British Campaigns in Flanders 1690-1794: Being Extracts from "A History of the British Army"Fortescue, J. W. (John William), Sir
History
British Campaigns in Flanders 1690-1794: Being Extracts from "A History of the British Army"
Fortescue, J. W. (John William), Sir
Flanders -- History, Military; Great Britain -- History, Military -- 18th century
It was now eleven o’clock. Luxemburg had left his bed and had ridden
out to a commanding height on his extreme right, when a third letter
was brought to him that the Allies were certainly advancing in force.
He read it, and looking to his front, saw the red coats of the Guards
moving through the wood before him, while beyond them he caught a
glimpse of the dense masses of the main body. Instantly he saw the
danger, and divined that William’s attack was designed against his
right. His own camp was formed, according to rule, with the cavalry on
the wings; and there was nothing in position to check the Allies but
a single brigade of infantry, famous under the name of Bourbonnois,
which was quartered in advance of the cavalry’s camp on his extreme
right. Moreover, nothing was ready, not a horse was bridled, not a man
standing to his arms. He despatched a messenger to summon Boufflers
to his aid, and in a few minutes was flying through the camp with his
staff, energetic but perfectly self-possessed, to set his force in
order of battle. The two battalions of Bourbonnois fell in hastily
before their camp, with a battery of six guns before them. The dragoons
of the right wing dismounted and hastened to seal up the space between
Bourbonnois and the Sennette. The horse of the right was collected,
and some of it sent off in hot speed to the left to bring the infantry
up behind them on their horses’ croups. All along the line the alarm
was given, drums were beating, men snatching hastily at their arms and
falling into their ranks ready to file away to the right. Such was the
haste, that there was no time to think of regimental precedence, a very
serious matter in the French army, and each successive brigade hurried
into the place where it was most needed, as it happened to come up.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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