Chapter II

Exchange into the 95th Rifle Corps. Expedition to Denmark. Sail to
Elsineur. Imposing appearance of our numerous fleet. Scenery on the
Danish and Swedish coasts. A party to Elsineur. Cronberg castle.
Hamlet’s garden. Disorderly conduct of the Danes. Causes thereof.
The army disembarks. The reserve commanded by Sir Arthur Wellesley.
Advance towards Copenhagen. A sortie made by the garrison. Affairs
between the Danish gun-boats and our advanced squadron. Ludicrous
nocturnal affair at the outposts. The Danish pickets are driven in.
The reserve is sent into the interior of the island of Zealand.
Affair near Kioge with the Danish militia. A sortie from Copenhagen
repulsed by Lieut. Light, of the 50th regiment. Bombardment of
Copenhagen, and surrender of the Danish fleet and stores. Visit to
the capital. Its deplorable appearance. The army re-embarks. List of
Danish prizes. A large fleet of homeward-bound merchantmen joins us.
We sail for England. A slight sketch of the Danes, and of the island
of Zealand. Stormy passage to England.

Three months out of the six which had been granted me to return to Europe for the recovery of my health, were already expended on the voyage home, and it consequently became indispensably necessary that one of two measures should be decided on without loss of time. Either to rejoin my regiment, and spend some of the best years of my life in a sugar island, where cold punch, sangaree, cigar-smoking, musquito bites, and every now and then a friend swept off by yellow fever, were the only varieties I had to calculate on; or to exchange into one of the regiments in England or Ireland, whereby I should stand a fair chance of participating in any service going on in Europe or elsewhere, as the fates might decree.

When encamped, in 1803, at Shorncliffe, with the 95th Rifle Corps, I took a particular fancy to it, and ever afterwards wished most ardently to wear a green jacket. On my return from the West Indies, this wish being by no means lessened, I lost no time in feeling the pulse of the captains of that corps; and, to my great joy, found one of them disposed to exchange his green jacket for a red coat, and to try his fortune in Antigua. I was shortly afterwards gazetted, and found myself fully accoutered as a rifleman, and stationed with my regiment in Kent, early in the spring of 1806.

Towards the end of that year, the battalion to which I belonged received orders to be in readiness for immediate embarkation. Report said that the Marquess of Hastings was to command the expedition; but we received counter-orders, and no embarkation took place that year.

In the summer of 1807, government having decided on sending a powerful fleet and army to the island of Zealand, in order to get possession of the Danish fleet, the battalion to which I belonged embarked in July at Deal—sailed the latter end of that month—passed the Sound on the 8th of August—and anchored between Elsineur and Copenhagen. The strikingly bold and romantic scenery which the coast of Sweden presents before reaching the Sound, afforded us much pleasure. From the fishing-boats which came off we were abundantly supplied with excellent fish, and at an inconceivably moderate rate.

Between Elsineur and Copenhagen our numerous fleet of line-of-battle ships, frigates, sloops of war, gun-brigs, bomb-vessels, and transports, containing upwards of twenty thousand troops, lay at anchor; and a more magnificent and imposing sight cannot well be conceived.

The fine beech forests on the Danish coast, growing in many places down to the water’s edge; the bolder and more marked scenery on the Swedish side; the distant view of Copenhagen, with its formidable floating batteries; and, in an opposite direction, the castle of Cronberg, with the towns of Helsenburg on the Swedish shore, and Elsineur on the Danish,—form a picture which I can scarcely imagine to be exceeded in beauty and interest.

During the six or seven days after our arrival, which were spent in negotiations, and before it was finally resolved that our army should be landed, to obtain by force that fleet which the Danish authorities refused to place in our hands, I went ashore with a party of our officers at Elsineur. Of Cronberg castle, we were, of course, not permitted to see more than the exterior, which appeared extremely formidable. In the town of Elsineur I can remember to have seen but little either to amuse or interest. We lost no time in procuring a person to conduct us to Hamlet’s garden, which is in the vicinity of Elsineur; and our guide, who was an antiquated female, affected to point out with great precision and exactness the identical spot where the old king of Denmark slept at the time he met his death by the hands of his brother. I recollect nothing peculiar in the garden itself, it being like a hundred other gardens which I have seen elsewhere.

On returning to the boat, about sunset, to go on board our transport, a large concourse of Danish sailors, and of the lower orders of inhabitants of Elsineur, assembled in a tumultuous manner on the pier, and were by no means nice or scrupulous as to the manner in which they conducted themselves towards any Englishman then ashore. A captain of our navy and his boat’s crew were maltreated, and some of them thrown into the water. Our party did not escape without being hustled and jostled and pushed into our boat. We effected our retreat, however, in good order, and reached our ship without any serious mishap.

That the Danes should have conducted themselves so uncourteously on this occasion, is not to be wondered at;—for it appeared that the final answer from the Danish authorities in Copenhagen had been received on that day by Lord Cathcart and Admiral Gambier, the commanders of our fleet and army, refusing to deliver the Danish fleet into our hands. The alternative was consequently soon known at Elsineur, that hostilities would immediately commence. It may also easily be imagined that the conflict which took place a few years before, between the British fleet under Lord Nelson, and the Danish fleet and floating batteries at Copenhagen, was still fresh in the recollection of thousands of the inhabitants, who had witnessed it from the shore; nor is it probable that they had yet forgiven us for the destruction of their fleet, and the dreadful carnage occasioned by their brave defence of it.

On the 15th of August the army received orders to land on the following morning. The reserve was under the command of Major-general Sir Arthur Wellesley, and consisted of the 1st battalion 43d Light Infantry, the 2d battalion 52d Light Infantry, the 92d Highlanders, with five companies of the 1st and five of the 2d battalion 95th Rifle Corps. The remainder of the two battalions of our regiment were, at this time, in South America, under Generals Whitelock and Sir Samuel Auchmuty.

Before day-break, on the 16th of August, we were in the boats and launches, and rowed rapidly towards the shore, over a sea as smooth as a mirror. We landed, without opposition, on a sandy beach; and some large woods being in the vicinity, Sir Arthur Wellesley immediately directed the companies of our corps to penetrate them and reconnoitre the different roads and paths. This having been done, the division advanced in the direction of Copenhagen, and bivouacked at night near a village, without having encountered any thing more formidable than a few armed peasants, who fled at our approach.

The next morning, at day-break, we again moved forward, and, with other divisions of the army, occupied the different roads leading to the capital, and took possession of such houses as were eligible, from their situation, for quartering the troops. As the army closed on the city, the fleet approached it also.

A day or two after we had taken post round the city, a sortie was made from the garrison, its principal force being directed towards the left of our position, near the sea, whilst some light troops kept us in play by skirmishing with our centre. This movement of the Danes was supported on the left by their gun-boats, which cannonaded our posts near the shore, and were also warmly engaged with the vessels of our advanced squadron. They were driven back, without much loss on our part. There were several sharp affairs between the Danish gun-boats and the brigs, bomb-vessels, &c. &c. of our fleet, at various times, the whole of which we could distinctly see from the shore. The sea appeared quite alive with the incessant plunging of shot and shells in various directions.

A ludicrous occurrence took place a few days after we landed. Shortly after dark, the reserve got under arms in great haste, in consequence of some firing in our front from one of the pickets of the division. Sir Arthur Wellesley and his staff were soon on the spot; and the alarm was found to have been occasioned by some unfortunate Danish horses which had strayed from their farm-yard. These animals came galloping down the road which led to the picket, with their collars, chains, and other apparatus, with which they had been fastened all day to the plough or harrow, and from which they had not been disencumbered. The officer who commanded the picket, hearing the galloping and clanking of chains, hesitated not a moment to open a fire on the road where the ill-fated quadrupeds were amusing themselves with kicking, frisking, and various other gambols, after their day’s labour. “Blaze away, my brave fellows! we are attacked by cavalry!” was the order promptly given, and instantly executed by the picket; and blaze away they did, to the no small annoyance of friend and foe: for we may conclude that the Danish out-posts, as well as our own, got under arms, and remained so until matters were explained. The return of killed and wounded of the Danish cavalry, in this nocturnal affair, was never clearly ascertained.

On the 24th of August, at break of day, the whole army drove in the Danish out-post, each division clearing its own immediate front, and causing the Danish pickets to take shelter under the guns of the town. We had some skirmishing with them amongst the gardens and suburbs, but with a trifling loss on our side.

A day or two afterwards, the reserve was ordered to march into the interior of the island, to disperse a large body of militia and armed peasantry which had assembled. Some troops, commanded by General Linsingen, were also placed under Sir A. Wellesley’s command, consisting of hussars, light infantry, and light artillery, of the German Legion. On the 29th of August, after three or four days’ march, we found this body of Danish militia in a position near the village of Kioge, with many pieces of artillery, indifferently appointed. Sir A. Wellesley lost no time in attacking them; nor did he experience much difficulty in defeating and dispersing this ill-disciplined force. We took from them their artillery, fifteen hundred prisoners, and some ammunition, stores, &c. &c. Our loss in this affair was very trifling, as it was impossible that the Danes could offer any effectual resistance to disciplined troops. Their numbers have been rated as high as fifteen thousand; but I believe it to have been vastly exaggerated. In order to render the dispersion of this body complete, and to prevent it from reuniting, our division and General Linsingen’s corps occupied different towns and villages in the interior of the island; but the inhabitants evinced no disposition to disturb us. Sir A. Wellesley enforced the strictest discipline in his division, which may, in a great measure, account for the good understanding which existed between the troops and the inhabitants. In October, the reserve was still more scattered and detached in towns and villages on the Belt.

Whilst Sir A. Wellesley was carrying on those operations in the interior, the siege of Copenhagen was prosecuted with vigour by the other divisions of the army, aided by the fleet. A sortie was made before daylight one morning, and was stopped by Lieut. Light, of the 50th regiment, whose gallant conduct at the head of his picket merited every encomium. On the 2d of September, our mortar-batteries and the bomb-vessels of the fleet opened a tremendous fire of shells and rockets, with such effect, that the unfortunate city was soon in flames in various places; and the wooden steeple of a large church or cathedral fell down, and spread the flames still farther around, thereby increasing the danger.

To save the ill-fated capital from total destruction, the Governor, General Peymaun, sent out a flag of truce on the 5th of September, and a capitulation was drawn up, by which the citadel was to be placed in the hands of our troops, together with the dock-yard, and the whole of their fleet and stores. The news of the capitulation reached us a few days after it was concluded, our division being at this time several marches from Copenhagen. I obtained leave of absence to visit the capital, which the British officers were allowed to enter with passports signed by a general officer. Having procured one, signed by General Ludlow, of the Guards, I spent five days with a party of my brother-officers at a capital hotel.

Callous and insensible must he have been who could have walked through the streets and witnessed the horrors occasioned by the bombardment, and the misery inflicted on thousands of the unoffending inhabitants, without bitterly regretting that our government should have considered it necessary to adopt such rigorous measures. The museum and observatory escaped the conflagration. From the ground to the summit of the observatory, the passage is extremely broad, and gradual in its ascent, and it commands a magnificent view of the city, the sea, and the country around to a considerable extent. One-third of the city was destroyed by the bombardment; consequently there was an appearance of confusion and irregularity in the parts which had suffered most.

About the middle of October, the working parties from the fleet and army having cleared the dock-yard of all the stores and the whole of the Danish fleet, preparations were made for the embarkation of the army, and our return to England. The reserve was withdrawn from the interior; and before the end of October the whole army was on board ship. The first and second battalions of our regiment embarked in the Princess Caroline, a Danish prize of 74 guns.

Eighteen Danish ships of the line, sixteen frigates, nine gun-brigs, and twenty-five gun-boats, being the whole of their naval force, were taken possession of and carried to England, with the exception of three or four, which were destroyed as not sea-worthy, or in too unfinished a state for the voyage.

By the time the embarkation was completed, a numerous fleet of homeward-bound merchantmen, from different parts of the Baltic, joined us, to take advantage of the convoy; and at length we set sail for England, with a fleet which, including ships of war, prizes, transports, and merchantmen, amounted to nearly five hundred sail; the largest, perhaps, ever assembled in the Baltic or elsewhere.

The castle of Cronberg did not fire on the fleet as we passed out of the Sound; and, indeed, had the Danes been disposed to do so, we could, by keeping near the Swedish shore, have avoided any ill effects from their batteries. We had every reason to be satisfied, during our stay in Denmark, with the conduct of the inhabitants, who, although they did not attempt to conceal their displeasure at our having landed, burnt their capital, and taken possession of their fleet, behaved uniformly with civility towards us; and, with the exception of the circumstance which took place at Elsineur two days before we landed, to which I have already alluded, I did not hear of an individual having been abused or ill-treated, even in the capital, notwithstanding that swarms of British officers were there throughout the day and night, and even before the flames which had consumed their houses were thoroughly extinguished. There are few capitals, similarly circumstanced, in which assassinations would not have taken place without number, particularly in the southern parts of Europe.

From our short sojourn in Denmark, I am well inclined to respect the Danes as a brave, honourable, and manly people. Their peasantry are quiet, orderly, and industrious; and as totally free from the preposterous pride of the Spanish peasant, as of the cringing servility of the Portuguese. The parts of the island of Zealand through which Sir A. Wellesley’s division marched, in our little expedition into the interior, is by no means without interest. There appeared to be no lack of cultivation, nor any symptom of want among the peasantry. The features of the country are, in general, not marked or bold; but the fine forests of beech, with various lakes, form altogether a pleasing picture.

After a passage of about four weeks from the Sound, in which we experienced a succession of heavy gales, and in which some vessels of the fleet foundered, or were wrecked on the coast of Holland, we anchored in the Downs; and our regiment disembarked in large pilot-boats, in a very heavy sea, which broke over us the moment we touched the beach at Deal. We marched the following day to Hythe barracks, in Kent, where we were stationed during the winter: here we were shortly afterwards joined by the companies of our two battalions which returned from South America, after the storming of Monte Video, under Sir Samuel Auchmuty, and the subsequently disastrous and ill-fated expedition to Buenos Ayres, under General Whitelocke. Their loss in officers and men had been very severe.