EARLY YEARS OF A VETERAN OF THE ARMY OF WESTPHALIA,

BETWEEN 1805 AND 1814.

IN hours of severe trial and visitation the following sketches were traced for my amusement. I was blind during three years, and could therefore only relate what was then committed to paper by a faithful hand. But now that, through the goodness of Providence and a skilful oculist, my sight has been restored, my first occupation is to put these scattered leaves in order, and offer them to the public, since they contain a true picture of circumstances, in a most eventful period, which may not perhaps be without interest for the reader. My younger comrades may hope that for them too, as once for me, such a time of deeds and daring, at their years so ardently longed for, may as unexpectedly arrive. Should that happen, I trust they may not meet with the like hardships and contrarieties, that crossed my path; and my elder comrades will surely feel themselves called back to the past in this memorial. From all I would desire indulgence for any deficiencies in the following narrative and representation of events, and hope, besides, that the reading of these sketches may fill up an idle hour agreeably.-BAUMANN.

I was born at Cleves, where my father was a counsellor, and superintendent of the Consistory. I was so unfortunate as to lose him in my childhood, but had a careful guardian in the late Provost Offelsmeyer, through whose influence I obtained, in 1805, a commission as cornet in the dragoon regiment of Frederick Landgrave of Hesse. Enthusiastic for my new profession, and with a lofty sense of its dignity, I set out for my garrison, and from Wesel to Munster travelled under the surveillance of an intimate military acquaintance; for my relations would not permit my first flight into the world to be made without the protection and counsel of an experienced person. This officer had his sergeant-major with him in the stage-coach, and being a very kindly man, he treated the old soldier in the following manner. Wherever we stopped for our repasts, he made him sit at table with us, as I still vividly remember, on account of the many laughable scenes it occasioned. In the coach, where at that time smoking was practised without animadversion, he filled his pipe simultaneously with the captain, and not one moment later or earlier, permitted himself to light it,-nay, he went so far as to extinguish his own pipe the very instant when that of his superior was set aside. Moreover, he held himself continually in an erect military posture, spoke only when spoken to, and therefore never for a moment erred against that severe subordination, according to which the inferior in those days stood in a servile relation to his superior. But it was during dinner at Cosfield that what was ridiculous in our stiff fellow-traveller came out in its full colours; and it was all I could do to observe silence, and keep my countenance. For the universe he would not have sinned against propriety, and, utterly ignorant of the usages and manners of the higher classes, he had nothing for it but to imitate, with extreme minuteness, each and every movement made by the Captain. If the latter took up a glass, he did the same, like him he handled his knife, fork, and napkin, but did it all as if under arms, and with the most steady official mien.

Captain von B's favourite dish was fricasseed turkey, and he liked the head in particular; therefore, if one fell to my share, I failed not to offer it to him: whereupon the Sergeant-major, as if determined not to be outdone in courtesy, immediately imitated me; but, unluckily, the Captain was already provided with two of those dainty bits. What may seem surprising is, that since the dinner had been only prepared for, and laid before three persons, there should have been occasion to decapitate so many of those innocents, as one after the other made its appearance, so that the whole might be called a fricassee of heads: however, its flavour to our palates was delicious,— thanks to the then construction of stage-coaches, which seemed intended to create a most voracious appetite.

In this manner we arrived at Munster, where Captain Von B— handed me over to my guardian, who, after the preparations necessary for my new appointment, sent me on with the least possible delay. My road, in this second part of my journey, lay by Paderborn and fair Cassel, to Fritzlar, my first garrison, one of those petty, insignificant towns in which formerly the cavalry used to be quartered. The townspeople, through long years upon the most intimate terms with the garrison, were immediately made acquainted with every circumstance of general interest; and the arrival of a new officer-a foreigner besides occasioned no small stir in the narrow circle, and furnished conversation for the day, both to old and young. Soon after my arrival I was presented to the General, and afterwards, by the Chef d'Escadron, to the old Quarter-master, Behbein, in order to be fitted out in a military manner, which was the commencement of my tortures, as will appear from the following description :- First of all, the glossy curls of my hair, which formed no slender part of my boyish vanity, were-O Vandalism of former times!- shaved off from the front part of my head; the back hair was, contrary to the present mode, left long, and gathered together into a stiff queue; to which ornament, since mine was not of the requisite length, a pitched cord was appended, by which means the tail obtained its due length of twelve inches. Besides this half-savage ornament, my ears were surmounted by two sumptuous curls, which, suitably pomatumed and waxed, made the crowning adornment of my sixteen-years-old head. At first my queue was very rebellious; in spite of all my attention, it never would hang perpendicularly, and I often discovered it comfortably reposing upon my shoulder. When this important part of my toilet was ended, next came the adaptation of the leathern small-clothes, which, rubbed with wet pipe-clay, were to be drawn on before they were dry, that they might sit the better; and then followed the stiff boots, overtopping the knees. Deep ruffles set off the pale-blue uniform, with facings of silver lace, and a mighty frill, blowing itself out below the stiff collar. And there stood the bold dragoon, in all his magnificence! When Behbein, busy and important, added to the abovementioned glories hat, sabre, cane, and belt, the latter ornamented with a silver buckle and the golden lion, I contemplated, in pride and pleasure, my thus ornamented person, in the small looking-glass hanging in my chamber. But this survey of myself, however gratifying, could not long suffice me; I must make the change which had come over me apparent to the whole town; and with this purpose hastened towards the staircase; but, alas! the force of nature could no further go, the villanous boots made it clearly impossible for me,

after the first step, to make a second, and the more I stormed, the more Behbein laughed, till at length, taking small side-steps, as children do when going down stairs, and, by dint of a little slipping and sliding, I happily reached the bottom, and walked, with a beating heart, into the street. My expectations were not disappointed: all eyes were fastened upon me; those of the young men from envy or admiration, of the young women from curiosity, while the elder people half smiled, which pleased me so little, that I only forgot it in the flattering sympathy of those of my own age. The General, meantime, praised my equipment, and said, "Oh, you will soon grow accustomed to it ;" and several officers came, in a friendly manner, to meet the new-comer, to the great joy of old Behbein, who was partial to me from the beginning of our acquaintance.

About

The first period after my entering the service was filled up by learning to ride; then followed instructions in the use of the sabre and carbine. After the course of fourteen days, I was declared capable, for the first time, to mount guard, and, according to the regulations of that time, as a private. I held the first number for guardthat is to say, from eleven till one; and since it was known in the town that the Cornet was to be upon his first guard, there was a general muster of the inhabitants, that they might hear him call the "turn out." When guard was relieved, their intention was to make game of my shrill, unformed voice, in relieving the guard; but I had foreseen this, and contrived accordingly to be myself among the laughers; for as soon as it struck one o'clock, out issued from behind the sentry-box a loud, thundering "Turn out!" which was not paid too dearly for at eight groschen, all it cost me to gain over the powerful voice of one of our dragoons, who had kept guard with me. three o'clock appeared, according to established custom, several sergeants, then called carbineers, who came to offer their congratulations upon my first guard, and consequently to be treated by me to beer and tobacco, which they smoked out of long clay pipes. I next mounted guard as lance-sergeant at the outposts, where I then received the visits of several non-commissioned officers; and the third time, finally, as non-commissioned officer myself; upon which occasion, after being congratulated by the five sergeant-majors of the regiment, I begged leave to offer them a glass of wine and some tobacco, handsomely set forth upon a pewter dish. The friendly deportment of these veterans towards one who, in their opinion, was of good promise, made me not a little proud; for it must be considered, that these men had served from thirty to forty years—many had fought in America, and later, in Flanders; and their stately figures, their entire subordination to their superiors, and the eventful histories they could recount, necessarily made a profound impression upon my youth and inexperience.

Aided by the friendly adjutant of the regiment, my military education advanced rapidly; the instructions given me in riding, in handling my arms, which at first only threatened destruction to my next neighbour, bore their fruit, and in four months after entering the service, I had the honour of bearing the standard of my regiment. The moment I dared to take possession of this consecrated palladium, my joy was so intoxicating, that I certainly would not have exchanged my lot with any staff-officer of infantry.

Thus I lived on, as is usual during peace, in my small garrison,

This

kept my guards, and I remember still with pleasant emotion my old Behbein, who shortened by his visits their tedious uniformity, which I was careful to repay in kind when his turn of duty came. veteran had also fought in America, Flanders, &c.; and from half words and hints thrown out by the others, I discovered that in the latter country he had once been sentenced to run the gauntlet.

I should very willingly have heard something more about it from himself, but it was long before I could venture to touch upon the subject, until once, when his glass and pipe had made him particularly communicative, I hazarded the inquiry, saying, "Tell me, Behbein," (making a short pause, for I was in doubt as to the rejoinder,) “I hear that you once made a little excursion in Flanders-" accompanying my question with a suitable gesture. As I expected, the old man was powerfully excited; with a face redder than scarlet, he arose from his seat, stood in a military attitude, crying out with stentorian voice, "Who told you that, young gentleman?" I pacified him as well as I could, assuring him that I meant no harm, nor intended to cause him any annoyance, but only sought to discover in what manner so exemplary a soldier could have drawn upon himself such a severe punish

ment.

"Oh! as to that," replied he, "I have not much to complain of in regard to the pain it gave me, for my boots and obtained more

stripes than my back; the punishment was, in fact, only pro formá: however, since the principal fact is known through these rascally talebearers, I will relate the rest to you, Cornet; nevertheless, with respect be it said, I would not counsel any other person to remind me of the occurrence. And so," continued he, drawing himself up into a perpendicular height, "I was upon duty, and visited the public-houses to see whether everything was in order. Scarcely had I entered when I heard those Flemish swine abuse and deride the Hessians, and especially our most gracious Landgrave, in a downright awful manner. I reproached them for it, and might have been a little warm; whereupon the clowns attempted to collar me: however, before they knew where they were, I drew my sabre, and made just a little slap at him who was trying to lay hold of me, when off goes his hand. I was thoroughly frightened, though in my time I had seen many a limb chopped off: however, I made an honourable retreat and thought the matter would be hushed up; it proved otherwise though, for satisfaction was demanded,”—and here he drew himself up even more perpendicularly—“and I was doomed to the fate you mentioned. The townspeople, however, saw nothing of what was going on; the General ordered a close ring to be formed, and the dragoons; as I have already told you, struck so lightly, although they made a show to the contrary, that I indeed felt nothing except the shame, which was for that reason the more burning." My old friend was greatly affected by this recital; I became as silent as himself, and resolved never to recur to the subject.

I soon began to pass my time very agreeably in the hours of relaxa tion from duty; the Adjutant had introduced me to the Ressource, and as I had learned to play at ombre when a boy at home, I became a very welcome locum tenens when one or other of the party was prevented from taking his place. In time I had more than I liked of this honour; for, since I did not play upon my own account, but for the absentee, one of the parties was sure to be displeased with me, whether I lost or won. Piquet amused me much more; I played that game when on

guard with my good old Behbein, who made it a point of honour to repique me, although we never played for money.

Another amusement interested me in a far greater degree-namely, visiting a spinning-parlour, the place of réunion for many of the prettiest maidens in the town, who met to hear and relate, by the hum of the spinning-wheel, various histories, and in particular those of ghosts and goblins. The young Cornet was very successful in such narrations; and if it sometimes happened that the thread on the reel snapped suddenly by some sly management of his, the merriment did but increase, and the sole punishment inflicted upon the offender was, that he should relate a new terrific story. I did not come off so well upon another occasion, where my petulance brought upon me a severe rebuke from my superior officers.

There lived in the town a man, a broker by trade, who often relieved us poor fellows when in need, with the loan of a few crowns. This man, whose acquaintance I soon made, had enticed me into the purchase of a pair of leathers, as of something remarkable, and so they proved-remarkably bad, and as yet they had not been paid for: he came one day and asked for his money, when I endeavoured to make him take off something from the price of his bad merchandize; this he refused to do, and I was obliged to pay his whole demand. Out of revenge, I contrived to pin upon the back of his coat a rabbit's tail which I chanced to possess, and then let him go his way. I ran to the window in order to watch the result of my revenge; and presently saw my man arrive in the market-place, and walk across it with rather a swinging gait, which kept the appendage to his back in a perpendicular position. All the passers-by laughed; but nothing was said until he came opposite the guard-house, when a dragoon called out, "Hey-day, shepherd!"-no unsuitable name, on account of the fleecy addition to his coat-" what the deuce is that which you wear upon your back?" The broker quickly laid hold of the insulted part, jerked off the rabbit's tail with an imprecation, and stared about him for awhile; then, suddenly a light seemed to break in upon him, and turning towards my dwelling he made a threatening gesture with his hand, and called out, "It's the Cornet who has played me this trick, but he shall pay for it." I had withdrawn from the window previously to his menaces, and heard them first from my superior officers.

Quite unexpectedly we received orders to take up cantonments near Cassel; the cause of this soon became known to us. Marshal Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte Corvo, now King of Sweden, quitted the electorate of Hanover, and marched with his corps d'armée by Cassel and Bamberg, into Austria, for the campaign of 1805. At Sangershausen, on the frontier, our regiment, with the hussars, was drawn up, and there I surveyed the passage of the nobly equipped and disciplined French troops, (equipped, no doubt, out of Hanoverian contributions,) who, for their bearing and the brilliancy which surrounded them, were absolutely dazzling. The next day the Marshal showed himself also, but his horse unluckily fell with him as he bowed his head to enter the electoral château.

This Marshal impressed me with so much the more respect as I knew already how he had fought on the Rhine and in Italy, and that he was as remarkable for his talents as for his bravery. We were then appointed to observe the marching through of the French troops, to prevent disorder, &c., and thus we stood over them like sentinels; but the next