OWING to the time consumed in disembarking the
troops, the Duke of York was unable to advance
immediately ; and meanwhile Brune had employed the
respite thus gained since his defeat on the loth of
September in strengthening his position. He now
occupied an oblique line running from the little town
of Bergen, which lies about three miles north-west of
Alkmaar, north-eastward for six miles to Oukarspel.
Bergen itself, nestling close under the highest and
steepest range of the dunes and surrounded by little
woods and copses, was strongly entrenched ; in
advance of it the villages of Schoorl, Groet and
Kamp were fortified ; and commanding positions
were taken up on the sand-dunes, so that every
inch of the ground on his left should be defensible.
To eastward of this, his centre barred the road southward
along the Great Northern Canal by the occupation
of the hamlet of Schoorldam and of the village of Warmenhuizen,
a little to north-east of it ; and his right,
posted at Oudkarspel, lay astride the great causeway
which leads to Alkmaar from the north. At each and
all of these points he had multiplied the many natural
obstacles of the country by breaking up the roads,
making abatis and palisades, and constructing redoubts
at the heads of the dykes ; but, though outnumbered
by nearly two to one, he omitted as yet to inundate the
country to east of Oudkarspel for the protection of his
right flank.
In a country which was accessible only by a few
causeways, the Austrian system of attack by isolated
columns was the only possible one ; and the Council
of War laid its plans accordingly. It was agreed that
the Russians should take the place of honour on the
right, and that General Hermann, with twelve Russian
battalions, Manners's British brigade and the Seventh
Light Dragoons, should drive the enemy from the
sand-hills at Bergen.
1 This was the First Column. On
its left the Second Column, consisting of the two brigades
of Guards, Prince William's brigade, and two squadrons
of the Eleventh Light Dragoons, under David Dundas,
were to force the positions of Warmenhuizen and
Schoorldam and to co-operate with Hermann. On
Dundas's left the Third Column, composed of Don's
and Coote's brigades, with the two remaining squadrons
of the Eleventh, were to carry Oudkarspel. Finally,
a strong detached column, consisting of Moore's,
Cavan's and Chatham's brigades, the Reserve, two
composite battalions of Grenadiers and Light Infantry,
and two squadrons of the Eighteenth Light Dragoons,
under Abercromby's command, were to move wide to
the left upon Hoorn, some twelve miles south-east of
Oudkarspel, and, proceeding thence southward by forced
1 For the reader's convenience I repeat the list of Brigades :
Cavalry. 7th Light Dragoons, nth Light Dragoons, detachment
of 1 8th Light Dragoons, I troop R.H.A.
First Brigade. Guards grenadier battalion, 3/1 st Guards Majorgeneral
D'Oyley.
Second Brigade. I/ Coldstream, i/3rd Guards Major-general
Burrard.
Third Brigade. 2nd, 27th, 29th, 85th Major-general Coote.
Fourth Brigade. 2/ist, 25th, 49th, 79th, 92nd Major-general
Moore.
Fifth Brigade. i/i7th, 2/1 7th, i/4Oth, 2/4Oth Major-general
Don.
Sixth Brigade. i/zoth, 2/zoth, 63rd Major-general Lord Cavan.
Seventh Brigade. 3 battalions 4th, 3ist Major-general Lord
Chatham.
Eighth Brigade. i/5th, 2/jth, 2/3 5th Prince William.
Ninth Brigade. i/9th, zAjth, 56th Major-general Manners.
Reserve. 23rd, 55th Colonel Macdonald.
In garrison at the Helder, 1/3 5th, 69th.
marches upon Purmerend, to fall on the enemy's right
flank and rear.
It is plain that the nicety of combination required
for the success of this movement was excessive ; and
indeed the whole plan bears the mark of a compromise
or, in other words, of a Council of War. The object
of the Allies was to penetrate as speedily as possible to
Amsterdam, and for that end the first thing requisite
was to clear the passage between Alkmaar and the
North Sea, so as to reach Haarlem and the Y. It may
be affirmed with certainty that Brune could not be
ousted from his position except by forcing one or the
other of his flanks ; and it therefore followed that in
any attack the function of the Allied centre must be
chiefly to contain the enemy, while the bulk of their
strength was concentrated against a flank. Undoubtedly,
the eastern flank, in the direction of Hoorn, was vulnerable
; but a turning movement from that side was
so wide as to require a corps of sufficient strength to
act independently. Moreover, such a corps would
need to be concentrated at Hoorn beforehand, so as to
move up on Alkmaar simultaneously with the army on
the Zype ; and to this there was the objection that its
appearance at Hoorn would betray the design, and
cause Brune to check it by inundating the country.
All considerations, therefore, dictated the massing of an
overwhelming force at Petten so as to force Brune's
left or western flank, which would have led the army
straight upon Haarlem and Leiden. Instead of this
the Council of War, apparently halting between two
opinions, concentrated considerable bodies of troops
on both flanks and overwhelming force on neither.
The attack was appointed to begin at dawn of the
9th ; and accordingly, on the evening of the i8th,
Abercomby marched with his division, about ten
thousand men, for Hoorn. The distance to be
traversed did not exceed thirteen miles as the crow
flies, but was increased to more than twenty by the
deviations of the road, which, moreover, was in an
extremely bad condition. Hence his column had a
long and fatiguing march, but on reaching Hoorn at
two in the morning found the commandant and his
petty garrison asleep in their beds, and the sentinels
asleep at the gates. The place was therefore occupied
without difficulty, and one hundred and sixty Dutch
soldiers were captured, which was all to the good.
But the troops were so much jaded by their exertions
during the night, and the roads were so execrable, that
Abercromby did not feel justified in making a forced
march upon Purmerend until he heard how the day was
going on his right. And things on the right, as must
now be told, were going anything but well.
At two o'clock, or still earlier, in the morning of
the 1 9th some Russian light infantry and a battalion
of grenadiers under General SchutorfF crossed the canal
before Petten, for no reason, apparently, except their
own caprice, and advanced along the sea-shore straight
upon the French lines at Kamp. General Hermann
was apprised of the fact by half-past two, but made no
effort to stop or recall them ; and, on the firing of
one or two shots an hour later, he declared that,
since SchutorfF had begun the attack, he must be
supported. Thereupon, he ordered his first line of
Russians to advance from Petten along the Slaeper
dyke, parallel to SchutorfF and about two thousand
yards east of him. At the same time he directed two
squadrons of the Seventh Light Dragoons to support
SchutorfF and two more to act as escort to a troop of
British Horse -Artillery, at the same time moving
Manners's brigade a little to the eastward from Petten
to wait in reserve. It was still too dark to distinguish
any object when he ordered the gun to be fired as the
signal for attack, being fully aware, as he confessed,
that he was beginning his work too soon, but unable
longer to restrain the impatience of the troops.
The first line of the Russians therefore advanced in
very fair order along the Slaeper dyke till they reached
the first breastwork erected by the French, when they
sent up a savage yell and rushed forward. The enemy
gave way without firing more than half-a-dozen shots,
but the whole of the Russians, from front to rear of the
column, responded with a tremendous and irregular fire,
destructive to none but themselves. In this tumultuous
state they pressed on in the dark, carrying the
second of the breastworks as easily as the first, but
suffering heavily from their own fire. Meanwhile,
SchutofFs column could be heard advancing as rapidly
on the right through the sand-hills, and Hermann's
men raised a wild cry for artillery. This was brought
forward, and, though the darkness still forbade all distinction
of any definite object, the guns likewise opened
a furious and aimless cannonade. Pressing on to the
end of the dyke the column parted itself into two
divisions, one of which joined SchutorfFs force, and
with it poured from time to time a heavy fire upon the
other division, which followed the road to Groet. This
village also was carried with little difficulty, but it was
evident that the main force of the enemy was on the
east side of this road ; for a heavy though irregular fire
was directed upon the Russians from that quarter,
which was answered both by Hermann's column and,
though far out of range, by SchutorfFs, the latter
firing indiscriminately both upon the enemy and upon
their comrades. Hermann's horse was struck by a
French bullet from the east, and he now ascended
the dunes towards SchutorfFs corps, leaving his own
column without directions of any kind. However,
both divisions still blundered on in the same irregular
fashion. The Russian light infantry had exhausted its
ammunition and was thenceforth useless ; but their
second line of infantry came up, promptly mingled
with the first, and by its impetus carried the whole body
forward. The Russian colonels could not find their
regiments and had lost all control of their men.
From time to time they shouted the order to cease
fire, but no one took the slighest notice. The men
of the French advanced posts had been rallied upon
three battalions before Schoorl ; but the Russians in
the road, though still under the fire of their comrades
on the sand-hills, brushed them aside and floundered
on blindly towards Bergen.
The road now passed through a chain of scattered
houses and narrow copses of very thick underwood, with
occasional openings towards the east,
1 from which a
steadily increasing volume of fire poured upon them
from the French infantry and artillery. For Brune had
already begun to reinforce his left by calling detachments
from Dumonceau's troops across the bridge at
Schoorldam. Captain Taylor, the British staff-officer
who had accompanied the Russian column on the road,
now entreated the commanding officers to deploy their
regiments and extend them to eastward ; but they seemed
utterly helpless and incapable of more than a wild advance
along the highway, with indiscriminate firing to
front and flanks. They were now within a mile of
Bergen, and plunged into an avenue with dense underwood
on each hand, which screened them until they
were within two hundred yards of the town. There the
underwood ceased on the eastern side, and their advance
was checked by a tremendous fire of musketry and
artillery on their front and left flank. Crowded together
in a confused mass, they again yelled for guns, which
were with great difficulty brought up, the horses being
scarcely able to crawl. Then, covered by their fire,
the mob of men again surged forward, still under a
terrible rain of bullets and grape, when General Essen,
Hermann's second in command, at last appeared and
gave the order for the troops to halt and form.
A battalion was then extended to the left, with guns,
to keep down the French fire ; the crowd of men on
the road was re-formed ; and more infantry came up in
the rear under Hermann himself, who apparently had
The character of the road, though the houses are far more
numerous than a century ago, is little changed ; and the course of
the action can be well traced by the traveller who traverses it at
this day.
brought them down from the sand-hills. The column
then advanced again, but was immediately thrown into
confusion by the battalion which had been extended
to the left, and which now fell back in disorder upon
the road. However, though Hermann had now lost
all control of his men, they struggled on to Bergen,
and actually occupied it in a helpless and apathetic
fashion for about twenty minutes, without the slightest
idea as to what they should do next. But by this time
Brune's reserve from Alkmaar had arrived upon the
scene ; whereupon Vandamme, sending forward his
chasseurs to drive back such few Russians as remained
in the sand-hills, attacked the village both from east
and west, and, as the main body fell back along the road,
closed in upon it on all sides. The Russian retreat
now became a rout. Hermann was taken prisoner.
Essen, collecting a few troops, forced his way back
through the avenue under the fire of the French, who
had lined the underwood alongside it, and succeeded in
reaching a small body of men on the sand-hills. Upon
these he rallied his troops, at the same time despatching
Taylor in hot haste to bring up Manners's brigade
to his support.
Meanwhile, Dundas's column, which was accompanied
by the Duke of York, had advanced as soon as
the light permitted upon Warmenhuizen, throwing out
one battalion towards Schoorldam to cover Hermann's
left flank, and two more to eastward to preserve
communication with Pulteney. His progress was
necessarily slow, owing to the need for throwing flying
bridges over the innumerable waterways that barred his
advance ; but at six o'clock the village was smartly
stormed by the simultaneous attack of three Russian battalions
from the east, and of the First Guards from the
west. Supported by three gunboats in the great canal,
Dundas moved next upon Schoorldam ; but, the enemy
having destroyed the roads, he could advance to it
only over a network of canals, and did not reach it
until nine o'clock. He carried that village also, howCH.
ever, taking several hundred prisoners ; soon after
which an aide-de-camp came galloping up at the top
his speed to the Duke of York. He brought the news
of the utter defeat of the Russians upon the right.
The Duke at once ordered Manners's brigade to
advance upon Schoorl ; but the French had followed up
their counter-attack with astonishing rapidity, and the
Russians were utterly demoralised. They were scattered
in scores about the villages which they had taken
drunk, insubordinate, and pillaging upon all sides.
Major-general Knox, who entered their camp at nine
o'clock, found it full of stragglers wounded and unwounded
; while on the sand-hills Russian riflemen were
in sight, with the French chasseurs in hot pursuit.
Seeing that there was nothing to check these chasseurs,
Knox sent two squadrons of the Seventh Light Dragoons
to rally the Russian riflemen, if possible, and galloped
back to the Helder to fetch the Thirty-fifth, which
formed part of the garrison. Returning to Kamp with
this regiment at about eleven, he met the Russian
General, Essen, who entreated him to stay his drunken,
plundering troops ; whereupon he handed the Thirtyfifth
to him to cover their retreat. A more trying and
difficult duty for a battalion of raw militia, which had
evidently been left in garrison because it was worse
fitted than the rest for the field, it would be difficult to
imagine ; and it is not surprising to find that it suffered
heavily.
Thus it was that when Manners's brigade reached
Schoorl it found the village already abandoned by the
Russians and set on fire by their plunderers, and was
1 A militiaman, whom I presume to have been of this corps,
left a journal in which he recorded his impression of our Allies as
he first saw them. " The Russians is people as has not the fear of
God before their eyes, for I saw some of them with cheeses and
butter and all badly wounded, and in particklar one man had an
eit days clock on his back and fiting all the time which made me
to conclude and say all his vanity and vexation of spirit." Recollections
of the British Army, Colburrfs Military Magazine, February
1836.
soon fully occupied, if not overtasked, with the duty
. Of checking the counter-attack of the French. Great
efforts were made to rally the Russians, but without
success. They streamed away into their own lines,
and dispersed, both officers and men, without the
slightest effort to re-form ; and the danger that the
French might force the western extremity of the Allied
line became pressing. Meanwhile, the bridge over
the great canal at Schoorldam had been broken down,
and Dundas was unable to send a man to Schoorl until it
had been repaired, which took a full hour. Battalion
after battalion was then withdrawn from his force to
reinforce Manners, while Dundas himself maintained
his position at Schoorldam under a very heavy fire
with indomitable tenacity. But it was too late. The
British were forced back from Schoorl ; and Dundas
then retired in good order, covered by the gunboats in
the great canal. This seems to have taken place between
four and five o'clock in the afternoon, by which time the
British had been on foot for thirteen or fourteen
hours ; and the retreat, as was natural with weary, halftrained,
and incoherent bodies of men, was anything
but orderly. Many of the brigadiers, as well as the
regimental officers, were without experience, and several
battalions filed through the all -
important post of
Krabbendam without an order to any one of them to
take up positions for its defence. In fact, there were
no troops to be trusted except the four battalions of
Guards and the artillery ; and the Guards, having been
heavily engaged all through the day, had lost many
men, had expended nearly all their ammunition, and
were quite worn out with fatigue. These old soldiers,
however, were still unbeaten, and, thanks to their spirit,
the French did not venture on an attack upon the lines. 1
1 According to Bunbury the situation was saved by a Grenadier
of the Guards, who, when his Colonel hesitated to march the weary
battalion back to Krabbendam (through which it had already passed),
said,
" Give us some more cartridges, and we will see what can be
done." Thereupon the Colonel gave the order to march. Great
War with France, p. 19.
Meanwhile, Pulteney, after struggling with infinite
difficulties before Oudkarspel, had at last contrived to
carry the redoubt which barred his progress along the
great causeway. Coote's brigade, which he had detached
to turn the French position, had found it absolutely
impossible to make its way over the obstacles presented
by the marshy meadows. In front, he himself
could advance no further than to a cross-dyke, from
behind which he engaged in a savage duel of musketry
and artillery with the Dutch, hoping that time might
yet give him a favourable opening. At length, after
the lapse of many hours, the enemy imprudently
attempted a counter-attack, which was heavily repulsed ;
and the British, pursuing, entered the redoubt upon
the backs of the fugitives, and drove them from it, with
the loss of sixteen guns and seven hundred prisoners.
The Dutch retreated in confusion south-westward
to Koedyck, and Pulteney, after advancing for a short
distance in that direction with the hope of renewing
the attack on the morrow, bivouacked for the night.
At eleven o'clock he received an order from the Duke
of York to retreat without delay to the lines of the
Zype, which he did, after first destroying the captured
guns ; and thus the whole of the advantage which he
had gained was thrown away.
Abercromby's division never moved nor fired a shot
throughout the day. The first message which he
received from the Duke of York came at noon and
announced Dundas's success at Warmenhuizen, but
added that nothing was known of Pulteney. The
General thereupon took steps to ascertain whether he
could march across country to the westward, but found
that such a step was impracticable owing to the breadth
of the canals that barred the way. At four o'clock in
the afternoon a second messenger arrived with the
news that Pulteney had captured Oudkarspel, but that
the Russians had been beaten, and that the division
was to return to its original station immediately.
Leaving the Fifty -fifth to occupy Hoorn, where the
inhabitants had been very friendly, he started at dusk
along the road by which he had come. The rain
began to fall in torrents directly afterwards ; the road
became one mass of mud, and the march was terribly
arduous. The two battalions of flank-companies from
the Line, being composed entirely of militiamen, left
an enormous number of stragglers on the road, one
company returning to quarters with only twenty men
out of one hundred and ten.1 At every point was
proved the danger of throwing half -trained men
suddenly into active service.
The casualties of the British were six officers and
one hundred and twenty-seven men killed ; forty-four
officers and three hundred and ninety -seven men
wounded, and four hundred and ninety men missing,
exclusive of three hundred and fifty men of the First
battalion of the Thirty-fifth, whose fate was stated to
be unknown, but who were certainly taken. This was
the unfortunate battalion that had been hurried forward
from the Helder, when the retreating Russians first
began to stream into Petten. The total of casualties
was therefore rather over fourteen hundred of all
ranks, of whom five hundred belonged to Manners's
brigade ; from which it is evident that the covering of
the Russian retreat cost far more men than the attacks
of Dundas and Pulteney. Against this the Duke of
York could show three thousand prisoners captured,
the bulk of them by Dundas in his capture of Schoorldam,
and sixteen French guns destroyed. The loss
of the Russians was set down at between two and
three thousand men, the latter figure being the more
probable ; and they left twenty-six guns in the hands
of the enemy. The loss of the French and Dutch can
have been little if at all smaller than that of the Allies ;
and, altogether, neither side had very much to boast of.
1 Of these twenty, fourteen were old soldiers, of which there
were only fifteen in the company. The remaining six were rebels
captured at Vinegar Hill. Colburn' s Military Magazine, Feb.
None the less, the moral advantage gained by the
French was immense. The British had lost all confidence
in the Russians ; and the Russians, though their
misfortunes were entirely of their own making, of course
attributed them to the backwardness of the British in
giving them support. Since the Duke of York had
sacrificed nearly a thousand men to save them, their complaints
did not render the British feeling towards them
more cordial. Beyond all doubt, the Russians were
responsible for the day's failure, for, if they had but
gone through their antics two hours later, as had been
arranged, the Duke's plan, faulty though it was, might
have proved successful. Even so, however, their
plunder and destruction of the Dutch villages would
have done, as it actually did, untold mischief by
alienating the inhabitants ; for, in this respect, the
behaviour of the British had so far been exemplary.
Lastly, the British had lost confidence in their Commander-
in-chief, and the Commander-in-chief had lost
confidence in his troops in neither case without good
reason. The Duke's hasty recall of both Abercromby
and Pulteney, instead of holding on to Oudkarspel, and
using a part of Abercromby's force to support it,
showed that he had lost his head for the moment ;
and this was not calculated to encourage the troops.
On the other hand, the disorder of the retreat on
the right and the helplessness of the brigadiers
in that difficult duty were enough to discourage any
General.
