True Soldier Gentlemen (Napoleonic War 1)

by Adrian Goldsworthy

  No one tried to stop Hanley as he left the city, and he saw no more soldiers, for Madrid was a big place and the French still few in number. He drove his horse hard, till the beast’s flanks were white with sweat. It was breathing hard, and would not stay in a canter no matter what he did. He realised it was close to exhaustion and that he needed to give it some rest if it was to last out the journey. Fast as he had gone, the shock and horror of what he had seen stayed with him. A new hatred of the French fought with resentment of his own fate. His life had changed, his dreams collapsed, and he did not know whether the lover he had not loved was alive or dead. The failed artist was going home. He was escaping a war and going to join an army.

  1

  The battalion was in trouble, and Williams did not know how to extricate it. Everything had started so well, the ten companies deployed side by side in line. That was the fighting formation for attack or defence, with the thousand soldiers of the 106th Foot in two ranks so that all could fire their muskets. His grenadiers were in the place of honour on seen sight of the line, as befitted the biggest and, he was sure, the best soldiers in the regiment. On the far left were the light bobs, not yet sent forward as skirmishers. They were supposedly the best shots and the most agile men, although personally he was unconvinced about their claims to greater intelligence and initiative, most of all where their officers were concerned. Still, the Light Company was in its place and he could rely on them to do their duty.

  The order came to advance and, since no enemy was close, or even likely to be close, Williams put the battalion into open column. They formed on the centre company – or actually Captain Mosley’s Number Four Company, which stood just to the right of the colours in the middle of the line – because that would take minutes off the manoeuvre. The grenadiers marched forward, wheeled twice and took up position at the head of the column. They were still in two ranks each of fifty men covering just over ninety feet of frontage. Behind them at half that distance was the identical line formed by Number One Company, then Number Two, and so on. The lights and Numbers Eight to Five had to turn about to take up station behind Four Company. The colour party with the battalion’s two flags stood in the centre between Four and Five Company. On his order the battalion marched forward at a steady seventy-five paces a minute.

  They came to a defile, so Williams put each of the individual companies into a narrow column of route to pass through it. Back in the open once more, they reverted to a battalion column with the companies at half-distance, then went into line again. Side by side the ten companies covered some three hundred yards of frontage. Ordered to resume the advance, he put them back into column again.

  Williams thought the serried ranks of redcoats looked magnificent, and was pleased with his handling of the regiment. Then the enemy appeared.

  ‘French cavalry!’ yelled Lieutenant Truscott. ‘Over on the right front!’

  Williams followed the pointed finger. Infantry in a column at half-distance like this were desperately vulnerable to horse-men. He heard the drumming of hoofs, knew he needed to form square, but could not remember how. It was easy from a denser column at quarter-distance – he could remember those diagrams as clearly as anything.

  ‘A whole regiment. Cuirassiers. Big blackguards in armour on massive horses!’ Truscott sounded almost enthusiastic as the regiment’s doom approached. ‘Come on, sir, make up your mind.’

  ‘We’re dished,’ chipped in young Derryck. ‘Bloody grenadiers,’ he added as an afterthought.

  Truscott smiled as he drummed his fingers even more loudly on the oak table. ‘They are getting closer. You have one minute left.’

  Hamish Williams hesitated, then he reached down and moved the blocks representing the Grenadier and Number One Company together to form a dense line four deep. The two ranks of grenadiers would be kneeling, bayonets fixed and the butts of their muskets braced against the ground so that the weapons pointed upwards. No horse would willingly commit suicide by charging a hedge of bayonet points. So as long as the redcoats remained steady – and Williams was utterly confident that they would – then they were safe against a charge from the front. The problem was the flanks, which were still wide open.

  ‘Thirty seconds. They are spurring into a gallop now. Their swords are about three feet long and they are all aiming at us, arm straight and wrist bent in the charge.’

  ‘Bloody grenadiers.’

  Es docompany was represented by a wooden block some three inches long. They were white, but painted on each side were seven miniature redcoats standing at the present, staring blankly forward as if they did not have a care in the world. They wore the old-fashioned cocked hats long since replaced by the shako, and there were plenty of chips on the paintwork as testimony to heavy usage. Someone had drawn in a pair of glasses on the centre grenadier to make him look like Lieutenant Pringle. The latter was stretched out on his bed, using Williams’ heavy brass telescope to peer out of the window. It was an immensely heavy piece, designed to be held on a stand, so Pringle was resting it on the headboard of the bed.

  Pringle looked up for a moment. ‘Am I about to be called upon to lay down my life for King and Country once again?’ he said wearily.

  Truscott ignored him. ‘Come on, man, what do you do?’ he demanded of Williams once again.

  ‘Only it will be the eighth time this afternoon,’ continued Pringle, who was now looking back through the telescope. His glasses were on the top of his head and he adjusted the brass eyepiece to sharpen the focus. ‘I only ask because if I’d known I would have got Jenkins to do a better job of polishing my boots. Seems a shame to die looking shabby.’

  ‘Why change the habit of a lifetime?’ chipped in Anstey, one of four officers playing cards at the other end of the long table from the wooden blocks representing the battalion. There were appreciative guffaws from his companions. The game was progressing slowly, but they were already well into the second bottle of claret so it was clear that their time had not been entirely wasted. Thin clouds of cigar smoke also attested to their comfortable leisure.

  Williams had a sudden revelation. He could do it if he broke each company into two platoons. Quarter-distance meant that there was room for the platoons to wheel outwards and form the sides of the square. They would be only two deep, which was very thin, but if they timed their volleys just right then they could stop a squadron in its tracks. Williams started to move the blocks, but each was a solid company piece so he was going to have to explain what he meant.

  ‘Time’s up,’ said Truscott. Derryck helpfully jabbed at the blocks with a toasting fork, scattering the painted battalion. Truscott leaned against the back of his chair and complacently crossed his legs. His lean, intelligent face showed little trace of amusement and considerable disappointment. ‘It seems that once again we all have an opportunity to find out the answer to the great question, courtesy of our young gentlemen. Well, I suppose some of the battalion might survive. Be hard for the French to kill everyone.’ He paused, frowning. ‘Their arms would get tired for a start. Anyway, they are usually pretty decent about taking prisoners.’

  ‘Bloody grenadiers.’ Williams glared at the young ensign, who grinned back cheerfully. Derryck’s own attempts at manoeuvring the blocks had produced an even more rapid and spectacular disaster. Neither of the other ensigns had managed much better.

  ‘Nobody survived when you were in charge.’

  ‘I do like to be thorough,’ said Derryck. He was just sixteen, but was no more than five foot two inches tall and thin as a rake in spite of the vast quantities of food he devoured whenever he got the chance. He looked about twelve, and managed to give off an air of innocence utterly out of keeping with his character. Williams liked him. Most people did.

  ‘I fear doing just a little better than Mr Derryck is not quite sufficient,’ put in Truscott. ‘Thhair egiment expects somewhat more than the survival of one hundred men out of a thousand. Especially before any of them have had a chance to fire a shot. His Majes
ty’s government has invested considerable money in raising, feeding and training this battalion. Think of all those poor rich people having to pay their taxes.’

  The lieutenant could see that the young gentlemen were unmoved by the plight of the wealthy. He could not blame them. None of the officers of the regiment was titled, and only the new colonel had any real claim to wealth. The 106th Foot was the most junior regiment of the line and was not fashionable. Truscott’s own family’s moderate income was stretched very thin to support seven children. He reached for a battered copy of the drill manual approved for the entire army by the Duke of York. It was written by General Dundas and detailed the manoeuvres to be performed by a battalion on parade and in the field. He flung the book at Williams, who instinctively swayed back and only just caught it.

  ‘Both of you study “Old Pivot”. You know, study – something Billy never had to do at his pitiful place of education.’

  ‘Too true,’ said Pringle, without taking his eye from the telescope. ‘It wasted valuable time when a fellow could be dining and drinking.’

  ‘And whoring, no doubt,’ said Anstey.

  ‘An Oxford gentleman does not speak of such things in polite conversation.’

  Anstey scoffed at this statement so out of keeping with Billy Pringle’s normal talk. Most of the others laughed, although Williams just looked solemn. Truscott shook his head.

  ‘What the Church lost in you, Billy! Still, sending you to Magdalen was probably a bad idea.’

  Pringle looked back at him for a moment. ‘A scriptural joke. Is that the best Clare College can come up with?’ He resumed his intent observation through the window. ‘Now if they had let me study Molly Hackett at Oxford I would have been the most avid of students.’

  ‘Who is Molly Hackett?’ asked young Derryck rather nervously.

  Truscott had no wish to discuss Mrs Wickham’s maid with the pink-cheeked ensign. ‘She is not Sir David Dundas, and he alone should consume your attention at present,’ he said sharply.

  ‘She is an indiscreet young lady,’ Pringle replied, ignoring his fellow lieutenant. ‘Very, very indiscreet, who has not closed the shutters on the window of her chamber.’ He clearly had the attention of Derryck, and several of the other officers were listening more intently. Williams blushed, realised that he had done so, and the consciousness of this only made things worse. He thought Truscott had noticed.

  ‘I strongly suspect that Mr Williams’ good mother did not present him with such a fine telescope in order to allow you to spy upon innocent young girls,’ said the lieutenant.

  ‘Nonsense, I have no doubt she would thank me for keeping temptation away from her son. It is an excellent glass and no doubt will aid her boy in smiting the King’s enemies. We do not want him distracted from that task, so I will look after the thing until those enemies appear.’

  ‘Damnation to them all!’ cried Derryck, his voice cracking midway through and rather ruining the effect of this statement of patriotic zeal. The others ignored him anyway.

  Williams found himself staring at the scattered blocks. He tried to imagine the wreckage of a battalion caught unformed by enemy cavalry. The war with France Now if tbeen going on for more than half of his lifetime. Tens, probably even hundreds, of thousands had died in those years, but he was still new to the army and had never been in a battle. Nor had any of the other subalterns, even confident men like Truscott and Pringle. There were no battle honours on the colours of the 106th.

  It was so hard to picture the carnage, to think of these men he knew sprawled on the ground, their bodies slashed and stabbed by the enemy’s blades. In the pictures of famous battles the dead were always decorously draped over the landscape, their wounds tiny or even invisible. Yet the limbless and scarred beggars who prowled the streets still wearing ragged red coats or sailors’ pigtails hinted at the true horrors of battle. How many would die quickly and with only brief pain, and how many would lie screaming in dreadful agony? Williams wondered whether the others had similar thoughts, but could see no sign of it.

  Somehow it was difficult to believe that similar violence could possibly touch Truscott in his immaculate uniform or the ever cheerful Derryck. They were soldiers, but their world was one of neatness and precision and there seemed almost no place for bloodshed and chaos. Williams frowned as he realised that even now he assumed that he would himself come through unscathed. Why should he be special and invulnerable? His foot brushed against something and he looked down, noticing that the block marked Gren. Coy had fallen on the floor. Williams picked it up. For a moment he stared at the little figure with the inked-in glasses.

  ‘Sorry, Billy,’ he muttered, and then put it back on the table. He began reassembling the shattered battalion. The little painted soldiers looked unmoved by their recent ordeal.

  Truscott noticed the gesture. ‘Don’t worry, my dear fellow. Grenadiers are too stupid to die.’

  Williams felt a rush of anger, wondering whether Truscott had thought he was concerned about his own life. The idea that anyone would consider him so selfish or indeed so lacking in courage horrified him. Yet to deny such a thought openly would surely reinforce the impression. Truscott’s face betrayed no particular emotion, and he was already saying something to Derryck. Williams hesitated, and then was saved from the decision by a knock on the door.

  Lieutenant Brotherton came in accompanied by an unknown officer. The man was tall, his face dark from the sun, and he had short black hair. That was odd because all the other officers in the room wore their hair long, tied with a black ribbon and coloured white with powder. The newcomer’s jacket was creased and looked a little too small for him, his dark red sash was untidily wrapped around his waist, and his top boots and breeches were splashed with mud. Behind him two soldiers carried a trunk, although for all their emphasised effort it appeared to be fairly light.

  ‘Gentlemen, I would like to present the newest addition to our happy family.’ Brotherton gave a sweeping gesture towards his companion. ‘This is Mr Hanley, of the Grenadier Company. Put that in the corner there.’ He spoke to the two redcoats. ‘Thank you.’ The men left. ‘Now, if you will forgive me, I will leave you to introduce yourselves. I must resume my work – the life of an acting adjutant is one of unending toil and sorrow.’ Brotherton departed amid jeers.

  Hanley stood for a moment, unsure of what to do. The coach journey down from London to Dorset had been long and uncomfortable, and followed weeks of travel as he had gone to Spain’s north coast to catch a ship back to Britain. Some letters, then a meeting with the representatives of his late father’s family, had been necessary to equip him for servicecoloureh the 106th. It was under the sworn understanding that this would permanently terminate their contact. There was no question of giving him an allowance, and the sum of £200 was the last money he would ever get from them. It was already mostly gone – the cost of uniforms and other essentials had surprised him. Now he was fully a soldier, and one who would have to live off his pay. Neither were things he had ever especially desired. The soldiers he had met in the past had all been either dull or pompous. Still, he was here, had nowhere else to go, and he would inevitably be spending a good deal of time with these fellows. In spite of all that had happened so recently, Hanley was nervous. He looked down the long attic room at the top of the small coaching inn. Just under half of the 106th’s officers currently stationed in the village were billeted here. They were in various states of dress, several just in shirtsleeves, but their powdered hair gave them a strange uniformity. For what seemed an age they simply stared at him. As usual it was Truscott who made an effort to be friendly.

  ‘Welcome to the Senior Common Room – it is where the more distinguished of we subalterns are billeted. The others live like swine in some hovel or other. I’m Truscott of Four Company. The red-faced rogue over there playing cards is Anstey of Two Company, and next to him is Hopwood of Three – they are from the hovel!’ The two men nodded affably. ‘They are both visitors to this est
ablishment trying to fleece these young griffins of their money.’

  ‘What else are ensigns good for?’ said Hopwood cheerfully. ‘These are Quincy and Clarke, by the way.’ The flow of new names was already washing past Hanley. There seemed nothing remarkable about most of their owners.

  Truscott resumed, although his fastidious nature was slightly offended by this interruption to seniority. He would have preferred introducing the only other lieutenant before moving on to their juniors. ‘That elegant wastrel lying on the bed is Billy Pringle. He is a grenadier like you so we must make allowances for lack of manners and wit.’ Pringle raised an arm, but his eye remained fixed to the eyepiece and he showed no great urge to welcome the newcomer any more enthusiastically. ‘Oh yes, and this is Williams, also of the Grenadier Company. Ensign Redman is on duty so you will have to meet him at some other point. And finally, in so many ways, we have Mr Derryck here, our drill master and junior ensign – at least until now.’

  ‘No, Hanley here is senior,’ cut in Pringle, finally setting down the immense telescope, rolling over on to his side and getting up. ‘In fact, I think he may be at the top of the list for the whole battalion. He has certainly been on the company’s books since before I joined.’ He flicked his glasses down, adjusting them slightly on his nose.

  ‘You know, it is always a shock when you actually demonstrate knowledge.’ Truscott smiled. ‘What is the matter, has the girl closed the shutters?’

  ‘Just ignore him, he seems obsessed with the female gender.’ Pringle shook hands with the new arrival. ‘So you are our errant knight, the secret strength of the 106th Foot. A pleasure to meet you at last. Come on, Williams, and make the man feel at home. Now we have another grenadier it will raise the whole tone of this place. This is our volunteer, Mr Williams. Although you might not expect such a thing, his Christian name is Hamish. Well, I suppose it had to happen to somebody.’