Chapter III: Part 3

One of our sergeants, not having a shot at the enemy, fired at a donkey near the road; the men were quizzing him, and I asked him what was his object for firing at the donkey; he told me to mind my own business. As we were under the retreat to Oporto, one of our men had unfortunately got drunk when near the enemy. The sergeant, who had been firing at the donkey, said he would report the circumstance to the colonel, and the man told the sergeant to mind his own business,--as he had told Corporal Knight before. We were still on our way to Oporto. The sergeant, being on the face of the hill when we halted, fired a shot down among the men. The colonel came galloping down off the hill on his mule, and asked whose piece went off. The men informed the colonel that it was Sergeant Evans’, who had been squabbling with the men, and had got very angry: he had fired a shot among the privates, luckily without doing any harm. The colonel ordered him to strip off his belts and to consider himself as a prisoner; the corporal and four men were ordered to take him on the advance; I was appointed to take him on. The colonel also ordered his arms to be pinioned back by his canteen straps, and that he was to be marched off. I took him on for about three miles: he begged hard that I would loosen the straps round his arms: I said, “I should not much mind, but you might try to bolt; and, if you were not to come back, I should send a messenger after you and order my four men to do the same. If I killed you, or winged you, they would ask me what business I had to let you loose. So, safe bind, safe find: as I have got you I will keep you.” He wanted me to let him walk free with us, but I told him to take it just as easy as he could. I lodged him in the guard-house at Oporto. He was never tried, but shipped off to England soon after, as a bad character.

We used to be originally turned out all hours of a night, and formed close columns in the town, in the Arsenal Square, and there we lay till the day approached. We would have orders from the colonels of regiments to march to our respective convents, and to lay till further orders. On the 22nd July we received orders to go out to a small village about three leagues from Oporto, having heard the enemy had been there; when we came there they were as far to our right. We took up our position there, and remained for four hours, during which period there was an order from the Colonel for a non-commissioned officer of companies to bring up a portion of the men for the purpose of bringing down the companies’ rations. I took four men with me. While bringing the rations into camp, they asked me what they were to do with them. I told them to throw them down there, and let those that liked come and cut them up; but they replied that they were not hungry. I said, “If you don’t, I will.” Accordingly I fell to eating, and very much I enjoyed it.

We heard the enemy had come back to Velonga, and we proceeded on our way to fall in with them. The Tachedores at this time had a strong engagement with them. When we came up to their assistance they were being driven up to the top part of the town, where we were coming in. We opened a smart fire on them, killing and wounding a great many of them; we kept it up for about seven hours, and took a great many field pieces of artillery, and a gun belonging to them, in the top part of the town, which carried a ninety-two pound shot, drawn by twelve working bullocks; after which, they retired and crossed the river at Ponto Ferrado.

The British lay in camp, and on the following morning advanced, and met with the enemy at Ponto Ferrado. We crossed the river up to about our middles. The enemy occupied the hill in front of us. We had about 23,000 men. It being a windy day, the colours were extended to their full size. They brought the guns to bear upon us, and our brigade of 2,000 charged to take possession of the guns. It was supposed that we lost about 1,700 men of the brigade in a very few minutes. The General was very much blamed, from what we could understand, for bringing these men into action before the others had arrived. Shortly after, the right wing of the army came over the bridge, some little way down the river, and, coming round on the back of the enemy, took possession of the artillery, spiked their guns, dismounted them from their carriages, and the whole of our army took the hill to scour the troops off. A few out-skirmishers, under the command of an officer, were beating back skirmishers. Ours were about thirty in number; fifteen out of the thirty were French volunteers. We kept the enemy moving pretty smartly, especially the skirmishers. After going for nearly half a mile, there was, rather at an incline and some little distance from the hill, a big gully in front of us. I looked over into the gully and saw a troop of cavalry belonging to the enemy; they were dismounted, holding their bridle-reins in their hands, waiting for orders to mount. I remarked to Mr. Burton, the officer, “Dangerous route to go any further, sir.” “How so, corporal?” he asked. I replied, “There is a troop of cavalry down there, right before us.” He said he could not discover them; we spoke in a very low voice, in order that the enemy’s cavalry should not hear us. “You come and look over my shoulder,” I said. When he did so, he discovered them, and gave orders to retire to where we had taken the brigade.

Before we arrived at the place where the guns had been taken possession of, the cavalry had come over the hill out of the gully to cut off our retreat. There was a Frenchman before me, just on the right; our great coats incommoded him in horse collar fashion; he had undone the strap to get it off his shoulder; he was all of a tremble and so much confused that he could not get it off, when he looked round at me and called out for me to pull it off his shoulder. As I was passing him by, I caught hold of it; and in pulling, as I thought, to pull it off, I pulled him on the broad of his back. I had no time to look about me; the cavalry were just behind charging us sword in hand. Shortly before they got up to us I told the officer to give command, and he asked, “What am I to do, corporal?” I answered, “There is no time for squabbling in words.” I told the men to form a rallying square, fifteen in kneeling position, and fifteen firing over them. They charged right up to us; and one great long soldier reached over his holster pipes, and just cut the top of my eye with his sword. We shot down about seventeen over their holster pipes; they turned their horses heads about to retire, and I jumped off, front rank kneeling, and ordered the men to form line and charge; the enemy had not proceeded far before they turned round their horses’ heads to have another turn at us. I said, “Form square.” So we formed square, and peppered a few more of them down. After the third time, they set off, leaving us master of the field. They shot four of us, and wounded three. I then proceeded on the way up to where we had captured the artillery. Major Lanson came off the hill and called out to me, “Corporal, you had a sharp attack with the cavalry;” as they had possession of the hill and had driven the enemy off. He said he had been looking at me during the time; and the colonel made the observation at the time, that the corporal had shown them gallant play. He asked, “What was Burton up to?” I replied, “I was not looking after him, but for my own safety, and also that of my men, as I was well disciplined for the field. The officer was outside of the square, and wanted me to let him come in; I told the men to keep close, and he rolled himself under the bayonets for protection.” Major Lanson said he was very thirsty, and asked if I had a drop of water in my canteen. I replied that I had. He asked, “Will you give me a drop?” “By all means,” I replied; he stooped down and took a drink, and was very thankful; he asked me if I would take a little spirits out of his flask, of which I was very glad. I returned the compliment; so we remained during the day.

Night came on: we formed camp inside a low wall on a gentleman’s estate; there we lay during the night, chopping down the trees, and anything we could come at, to make fires. We shortly afterwards rolled ourselves up in our coverings; I looked round about me, and discovered some of the French bringing legs and shins of beef over the wall; I jumped up to go and see if I could not get hold of something too, and when I arrived at the place where the cavalry had been bothering us through the day, the French were cutting up the horses to bring into camp to cook. I pulled out my knife, and cut about half-a-dozen pounds off a rump of a nice young horse; I brought it into camp, and took my ramrod out, which made me a very good skewer. After I had riddled it on the ramrod, toasted it on the fire. Some of the young officers lying round the fire, yawned out, “Who’s that cooking beef steaks on the fire?” the soldier replied, “It is Corporal Knight.” “Where did he get beefsteaks to-night?” they asked, as the commissaries were not up. I said that I was roasting some horse flesh. “Have you ventured upon eating horse flesh, corporal?” I replied, “I had better eat that than none; I am cooking it nicely with the gravy in it to make me strong and long winded.” They said, “We never did yet.” One of the officers asked me if I would give him a bit, which I did; as he was taking it off with his delicate finger and thumb, he put it between his grinders, and made a crack at it. He asked me if I would supply him with water. I told him if he would go to the river he could supply himself. After I had refreshed myself, I rolled myself up in my big coat and lay alongside of the fire. The quarter-master sergeant came round to know if any of the soldiers had any water in any of the canteens; I looked up at him, and asked him who it was that wanted water, he said, “Who is that speaking?” I said, “It is Corporal Knight;” he asked, “Have you any water, corporal, in your canteen?” I replied that I had, and was likely to keep it. He said, “I do not want it, but the colonel, who sent me round to know if you had any water.” I asked, “Where is the colonel lying?” “He is laying down under the wall, rolled up in his cloak:” I immediately jumped up, and proceeded with the quarter-master sergeant to where the colonel was laying; he observed us coming, and said, “Who is that coming?” “Quarter-master sergeant Sutherland, and Corporal Knight.” The colonel asked the quarter-master, “Has the corporal got any water in his canteen?” The quarter-master sergeant replied, “He has, but he would got give it up to me.” “He has done right enough, too,” said the colonel, and I pulled my canteen off the strap that was attached to it, and gave it to him; he drank heartily out of it, and was very thankful; I told him he was extremely welcome. I said, “Colonel, shall I get you a beefsteak for supper, as I have been taking a good supper off the same animal, off the rump of a nice young horse?” “No, never mind it, corporal, I can do very well to-night;” I said, “I will leave you the canteen, sir, to drink the remainder of the water.” He was very thankful; I wished him good night, and went back to my old residence to lie down by the fire.

I went down the following morning (the 24th July) to get my canteen, and received it from the colonel. We fell into conversation respecting the cavalry which had been charging us the previous day, and he asked me what Mr Burton, the officer of the outlying picket, had been doing. My answer was that I was not studying him, but was looking after my own interest. Shortly afterwards, we all fell in, and the aide-de-camp came round to the colonel and told him that he was to march to Oporto. Accordingly we proceeded on our way back to Oporto about three miles, when the aide-de-camp came forward and told the colonel that the regiment was to halt; so we lay there for further orders, for about two hours. We heard the enemy was advancing on us, and very shortly after discovered about twenty bullock teams coming on the road from Oporto, with bread and wine to supply the troops. When they came up, the battalion was ordered by the colonel to get their rations; so we had two days’ wine, which was a quart (a pint per day), and also two pounds of bread. After we had refreshed ourselves, we were stronger and better able to attack the enemies that came up against us. The quarter-master sergeant called out for me, and I went up a little way where they were serving out the rations; he told me to give him my canteen, which I handed to him, and he filled it full of wine (three pints); he said that was an order from the colonel. We lay there but a very short time, when we proceeded on our way to Oporto, where we arrived just before nightfall, and marched, into the town with bugles playing and all the colours we had left flying; for they were tattered and torn with shot. The inhabitants of the town gave us a hearty cheer, and had pitchers of wine ready for us as we passed along and went into our old residence at the Convent of St. Lazarus, there to lie until further orders. I threw myself down to get a little sleep which was very much required.

Waking up in the morning, I was as hearty as a trout. After breakfast, the colonel’s orderly sergeant came round (the light company), and wanted to know where Corporal Knight was; he was taken to the room where I was lying in charge of twelve men; the sergeant told me the colonel wished to see me. I asked him if he knew what it was for, and he replied that he did not; but I put on my jacket and cap and went with him. When we came to the colonel’s quarters, the sergeant knocked at the door, which being opened the colonel told me to come in: so I sat down for a few minutes, and he entered into conversation with me; he then gave me ten dollars, and told me that would do; upon which I retired and went back to the convent. I have forgotten to make mention that I asked the colonel what the ten dollars were for; and he answered, “for the water I had given on the twenty-third evening of duty at Ponto Ferrado.” He said, “Corporal, you can now go and have a good “spree.” I went into the town and had a good “sheevo” during the night.

Some few days after, the inhabitants of the town made a collection among themselves, which amounted to ten dollars a man in the British battalion. They used generally to encourage us, by giving us ten dollars, to keep them out of the town. So the whole battalion had a good flare up for a night or two,--plenty of fiddling and dancing, which strongly reminded us of dear old England.

After all our money was spent we went back quietly to the convent. In about a fortnight after that our paymaster fortunately came out from home to pay us some back pay due to us (two months). Each soldier had £2 5s. per month; our pay was augmented to that of a British soldier; they received their two months’ money. My pay was fourpence a-day extra, which, amounting to ten shillings a-month, made it £5 10s. per two months. I had it paid to me in Spanish dollars, and I pushed off to the quay to have a “flare up.” In “flaring up” in the course of the night, I “flared down,” and measured my length on the ground, with a stone under my head for a pillow. When I woke up in the morning, the devil might have danced a hornpipe in my pocket; for my money was all gone, and my orders off my breast had followed my money. I said it was all fair in war, the scamps had cleaned me out. “I will be as keen as any other one to-night to look out to see what I can lay hold of.” So I pushed off to the convent, and I had a good sleep through the day, and I proceeded on the way down to the quay, where I found my comrades reeling about from side to side. I reeled up against one fellow, but he had not quite enough in his noddle box; I reeled up against another one, and down we went together; my hands were soon in his pockets, to make up for what I had lost the night before. I had a good “flare up” that night, and took great care I did not “flare down.”

In the morning there was a chap came up to me pulling such a long, wry face. I said to him, “Why so down in the mouth?” He answered, “Some one has been about me and stole all my money.” “The devil they did!” replied I; “it was only the night before they treated me in the same way.” “Well,” he says, “Corporal, let us keep a sharp look out, and, if I catch the scoundrel that treated me so, I’ll make his bones sore for a month.” But I, pitying the poor devil pulling such a long face, took him into a wine shop to give him a glass with his own money. I proceeded then to the convent, and kept myself all night.

I happened to be on guard a few days after this, and was sitting on a low wall opposite the guard room door, and a few soldiers along with me, it being night (somewhere near eleven o’clock), when the rounds came round the corner of a wall; I challenged and got no reply, only a “hoo, hoo;” I jumped off the wall to meet his approach with a lump of a stone in my hand, and hit him full in the face, which made him sing out for his great grandfather. As soon as he came on the ground, I out with my bayonet and ran it into his neck. I told the men with me to lay hold of him by the hind legs, and to bring him on; they brought him down to the guard room, proceeding towards the kitchen, when the sergeant jumped up off the guard bed half asleep as he was, and asked, “What is the matter?” I replied, “You shall have your share when it is ready.” “You Corporal Knight,” said he, “you are a terrible fellow for looking after the pigs.” I answered, “That is what I principally hit on.” I told the men to drag him into the mess kitchen, and make a good fire under the copper to scald him. They complied with my orders, and I said, “Those who eat the most pork will eat the most bristles.” After the pig was got ready, I told them to shoulder the pot and march; they brought the pig into the guard room, and we all took a hearty meal off him. Nothing took place after that for some little time; being very badly off for rations, the colonel issued an order for a non-commissioned officer of a company to take a portion of men daily into the garden, so I called four men to bring their haversacks to proceed into the garden along with me; I went to the Monk’s kitchen door and knocked; he asked in the Portuguese language who was there; he opened the door and told me to come in, and I told the men to follow me. I went into the garden and told the men to fall to and get some vegetables; in the meantime I shook myself off a few figs. After they had supplied themselves with vegetables, I told them they could get a little fruit for themselves, but not to break or destroy the trees. When they had got a supply I told them to come on; accordingly we went into the kitchen, and I observed a pig’s cheek on the block, belonging to the monks; I called the cook, in order to take his attention off the block, and he came over to me; in the meantime I put my hand back as a signal to one of the men to carry away the pig’s cheek; as soon as I saw the pig’s cheek had disappeared from the block, I thought it was time for me to disappear also, so I said to the cook in Portuguese, “Adieu, signor;” he called me a very good man, and said there would be a good deal of heavy firing in a short time, and that the English soldiers were very good in the field.

After I departed from the convent, the pig’s cheek we had carried off and the vegetables in the garden soon disappeared also. But it was best of all when the pigs themselves made their way into the garden; and, not to touch those in the woods, or roads, as they did not seem half fond of the garden, we fell into the plan of driving them into the garden, and then falling upon them and killing them. The captain, on going his rounds the first evening, saw three lying dead in the kitchen, waiting for scalding. I told him not to be too particular about scalding them, for those that eat the most pork would eat the most bristles. Going his rounds the following evening, he saw six pigs, and he said, “The pigs are very partial to the garden. Are you sure you found them all there?” No reply. “Who is butcher among you?” he asked. No reply yet. Seeing me sitting on the mess-room kitchen table, he asked me if I knew anything of the affair. I told him, “No; I had come in promiscuously to get a light of my cheroot.” He remarked, “I think you are one of the ringleaders.” He thought right enough, too. Notwithstanding all his sharpness, we managed to keep ourselves pretty well supplied with pork, and also to get a fair share of aquadente. In fact, we took everything we could possibly lay our hands on. We often turned out of the convent at night, at all hours, and formed close column in the Arsenal Square, there to lay till further orders, under expectation of the enemy, coming up to rescue the town from us. As the day approached, we would march back into the convent. Our rations were very scantily served out; there was scarcely a thing a dog or cat could eat but what was devoured by the soldiers. I had never ventured myself yet on eating dogs or cats. Going up a street called Rue Tendemdza, I met two lancers coming down the street, and they said to me, “Corporal, why so down in the mouth?” I said, “It would make anyone look down in the mouth to be starved as we were.” “Just come along with us; we have been cooking some mutton.” And they brought me into the Horse Barracks, and put some meat before me with some soup. I “progged” hold of a piece of meat with a fork, and lifted it up to my nose and smelt it. “Don’t tell me this is mutton,” I remarked, “it is part of an old tom cat.” “Taste it,” said he, “it will do you no harm. Here, I will show you how to eat;” and taking a leg he munched away at it like a Russian. Having seen this man eat the leg of the cat, and being moreover very hungry at the time, I took a mouthful or two but would not eat any more of it. I would rather have died with hunger. I was nearly choked all the day drinking water to take the dreadful taste out of my mouth. Some time afterwards, however, I was as keen as any one looking after the same animals; necessity compelled me to do so.

The cavalry had two or three horses that died with sheer hunger, as there was no forage to give them. The poor animals used to tremble at the water trough. I made a remark that if the enemy had known how we were situated they could very easily have taken the town from us. The inhabitants of the town were also starving. I have actually seen the cavalry scrape the meat off the dead horses’ bones. The cholera broke out (1832), and the inhabitants began to die off very fast. If the enemy had come against us with a reinforcement, they could have killed and destroyed us all; but it was fortunate for us poor soldiers that they did not know how we were situated. They lived first-rate themselves, but would allow nothing to reach us. We often used to make a sally to beat them back in order to get something to eat, if possible. We used sometimes to get rations served out that were conveyed by the fleet whenever they had an opportunity of working the boats.

There was a 15-gun battery on the north side of the town, just at the entrance to the bar, coming into the river Douro. Our people formed a bridge of pontoons, and our army went over (about 6000) to beat back the enemy and rescue the battery. It was not very difficult to come at, and we took possession of the battery, and the guns were spiked and thrown off the carriages. We beat the enemy about two leagues to the rear, and marched back again into the town. We cut down the body of a soldier from off a tree on the breast of the town, which had been hanging there seven weeks, and buried him. As we often went down the river at low water mark, we supposed the enemy had got hold of the poor man.

We now had an excellent allowance served out by the admiral’s squadron, consisting of beef and biscuit, sometimes pork. Before we captured the battery, when conveying the boats in, they used to muffle the oars to prevent any noise being made by them, so as to do everything as secretly as possible; for they would have swamped us if they had heard any noise. We had very hard times of it.

On the seventeenth of August, I was ordered to take two invalids into the general hospital, and after giving them up to the doctor, I was returning to my residence: eight hundred men arrived a few days before, from Great Britain, called the British volunteers, under the command of Colonel Burrel. The men, who were drinking in the town, saw me passing, and called out to me to come and take a glass of wine. Accordingly I went in with them, and I stopped during the night; early on the following morning (the eighteenth), I heard a gun fire from the battery; they asked me what was the meaning of that gun firing. I told them I thought it was something going to turn up that day, and in a very short period. The battery guns were in full play, I shook hands with them, and made off to where our company lay; when I arrived, the captain asked me where I had been; I told him I had been to the general hospital with two invalids. He said, “Look sharp up into the room and get your accoutrements on,” but when I came into the room they were all taken away and put into the quarter-master’s stores; I came down and informed the captain, then ran over to the quarter-master’s stores, and looked about for my accoutrements, but could not discover them; I picked up an old kit of belts that had not had a bit of pipeclay on them for months; I lifted an old firelock and a bayonet, they were very rusty; I looked into the pouch to see if there was any ammunition, and found it was empty; I went over to the barrel where the ammunition was kept, and filled my pouch with sixty rounds, and forty in an old haversack I lifted; I then made my way out to the company as soon as I could. The battalion was all ready to march off--we proceeded over a gully into the field of action, the battalion companies formed lines, and the light company in skirmishing order; the bugle sounded to commence fire, I primed, and found she was loaded, she flashed in the pan,--I tried her again, and she flashed in the pan again; I said to my next man, “Lend me your worm to draw the charge;” I stooped down behind a lot of stones, thinking I could not get shot while drawing the charge; I sprang the ramrod, and she was all right, I loaded her, and she flashed in the pan again; she was so foul that she would not go off; I lifted her by the muzzle, hit the butt of her on a rock, and broke her short in two, for I was so agitated, thinking I was not going to get a shot at the enemy. I advanced about three hundred yards, when I discovered three sergeants of the enemy lying dead; I lifted one of their fuzees, and tried her to see if she was loaded; she was discharged, but I soon charged her, and she went off most beautifully. I fired sixty-three rounds, and she did not miss fire once.

We beat the enemy back, and lay neutral on the ground, thinking a reinforcement would come up. After two hours they did so. We had a strong attack from them, and kept it up till sundown. Captain Shaw received a wound through both calves of his legs, which caused him to fall. He called out to me (I was not many yards from him) to take him to the rear, and I carried him about two or three hundred yards down under the hill, and put him into a quarry hole. “Hey, mon!” he cried, “ye going to leave me here?” He was a very heavy man. I told him that he was out of the way of the shots, and that I would send a muleteer (the first I could meet with) to carry him into the town. In going back to my company I met a muleteer going into the town for ammunition, and I pointed to the place where the captain lay. Shortly afterwards the enemy beat the retreat, we marched back into the town. We lost upwards of 300, killed and wounded. As I was going into the town, I was very desirous to look where the captain lay, and I observed that he was gone. We took up our old position, and there we lay till further orders.

On the 7th of September, the enemy had a reinforcement from Lisbon; and we had another attack from them, and bonfire convenient to the town. We kept up a strong fire, but were compelled to retreat, as our number was getting weak, and, coming into the town they could not get a sufficient supply of ammunition to keep the guns in full play. There were five regiments of Tachedores, brought from the Foise, placed there to keep that part of the town good. We beat the enemy back again to the lines. Some of the skirmishers belonging to the enemy went down through the gardens under the retreat; they had several walls to go over, which divided the gardens. There was a fellow just before me, getting over the wall, and I ran my bayonet into him to assist him over. He turned round, and said in Portuguese language, that I was a good fellow, which was a hint for me to leave off pushing him with my bayonet. We kept it up till night. The enemy were supposed to have lost about 7000, and our side nearly 2000, from what I could understand.

There was a very old mansion belonging to a gentleman, nearly about the middle of where the action took place, with an immense draw-well erected, very much in the old English style, and a very large wheel for the water to be drawn up by a mule. The well ledge was thrown up, and the dead bodies cast into the well, in order to make a clearance.

On the 29th of September we had another general engagement. We turned out at the break of day, and had a great deal of very heavy firing. The Light Company was extended under a wall of the breastworks; and we kept up a strong fire for seven hours, never shifting our position. The Tachedores of the enemy were very numerous, and very close to us; if we had thrown a stone we could have struck them with it. Captain Mitchell had been speaking to me respecting the engagement; he was appointed from the colonel to take the command of the company, as the captain was not well enough to attend, owing to the wounds he had received through both calves of his legs. I fired sixty-three rounds, and, while loading the sixty-fourth, I got a severe wound through the groin. I fired the sixty-fourth round, but, while loading the sixty-fifth round, I felt quite exhausted, and fell up against the wall. The captain said, “You are wounded, Knight.” I hobbled away to the rear as well as I could. I had about half a mile to go. I was very much exhausted as I crawled, or rather hobbled, along on one leg, the other hanging down useless. On getting into the entrance of the town, I saw a troop of cavalry sitting on their horses--in a little lane off the main road. The officer rode over to me and said something in Portuguese that I did not understand. In the meantime, while I was sitting down talking to him as well as I could, a muleteer came along; the officer spoke to him, and he lifted me on a mule and took me to the General Hospital, where I lay seven hours during that day before the ball was extracted.

The doctor was with a man extracting a ball from his shoulder; the man said he was not able to go through the pain and punishment. With all the attendance of the doctor, he could not keep him steady, so as to extract the ball. The doctor had to leave him. I called out as well as I could for some one to come and attend on me; he came forward and turned the sheet off me, found where the ball was laying, and ordered four men to be in readiness to assist in keeping me down. I told him I did not require any holding at all, saying I was quite capable of undergoing the punishment. As I was propped up in the bed, the pillow being high, I could discover all he was doing. He made a cut of about an inch; the second time he cut the same, just as I began to feel the effect of it; the third cut he made at me came on the ball; he put the instrument in and pulled it out; it was as flat as a penny piece, for it had struck against a rock before it had struck me. The instrument reached from one part to the other, right through my groin. As we were engaged that day we had blue cloth pantaloons on; and the doctor tried if any blue cloth had gone with the ball; but when he found the pantaloons were under my pillow, and that the piece had not been cut out by the ball, and that it lay down neutral after the ball had been extracted from me, I felt quite easy. My wounds were dressed on both sides with lint, and a bandage round to keep it on, so as to bring the discharge from it, every twenty-four hours. I lay in that awkward position for seven weeks before they put the regular dressing on me to heal the wounds.

I lay eleven weeks altogether in the general hospital, and was then removed to the regimental hospital appointed for the battalion. I was carried there by four men on a stretcher. They put me into the non-commissioned officers room, and there I remained for seven weeks.

The doctor came round the hospital and shook hands with the patients, informing us that he was about to go to Great Britain. He shook hands with me personally, and said, “I think you have received too severe a wound to recover; I do not think you will recover it.” We never saw anything of him after he left us; another doctor took his place. I said that I would be glad to see myself once more all right. The doctor allowed each sick individual four ounces of wine per day. In the course of a very short time after his departure I began to gather a little more strength.

The inhabitants of the town were very liberal in bringing us the best of nourishment, as they doted on the English, who were their chief support in protecting the town from the enemy.

There was a sergeant in the next bed to me, named Schofield, a grenadier sergeant; he often looked over to me and said, “How do you feel, corporal?” I told him I felt pretty middling at times. He asked me if I would take a drop of wine. I used to make the reply that I thought I could; and he would hand me a drop that often enabled me to have a sleep. At this time I was getting well round. When the bottle was empty, the sergeant managed to fill it again. I think the wine was my chief support. One day I hobbled out of the bed into the kitchen to take a smoke. I was quite unable to come up again, and I was helped up by two men belonging to the hospital. A few days afterwards I began to think I was capable of getting up, and the sergeant and myself used to walk together daily, for an hour or so, which I thought was a very great benefit to me; and by degrees I became quite capable of walking in the town. The little wine I took daily was the chief support I had. My wounds began to heal quickly, and soon I was able to leave the hospital.

The sergeant joined his company, and I was attached to the Scotch battalion, as I was incapable of doing service under the command of my old captain of the British battalion, Captain Shaw, then colonel of the Scottish brigade. I drew rations until further orders; we were then lying where the Scotch took up their position at Lord Della’s.

One morning I was toasting a piece of pork that had been served out to me in ship’s rations, with biscuit to catch the fat of the pork, when all of a sudden the enemy’s pickets reinforced and rode back the Scotch pickets. I jumped up--unable to run much as my sinews at the knees were very stiff--and hobbled away down the lane; the musketry and the big guns were in full play. Colonel Shaw coming up the lane on a mule, ordered the Scotch to come rightabout and charge the pickets of the enemy--I heard them clicking-clacking bayonets against bayonets; they kept up a sharp fire. The Scotch drove the enemy back to head quarters, where they lay for about a month.

There was nothing worth while speaking about after that took place; I retired to Oporto and drew my rations, as usual, from the commissary’s stores, and resided with the quarter-master in an apartment formerly belonging to the British battalion. I used to walk about Oporto, noticed by the inhabitants, having possession on my breast of the Craftic order, of the Town sword, and the Waterloo medal being very much noticed. I very often got gifts from them, and was very well supported; the quarter-master sergeant asked me one morning if I would be a servant to him; I replied, “By all means,” and there I remained until a passage was provided for me to go home to Great Britain. During the short period that I was servant to the quarter-master, I fell very ill, and had to be taken back to the hospital. Owing to the cholera having broken out, I lay some time in the hospital, my head was shaved, and I was fortunate enough to be placed in a bed near the door, where I had the benefit of the sweet air playing on me, it being very hot weather at the time. When I recovered I went out of the hospital and took up my old position along with the quarter-master I had been living with, who was very glad to see me.

Two young officers came one evening to visit the quarter-master, to appoint the time of what was to be done in regard to fighting a duel. The quarter-master had a room over the kitchen, and I was appointed to be in the kitchen. The quarter-master knocked his heels on the boards, which was a signal for me to come up; I was asked when I went up, to supply them with another bottle of wine from the stores, they drank till about twelve o’clock that night. When I took up the last bottle of wine, the two young officers in company with the quarter-master, said to him, “The corporal has been a fine soldier in the field, we have heard;” so they each presented me with a dollar. One gentleman was named Bulgar, and the other Shadwick. The quarter-master told me that would do, and that I could retire. In retiring down into the kitchen, I heard some very heavy talking, as to appointing the place where they where to fight the following morning. I stopped on the stairs to listen to what was going on, and I heard they had arranged to go out at the dawn of day, about three o’clock in the morning, at the upper part of the town in a meadow. The master said to me, coming down to the kitchen after the officers retired, “You have no need to get up when you hear me get me up in the morning, as I am going on some little business.” I knew all about it, so I lay down for a short period, and kept myself awake for about two hours, when I heard the quarter-master coming down stairs; I never let on to make the least word, but soon slipped into the streets after him, hobbled along as well as I could, and kept him in view. It was very fortunate he did not discover me by looking back; I kept myself pretty well concealed by keeping close to the shadow of the houses, and I arrived at the top end of the town. There was a stone wall dividing the road from the paddock, and at the corner of the wall there was a house, I pulled my cap off, looked round the corner of the house, and discovered the three in company.

The quarter-master put them in proper position, back to back, and ordered them to step off, which they did, one going one way, and one the other, for a few paces; when the quarter-master cried out, “Hold!” “Half face to the right, going to the left!” then, “Present!” and he stood so that they could distinguish him. When he dropped the white handkerchief, they fired immediately, and one of them missed. Mr Shadwick wounded Bulgar in the side; he fell down; the other two ran up to his assistance, lifted him up, and took him down to his residence. I then retreated, not liking to wait any longer to see what was going on. I got back into the kitchen, and made some fire to get myself a cup of coffee. I took a smoke of my pipe, and about the hour of five o’clock, as near as I can say, the quarter-master came home and went to his room. I think he laid himself down and fell asleep for about two hours; as I did the same after taking a cup of coffee. I heard him making signals on the board; he wished me good morning, and I returned the salute. “Corporal!” said he, “bring me a cup of coffee.” He took his coffee, and then he had to get himself ready to go to the stores, at eight o’clock a.m., to serve out the rations to the soldiers. After the rations were all served out, he retired to his room and took his breakfast, after which he went out into the town. He told me he did not think he should be home to dinner. He came home in the evening, took a little refreshment, and shortly afterwards retired to bed.

The following morning, when he got up, he asked me if I knew the officers who had been in company with him the night before. I told him I did, Mr Bulgar and Mr Shadwick; he said that was all correct, but that Mr Bulgar was sick, and had got leave from the colonel of the regiment to keep away from parade for a time. This was done in order that the regimental doctor should not know what had happened. The quarter-master asked me if I would attend to his apartments to give him a little hot water each morning I said I would by all means. I attended him every morning with whatever he required; he used to tell me to put it down and that would do. I attended on him several mornings, when I said, “Sir, you do not appear capable of dressing your wounds,” which were very slight flesh wounds. He looked at me very hard, and said, “do you know what is the matter with me?” I then told him all that had taken place, and that I had witnessed the whole of the affair. I said, “you were so grateful, sir, that I had pleasure in attending on you.” He remarked, “keep your own counsel, and do not relate it to any one.” I attended on him for nearly a month, when he became able to go on parade; and he rewarded me handsomely. I frequently saw them both in company afterwards, Mr Shadwick and Mr Bulgar; and they always greeted me, and often gave me the means to purchase a glass of wine. Some time in the early part of ’33, I went to Lord Dullah, two miles from Oporto, to see one of the officers named Captain Shaw, under whom I served when he commanded a British battalion, and who was then colonel of the Scotch brigade, to bid him farewell before my departure for Great Britain. In coming back from Lord Dullah, I fell in with barrack-master McCabe, who asked me if I had seen General Saldamia; he said he wanted to see him particularly. I told him I had not seen the general.

Whilst in conversation with him, concerning the various actions in which I had been engaged, he said, “you have been a very brave soldier in your time” (he was attached to the Rock Brigade) and told me that if I would call on him at his residence in Oporto, he would give me something, as he then knew me to be an invalid waiting for a passage home. I called at the place before my departure, and he told me that he had nothing to dispose of; so the Rock Brigade was none the better for me, nor me for them. I went for some short time to live with one of the old officers, quarter-master of the British battalion, and he offered me every assistance in his power. Previous to the time of my departure from Oporto, I witnessed some little affairs carried on with the enemy on the other side of the River Douro. Our troops had beaten the enemy back, about two leagues from Vellenevue. I often saw the enemy firing shells from their batteries when upon outlying picket duty, and a great many crossing the Douro in the night, as many as eight or ten in each party. As they had laid siege to the garrison for about two years, they did a deal of mischief by throwing shells into the town. I frequently heard the Portuguese people in the town calling out, when under fire, that the shells were “_Grande Diabolos_,” or “Great devils.” There was scarcely a house in Oporto, but was perforated by shot or shell.

During the three years that I was in the service I could not relate to you every little incident that took place. Had it not been for the British subjects that went out to fight for Queen Donna Maria, and the French also, the town must have been taken by the troops of Don Miguel. The British subjects, as well as the French, were in a great state of starvation in the year ’32. Part of the time I was in the hospital from the wounds I received before Oporto, which had thoroughly disabled me from performing any other duty; and I wish to inform my Sydney readers that during the three years I was in the Portuguese service there did not occur much worth relating.

In my work published recently in England is contained a full and true account of the numerous affairs in which I was engaged, comprising my adventures both in the Portuguese and British service. This is a work I would advise all my friends to peruse; it contains 272 pages, which are fully illustrated in copper-plate, comprising among them two large drawings of the Battle of Waterloo; also one of the action of Ponte Ferrera, in Portugal. This book was published in the year 1834, and can at any time be had on application to the author of the present work, Corporal Knight; or by application to Mr. Murray, Charing Cross; or Effingham Wilson, Royal Exchange, London. The first edition sold rapidly, to the number of 750; as these books were well got up and most interesting, they readily sold at the sum of five shillings per volume. The first days’ sales were fifty volumes, and netted the sum of £12 10s.