Comparatively unnoticed, from the nature of their duties, it was seldom that the sappers and miners were referred to in the despatches of general officers; but the rule seems to have been infringed by Lieut.-General Sir Charles Colville, who on quitting his command at Valenciennes early in 1817, offered the following tribute to their merits:—
London, 19th April, 1817.
My dear Sir Charles,
I am unwilling to part with those whom I regard so much, without bidding them adieu, and therefore request you will accept yourself, and have the goodness to express to the other officers of the royal engineers of the Valenciennes' staff and pontoon train, as well as those who were attached to the late third division, my sincere good wishes for their continued honour and welfare, and that you and they and the officers and privates of the royal sappers and miners will accept my thanks for the promptitude and correctness with which my wishes were met by them, during the time I had the honour to have them under my command.
I am, &c.,
(Signed) Charles Colville.
Lieut.-Colonel Sir C. F. Smith, R.E.
Arming the corps efficiently had for years been a subject of discussion and representation. Lord Mulgrave, the Master-General, however, could not be persuaded of the necessity of the measure, and under the opinion that a working corps ought not to be armed, sent detachments to the Peninsula equipped only with swords. The evil of this was greatly felt, as the sappers could not march across the country without being guarded by other troops. For the same reason the company attached to the light division, which was required for the siege of Bayonne, was unable to join. Upwards of 400 sappers were employed in that siege, and might, had they been equipped with fire-arms, have rendered important assistance in repelling the disastrous sortie.
Eleven companies were sent to the Netherlands in a similarly defenceless state. Before moving them, Earl Mulgrave was ready to abide by the views of the Duke of Wellington on the point, as his Grace promised to consider the question when the first company should arrive; but no farther notice appears to have been taken of the subject, and the whole eleven companies landed without a firelock.
When the alarming and unfounded reports of the retreat of the British from Waterloo reached Malines, Major Tylden, with the pontoon companies under his command, assumed a posture of defence; but the attitude, from want of arms, was necessarily impotent and embarrassing. This gave the Major a notion, when afterwards crossing the plains of Waterloo, of arming the companies with muskets and accoutrements scattered on the battle-field; the idea, however, from some regimental considerations was not carried out.