There was a company of the 60th rifles attached to our Brigade, who were all Germans. They were commanded by Captain Philip Blassiere, a singularly active and zealous officer. Throughout the whole period of our warfare he never was absent from his station. With unwearied perseverance he braved the hardest weather and the roughest service; his athletic frame and iron constitution enabling him to withstand it all, holding out with stubborn tenacity while hundreds gave way around him. Undergoing all hardships in common with his men, he walked by their side, partook of the same fare, and shared not only with them the dangerous trade of fighting, but all the miseries of cold and famine with their attendant train of horrors. He was foremost on all occasions, where shot and shell abounded, and was at the rendezvous before a man of the brigade was assembled; and long before the march commenced, there was Blassiere ready with his Germans for any thing that might be wanted.
The external appearance of this man was well calculated to excite surprise, and corresponded with his character for self-denial. His wardrobe was of the most scanty nature; the jacket and other parts of his attire, the original colour of which could not be distinguished by the most microscopic eye, were worn out, patched, and threadbare, and were pieced in various places; and the whole of his costume seemed at least for the last seven years to have retained its original situation on the person of its owner. Thus accoutred he trudged along, indifferent about the elements; as fast as he got wet, he got dry again, for he never changed his clothes. His muscular neck was enclosed by a hard leather stock and brass clasp to match, and all his trappings were of the same coarse materials as those worn by his men. The haversack, manufactured of rough canvass, sometimes proved a treacherous friend, for through many rents and breaches, made by the hand of time, the mouldy and crumbling biscuit found its way, leaving but the fragments of his bare allowance. The blue canteen, well clasped with iron hoops, afforded him a source of comfort; its contents being to him a certain panacea for all evils.
With habits somewhat eccentric, he was never known to indulge in any thing beyond the rations; and having no desire for the society of others, he discussed his frugal meal in solitude, avoiding even the luxury of a tent. His good humoured though weatherbeaten countenance was the index of his mind, which was cheerful and contented.
After buffetting all the storms, roughing it through thick and thin, and standing out the pelting of many a shower of bullets, this gallant veteran fell at last in battle when the army entered France.
CHAPTER XXI.
Intelligence being received that peace was concluded, the second Division of the Army embarked at Bordeaux, and, sailing from the Garonne, arrived in England early in 1814. The 50th was ordered to Cork, and, after marching through various parts of the Emerald Isle, they were sent to the north of it, where with the head quarters in Aughnacloy, they remained for the winter of the same year. Early in the spring of 1815, the regiment was removed to Enniskillen.[33] Here we were treated with the most liberal hospitality, not only by the inhabitants of the town, but by those of the surrounding neighbourhood, who generously received and entertained the officers, during the whole time of our residence there. The 2nd Battalion of the 27th, and some troops of the 7th Dragoon Guards, together with the staff of the Fermanagh Militia, composed the garrison, the whole in charge of Major General Stephen Mahon.
Bonaparte's return from Elba was the signal for renewed warlike preparations; hence every possible means were resorted to for the augmentation of the British Army. The troops in Enniskillen commenced beating up with active zeal, and our regiment having on its return from France been reduced to a mere skeleton, was compelled to use redoubled exertions in order to complete its numbers. The whole of the noncommissioned officers, with the band, and drums at their head, marched daily through the streets, tempting by most alluring baits those young fellows, who, struck with military ardour, were gazing and listening with wonder at all the fine speeches of the Serjeant[34]. Of the raw material there was abundant food for powder, and so many of the Hibernian youths were out of work that our battalion was soon filled up, and in the course of the summer we were quite prepared for any service.
From Enniskillen the Regiment marched to Londonderry, where they remained during the winters of 1815 and 1816.—While they were stationed in the garrison they were treated with the utmost kindness by the people, who testified on all occasions the high respect in which they held the military profession; and those officers now alive who were at that period quartered there, can bear testimony to this record of the attention and generosity displayed by the inhabitants of that loyal and interesting city.
Several detachments from the Regiment were cantoned in various parts of the country, where they had but miserable accommodation. The officers thus situated led rather a solitary life, varied occasionally by the still-hunting expeditions, a species of service attended with much fatigue. Often have we travelled for miles over deserted tracts, and, after long continued wanderings, come perchance upon some spot where the illicit manufactory was in active work, and where every scheme and stratagem was used to avoid detection. Seized upon without resistance, the unfortunate people were paralysed with terror, and were captured together with their whiskey. Many were the wailings and sorrowful cries of these miserable creatures, thus dispossessed of all they were worth in the world; and it was pitiable to hear their wives and children in despair imploring for mercy, while the relentless hand of law held their husbands and fathers within its grasp.
It is much to be deplored that the King's troops should be employed in a duty of such a revolting nature, which brings them into hostile contact with the poor inhabitants of their own country; it is certainly no very agreeable, and it might be added, honourable employment, for any officer to be a gauger's whipper-in, or for his party to be the advanced guard of an excise officer, or deputy assistant carriers of potteen whiskey. We found it a most irksome, harassing and unpleasant service, the very recollection of which, even at this distance of time, is enough to make one shudder.