by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XXI
THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT.
The year after the capture of Cadiz, Lionel Vickars sailed under SirFrancis Vere with the expedition designed to attack the fleet whichPhilip of Spain had gathered in Ferrol, with the intention, it wasbelieved, of invading Ireland in retaliation for the disaster at Cadiz.The expedition met with terrible weather in the Bay of Biscay, and putback scattered and disabled to Plymouth and Falmouth. In August theyagain sailed, but were so battered by another storm that the expeditionagainst Ferrol was abandoned, and they sailed to the Azores. There,after a skirmish with the Spaniards, they scattered among the islands,but missed the great Spanish fleet laden with silver from the west, andfinally returned to England without having accomplished anything, whilethey suffered from another tempest on their way home, and reachedPlymouth with difficulty.
Fortunately the same storm scattered and destroyed the great Spanishfleet at Ferrol, and the weather thus for the second time saved Englandfrom invasion. Late in the autumn, after his return from theexpedition, Sir Francis Vere went over to Holland, and by his advicePrince Maurice prepared in December to attack a force of 4000 Spanishinfantry and 600 cavalry, which, under the command of the Count ofVarras, had gathered at the village of Turnhout, twenty miles fromBreda.
A force of 5000 foot and 800 horse were secretly assembled atGertruydenberg. Sir Francis Vere brought an English regiment, andpersonally commanded one of the two troops into which the Englishcavalry was divided. Sir Robert Sidney came with 300 of the Englishgarrison at Flushing, and Sir Alexander Murray with a Scotch regiment.The expedition started on the 23d of January, 1598, and after marchingtwenty-four miles reached the village of Rivels, three miles fromTurnhout, two hours after dark.
The night was bitter cold, and after cooking supper the men wraptthemselves up in their cloaks, and lay down on the frozen ground untildaybreak The delay, although necessary, enabled the enemy to make theirescape. The news that the allies had arrived close at hand reachedCount Varras at midnight, and a retreat was at once ordered. Baggagewaggons were packed and despatched, escorted by the cavalry, and beforedawn the whole force was well on its road. Prince Maurice had set offan hour before daybreak, and on reaching Turnhout found that therear-guard of the enemy had just left the village. They had broken downthe wooden bridge across the River Aa, only one plank being leftstanding, and had stationed a party to defend it.
Maurice held a hasty council of war. All, with the exception of SirFrancis Vere and Sir Marcellus Bacx, were against pursuit, but Mauricetook the advice of the minority. Vere with two hundred Dutch musketeersadvanced against the bridge; his musketry fire drove off the guard, andwith a few mounted officers and the two hundred musketeers he set outin pursuit. He saw that the enemy's infantry were marching but slowly,and guessed that they were delayed by the baggage waggons in front.
The country was wooded, and he threw the musketeers among the treeswith orders to keep up a dropping fire, while he himself with sixteenhorsemen followed closely upon the enemy along the road. Theirrear-guard kept up a skirmishing fire, slightly wounding Vere in theleg; but all this caused delay, and it was three hours before theyemerged on an open heath, three miles from the bridge. Vere placed hismusketeers among some woods and inclosed fields on the left of theheath, and ordered them to keep up a brisk fire and to show themselvesas if advancing to the attack. He himself, reinforced by some morehorsemen who had come up, continued to follow in the open.
The heath was three miles across, and Vere, constantly skirmishing withthe Spanish infantry, who were formed in four solid squares, keptwatching for the appearance of Maurice and the cavalry. At length thesecame in sight. Vere galloped up to the prince, and urged that a chargeshould be made at once. The prince assented. Vere, with the Englishcavalry, charged down upon the rear of the squares, while Hohenloheswept down with the Dutch cavalry upon their flanks. The Spanishmusketeers fired and at once fled, and the cavalry dashed in among thesquares of pikemen and broke them.
Several of the companies of horse galloped on in pursuit of the enemy'shorse and baggage. Vere saw that these would be repulsed, and formed upthe English cavalry to cover their retreat. In a short time thedisordered horse came back at full gallop, pursued by the Spanishcavalry, but these, seeing Vere's troops ready to receive them,retreated at once. Count Varras was slain, together with three hundredof the Spanish infantry. Six hundred prisoners were taken, andthirty-eight colours fell into the victor's hands.
The success was gained entirely by the eight hundred allied horse, theinfantry never arriving upon the field. The brilliant little victory,which was one of the first gained by the allies in the open field, wasthe cause of great rejoicings. Not only were the Spaniards no longerinvincible, but they had been routed by a force but one-sixth of theirown number, and the battle showed how greatly the individual prowess ofthe two peoples had changed during the progress of the war.
The Archduke Ernest had died in 1595, and had been succeeded by theArchduke Albert in the government of the Netherlands. He had with himno generals comparable with Parma, or even with Alva. His troops hadlost their faith in themselves and their contempt for their foes.Holland was grown rich and prosperous, while the enormous expenses ofcarrying on the war both in the Netherlands and in France, togetherwith the loss of the Armada, the destruction of the great fleet atFerrol, and the capture of Cadiz and the ships there, had exhausted theresources of Spain, and Philip was driven to make advances for peace toFrance and England. Henry IV., knowing that peace with Spain meant anend of the civil war that had so long exhausted France, at onceaccepted the terms of Philip, and made a separate peace, in spite ofthe remonstrances of the ambassadors of England and Holland, to both ofwhich countries he owed it in no small degree that he had been enabledto support himself against the faction of the Guises backed by thepower of Spain.
A fresh treaty was made between England and the Netherlands, SirFrancis Vere being sent out as special ambassador to negotiate. Englandwas anxious for peace, but would not desert the Netherlands if they ontheir part would relieve her to some extent of the heavy expensescaused by the war. This the States consented to do, and the treaty wasduly signed on both sides. A few days before its conclusion LordBurleigh, who had been Queen Elizabeth's chief adviser for forty years,died, and within a month of its signature Philip of Spain, whoseschemes he had so long opposed, followed him to the grave.
On the 6th of the previous May Philip had formally ceded theNetherlands to his daughter Isabella, between whom and the ArchdukeAlbert a marriage had been arranged. This took place on the 18th ofApril following, shortly after his death. It was celebrated atValencia, and at the same time King Philip III. was united to Margaretof Austria.
In the course of 1599 there was severe fighting on the swampy islandbetween the rivers Waal and Maas, known as the Bommel-Waat, and a freshattempt at invasion by the Spaniards was repulsed with heavy loss, SirFrancis Vere and the English troops taking a leading part in theoperations.
The success thus gained decided the States-general to undertake anoffensive campaign in the following year. The plan they decided uponwas opposed both by Prince Maurice and Sir Francis Vere as beingaltogether too hazardous; but the States, who upon most occasions wereaverse to anything like bold action, upon the present occasion stoodfirm to their decision. Their plan was to land an army near Ostend,which was held by the English, and to besiege the town of Nieuport,west of Ostend, and after that to attack Dunkirk. In the opinion of thetwo generals an offensive operation direct from Holland would have beenfar preferable, as in case of disaster the army could fall back uponone of their fortified towns, whereas, if beaten upon the coast, theymight be cut off from Ostend and entirely destroyed. However, theiropinions were overruled, and the expedition prepared.
It consisted of 12,000 infantry, 1600 cavalry, and 10 guns. It wasformed into three divisions. The van, 4500 strong, including 1600English veterans, was commanded by Sir Francis Vere; the seconddivision by Count Everard Solms; the rear divi
sion by Count Ernest ofNassau; while Count Louis Gunther of Nassau was in command of thecavalry. The army embarked at Flushing, and landed at Philippine, atown at the head of the Braakeman inlet.
There was at the time only a small body of Spaniards in theneighbourhood, but as soon as the news reached the Archduke Albert atBrussels he concentrated his army round Ghent.
The troops had for some time been in a mutinous state, but, as wasalways the case with them, they returned to their habits of militaryobedience the moment danger threatened.
The Dutch army advanced by rapid marches to the neighbourhood ofOstend, and captured the fort and redoubts which the Spaniards hadraised to prevent its garrison from undertaking offensive operations.
Two thousand men were left to garrison these important positions, whichlay on the line of march which the Spaniards must take coming fromBruges to Nieuport. The rest of the army then made their way across thecountry, intersected with ditches, and upon the following day arrivedbefore Nieuport and prepared to besiege it. The Dutch fleet had arrivedoff the town, and co-operated with the army in building a bridge acrossthe little river, and preparing for the siege.
Towards the evening, however, the news arrived from Ostend, nine milesaway, that a large force of the enemy had appeared before one of theforts just captured. Most of the officers were of opinion that theSpanish force was not a large one, and that it was a mere feint toinduce the Dutch to abandon the siege of Nieuport and return to Ostend.Sir Francis Vere maintained that it was the main body of the archduke'sarmy, and advised Maurice to march back at once with his whole force toattack the enemy before they had time to take the forts.
Later on in the evening, however, two of the messengers arrived withthe news that the forts had surrendered. Prince Maurice then, inopposition to Vere's advice, sent off 2500 infantry, 500 horse, and 2guns, under the command of Ernest of Nassau, to prevent the enemy fromcrossing the low ground between Ostend and the sand-hills, Vereinsisting that the whole army ought to move. It fell out exactly as hepredicted; the detachment met the whole Spanish army, and broke andfled at the first fire, and thus 2500 men were lost in addition to the2000 who had been left to garrison the forts.
At break of day the army marched down to the creek, and as soon as thewater had ebbed sufficiently waded across and took up their positionamong the sand-hills on the sea-shore. The enemy's army was already insight, marching along on the narrow strip of land between the foot ofthe dunes and the sea. A few hundred yards towards Ostend thesand-hills narrowed, and here Sir Francis Vere took up his positionwith his division. He placed a thousand picked men, consisting of 250English, 250 of Prince Maurice's guard, and 500 musketeers, partly upontwo sand-hills called the East and West Hill, and partly in the bottombetween them, where they were covered by a low ridge connecting the twohills.
The five hundred musketeers were placed so that their fire swept theground on the south, by which alone the enemy's cavalry could pass onthat side. On the other ridge, facing the sea, were seven hundredEnglish pikemen and musketeers; two hundred and fifty English and fiftyof the guard held the position of East Hill, which was most exposed tothe attack. The rest of the division, which consisted of six hundredand fifty English and two thousand Dutch, were placed in readiness toreinforce the advanced party. Half the cavalry, under Count Louis, wereon the right of the dunes, and the other half, under Marcellus Bacx, onthe left by the sea.
The divisions of Count Solms and Count Ernest of Nassau were also onthe sea-shore in the rear of West Hill. A council of war was held todecide whether the army should advance to the attack or await it. Vereadvised the latter course, and his advice was adopted.
The archduke's army consisted of ten thousand infantry, sixteen hundredhorse, and six guns. Marshal Zapena was in command, while the cavalrywere led by the Admiral of Arragon. They rested for two hours beforeadvancing--waiting until the rise of the tide should render the sandsunserviceable for cavalry, their main reliance being upon theirinfantry. Their cavalry led the advance, but the two guns Vere hadplaced on West Hill plied them so hotly with shot that they fell backin confusion.
It was now high tide, and there were but thirty yards between the seaand the sand-hills. The Spaniards therefore marched their infantry intothe dunes, while the cavalry prepared to advance between the sand-hillsand the cultivated fields inland. The second and third divisions ofMaurice's army also moved away from the shore inland. They now numberedbut three thousand men, as the four thousand five hundred who had beenlost belonged entirely to these divisions, Sir Francis Vere's divisionhaving been left intact. It was upon the first division that the wholebrunt of the battle fell, they receiving some assistance from thethousand men remaining under Count Solms that were posted next to them;while the rear division was never engaged at all.
At half-past two o'clock on the afternoon of the 2d of June, 1600, thebattle began. Vere's plan was to hold his advanced position as long aspossible, bring the reserves up as required until he had worn out theSpaniards, then to send for the other two divisions and to fall uponthem. The company of Lionel Vickars formed part of the three hundredmen stationed on the East Hill, where Vere also had taken up hisposition. After an exchange of fire for some time five hundred pickedSpanish infantry rushed across the hollow between the two armies, andcharged the hill. For half-an-hour a desperate struggle took place; theSpaniards were then obliged to fall back behind some low ridges at itsfoot.
In the meantime the enemy's cavalry had advanced along the grass-growntract, a hundred and fifty yards wide, between the foot of the dunesand the cultivated country inland. They were received, however, by sohot a fire by the five hundred musketeers posted by Vere in thesand-hills on their flank, and by the two cannon on West Hill, thatthey fell back upon their infantry just as the Dutch horse, under CountLouis, advanced to charge them.
Vere sent orders to a hundred Englishmen to move round from the ridgeand to attack the Spaniards who had fallen back from the attack of EastHill, on their flank, while sixty men charged down the hill and engagedthem in front. The Spaniards broke and fled back to their main body.Then, being largely reinforced, they advanced and seized a sandy knollnear West Hill. Here they were attacked by the English, and after along and obstinate fight forced to retire. The whole of the Spanishforce now advanced, and tried to drive the English back from theirposition on the low ridge across the bottom connecting the two hills.The seven hundred men were drawn from the north ridge, and as the fightgrew hotter the whole of the sixteen hundred English were brought up.
Vere sent for reinforcements, but none came up, and for hours thesixteen hundred Englishmen alone checked the advance of the whole ofthe Spanish army. Sir Francis Vere was fighting like a private soldierin the midst of his troops. He received two balls in the leg, but stillkept his seat and encouraged his men. At last the little band,receiving no aid or reinforcements from the Dutch, were forced to fallback. As they did so, Vere's horse fell dead under him and partly uponhim, and it was with great difficulty that those around him extricatedhim. On reaching the battery on the sands Vere found the thousand Dutchof his division, who asserted that they had received no orders toadvance. There were also three hundred foot under Sir Horace Vere andsome cavalry under Captain Ball. These and Horace's infantry at oncecharged the Spaniards, who were pouring out from the sand-hills near tothe beach, and drove them back.
Vere's horse shot under him at the fight before Ostend.]
The Spaniards had now captured East Hill, and two thousand of theirinfantry advanced into the valley beyond, and drove back the musketeersfrom the south ridge, and a large force advanced along the green way;but their movements were slow, for they were worn out by their longstruggle, and the English officers had time to rally their men again.Horace Vere returned from his charge on the beach, and other companiesrallied and joined him, and charged furiously down upon the twothousand Spaniards. The whole of the Dutch and English cavalry alsoadvanced. Solms's thousand men came up and took part in the action, andthe batteries plied t
he Spaniards with their shot. The latter had doneall they could, and were confounded by this fresh attack when they hadconsidered the victory as won. In spite of the efforts of theirofficers they broke and fled in all directions. The archduke headedtheir flight, and never drew rein until he reached Brussels.
Zapena and the Admiral of Arragon were both taken prisoners, and abouta third of the Spanish army killed and wounded. Of the sixteen hundredEnglish half were killed or wounded; while the rest of the Dutch armysuffered scarcely any loss--a fact that shows clearly to whom thehonour of the victory belongs. Prince Maurice, in his letter to thequeen, attributed his success entirely to the good order and directionsof Sir Francis Vere. Thus, in a pitched battle the English troops metand defeated an army of six times their strength of the veterans ofSpain, and showed conclusively that the English fighting man had in noway deteriorated since the days of Agincourt, the last great battlethey had fought upon the Continent.
The battle at Nieuport may be considered to have set the final sealupon the independence of Holland. The lesson first taught at Turnhouthad now been impressed with crushing force. The Spaniards were nolonger invincible; they had been twice signally defeated in an openfield by greatly inferior forces. Their prestige was annihilated; andalthough a war continued, there was no longer the slightest chance thatthe result of the long and bloody struggle would be reversed, or thatSpain would ever again recover her grip of the lost provinces.
Sir Francis Vere was laid up for some months with his wounds. Among theofficers who fought under him at Nieuport were several whose names wereto become famous for the part they afterwards bore in the civilstruggle in England. Among others were Fairfax, Ogle, Lambart, andParker. Among those who received the honour of knighthood for theirbehaviour at the battle was Lionel Vickars. He had been severelywounded in the fight at East Hill, and was sent home to be cured there.It was some months before he again took the field, which he did uponthe receipt of a letter from Sir Francis Vere, telling him that theSpaniards were closing in in great force round Ostend, and that hiscompany was one of those that had been sent off to aid in the defenceof that town.
During his stay in England he had spent some time with Geoffrey inLondon. Juan Mendez had now arrived there, and the business carried onby him and Geoffrey was flourishing greatly. Dolores had much missedthe outdoor life to which she was accustomed, and her father had boughta large house with a fine garden in Chelsea; and she and Geoffrey werenow installed there with him, Geoffrey going to and fro from the cityby boat. They had now replaced the Spanish trading vessels by an equalnumber of English craft; and at the suggestion of Juan Mendez himselfhis name now stood second to that of Geoffrey, for the prejudiceagainst foreigners was still strong in England.