The American Sharpe Page 12
How does the music come on? You ought to be a capital performer and the other young ladies ought to be making good progress. My fluting has died away for want of practise. I lost my flute last campaign with the rest of my baggage, and have not played since, not having been able to get another. We have an excellent band in our battalion, I do not think there is a better in the service, they have a very good collection of Spanish music. When we come to England I will get you copies of the best of what they have. English music, especially what is new, is a rarity here, it is only from the bands of regiments lately come out that we hear it. I think after all I have heard no music equal in real harmony, no music which appeals so directly, so forcibly to heart, as the original simple Scottish airs. The Spanish music is however very pretty though there is no great variety in it, the patriotic and national songs are very good and very pleasing when sung by two females, for the Spaniards, as well as Portuguese and Germans have a natural taste for music which is not in the English, if two, four or any number of persons to beguile whatever work they may be about strike up a song, they divide themselves into first, second and even third and sing a treble, tenor and bass, as correctly as if it were composed for them. It is very beautiful to hear a whole troop of German dragoons on a night march, strike up with one accord, and instead of roaring away on one discordant key (as many Englishmen would do were they inclined to be musical) sing a regular first, second, and third to their national martial airs.
His letter was interrupted by the advance over the Bidassoa and resumes:
France 14 October 1813
What we have long wished for has at last taken place; on the morning of the 7th ultimo, our division with the Spaniards under Generals Giron and Longa1 attacked the Pass of Vera, while the 1st and 5th Divisions of British, and the Galician army crossed the Bidassoa at its mouth and entered France on the enemy’s right. The mountains we attacked over which is the Pass of Vera were the only part of the Pyrenees the enemy had still possession of. It is very strong and they had added to its natural strength by field works, but as we were superior in number we turned them out of their position with little loss. The principal sufferers were the Portuguese cacadores and our 2nd Battalion which has had three officers killed and five wounded. Two of those killed were very unfortunate, they were Lieutenants Campbell and Hill2, fine young men, but a few [days] arrived from England, and this was the very first time they ever were in action. We are now encamped in France, on a height commanding a fine view of St Jean de Luz (and about 3 miles from that place) also a view of the sea and of the interior of France as far as the eye can search. It is a beautiful abundant country, and is a very agreeable change from the place we left in Spain for we have abundance of forage here of all kinds. I yesterday saw a beautiful sight. We observed a French brig come out of the River Adour and coast along towards St Jean de Luz. As soon as she was perceived by our cruisers she was chased. One of them came up with and brought her to action, as the wind blew off shore she could not get away, and after a short time returning the fire of the vessel that attacked her, her crew got into boats and after setting fire to her, left her, after burning a short time she blew up with a beautiful explosion, precisely at the same time the Spaniards on our right having pushed on too far in advance towards the French village of Sare were attacked, thus there was a land and sea fight at the same time. We have been on this ground now a week but expect every day to move on and drive the enemy beyond the Adour. We have papers up to the 28th yet I have received no letters these four last mails. Shocking idle people! Remember me to all my friends. Tell my aunt I expect soon to hear from her and believe me dear Laura, yours affectionately James P Gairdner.
15th October Major Watts has just sent me a ham from Passages a sea port about 4 leagues from this which is the only intimation (and that not a disagreeable one you may suppose) I have had of his arrival in this country.
JPG Nothing new.
The Journal now abruptly resumes:
Journal of November 1813 - July 18143
November
19th Our post was relieved this morning by the right wing of the 43rd, we marched to our quarters4 which are very good, our company and ourselves are in the same house but we are very well off. There was an explosion heard last night or rather this morning at about 3 o’clock which is supposed to have been an attempt of the enemy to blow up the causeway of the house occupied today by the 3rd Division. The same rainy weather as usual. I was told by a woman in Bassussarry last night that her husband had just returned to the village and that he had been taken by Marshal [Blank – Soult?] (who was reconnoitring which caused all this skirmishing) as a guide.
20th This is the first fine day we have had since the 12th. I was on forage duty.
21st I went on command this morning with the bat men to Renteria [Errenteria] for corn for the regiment, went through St Jean de Luz (a very nice place, completely French, there are excellent inns, coffee houses and shops and some beautiful houses in it, the harbour appears to be very bad). Head quarters & 2 batteries of Guards are in St Jean de Luz. Urrugne, Irun & Oiartzun to Renteria where I arrived just before dark, Renteria is full of sick, I could not get a billet in the town, but got one a quarter of a league off, which was of no use to me, I was obliged [to] lay in a field with the bat men. The line of works that the enemy had from the sea (in front of St Jean de Luz) to the foot of La Rhune appears to be very strong and the works very well constructed.
22nd Got the corn after a great deal of trouble at about 10 o’clock today, set off at about 12, crossed the Bidassoa and halted for the night in a deserted house on this side of it.
23rd Returned to the cantonments of the regiment by the same road viz through Urrugne, St Jean de Luz &c. I found when I arrived at the cantonments that our division had this morning been engaged in driving back the enemy’s picquets in order to take up a more secure line for our own. We have by this means thrown forward our left, the picquets are now in front of Bassussarry and the reserve of the picquets in it. There is a lake on our left in front of the 2nd Brigade picquets. In consequence of this move ours and the 3rd Battalion have been obliged to give up our good quarters and occupy some villainous houses in the neighbourhood of the Chateau d’Arcangues. The 43rd by going further than they ought to have done had a lieutenant killed & a captain taken prisoner.5
24th I walked up to the picquets today, there is from one of the picquet houses a very good view of Bayonne, which is between two & three miles off. The town does not appear to be fortified except by field works at which the enemy are labouring very hard, there is a citadel on the other side of the river, regularly fortified with large barracks inside.
There has been a packet from England since I went away on command containing most glorious news from Germany.6
25th Blank
26th I had a letter today from an officer of the heavy dragoons, they are on the Ebro. Drew a bill for £50 today at 6 per dollar. We are fortifying the Chateau Bassussarry & the church where the 3rd Battalion was.
27th Our battalion relieved the outpost of Bassussarry this morning, there is a better line of picquets than before but we are ridiculously close to each other. Our company on inlying picquet today. Showery.
28th We relieved the right hand outlying picquet this morning. We have a vidette at this picquet which is alternately a man of the 18th Hussars & one of the German hussars. The French have a vidette within about 40 yards who is also a German and when our vidette is a German they generally converse together. Some officers came down to the picquet today & saluted us very politely. Rainy day, very bad night. We have made abattis7 in front of our picquets.
29th Relieved by the right wing of the 43rd Regiment this morning. Rainy.
30th November-2nd December. Blank
3rd Went to Arbonne today on a board of survey.8
4th Very ill last night.
5th Not quite well yet.
6th Fine day, went to St Jean de Luz, saw Colonel Barnard who was wounded very ba
dly on the 10th & who is now nearly recovered. There were some pontoons passed through our cantonments last night, it is said that our right is to cross the Nive & move on as soon as the weather will permit.
7th Our battalion relieved the brigade outpost at Bassussarry this morning. A packet has arrived with glorious news from the north.
8th Our company on outlying picquet today. The right of the army consisting of General Hill’s Corps & Marshal Beresford’s (the 3rd & 6th Divisions) are to cross the Nive & move on tomorrow, the picquets of the 3rd Division which were on our right were relieved this evening by the 7th Division, we are not to be relieved until the evening.
Chapter 12
The Battle of the Nive
Wellington’s army was inconveniently placed with his force penned between the sea on its left and the River Nive on their right and with the fortified city of Bayonne in its front. To break out of this straitjacket, Wellington pushed a large portion of his army across the Nive, where it could advance around Bayonne, whilst his remaining troops continued to hold positions around Arcangues. Wellington’s problem however was that Soult was able to easily pass his army through Bayonne and could bring superior numbers against either wing of Wellington’s army. This critical situation was compounded when the pontoon bridges over the Nive were broken during heavy rains leaving the two wings isolated and unable to support each other.
The Light Brigade suffered from the first of the heavy attacks launched by the French on the left wing at Arcangues.
9th About day break the firing commenced on the right, but we did not hear much the whole day in that direction, soon after the firing of musketry commenced on the left by Sir John Hope’s Corps which continued very heavy the whole day & which was sometimes accompanied by artillery, which I believe belonged to the enemy. We could both see & hear that Sir J. Hope’s people were giving ground. Towards evening our left picquets attacked those of the enemy which ran in without firing a shot to their entrenched camp. The picket opposite our company which was the right picquet, retired on seeing this & we advanced & took possession of the house that they left, on which they commenced firing on us. We established our picquets on this line but during the night they were drawn in to the old place. We were relieved before dark by the right wing of the 43rd & we returned to our cantonments. General Hill I hear met with scarcely any opposition and is now on the Adour. The 4th Division were brought up to support ours in case of any attack. Showery day.
10th About two hours after day break the enemy in great force attacked and drove in our picquets & those of General Hope’s corps on whom they made a desperate attack, with us then was a terrible confusion, and though the picquets had observed the enemy’s force collecting in their front for some time, yet when the[y] did attack, they took some of them completely by surprise. When our company arrived at the Chateau d’Arcangues we were ordered to halt there for that the division was to maintain that position, the rest of the battalion came in by companies as the[y] could, but our company was sent out from the chateau to reoccupy the ridge in front of it in order to support the 3rd Battalion who were actually retiring from the ridge when we received to order to occupy it to support them. This was mentioned to the commandant who however had not sense to comprehend that it was not only useless but dangerous to send one company up to occupy a ridge on which we were not able to communicate right & left.
However we were ordered to go, leaving a subdivision at the house below the chateau; Hopwood & myself went up with the advanced subdivision and felt our way to the top of the ridge with a few men, the enemy had not yet occupied it but were close to it and immediately after we arrived there, one ball went through the heads of both Hopwood & Sergeant Brotherwood (thus died uselessly two as brave soldiers as ever stepped [out], I have since heard our commandant attempt to maintain that it was not his intention we should occupy this place, that however I will always assert whenever I hear the subject mentioned, to be false. Both Hopwood & myself were too well aware of the useless danger we were going to meet, to run into it without an order, I said and always shall say that Hopwood lost his life through the ignorance of the commanding officer and if Colonel Barnard had commanded the regiment this day poor Hopwood, Brotherwood and the other sufferers of the company this day could have been spared). I went up to Hopwood as soon as I saw him fall, took him by the hand and called him by his name, he half opened his eyes which were closed but never spoke, his brains were knocked out of the wound. This melancholy event left me in command of the company, as I was under the eyes of the commanding officer and so situated that it was in his power by sound of bugle to order me to retire when he thought proper, I (though I knew that every moment I remained there hazarded the loss of the whole subdivision which I had there, for we could not see ten yards before us, and as we were advanced considerably out of the line of skirmishers, the enemy were on our right & left in our rear, I confess I never expected to return with a sound skin) determined not to quit this place until I was either driven from it or ordered from it, the former of which happened very soon for the enemy seeing we were unsupported and out of our place, sent some men who came through the hedge on our left & fired into us, we ran into the road & retired to the house the other subdivision was at and I certainly never ran quicker in my life, a help of that kind gives a man a wonderful agility. We kept the house, beyond which we ought never to have advanced & were relieved at dark by another company. This house is established as a picquet house & the line drawn from it right & left is a very good one, when relieved we returned to the chateau. General Sir J Hope1 has been attacked this morning in a very desperate manner with very superior forces, which he has repulsed, he is himself slightly wounded & has lost many men. The tirallaide lasted on all sides until dark.
The 4th Division moved up to support us immediately, for they were but a short distance in the rear, the 3rd which had crossed the water came up on the right of the 4th at about midday. Sir L. Cole2 had orders to defend this position until the last. We had an officer taken prisoner today & about 18 men3. Rainy day.
Captain John Kincaid records4 that ‘An officer of ours, Mr Hopewood, and one of our serjeants, had been killed in the field opposite, within twenty yards of where the enemy’s skirmishers now were. We were very anxious to get possession of their bodies, but had not force enough to effect it. Several French soldiers came through the hedge, at different times, with the intention, as we thought, of plundering, but our men shot every one who attempted to go near them, until towards evening, when a French officer approached, waving a white handkerchief and pointing to some of his men who were following him with shovels. Seeing that his intention was to bury them, we instantly ceased firing, nor did we renew it again that night.’
Following the Battle of Leipzig when the allies beat Napoleon’s army severely, the German states began transferring their allegiance to the allies, seeing this as their opportunity to throw off the French yoke. There were however a number of German regiments serving with the French army and these now sought opportunities to secretly pass over to the allies.
On the night of 10 December three German battalions marched from the French lines into those of the British. Wellington had received prior knowledge of their intention to pass over to the allies and he had promised that they would not be made prisoners of war, but would be immediately transported to Germany to help in the overthrow of Napoleon there. Two Nassau battalions of the 2nd Nassau Regiment and the Frankfurt Battalion passed over this night. The Baden Battalion was to have been a part of this, but failed because its commander, who was the only one in on the secret, had been wounded that very day during the fighting. Marshal Soult reacted the following day by disarming the Baden Battalion and word was passed to Marshal Suchet in Catalonia forcing him to disarm the 1st Nassau Regiment, and all Wurzburg and Westphalian troops with his army, causing him a loss of 2,400 men.
11th The brigade of Nassau (the same which was opposite to our division when we first came on the heights of Vera)
deserted last night to Sir J. Hope, they had been engaged very sharply during the day and at night came over, Staff and all. The deserters from the enemy are very great now, the deserters say that he [Soult] has seven divisions on this side of Bayonne, that the army all together consists of nine divisions, making altogether about 55,000 men, whereof about 3,000 are cavalry. General Kempt, our brigadier, wanted to take the ridge opposite the chateau which is the enemy’s line of picquets (the same poor Hopwood was killed on) and establish our picquets there, he called some of us and showed his plan of attack which was to have been made by ours & the 3rd Battalion 95th. General Alten did not approve of the attack and I believe every man & officer in the regiment was of the same opinion (for my own part recollecting the ground beyond it I felt convinced that though we might take, we could never keep it) luckily it was not done. There was a good deal of firing on the left which I understand was occasioned by the enemy trying to retake some ground Hope took from them. Foy is with a division still at St Jean de Pied de Port. I relieved Lee’s5 Company on picquet this evening. Rainy.