After seven hours under a broiling sun, and the field-day was over, we had an excellent allowance served out to us; and then we returned on board our respective ships. In the evening, after we had joined our ships, we went out in search of the enemy’s squadron, as we had heard the Don Juan was not many leagues from us; and, having a good fine wind, the Admiral ordered all sail to be extended, so we went about thirteen knots an hour. After we had been running about sixteen hours, we had as foul a wind as we had had fair, and never got sight of her during the period I was on board. We put back into our old position, beat up and down the coast, and came into Vigo Bay on Sunday, the 8th of July, 1831. The Admiral gave orders for the Union Jack to be placed on shore, to see if anyone would meddle with it. It was on the beach, and the wind blowing it to its full extent, during the whole of Sunday; but no one came to meddle with it.
On Monday, the 9th, we landed from the Squadron 12,000 men. Captain Shaw, of the Light Company of the British Battalion, learned that the Admiral had to keep us on board to do duty as marines; he gave orders to the company for all to be ready to jump into the boats when they lowered; once into the boat, they would be obliged to let us go on shore. So we all jumped into the different boats to land. There was plenty of swearing, roaring, and laughing, on our landing, coming off to the beach side, as there was, at this time, a very rough surf on the sea. As the boats were running in, one man, standing forward on the gunwale of the boat, was afraid to jump; I pushed himaside, telling him to let me pass. I waited my opportunity for the boats going up on the beach, gave a jump, and cleared it very well, about knee deep in water. The man just behind me, whom I had before put aside, jumped immediately after me, and in he went right up to his chin; he spluttered out mightily, “Arrah, man, I am drowned!” I was standing on the beach, laughing at him. “Come on, man, you’re not half drowned.”
During the time of our landing, the cavalry of the enemy came out of the wood, and rode down on the beach to cut off our landing. When they were within about a hundred and fifty yards from the beach, coming down over the rocks, the ships fired a few rounds over our heads, and sent the cavalry to the rightabout. A portion of them retired back into the wood. As our battalion formed on the top of the rocks, convenient to the wood, Colonel Hodges called out, “I will give eight dollars to whoever can get me a mule.” But no mule was to be found, till we saw one that a countryman was riding up a lane; we seized him and his mule, and gave the mule to the Colonel.
The whole of our army lay extended along the top of the rocks, some distance up abreast of the wood, where the General gave orders to the troops to remain till further orders. When the British battalion was ordered to take the advanced post and proceed into the wood, the Light Company had orders to take the advance of the battalion about four or five hundred yards, and there to lay during the night to keep a sharp look-out. I was called upon to take six men in advance of the company about three or four hundred yards, to take up a good position, and place a sentinel on each side of the road. I was fortunate enough in the position, and stood so that I could discover a small paddock dividing the two woods, in which I placed one man behind a tree. I told him to keep a sharp look-out, and if anyone was seen advancing towards him, to let him come just near enough to make sure of a shot, and then return to where I was lying with the other four men. I placed another man on the left of the road, and gave him proper notice. The man on the right was very timorous; and as I was leaning my elbow on a wall, watching his movements, he was turning his head in every direction as if the devil was alongside of him. I discovered him coming away from his post, so I cocked my musket as he advanced towards me, and I had twenty minds to shoot him. I asked him what was the matter with him. He said, “There is a man in the wood.” “Why not shoot him?” I asked. “I did not like until I saw you,” he replied. So, with musket cocked, I accompanied him back to his post, and said, “Now, you stand there until your time is up; if you offer to run away any more, I will put a ball through you.” “Will you?” he exclaimed. “You may depend on it,” I answered; “because you put all our lives in danger by leaving your post exposed.” Poor fellow! it was a new kind ofwork to him; and before two hours elapsed he was turning his head in every direction again, as if the devil was still alongside of him. I went over to the man on the left side of the road, who was a staunch one; he called out three times, “Hold! Who comes there?” “Corporal,” I answered. “Advance, Corporal, and all’s well!” cried he. “Have you seen anything to-night since you have been on sentry?;” His name was Witney. “I have seen nothing,” he replied; “I want a shot so bad, I would fire at an old woman if she came in my way.” Shortly after I came back to where my other four men were lying, I warned two men—the next for duty—to go down and relieve those two men. I went over to the right, as usual, to relieve the soldier and to put another in his place; he stood behind a tree, and made no reply as to who was coming. I brought him with me to go over to relieve Witney, and we came back into the road where I had taken up my position.
As near as I could say, the time of night was about twelve o’clock, when the captain of my company advanced towards me “privately.” I challenged him in the usual practice in the British army; he answered the challenge. I said, “Advance, all’s well.” He asked, “Corporal, have you seen anything in the wood?” I answered, “No, I have not seen anything worse than myself.” “I have had an interview with the colonel,” he said, “who said he heard that the army was going to advance.” Shortly after, we heard the enemy was very strong, and had taken up their position in a village in front of us, something about four miles. The army advanced and the British battalion took the lead of the brigades; I was ordered to take the advance with the six men for that distance, viz., four miles. We came into the village, and found it was a false report. There was no enemy whatever there.
We lay neutral until the day approached. I thought to myself I would try to get something to drink, and also some provisions for my haversack; so as to enable me to be strong and long-winded. I got into a house and I thought I heard a noise. I kept my musket ready cocked to shoot the first that might oppose me. Some time after, I found it was some of my own fellows on the same errand as myself, coming up to see what they could lay hands on. I saw an old Portuguese person, about eighty years of age; and I asked him could he fill my canteen (in the Portuguese language) with good wine, and he complied with my request. After I had got my canteen filled, I was fortunate enough to fall in with half a loaf of bread. I went through into a garden, and I shook off a few figs from a tree. In coming back into the yard belonging to the house, I discovered three Portuguese cavalry in the yard. They called out to me, in broken English, “Englishman, Englishman, love wine!” I asked, “Would they have any?” “No, get from old man.” I accordinglywent out of the yard and proceeded up the road, and I discovered, over a middling high wall, two very beautiful young ladies; they spoke to me in a little broken English, saying that we were going to fight with Don Miguel’s army to-morrow. They asked me if I would accept of a drop of wine; I replied that I had enough, but was very much obliged to them. They then asked me if I would take any grapes; I answered that I would, so they gave me a few very large bunches of grapes. I kindly thanked them, and wished them good-bye. We shortly afterwards had daylight sufficiently clear to see what we were about.
The army advanced at the dawn of the day to storm the town of Oporto; the British were kept back that day, to bring up all stragglers over brooks, hills, rivers, &c. We were under a broiling sun; it was on Tuesday, the 10th of July, 1831, when we came up in sight of Oporto. The signal was made from the squadron that went round the bay and over the bar, and passed the falls of Lordella, close to the river Doura. When the shipping came up abreast of the township, there was very little to oppose them; the army pushed forward, and took the town without exchanging a shot. We then marched through the town with colours flying, and instruments of the different regiments playing gaily; we came down to the Arsenal Square, and there we formed close columns, and lay there till further orders. I said to my next man, “I will have a glass of wine, as we have taken Oporto.” Captain Shaw coming round, and seeing me drinking, said, I was showing a bad example to the men, but, notwithstanding, I went through my degrees of finishing what I had in the glass (which was a pint one). In the course of the afternoon, about four o’clock, as we had been in close column about four hours, the British had orders to proceed to the convent of St. Lazarus, and there to remain till further orders. We occupied one part of the convent, and the old invalids of the monks (about two hundred of them) occupied the other part; they were supposed to be all in number previous to the time of our taking the town about one thousand one hundred of them, of which about nine hundred disappeared to fight in Don Miguel’s service. We occupied the apartments in the convent in which they had formerly lived; the French regiment occupied another place, at the top part of a street, called Rutendemoza, at the opposite side of the town; and the regiments of the line in and out round about Oporto—the Tachedores lay in another part of the town. There were five regiments of them; as riflemen, they had the skull and marrow bone on their shakos; they were called “Death or Glory,” and were very intimate with the British subjects.
During our stay in Oporto, when at various times we had a combat with the enemy, we went on the Velonga, in the Cassemere road, under an expectation to fall in with the enemy at three leagues distance, but when we came there they retreated to Pennyfields.We were fortunate enough in the morning to fall in with fifty mules loaded with bread to take into the town of Oporto. We proceeded on to Pennyfields, and in the three days’ march towards that place, under a broiling sun, and everything poisoned before us by the enemy, we came into a village two days’ march from Velonga, a distance of ten leagues (thirty miles). On the third day I was appointed to guard the colours, along with my brother non-commission officers; the ensign fell from fatigue, and the oldest sergeant in the regiment took the colours, and so on, according to the period of their service. I was appointed (being the oldest corporal) to take the colours, and carried them about a quarter of a mile; I was getting over a low wall and fell across the wall with the colours, my head on one side and my feet on the other. I lay for some time quite exhausted, never expecting to get up any more. After lying there for some considerable time, I tried to rise. I got up on my knees and fell back again; however, I recovered myself after a short period, and saw an old PortuguesePaysanne, or peasant. I called out to him in Portuguese, as well as I could, and asked him to get me a canteen of water; he did so, and I thanked him in the Portuguese language. I took a hearty good drink of it, and was very much revived, and able to get upon my legs. I went about three hundred yards and discovered another corporal; I called out to him, but he made no reply. I went over to see what was the matter with him, and found he was lying in the same position I had been; I gave him a good drink of water, and he recovered. I got him on his legs, and we both went along together, almost reeling from weakness. I discovered about two hundred yards to the right, a great quantity of soldiers dressed in scarlet; I went over to them to see what they were, and found them to be a portion of our battalion lying dead on the ground, forty-four in number. I could not tell or discover who they were, from their being so much distorted by the poison they had drunk in the water. Some of them I could see were belonging to my own company, and some were grenadiers and battalion companies. I came over to my brother corporal and acquainted him with what I had witnessed; he asked, “Don’t you know any of their names?” I replied that I did not, for they were so much disfigured; he said, “Go back again, and the first man you come to, look at his haversack.” This was done that one man should not rob another; the first man I came to was a man of my own company, he was lying on his back. I turned him on his face and discovered on his haversack, “Richard Ovenden, light company;” “Poor Dick! you’ll never play the fiddle any more!” He used to amuse us at Oporto by playing the fiddle of an evening; I came back to my brother corporal, and told him that Richard Ovenden, of the light company, was the first man I discovered. We went on together, and I observed a sergeant a short distance from the road, leaning up against a wall, with his fuseeon his arm; I found he was quite dead and stiff, and the wall supporting him; I took hold of him and put him under the wall. We advanced a little further, and I saw two tailors belonging to the battalion company, one by the name of Pearce, and the other name was Robinson—they had died together, hand in hand; we went on a little further, and I discovered a great number of men of all regiments lying round big waterholes, all poisoned—as many as two or three hundred. It was a very shocking and sickening sight to see so many brave men sent to their long account in such a dreadful manner. Our troops at the time had captured the town, and we got into it more dead than alive. The first gentleman I saw was Captain Shaw, captain of my company (light company); he came up to me and shook hands with me, he was very glad to see me; he heard I was dead under the hill, and I said, “I heard you were dead, too, captain.” There were orders issued for the men not to take too much wine or provisions, as, from being without food some time, it was feared it might have a bad effect. The cavalry had orders to keep their horses closely fastened, so that they might be ready at any moment, as we were laying during the night under expectation of the enemy reinforcing troops from Lisbon. They came up early on the following morning with a reinforcement; our spies came galloping into town, and acquainted the general that commanded the whole of the army (Soldano, a gentleman of Oporto), that they were about twenty-seven thousand strong, and we at the same time were from seven thousand to eight thousand. We were ordered to retire back to Oporto, and as fast as possible we occupied a hill in front, and the enemy in the rear, coming up about a league distance, where we arrived on the second evening. They brought all their reinforcements up to the town of Oporto, and were determined to take the town, if possible; and as they came on the hard roads and across the fields, the orders were that the officer of the outlying duty was to touch the train in order to blow up the road, and the enemy with it. It was reported that there were as many as three thousand blown up by the trains. The guns from the batteries commenced full play on the enemy’s columns, supposed to be about three hours’ engagement. When it came to nightfall the enemy had lost about seven thousand troops; they beat the retreat during the night, so that we heard no more of them. We marched back to the convent, the British battalion at Oporto, and lay there till further orders.
On the 22nd of July we proceeded out on the Cashmere Road, to Velonga. About three days after marching to the left of the Velonga Road (from four in the morning till about twelve), the great heat had completely knocked us up. But I, not quite so bad as the rest, had to draw the companies’ rations of bread and beef; after placing them under a hedge, I told the men to fall to. They said, “Too tired, corporal; could not eat a bit.” “As youplease about that; but if you don’t, I’ll make free with your share.” I then cut off a thumping beef steak, thinking I might have some hard work in the course of the day; I cooked it nicely, with the gravy in it, to make me strong and long-winded. But I might have saved myself the trouble; we soon had orders to retire back to Oporto.
One of our sergeants, not having a shot at the enemy, fired at a donkey near the road; the men were quizzing him, and I asked him what was his object for firing at the donkey; he told me to mind my own business. As we were under the retreat to Oporto, one of our men had unfortunately got drunk when near the enemy. The sergeant, who had been firing at the donkey, said he would report the circumstance to the colonel, and the man told the sergeant to mind his own business,—as he had told Corporal Knight before. We were still on our way to Oporto. The sergeant, being on the face of the hill when we halted, fired a shot down among the men. The colonel came galloping down off the hill on his mule, and asked whose piece went off. The men informed the colonel that it was Sergeant Evans’, who had been squabbling with the men, and had got very angry: he had fired a shot among the privates, luckily without doing any harm. The colonel ordered him to strip off his belts and to consider himself as a prisoner; the corporal and four men were ordered to take him on the advance; I was appointed to take him on. The colonel also ordered his arms to be pinioned back by his canteen straps, and that he was to be marched off. I took him on for about three miles: he begged hard that I would loosen the straps round his arms: I said, “I should not much mind, but you might try to bolt; and, if you were not to come back, I should send a messenger after you and order my four men to do the same. If I killed you, or winged you, they would ask me what business I had to let you loose. So, safe bind, safe find: as I have got you I will keep you.” He wanted me to let him walk free with us, but I told him to take it just as easy as he could. I lodged him in the guard-house at Oporto. He was never tried, but shipped off to England soon after, as a bad character.
We used to be originally turned out all hours of a night, and formed close columns in the town, in the Arsenal Square, and there we lay till the day approached. We would have orders from the colonels of regiments to march to our respective convents, and to lay till further orders. On the 22nd July we received orders to go out to a small village about three leagues from Oporto, having heard the enemy had been there; when we came there they were as far to our right. We took up our position there, and remained for four hours, during which period there was an order from the Colonel for a non-commissioned officer of companies to bring up a portion of the men for the purpose of bringing down the companies’ rations. I took four men with me.While bringing the rations into camp, they asked me what they were to do with them. I told them to throw them down there, and let those that liked come and cut them up; but they replied that they were not hungry. I said, “If you don’t, I will.” Accordingly I fell to eating, and very much I enjoyed it.
We heard the enemy had come back to Velonga, and we proceeded on our way to fall in with them. The Tachedores at this time had a strong engagement with them. When we came up to their assistance they were being driven up to the top part of the town, where we were coming in. We opened a smart fire on them, killing and wounding a great many of them; we kept it up for about seven hours, and took a great many field pieces of artillery, and a gun belonging to them, in the top part of the town, which carried a ninety-two pound shot, drawn by twelve working bullocks; after which, they retired and crossed the river at Ponto Ferrado.
The British lay in camp, and on the following morning advanced, and met with the enemy at Ponto Ferrado. We crossed the river up to about our middles. The enemy occupied the hill in front of us. We had about 23,000 men. It being a windy day, the colours were extended to their full size. They brought the guns to bear upon us, and our brigade of 2,000 charged to take possession of the guns. It was supposed that we lost about 1,700 men of the brigade in a very few minutes. The General was very much blamed, from what we could understand, for bringing these men into action before the others had arrived. Shortly after, the right wing of the army came over the bridge, some little way down the river, and, coming round on the back of the enemy, took possession of the artillery, spiked their guns, dismounted them from their carriages, and the whole of our army took the hill to scour the troops off. A few out-skirmishers, under the command of an officer, were beating back skirmishers. Ours were about thirty in number; fifteen out of the thirty were French volunteers. We kept the enemy moving pretty smartly, especially the skirmishers. After going for nearly half a mile, there was, rather at an incline and some little distance from the hill, a big gully in front of us. I looked over into the gully and saw a troop of cavalry belonging to the enemy; they were dismounted, holding their bridle-reins in their hands, waiting for orders to mount. I remarked to Mr. Burton, the officer, “Dangerous route to go any further, sir.” “How so, corporal?” he asked. I replied, “There is a troop of cavalry down there, right before us.” He said he could not discover them; we spoke in a very low voice, in order that the enemy’s cavalry should not hear us. “You come and look over my shoulder,” I said. When he did so, he discovered them, and gave orders to retire to where we had taken the brigade.
Before we arrived at the place where the guns had been taken possession of, the cavalry had come over the hill out of the gully to cut off our retreat. There was a Frenchman before me, just on the right; our great coats incommoded him in horse collar fashion; he had undone the strap to get it off his shoulder; he was all of a tremble and so much confused that he could not get it off, when he looked round at me and called out for me to pull it off his shoulder. As I was passing him by, I caught hold of it; and in pulling, as I thought, to pull it off, I pulled him on the broad of his back. I had no time to look about me; the cavalry were just behind charging us sword in hand. Shortly before they got up to us I told the officer to give command, and he asked, “What am I to do, corporal?” I answered, “There is no time for squabbling in words.” I told the men to form a rallying square, fifteen in kneeling position, and fifteen firing over them. They charged right up to us; and one great long soldier reached over his holster pipes, and just cut the top of my eye with his sword. We shot down about seventeen over their holster pipes; they turned their horses heads about to retire, and I jumped off, front rank kneeling, and ordered the men to form line and charge; the enemy had not proceeded far before they turned round their horses’ heads to have another turn at us. I said, “Form square.” So we formed square, and peppered a few more of them down. After the third time, they set off, leaving us master of the field. They shot four of us, and wounded three. I then proceeded on the way up to where we had captured the artillery. Major Lanson came off the hill and called out to me, “Corporal, you had a sharp attack with the cavalry;” as they had possession of the hill and had driven the enemy off. He said he had been looking at me during the time; and the colonel made the observation at the time, that the corporal had shown them gallant play. He asked, “What was Burton up to?” I replied, “I was not looking after him, but for my own safety, and also that of my men, as I was well disciplined for the field. The officer was outside of the square, and wanted me to let him come in; I told the men to keep close, and he rolled himself under the bayonets for protection.” Major Lanson said he was very thirsty, and asked if I had a drop of water in my canteen. I replied that I had. He asked, “Will you give me a drop?” “By all means,” I replied; he stooped down and took a drink, and was very thankful; he asked me if I would take a little spirits out of his flask, of which I was very glad. I returned the compliment; so we remained during the day.
Night came on: we formed camp inside a low wall on a gentleman’s estate; there we lay during the night, chopping down the trees, and anything we could come at, to make fires. We shortly afterwards rolled ourselves up in our coverings; I looked round about me, and discovered some of the French bringing legs andshins of beef over the wall; I jumped up to go and see if I could not get hold of something too, and when I arrived at the place where the cavalry had been bothering us through the day, the French were cutting up the horses to bring into camp to cook. I pulled out my knife, and cut about half-a-dozen pounds off a rump of a nice young horse; I brought it into camp, and took my ramrod out, which made me a very good skewer. After I had riddled it on the ramrod, toasted it on the fire. Some of the young officers lying round the fire, yawned out, “Who’s that cooking beef steaks on the fire?” the soldier replied, “It is Corporal Knight.” “Where did he get beefsteaks to-night?” they asked, as the commissaries were not up. I said that I was roasting some horse flesh. “Have you ventured upon eating horse flesh, corporal?” I replied, “I had better eat that than none; I am cooking it nicely with the gravy in it to make me strong and long winded.” They said, “We never did yet.” One of the officers asked me if I would give him a bit, which I did; as he was taking it off with his delicate finger and thumb, he put it between his grinders, and made a crack at it. He asked me if I would supply him with water. I told him if he would go to the river he could supply himself. After I had refreshed myself, I rolled myself up in my big coat and lay alongside of the fire. The quarter-master sergeant came round to know if any of the soldiers had any water in any of the canteens; I looked up at him, and asked him who it was that wanted water, he said, “Who is that speaking?” I said, “It is Corporal Knight;” he asked, “Have you any water, corporal, in your canteen?” I replied that I had, and was likely to keep it. He said, “I do not want it, but the colonel, who sent me round to know if you had any water.” I asked, “Where is the colonel lying?” “He is laying down under the wall, rolled up in his cloak:” I immediately jumped up, and proceeded with the quarter-master sergeant to where the colonel was laying; he observed us coming, and said, “Who is that coming?” “Quarter-master sergeant Sutherland, and Corporal Knight.” The colonel asked the quarter-master, “Has the corporal got any water in his canteen?” The quarter-master sergeant replied, “He has, but he would got give it up to me.” “He has done right enough, too,” said the colonel, and I pulled my canteen off the strap that was attached to it, and gave it to him; he drank heartily out of it, and was very thankful; I told him he was extremely welcome. I said, “Colonel, shall I get you a beefsteak for supper, as I have been taking a good supper off the same animal, off the rump of a nice young horse?” “No, never mind it, corporal, I can do very well to-night;” I said, “I will leave you the canteen, sir, to drink the remainder of the water.” He was very thankful; I wished him good night, and went back to my old residence to lie down by the fire.
I went down the following morning (the 24th July) to getmy canteen, and received it from the colonel. We fell into conversation respecting the cavalry which had been charging us the previous day, and he asked me what Mr Burton, the officer of the outlying picket, had been doing. My answer was that I was not studying him, but was looking after my own interest. Shortly afterwards, we all fell in, and the aide-de-camp came round to the colonel and told him that he was to march to Oporto. Accordingly we proceeded on our way back to Oporto about three miles, when the aide-de-camp came forward and told the colonel that the regiment was to halt; so we lay there for further orders, for about two hours. We heard the enemy was advancing on us, and very shortly after discovered about twenty bullock teams coming on the road from Oporto, with bread and wine to supply the troops. When they came up, the battalion was ordered by the colonel to get their rations; so we had two days’ wine, which was a quart (a pint per day), and also two pounds of bread. After we had refreshed ourselves, we were stronger and better able to attack the enemies that came up against us. The quarter-master sergeant called out for me, and I went up a little way where they were serving out the rations; he told me to give him my canteen, which I handed to him, and he filled it full of wine (three pints); he said that was an order from the colonel. We lay there but a very short time, when we proceeded on our way to Oporto, where we arrived just before nightfall, and marched, into the town with bugles playing and all the colours we had left flying; for they were tattered and torn with shot. The inhabitants of the town gave us a hearty cheer, and had pitchers of wine ready for us as we passed along and went into our old residence at the Convent of St. Lazarus, there to lie until further orders. I threw myself down to get a little sleep which was very much required.
Waking up in the morning, I was as hearty as a trout. After breakfast, the colonel’s orderly sergeant came round (the light company), and wanted to know where Corporal Knight was; he was taken to the room where I was lying in charge of twelve men; the sergeant told me the colonel wished to see me. I asked him if he knew what it was for, and he replied that he did not; but I put on my jacket and cap and went with him. When we came to the colonel’s quarters, the sergeant knocked at the door, which being opened the colonel told me to come in: so I sat down for a few minutes, and he entered into conversation with me; he then gave me ten dollars, and told me that would do; upon which I retired and went back to the convent. I have forgotten to make mention that I asked the colonel what the ten dollars were for; and he answered, “for the water I had given on the twenty-third evening of duty at Ponto Ferrado.” He said, “Corporal, you can now go and have a good “spree.” I went into the town and had a good “sheevo” during the night.
Some few days after, the inhabitants of the town made a collection among themselves, which amounted to ten dollars a man in the British battalion. They used generally to encourage us, by giving us ten dollars, to keep them out of the town. So the whole battalion had a good flare up for a night or two,—plenty of fiddling and dancing, which strongly reminded us of dear old England.
After all our money was spent we went back quietly to the convent. In about a fortnight after that our paymaster fortunately came out from home to pay us some back pay due to us (two months). Each soldier had £2 5s. per month; our pay was augmented to that of a British soldier; they received their two months’ money. My pay was fourpence a-day extra, which, amounting to ten shillings a-month, made it £5 10s. per two months. I had it paid to me in Spanish dollars, and I pushed off to the quay to have a “flare up.” In “flaring up” in the course of the night, I “flared down,” and measured my length on the ground, with a stone under my head for a pillow. When I woke up in the morning, the devil might have danced a hornpipe in my pocket; for my money was all gone, and my orders off my breast had followed my money. I said it was all fair in war, the scamps had cleaned me out. “I will be as keen as any other one to-night to look out to see what I can lay hold of.” So I pushed off to the convent, and I had a good sleep through the day, and I proceeded on the way down to the quay, where I found my comrades reeling about from side to side. I reeled up against one fellow, but he had not quite enough in his noddle box; I reeled up against another one, and down we went together; my hands were soon in his pockets, to make up for what I had lost the night before. I had a good “flare up” that night, and took great care I did not “flare down.”
In the morning there was a chap came up to me pulling such a long, wry face. I said to him, “Why so down in the mouth?” He answered, “Some one has been about me and stole all my money.” “The devil they did!” replied I; “it was only the night before they treated me in the same way.” “Well,” he says, “Corporal, let us keep a sharp look out, and, if I catch the scoundrel that treated me so, I’ll make his bones sore for a month.” But I, pitying the poor devil pulling such a long face, took him into a wine shop to give him a glass with his own money. I proceeded then to the convent, and kept myself all night.
I happened to be on guard a few days after this, and was sitting on a low wall opposite the guard room door, and a few soldiers along with me, it being night (somewhere near eleven o’clock), when the rounds came round the corner of a wall; I challenged and got no reply, only a “hoo, hoo;” I jumped off the wall to meet his approach with a lump of a stone in my hand, and hit him full in the face, which made him sing out for his greatgrandfather. As soon as he came on the ground, I out with my bayonet and ran it into his neck. I told the men with me to lay hold of him by the hind legs, and to bring him on; they brought him down to the guard room, proceeding towards the kitchen, when the sergeant jumped up off the guard bed half asleep as he was, and asked, “What is the matter?” I replied, “You shall have your share when it is ready.” “You Corporal Knight,” said he, “you are a terrible fellow for looking after the pigs.” I answered, “That is what I principally hit on.” I told the men to drag him into the mess kitchen, and make a good fire under the copper to scald him. They complied with my orders, and I said, “Those who eat the most pork will eat the most bristles.” After the pig was got ready, I told them to shoulder the pot and march; they brought the pig into the guard room, and we all took a hearty meal off him. Nothing took place after that for some little time; being very badly off for rations, the colonel issued an order for a non-commissioned officer of a company to take a portion of men daily into the garden, so I called four men to bring their haversacks to proceed into the garden along with me; I went to the Monk’s kitchen door and knocked; he asked in the Portuguese language who was there; he opened the door and told me to come in, and I told the men to follow me. I went into the garden and told the men to fall to and get some vegetables; in the meantime I shook myself off a few figs. After they had supplied themselves with vegetables, I told them they could get a little fruit for themselves, but not to break or destroy the trees. When they had got a supply I told them to come on; accordingly we went into the kitchen, and I observed a pig’s cheek on the block, belonging to the monks; I called the cook, in order to take his attention off the block, and he came over to me; in the meantime I put my hand back as a signal to one of the men to carry away the pig’s cheek; as soon as I saw the pig’s cheek had disappeared from the block, I thought it was time for me to disappear also, so I said to the cook in Portuguese, “Adieu, signor;” he called me a very good man, and said there would be a good deal of heavy firing in a short time, and that the English soldiers were very good in the field.
After I departed from the convent, the pig’s cheek we had carried off and the vegetables in the garden soon disappeared also. But it was best of all when the pigs themselves made their way into the garden; and, not to touch those in the woods, or roads, as they did not seem half fond of the garden, we fell into the plan of driving them into the garden, and then falling upon them and killing them. The captain, on going his rounds the first evening, saw three lying dead in the kitchen, waiting for scalding. I told him not to be too particular about scalding them, for those that eat the most pork would eat the most bristles. Going his rounds the following evening, he saw six pigs, and he said, “The pigs are verypartial to the garden. Are you sure you found them all there?” No reply. “Who is butcher among you?” he asked. No reply yet. Seeing me sitting on the mess-room kitchen table, he asked me if I knew anything of the affair. I told him, “No; I had come in promiscuously to get a light of my cheroot.” He remarked, “I think you are one of the ringleaders.” He thought right enough, too. Notwithstanding all his sharpness, we managed to keep ourselves pretty well supplied with pork, and also to get a fair share of aquadente. In fact, we took everything we could possibly lay our hands on. We often turned out of the convent at night, at all hours, and formed close column in the Arsenal Square, there to lay till further orders, under expectation of the enemy, coming up to rescue the town from us. As the day approached, we would march back into the convent. Our rations were very scantily served out; there was scarcely a thing a dog or cat could eat but what was devoured by the soldiers. I had never ventured myself yet on eating dogs or cats. Going up a street called Rue Tendemdza, I met two lancers coming down the street, and they said to me, “Corporal, why so down in the mouth?” I said, “It would make anyone look down in the mouth to be starved as we were.” “Just come along with us; we have been cooking some mutton.” And they brought me into the Horse Barracks, and put some meat before me with some soup. I “progged” hold of a piece of meat with a fork, and lifted it up to my nose and smelt it. “Don’t tell me this is mutton,” I remarked, “it is part of an old tom cat.” “Taste it,” said he, “it will do you no harm. Here, I will show you how to eat;” and taking a leg he munched away at it like a Russian. Having seen this man eat the leg of the cat, and being moreover very hungry at the time, I took a mouthful or two but would not eat any more of it. I would rather have died with hunger. I was nearly choked all the day drinking water to take the dreadful taste out of my mouth. Some time afterwards, however, I was as keen as any one looking after the same animals; necessity compelled me to do so.
The cavalry had two or three horses that died with sheer hunger, as there was no forage to give them. The poor animals used to tremble at the water trough. I made a remark that if the enemy had known how we were situated they could very easily have taken the town from us. The inhabitants of the town were also starving. I have actually seen the cavalry scrape the meat off the dead horses’ bones. The cholera broke out (1832), and the inhabitants began to die off very fast. If the enemy had come against us with a reinforcement, they could have killed and destroyed us all; but it was fortunate for us poor soldiers that they did not know how we were situated. They lived first-rate themselves, but would allow nothing to reach us. We often used to make a sally to beat them back in order to get something to eat, if possible. We used sometimes to get rations served out thatwere conveyed by the fleet whenever they had an opportunity of working the boats.
There was a 15-gun battery on the north side of the town, just at the entrance to the bar, coming into the river Douro. Our people formed a bridge of pontoons, and our army went over (about 6000) to beat back the enemy and rescue the battery. It was not very difficult to come at, and we took possession of the battery, and the guns were spiked and thrown off the carriages. We beat the enemy about two leagues to the rear, and marched back again into the town. We cut down the body of a soldier from off a tree on the breast of the town, which had been hanging there seven weeks, and buried him. As we often went down the river at low water mark, we supposed the enemy had got hold of the poor man.
We now had an excellent allowance served out by the admiral’s squadron, consisting of beef and biscuit, sometimes pork. Before we captured the battery, when conveying the boats in, they used to muffle the oars to prevent any noise being made by them, so as to do everything as secretly as possible; for they would have swamped us if they had heard any noise. We had very hard times of it.
On the seventeenth of August, I was ordered to take two invalids into the general hospital, and after giving them up to the doctor, I was returning to my residence: eight hundred men arrived a few days before, from Great Britain, called the British volunteers, under the command of Colonel Burrel. The men, who were drinking in the town, saw me passing, and called out to me to come and take a glass of wine. Accordingly I went in with them, and I stopped during the night; early on the following morning (the eighteenth), I heard a gun fire from the battery; they asked me what was the meaning of that gun firing. I told them I thought it was something going to turn up that day, and in a very short period. The battery guns were in full play, I shook hands with them, and made off to where our company lay; when I arrived, the captain asked me where I had been; I told him I had been to the general hospital with two invalids. He said, “Look sharp up into the room and get your accoutrements on,” but when I came into the room they were all taken away and put into the quarter-master’s stores; I came down and informed the captain, then ran over to the quarter-master’s stores, and looked about for my accoutrements, but could not discover them; I picked up an old kit of belts that had not had a bit of pipeclay on them for months; I lifted an old firelock and a bayonet, they were very rusty; I looked into the pouch to see if there was any ammunition, and found it was empty; I went over to the barrel where the ammunition was kept, and filled my pouch with sixty rounds, and forty in an old haversack I lifted; I then made my way out to the company as soon as I could. The battalion was all ready to marchoff—we proceeded over a gully into the field of action, the battalion companies formed lines, and the light company in skirmishing order; the bugle sounded to commence fire, I primed, and found she was loaded, she flashed in the pan,—I tried her again, and she flashed in the pan again; I said to my next man, “Lend me your worm to draw the charge;” I stooped down behind a lot of stones, thinking I could not get shot while drawing the charge; I sprang the ramrod, and she was all right, I loaded her, and she flashed in the pan again; she was so foul that she would not go off; I lifted her by the muzzle, hit the butt of her on a rock, and broke her short in two, for I was so agitated, thinking I was not going to get a shot at the enemy. I advanced about three hundred yards, when I discovered three sergeants of the enemy lying dead; I lifted one of their fuzees, and tried her to see if she was loaded; she was discharged, but I soon charged her, and she went off most beautifully. I fired sixty-three rounds, and she did not miss fire once.
We beat the enemy back, and lay neutral on the ground, thinking a reinforcement would come up. After two hours they did so. We had a strong attack from them, and kept it up till sundown. Captain Shaw received a wound through both calves of his legs, which caused him to fall. He called out to me (I was not many yards from him) to take him to the rear, and I carried him about two or three hundred yards down under the hill, and put him into a quarry hole. “Hey, mon!” he cried, “ye going to leave me here?” He was a very heavy man. I told him that he was out of the way of the shots, and that I would send a muleteer (the first I could meet with) to carry him into the town. In going back to my company I met a muleteer going into the town for ammunition, and I pointed to the place where the captain lay. Shortly afterwards the enemy beat the retreat, we marched back into the town. We lost upwards of 300, killed and wounded. As I was going into the town, I was very desirous to look where the captain lay, and I observed that he was gone. We took up our old position, and there we lay till further orders.
On the 7th of September, the enemy had a reinforcement from Lisbon; and we had another attack from them, and bonfire convenient to the town. We kept up a strong fire, but were compelled to retreat, as our number was getting weak, and, coming into the town they could not get a sufficient supply of ammunition to keep the guns in full play. There were five regiments of Tachedores, brought from the Foise, placed there to keep that part of the town good. We beat the enemy back again to the lines. Some of the skirmishers belonging to the enemy went down through the gardens under the retreat; they had several walls to go over, which divided the gardens. There was a fellow just before me, getting over the wall, and I ran my bayonet into him to assist him over. He turned round, and said in Portugueselanguage, that I was a good fellow, which was a hint for me to leave off pushing him with my bayonet. We kept it up till night. The enemy were supposed to have lost about 7000, and our side nearly 2000, from what I could understand.
There was a very old mansion belonging to a gentleman, nearly about the middle of where the action took place, with an immense draw-well erected, very much in the old English style, and a very large wheel for the water to be drawn up by a mule. The well ledge was thrown up, and the dead bodies cast into the well, in order to make a clearance.
On the 29th of September we had another general engagement. We turned out at the break of day, and had a great deal of very heavy firing. The Light Company was extended under a wall of the breastworks; and we kept up a strong fire for seven hours, never shifting our position. The Tachedores of the enemy were very numerous, and very close to us; if we had thrown a stone we could have struck them with it. Captain Mitchell had been speaking to me respecting the engagement; he was appointed from the colonel to take the command of the company, as the captain was not well enough to attend, owing to the wounds he had received through both calves of his legs. I fired sixty-three rounds, and, while loading the sixty-fourth, I got a severe wound through the groin. I fired the sixty-fourth round, but, while loading the sixty-fifth round, I felt quite exhausted, and fell up against the wall. The captain said, “You are wounded, Knight.” I hobbled away to the rear as well as I could. I had about half a mile to go. I was very much exhausted as I crawled, or rather hobbled, along on one leg, the other hanging down useless. On getting into the entrance of the town, I saw a troop of cavalry sitting on their horses—in a little lane off the main road. The officer rode over to me and said something in Portuguese that I did not understand. In the meantime, while I was sitting down talking to him as well as I could, a muleteer came along; the officer spoke to him, and he lifted me on a mule and took me to the General Hospital, where I lay seven hours during that day before the ball was extracted.
The doctor was with a man extracting a ball from his shoulder; the man said he was not able to go through the pain and punishment. With all the attendance of the doctor, he could not keep him steady, so as to extract the ball. The doctor had to leave him. I called out as well as I could for some one to come and attend on me; he came forward and turned the sheet off me, found where the ball was laying, and ordered four men to be in readiness to assist in keeping me down. I told him I did not require any holding at all, saying I was quite capable of undergoing the punishment. As I was propped up in the bed, the pillow being high, I could discover all he was doing. He made a cut of about an inch; the second time he cut the same, just as I beganto feel the effect of it; the third cut he made at me came on the ball; he put the instrument in and pulled it out; it was as flat as a penny piece, for it had struck against a rock before it had struck me. The instrument reached from one part to the other, right through my groin. As we were engaged that day we had blue cloth pantaloons on; and the doctor tried if any blue cloth had gone with the ball; but when he found the pantaloons were under my pillow, and that the piece had not been cut out by the ball, and that it lay down neutral after the ball had been extracted from me, I felt quite easy. My wounds were dressed on both sides with lint, and a bandage round to keep it on, so as to bring the discharge from it, every twenty-four hours. I lay in that awkward position for seven weeks before they put the regular dressing on me to heal the wounds.
I lay eleven weeks altogether in the general hospital, and was then removed to the regimental hospital appointed for the battalion. I was carried there by four men on a stretcher. They put me into the non-commissioned officers room, and there I remained for seven weeks.
The doctor came round the hospital and shook hands with the patients, informing us that he was about to go to Great Britain. He shook hands with me personally, and said, “I think you have received too severe a wound to recover; I do not think you will recover it.” We never saw anything of him after he left us; another doctor took his place. I said that I would be glad to see myself once more all right. The doctor allowed each sick individual four ounces of wine per day. In the course of a very short time after his departure I began to gather a little more strength.
The inhabitants of the town were very liberal in bringing us the best of nourishment, as they doted on the English, who were their chief support in protecting the town from the enemy.
There was a sergeant in the next bed to me, named Schofield, a grenadier sergeant; he often looked over to me and said, “How do you feel, corporal?” I told him I felt pretty middling at times. He asked me if I would take a drop of wine. I used to make the reply that I thought I could; and he would hand me a drop that often enabled me to have a sleep. At this time I was getting well round. When the bottle was empty, the sergeant managed to fill it again. I think the wine was my chief support. One day I hobbled out of the bed into the kitchen to take a smoke. I was quite unable to come up again, and I was helped up by two men belonging to the hospital. A few days afterwards I began to think I was capable of getting up, and the sergeant and myself used to walk together daily, for an hour or so, which I thought was a very great benefit to me; and by degrees I became quite capable of walking in the town. The little wine I took daily was the chief support I had. My wounds began to heal quickly, and soon I was able to leave the hospital.
The sergeant joined his company, and I was attached to the Scotch battalion, as I was incapable of doing service under the command of my old captain of the British battalion, Captain Shaw, then colonel of the Scottish brigade. I drew rations until further orders; we were then lying where the Scotch took up their position at Lord Della’s.
One morning I was toasting a piece of pork that had been served out to me in ship’s rations, with biscuit to catch the fat of the pork, when all of a sudden the enemy’s pickets reinforced and rode back the Scotch pickets. I jumped up—unable to run much as my sinews at the knees were very stiff—and hobbled away down the lane; the musketry and the big guns were in full play. Colonel Shaw coming up the lane on a mule, ordered the Scotch to come rightabout and charge the pickets of the enemy—I heard them clicking-clacking bayonets against bayonets; they kept up a sharp fire. The Scotch drove the enemy back to head quarters, where they lay for about a month.
There was nothing worth while speaking about after that took place; I retired to Oporto and drew my rations, as usual, from the commissary’s stores, and resided with the quarter-master in an apartment formerly belonging to the British battalion. I used to walk about Oporto, noticed by the inhabitants, having possession on my breast of the Craftic order, of the Town sword, and the Waterloo medal being very much noticed. I very often got gifts from them, and was very well supported; the quarter-master sergeant asked me one morning if I would be a servant to him; I replied, “By all means,” and there I remained until a passage was provided for me to go home to Great Britain. During the short period that I was servant to the quarter-master, I fell very ill, and had to be taken back to the hospital. Owing to the cholera having broken out, I lay some time in the hospital, my head was shaved, and I was fortunate enough to be placed in a bed near the door, where I had the benefit of the sweet air playing on me, it being very hot weather at the time. When I recovered I went out of the hospital and took up my old position along with the quarter-master I had been living with, who was very glad to see me.
Two young officers came one evening to visit the quarter-master, to appoint the time of what was to be done in regard to fighting a duel. The quarter-master had a room over the kitchen, and I was appointed to be in the kitchen. The quarter-master knocked his heels on the boards, which was a signal for me to come up; I was asked when I went up, to supply them with another bottle of wine from the stores, they drank till about twelve o’clock that night. When I took up the last bottle of wine, the two young officers in company with the quarter-master, said to him, “The corporal has been a fine soldier in the field, we have heard;” so they each presented me with a dollar. One gentleman was named Bulgar, andthe other Shadwick. The quarter-master told me that would do, and that I could retire. In retiring down into the kitchen, I heard some very heavy talking, as to appointing the place where they where to fight the following morning. I stopped on the stairs to listen to what was going on, and I heard they had arranged to go out at the dawn of day, about three o’clock in the morning, at the upper part of the town in a meadow. The master said to me, coming down to the kitchen after the officers retired, “You have no need to get up when you hear me get me up in the morning, as I am going on some little business.” I knew all about it, so I lay down for a short period, and kept myself awake for about two hours, when I heard the quarter-master coming down stairs; I never let on to make the least word, but soon slipped into the streets after him, hobbled along as well as I could, and kept him in view. It was very fortunate he did not discover me by looking back; I kept myself pretty well concealed by keeping close to the shadow of the houses, and I arrived at the top end of the town. There was a stone wall dividing the road from the paddock, and at the corner of the wall there was a house, I pulled my cap off, looked round the corner of the house, and discovered the three in company.
The quarter-master put them in proper position, back to back, and ordered them to step off, which they did, one going one way, and one the other, for a few paces; when the quarter-master cried out, “Hold!” “Half face to the right, going to the left!” then, “Present!” and he stood so that they could distinguish him. When he dropped the white handkerchief, they fired immediately, and one of them missed. Mr Shadwick wounded Bulgar in the side; he fell down; the other two ran up to his assistance, lifted him up, and took him down to his residence. I then retreated, not liking to wait any longer to see what was going on. I got back into the kitchen, and made some fire to get myself a cup of coffee. I took a smoke of my pipe, and about the hour of five o’clock, as near as I can say, the quarter-master came home and went to his room. I think he laid himself down and fell asleep for about two hours; as I did the same after taking a cup of coffee. I heard him making signals on the board; he wished me good morning, and I returned the salute. “Corporal!” said he, “bring me a cup of coffee.” He took his coffee, and then he had to get himself ready to go to the stores, at eight o’clock a.m., to serve out the rations to the soldiers. After the rations were all served out, he retired to his room and took his breakfast, after which he went out into the town. He told me he did not think he should be home to dinner. He came home in the evening, took a little refreshment, and shortly afterwards retired to bed.
The following morning, when he got up, he asked me if I knew the officers who had been in company with him the night before. I told him I did, Mr Bulgar and Mr Shadwick; he said that wasall correct, but that Mr Bulgar was sick, and had got leave from the colonel of the regiment to keep away from parade for a time. This was done in order that the regimental doctor should not know what had happened. The quarter-master asked me if I would attend to his apartments to give him a little hot water each morning I said I would by all means. I attended him every morning with whatever he required; he used to tell me to put it down and that would do. I attended on him several mornings, when I said, “Sir, you do not appear capable of dressing your wounds,” which were very slight flesh wounds. He looked at me very hard, and said, “do you know what is the matter with me?” I then told him all that had taken place, and that I had witnessed the whole of the affair. I said, “you were so grateful, sir, that I had pleasure in attending on you.” He remarked, “keep your own counsel, and do not relate it to any one.” I attended on him for nearly a month, when he became able to go on parade; and he rewarded me handsomely. I frequently saw them both in company afterwards, Mr Shadwick and Mr Bulgar; and they always greeted me, and often gave me the means to purchase a glass of wine. Some time in the early part of ’33, I went to Lord Dullah, two miles from Oporto, to see one of the officers named Captain Shaw, under whom I served when he commanded a British battalion, and who was then colonel of the Scotch brigade, to bid him farewell before my departure for Great Britain. In coming back from Lord Dullah, I fell in with barrack-master McCabe, who asked me if I had seen General Saldamia; he said he wanted to see him particularly. I told him I had not seen the general.
Whilst in conversation with him, concerning the various actions in which I had been engaged, he said, “you have been a very brave soldier in your time” (he was attached to the Rock Brigade) and told me that if I would call on him at his residence in Oporto, he would give me something, as he then knew me to be an invalid waiting for a passage home. I called at the place before my departure, and he told me that he had nothing to dispose of; so the Rock Brigade was none the better for me, nor me for them. I went for some short time to live with one of the old officers, quarter-master of the British battalion, and he offered me every assistance in his power. Previous to the time of my departure from Oporto, I witnessed some little affairs carried on with the enemy on the other side of the River Douro. Our troops had beaten the enemy back, about two leagues from Vellenevue. I often saw the enemy firing shells from their batteries when upon outlying picket duty, and a great many crossing the Douro in the night, as many as eight or ten in each party. As they had laid siege to the garrison for about two years, they did a deal of mischief by throwing shells into the town. I frequently heard the Portuguese people in the town calling out, when under fire, that the shells were “GrandeDiabolos,” or “Great devils.” There was scarcely a house in Oporto, but was perforated by shot or shell.
During the three years that I was in the service I could not relate to you every little incident that took place. Had it not been for the British subjects that went out to fight for Queen Donna Maria, and the French also, the town must have been taken by the troops of Don Miguel. The British subjects, as well as the French, were in a great state of starvation in the year ’32. Part of the time I was in the hospital from the wounds I received before Oporto, which had thoroughly disabled me from performing any other duty; and I wish to inform my Sydney readers that during the three years I was in the Portuguese service there did not occur much worth relating.
In my work published recently in England is contained a full and true account of the numerous affairs in which I was engaged, comprising my adventures both in the Portuguese and British service. This is a work I would advise all my friends to peruse; it contains 272 pages, which are fully illustrated in copper-plate, comprising among them two large drawings of the Battle of Waterloo; also one of the action of Ponte Ferrera, in Portugal. This book was published in the year 1834, and can at any time be had on application to the author of the present work, Corporal Knight; or by application to Mr. Murray, Charing Cross; or Effingham Wilson, Royal Exchange, London. The first edition sold rapidly, to the number of 750; as these books were well got up and most interesting, they readily sold at the sum of five shillings per volume. The first days’ sales were fifty volumes, and netted the sum of £12 10s.
I may remark that I left Spithead 20th November, 1830; and I left Oporto on the 20th November, 1833. I then went on board the Samuel, schooner, loaded with wine, and bound for Bristol. I heard the captain say to his mate, concerning my fellow passenger and myself, that one or two passengers would not cost him much for provisions on the passage. Overhearing this remark, I said to him, “Mind, captain, that I don’t astonish your provision chest, as I have been formerly a marine on board the squadron.” He replied, “I am glad to hear you speak so boldly, as I will be rejoiced in your continuing in good health.” During the voyage, one of the seamen having become unfit for duty, I told the skipper that I would do my utmost to supply his place on the passage. He thanked me, and gave me a complete sea rig-out, comprising purser’s jacket, trousers, and a sou’-wester. He said, “Put these on, and doff your military uniform, and then you will look something ship-shape.” I immediately complied by getting down the forecastle, and into my new kit as soon as possible. I packed up my regimentals and stowed them away in the bunk where I usually slept. The captain was mightily pleased to see me come up a perfect seaman, to all appearance at least. I then told himhe must excuse me going aloft, as the severity of my wounds prevented me doing so, but would do my utmost on deck. He was well satisfied with me, and, after a few days, we got into the skirts of the Bay of Biscay; our copper on the starboard quarter, containing rations for the ship’s company, during a stormy night, when the waves were actually running over the topmast, this unfortunate copper got loose and drove right across the main hatch and then into the sea. The captain then told the mate to batten down the hatchways, as there was a still worse squall to windward. I lashed myself to the pump. We soon after sprang a leak, and were nearly lost that night. The weather, however, moderated towards morning. The captain said to me, “You’re sticking fast enough to that pump.” I said I was, and told him I did so to make sure of seeing the old country once more, after all my hardships in foreign lands. After the squall was over, I continued at the pump—as we had sprung a leak. I pumped seven hours during the day, and had a glass of grog for every hour. The captain looked at me several times, and said, “Are you not getting tired?” I replied that I was, for my arms began to ache. “As we have lost our copper,” he says, “we must put up with what we have on board.” After we had got into the English Channel we had a very favorable wind, which carried us along in grand twig. When we came in sight of Holyhead a pilot came out with his men. They hove up alongside of us, and the pilot came on board, and conveyed the craft up the Pill. The captain said to me, “Corporal, you can change yourself now, and put on your own apparel.” Accordingly I went down into the forecastle; I dressed myself in uniform, and came on deck. The captain said, “You look a different man, corporal, to what you did some time ago. Get yourself ready to go on shore with me.” I asked him where he was going, and he said, “We are going seven miles overland to the ferry-boat leading into Bristol.” I asked, “Shall I call the other passenger, he is a sick man?” He replied, “No, let him stay there; he is unworthy much attention, as he did not try to assist when the ship was in great danger. I have £4 paid by the Portuguese Government for your passage to Bristol.” He gave it to me, saying, “you are well entitled to it; I will give you a little more when you come to Bristol.” We shortly afterwards went ashore in the boat, leaving the pilot in charge. We did not arrive in Bristol until two days, owing to the wind being so much against her. We proceeded on our way to Bristol, when the captain asked me if I would go into an hotel and take some refreshment; I replied, I would; he asked me what I would like, and I told him I should like a pint of English ale, as I had not drunk any such beverage for nearly three years. The ale took effect on me, more so than a gallon of wine. We then proceeded on our way two miles farther, until we came to the Ferry House Hotel; the captain and myself went into the hotel and took a glass each. On coming out,he felt very sick, and told me the liquor had taken a very bad effect on him. I waited some little time until he was able to go with me. We then got into a boat and went over to Bristol. The captain brought me to his own house in Bristol: he was a married man, having a wife and family. He mentioned having been to sea seventeen years, but had never witnessed such a fearful sea before, as it was touch and go with us. I stayed with the captain at his own residence for two days. We went down to the quay side on the third day to see if she had come up, and the captain discovered her lying alongside of the wharf. I brought some things on shore with me that I had carried from Portugal. The captain and I went into a tavern on the quay-side, where there were a great many other captains of ships assembled. They said, “Captain Kelsey, what kind of a voyage had you?” “A very indifferent one,” replied he; they remarked, “You have brought a soldier home with you.” He said, “Yes, and a very clever man he is. We were in the height of danger in the Bay of Biscay, and one of the seamen fell sick, and he took the man’s place to do anything that might be required on the passage; money had been paid by the Portuguese authorities for his passage; and I have given it to him, for he was very well deserving of it.” “Very good, captain,” they observed, all being very well acquainted with him, “We shall all make him up a little more.” So, from the gentlemen present in the parlour of the hotel, I got five pounds subscribed. They said, as the weather was very cold, that would enable me to proceed on to London; and after the captain, myself, and the majority of the captains had taken farewell of each other, I proceeded to the captain’s residence, and the following day to London. I shook hands very heartily with the captain this morning, and thanked him for his kindness for all I had received; he said I was well entitled to it; so I took farewell of him.
In going up through Bristol I heard a fiddle playing in an hotel, I took a seat and called for something to drink; I kept up the “spree” for two days, when the devil might have danced a hornpipe in my pocket, for my money was all gone. I was prosing my head how to get to London, and thought to myself I would go down to the Portuguese Council Chambers to see the consul, as I had an order for forty-three pounds back payment at Cavenhill’s, Cornhill, agent to the Portuguese Government. I presented this order to the Portuguese consul to ask him if he would grant me a few pounds, and I would leave the order with him, and he could forward it to the agents in London. He said he could not do anything of that kind, but that, owing to my good conduct in the Portuguese service, during the period I was in it, and seeing what I had on my dress coat (which was the united order of the Tower and Sword), he gave me five pounds, saying it was a gift from his own private purse. I was extremely thankful to him, and I retired from his apartment. In going through thehall, where there were a few gentlemen reading the newspapers, one of them asked me if I would please to stop; he asked me what regiment in the service I belonged to; I answered I formerly belonged to the ninety-fifth rifles; he asked me if I was in any engagements with them; I said I was in Holland under Sir Thomas Graham, and also General Adams at the battle of Waterloo. He said he knew them, and asked me several questions, which I answered. He asked me where I had gained the order of the United Sword, and I told him in the Portuguese service. He said he knew Portugal well, and added, “I am aware all you have told me is quite correct; I have been a colonel in the British army under Wellington;” he was satisfied, and asked me if I was going to London, I said, “Yes, sir.” He then gave me a letter of introduction to a gentleman in London. A good few gentlemen in the hall stopped reading their papers and gathered round me to hear what I had to say. The gentleman said to me, “Here is a trifle for you, to help you on to London,” and gave me a pound, and the rest of the company made me up four pounds more. I was very thankful to them all, and so I came out in flying colours, being a pound richer than when I first started.
I now proceeded on my way to London. When I came into Newbury, in Berkshire, I met with a recruiting party, beating up for recruits. The sergeant saw me going through the town, and called out to me to stop; he asked me what services I had been in; I told him I had been in Portugal of late, in the Queen’s service; and that I had formerly belonged to the 95th Rifles. He observed the medal on me, and asked me what brigade I belonged to; I told him the first brigade and second division, commanded by General Sir Frederick Adams. He then asked me if I knew what regiments belonged to the brigade; I told him the 52nd Light Infantry, the 71st Scotch, and the Rifles. He said, “I was in the 71st in the battle of Waterloo.” I observed the medal on his coat. I stopped with him two days; it did not cost me a farthing unless I wished. The sergeant was very partial to me, and wished me to enlist, but I did not comply with his wishes. During the two days I was with him and his recruiting party, he got me to go round the town with a drawn sword over my shoulder. When he pulled up at a tavern, and when the young men of the town would assemble round, he used to tell the inhabitants, pointing to me at the time, that I had been in the service and made an independency. I was the cause of picking up double the number of recruits that he could have got in any other way. I used to gammon the young countrymen they were all going to be made officers and gentlemen of, and they believed me. When I was about making my exit the third morning, he very kindly shook hands with me, and pressed me very hard to stay with him. “As you know a great many officers in the Portuguese service, I can recommend you to gentleman, a squire who lives about threemiles from town.” I should come to a gate leading to a park where the squire resided; so I walked boldly up through the park and up to the front door and rang the bell; a servant came out to ask me what I wanted, and I told him I wished to see the squire. When the squire came he asked me what I wanted with him; I said I knew the squire’s brother in Portugal (Colonel Bacon, colonel in the Lancers). He looked at me very hard, and asked me a great many questions respecting him; also if I had been in any engagements along with him at any time. I told him I had been in two general engagements in one brigade with him. He asked me what engagements they were, and I satisfied him. He then enquired if I knew the colonel personally; I said I did, having often had conversation with him about Great Britain. He next asked me if I knew anything that took place at Velonga, and what it was. I informed him that we had liberty to plunder the town for two hours after we had taken it; and that I went into a gentleman’s apartment in the township of Velonga, where I found the colonel, who said to me, “Soldier, what brings you here?” I answered, “My legs, Sir. I have come on the same errand as yourself.” “What is that?” he enquired. I told him it was to fill my pockets or haversack with whatever I could lay hold of. He said, “I did not ask you for that; but I wish to know what you have come after.” “Anything I can lay my hands on,” I replied, “But I am afraid, colonel, there is very little to be got in this room, for I believe you have got it all.” I went into another room as quick as I could, and picked up a very valuable article—a golden crucifix. The colonel coming into the room, I said, “I do not know, colonel, what you got in the other room, but look here what I have got!” So I held out my hand to show him my prize. He was going to take hold of it with his delicate thumb; but I cried out in Portuguese “Parer Poed!” that is in English, “Stop a bit.” After that we both hunted about the room, and then went into two or three more. I got pretty well enough to satisfy myself.
The squire was delighted to think I could give such an excellent account, and made me a present of five pounds. He then rang the bell, and the servant came up, whom he ordered to take me down and give me some refreshment. Afterwards I proceeded on my journey to London.
I met with nothing worthy of mention until I reached London. I found the gentleman out to whom the colonel, in Bristol, had recommended me. I was very well treated by him, and highly recommended by several gentlemen who had relations in the service I had been engaged in; and they were pleased to see me. I got a card of a gentleman’s address (Mr. Thomas Shaw, 16 Woburn Place, Russell-square.) I went to his house, and found him at his office; as I was going up the steps he observed me from the window making an advance towards the office. When I knocked atthe door he desired me to come in, and asked me my business. I told him I had been in Portugal with a brother of his, who ranked as Captain Charles Shaw, Captain of the Light Company, of the British battalion under Colonel Hodges; and that I had been corporal in his company for more than two years. In answer to his inquiry I told him my name was Thomas Knight. “Corporal Knight!” said he, looking at me very hard, and asking me a great many questions, which I answered. I mentioned that I had been out with his brother in the Portuguese service; the first time I met him was on board the ship going to Spithead. Mr. Shaw asked me if I would drink a glass of wine; and he ordered the man to bring up a bottle out of the cellar; he poured out a glass, and I drank to his health and to that of the gentlemen in company with him, and also to his absent brother, Brigadier-General Shaw, whom I had left in Portugal. He replied, “Bravo, Corporal!”
After some little time elapsed, Mr. Shaw brought me to the map he had in the office, and asked me if I understood it, I replied that I did. He then pointed his finger to a certain place on the map, and asked me if I knew its name. I answered that, it was a street called Rue Tendemoza. He pointed to another part of the map and asked if I knew what that was. I told him that was the convent of St. Lazarus. I then informed him I had brought his brother out of the field, when he was wounded, in three different engagements; and that the last wound he received to my knowledge was at Bomfine, on the 18th August 1832, where I saw him wounded by shot, in both calves of his legs. We held no farther conversation about him, as it was only on my own affairs. I told him I had been very severely wounded myself, and the captain wished me (if I felt inclined) to remain in the country until it was all over. We used to meet together in Oporto, and often have a chat together—he with crutches and me with a walking-stick to help me along; and that I was unfit for service, being very stiff-kneed. He asked me if I was anything of a scholar, I replied I was. He then said “I have thought of getting up some work to enable you to live during your old age.” He then handed me some sheets of foolscap paper and told me to write an account of my adventures.