A gallant and successful diversion was made on the right bank of the Mississippi by a column under Colonel Thornton; but as the Battalion did not form part of it, it is not my province, as historian of the Regiment only, farther to notice it.
It was regretted by the Riflemen, that Pakenham, himself a Peninsular soldier, did not employ troops who had seen fighting more prominently in so arduous an operation as storming this work. The 7th and 43rd had arrived just before; beside both these regiments the Riflemen had fought in Spain and Portugal; the latter were especially companions in arms, and they had hailed their advent with delight. Yet these he held in reserve, while he advanced comparatively unseasoned troops to the fire of the Americans.
The Battalion retired at last, sorrowful and weary, to its bivouack. It lost 1 Sergeant and 10 Riflemen killed; and Captains James Travers (severely) and Nicholas Travers (slightly), Lieutenants John Reynolds, Sir John Ribton, John Gossett, William Backhouse, and Robert Barker (severely), 5 Sergeants and 89 Riflemen wounded.[150]
During the night the wounded were removed, and a truce for two days, to enable the dead to be buried and the wounded cared for, was made between General Lambert (who succeeded to the command) and General Jackson who commanded the American force. This truce was effected, not without difficulty, by Major Harry Smith, Assistant Adjutant-General, who passed and repassed frequently between the opposing armies.
During this truce every attempt was made by the Yankees to induce our men to desert. The non-commissioned officers were promised commissions, the men land, if they would enter the American service. On one such occasion two Sergeants and a private of the 95th were accosted by an officer of American Artillery, who with such large promises invited them to enter the American service. The Riflemen heard the tempter out; and then, in language perhaps rather forcible than complimentary, assured him that they would rather be privates in their own Corps, than officers with such ‘a set of ragamuffins’ as they saw before them; assuring him that if he did not move off, he should have a taste of their rifles. On that hint, he fled; but getting into the work turned a gun on them and fired, knocking over the private, whom however he only wounded.
A Rifleman on sentry was exposed to the solicitations of another of these gentry. He heard all his generous offers of money, land, and promotion; but pretending he did not, he begged him to come a little nearer and ‘tell him all about it.’ The Yankee elated at his success walked up to the post, and when he was well within range, the Rifleman levelled and shot him in the arm. Then walking forward, he led him prisoner to the guard-room; on the way informing him what a real soldier thought of such sneaking attempts on his fidelity.[151]
These attempts were not always unsuccessful, and much desertion took place; but Surtees records with natural pride, that as far as he knew not a single instance took place among the Riflemen of the 3rd Battalion.
During this truce an officer of the American army was observed plundering a wounded soldier. This excited the ire of Corporal Scott of the 3rd Battalion, who (with the permission of his officer) took a shot at the marauder, and tumbled him over the man he was plundering.
The last duties having been paid to the dead, and all the wounded that were capable of being moved having been withdrawn, a retreat was effected on the night of the 18th. The fires were trimmed, and the men fell in and marched in silence. The weather had latterly broken up; heavy rains by day, and sometimes thunderstorms, were often followed by frost at night. As it was impossible, owing to the narrowness and shallow water of the Bayou Catalan, to embark the troops where they had landed, a road, or an attempt at a road, had been constructed across the marsh, from the great road to New Orleans, along the river’s bank to the shore of Lake Borgne. This extended some miles, and was made of reeds, which it was thought would support the men across the morass; and where it crossed open ditches, as it frequently did, the reeds were laid on boughs of trees brought with great labour from the wood. This road, a bad one at the best, was much injured by the rains, and sunk in with the tramp of the head of the column; so that this night march was very fatiguing, the men often sinking in to the knees, and sometimes in the dark slipping off into the marsh, from whence they were with difficulty rescued.
However at last on the 19th they reached the shore of the lake about one mile from its entrance. Here they were ordered to hut themselves; but this was no easy task, the place being a desert, and almost the only material the reeds which grew on the marsh.