Chapter 2: A Valiant Band.
The permission was not attended with the result that the youngprince's counsellors had hoped. For a time, James showed a livelypleasure when Desmond rode over to Saint Germain, walked with himin the gardens, and talked to him alone in his private apartments,and professed a warm friendship for him; but Desmond was not longin discovering that his first estimate of the prince's characterhad been wholly erroneous, and that his outburst at their firstmeeting had been the result of pique and irritation, rather thanany real desire to lead a more active life. Upon the contrary, hewas constitutionally indolent and lethargic. There were horses athis command, but it was seldom, indeed, that he would take thetrouble to cross the saddle, although walking was distasteful tohim. Even when speaking of his hopes of ascending the throne ofEngland, he spoke without enthusiasm, and said one day:
"It is a pity that it cannot be managed without fuss and trouble.I hate trouble."
"Nothing can be done worth doing, without trouble, Your Majesty,"Desmond said sturdily. "It almost seems to me that, if everythingcould be had without trouble, it would not be worth having."
"How do you mean, Mr. Kennedy?"
"I may illustrate it by saying, Sire, that no true fisherman wouldcare about angling in a pond, close to his house, and so full offish, that he had but to drop a baited hook into the water tobring up one immediately. The pleasure of fishing consists largelyin the hard work that it demands. It is, perhaps, miles to astream across the hills, and a long day's work may produce but ahalf dozen fish; but these the angler prizes in proportion to thetrouble he has had to get them. I think that, were I born heir toa throne, I would rather that it should cost me hardship, toil,and danger to obtain it, than walk into a cathedral, a few daysafter my father's death, and there be crowned."
"I do not agree with you, at all," James said, shortly. "Ifanything could not be had without toil, hardship, and danger, asyou say, I would willingly go without it."
"Then, Sire, I can only hope that the toil and danger may be borneby your devoted followers, and that you may be spared them,personally."
James looked sharply up at his companion, to gather whether thewords were spoken sarcastically, but Desmond's face, thoughflushed, was calm and serious. Nevertheless, indolent as he was,James felt that the words were a reproof; that, although he had atfirst liked him, there was in reality little in common between himand this energetic young fellow; and the next time he came, hereceived him with much less cordiality than before; while Desmond,who was beginning to tire of the companionship of one who lacked,alike, the fun and humour, and the restless activity of hiscomrades, Patrick and Phelim; and who saw that the professions ofJames's friendship were but short lived, came over to SaintGermain less frequently, until, at last, he only rode over withhis colonel, or when some duty called him there.
"So you have been a failure, Master Kennedy," the counsellor whohad first spoken to him said, one day, when the change in theking's manner became evident to them all.
"I am afraid so, sir," Desmond replied with a smile. "I have nodoubt that it was my fault. Perhaps I was not patient enough withhim; but, indeed, my efforts to rouse him to take exercise, topractise in arms, and so on, were so ill received, that I felt Iwas doing more harm than good."
"I was afraid that it would be so," the other said, regretfully."You see, during his later years, his father gave up his timealmost entirely to religious observances; and, consequently, thelad's life was very dull and monotonous. Constitutionally, heundoubtedly takes after his father, who, with all his virtues, wasat once indolent and undecided. We have observed, with regret, hisdisinclination to bestir himself in any way. Seeing that we, whowere his father's companions, are too old, or too much disheartened,to be lively companions for him, we had hoped that the talk of oneof spirit, and of his own age, might have roused him to make someexertions to overcome his disinclination for anything like activeexercise. I think now, however, that we were wrong; that the tonicwas too strong; that he could not but feel that your abundance ofspirits, and life, were too much for him; and that the companion heneeds is one who could, to some extent, sympathize with him, andwho could, perhaps, make more allowance for the manner in which hehas been brought up.
"We do not blame you at all. I am sure that you have done yourbest. But it is evident that the contrast between you and himselfhas been too strong a one; and that, feeling he cannot hope toemulate your soldierly activity, he has come to resent it, as asort of reflection upon himself."
Desmond was, by no means, sorry at being relieved of the necessityof paying frequent visits to Saint Germain. In the first place, hebegrudged the time that was taken from his fencing lessons, atwhich he had worked enthusiastically; and in the next, he hadfelt, after two or three visits, that between himself and theyoung king there was really nothing in common. Full of life andspirits himself, it seemed to him nothing short of disgracefulthat one, who aspired to rule, should take no pains whatever tofit himself for a throne, or to cultivate qualities that wouldrender himself popular among a high-spirited people. And, as hecame to understand James more thoroughly, he had found his visitsincreasingly irksome, all the more so, as he felt their inutility.
"Thank goodness," he said, to his two friends, when he went homethat day, "I have done with Saint Germain. I am as warm anadherent as ever of the cause of the Stuarts, and should beperfectly ready, when the time comes, to fight my hardest forthem; but I would vastly rather fight for the king, than conversewith him."
"I suppose, by what I have seen of him, that he must be somewhatwearisome," Phelim O'Sullivan said, with a laugh. "Fortunately,wit and gaiety are not essential qualities on the part of amonarch; but I must own that, treasonable as it may sound, I fearHis Majesty is lacking in other qualities, far more essential in amonarch. I should say that he is kindly and well disposed, hewishes to be fair and just, and may turn out a wise ruler; but heis altogether deficient in energy. I suppose there is no occasionfor a king, safely seated upon a throne, to be energetic; but aprince in exile should possess the qualities that exciteenthusiasm, and bind men to him. Possibly, the qualities KingJames possesses would be highly valued by the Scotch, but theywould certainly fail to inspire our people."
"Yes," Patrick O'Neil agreed. "His father did more to ruin hiscause, in Ireland, than all William's Dutch generals and troops,together. It was disheartening to be risking life and possessionsfor a man who would do nothing for himself, whose indecisionparalysed our leaders, and who, the moment a reverse came, soughtsafety in flight, instead of taking his place among the men whowere devoted to his cause. I can understand that, in England,where the majority of those who professed to be devoted to himwere betraying him, and were in secret communication with William,he should be by turns obstinate and vacillating; but in Ireland,where every man who surrounded him was risking his life in hiscause, he should have shown absolute confidence in them, listenedto their advice, set an example of personal gallantry and courage,and, at least, remained among them until all was definitely lost.It was the desertion of James, rather than the loss of the battleof the Boyne, that ruined his cause.
"Well, I am glad you are out of it, for it was a pity that youshould be going without your work at the salle d'armes, when youwere making such progress that, the master reported, in a fewmonths you would become one of the best swordsmen in theregiment."
There were, in Paris, many Irish officers besides those belongingto Colonel O'Brien's regiment. These were, for the most part, menwho had been severely wounded in the preceding campaign, and whonow remained in the capital with the depots of their regiments.These were constantly recruited by fresh arrivals from Ireland, bywhich means the Irish Brigade was not only kept up to theiroriginal strength, in spite of the heavy losses they suffered, inthe engagements in which they had taken part, but largelyincreased its force, new regiments being constantly formed.Naturally, O'Brien's corps, being the only complete regiment inParis, at the time, was regarded as the headquarters and generalmeeting place
of all the Irish officers there; and, as some ofthese had campaigned in Flanders, in Italy, and in Spain, Desmondlearned, from their talk and anecdotes, far more of the doings ofthe Brigade than he had hitherto known. From the first they had,by their reckless bravery, in almost every engagement that hadtaken place, so distinguished themselves that they received thehighest commendation from the French generals, and were almostinvariably selected for specially dangerous service.
"I think the hottest affair I was ever engaged in," a major, whohad served in Burke's regiment, said one evening, when some ten ortwelve of his companions had gathered, at the room which was thegeneral meeting place of the officers of the corps, "was at theattack on Cremona by Eugene. You have all heard how our regiment,and that of Dillon, distinguished themselves there, but you maynot have heard particulars. The place was a strong one, and it wasgarrisoned by some 4000 men--all French, with the exception of ourtwo regiments. Marshal Villeroy was himself in command; anexcellent officer, but, as is often the case in the French army,very badly served by his subordinates.
"Here, as you know, almost everything goes by influence; and thegenerals are surrounded by men who have been forced upon them bypowerful persons, whom they cannot afford to disoblige. Theconsequence was that, relying upon the strength of the place, noproper watch was set. There were guards, indeed, at the gates, butwith no communication with each other; no soldiers on theramparts; no patrols were sent out beyond the town, or maintainedin the streets.
"No harm might have come of this, had it not been that treacherywas at work. There was a scoundrel, who was brother of the priestof one of the parishes near the wall, and both were in favour ofthe enemy. The priest's residence was near a sewer, whichcommunicated with the moat outside the walls. The entrance wasclosed by an iron grating. Were this removed, troops could enter,by the sewer, into the priest's wine cellar.
"The priest, being promised a large sum of money, set to work.First, he laid a complaint before the governor that the sewer waschoked with filth, which might be a source of disease to the townunless removed; and to do this, it was necessary that the gratingshould be taken down. Being altogether unsuspicious of evil, thegovernor granted his request.
"As soon as the grating was removed, Eugene despatched eightminers, who crossed the moat at night, made their way up thesewer, and opened a communication between it and the priest'shouse. When all was ready, four or five hundred picked grenadiersentered, and were concealed in the house of the priest, and otheradherents of the emperor.
"Eugene set two strong bodies of picked troops in motion. The onewas to enter by the Saint Margaret gate, which would be seized bythe force already in the city. This column consisted of fivethousand men. The second force, of two thousand infantry and threethousand cavalry, under the Prince de Vaudemont, was to cross theriver by a bridge of boats.
"We slept like stupid dogs. Such watchmen as there were on thewalls gave no alarm. The gate of All Saints was seized, its guardbeing instantly overpowered, and a party of engineers broke downthe gate of Saint Margaret, which had been walled up; and atdaylight Eugene rode into the town, followed by his troops and onethousand cavalry; while another mounted force watched the gate,and the country round, to prevent the escape of fugitives.
"Before any alarm was given, Eugene had established himself at theHotel de Ville, was master of the great street that separated halfthe garrison from the other half, had taken possession of thecathedral; and, in fact, the place was captured without a shotbeing fired.
"Then the uproar began. Parties of troops, led by natives of thetown, seized a large number of officers at their lodgings; and asthe alarm spread, the troops seized their muskets and rushed out,only to be sabred and trodden down by the enemy's cavalry. I wasasleep, and dreaming, when my servant rushed into my room, andsaid:
"'The Germans are in possession of the town, Captain.'
"'You are a blathering idiot,' I said.
"'It's true, your honour. Get up and listen.'
"Very unwillingly, I got out of bed and opened the window, and, bythe holy poker, I found that Pat was right. There was a sound offiring, shouting, and screaming, and I heard the gallop of a heavybody of horsemen, and, directly afterwards, a squadron of Germancuirassiers came galloping down the street.
"'It is time for us to be out of this, Pat,' I said, and jumpedinto my clothes, quicker than I had ever done before.
"We went downstairs, and I borrowed two overcoats that we foundhanging there, and put them on over our uniforms. Then we wentout, by the back door, and ran as hard as we could, keepingthrough narrow lanes, to the barracks.
"On my way, I had to pass a barrier near a toll gate. Here therewere thirty-six of our men under a sergeant. Not knowing where theenemy were, or whether they were between me and the barracks, Ithought it best to stay there, and of course took the command.Just as I had done so, I heard the tramping of cavalry, and hadthe gate shut. We were just in time, for two hundred and fiftycuirassiers came galloping along.
"Their leader, Baron de Mercy, as soon as the troops began toenter Saint Margaret's gate, was ordered to dash round and capturethe Po gate, through which Vaudemont's corps would, after crossingthe bridge, enter the town. He shouted to me to surrender,promising us our lives. I told him that if he wanted the place, hewould have to come and take it. He used language which I need notrepeat, but he did not attack us, waiting for the arrival of fourhundred infantry, who had been ordered to follow him. They weresome time in coming up, having lost their way, owing to therascally native who was their guide being killed by a shot from awindow.
"I was not sorry for the delay, for it gave us time to look atmatters quietly, and prepare for defence. Another six hundredcavalry now came up, and Mercy placed them so as to cut off,altogether, the French cavalry, who were quartered away to theright; then he ordered the infantry to attack us.
"Our position was a good one. The barricade was formed of squarepiles, driven into the ground with small narrow openings betweenthem. I ordered the men to keep behind the timbers until the enemycame up. The Germans opened a murdering fire as they approached,but, though the bullets pattered like rain against the palisades,and whistled in between them, not a man was touched. I waited tillthey were within two paces, and then gave the word, and you maywell guess that there was not a bullet thrown away, and theGermans, mightily astonished, drew back, leaving nigh forty oftheir men behind them. Then, falling back a bit, they opened fireupon us, but it was a game that two could play at. We could seethem, but they could not see us; and while we loaded our musketsin shelter, they were exposed, and we picked them off by dozens.
"The firing had, of course, given the alarm to our two regiments,who turned out just as they were, in their nightshirts. MajorO'Mahony, who was in command of Dillon's regiment, as Lally wasaway on leave, luckily made his way in safety from his lodgings tothe barracks, got his own men in order, while Colonel Wauchop, whocommanded our regiment, took the command of the two battalions.Fortunately, a portion of the regiment had been ordered to fall inearly for inspection, and this gave time for the rest to get intotheir uniforms; and, as soon as they were ready, Wauchop led themout and fell suddenly upon a portion of Mercy's force, poured in avolley, and then charged them.
"Horse and foot fell back before the attack. Then they turned thecannon on the ramparts, and thus secured possession of the Pogate, and, pushing on, the guns helping them, drove the Austriansfrom the houses they occupied, and so opened communications withthe French cavalry.
"A brigadier now came up, and ordered the battalions to barricadeall the streets they had won, with barrels and carts. A Frenchregiment arrived, and occupied the church of Saint Salvador, andthe battery which commanded the bridge, across which Vaudemont'scorps could now be seen approaching. The redoubt on the other sideof the bridge was only held by fifty men, and they were nowstrengthened by a hundred of the French soldiers. The Austriansapproached, making sure that the town had already been taken, andlooking out for a signal that was to be hoisted. T
heir astonishmentwas great, when a heavy musketry fire was opened upon them by thegarrison of the outpost, while the guns of the battery on the wallplunged their shot in among them.
"The column was at once halted. Eugene had regarded the struggleas over, when news was brought to him of the defeat of Mercy'scorps by the Irish. Everywhere else things had gone mostfavourably. Marshal Villeroy had been wounded and made prisoner.His marechal de camp shared the same fate. The ChevalierD'Entregues, who advanced to meet the enemy, was defeated andkilled, as was Lieutenant General de Trenan, and the SpanishGovernor of the town mortally wounded.
"On receiving the news, Eugene at once sent an officer to inspectthe Irish position; but his report was that they were too wellplaced to be driven from it. He then sent Captain MacDonnell, anofficer in his service, to offer, if the Irish would leave theirposition, to enrol them in the Austrian service, with higher paythan they now received. You may guess the sort of answer hereceived, and he was at once arrested for bringing such a messageto them. Eugene then endeavoured to engage Marshal Villeroy toorder the Irish to lay down their arms, as further resistancewould only end in their slaughter. Villeroy simply replied that,as a prisoner, he could no longer give orders.
"During this pause, the Count de Revel and the Marquis de Queslinsucceeded in gathering together a considerable number of thescattered French infantry, and with these they marched toendeavour to recover the gates that had been lost, and, havingoccupied the church of Santa Maria, and a bastion near the gate ofAll Saints, ordered the Irish to leave a hundred men at thebarricades, and with the rest to push forward to the gate ofMantua. So I found myself in command of a full company.
"O'Mahony was now in command of the two regiments, as Wauchop hadbeen wounded. It was pretty hard work they had of it, and theysuffered heavily in carrying the guardhouse, held by two hundredAustrians. Eugene now launched a great force against our people,and attacked them on all sides; but O'Mahony faced them each way,and received the charge of the cuirassiers with so heavy a firethat they fled in disorder. Another corps of cuirassiers came up,and these charged with such fury that their leader, Monsieur deFreiberg, pushed his way into the middle of Dillon's regiment,where he was surrounded, and, refusing quarter, was killed; andhis men, disheartened by the fall of their leader, fled, carryingwith them the infantry who were ranged in their rear.
"But our men were now exhausted by their exertions, and sufferedheavily; and O'Mahony, seeing that he was likely to be attacked byfresh troops, and that my post guarding the approach of the Pogate would then be left altogether unsupported, returned to it. Iwas glad enough when I saw them coming, for it was mighty tryingwork being left there, and hearing the storm of battle going onall round, and knowing that at any moment we might be attacked.
"They did not stop long, for orders came from Revel, who hadcaptured the gate of All Saints, and was preparing to attack SaintMargaret's, to march again to the gate of Mantua. It seemed ahopeless enterprise. Captain Dillon, of Dillon's regiment, marchedout and, after hard fighting, drove the Austrians from house tohouse; but, on reaching a spot where the ground was open, he wasattacked on all sides, and for a time the enemy and our men weremixed up together in a melee.
"I could hear by the sound of the firing that our men werereturning, and posted my fellows so as to cover their retreat; andas they came back, hotly pressed by the enemy, we opened so warm afire that they passed in through the gate of the barrier insafety, but only half as strong as they had gone out.
"As soon as they were in, they aided us in strengthening theposition. Seeing that Vaudemont's corps was on the point ofattacking the redoubt, the Marquis de Queslin sent orders to thelittle garrison there to withdraw across the bridge, and destroythe boats. This they effected, in spite of the heavy fire kept upby the enemy.
"In the meantime, fighting had been going on all over the town.The gate of Mantua had been held by Captain Lynch, of Dillon'sbattalion, and thirty-five men. As soon as he heard the din ofbattle in the town, he collected a few fugitives, entrenched hisposition at the guardhouse, and maintained it for the whole day;not only that, but, finding that his position was commanded by aparty of Austrians, who had taken post in the church of SaintMarie, close by, he sallied out, drove them from the church, andmaintained possession of that as well; until, late in theafternoon, he was reinforced by two companies of our regiment, whomade their way this time without opposition.
"The enemy fell back, but not unmolested, as, sallying out, wepressed hotly upon them. There now remained only the gate of SaintMargaret in the hands of the Austrians. Here a large body oftroops had been stationed, and succeeded in repulsing the repeatedattacks made upon them by Revel's force.
"The fight had now lasted for eleven hours, and the position ofthe Austrians had become critical. The desperate resistance of ourmen had entirely changed the position. They had repulsed everyattack upon them, had given time for the scattered French togather, and the one gate remaining in Eugene's possession wasseriously threatened. Vaudemont's corps was helpless on the otherside of the river, and could render no assistance, and Eugene gavethe order for his troops to retire, which they did in good order.
"It had been a hot day, indeed, for us, and we were only too gladto see them go. We had lost three hundred and fifty men, out ofthe six hundred with which we began the fight; altogether, thegarrison had lost, in killed, wounded, and in prisoners, fourteenhundred men and officers, while Eugene's loss was between fifteenand sixteen hundred.
"Personally, I have had hotter fighting, but taking the dayaltogether, it was the most terrible through which I have everpassed. Throughout the day we were in total ignorance of what wasgoing on elsewhere, though we knew, by the firing in other partsof the town, that the French there had not been overpowered, and,each time the regiments left us, I was expecting every moment tobe attacked by an overwhelming force. Faith, it was enough to makeone's hair white! However, I have no reason to grumble. I obtainedgreat praise for the defence of the barrier, and was given mymajority; and, if it had not been for the wound I received, twoyears ago, which incapacitated me from active service, I might nowbe in command of the regiment."
"Yes, indeed," another officer said. "It was truly a gallantaffair; and, although our men had fought equally as well in manyanother engagement, it was their conduct at Cremona that attractedthe greatest attention, and showed the French the value of theBrigade. I would we had always been employed in actions on whichwe could look back, with the same pride and pleasure, as we canupon Cremona and a long list of battles where we bore the brunt ofthe fighting; and never failed to be specially mentioned withpraise by the general.
"The most unpleasant work that I ever did was when under Marshalde Catinat. Eight Irish battalions were sent up, in 1694, fromPignerolle into the valley of La Perouse, to oppose the Vaudois,who had always offered a vigorous resistance to the passage of ourtroops through their passes. They were wild mountaineers, andHuguenots to a man, who had, I believe, generations ago beenforced to fly from France and take refuge in the mountains, andmaintained themselves sturdily against various expeditions sentagainst them.
"I own the business was not at all to my taste, and many others ofour officers shared my opinions. It was too much like what weremembered so bitterly at home, when William's troopers pursuedour fugitives to the hills, burning, destroying, and killing, and,above all, hunting down the priests. This was the other way, butwas as cruel and barbarous. The poor people had given no offence,save that they held to their own religion. An Irishman should bethe last to blame another for that, and, seeing they hadsuccessfully opposed the efforts of the French to root them out,it was much against my will that I marched with my regiment. Ihope that, when it comes to fighting against regular troops, ofwhatever nationality, I am ready to do my work; but to carry fireand sword among a quiet people, in little mountain villages, wentagainst the grain.
"It seemed to us that it was to be a massacre rather thanfighting, but there we were mistaken. It was the hardest work thatI e
ver went through. It was impossible in such a country to movein large bodies, and we were broken up into small parties, whichadvanced into the hills, each under its own commander, without anyfixed plans save to destroy every habitation, to capture or killthe flocks of goats, which afforded the inhabitants their chiefmeans of subsistence, and to give no quarter wherever theyresisted.
"Even now, I shudder at the thought of the work we had to do;climbing over pathless hills, wading waist deep through mountaintorrents, clambering along on the face of precipices where a falsestep meant death, and always exposed to a dropping fire frominvisible foes, who, when we arrived at the spot from which theyhad fired, had vanished and taken up a fresh position, so that thewhole work had to be done over again. Sometimes we were two oreven more days without food, for, as you may imagine, it wasimpossible to transport provisions, and we had nothing save whatwe carried in our haversacks at starting. We had to sleep on thesoaked ground, in pitiless storms. Many men were carried away anddrowned in crossing the swollen torrents. Our clothes were neverdry. And the worst of it was, after six weeks of such work, wefelt that we were no nearer to the object for which we had beensent up than we were when we started.
"It was true that we had destroyed many of their little villages,but as these generally consisted of but a few houses, only roughbuildings that could be rebuilt in a few days, the gain was not asubstantial one. We had, of course, killed some of the Vaudois,but our loss had been much heavier than theirs, for, active as ourmen were, they were no match in speed for these mountaineers, whowere as nimble as their own goats, knew everything of the country,and could appear or disappear, as it seemed to us, almost bymagic. It was a wretched business, and once or twice, when ourparties were caught in the narrow ravines, they were overwhelmedby rocks thrown down from above; so that, on the whole, we lostalmost as many men as we should have done in a pitched battle,gaining no credit, nor having the satisfaction that we were doinggood service to France.
"I hope I may never be employed in a business like that again. Itwas not only the Vaudois that we had to fight, for, seeing that atfirst we were pushing forward steadily, the Duke of Savoy, underwhose protection they lived, sent six hundred regular troops toassist them, and these, who were well commanded, adopted the sametactics as the peasants, avoiding all our attempts to bring on anengagement, and never fighting except when they had us to greatadvantage.
"As a rule, our men were always dissatisfied when they receivedorders to fall back, but I think that there was not a man among usbut was heartily glad, when we were recalled to rejoin Catinat atPignerolle."
The expedition, however, although altogether unsuccessful inrooting out the Vaudois, created such terrible devastation in themountains and valleys that the Irish name and nation will longremain odious to the Vaudois. Six generations have since passedaway, but neither time nor subsequent calamities have obliteratedthe impression made by the waste and desolation of this militaryincursion.
"You were at Blenheim, were you not, Captain O'Donovan?"
"Yes. A tough fight it was, and a mismanaged one. I was in theEarl of Clare's regiment, which, with Lee and Dorrington'sbattalions, was stationed with the force in Oberglau in the centreof our position. It seemed to us, and to our generals, that ourposition was almost impregnable. It lay along a ridge, at the footof which was a rivulet and deep swampy ground. On the right of theposition was the village of Blenheim, held by twenty-sevenbattalions of good French infantry, twelve squadrons, andtwenty-four pieces of cannon. Strong entrenchments had been thrownup round our position, but these were not altogether completed.Blenheim, moreover, had been surrounded by very heavy and strongpalisades, altogether impassable by infantry, and, as the alliescould not hope to get cannon across the stream and swamps, itseemed to defy any attack. From Oberglau the army of Marshal deMarcin and the Elector stretched to the village of Lutzingen. Wehad some five-and-twenty cannon at Oberglau.
"The weak point, as it afterwards turned out to be, was the crestbetween us and Blenheim. Considering that both the artillery andmusketry fire from both villages swept the slope, and as innumbers we equalled the enemy, it was thought well-nigh impossiblefor him to cross the swamps and advance to the attack; and almostthe whole of the French cavalry were massed on the crest, in orderto charge them, should they succeed in crossing and try to ascendthe slope.
"At first the battle went altogether favourably. We had oppositeto us the English, Dutch, Hanoverians, and Danish troops underMarlborough, while facing our left were Prussians, Imperialists,and other German troops under Eugene. Marlborough's Danish andHanoverian cavalry first crossed, but were at once charged anddriven back. Then they tried again, supported by English infantry.Then Marlborough led up a still stronger force, drove back ourlight cavalry, and began to ascend the hill. We were attacked byten battalions--Hanoverians, Danes, and Prussians, while theEnglish bore against Blenheim. The fighting at both places wasdesperate, and I must do the Germans the justice to say thatnothing could have exceeded the gallantry they showed, and that,in spite of the heavy fire we maintained, they pressed up theslope.
"We remained in our entrenchments, till it could be seen that theEnglish were falling back from Blenheim, whose palisade, manned bytwenty-seven battalions of infantry, offered an obstacle thatwould have defied the best troops in the world to penetrate.
"Immediately this was seen, nine battalions, headed by our threeregiments, leapt from the trenches and poured down on the Germans.The enemy could not withstand our onslaught. Two of theirregiments were utterly destroyed, the rest suffered terribly, andwere driven back. On the left, Marcin held his ground against allthe attacks of Eugene, and it seemed to us that the battle waswon.
"However, it was not over yet. While the fierce fighting had beengoing on in front of Oberglau and Blenheim, Marlborough had passedthe whole of his cavalry and the rest of his infantry across therivulet, and, in spite of artillery and musketry fire, these movedup in grand order, the infantry inclining towards the two villagesas before, the cavalry bearing straight up the slope, and, whenthey reached the crest, charging furiously upon our horsestationed there. They were superior in numbers, but on this headaccounts differ. At any rate, they overthrew our cavalry, who fledin the greatest disorder, pursued by the allied horse.
"The infantry poured into the gap thus made, Blenheim was entirelyisolated, and we were exposed to assault both in front and rear.Nevertheless, we repulsed all attacks, until Marcin sent ordersfor us to retire; then we sallied out, after setting fire to thevillage, flung ourselves upon the enemy, and succeeded in cuttingour way through, our regiment forming the rear guard. The whole ofMarcin's army were now in full retreat, harassed by the alliedcavalry; but whenever their squadrons approached us, we facedabout and gave them so warm a reception that they attacked lessformidable foes. As for the garrison in Blenheim, you know theywere at last surrounded by Marlborough's whole force, withartillery; and with the Danube in their rear, and no prospect ofsuccour, they were forced to surrender.
"It was a disastrous day, and I have not yet recovered from thewound I received there. Had five thousand infantry been posted ina redoubt, halfway between Blenheim and Oberglau, so as to givesupport to our cavalry, the result of the battle would have beenvery different. Still, I suppose that most battles are lost bysome unlooked-for accident--some mistake in posting the troops. Wecan only say that, had the allied forces been all composed of suchtroops as those Eugene commanded, they would have been beatendecisively; and that had, on the contrary, Eugene commanded suchtroops as those under Marlborough, Marcin would never have heldhis ground."
"How many British troops were there in the battle, CaptainO'Donovan?"
"Somewhere about twelve thousand, while the Continental troopswere forty-seven or forty-eight thousand. There is no doubt thatthey were the backbone of the force, just as we flatter ourselvesthat our three regiments were the backbone of the defence ofOberglau."