Four companies were attached to the pontoon train, “which,” according to the same authority, “consisted of eighty pontoons, besides store-waggons, &c., and was drawn by nearly 800 horses, the whole being under the command of Brevet-Major Tylden of the engineers, assisted by a due proportion of captains and subalterns of the same corps.”[[229]] The second company, fourth battalion, under Sub-Lieutenant Samuel M‘Lean, of sixty-seven total, having joined the army from England soon after the disposition, was also added to the pontoon train.
The total of the engineer establishment with the army and in the Netherlands, under the command of about sixty officers of engineers, amounted to 10 sub-lieutenants and 838 soldiers of the royal sappers and miners, and, adds Lieutenant-Colonel Pasley, “550 drivers in charge of 160 waggons, pontoon carriages included, and more than 1,000 horses.” Besides medical officers and other non-combatants, and a large force of peasants employed on the works, “a small number of Flemish seamen, accustomed to rivers and coasting navigation, was attached to each division of the pontoon train.”[[230]] The hired drivers, paid at 1s. 6d. a-day each and rations, were provided with a uniform of grey clothing, having red cuffs and collars to their round jackets; and the Flemish seamen, receiving each an allowance of 2s. a-day and rations, were dressed like British sailors, having on the front of their low glazed caps, painted in white, the word “Pontoneer.”
All the companies of the corps moved with the army towards Paris, leaving a few small detachments dispersed in Flanders. The second company, second battalion, attached to the first division, was present at the capture of Peronne on the 26th June under Sub-Lieutenant W. Stratton and two captains of engineers. The ladders used on the occasion were collected in the neighbourhood, but being too short were lashed together. The company had the honour of leading the brigade of guards to the assault,[[231]] and behaved remarkably well.[[232]] Preceding the column, they threw a number of fascines and faggots, hastily prepared by them, into the ditch of the hornwork, and thus enabled the troops to pass its swampy bottom into the body of the place.[[233]] A party of the company advanced under a heavy fire to force the main entrance. No ladders were carried with it, nor any sledge-hammers or instruments by which to force it open. Daring men were in the batch, and their first impulse, forlorn as it was, urged them to mount the gate. Lieutenant Stratton and lance-corporal Edward Councill soon gained the top, and tearing themselves over the spikes which crowned it, jumped into the place, tore down the fastenings, and pulling the gate open, admitted the troops. In leading the stormers into the work, Captain Alexander Thompson, R.E., and Lieutenant Stratton were severely wounded, as also two men of the company. Corporal Councill was dangerously wounded in the breast.
For the passage of the army to Paris, a pontoon bridge was thrown over the Seine at Argenteuil early in July. Twenty pontoons were employed in its formation, and also some trestles, which were placed next to the banks of the river. On its completion, the Duke of Wellington, who was present during the greater part of the operation, first passed over leading his horse, and then the whole army with its artillery and baggage.
From the acute winding of the Seine it was again necessary to pass the troops over the river, and a pontoon bridge similar to the one laid at Argenteuil was thrown at Aniers. The fifth company, second battalion, and seventh company, third battalion, constructed these bridges. Some Flemish seamen assisted in their formation, confining their exertions chiefly to mooring the pontoons. Skilful as they were as sailors, their want of previous training as pontoneers, rendered them far less serviceable than the royal sappers and miners.[[234]] The bridges were maintained for some months on the Seine, facilities being afforded for continuing the navigation without interruption. For this purpose an opening was made in the centre of each bridge, and when required to be re-established for the passage of the troops, the floating rafts were lashed in their places and removed again when the occasion was served. A sufficient detachment under Sub-Lieutenant James Adam was posted for a season at Chatou, to attend to a similar duty at the bridge thrown there by the Russians. Three companies with forty pontoons were also stationed at Epinay.
After the capture of Paris, the Earl of Mulgrave, then Master-General of the Ordnance, in a letter dated 11th July, expressed his high appreciation of the zealous, able, and beneficial exertions of the officers and soldiers of the corps during the successful progress of the campaign; and also of the services of the officers and men at the different fortresses.
Corporal Joseph Coombs, of the fourth company, second battalion, detached to Maubeuge on the 23rd July, under Captain Harding, royal engineers, was present at the sieges of Philipville, from the 7th to 18th August, and Rocroy on the 15th and 16th following. He was with the army commanded by Prince Augustus of Prussia, and was the only British sapper engaged. On leaving that army in October, Captain Harding said that the corporal had conducted himself extremely well, and was both intelligent and active in the different services in which he had been employed.
During the year a number of hired drivers deserted. They were generally ignorant of their duties and many of them of bad character. To take care of the horses was the principal object of the chief engineer and his officers. Obtaining an equal number of foreign drivers to replace the vacancies occasioned by desertion, afforded no promise of advantage or improvement. It was, therefore, determined, to make an experiment by appointing the royal sappers and miners to the duty. Accordingly, the number of men required was attached to the horses, and “from their peculiar habits of zeal and exertion, they made no difficulty of reconciling themselves to the novel occupation of grooms and drivers.” The experiment was eminently successful. “The horses were kept efficient and in proper condition;” and, “but for this measure, a number of valuable horses must have been ruined, and the pontoon train, as well as the engineers' brigades, by degrees, have become totally unserviceable.”[[235]]
At Paris the sappers were called upon to perform a domiciliary visit to the capital, which probably is the only instance on record of British soldiers being so employed in an enemy’s country. The Duke of Wellington having been informed that arms were carried nightly into Paris from Montmartre, desired Sir Thomas Brisbane, commanding the seventh division of the army, to order Captain Harry Jones, R.E., to take the company of sappers attached to the division, with such tools as might be necessary, and examine rigidly every part of Montmartre where it was probable arms might be concealed. The officer commanding the troops stationed within the intrenchments, had orders not to allow any person to pass out, until Captain Jones had completed his examination. The sappers were employed nearly the whole day in making the search. Every cellar, house, and garden was examined; no place where it was possible to conceal arms was unexplored, but the result was unsuccessful. No doubt, however, existed, that the information communicated to the Duke of Wellington was well founded.