The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-09-23 00:00:00

INCIDENTS OF THE AUTUMN
MANCEUVRES.

The following extracts are from interesting sketches
by the Special 'orresissolent of the Do lip
" Among the emirteslsa of warfare is the conventional per-
raimion of the conqueror to glee a name to the battle lii
which he has achieved success. Although ranged on the other
side from the victor, and writhing, indeed, under the smart
lif temporary defeat, I venture to anticipate what scents
natural, that he wilt give to his victory the name of the spot
upon which that victory was consulate:llva. The Kew, of
his triumph, after vicissitudes that a aid have proved de-
iumallsing to troops of many liatiowalities, waif the extreme
south-westerly spar of the Yoxhill range, overlooking the
village of Ash. This lunation, uci °pica hy the defending force
at the close of the action--ft position pronounced by the
Fieht.Nlarslial Commandlagdn.rhief to have been main-
tained"—bears the name of Gravel-pit.hill, and that appella.
lion, therefore, albeit neither strikingly euphonious or high-
...ending, I assume the conqueror will give to the battle of
aaturd oh,"

• • • •
" At the Farnham station I encountered a very sorrowful
company of southern warriors. They were dhuinnowassels
of the Limbo B,ett Volunteers. but the plaids mid phila-
begs of her nainsel fell in limp folds of despondency, and the
tread of the Northerners was no longer haughty and ground-
spurning, but crest-fallen, not to say shambling. They were
ii Isonens of war paroled for the slay. Acting no the guard
of an ambulance from Frensham, they had been rut off,
o'ol among the heather whirls might have been thought
their own prescriptive domain, Mid now it struck me
that they would have been none the WortlC of a drain
all round to raise their courage. Farnham was very
animated. It swarmed with cavalry and mounted
engineer. of the defending force. tat these it ere but the
foam that scatters far away from the solid wave. An attack
of a very trivial force of infantry would have cleared them
out of Farnham at a brisk canter..' The imta,rtant key to the
front of a posit which its bridge affords, where I should
have expected to Mod half a regiment, at least of infantry and
half a battery of guns, was watched over by two mounted
men. The Prince s 4 Wales's scouts were very daring—it may
be said rash. A couple of them suddenly dropped down as if
by magic in the main stnet of Farnham. There was a wild
gallop, a sultry of civilians, a scrimmage ; one lluiaar was a
prisoner from the other, careering at top speed In the
reel miii of tord knows where, castle lack on the wind a
mocking "ha! ha!" . . .

The first man on the hug's Back was the mounted orderly
of General Wolaeley. The equanimity of that I,llicer as to
the dubious result may be gathered from the fact that as he
serenely rode down the slopes of royle Park, he was eating
of a tine elnster of grapes. Life Is short, and grapes are
sweet and cooling, flown in the bottom .1 the park ran a
ditch and hedge, where the retreating enemy might have
made a stubboni stand, but he confined himself to a strag-
gling lire f his skirmishers, nor did he attempt to hold
the t'oylr Home Farm bulb:lnge, or the densely hedge-r0w.,1
country between them and the railway. It is ig country
like this where England so differs from any continental
territory, and which would mak., an invasion into her
interior so difficult in the feet (it resolute troops, however
Irregular. Every hedge is a natural breastwork, every bank
a ready-made ride pit. But the Britons we were assailing
did not seem t, appreciate these insular adviudagesof theirs.
our column boldly marched on unmolested past Ash Green-
common, till we reached the bridge over the railway. A
halt, a jam, and then a countermarch. A placard was
att,hed to a bridge bearing a notice that it was to he con-
sidered as blown up. Here then was a serious delay, for, ac-
cording to No. 21 of the umpire rules, "railways are only to
be crossed by the regular Midges and crossings." Although
this is mintie warfare our troop, are now engaged in,
It is meant to be as like real warfare as possible, and
I would ask it In wartime troops would restrict them-
selves to " the regular bridges and crossings." How-
ever, rules are rules, and the collat.', had to fall
bark while the engineers came to the front to repair
the bridge, the rifles meanwhile lining the ranks to
keep down any fire which might gaN the workmen. It
surely indicated lax exploitation that the advance column
should have blindly butted its head against this be ken
bridge instead of having bern warned ot its condition by
scouts. We had been very hard in the heels of the foe he
had blown up the bridge at 11.40 ; we had reached It at

• •
An hour and a half was theoretically required for the
re-construction of the bridge, and meanwhile the staff retired
a little to Ash-green, while gallopers explored the railway
line right and left to Mid sound toridgra or tutbarri.il Intel
Maillige. We were on the whole very lucky. 11.1 the
cranny been strong on his own side if the railway tine he
might have pulverised the head f our column in its blind
advance. lint he hail not a rifleman, let aline a gnu in posi-
tion. and it was spevially well he hail not the latter, for we had
nothing id the saute arm to cope with hint it he kail ill
eon se our chiefs were solicitous for the future as the ith.-
tures.ltiegi,,iii,q..o,l halted in Ash-greembut solicitude did not
prevent them feint being Immo). awl thirsty. The bridge in our
front was reported impracticable, nevertheless one singularly
favoin,l individual. it venerable natiketcy instructor from
A/dershot, managed to pilot ever its iiisiersil leninire a neat
wagg,,nette. Itt the waggonette Were hampers, in the
hampers there was lunch. What a cunning ill strategist of
a musketry instructor to turn up here just in the nick of
time, like a clever second horseman at that critical check—
so the hour and a half passed amid gosidp, sherry and
seltzer. sandu idles, cigars, and speculation. The presenee of
fair ones was not wanting, and some of the gay youngsters
of the staff would, perhaps, not have grumbled had
the bridge collapsent again the moment it bad been
repaired. The enemy had been lazily thunileving at
our engineers as they worked, and it was e•: itiunt he
was in tome on the ridge of the Fox hit!, a little
beyond the bridge, and probably had there elv, toil to make
a final stand frill England. Where is Lysons was a
I,4lllelit otiry. hysmis seems the old "man of the sea to
not a few members of this army of c'ars. There .ieeins to
exist an MO-finite tern, of him. r.e can g,et out I.f sight, it
appears, at a moment's notice. atal come up to the surface
lust in the nick of time. 7, t„,tde shook their heads and
hinted their fears that Se, hail been. hiredinn t„ the hitoin
Back and MI it again' ~th some deep design, and that Pre-
ss.").Ltsoa.. w".Y. fall 1111 1 mit rear or down front the sky
But the strong. minded among
US '"S'I.SS CialVell fear and quite pooh-pooh hysons as a
bogey.

_
Atirl the tel use woo repaired, and our column streamed
sty over it. We had in the it-rot linked on to
.epoenson, for now the Bays made their ;time:trance at a
abashing triter, and a little to the lea of them woe tit,
Itignd Fusiliers. These fine soldiers could mit say much as to
the cordiality of their reception, for our riflemen, mistaking
them for Guardsmen, gave them a volleyer two before the
very natural mistake was discovered. 'the green spray is it
nearly distinguishing stark enough. Oa, side should wear
forage caps, and then there could be no blundering. Our
skirmishers opened out to the right awl left front, while tile
main column pressed steadily on torn by the tremendous Can-
nonade which the enemy, now visible along the crest of the
Gravel lit Bill, poured down from a position of singular
strength. The toe and a half hour's fictitious delay had given
hint thee leisurely to take up his nrome I here whereas, bad
we availed ourselves of our physte:a capability id emasing
the railway right and left of the broken fridge, we sln itdd have
hung it his rear alai harassed hint mightily I,store he got
into position. On the common by Ash-green statist the
Rifles at length got an opening to extend and line
the hedges, and it svas a sight hi see with what skill
awl speed they availed themselves of the opportunity.
Here we found a number od the foreign visitors serenely
preparing for a Ci ivy luncheon under the heavy fire
which ilia not affect them as neutrals, rast the green
galloped our field artillery, anti toed: the road that skirts the
ft of the Foxhill, giving such a mask to the enemy's skir-
mishers in the heather on the lower slopes of the hill, that
not a gunner inar driver would have been alive before five
minutes had elapsed. The manifest rashness of such a pest.
reeling was ut glaring that the umpires put the lotteries
out it further evolutions, reckoning them as good as de-
funct. The same fate befell the logial, which, with equal
rashness, deployed in the face of a tearing Meet AdrilliSlll2lli.
NOW came the grand climax of the day. On the summit
of the bastion-like hill the grins of the defenders Welted
steady volleys on Us advancing. Between the pins were dia
POW' guardsmen, who were presently relieved by the 42nd
Highlanders, their plumes and tartans just showing above the
heather awl between the strum of the fir trees Skirmishers
clothed the slopes. The position was one from which any but
the most resolute commander might have quailed ; but linm 0-
rigg sent his men at it at the double. (Mee, skirmishing,
with determined dash, and well aupported, they tried and
foiled Again the riflemen came on, Hawley leading them
undanntedly. BM they were straining themselves against
what to fighting men was virtually a precipice. And then
the summit of that precipitous iutetlu,u, was held by men of a
stubborn race—men who, as one of their own poets has said
of them, are

" Types of a race who shall the invader seri,
As rocks resist the billows on their shore. '
The Black Watch, from Fontenoy downwards, have never
known the meaning of running away. The attack made its
accond attack, and did not succeed. The Duke of Cambridge,
as mupire-in-eldef, gave the word to stop the fray in the
laconic words, "The pesition of the 1, knee has been main-
tained." And so ended the battle of Dravelpit-hill