HLI Chronicle 1910 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

HIGHLAND LiGHT INFANTRY CIIRONICLE.
,g&ne to-morrow' sort of life putting them
-under the necessity of breaking the Christian
~ndate of 'take no heed for to-morrow.'
But, alas! -they were unexpectedly roused
Jrom .their intellectual enjoyments by orders
'to turn out and join the picquets on the outside
-Gf 'the town, Catching up their fire-locks
with some reluctance, they succeeded in
~lIecting the junction with the picquets." t
Scarcely had they done so when General
El'8kine rode up and ordered them to retire,
-is the French were again advancing in force,
and at the same time detached two Companies
~ hold a neighbouring vine-clad hill to protect
the retirement. The Regiment fell back
.through the town once more to their old position
on Gallows Hill, with the French cavalry
.and infantry hot on their heels, and were soon
.~fter joined by the two Companies, who had
bad great difficulty in extricating themselves
In the face of the enemy from the tenacious
-olntches of the vinea which covered the slopes.
The enemy having drawn off for the time, the
7llit bivouacked for the night in a ploughed
field behind the wall, and, after a' miserable
liight spent in a storm of wind and drenching
rain, arose on the 14th for yet a third day's
lighting. Early in the morning the French
oocupied a wall parallel to that held by the
Regiment, and within 40 yards of them.
It appears that during the night the Regiment
had received orders to put on their bonnet
covers, and the French, seeing them in the
morning with their tartans and bugles thus
concealed, and in greatcoats, thought that the
position had been left to the custody of a
Portuguese battalion. The French had up to
this time been used to driving the Portuguese
troops before them like sheep, and now sprang
forward to charge the wall with m()re than their
usual dash. The 7lst, however, were not to be
80 easily driven from their position, and held
doggedly on, and indeed retirement would have
been almost impossible through the ankle-deep
mud in which they stood. A desperate handto-hand
struggle ensued with the bayonet,
t "Vioissitudes of a Scottish Soldier."
every man fighting for his own hand, but
gradually the 7lst bore the enemy back to and
across the wall from which they had charged,
continuing to pursue them for nearly a mile,
after which they fell back once more t() Gall()ws
Hill, over ground c()vered with dead and
wounded, bonnets and shoes trampled and
stuck in the mud.
At one time the enemy had come on in such
overwhelming numbers that our men were
obliged to retire rather precipitately over a
wall. One of the men of No. 6 (or Captain
Spottiswoode's) Company, named John Rae,
a native of Paisley, and said to be the oldest
man in the Regiment, being less active than
some of his comrades, and perhaps being apprehensive
of receiving a bayonet thrust par
derriere, chose courageously to stand his
ground alone. The. first Frenchman that
approached he shot dead, the next he bayonetted,
and a third shared the same fate. The
ancient hero then leisurely effected his retreat
over the wall. General Erskine and Colonel
Cadogan, having both been eye-witnesses
of Rae's bravery, afterwards ordered him
to be presented with a medal bearing the following
inscription
" To John Rae, for his exemplary courage
and good conduct as a soldier at Sobral,
14th October, 1810."
He also had the offer of being promoted to
the rank of Sergeant, but this he refused. It
is also remarkable enough that the medal was
actually made by one of the Regiment out of
a common silver dollar; it would be interesting
to know whether this medal still exists.
Later in the day the French sent in a flag of
truce for leave to carry off their wounded,
which was granted, after whieh both sides resumed
their original positions, the French
picquets being behind the wall close to the
7lst lines. As it was noticed that the French
sentries were becoming very remiss, an officer
of the 7lst and twelve men advanced to the
opposite wall, and, looking over, saw a French
picquet of fifty men pia' cards and amusing
themselves. They gave m a volley, whereupon
the whole picquet, officers and all, took
to their heels, and there was no furthex attack
that day. All fighting being now over, they
had time to look about them, and the ploughed