CHAPTER VIII: ROCROI
Gassion conducted the movements of the army so adroitly that he hadbrought it to within almost striking distance of the Spanish divisionsbefore Marshal l'Hopital perceived the fact that it was so placed thata battle was almost inevitable. He besought Enghien to fall back whilethere was yet time, pointing out the orders that had been given that abattle was not to be hazarded, and the terrible misfortunes that wouldfall upon France in case of defeat. Enghien, however, was deaf to hisadvice, and refused to acknowledge his authority.
Turenne, under similar circumstances, would have drawn off andforced the enemy to raise the siege by threatening their line ofcommunications; but Turenne thought nothing of personal glory, andfought only for France. Enghien, on the other hand, throughout hiscareer was animated by personal motives, and cared nothing for thegeneral welfare of France. Turenne was wholly unselfish; Enghien wasready to sacrifice anything or everything for his own glory or interest.At present, surrounded as he was by young nobles as eager to fight ashe was himself, and backed by Gassion, one of the most able andenterprising soldiers of the day, he declared that he had come tofight and would do so. Even had l'Hopital known the news that had beenreceived by Enghien, he would have been powerless to check or controlhim. A courier had indeed the day before brought the young duke adespatch containing the news of the king's death and peremptory ordersnot to fight. Enghien simply put the letter in his pocket, and thecontents were known only to Gassion and a few of his most intimatefriends.
De Malo was as anxious to bring on a general engagement as was his fieryopponent. He was kept well informed of what was going on in Paris,and knew that the king's death was imminent. His position on a plain,surrounded on all sides by woods and marshes with but one approach,and that through a narrow defile, was practically impregnable; and byoccupying the defile he could have kept the French at bay withoutthe slightest difficulty until Rocroi surrendered. He knew, too, thatGeneral Beck with a considerable force was hastening to join him; buthe feared that prudent counsels might at the last moment prevail in theFrench camp, or that the news of the king's death might reach them, andhe therefore left the defile open and allowed the French army to gainthe plain and form up in order of battle facing him, without offeringthe slightest opposition or firing a single gun.
It was late in the afternoon by the time the French were in position,and as both commanders were anxious that the battle should be adecisive one neither took any step to bring on the fight, but contentedthemselves with preparing for the encounter next morning. The night wascold and somewhat thick, and the positions of the two armies were markedby lines of fire. The march had been a long and fatiguing one, andsilence soon fell upon the scene. Enghien wrapped himself in his cloak,and, lying down by a watch fire, was speedily asleep, wholly unoppressedby the tremendous responsibilities that he had assumed, or the factthat he had risked the destinies of France for the sake of his personalambition, and that in any case the slaughter that must ensue in themorning would be terrible. Gassion, however, with a few of the olderofficers, sat for hours discussing the probabilities of the battle.Hector, remembering the manner in which Turenne exercised themost ceaseless vigilance, and nightly inspected all the outposts,endeavouring to ascertain the plans and positions of the enemy, had, asnight closed in, requested Gassion's permission to go the rounds.
"Certainly, if it so pleases you, Captain Campbell. The watchwordtonight is 'Conde', but I will in addition give you a pass enjoining allofficers to allow you to go where you please, you being on the staff ofthe prince. I shall go round myself later on, for de Malo may intend anight attack, by which he would certainly gain advantages. His troopsare fresh, while ours are weary. He has had every opportunity ofstudying the ground, while it is all new to us. Still, I hardly thinkthat he will move till morning. Enterprise is not the strong point ofthe Spaniards, they love to fight in solid bodies, and hitherto theirinfantry have never been broken by cavalry. At night they would losethe advantage of their steadiness of formation. It is clear, by hiswillingness to allow us to pass the defile and take up this position,that de Malo is absolutely certain of victory and will wait, fordaylight would permit him to make his expected victory a complete one,while at night great numbers of our army would be able to make theirescape through the woods."
Hector returned to the spot where his horses were picketed with thoseof Enghien's staff. He found Paolo lying down under a tree where hehad been ordered to take up his post, so that Hector could find him ifrequired.
"Are you asleep, Paolo?"
"No, master; I have been thinking about the battle tomorrow, and where Ihad best bestow myself."
"As to that, Paolo, I should say that you had better keep with theprince's servants here. You will, of course, have your horse saddled andbe ready to ride on the instant. If we are victorious there will be nooccasion for you to move, but if you see that we are beaten, my ordersare that you are not to think of waiting for me. I must keep with theothers. Doubtless the cavalry would cover the retreat, and it would bea serious inconvenience for me to have to come here to look after you,therefore as soon as you see that the day has gone against us mount andride. You can wait at our halting place of last night until you see theprince's party come along. If I am alive I shall be with them; if not,my advice to you is to ride south and to report yourself to Turenne.He will, I doubt not, either take you into his own service, or giveyou such strong recommendations that you will have no difficulty inobtaining a post with some officer of distinction should you wish tocontinue with the army. Now, I am going along our line of outposts, andI intend to reconnoitre the ground between us and the enemy. That iswhat Turenne would be doing were he in command here."
"I will go with you, master; when it comes to reconnoitering, methinksthat I am as good as another. I can run like a hare, and though abullet would go faster, I am quite sure that none of these heavily armedSpaniards would have a chance of catching me."
"I intended to take you with me, Paolo. We shall need as much care andcaution here as we did in getting into the citadel of Turin."
"I think, master, that it would be well for you to leave your armourbehind you. It will be of small avail if you fall into the midst of aband of Spanish spearmen, while it would be a sore hindrance in passingthrough these woods, and the lighter you are accoutred the better."
"That is so, and I will take your advice. I will give it into the chargeof the horse guard. I will, of course, take my sword and pistols, andyou may as well take yours."
"I like a knife better than a sword, master, but I will take the both. Ithink it would be as well for you to lay aside your helmet also, for thelight from one of these watchfires might glint upon it and catch the eyeof a Spaniard."
"You are right, Paolo; have you got the hat?"
"Yes, sir, it is here with your valises."
"That is certainly more comfortable," Hector said as he put it on. "Now,you had better carry the things across to that fire where the prince'sstaff are sitting. There is no fear of anyone interfering with themthere."
As soon as this had been done they started, picking their way carefullythrough numbers of sleeping men, and stopping once or twice to exchangea word with the groups still gathered round the fires. First they passedalong the whole line of outposts, answering the challenges by the words,"Officer of the prince's staff on duty." They found the sentries fairlyvigilant, for with so powerful an enemy within striking distance everysoldier felt that the occasion was one for unusual watchfulness. Ateach post Hector questioned the sentinels closely as to whether theyhad heard any sounds indicating the movement of troops in the intervalbetween the two armies, and in only one case was there an affirmativeanswer.
"I heard a sound such as might be made by the clash of armour against atree or by an armed man falling. I have listened attentively since, buthave heard nothing more."
"From which direction did the noise seem to come?"
"From across there, sir. It seemed to me to come from that copse in
thehollow."
"That is just what I thought might be likely, Paolo," Hector said as hewalked on. "That hollow ground between the armies, with its wood andlow brushwood, is just the place where an ambush might be posted withadvantage. Turenne would have taken possession of it as soon as darknessclosed in, for it would not only prevent the possibility of the armybeing taken by surprise during the night, but it might be invaluableduring the fight tomorrow, for a force ambushed there might take anadvancing enemy in the rear. We will go farther on till we get to apoint where the brushwood extends nearly up to our line. We will enterit there, and make our way along until we see whether de Malo has takenadvantage of our failure to utilize the wood."
As soon as they reached the point he indicated they moved forward,crouching low until they reached the bushes; then they crawled along,keeping outside but close to them. In this way they would be invisibleto any sentries posted near the edge of the wood, and would also avoidthe risk of drawing the enemy's attention by accidentally breaking adried branch or even snapping a twig. In ten minutes they entered thewood that extended along the greater portion of the hollow.
"Keep on your hands and knees," Hector whispered, "and feel the groundas you go to make sure that there are no broken branches that wouldcrack if you placed your knee upon them. We may come upon the Spaniardsat any moment. Keep close to me. Touch me if you hear the slightestsound, and I will do the same to you. The touch will mean stop. Moveyour sword along the belt till the handle is round at your back; inthat way there will be no risk of it striking a tree or catching in aprojecting root."
"I will do that, master, and will keep my knife between my teeth. It maybe that we shall come upon a Spanish sentinel who may need silencing."
"No, Paolo; only in the last extremity and to save our lives must weresort to arms. Were a sentry found killed in the morning they wouldknow that their position in the wood had been discovered. It is mostimportant that they should believe that their ambush is unsuspected."
Their progress was very slow. When they were nearly opposite thecentre of their position Paolo was suddenly touched by his master. Theylistened intently, and could hear at no great distance ahead low soundsat regular intervals.
"Men snoring," Paolo whispered in his ear.
They moved forward again even more cautiously than before. Presentlythey stopped, for at the edge of the wood facing the camp they heard aslight movement and a low clash of arms, as if a sentinel on the lookouthad changed his position. Feeling sure that the guards would all beplaced along the edge of the wood, they moved forward again, stoppingevery few yards to listen. There was no doubt now that they were closeto a large body of sleepers. Occasional snores, broken murmurs, and asound as one turned from side to side rose from in front of them.
"You go round on one side, I will go round on the other, Paolo. We willmeet again when we have passed beyond them. It is important that weshould form some estimate as to their numbers."
In half an hour they met again, and crawled along for some distance sideby side in silence.
"How many should you say, Paolo?"
"They were lying four deep as far as I could make out, master. I keptvery close to the outside line. I could not count them accuratelybecause of the trees, but I should say that there were about two hundredand fifty in a line."
"That was very close to what I reckoned them at. At any rate, it is aregiment about a thousand strong. They are musketeers, for several timesI went close enough to feel their arms. In every case it was a musketand not a pike that my hand fell on. Now we will go on till we areopposite our last watchfire, and then crawl up the hill."
They were challenged as they approached the lines.
"A friend," Hector replied. "An officer of the prince's staff."
"Give the countersign," the soldier said.
"Conde."
"That is right, but wait until I call an officer."
"Good! but make no noise; that is important."
The sentinel went to the watchfire, and an officer sitting there at oncerose and came forward.
"Advance, officer of the staff!" he said in low tones. "That is right,monsieur," he went on as Hector advanced close enough to be seen by thelight of the fire.
"I have a special pass signed by General Gassion," he said.
The officer took it, and looked at it by the light of the fire.
"That is all in order," he said as he returned it; "but the sentry hadthe strictest orders that no one coming from the side of the enemywas to be allowed to enter our lines, even if he gave the countersigncorrectly, until he had been examined by an officer."
"He did his duty, sir. One cannot be too careful on the eve of battle. Astraggler might stray away and be captured, and be forced under pain ofdeath to give up the countersign, and once in our lines much informationmight be obtained as to our position. However, I hardly think that anysuch attempts will be made. The Spaniards saw us march in and take upour position, and must have marked where our cavalry and artillery wereposted. Good night!"
The greater part of the night had already gone, for in May the daysare already lengthening out. After the troops had fallen out from theirranks wood had to be collected and rations cooked, and it was past teno'clock before any of them lay down, and an hour later, before Hectorleft on his expedition. The examination of the outposts had taken morethan an hour; it was now three o'clock in the morning, and the orderswere that the troops should all be under arms before daybreak. Hectorreturned to the spot where he had left General Gassion. All was quietthere now, and he lay down until, somewhat before five, a bugle sounded.The signal was repeated all along the line, and almost at the samemoment the Spanish trumpets told that the enemy, too, were makingpreparations for the day's work. General Gassion was one of the first tospring to his feet. Hector at once went up to him.
"I have come to report, general," he said, "that I have reconnoitredalong the whole line of wood in the hollow in front, and have found thata regiment of musketeers about a thousand strong have been placed inambush there."
"Then, by heavens, you have done us good service indeed, CaptainCampbell! They might have done us an ill turn had we advanced knowingnothing of their presence there. Nothing shakes troops more than asudden attack in the rear. Please come across with me and repeat thenews that you have given me to the prince himself."
There was bustle all along the line. The troops were falling into theirranks, stamping their feet to set the blood in motion, swinging theirarms, and growling at the sharp morning air. At the headquarters bivouacthe young nobles were laughing and jesting as they prepared to mount.
"Where is the prince?" Gassion asked.
"There he lies under his cloak, general. He is still fast asleep. Itis evident that the thought of the coming battle does not weigh heavilyupon him. I acknowledge that I have not closed an eye; I do not thinkthat any of us have done so."
So sound, indeed, was the prince's sleep that Gassion had to shake himalmost roughly to rouse him.
As soon, however, as his eyes opened he leapt to his feet. "I have had awonderful night," he laughed; "never have I slept more soundly on a downbed than on this hard ground, which, however, as I find, makes my bonesache wonderfully. Well, it is a fine day for a battle. What is yournews, Gassion?"
"It is important, monseigneur. Captain Campbell has spent the night inreconnoitering on his own account, and has discovered that a thousandSpanish musketeers are lying in ambush in the copse in the hollow."
"Is that so?" the duke said shortly. "Well, Captain Campbell, you haverendered us a vital service indeed, and one that I shall not forget.However, now we are forewarned, we shall know how to deal with them.If I should fall, Gassion, and you should survive, see that CaptainCampbell's service is duly represented. Now, to horse, gentlemen!"
The morning sun rose on the 20th of May on a brilliant scene. The twoarmies were disposed along slightly elevated ridges, between which laythe hollow with its brushwood and copses. Enghien commanded the cavalryon
the right wing, with Gassion as second in command. In place of hishelmet the prince wore a hat with large white plumes, remembering,perhaps, how Henri of Navarre's white plumes had served as a rallyingpoint. Marshal l'Hopital commanded the cavalry on the French left, Barond'Espenan commanded the infantry in the centre, and Baron Sirot thereserves. The right of the Spanish army was composed of the Germanhorse led by de Malo, the Walloons on the left were under the Duke ofAlbuquerque, while in the centre were the veteran Spanish infantry underthe command of General Fuentes, who had often led them to victory. Hewas too old and infirm to mount a horse, but lay in a litter in themidst of his hitherto unconquerable infantry.
All being ready on both sides, the trumpet sounded, and simultaneouslythe cavalry of both armies moved forward. Enghien moved farther tothe right, and then dashing down the slopes led his cavalry along thebottom, fell suddenly upon the musketeers in ambush and cut them topieces. Then galloping forward he fell upon the Spanish left in frontand flank. The impetuous charge was irresistible; the Walloons broke andfled before it, and were speedily scattered over the plain, pursuedby the victorious French. But upon the other wing de Malo's charge hadproved equally irresistible. L'Hopital's horse was broken and scattered,and, wheeling his cavalry round, de Malo fell upon the flank and rear ofd'Espenan's infantry, shattered them at once, captured the whole ofthe French artillery, and then fell upon the reserves. Baron Sirot, anofficer of great courage and ability, held them together and for a timerepelled the attack of the German cavalry; but these, inspirited bytheir previous success, continued their attacks with such fury that thereserves began to waver and fall back. Enghien was still in pursuit ofthe Walloons when an officer rode up with news of the disaster that hadbefallen the rest of the army. Enghien grasped the situation instantly,and his military genius pointed out how the battle might yet beretrieved. His trumpets instantly recalled his scattered squadrons, andgalloping round the Spanish centre he fell like a thunderbolt upon therear of de Malo's cavalry, already exulting in what appeared certainvictory.
Astounded at this unlooked for attack, they in vain bore up and triedto resist it; but the weight and impetus of the French assault bore allbefore it, and they clove their way through the confused mass of cavalrywithout a pause. Then wheeling right and left they charged into thedisorganized crowd of German horsemen, who, unable to withstand thisterrible onslaught, broke and fled, de Malo himself galloping off thefield with his disorganized troopers. Never was a more sudden changein the fate of a great battle. The French cause had appeared absolutelylost; one wing and their centre were routed; their reserves had sufferedheavily, and were on the point of giving way. Humanly speaking, thebattle seemed hopelessly lost, and yet in ten minutes victory had beenconverted into defeat, and the right and left wings of the Spanish armyhad ceased to exist as collected bodies. There remained the Spanishinfantry, and Enghien, recklessly courageous as he was, hesitated toattack the solid formation that had hitherto proved invincible.
While still doubting whether, having defeated the rest of the army,it might not be best to allow this formidable body to march awayunmolested, news reached him that General Beck, with his reinforcements,would be on the ground in an hour. This decided him, and he ordered thewhole of the guns that had been rescued from their late captors to beturned on the Spanish square, and then, collecting his cavalry into amass, dashed at it. The Spaniards remained motionless till the Frenchline was within twenty yards of them, then men stepped aside, a numberof guns poured their contents into the cavalry, while a tremendousvolley swept away their front line. So terrible was the effect, so greatthe confusion caused by the carnage, that had the Walloon cavalry beenrallied and returned to the field, the tide of the battle might againhave been changed; but they were miles away, and Enghien rallied his menwithout a moment's delay, while the French artillery again opened fireupon the Spanish square. Again the French cavalry charged and stroveto make their way into the gaps made by the artillery, but before theyreached the face of the square these were closed up, and the guns andmusketry carried havoc among the French squadrons, which again recoiledin confusion. Once more Enghien rallied them, and, when the Frenchartillery had done their work, led them forward again with a bravery asimpetuous and unshaken as that with which he had ridden in front of themin their first charge; nevertheless for the third time they fell back,shattered by the storm of iron and lead. Enghien now brought up hisartillery to close quarters, Baron de Sirot led up the infantry of thereserve, and the attack was renewed.
The aged Spanish general, though streaming with blood from severalwounds, still from his litter encouraged his soldiers, who, stern andunmoved, filled up the gaps that had been made, and undauntedly facedtheir foes. But the struggle could not be long continued. The square wasgradually wasting away, and occupied but half the ground which it hadstood upon when the battle began. And Fuentes, seeing that furtherresistance could only lead to the annihilation of his little band, feltthat no more could be done. There were no signs of Beck coming tohis assistance. Indeed the troops of that general had been met by thecavalry in their flight; these communicated their own panic to them, andsuch was the alarm that the division abandoned its baggage and guns andfled from the field, where their arrival might still have turned thetide of battle.
Fuentes at last ordered his officers to signal their surrender. Enghienrode forward, but, the Spanish soldiers believing that, as before, hewas but leading his cavalry against them, poured in a terrible volley.He escaped by almost a miracle, but his soldiers, maddened by what theybelieved to be an act of treachery, hurled themselves upon the enemy.The square was broken, and a terrible slaughter ensued before theexertions of the officers put a stop to it. Then the remaining Spaniardssurrendered. The battle of Rocroi was to the land forces of Spain a blowas terrible and fatal as the destruction of the Armada had been to theirnaval supremacy. It was indeed a death blow to the power that Spain hadso long exercised over Europe. It showed the world that her infantrywere no longer irresistible, and while it lowered her prestige itinfinitely increased that of France, which was now regarded as the firstmilitary power in Europe.
The losses in the battle were extremely heavy. The German and Wallooncavalry both suffered very severely, while of the Spanish infantry notone man left the battlefield save as a prisoner, and fully two-thirdsof their number lay dead on the ground. Upon the French side the losseswere numerically much smaller. The German cavalry, after routing thoseof l'Hopital, instead of following up the pursuit hurled themselves uponthe infantry, who broke almost without resistance. These also escapedwith comparatively little loss, de Malo leading the cavalry at onceagainst the French reserves. Among the cavalry commanded by Enghien theloss was very heavy, and included many gentlemen of the best blood ofFrance. There was no pursuit; half the French cavalry were far awayfrom the field, the rest had lost well nigh half their number, and wereexhausted by the fury of the fight; indeed, the fugitive cavalry weremiles away before the conflict ended. The gallant old general, Fuentes,expired from his wounds soon after the termination of the battle.
Hector was with the body of young nobles who followed close behindEnghien in the three first desperate charges. In the third his horse wasshot under him just as the cavalry recoiled from the deadly fire of thesquare. He partly extracted his foot from the stirrup as he fell, butnot sufficiently to free him, and he was pinned to the ground by theweight of the horse. It was well for him that it was so, for had hebeen free he would assuredly have been shot down as he followed theretreating cavalry. This thought occurred to his mind after the firstinvoluntary effort to extricate his leg, and he lay there stiff andimmovable as if dead. It was a trying time. The balls from the Frenchcannon whistled over his head, the musket shots flew thickly round him,and he knew that ere long the attack would be renewed.
Fortunately the fourth advance of the French did not come directlyover him, the commanders purposely leading their troops so as to avoidpassing over the ground where so many of the young nobles had fallen.Not until the las
t musket had been discharged and the cessation of thedin told that all was over, did he endeavour to rise. Then he sat up andcalled to two dismounted soldiers, who were passing near, to aid him.They at once came up, and soon lifted the horse so far that he was ableto withdraw his leg. His thick jackboot had protected it from injury,although it had been partly the cause of his misfortune, for the solehad caught against the side of the horse and so prevented him fromwithdrawing it. Nevertheless, his leg was so numbed that it was sometime before he could limp away. He retraced his steps towards the spotwhere he had mounted at starting. He had not gone far when he sawPaolo galloping towards him. The young fellow gave a shout of joy as herecognized him, and a minute later drew rein by his side and leapt offhis horse.
"Thank God I see you alive again, master! Are you wounded?"
"No; my horse was killed and fell upon my foot, and has no doubt bruisedit a bit, otherwise I am unhurt."
"It has been terrible, master. I climbed up into that tree beneath whichwe halted yesterday and watched the battle. I shouted with joy when Isaw Enghien clear out the ambuscade, and again when he drove the Walloonhorse away; then everything seemed to go wrong. I saw the marshal'scavalry on the left driven off the field like chaff before the wind.Then the centre broke up directly they were charged; and as the enemyfell upon the reserve it seemed to me that all was lost. Then I sawEnghien and his horsemen coming along like a whirlwind, bursting theirway through the enemy's horse, and in turn driving them off the field.I hoped then that the battle was all over, and that the Spanish infantrywould be allowed to march away; but no, my heart fell again when, timeafter time, our cavalry dashed up against them, and each time fell backagain, leaving the slope behind them covered with dead men and horses;and I shouted aloud when I saw the artillery move up and the reservesadvancing. As soon as I saw that the square was broken and a terriblemelee was going on, I knew that all was over, and could restrain myimpatience no longer, so I mounted my horse with, I may say, small hopeof finding you alive, seeing that you rode behind Enghien, whose whiteplumes I could see ever in front of the line."
"It has been a marvellous victory, Paolo, and there can be no doubt thatEnghien has covered himself with glory. It was his quick eye that sawwhat there was to be done, his brain that instantly directed the blowwhere alone it could be effectual, and his extraordinary bravery thatroused the enthusiasm of those around him to a point at which no manthought of his life. But for him it was a lost battle."
"Well, master, I am glad that we have won the battle, but that is asnothing to me in comparison that you have come out of it safely, and Ithink, master, that we have a right to say that we helped in some degreeto bring about the victory by discovering that ambuscade down in thehollow."
"That had not occurred to me, Paolo," Hector laughed. "No doubt it wasa fortunate discovery, for had the musketeers lain hidden there until wewere beaten back after our first charge, and then poured their fire intous, it would doubtless have thrown us into some confusion, and mighteven have caused a panic for a while."
"Now, master, if you will mount this horse I will be off and catchanother; there are scores of them running about riderless, some of thembelonging to the marshal's men, but many more to the Germans, and a fewthat galloped off riderless each time Enghien fell back."
"Don't take one of those, Paolo; it might be claimed by its master'slackeys; get one of the best German horses that you can find. You mightas well get two if you can, for I want a second horse while I am herewith the prince."