A BRITISH AMAZON.
This brave woman was—to perpetrate a “Bull”—an Irishman, or rather was supposed so to be. She served as a foot soldier and dragoon in several campaigns, under King William and the Duke of Marlborough. She gave surprising proofs of courage, strength, and dexterity in handling all sorts of weapons. She was a married woman with two children. Her husband, under the influence of drink, enlisted into the 1st Foot, and was at once sent off to Flanders. Our heroine was determined to find him up, so she cut off her hair, dressed herself in a suit of her husband’s clothing, and enlisted into the 5th Foot, under the name of Christopher Welsh. Shortly after, our heroine joined the army in Flanders, and was present at the Battle of Landen, where she was wounded just above the ankle. To use her own words, “When I heard the cannon play and the small shot rattle about me, it threw me into a sort of panic, not being used to such rough music.” This wound laid her up for two months. Shortly after she was taken prisoner by the French. Here she met her first cousin, Captain Cavenagh, a French officer, but was not recognised. After nine days she was exchanged and returned to the army, and gained the affection of a butcher’s daughter, which led to a duel with a rival lover, a Sergeant of the same regiment, who had insulted the lady in question. The Sergeant was wounded; and for this she was imprisoned, the Sergeant’s wounds being mortal. The father of the young lady obtained the release of our heroine, and her discharge; but she managed to escape this love affair, and enlisted again, this time into the Scots Greys, and served during the siege of Namur, 1695. An odd adventure now befell her, for a child was laid to her charge as being the father, and, refusing to expose the perjury of the mother, she defrayed the expense of the infant. In the second attack at Schellenburg she received a ball in the hip, which was never extracted; her sex narrowly escaped detection while in hospital. After the Battle of Blenheim she was sent to guard prisoners, and met with her husband, who was embracing a Dutch woman. She made herself known to him, and the recognition may be more easily imagined than described; his faults were all overlooked, but she resolved to pass as his brother until the war was over, and left him, after giving him a piece of gold. “The pretty Dragoon,” for so she was called, next gained the affections of a young Dutch girl. She was wounded again at Ramillies, and, although she suffered much, yet the discovery of her sex was a greater grief to her. The surprising news spread far and near, and Lord J. Hay declared she should want for nothing. Brigadier Preston made her a present of a handsome silk gown, and the officers all contributed what was necessary to furnish her with proper costume, and she was dismissed the service with a handsome compliment. His lordship hoped she would not continue her cruelty to her husband now she no longer passed under a disguise; there was a new marriage, all the officers being invited, the old practice of throwing the slipper not being forgotten, and a kiss being given to the bride by all on taking leave. She was very useful to the Army as a suttler, and in obtaining information. Whilst at Comtray she won a race with her mare, on which she carried provisions, with Captain Montgomery of the Grenadiers. The officers bet heavily upon her; they both went to the place chosen to run upon, and starting at the beat of the drum, the Captain suffered her to keep pace with him for some time, but all at once she made a furious push at him, flung man and horse into a ditch, and thus won the race; the general and all the officers laughed heartily at her stratagem, except the Captain who had been in the ditch. Many other adventures are related about this singular woman. Her husband was killed at the Battle of Malplaquet, and she found his body and buried it; her grief was great, but she married H. Jones, a Grenadier, about seven weeks afterwards. Her second husband was killed at St. Vincent, and she covered him with her clothes. After the peace she presented a petition to Queen Anne, who said it would be her care to provide for her, and if she was delivered of a boy, she would give him a commission as soon as born. The child proved to be a girl, much to the mother’s vexation; and her Majesty ordered £50 to be given her to defray expenses. Her third husband was a soldier named Davis, who had served with her. At the time of his marriage he was in the Welsh Fusiliers. The Queen had ordered one shilling a day for Mrs. Davis, which the Lord Treasurer reduced to 5d.; but a friend took the matter up, and the King ordered one shilling as originally intended. This heroine marched in the funeral procession of the Duke of Marlborough, as she says, “with a heavy heart and streaming eyes.” She died on the 7th July, 1739, and was interred, with military honours, in the burying-ground belonging to Chelsea Hospital.
A similar instance of a female soldier is recorded on a tombstone in the parish Church of St. Nicholas, Brighton, the singular inscription being as follows:—
In memory of
Phebe Hessel,
Who was born at Stepney in the year 1713.
She served for many years
As a Private Soldier in the 5th Regiment of Foot,
In different parts of Europe,
And in the year 1745 fought under the Command
Of the Duke of Cumberland,
At the Battle of Fontenoy,
Where she received a Bayonet Wound in the Arm.
Her long life, which commenced in the time of
Queen Anne,
Extended to the reign of
George IV.,
By whose munificence she received comfort
And support in her latter years.
She died at Brighton, where she long resided,
December 12th, 1821, aged 108 years.
George the IV. allowed this veteran a pension of half-a-guinea a week, which she enjoyed for many years.
[CHAPTER X.]
Curious Modes of Recruiting in the “Good Old Days”—Pig Killing—The Late Duke of Kent—Examples of Brevity—Act of Self-devotion—The Piper of the 74th Highlanders at Badajoz—It is better to Leave “Well” Alone—Hard up! Hard Up!—Remarkable Wounds and Hairbreadth Escapes—Introduction of Bayonets into our Army, and the Use our People have made of them since 1672, up to the late go-in in Egypt, at Tel-el-Kebir—Desperate Defence of Colours—Heroic Stands by Small Armies against overwhelming Odds—The 52nd Regiment—The Old Suffolk Regiments, second to none—England not a Military Nation?