of the enemy was covered by clouds of light troops, whom it was not easy to dislodge, for they had the protection of hedges and banks; and the Riflemen had to force their way in skirmishing through some covert of considerable growth. Then they emerged at the foot of the hill, and the enemy’s ranks rose ‘tier above tier’ as one eye-witness describes it, on the side of the mountain. But the Riflemen rushed forward; and though their opponents fought desperately, and their fire was delivered from one rank above another like the guns on the decks of a three-decker, yet the Riflemen drove them from the hill, over it and into the plain below. ‘The French,’ Napier relates, ‘charged with great hardiness, and being encountered by men not accustomed to yield, they fought muzzle to muzzle; and it was difficult to judge at first who would win.’ It was not long to decide; for within an hour this hill was taken; its face cleared of all but the dead or dying, and the French in disordered flight over the plain beyond. Napier supposes that the French mistook the Riflemen, on account of their green dress, for Portuguese, and therefore fought with more perseverance than was usual against English troops. Yet one would suppose that the veterans of the Peninsula had too often fought with the green-jackets to be ignorant of their nationality or their endurance in fight. Be that as it may, all agree that this was an unusually hard-fought field. Surtees says ‘the firing was the hottest I had ever seen, except perhaps Barossa.’ And Costello observes ‘I never remember to have been so warmly engaged as on this occasion, except at Badajos.’
The odds too were very great. I am not able to say how many French crowded that hill-side; but sixteen companies of Riflemen only drove them from it. For though the other regiments of the Division were in reserve, and would doubtless have supported the Riflemen, had they been repulsed; yet not a shot was fired on that hill except from a 95th rifle. Lord Wellington in his despatch notes the loss of the enemy as being considerable; that of the Regiment was 11 officers and 80 men.
Of the 1st Battalion, Captain Loftus Gray and Lieutenant John Cox were severely, and George Simmons slightly, wounded; 2 Riflemen were killed, and 5 sergeants and 21 Riflemen wounded. Of the 2nd Battalion, Captain Duncan was killed, Lieutenant-Colonel Norcott, Captain Miller, and Lieutenant Dixon were severely, and Lieutenant Humbley slightly, wounded; 1 sergeant and 2 Riflemen were killed; and 14 wounded. And of the 3rd Battalion, Captain William Cox and Lieutenant Farmer were severely, and Lieutenant Sir John Ribton and Quartermaster Surtees slightly, wounded. 1 Rifleman was killed, and 3 sergeants and 32 Riflemen were wounded.
Colonel Norcott was conspicuous, riding about on a tall black mare: he was early in the day wounded in the shoulder. George Simmons late in the day was wounded in the knee. When he was down the French continuing to fire at him, his servant, Henry Short, a brave Rifleman, ran up and deliberately placing himself in the line of fire, said ‘You shall not hit him again except through my body.’
Amongst this carnage some curious, some almost ludicrous, circumstances occurred. A captain of the Regiment was struck by a ball on a flask or drinking-horn which he carried at his side. The force of the ball knocked him down and for the moment stunned him. The men thinking he was killed, or desperately wounded, were carrying him to the rear, when he revived and called out ‘Stop, let me feel;’ when finding he was unhurt except by the blow, he leaped out of their arms, and again headed his company. His return was heralded by shouts of laughter, so ludicrous was the whole episode, though the fight was at the thickest, and the men falling fast.
When the Riflemen were occupying their camp on the Pyrenees, an owl had taken up its quarters with them, and always pitched on the tent of Lieutenant Doyle, who was killed at the Nivelle. Its accustomed haunt being gone, it transferred its perch to Captain Duncan’s tent. The joke ran, in the rough mirth of the camp, that he must be next on the roster; a joke of which he neither liked the point, nor saw the wit. Yet so it was that he fell in this day of Tarbes.
This fight was a strictly regimental one; for (as I have said) the Rifle Battalions only were engaged. It excited the admiration of their companions in arms. One of them, an eye-witness, thus speaks of this action: ‘Our Rifles were immediately sent to dislodge the French from the hills on our left, and our battalion was ordered to support them. Nothing could exceed the manner in which the ninety-fifth set about this business. Certainly I never saw such skirmishers as the ninety-fifth, now the Rifle Brigade. They could do the work much better and with infinitely less loss than any other of our best light troops. They possessed an individual boldness, a mutual understanding, and a quickness of eye in taking advantage of the ground, which, taken altogether, I never saw equalled. They were in fact as much superior to the French Voltigeurs as the latter were to our skirmishers in general. As our regiment was often employed in supporting them, I think I am fairly qualified to speak of their merits.’[135]
The enemy having been driven from the hill retreated across the plain, which was covered with the pursued and the pursuers. As they were crossing it, the Riflemen came upon a considerable body of the French who were retreating from the town of Tarbes, whence they had been driven by the 3rd Division; and it was proposed that the Riflemen, quickening their pace, should fall upon their flank and intercept them. But the French were too quick for them. For perceiving their intention, they inclined to the right and got away.
The enemy having crossed the plain took up a strong position on some heights at the extremity of it; but while Lord Wellington was making dispositions to attack them, darkness came on; and the Riflemen bivouacked that night on the plain. The French cannonaded the bivouack from the height, but the fire was almost harmless; and as the troops did not move from the ground on which they had bivouacked, it gradually ceased. And in the night the enemy abandoned the position and continued their retreat; pursued in the morning by the Riflemen, who halted that night at Lannemazen. The next day they proceeded, still in pursuit, to Castelnau. And starting early in the morning of the 24th, halted that night at L’Isle-en-Dodon. And on the next day (moving on Toulouse) reached Mont Ferrand. On the 27th they advanced to the village of Tournefeuille, a little beyond which the enemy still held some ground, occupying some hedges and enclosures, in front of a bridge about half a mile from the village. The 3rd Battalion and a Portuguese regiment were ordered to dislodge them. And the Riflemen extending to the left while the Portuguese moved on the road, the French gradually fell back towards the bridge and crossed it, taking the road to Toulouse; and the Riflemen did not pursue. The loss was trifling. But a most curious circumstance occurred during this skirmish. A Rifleman of the name of Powell was shot in the mouth, the ball knocking several of his teeth out. One of these struck a Portuguese and wounded him in the arm. The surgeon of the 43rd who happened to be at hand, dressing the wound of the Portuguese, found in it not a bullet but a tooth. On this the cry went among the Riflemen that ‘The French were firing bones and not bullets.’
On enquiry being made and the relative positions of the Portuguese soldier and Powell being ascertained, no doubt remained that his tooth had caused the wound. Powell was afterwards killed by a cannon-ball near New Orleans. I relate this extraordinary circumstance on the authority of Surtees, who was near Powell at the time he was wounded, and who minutely examined into the circumstances at the time. I ought to add that I have invariably found Surtees’ statements corroborated in every particular by the relations or journals of others; and as he was a man of strong religious impressions his veracity cannot I think be questioned.
On the 29th the Regiment moved forward to near Toulouse, and occupied some villages and châteaux in the neighbourhood. On the 31st the engineers attempted to throw a bridge over the Garonne above its junction with the Ariège above the town, and the Regiment was assembled to pass it; but the number of pontoons being insufficient, and it not being possible to construct a bridge on trestles, they returned to their cantonments. But it would seem that the 3rd Battalion did cross (ferried over probably)[136] and were left as a picquet in one of the villages on the bank.[137]
On April 2 all had recrossed the Garonne, and again occupied cantonments, on this occasion the houses occupied being lower down the river than those in which they were formerly cantoned; the 3rd Battalion were quartered in a wine-store, amongst the casks of which the men slept. During the time they occupied it no depredation whatever was committed, nor was any man of the Battalion found to be drunk. On the 6th the Regiment moved down the river towards Grenade, and encamped near the village of Seilh. A bridge of pontoons had been thrown across the Garonne here, and some divisions had crossed; but the river having risen, and fallen trees having been floated down the river, the pontoons broke away from the right bank, and were swung round with the stream, being still fast to the left bank. Though exertions were made to re-establish it, it was not practicable till the 9th. And early in the morning of the 10th the Regiment with the other troops of the Light Division crossed it, and moved up into position in front of Toulouse. The roads were excellent, and they quickly attained the position they were to occupy. Their right, the 3rd Battalion, was to touch Picton’s left, and the left was to communicate with the Spanish force under General Freyre. In front of the Riflemen the enemy occupied some houses, and they had constructed a battery near the bridge over the canal of Languedoc; and at the end of the bridge stood a Convent which they had loop-holed and fortified in a very effective manner. The Riflemen commenced by driving the enemy from the houses, and keeping up their attention during the day. But some of the 3rd Battalion (and of Picton’s division on their right) pushed on too far, and getting under the fire of the defenders of the Convent, they suffered severely. To cover themselves they had to leap into an open sewer; and detestable as was this position, they had to remain in it for some time, so severe was the fire of their opponents. But on the left of the Riflemen a different scene was taking place. The Spaniards had claimed, as a place of honour, to lead the attack on the Calvinet. Their rout and their flight under the fire of its defenders are well known. The Riflemen, and the other regiments of the Light Division, were mainly occupied during the day in covering the retreat of the Spaniards, who re-formed more than once and advanced to the attack; but always to be repulsed by the French fire, and to fly from it. As often as the English troops interposed, the French retired; as often as they left the fight to the Spaniards, the French pursued them.
When the left of the Division was thus occupied in shielding the flying Spaniards the French rushed out again with loud cries, in front of the 3rd Battalion, and only with hard fighting were again driven in. So the battle raged till about four o’clock, when Beresford having carried the heights on the left of the Riflemen, the French withdrew within the place, and the battle ended.
Captain Michael Hewan of the 2nd Battalion was severely wounded. 14 Riflemen of that Battalion were killed; and 3 Sergeants and 23 Riflemen wounded.[138]
The Regiment bivouacked on the ground they had occupied, being saluted from time to time by shot or shell from the place.
On the 11th the Regiment remained perfectly quiet, and on the 12th entered Toulouse, Marshal Soult having in the previous night retreated from the place in the direction of Carcassonne. On the same day Colonel Cooke and Colonel St. Simon, as English and French commissioners, arrived with intelligence of the abdication of Napoleon. This was at once communicated to Marshal Soult; but as he refused to acknowledge the authority of those making the communication, the Regiment with other troops was started in pursuit, and marched on the 16th towards Villefranche. On the second day’s march, as they were halted on the roadside, loud huzzas were heard in front, and a carriage approached containing Count Gazan, the bearer of intelligence that Soult recognised the abdication of the Emperor, and acceded to a suspension of arms. The Regiment, therefore, at once returned to Toulouse and occupied their former quarters.
Towards the end of April the Regiment moved out of Toulouse, and descending the Garonne were quartered in Castel Sarazin and the neighbouring villages, the 1st Battalion occupying Castel Sarazin, and the 3rd Grisolles. The 2nd appear to have been at Castelnau d’Estrettefons.
Here they remained until the 1st June, when they forded the Garonne and halted at Grenade. On the next day they reached Cadours near Cologne, at which the 2nd Battalion halted. On the 5th they marched to Leitoure; and passing next day through Condom and Nerac halted at Castel Jaloux. On the 11th they reached Bazas and on the 12th arrived at Langon. The next day they proceeded to Barsac. On the 14th they halted at Castres, and the next day entered Bourdeaux. They were not however quartered there, but merely passed through it, and marched on to Blanquefort. On the road the Riflemen were reviewed by Lord Wellington, and the men and officers as they passed saluted with loud cheers the chief who had for six years led them to victory.
They remained at Blanquefort till the 13th July, when the 1st and 2nd Battalions embarked at Paulliac on board H.M. ship ‘Ville de Paris’ and disembarked at Portsmouth on the 22nd.
The 3rd Battalion embarked on the 8th July on board H.M. ship ‘Dublin,’ and sailing on the 9th arrived at Plymouth on the 18th, and disembarking there occupied the barracks.
I have been unwilling to interrupt the narrative of events in which the Regiment was engaged in the North of Spain and the South of France; but I have now to turn to operations in Holland in which detachments of the three Battalions were engaged.
An expedition to that country having been decided on, under the command of General Sir Thomas Graham[139] (afterwards Lord Lynedoch), some companies of the Regiment, from the depôts of each Battalion at Shorncliffe, were selected to form part of it.
Of the 1st Battalion, Captain Glasse’s company; of the 2nd, Captain M’Cullock’s; and of the 3rd, two companies, Captains Fullerton’s and William Eeles’, formed the detachment to accompany this expedition.[140]
They marched from Shorncliffe on November 28; but in consequence of the continuance of easterly winds, did not embark from Deal until December 9. In this embarkation the Deal boat which was conveying Captain Glasse’s company on board H.M. ship ‘Grampus’ was swamped; but the men, after being in considerable danger, were all saved. Yet their dangers were not over; for on that or the next night the ‘Grampus,’ in which the Rifle companies were embarked, came into collision with the ‘Monarch.’ These dangers being overcome, the Riflemen disembarked at St. Martin’s dyck in the Island of Tholen on December 17; and made a night march to Wosmaer. On the next day they proceeded to Halteren, and thence to near Bergen-op-Zoom, near which they halted. At this time Bergen was partially invested, and the Riflemen were moved up on the 23rd close to the walls. But on the 24th they made a night march to Steenberghen; and on the next day proceeded to Oudenbosch. Here they halted some days; and on the 29th an attack was anticipated, but none took place.
Early in January 1814 a combined movement was arranged between Sir Thomas Graham and General Bülow, who commanded the Prussian force with which Graham’s was to co-operate, by which the French were to be dislodged from Hoogstraten, and a reconnaissance was to be made on Antwerp. Accordingly the Riflemen moved to Roosendael on January 9, and thence to Calmthout, where they arrived at daybreak on the 11th. The combined movement of the English and Prussians was to have taken place on the 12th; and on that day the enemy threatened an attack; but learning from their patrols that the Prussians were also approaching, they fell back, and being reinforced from the garrison, took up a position in front of Antwerp, their left resting on the village of Merxem, their right on Bergerhout. The Riflemen on the enemy retiring had advanced in pursuit to Capellen.
On the 13th they advanced towards Antwerp, and soon came up with the enemy’s rear, as they were retiring into the place. There was a smart skirmish; and the enemy were driven into Antwerp. The Riflemen distinguished themselves in this affair; and Sir Thomas Graham in his despatch particularly mentions ‘the rapid but orderly advance of the detachment of the 3rd Battalion of the Rifle Corps under Captain Fullerton’s command,’ with great praise.[141]
In this affair one Rifleman of the 3rd Battalion was killed, and one wounded.
On the 14th they fell back to Calmthout, and on the 15th marched to Eckeren, where they remained for some days. The Riflemen had suffered much from the extreme cold; and on January 26 it reached its maximum, the thermometer marking 13° of frost.
During the month of January the army under Sir Thomas Graham, which originally amounted to hardly 6,000 men, was increased by reinforcements of about 3,000 men. And at this time Major and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Cameron of the 1st Battalion arrived in Holland and took command of the detachments from the three Battalions.
As the French had 12,000 men in Antwerp under Carnot’s command, no regular siege could be attempted with this force and with the means at Graham’s disposal; it was resolved therefore to attempt to set fire to the enemy’s ships at Antwerp. With this object the troops were moved forward. And the Riflemen returned on January 30 from Eckeren to Calmthout; on the 31st marched to Braeschaet; and on February 1 advanced to Donk. On that evening the picquets had some fighting with those of the enemy. On the 2nd the enemy advanced to Merxem, which had been strengthened with field works, and the Riflemen had some hard fighting in and about that village, and at Schooten. Merxem was carried in gallant style; and Graham specially notes the conduct of ‘the detachments of the three Battalions of the Rifle Corps,’ under Colonel Cameron’s command, ‘for the distinguished manner in which they attacked the left and centre of the village, forcing the enemy from every stronghold.’[142]
On this day Lieutenant Wright of the 1st Battalion was returned as wounded;[143] as were Captain William Eeles, Lieutenants Ferguson and Fitzgerald of the 3rd Battalion. One bugler and 2 Riflemen of the 2nd Battalion were killed, and 6 wounded.[144]
The attempt to burn the ships in the Scheldt and in the docks was unsuccessful; for our mortars numbering only seventeen, two-thirds of which were Dutch or French ones found on the ramparts of Willemstadt (where part of the force had disembarked), were unserviceable, and unable to throw shells a sufficient distance. The enemy too nightly flooded the decks with water, which the intense frost converted into a thick coating of ice, which, at that range, helped to resist the shells thrown by the imperfect mortars. And the enemy were able at once to extinguish any fire among the shipping which might take place.
On the 3rd the Riflemen occupied the château of Merxem, where they remained until the 6th, when the partial investment of Antwerp and the attempt on the ships having been found a failure, they moved to Braeschaet. On the next day they were again moved forward to Donk to repel a sortie of the garrison, which having effected they returned to Braeschaet; and on the 9th fell back to Klein Zundert, and on the 15th to Loënhout.
About this time the Prussians, having received orders to proceed to the south, separated from the British force; and Graham’s position on the frontier of Holland was far from secure. He fell back, as we have seen, from Antwerp, and occupied ground between that place and Breda. He eventually resolved to attempt the capture of Bergen-op-Zoom. The Riflemen moved on February 28 to West Wesel. In the storm of Bergen and its failure they had no part; for on March 8 (the day on which the attempt was made) they marched in the evening towards Antwerp, it being understood that their destination was to attack Fort Lillo. They marched all night, and towards morning were countermanded and halted; and some hours afterwards heard of the failure at Bergen-op-Zoom. However a picquet of the 3rd Battalion was left near Bergen; and on the failure of the attack on it, they were ordered late in the night of the 8th to retire, and to make the best of their way to their companies. This they effected; but with barely sufficient time to call in their advanced sentries.[145]
On the 9th the Riflemen halted at Stabroek, and on the 11th moved to Capellen.
Another sortie was made by the enemy from Antwerp on March 26, and the Riflemen were under arms expecting an attack; but none took place on them, the enemy having retired. Such alarms and affairs occasionally occurred; for on the 30th the Riflemen pursued a foraging party of the enemy, but unsuccessfully, for they made good their return into Antwerp before the Riflemen could intercept them. But all really active operations of this expedition terminated with the failure at Bergen-op-Zoom. Some further operations were contemplated; but as Graham was on the point of executing them, news reached the Riflemen on April 4 of the entrance of the Allies into Paris on March 31.
However by the Treaty of Paris the Kingdom of the Netherlands was to be established; and pending the details of that measure being arranged by the Congress of Vienna, an Anglo-Hanoverian force was to remain in the country. The Rifle detachments formed part of it.
Early in April a detachment of one company was sent to occupy Fort Batz, and on April 15 the Riflemen moved from Capellen to Braeschaet and Schooten; on the 29th they marched to Contich, and on the 30th to Mechlin, where they remained about a fortnight. On May 14 they arrived at Brussels; where on the 30th they were reviewed by the Prince Sovereign of the Netherlands, as he was then styled, afterwards the King of the Netherlands.
On Sir Thomas Graham, then Lord Lynedoch, returning to England, the Anglo-Hanoverian force was placed under the command of General the Prince of Orange. The Riflemen remained at Brussels until August 29, when they moved to Ypres, and on the 31st arrived at Courtrai. On September 5, they marched to Menin; but returned to Ypres on October 12. Remaining there till November 22, they moved on that day to Dixmude, and to Furnes on December 9. About this time the Rifle detachments received some reinforcements. Captain Logan, Lieutenant Robert Cochrane and 45 men of the 2nd Battalion embarked at Deal on November 7 to join them. On March 8, 1815, they were at Nieuport, with a detachment of two companies at Furnes; their strength being then 4 captains, 14 subalterns, 2 staff, 21 sergeants, 9 buglers and 388 rank and file, under the command of Captain Glasse of the 1st Battalion. But on March 24 they were re-united at Menin.[146]
On the renewal of hostilities in 1815 the companies of the 1st and 2nd Battalions joined those Battalions on their arrival in Flanders. The 2nd Battalion company joined at Leuze on April 18; and the two companies of the 3rd Battalion were (with the 2nd Battalion) in Sir Frederick Adam’s brigade at Waterloo.[147]
I have said that the five companies of the 3rd Battalion, on their return from the Peninsula disembarked at Plymouth, and moved into barracks there. On September 18, 1814, exactly two months after their arrival in England, they re-embarked for service; the commanding officer, Major Mitchell, and three companies on board the ‘Fox,’ and the other two companies on board the ‘Dover’ frigates. Their destination and the nature of their service were kept a profound secret, but they were, in fact, intended to effect a descent on the American coast near New Orleans. They reached Madeira on the 8th October, where they remained till the 11th, and having touched at Barbadoes early in November, anchored in Negril Bay, Jamaica, on the 25th. Here they were joined by four line regiments, and two West India regiments; and setting sail on the 29th, arrived off the American coast near Mobile on December 10, and on the 11th anchored near the Chandeleur Islands near the entrance to Lake Borgne.
New Orleans is situated on the left bank of the Mississippi, here about 800 or 1,000 yards across; below the town are great marshes, covered with reeds six or seven feet high. While on the river bank runs a strip of firm ground, varying from one to three miles across, and mostly under sugar plantations. From this the marsh extends six or seven miles to the shores of Lake Pontchartrain, which communicates by Lake Borgne with the sea.
It was deemed impossible to approach New Orleans by the Mississippi, as well because very strong works existed at its mouth, and on the way up to the city, as because the course of the river is so tortuous that no wind would have carried the ships up, without considerable delay. It was therefore resolved to disembark the troops on the shore of one of the lakes. But it was ascertained that the Americans, already cognisant of the intended invasion, had placed gun-boats on these lakes to prevent the landing. The previous destruction of these was therefore necessary; and this was effected in very fine style and in a very short time by the boats of the fleet under Captain Lockyer.
On the 15th the Riflemen were moved from the ships of war into brigs, which drew less water, but in which they were so crowded as to be unable to lie down or almost to turn. But even these were too deep for the shoal waters of the lake, and they were transferred into long boats, from which they were landed on the 19th on the Île au Poix (or as our men called it Pearl Island), formed by the branches of the Pearl river. The weather in moving from the ships to the island was very bad; and on arrival at it, it was found to be a perfect desert. Nothing but reeds grew on it, except a few scrubby pine-trees at one end. To add to their discomfort, a severe frost came on at night; the men were without shelter of any kind, and they suffered severely. And as all their supplies had to be furnished from the fleet, want of provisions was added to their other hardships.
On the 22nd the Battalion (which formed part of the advance under Colonel Thornton) embarked in boats, and about two o’clock pushed off to land on the mainland. The place decided on for their disembarkation was at the head of a creek called Bayou Catalan in Lake Borgne. The distance was between thirty and forty miles, and the men were so crowded in the boats that they could not move. They did not reach the entrance to the creek till after dark. As a picquet of the enemy was posted about half a mile up the creek, Captain James Travers, with his company, were placed in small boats and pushed forward. The picquet was stationed at some huts; near these Travers landed, and having moved his men to both ends of the huts, prevented the escape of the picquet, which was secured without a shot being fired. This was admirably effected; and was a most important service. For had this picquet escaped or raised an alarm, the landing would have been opposed. And this would have been a serious check; for on the morning of the 23rd, when the leading boat reached the narrow part of the Bayou it was found impracticable to ascend higher, and the boats being drawn up one after another the men passed over them as a bridge. This of course was a very slow operation, and one which, if opposed, would have been very difficult. The Battalion disembarked about an hour after daylight, having been upwards of sixteen hours cramped in the boats.
As soon as the whole advance were on shore, they marched, Travers’ company leading; and to give their force as imposing an appearance as possible, and to scour the country, they advanced with extended files. They moved in this order through a wood which skirted the swamp on this side, and as soon as they had cleared it, came upon a house, surrounded with out-buildings and huts for slaves, belonging to a M. Villeroy. The Battalion advancing at the double, took possession of it; and in this and some neighbouring houses took about thirty prisoners, and a good many stand of arms, belonging, as was supposed, to the local militia. Unhappily M. Villeroy escaped, and probably gave information to the enemy; this, before the night was over, entailed very disastrous consequences. The Battalion then advanced, and turning to the right, marched for about a mile on the road to New Orleans, and then bivouacked in a green field in quarter distance column.
The road ran near the river’s bank which was on the left; and an embankment about three or four feet high was thrown up to keep the overflow of the river from the cultivated ground, here about three-quarters of a mile or a mile broad; beyond this was a strip of wood, the way through which was, in fact, impracticable, the ground under the trees being wet and swampy. The cultivated land was much intersected with wet ditches, and divided by strong wooden palings five feet high.
On arriving at the bivouack Travers’ company, which had formed the advanced guard on the march, was pushed forward about a mile to the front, on the main road, as a picquet.
The troops halted somewhat after mid-day; and as the men had been without provisions since the morning before, they began as soon as dismissed to cook. While doing so, between three and four o’clock, firing was heard in the front from the picquet; it turned out to be in consequence of an American officer, attended by some mounted men, riding up to the picquet to reconnoitre. However, the Riflemen saluted him with a few shots, one of which wounded him, and another killed the horse of one of the party, on which they retired, getting off the wounded officer with them.
At nightfall, Captain Hallen’s company relieved Travers at the advanced picquet; and the men of the rest of the Battalion, being much fatigued by their uncomfortable night in the boats, their tedious landing, and their march, lay down in bivouack. They had torn down some of the palings dividing the fields, and had made good fires which then burned brightly. While they were thus, as they fancied, secure, a schooner dropped down the Mississippi, and guided by the light of their fires, opened a heavy cannonade upon them with great effect. The men of course were aroused and dispersed; but no shelter could be found, in this dead flat, except by crouching under the embankment by the riverside. Hallen had seen the schooner pass his post and had sent a man off to alarm the Battalion; but the schooner having the current of the river in her favour reached the bivouack before the Rifleman could get there.
While in this state of alarm from the sudden cannonade from the schooner, heavy and continued firing was heard in the front. A body of 5,000 Americans had attacked Hallen’s picquet, detaching 1,500 men through the wood to turn the right of the troops. Nobly Hallen kept them at bay; but being himself wounded, and his picquet threatened by such overpowering odds, reinforcements advanced from the Battalion. Meanwhile the enemy made way through the garden of a house on the right, where a picquet of the 85th had been placed; and the night being very dark, a hand to hand fight took place. Every deception was practised by the enemy; and having discovered (from prisoners probably made in the mêlée) the regiments opposed to them, they would call out, ‘Come on my brave ninety-fifth (or eighty-fifth),’ and then make those who advanced prisoners.
But this ruse was not always successful; more than once they found that instead of making Riflemen prisoners, they had themselves ‘caught a Tartar.’ On one such occasion an officer and some men of the Battalion made a body of the Yankees prisoners, and when they were desired to lay down their arms, the cowardly officer who commanded them made a stab at the 95th officer with a knife. He was summarily disposed of; for a Rifleman instantly shot him through the body.
Meanwhile the fight continued at Hallen’s post. Two battalions came up and fired volleys by word of command as at a drill. Not much to their advantage, for the Riflemen, warned by the words, ‘Ready! Present!’ took care to lie pretty close before the word ‘Fire!’ which, having been pronounced and obeyed, they sprang up, and gave them a severe return before they could reload. This continued for some time; but at last, the picquet was obliged to give way before superior numbers. Yet they only retired a little way to get under cover and re-form. Eventually the Riflemen advanced again, attacked their assailants, repulsed them, and regained the post. Hallen, as I have said, was wounded, so was Lieutenant Forbes, who held a separate post, and about forty men were killed or wounded. This defence by Hallen has truly been characterised as ‘an affair of posts but rarely equalled, and never surpassed in devoted bravery.’[148]
‘Had the expedition terminated more favourably,’ he who makes the foregoing remark goes on to observe, ‘it is to be presumed that the brave commander of the company would not have gone unrewarded.’ It may be so: this is the presumption; the fact is, that Hallen retired from the Service in 1824 with the rank of Captain, which he had obtained fifteen years before. Thus England rewarded acts of valour performed by all but her superior officers.
When the fire was first heard at Hallen’s picquet, Major Mitchell, taking with him twenty or thirty Riflemen, had hurried to the front to reinforce it. On the way, however, he fell in with a body of the enemy, whom, in consequence of the darkness of the night, he could not distinguish, and he and the men with him were made prisoners. Altogether the loss of the Battalion on that night was 6 Sergeants and 17 Riflemen killed; Captain Hallen, Lieutenants Daniel Forbes, (severely), and W. S. C. Farmer (slightly), 5 Sergeants and 54 Riflemen wounded; and Major Samuel Mitchell, 2 Sergeants, and 39 Riflemen missing. A total (exclusive of officers) of 123, or one-fifth of their whole number.
The loss of the Americans, who were finally driven off about midnight, must have been very great, for the field was strewn with their dead.
Yet still the schooner, and a ship which had joined her, inflicted amazing annoyance on our people. With a brutality happily unknown among European nations, they fired into the houses to which the wounded had been carried. One shot struck a house in which a wounded Rifleman was lying, and knocked away his knapsack, which he was using as a pillow, without doing him any actual injury.
However, this savage warfare was to end. On the night of the 25th a battery was constructed close to the river’s edge, and furnaces erected for heating red-hot shot. At daybreak on the 26th the battery commenced its fire on the schooner. Its crew, whose courage did not equal their cruelty, at once took to their boats and fled; the fourth shot set her on fire, and she soon afterwards blew up. While the ship, warned by her fate, and esteeming discretion as the better part of valour, had herself towed, as rapidly as possible, out of the range of the little English battery.