Rifles - Mark Urban [121]
With its mixture of men hardened almost to the point of villainy with others who had campaigned too much, the battalion would not be easy to command in the forthcoming campaign. In his last weeks as commanding officer, Cameron took an opportunity to pack off several older men in the battalion who were simply too broken down to keep up with another season’s tough marching. Ten were sent away early in 1813, most to the 13th Royal Veteran Battalion, where they could at least still live with some dignity, wearing a red coat and having all the essentials of life found for them. Had the supply of fresh recruits been better, there can be little doubt that the expedient of invaliding men home in this way would have been used much more widely, for those unable to keep up with a regiment were frequently the source of all sorts of difficulties.
Some tough weeks of training lay ahead for everyone. George Simmons broke off a message to his parents on 30 April with the words: ‘I must end my letter, as the company are already mustering at my door for target practice. I shall pass the remainder of the day in proving the abilities of my men in hitting a mark in order to do justice to our enemies when we meet with them.’ When the brigade held another field day on 8 May, its performance was much improved. There was still time for some further preparation before Lord Wellington reviewed the Light Division on 17 May.
Around the 95th’s dinner table, a lively conversation about the next campaign followed the end of each day’s training. They knew from the English newspapers that Napoleon, having suffered a complete disaster in Russia, which of course delighted them, was preparing to fight in Germany. The wiser ones anticipated some weakening of the French Army in Spain in order to succour the Emperor in the north. However, each report of a movement by some French division across the frontier was considered highly unreliable. Officers would offer up the latest theory with an ‘on dit’ or ‘it is said’ in order to distance themselves somewhat from it: ‘on dit a corps of fifty thousand Russian auxiliaries is daily expected to disembark at Lisbon’. Percolating absurd reports and obvious ones down to their essence, one captain wrote to England, ‘Rumour says that we are about to retrace our steps and that we shall not stop until we have driven the French out of Spain … however I am totally in the dark upon the points which enable us beings of an inferior description to form any opinion at all.’
They did know one thing, though, and that was that the long winter’s repose would soon be over. Every soldier or officer, appreciating the comforts he would require on the marches ahead, set about finding them. ‘We now only require that the canteens of each Company’s mess should be well supplied before we begin the campaign with tea and sugar, a pigskin full of wine – a keg of spirits – lots of segars – and some spare horse shoes and nails to be carried with us in case of losing a shoe on the march,’ wrote Leach.
The division which assembled for Wellington that 17 May had been made up to more than 5,400 men by drafts and the acquisition of a further Portuguese regiment. In battle, the general dressed informally, but when reviewing his troops he adopted his red coat, riband of the Bath and numerous other decorations. His staff, following behind, were equally splendidly attired. As the general rode down lines of troops he knew that the Light Division was composed largely of the veterans of four or five campaigns. This spectacle, accompanied by the music of the division’s bands, was reserved only for its participants. One officer of the 43rd wrote home, ‘Such a review in England would have been attended by crowds and here, tho’ in great measure their prosperity depends upon it and there are several towns within 2 or 3 miles,