The Thirty-Third had been ordered to support the rear. Colonel
Wellesley, seeing the danger, ordered his regiment to halt in a field
alongside of the road, leaving the way clear for the retreat. As soon
as the stragglers had gotten by, he threw his regiment again in solid
formation across the road, and they advanced upon the charging French
with such coolness and precision that the attackers were forced to
halt. It was only an incident of warfare, but it showed his promptness
of decision, and the fruits of discipline in his regiment.
All that ensuing winter the French harried their army. Wellesley was
stationed on the Waal, a branch of the Rhine; and he gives some idea of
their arduous life in a letter dated December 20, 1794:
"At present the French keep us in a perpetual state of alarm. We turn
out once, sometimes twice, every night. The officers and men are
harassed to death, and if we are not relieved, I believe there will be
very few of the latter remaining shortly. I have not had the clothes
off my back for a long time, and generally spend the greatest part of
the night upon the bank of the river, notwithstanding which I have
entirely got rid of that disorder which was near killing me at the
close of the summer campaign. Although the French annoy us much at
night, they are very entertaining during the daytime.
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