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Captain of the 95th Rifles

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Captain of the 95th Rifles
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Author(s): by Jonathan Leach
Date Published: 10/2005
Page Count: 252
Softcover ISBN-13: 978-1-84677-001-2
Hardcover ISBN-13: 978-1-84677-016-6

A Must for Peninsular War enthusiasts and all those interested in the famous green Riflemen Captain Leach brings his military experiences during the Napoleonic Wars into sharp relief. We share the rigours of campaigning and dangers of the battlefield, but his descriptions of the events in the broader military scene and his description of the country through which he journeys assist in bringing the era to life for everyone interested in the adventures of this famous regiment and its men. This book has been previously published under the title 'Life of an Old Soldier'

On the pickets being driven in, I joined my own brigade, which was on the left of the 97th. Here the business was beginning to assume a serious aspect. Some heavy masses of infantry, preceded by a swarm of light troops, were advancing with great resolution, and with loud cries of “Vive l’Empereur!” “En avant!” &c. against the hill on which our brigade” was posted. In spite of the deadly fire which several hundred riflemen kept up on them, they continued to press forward with great determination, until the old 50th regiment received them with a destructive volley, following it instantly with a most brilliant and decisive charge with the bayonet, which broke and sent back, in utter dismay and confusion, and with great loss, this column, which a short time before was all confidence and exultation.

In this charge the enemy lost seven pieces of artillery and a number of prisoners. The road by which this column moved on to the attack was choked with killed and wounded, the greater part of whom lay in a small compass. I have understood that the first trial of Shrapnell shells in the field, took place on that day, and that they answered every expectation which had been formed of their efficacy.

The French column, when broken and turned back by the quick and accurate fire of our artillery, which was never better or more gallantly served, and by the fire and charge of General Fane’s brigade, was assailed in its retreat by the 20th Light Dragoons, who dashed gallantly in amongst the fugitives, and, in the ardour of the moment, following them to a distance from any support, encountered a very superior body of French cavalry, which obliged the 20th to fall back with some loss. Lieutenant-colonel Taylor fell, whilst gallantly leading on his regiment in this charge.As I did not happen to consult my watch, I shall not be positive as to the exact moment at which the battle commenced; but I should say, that between ten and eleven o’clock our attention was first attracted by a heavy cannonade on the right of the army, followed by an exceedingly sharp fire of light troops, which proved to be the commencement of a desperate attack, made by a large force under Jerome Bonaparte, on the chateau of Hugomont. As it was impossible for us to see what was going on at that point, there being some higher ground between us and Hugomont, I shall not attempt to describe the many desperate and impetuous attacks made by the enemy, hour after hour, on this chateau, in each of which they perished in heaps by the fire of its undaunted defenders; whom neither the unremitting fire of shot and shells, from the numerous French batteries, nor the swarms of infantry which assailed it again and again, could dislodge from this important post.

As yet all was quiet in the immediate front of our division. But after a calm comes a storm. We perceived our adversaries bringing into position, on the heights opposite, gun after gun; and ere much time had elapsed, there were, at a moderate computation, fifty pieces of artillery in battery, staring us in the face, and intended particularly to salute our division, the farm of La Haye Sainte, and the left of Baron Allen’s division. The enemy’s columns were not as yet visible, being covered by some undulations of ground near the summit of their position. In an instant this numerous and powerful artillery opened on us, battering at the same moment the farm-house of La Haye Sainte. Under cover of this cannonade several large columns of infantry, supported by heavy bodies of cavalry, and preceded by a multitude of light infantry, descended at a trot into the plain, with shouts and cries of “Vive l’Empereur!” some of them throwing up their caps in the air, and advancing to the attack with such confidence and impetuosity, as if the bare possibility of our being able to withstand the shock was out of the question, fighting as they were under the immediate eye of their Emperor. But Napoleon was destined, in a few minutes after the commencement of this hubbub, to see his Imperial Legions recoil in the greatest confusion, with a dreadful carnage, and with a great loss in prisoners.

The fire of our two companies posted in the excavation near the road, and from the remainder of the battalion on the hillock, as also that from the windows and loop-holes, by the Germans, in La Haye Sainte, bad already inflicted a severe loss on the enemy. In spite of it they pressed boldly and resolutely on, until met by our first line, which delivered such a fire, when they approached the thorn hedge, as shattered their ranks and threw them into disorder; and this was increased by the cheers, and an attempt of our line to close with them. At this instant the household brigade of cavalry coming up to our support, rushed gallantly amongst their infantry and the cavalry which were endeavouring to retrieve matters for them, and drove them back, man and horse, in terrible confusion and dismay, and with immense loss. It was, I think, about this time also that the brigade consisting of the Royals, Scotch Greys, and Enniskillen Dragoons, made so brilliant a charge, and took two eagles and seventeen hundred prisoners.
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