Recollections of Military Service in 1813, 1814, and 1815, through Germany, Holland, and France by Sgt. Thomas Morris

Author:Sgt. Thomas Morris [Morris, Sgt. Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781787203631
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Wagram Press
Published: 2017-01-23T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER VII.

“But now the trumpet, terrible from far,

In shriller clangours animates the war;

Confederate drums in fuller concert beat,

And echoing hills the loud alarm repeat:

Methinks I hear the drums’ tumultuous sound

The victors’ shout and dying groans confound;

The dreadful burst of cannon rend the skies.

And all the thunders of the battle rise.”

DURING the months of April and May the British were leaving the distant towns, and gradually concentrating as near as possible to the Belgian frontiers. The most impenetrable mystery seemed to be observed in reference to Napoleon’s future movements: that he was preparing for some daring enterprise, there was no doubt; but while waiting the development of his plans, we were placed in quarters with such arrangements, that the division could concentrate at a very short notice.

Our regiment, with the 30th second battalion, (ours also was a second battalion, the first battalions of both regiments being at the time in the East Indies,) were quartered on a sweet village, three miles from the town of Soignes; the latter place was the rallying point for the whole of our division.

Our situation here was pleasant in the extreme, as we had little duty to perform. I was quartered, with my comrade, at a mill about a mile and a half from the village. The family consisted of the miller, his wife, and two daughters of the ages of sixteen and seventeen; and as we were both young men and tolerably good looking, the old people were rather shy of us at first, keeping the girls always away from us in the daytime, and carefully locking them in their chamber at night; but as they became better acquainted with us, this reserve wore off, and they did not even object to the girls strolling with us through the meadows: nor had we any intention of abusing the confidence thus reposed in us. One of the girls was much attached to my comrade, and would not have needed much persuasion to become his wife.

In the beginning of June, my old friend Sergeant Burton was commissioned to go to the town of Soignes, to purchase some shoe leather for the regiment; his wife, who was about his own age, and as great an oddity as himself, would of course go with him, and he also requested me to accompany them. We selected the nearest road, across some fields, and reached the town about twelve o’clock; and after looking about us a little, we found a large currier’s establishment, the proprietor of which invited us in and exhibited his stock of leather, which I thought sufficiently large to provide shoes for the whole British army for two or three years. Sergeant Burton, who (amongst his other professions) had been a shoemaker, and was therefore a judge of leather, after making a careful selection of such materials as he thought proper, had them all placed together; Mrs. Burton, who carried the purse, paid for them (the amount was somewhere about ten or twelve pounds), and directions were given for them to be sent to the sergeant’s quarters.

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