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14th of September, when that of Boxtel, the most advanced, was forced, with a loss of 1,500 of the troops of Hesse Darmstadt, who were completely surrounded and cut off. The possession of Boxtel by the enemy rendering the whole line of posts untenable, as it completely commanded the river Dommel, which runs immediately into the town by Fort Isabella, the commander in chief thought it absolutely necessary to retake it, and for that purpose detached the reserve, composed of the brigade of guards, and 12th, 33d, 42d, and 44th regiments of the line, with cavalry and artillery. At daybreak on the 15th, General Abercrombie having reconnoitred, found the enemy so strongly posted, that he did not venture to risk the attack without positive orders; and, upon sending back to his royal highness for instructions, he was desired to persist in the attack, but not to proceed further than he thought prudent.

In front, and inclining to the left of Abercrombie's corps, which had advanced through Schyndel, was a plain, skirted by a thick plantation of firs, in which the French had constructed several masked batteries. The Coldstream regiment had been left on piquet at Erp, a village on the river Aa, between Bois le Duc and Helmont. The cavalry, 1st and 3d guards, with the 33d and 44th regiments of the line, pushed on towards the point of attack, the 12th and 42d remaining in reserve on and near Schyndel. Some French hussars showed themselves boldly on the level ground, as a lure to the British cavalry; and, retreating before them, dispersed when they had drawn our unwary squadrons within reach of their batteries, which immediately opening upon them, they sustained some loss before they could possibly fall back. General Abercrombie having little doubt, by this time, of the proximity of the French grand army, and conceiving he had obeyed his orders in the fullest extent, by advancing as far as prudence would justify, determined to recall his troops, and to retreat within the British lines of encampment. About one hundred were killed and wounded during the affair; and although the British retired in very good order, yet the narrowness of the road had caused a regiment of Irish light dra- ́ goons to throw the 1st guards into some confusion. Taking ad

vantage of this delay, the enemy's squadrons advanced in fall force; but fortunately the thirty-third were formed in the rear, when their gallant leader, with great judgment and promptitude caused them to open, and permit the dragoons to pass through, when instantly wheeling up into line, they threw in a few cool and well directed volleys into the thickest of the assailants, which obliged them to retreat with precipitation, and thereby enabled General Abercrombie to complete his retreat without further mo lestation.

On the 2d of December, his royal highness the Duke of York being recalled, the command of the allied armies devolved upon the Hanoverian General Walmoden; and on the 30th of December, 1794, the head-quarters being then at Arnheim, an attack was meditated on the enemy; for which purpose a corps was formed of ten battalions of British infantry, of which the 33d was one, under Major General Lord Cathcart, Major General Gordon, and Lieutenant Colonel Mac Kensie; six squadrons of light cavalry, and one hundred and fifty hussars, under Major General Sir Robert Lawrie; the loyal emigrant corps, and four battalions and four squadrons of Hessians, under Major General de Wurmb: the whole being commanded by Major General Da vid Dundas.

This respectable force was divided into three columns. The left column to attack by the dike: the centre to attack in such a manner as to keep the church of Werdenberg upon its left wing; and the right column, consisting of four British battalions, and the Rohan hussars, to keep their left wing appuyé to the Vliet, to turn Tuyl, and to attack it in the rear.

Lord Cathcart found the road by which his column was to march so impracticable, that, being obliged to make a great detour, he could not come up in time; and General Dundas finding, at his arrival near Werdenberg, that the enemy had abandoned it during the night, he thought it advisable to push on with the other two columns, and to begin the attack immediately upo Tuyl.

This attack was executed with such gallantry and spirit by the troops, that, notwithstanding the natural strength of this post,

the abattis of fruit trees, that the enemy had constructed, the batteries of the town of Bommel, which flanked the approach, and the immense number of the defenders, yet it was soon carried, and the enemy driven across the river, (then everywhere passable on the ice,) with a considerable loss. Four pieces of cannon also were taken; and the whole detachment received the highest praise, not only for their spirited conduct in the execution of the enterprise, but also for the patience and perseverance with which they encountered the immense fatigues and hardships, considerably enhanced by the cold and severity of the season.

The success of the whole was so far complete as thus to oblige the invaders to recross the Waal.

Notwithstanding the advantages gained on the 31st of December, yet, as the frost was still increasing, it was judged expedient that General Dundas's corps should fall back upon Lingen, leaving outposts upon the Waal; a movement which was executed on the night of the 3d of January.

The severity of the weather still increasing, the enemy were induced, on the 4th, to recross the Waal near Bommel. The advanced posts of the allies were immediately driven in, and Tuyl fell into the hands of the assailants. General Dundas, notwithstanding, still thought that he should be able to defend Metteren, and thus to check the further progress of the enemy; but the advanced posts of the Hessians, nearest to his post, having been obliged also to fall back, the commander in chief, in concert with the other principal officers, thought it prudent to send or ders to him, and also to General Dalwick, to unite their detachments immediately, and at daybreak of the 5th, to make a vigorous attack upon the enemy to drive them across the Waal.

But about two in the afternoon of the 4th, the French attacked the post at Metteren about a mile in front, where part of the 33d regiment, with a piquet of eighty cavalry and two curricle. guns were posted; their superior number, and their disposition to surround this brave little detachment, soon made it necessary to fall back on the other part of the regiment, which was supported with two howitzers, In this difficult movement, they

were very hard pressed by a large body of the enemy's hussars, that gallopped along the road with great vivacity.

The troops having beforehand been in an alert situation, the village of Geldermalsen was soon covered by the 42d and 78th; when the whole of the 33d took its place in the line of defence, and the other troops were in reserve on the opposite dike of the Lingen, that river being completely frozen, and everywhere passable.

In the early part of this affair, Colonel Wellesley and his little band must have displayed great activity; but the charge of the superior body of the enemy was so impetuous, both on the cavalry and infantry, that at first they had the advantage, and it is even said, had taken the two curricle guns; but the reserve of the 33d coming up, the guns were retaken, and the enemy repulsed, so as to allow of the gallant few falling back with regu larity on the main body.

The enemy still persevering in their attack, and being now reinforced, advanced on the village of Geldermalsen, both in front and flank; but after a great deal of musketry firing, for about an hour, were everywhere repulsed by the steadiness of the troops, and forced to retire.

The violence of the frost having now converted the whole country into a kind of plain, which thereby afforded the greatest facilities to the French army in all their movements, General Dundas thought it necessary to fall back during the night upon Beuren, where General Dalwick was already stationed.

This circumstance, and the excessive fatigue which the troops had undergone in those operations, at a season of the year, and in situations, in which they were often obliged, from want of cantonments, to pass the night without cover, determined the commander in chief to take up a position behind the Leck, extending from Cuylenberg to Wageningen.

Another reason for this movement, was a march made by a considerable column of the enemy, attended by a large train of artillery towards Gorcum; whilst their attack upon the right, combined with an attempt upou Thiel, evidently indicated a

regular plan of operations, even during the severity of the weather.

In the mean time a partial change took place in the movements of the British; for a very considerable and sudden thaw having come on upon the 6th, which offered a prospect of still preserving the position upon the Waal, it was judged proper that the troops which had not yet crossed the Leck should remain in the cantonments they then occupied, and that the rest should again move forward.

On this occasion Lieutenant General Abercrombie and Major General Hammerstein, with the greatest part of their corps, and some Austrian battalions, were to have begun their march upon Thiel, and towards Bommel upon the 7th; and General Dundas's corps received orders in consequence, to occupy Beuren, and the heights near it, on the 8th, in order that they might coöperate with the former detachments.

Notwithstanding the severity of the weather, it was extremely changeable; and it had happened very unfortunately that the frost set in again most unexpectedly; but as the troops were already put in motion, and counter orders might have prevented a combination, from the extent of the line, General Dundas having assembled his corps, with a zeal and exertion both on his part and that of the different commanding officers, which drew forth the highest praise from the commander in chief; he proceeded towards Beuren on the morning of the 8th, having detached in advance two battalions, who were afterwards to have marched upon Thiel, to coöperate in the attack upon that place. On their arrival at Beuren, they found all the British posts upon the Lingen driven in, and the enemy in force near Beuren; but as soon as more troops came up, Lord Cathcart was sent forward in advance, and soon drove back the enemy, with great loss, beyond Geldermalsen.

The retreat of the British army was still, however, absolutely necessary, but under circumstances of the most horrible suffering, which cannot be related better than in the words of an eyewitness.

"On the 16th of January we marched at the appointed hour;

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