Chapter I: Preface

These chapters are not histories of sieges, but narratives of such incidents as occur in beleaguered cities, and illustrate human nature in some of its strangest moods. That “facts are stranger than fiction” these stories go to prove: such unexpected issues, such improbable interpositions meet us in the pages of history. What writer of fiction would dare to throw down battlements and walls by an earthquake, and represent besiegers as paralysed by religious fear? These tales are full, indeed, of all the elements of romance, from the heroism and self-devotion of the brave and the patient suffering of the wounded, to the generosity of mortal foes and the kindliness and humour which gleam even on the battle-field and in the hospital. But the realities of war have not been kept out of sight; now and then the veil has been lifted, and the reader has been shown a glimpse of those awful scenes which haunt the memory of even the stoutest veteran.

We cannot realize fully the life that a soldier lives unless we see both sides of that life. We cannot feel the gratitude that we ought to feel unless we know the strain and suspense, the agony and endurance, that go to make up victory or defeat. In time of war we are full of admiration for our soldiers and sailors, but in the past they have been too often forgotten or slighted when peace has ensued. Not to keep in memory the great deeds of our countrymen is mere ingratitude.

Hearty acknowledgments are due to the authors and publishers who have so kindly permitted quotation from their books. Every such permission is more particularly mentioned in its place. The writer has also had many a talk with men who have fought in the Crimea, in India, in France, and in South Africa, and is indebted to them for some little personal touches such as give life and colour to a narrative.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

SIEGE OF GIBRALTAR (1779-1782)

PAGES

The position of the Rock--State of defence--Food-supply--Rodney brings relief--Fire-ships sent in--A convoy in a fog--Heavy guns bombard the town--Watching the cannon-ball--Catalina gets no gift--One against fourteen--Red-hot shot save the day--Lord Howe to the rescue 17-27

CHAPTER II

DEFENCE OF ACRE (1799)

Jaffa stormed by Napoleon--Sir Sidney Smith hurries to Acre--Takes a convoy--How the French procured cannon-balls--The Turks fear the mines--A noisy sortie--Fourteen assaults--A Damascus blade--Seventy shells explode--Napoleon nearly killed--The siege raised--A painful retreat 28-36

CHAPTER III

THE WOUNDED CAPTAIN IN TALAVERA (1809)

Talavera between two fires--Captain Boothby wounded--Brought into Talavera--The fear of the citizens--The surgeons’ delay--Operations without chloroform--The English retire--French troops arrive--Plunder--French officers kind, and protect Boothby--A private bent on loot beats a hasty retreat 37-52

CHAPTER IV

THE CAPTURE OF CIUDAD RODRIGO (1812)

A night march--Waiting for scaling-ladders--The assault--Ladders break--Shells and grenades--A magazine explodes--Street fighting--Drink brings disorder and plunder--Great spoil 53-61

CHAPTER V

THE STORMING OF BADAJOS (1812)

Rescue of wounded men--A forlorn hope--Fire-balls light up the scene--A mine explodes--Partial failure of the English--Escalade of the castle--Pat’s humour and heroism--Saving a General--Wellington hears the news--The day after the storm 62-75

CHAPTER VI

A PRISONER IN ST. SEBASTIAN (1813)

The _coup de grâce_--The hospital--A cruel order--An attempt at escape--Removed to the castle--The English at the breach--Many are wounded--French ladies sleep in the open--A vertical fire--English gunners shoot too well--A good sabre lightly won 76-89

CHAPTER VII

JELLALABAD (1842)

Position of the town--Sale’s brigade rebuilds the defences--A sortie--Bad news--A queer noise--A ruse that did not succeed--The only survivor comes in--Story of a massacre--The earthquake--The walls are down--Are rebuilt--English magic--Pollock comes--Fight outside--The peril of Lady Sale 90-109

CHAPTER VIII

SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL (1854-1856)

The English land without tents--Mr. Kinglake shows off before Lord Raglan--The Alma--Strange escapes--Looted houses--Fair plunder--Balaklava Bay--Horses lost at sea--A derelict worth having--Jack very helpful--The Heavy and Light Brigades--Spies--Fraternizing 110-125

CHAPTER IX

AFTER INKERMANN (1854)

Valiant deeds--Lord Raglan under fire--Tryon the best shot--A Prince’s button--A cold Christmas--Savage horses--The Mamelon redoubt--Corporal Quin--Colonel Zea 126-136

CHAPTER X

THE INDIAN MUTINY--DELHI (1857-1858)

The Mutiny begins--A warning from a sepoy--A near thing--A noble act of a native officer--In camp at Delhi with no kit--A plan that failed--Our first check--Wilson in command--Seaton wounded--Arrival of Nicholson--Captures guns--The assault--The fate of the Princes--Pandy in a box 137-158

CHAPTER XI

THE DEFENCE OF LUCKNOW (31ST OF MAY TO 25TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1857)

Firing at close quarters--Adventures of fugitives--Death of Sir H. Lawrence--His character--Difficulty of sending letters--Mines and counter-mines--Fulton killed--Signs of the relief coming--A great welcome--Story of the escape from Cawnpore 159-174

CHAPTER XII

THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW (1857)

The scene at Cawnpore--Fights before Lucknow--Nearly blown up--A hideous nightmare--Cheering a runaway--All safe out of the Residency--A quick march back--Who stole the biscuits?--Sir Colin’s own regiment 175-190

CHAPTER XIII

RUNNING THE BLOCKADE (1861)

North _v._ South--A new President hates slavery--Port Sumter is bombarded--Ladies on the house-top--Niggers don’t mind shells--A blockade-runner comes to Oxford--The _Banshee_ strips for the race--Wilmington--High pay--Lights out--Cast the lead--A stern chase--The run home--Lying _perdu_--The _Night-hawk_ saved by Irish humour--Southern need at the end of the war--Negro dignity waxes big 191-201

CHAPTER XIV

THE FIRST IRONCLADS (1862)

Will they sink or swim?--Captain Ericsson, the Swede--The _Merrimac_ raised and armoured--The _Monitor_ built by private venture--_Merrimac_ surprises Fort Monroe--The _Cumberland_ attacked--The silent monster comes on--Her ram makes an impression--Morris refuses to strike his flag--The _Cumberland_ goes down--The _Congress_ is next for attention--On fire and forced to surrender--Blows up at midnight--The _Minnesota_ aground shows she can bite--General panic--Was it Providence?--A light at sea--Only a cheese-box on a raft--Sunday’s fight between two monsters--The _Merrimac_ finds she is deeply hurt, wounded to death--The four long hours--Worden and Buchanan both do their best--Signals for help--The fiery end of the _Whitehall_ gunboat 202-212

CHAPTER XV

CAPTURE OF NEW ORLEANS (1862)

New Orleans and its forts--Farragut despises craven counsel--The mortar-fleet in disguise--Fire-rafts rush down--A week of hot gun-fire--A dash through the defences--The _Varuna’s_ last shot--Oscar, aged thirteen--Ranged before the city--Anger of mob--Summary justice--Soldiers insulted in the streets--General Butler in command--Porter nearly blown up in council--Fort Jackson in ruins--“The fuse is out” 213-219

CHAPTER XVI

THE SIEGE OF RICHMOND (1862 AND 1865)

Fair Oaks a drawn battle--Robert Lee succeeds Johnston--Reforms in the army--Humours of the sentinels--Chaffing the niggers--Their idea of liberty--The pickets chum together--Stuart’s raid--A duel between a Texan and a German--Effect of music on soldiers--A terrible retreat to James River--Malvern Hill battle-scenes--Three years after--General Grant before Richmond--Coloured troops enter the Southern capital in triumph--Lee surrenders--Friends once more 220-230

CHAPTER XVII

THE SIEGE OF PARIS (1870-1871)

WITH THE GERMANS OUTSIDE

The Germans invest Paris--Trochu’s sortie fails--The English ambulance welcomed--A Prince’s visit to the wounded--In the snow--Madame Simon--A brave Lieutenant--Piano and jam--The big guns begin--St. Denis--Old Jacob writes to the Crown Prince--A dramatic telegram--Spy fever--Journalists mobbed 231-240

CHAPTER XVIII

THE SIEGE OF PARIS--_Continued_

WITH THE BESIEGED (1870-1871)

Moods in Paris--The Empress escapes--Taking down Imperial flags--Playing dominoes under fire--Cowards branded--Balloon post--Return of the wounded--French numbed by cold--The lady and the dogs--The nurse who was mighty particular--Castor and Pollux pronounced tough--Stories of suffering 241-250

CHAPTER XIX

METZ (1870)

Metz surrounded--Taken for a spy--Work with an ambulance--Fierce Prussians rob an old woman--Attempt to leave Metz--Refusing an honour--The _cantinière’s_ horse--The grey pet of the regiment--Deserters abound--A village fired for punishment--Sad scenes at the end 251-263

CHAPTER XX

PLEVNA (1877)

An English boy as Turkish Lieutenant--A mêlée--Wounded by a horseman--Takes letter to Russian camp--The Czar watches the guns--Skobeleff’s charge--The great Todleben arrives--Skobeleff deals with cowards--Pasting labels--The last sortie--Osman surrenders--Prisoners in the snow--Bukarest ladies very kind 264-279

CHAPTER XXI

SIEGE OF KHARTOUM (1884)

Gordon invited to the Soudan--The Mahdi--Chinese Gordon--His religious feeling--Not supported by England--Arabs attack--Blacks as cowards--Pashas shot--The _Abbas_ sent down with Stewart--Her fate--Relief coming--Provisions fail--A sick steamer--_Bordein_ sent down to Shendy--Alone on the house-top--Sir Charles Wilson and Beresford steam up--The rapids and sand-bank--“Do you see the flag?”--“Turn and fly”--Gordon’s fate 280-288

CHAPTER XXII

KUMASSI (1900)

The Governor’s visit--Pageant of Kings--Evil omens--The Fetish Grove--The fort--Loyal natives locked out--A fight--King Aguna’s triumph--Relief at last--Their perils--Saved by a dog--Second relief--Governor retires--Wait for Colonel Willcocks--The flag still flying--Lady Hodgson’s adventures 289-302

CHAPTER XXIII

MAFEKING (1899-1900)

Snyman begins to fire--A flag of trace--Midnight sortie--The dynamite trolley--Kaffirs careless--A cattle raid--Eloff nearly takes Mafeking--Is taken himself instead--The relief dribble in--At 2 a.m. come cannon with Mahon and Plumer 303-317

CHAPTER XXIV

THE SIEGE OF KIMBERLEY (1899-1900)

The diamond-mines--Cecil Rhodes comes in--Streets barricaded--Colonel Kekewich sends out the armoured train--Water got from the De Beers Company’s mines--A job lot of shells--De Beers can make shells too--Milner’s message--Beef or horse?--Long Cecil--Labram killed--Shelter down the mines--A capture of dainties--Major Rodger’s adventures--General French comes to the rescue--Outposts astonished to see Lancers and New Zealanders 318-325

CHAPTER XXV

THE SIEGE OF LADYSMITH (1899-1900)

Ladysmith--Humours of the shell--The _Lyre_ tries to be funny--Attack on Long Tom--A brave bugler--Practical jokes--The black postman--A big trek--Last shots--Some one comes--Saved at last 326-340