Part 10 (2/2)

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

CHAP. XVII.

Battle of the Nivelle, and Defeat of the Enemy. A Bird of Evil Omen. Chateau D'Arcangues. Prudence. An Enemy's Grat.i.tude.

Pa.s.sage of the Nive, and Battles near Bayonne, from 9th to 13th December.

BATTLE OF THE NIVELLE,

November 10th, 1813.

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

Pet.i.te La Rhune was allotted to our division, as their first point of attack; and, accordingly, the 10th being the day fixed, we moved to our ground at midnight, on the 9th. The abrupt ridges in the neighbourhood enabled us to lodge ourselves, unperceived, within half-musket-shot of their piquets; and we had left every description of animal behind us in camp, in order that neither the barking of dogs nor the neighing of steeds should give indication of our intentions.

Our signal of attack was to be a gun from Sir John Hope, who had now succeeded Sir Thomas Graham in the command of the left wing of the army.

We stood to our arms at dawn of day, which was soon followed by the signal-gun; and each commanding officer, according to previous instructions, led gallantly off to his point of attack. The French must have been, no doubt, astonished to see such an armed force spring out of the ground almost under their noses; but they were, nevertheless, prepared behind their entrenchments, and caused us some loss in pa.s.sing the short s.p.a.ce between us; but the whole place was carried within the time required to walk over it; and, in less than half-an-hour from the commencement of the attack, it was in our possession, with all their tents left standing.

Pet.i.te La Rhune was more of an outpost than a part of their position, the latter being a chain of stupendous mountains in its rear; so that while our battalion followed their skirmishers into the valley between, the remainder of our division were forming for the attack on the main position, and waiting for the co-operation of the other divisions, the thunder of whose artillery, echoing along the valleys, proclaimed that they were engaged, far and wide, on both sides of us.

About midday our division advanced to the grand attack on the most formidable looking part of the whole of the enemy's position, and, much to our surprise, we carried it with more ease and less loss than the outpost in the morning, a circ.u.mstance which we could only account for by supposing that it had been defended by the same troops, and that they did not choose to sustain two _hard_ beatings on the same day. The attack succeeded at every point; and, in the evening, we had the satisfaction of seeing the left wing of the army marching into St.

Jean de Luz.

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

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

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

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

On the 20th of November a strong reconnoitring party of the enemy examined our chain of posts. They remained a considerable time within half-musket-shot of one of our piquets, but we did not fire, and they seemed at last as if they had all gone away. The place where they had stood bounded our view in that direction, as it was a small sand-hill with a mud-cottage at the end of it; after watching the spot intensely for nearly an hour, and none shewing themselves, my curiosity would keep no longer, and, desiring three men to follow, I rode forward to ascertain the fact. When I cleared the end of the cottage, I found myself within three yards of at least a dozen of them, who were seated in a group behind a small hedge, with their arms laid against the wall of the cottage, and a sentry with sloped arms, and his back towards me, listening to their conversation.

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

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

The only instance of a want of professional generosity that I ever had occasion to remark in a French officer, occurred on one of these occasions. We were about to push in their outposts, for some particular purpose, and I was sent with an order for Lieutenant Gardiner of ours, who was on piquet, to attack the post in his front, as soon as he should see a corresponding movement on his flank, which would take place almost immediately. The enemy's sentries were so near, as to be quite at Mr. Gardiner's mercy, who immediately said to me, ”Well, I wo'n't kill these unfortunate rascals at all events, but shall tell them to go in and join their piquet.” I applauded his motives, and rode off; but I had only gone a short distance when I heard a volley of musketry behind me; and, seeing that it had come from the French piquet, I turned back to see what had happened, and found that the officer commanding it had no sooner got his sentries so generously restored to him, than he instantly formed his piquet and fired a volley at Lieutenant Gardiner, who was walking a little apart from his men, waiting for the expected signal. The b.a.l.l.s all fell near, without touching him, and, for the honour of the French army, I was glad to hear afterwards that the officer alluded to was a militia-man.

BATTLES NEAR BAYONNE,

December 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th, 1813.

The centre and left wing of our army advanced on the morning of the 9th of December, and drove the enemy within their entrenchments, threatening an attack on their lines. Lord Wellington had the double object, in this movement, of reconnoitring their works, and effecting the pa.s.sage of the Nive with his right wing. The rivers Nive and Adour unite in the town of Bayonne, so that while we were threatening to storm the works on one side, Sir Rowland Hill pa.s.sed the Nive, without opposition, on the other, and took up his ground, with his right on the Adour and his left on the Nive, on a contracted s.p.a.ce, within a very short distance of the walls of the town. On our side we were engaged in a continued skirmish until dark, when we retired to our quarters, under the supposition that we had got our usual week's allowance, and that we should remain quiet again for a time.

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