The enemy had now concentrated his forces on the heights of Alexandria. When he saw our division advancing to the left, he sent a party with two guns to cannonade us, and as we advanced nearer, he opened upon us a heavy fire of shot and shell. Our order of march was in divisions of companies; and, as we drew near the height, a cannon bail struck the ground, close to the right of the division of the company I was in. The ground happened to be soft mould; the ball lodged itself in the mould, and we were covered with the dust and small fragments of stones which it raised. It was a great mercy that the ground was not hard in that spot, as it was in the greatest part of the adjacent ground; for the ball would in that case have rebounded, and in all probability have laid down the front rank of the division. I felt thankful for deliverance, and continued to pray in my heart to God to spare and protect me.—We formed in close columns upon the height. The bed of a canal, over which was a bridge, lay in the bottom of the hollow that was betwixt us and the enemy's position: the bridge was defended by a party of cavalry and infantry, with two guns. The 44th regiment, being sent in front, charged the enemy with the bayonet, and captured the bridge; and the party which defended it retired into their own lines. During this operation the columns advanced, and began to descend into the hollow. Our regiment was in the front, the enemy played upon us with his artillery, to which we were now dreadfully exposed; but, after we had descended some way down the height, we were ordered to retire; and, as we retreated undercover of the height, we were partly screened from his fire. After we had remained in this position some time, our regiment was allowed to retire to the rear of the right of the centre division of the army. This division had been formed in line on the plain, and being wholly unprotected from the enemy's shot, had suffered very severely. They were still in this state; but they had now laid down their arms, and either sat or lay on the ground, by which means they were not so much exposed. We took up our position, and several men from each company were allowed to go in quest of water. I was one of them; and, as no one knew where to find it, we took different routes. After travelling some distance to the rear, I got information where water was to be had; and having made all haste to the spot, I found it, and instantly began to drink; but I thought I should never be satisfied. Never was any thing so precious to me in all my life as this water. After having drank a considerable quantity, I began to fill the canteens (of which I had ten) which I had brought to fetch it to those who remained; but many a drink I took before I had filled them. I then began to feel a little hungry, having eaten nothing from the preceding morning, lest it should increase my thirst. I sat down and took a piece of biscuit and a bit of pork, and began to eat; but still every mouthful required a little of the water; and I wished to be fully satisfied, before leaving the place, that I might not be under the necessity of drinking any of what I was carrying away. The water was white and muddy, but not thick; it was in a part of what had been the bed of a canal, or had been hollowed out by torrents coming from the heights in the winter season, across the mouth of which a bank had been thrown, which prevented the water from running into the lake, to which it was near. Having satisfied my thirst, I returned with a load of water to my comrades, to whom it was as acceptable as it had been to myself. We remained until near sun-set in the same position; and as the whole army was within reach of the enemy's shot, he continued less or more to cannonade us. When our regiment got on their feet and began to move, they fired at us from two of their heaviest guns. One of the balls rebounded from the ground, nearly killed our Major, and passed through the ranks: those opposite to it saw it, and were so fortunate as to make an opening, through which it passed without touching any one.
By sun-set the army took up its position on the heights from which the enemy had been driven on the morning, with our right to the sea, and our left to the canal that separated Lake Maadie from the bed of Lake Marcotis.—As soon as our position was adjusted, and we had liberty to pile our arms, the cry was for more water; and as I had been sent for it before, and knew where it was to be found, I was sent along with others. It was dusk before we reached the spot, which now presented a confused but interesting scene. The cavalry and artillery horses, which had been all day without water, were now there, and had gone into it with their feet, where they were greedily drinking. This had stirred up the mud, and made the water a perfect puddle; near the edge it was as thick as paste. We had therefore to wade in among the horses to where it was deeper; so that here were men and horses, standing promiscuously, knee deep in the water, trying as it were which could drink fastest. By the time I got my canteens filled, it was pretty dark; and, owing to the confusion, as I could not see, I had great difficulty in finding the regiment.
I now lay down on the ground to take some rest. I reflected seriously on the events of the past day, and thanked God for having heard my prayers, and for having spared and protected me. I remembered the promises I had made, and my conscience accused me of having broken them almost as soon as made. Even during the time of the action, when many were falling around me, and my danger was greatest, I had made use of improper expressions: expressions which I was not guilty of using at other times, and which, on such an occasion, above all others, I ought to have avoided. This threw me into dejection of spirits, and into a train of very serious reflections for several days; reflections which were deepened by my being led to see more minutely the danger I had escaped. Having occasion to shift my clothes, I observed that the ball which had struck me on the side, had passed through my coat and cut my waistcoat between the second and third button from the bottom; it had then grazed my side, and had been obstructed in its passage outwards by a small volume of poems, containing Pope's Essay on Man, Blair's Grave, and Gray's Elegy, which I had in my side pocket. The corner of the binding next to my side was shattered, and the greater part of the leaves much bruised. I now discerned, that it had been the force with which the ball struck the book that had wheeled me round. I was impressed with the conviction, that if I had been standing square to my front, the ball would have lodged in my left side; and that even in the oblique position in which I stood, had it been one inch nearer the right, it would have lodged in the body and proved mortal. There were few of my comrades that had not their clothes cut in several places; and many had received contusions that would have proved mortal wounds, if the French had properly loaded their pieces. It was said that they did not use the ramrod in loading, which enabled them to fire with greater rapidity; but the charge being loose in their pieces, the shot did not fly so true to its direction, and was in many cases weak; making only a contusion, in place of perforating the body. This partly accounts for such a long continued and tremendously superior fire, not being so destructive as might have been apprehended. The regiment lost 125 killed and wounded; but our wonder was how so many had escaped.
The loss sustained by the army, was 156 killed, 1082 wounded; and of seamen and marines there were 29 killed and 55 wounded, making a total of 1322. Four pieces of cannon and some ammunition were taken from the enemy.
A great part of the grape-shot and cannon balls, that were fired by the French, were made of a composition of brass. They had taken the copper-sheeting and bells of a number of the ships in the harbour, and the unserviceable brass guns in their possession, and had melted them into balls, to prevent their ammunition from being exhausted; because the blockade of Egypt by our ships of war, prevented them from receiving regular supplies from France. But the grape-shot of this description that lodged in the bodies of the wounded, had the tendency of making the wounds foul.
I continued to ponder over what had taken place; and my mind became increasingly uneasy. Conviction of sin, and a sense of ingratitude to God for his mercies, drove me almost to despair. I had my Bible with me, but made no use of it: our duty and fatigues left almost no leisure to do so, even had I been so inclined; and the dangerous nature of our present situation agitated the mind, and prevented the composure needful for the investigation of truth. One who previously knew the spiritual import of the Scriptures, might have made some profitable use of a Bible; but our circumstances were quite unfavourable for one like me. I was left to ruminate upon what occurred to my memory. I recollected what Manoah's wife said to her husband, when he was afraid that he should die because he had seen God. "If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands;" (Judges xiii. 23.) and was led to conclude, that I ought not to give myself over to despair, seeing God had yet spared my life. I had also a general recollection of the following passage of Young's Night Thoughts:
—— Time destroyed
Is Suicide, where more than blood is spilt.
Time flies, death urges, knells call, heav'n invites,
Hell threatens; all exerts: in effort, all;