CHAPTER XIV. THE WAR IN FLANDERS. CAMPAIGN OF 1692. 1692. JULY 24 TO END OF September. March of the Allies to Estinkerke.-Preparations of the French.-Confusion of the Allied Column of march.-Commencement of the Action.-Death of General Mackay.-Effect upon the French.-The charge of the French and Swiss Guards.-Death of Sir Robert Douglas.-Conduct of Count Solmes.-Retreat of the English.-Charge of the Allied Dragoons.-Charge of the Lunenburg regiment. Charge of the Tenth and the Buffs.-The combat on the Allied right. The Retreat of the Allied Army.-The reasons of the failure at Estinkerke.-Losses of the two armies.-Conduct of the Princesse de Vaudemont.-Close of the Campaign. --Bombardment of Charleroi. [For Illustrations, see Note on p. xiii.] AN hour before day-break the advanced guard marched off while the rest of the army was falling in.459 First stepped off about one and thirty pioneers 459 from Churchill's brigade, equipped with axes, picks, and spades, besides their arms and accoutrements. These men were to clear the way, to open fences, to cut down trees and chop away brushwood, so as to admit of at least one column marching unimpeded the whole way all these pioneers 460 were to receive a fatigue money of a ducat each. Following the pioneers came the second battalion of the First Foot-Guards, all armed with fusils and plugbayonets as well as swords (except those who carried pikes). Next were two crack Danish regiments called the Guards and the Queen's.459 Then came the first battalion of the Royals, the Twenty-first or Scots Fusileers .and Fitzpatrick's regiment of Fusileers.459 The Duc de Wirtemberg commanded the whole of this Division, which formed the van-guard. 459 Scarcely had the sun's first rosy streaks appeared on the horizon,159 when the whole army (with the exception of a small D'Auvergne. ***The duties of pioneers were at this time considered degrading to the soldier because sometimes ordered by way of punishment; hence the payment: See Chap. XXVI on Punishments. body left in camp as a baggage-guard) was in motion. Throughout the lovely summer morning, over the charming fresh meadows glittering with dew, that huge force moved along, like an enormous snake winding through the hedgerows, on its direful errand of violent death and bloodshed. Numbers of those gallant English soldiers, as they tramped cheerfully onward, were going to their execution. The chatting was as free, the ribald jest and the thoughtless oath as unrestrained as usual: yet hundreds of those men were witnessing the glorious sun-rise for the last time, and were for the last time hearing the woods awake to a fresh day with a fresh song from amongst the branches. Now in the opening dawn they were a splendid band of strong and fearless men, exulting in their might and in their profession;-that night either in agonised suffering, with burning wounds and parched tongues, or in the rigidity of death, they would be lying helpless in the mire, trampled upon by horses and oxen, and stripped by miscreants, and none would heed them. Perchance in that bright morning march some few saw these things as in a vision; perchance here and there one whispered to a comrade a parting message for the home in England that neither would ever see more. Ah War! Glorious War! like Janus it has two faces: it has one magnificent in its manly beauty lit up with the consciousness of power and pride of victory; but it has another scarred, disfigured, bleeding, pitiably contorted with suffering, and full of supplication and reproach. When we enter Westminster Abbey, let us not forget to honour also the unsepulchred soldier. De Luxembourg was not the general to be taken entirely by surprise and notwithstanding his faith in his spy's information, 461 he had several parties of observation out. One of the largest of these was commanded by M. de Trassy or Tracey; 462 this party was stationed on the heights near Tubise. De Trassy sent word to his chief 462 that the Allies were quitting their camp in silence; neither trumpet nor drum was to be heard,461 and the circumstance was suspicious. They are foraging, 163 thought de Luxembourg. The enemy marches towards Sainte Reynelde, de Trassy advised.461 They go to Ninove, decided de Luxembourg. 461 De Luxembourg Dispatch of July 25/Aug. 4, 1692. 462 D'Auvergne. De Luxembourg. 463 De Bonneval, Mémoires, Lond. 1737. De Feuquiere. Berwick. .461 Another party sent to say that a large body of cavalry had appeared towards the Sennette, but that they had out mowers; the mowers were indeed at work, but only as a blind. It is then certain that they are bent only on foraging, was de Luxembourg's very natural conclusion. However, the duc, who happened that morning to be sick and disinclined to rise, got on horseback and with his staff rode to the hill in front of his right,464 in order to decide whether there were danger of an attack or not. A trooper rode up with a note from de Trassy 461 stating that the enemy had certainly guns out, and almost, if not quite, the whole of his army; and that the direction taken was unmistakeably towards the French camp. Scarcely had de Luxembourg read the note when the English Guards 464 appeared through the trees, making towards the very spot on which the French general was standing. It was now nearly eleven o'clock.459 The Duc de Wirtemberg's Division debouched on to the plateau of the Bois de Rouskou (Ill. LIX). Pushing on across the ravine, de Wirtemberg stationed the Guards 459 and the Danes in the Bois du Feuilly, and he placed the other three English battalions 459 in front of the Bois de Zoulmont; the two parties were thus separated by a ravine, the Guards and Danes being on a spur of the same plateau as the enemy, and the others having between them and the enemy the long ravine full of hedges and fences.459 De Wirtemberg posted some guns he had with him, one battery betwixt the woods, and one to the right of his Division. De Luxembourg, having first sent an express to de Boufflers 461 to bid him come up speedily, had galloped away to stimulate his troops and to hasten the arrangements for checking the enemy. The French soldiers stood hurriedly to their arms : powder-horns were shaken and gibecières felt to make sure that they were full; grass and rubbish were hastily pocketed for wadding. The officers moved briskly along the ranks, marshalling the men with pikes and partisans. Staff officers rode hither and thither, their plumes and sashes streaming to the wind, bringing up troops to the right: all was hurry and anxiety. But no confusion was there, in this the finest army in the world. De Luxembourg, energetic but never too excited, inspired his troops with confidence in him and in themselves. 464 Berwick. De Luxembourg. The two regiments of Bourbonnois infantry had turned out first,165 they took up position slightly in advance of the right wing, just where they had their camp, and immediately facing the English regiments. A battery was brought to near the same spot to reply to de Wirtemberg's fire. 465 On both sides there was displayed considerable skill in the working of the guns. A Captain Mackraken, of the Royals, proved a capital shot and had great success in laying the guns; he made one marvellously good aim,459 enfilading a whole rank of a French battalion so that nearly every man of it fell. On the other hand the left battery of the French (for more guns had come up) under an officer of the Commissariat named Roussel,465 never threw away a shot. For nearly two hours the firing continued.459 De Luxembourg lost not a moment of this valuable respite. The three regiments of Champagne 165 and the French Household were brought up to the left of the Bourbonnois, so as to line the whole length of the ravine as far as the enemy extended on the other side of it. A second line strengthened the front,465 and in some places even a third and a fourth. On the extreme right were some regiments of dismounted dragoons which reached nearly to the brink of the river.465 In rear of the whole was a strong body of cavalry. Between the right and Enghien 465 was more cavalry, prepared to cross the long ravine and act on the plateau beyond it. The left of the position was not unprotected. The whole of the cavalry of the left wing was drawn out on advantageous ground and as much infantry as could be spared from the right defence 465 was posted behind Enghien in readiness to support on either side of the town. Wherever it was possible in the time,466 trees were felled and laid as a sort of breastwork, and full advantage was taken of the hedges and copses 467 which covered the face of the country. Meantime, the Allies were debouching from the narrow lanes, and through the gaps cut by the pioneers, at the Bois de Stordoi. But a very grave oversight had been committed, and one which could not be rectified: the left wing of the cavalry had 465 De Luxembourg. 466 Sterne. 467 De Luxembourg. De Bonneval. D'Auvergne. marched in front of the army, notwithstanding that William's desire had all along been to seek a combat of infantry and to evade one of cavalry. He had at much trouble sought an engagement at this particular spot because the ground did not admit of the action of cavalry, except in a very limited degree. Yet now that the time for action had arrived, the infantry could not get to the front, because the narrow ways were blocked up with masses of cavalry: 468 the main body of infantry was a mile off when the battle began. Fortunately there were several English Foot regiments interlined with that portion of the English cavalry which was leading; and these were brought to the front, the Horse drawing up aside to suffer them to pass.468 The Cameronians, with Cutts's, Graham's, and Mackay's, were advanced to the right of de Wirtemberg's Division; 468 and the Sixth, and Twenty-fifth, with Lauder's, supported the front line. The whole of the rest of the English cavalry was also ordered to the front,468 and it formed up on a small hedgeintersected plain to the right rear of the infantry. This was the first occasion on which a whole brigade of British regular cavalry was engaged on the Continent, and a finer body there was not on the field. To the right were the Life Guards (Ill. LX) in their scarlet clothing covered with gold and silver lace, carbine on knee, and all superbly mounted: the Third and Fourth Dragoon-Guards, 468 the Carabineers, and Langston's Horse, made up the heavy brigade; the Fourth Dragoons being there also. Thus nearly the whole of the troops upon whom the burden of the fight devolved were English. About half past twelve de Wirtemberg gave orders for the attack.468 The Guards and the Danes led off. Almost at the same time the Royals,468 Twenty-first (Ill. LXI), and Fitzpatrick's fusileers advanced. With that advance (slow, steady, and cool), for which our soldiers have since become so famed, the red line moved unhesitatingly forward, a dark gap appearing every moment at each discharge of the enemy's cannon. The slope was covered with hedge-rows: 469 the French guns were so near the brow of the hill that a terrible fire could be poured down point blank the Frenchmen, sheltered behind fences or felled wood, were enabled unhindered to rain bullets upon their advancing foe. 468 D'Auvergne. 469 De Feuquiere. |