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

THE BATTLE OF BISLEY.
CAMP OF THE INVADING ARMY, Mr.lay.

. . . . . . . . .
At eight o'cleck this morning the grateful armistice cemed,
and horrid war occupied the attention and solicitmle of all.
Fabimil.nroet•tor Carey was in camp on Cove-roruision. As
for the Third Division (Brownrigg's), the First Brigade lay in
Burnts-lierdit.comnion, with the divisional head-quarters a
little way to the east : on a pleasant green, farther east, on
l'irbright. common, and close to Woking t 'emetery, the Second
Brigade (itephesosou's) load its location. There a as no occasion
to mareh in search at the enemy. It was known that he hail
spent his Sunday on Insley I 'common, not much more than
two milts on, on the further side of the railway and
the eats!. Tw,o Stall College oflicers had been reconnoitring
the front ever since half-past four itilittlo flint sing, and
General Staveley himself was out at the same work by sin.
With his weaker free it was altar that the encony would
not veuture to attack his cue Was to stand on the defensive,
and attenipt to kohl his ground. Nor need he have lacii
ithout maid hope that such RH attempt would have suc-
ceeded. In front of our encampment ran a lofty rail way
embankin.o.t, difficult of access for artillery In catty to
utterly impossible anywhere to be passed by that arm.
This conti mass of earth was pierced by but two
tononels—one at Ca:11, 1.0A11,100, on our left front ; tole at
ewponol, tin oar light front. It might he that the enemy
would Mow these lip, as the French did the railway tunnel at
Nanteuil, and then we should have to make a detour With
our mins and their suppoits. And this debut'. could only he
niade in one direction— toward the left, since the gromol cast
of a line olmove north and south through Brookwood station
marked the limit in that direction of the ground OA width
mitmeuvres were penniasible. flralited us well through
the archways, close beyond the embankment Was the
amid, crossed by but two bridges, on the roads Unit
ran through the tunnels. It was 110 t li!,ely that the
enemy would leave them intact. Then the position beyond
the canal, whereon lie was morally certalu to take his Staud
to dispute its pa/sage, was singularly eligible, conaisting, as
it did, of a continuous swelling eminence of varied elevation.,
traced from beatherhead•hill on the west, to Sheep's-hill oa
the east, over against Woking Cemetery. iiifficulties suck
as these might well olimniet the general of an army whose
success hinged upon overconiing them. But there was some
emendation In the expectation that the dint of the enemy's
rosistm.re might ultimately be weakened by Ulla rood&
natPon of ours, under the arrangements of which Carey
should march from Cove-common Oyer YAlrlllourilligh autal
Choblumi ridges, tool either take him if his right rear as he
stood om face to face with tia, or force him to relinquish loin
opposition to our advantage from the necessity of falling
hack, so as to anticipate Carey's getting Into his roar. And
thus the relative positioons and conditions at the time of the
close of the armisttee, at Ba.m. this morning.
Browoorigg's lorigmle marched off from its camping ground
a few minutes past eight, making for the Cow-c.mmon arch-
way through the railway embankment. Finding the meal
bil.lge in theory Mown up, it experienced a considerable
Inlay while the enginecrs threw a temporary structure
over a lock, to admit of the passage of the troops and
artillery, 1111 modertaldng so strongly oppmed that it waa
not till 10.20 that flawleys Riflemen hail esteaded
itt akirnoishirog order across the narrow level beyond.
This (MCC ItChil,tld, the brigade fought Its way, with-
out very strong opposition, steadily northward to the
open of Bisley-cominon, the cavalry brigade advancing
In line, with this brigade covering its left. Further than
that, Brownrigit maintained continual commoinication with
Stephenson's Brigade oil Ills right. • • •
AS the leading regiment of Stephenson's Brigade, the 17th

headed for the New Pond railway arch, infurination came
back to its leaders that the retreating ntmj, had blown up
the canal bridge. Why it heti 1401, blown up also the railway
arab, and vi eftedualli barred the progress of the attack ill
one of thosoproltlems, the solution of which is to be fOttllll
ill the difference between mimic and real sentare. The bulk
of the brigade, ea it came up massed behindllw railway wni-
bankments, oldie the 17th clambered to the t•q., rout at once
began skirmi.ningprsetwe with the enemy hi fraud ad it on the
further side of the eattai. This enemy consisted of the 42.1a1
Hight••rs. who were disposed itt the lowlying lankett
ground right tip to the edge of the canal, and with their sup-
ports tat the crest of the rising ground bellied. I have
00e0 it good deal of skirmishing, lad Dent did I witness
intything hoer than the pi settee of the Scotsmen. I be-
lieve that Pe' the thou the men thought they were en.
tetzed veritably with an enemy. lilac el y ma.. I
watched particularly as he prowled behind the end of the
parapet eat the expiated bridge. His face was a study
as lie peered out to look for a victim for his ride.
Then he raised it but failing to cover his man lowered
it again twice before lie was satisfied, and drew his trigger.
I thought as I watched hint that I should rather be
where else than the mark for that %het if there was a bullet
in the Northermitan's tide. Tlte work Wits very cllll,O, for
the distauce between the top of the enthattkment and
the further site of tile awnal was not 150 yards. All
the way from Prookwood or far to lam left Its we could
see the ernitanktuent was thud with skirmishers, the
men ef the Slott, 1711 i, and Muds Volunteers. So
ate am and persistent was their tire that the High-
landers withdrew their foremost skirmishers, and form-
ing cutup:inks retired with sulky reluctance tip the
slope beyond the canal level. Dere, however, they again
turned stubbornly at lily, anal reinforced as they were
by another reennent, the delmuchtuent of Stephenson's
lirlemde throttgli the railway aroli seemed as far off as ever.
It -liaalihit have I yen noted that while the Highlanders held
, their first position General Staveley rashly exposed himself
, opposite the mouth of the railway arch, so that he would
morally leave fallen haat the lightiog been real; the sangitittarY
Celts did not hideout elantour for his wall,. but demanded
that he should be adjualnd dead. A aia.aita,r the. met teal fide
betel air Thomas .‘htemahou as a consequence of a like
indiscretion. Streaming through the arch with a rush
came the Engineers at the alotthle. planks on shoulders,
to construct wherewithal the temporary bridge, covered
by as increased warmth of lire all along the em-
bankment. lint the Black Watch dial hot mean that
the canal should lie bridged if they could prevent it.
Not lesa hut•than the tire f the embankment was the hire
from them on the Nogincer, anal their s!drzoislices laished
forward again to gets hotter chalice at theta. I oder such a
lire the Engineers behaved with remark:LlM fortitude, not to
, say stolidity. There Nita 110 attempt at ketlitill}: as 11111 ell
under cover as possible ; WIWI) men a ere not working they
stood looking on. As soon as the first plank was laid
,I skirmishers should have been over it and doing their
best antaing the brush iui the bottom to heat down the
tire of the thol. How did Staveley, the student of German
! war Meth... forget aim? g1i,1,1,1 attended the alesperate essay
of that Valorous battalion of North ilermans, who, in the
; war of 'O6, Per:n.111.1(.411114' by gine over the river at Kissingen,
in the face of it had tire from the Bavarians, that spreading in
skirmishing order Its they reached the further ride, were the
virtual whiners of the battler For want 1.1 Itli aittshlttit
Wan Si, mangled that the umpires
entered its retreat, after they had spent about tett minutes
hi working at their bridge. . .

Although not as a protection to the PH,lgu party, our
artillery did at last begin to flaunter. A battery had been
got into a noble position on the right, just by Brookwmtd
Station, and its steady fire enfiladed the position occupied by
the C.ind. In combination with it the musketry fire from the
embankment increased in intensity, Just WI a railway train,
emblem of peace, come whirling through the heart of the
muck presentment ,d warfare. The 42nd and its support Ft had
to give ground. and again Lennox brought out his Engineers.
The bridge was at length constructed. Out from the archway
dashed the 17th Foot, the head of the attacking column. They
ere over the bridge, and e‘teniling on the other side of the
calm! in skirmishing order with rapidity so great that it was
diffieult to realise, now that it was taer, how stubborn the
resistance had been ! 'they were followed by the Viol, who
forree.l itt ct.iinnna in support, and a battery of field artillery
next passed the archway and the Midge, folb iwed by regi-
ment after regiment of infantry. The attack had soon S grip
on the plateau his guns werr In action. Its tkirmishets
owed by supports, pressing tont ily On the rear if the retreat-
ing 42nd. Sacco.," came up for that regiment, notably the
It die Brigade, and the action lice: t very warm. The generat
adeance of the attack continued steadily, although slowly,
the firing being most animated. At title time, 111111,011, he
received a temporary cheek, foe the face of a dip, with a little
stream in the hottom of it, was most obstinately held ; anti
the 17th 41`.11 2.21111, which emnposed the that line, were
stam:ered for the time till steadied by their second line. But
the check was only momentary, and no lwtter fake attended
the frequent and desperate stands made Ity the retreating
troops of the defence• left brigade.
Up to now for some time Stephenson's Brigade, deployed
as it was In two lines, tilled the gap of Optql VoMMoll he-
tWcon the enclosed ground right and left. t• knew that
Brownrigg was on our left am•qa; the hedgenms, and at
places indeed tottehA hint but how it fared with his
brigade, heyoud a general belief that it was roughly ttligned
with us, we knew scarcely anything. But at the extremity of
the Ilitinstone farm enclosures stretehed far and Wide, right,
left, and front, the open expanse of 'Miley Common.
• •• • -

Riding in advance-of St;phenson's Brigade, I opened up
the broad common sooner than was strictly permissible in
military- sense. flit our lOC close by the extremist field
he lee, stood a regiment of Household Utivalry—First or
Second Life Guards, I hut which. The regiment teemed
contented with things in general, and imbued with the pro-
(minde4 eraivietion of security. Sullenly from the adjacent
hedge burst it blistering tire of musketry on the devoted
Steady and smtained, it would have emptied
half the saddles before the it troopers had gathered up
tin ir reins and bucketted lumberingly away. It was the
mi iii Itatralnm of the rsdli tllawley"s Battalion) Mit
1,:t1 5t4.1,1 al; nante march in the gigantic guardians of
The rithnien were on the right of Brownrigg's
jr r,de, and by the time Steliiietrioll was out hi the open,
I:r• and the whole division, with the cavalry
It Co. left. Wits rilereil ill IMO iMig brilliant light.
MiLW:irt the common. The day's doings on the
etirllll.l ditfcr,ol little from those already described.
The attack, iI,OW in rine, nw luiectiefon of battalions, now
broken as to its fonnation by the roughness of the
country, press‘ s 1 n steadily, the enemy ever retreat-
ing with exasperated reluctatit•e. A something whh•h
it were flattery to tlegerihe as a charge of the thitl
Life Guards, did not contribute towards the altera-
tion of the destinies of the day. The regiment showed
itself near the right of Itrownrigg's Brigade, whereof the GOth
and the nith prepared to receive cavalry by the formation of
squares ; the remaining halt:anis of the brigade, olis,erning
arightly the innocuousness 44 the demonstration, made
simpler preparations—their front rank kneeling down along
this frontage, with a slight obliquity, the ..hul Lit,' boards de-
liberately cantered from right to left, the infantry' men mean-
while streaming volleys with steady persistency inbi the bril-
I iro till the extreme left were the ith II lissars. The
Li', elianged front to the left, ni as to face
I. . tel for is time it seemed as it the sexed
t • , , • ety against light cavalry was to la• tested lilt
the 1,1, I ,ecnied to think better of it, and went about
with a • -•. Not a man of them would have been left to
t' • • •: • r the remarkable progress along tie, out of
E,••• • , • 1 rigsile had the work Leen real. So palpahle
• 'tie umpires ruled the (sine: exterinitmted, and
ph: tight for the rest of the day....
. 1,, • .1 a little knoll is lying a detached company of
the ,mmit, covering the retreat of the defence, but
what was lichital them by the Isholl in
a fa •sition has an eccentric tme tat have bran
tor the shortest time hy troops pretending. to

a mil eat, tut to the ommit of the' knoll canters a
of the attack le front of everything lie is
a c• loyally it the lieth Rifles. Ile is honal to do or die,
hut he is not quite sure about the channel for the per-
formance of this alternative exploit lie gallops forward
to the :rird, and asks them, "What are you ? What regi-
ment ? Are you enemy ? Are you attack or defence ?"
Laconically answers an Irish private, " Sure, we're the
Marty-timid, sir." Rising in his stirrups, the ;toter:ll..9l,er
sic outs, .• 'then you're the enemy r' And, tunihi to the
company of the Rifles halted on the knoll, he cries with ex-
cited gesticulation, " Come on, you men, come on, take *PM
iii ttemiih; round on 'em, double them up quick, can't you,
men The riflemen rushed down with loud shouts the
33111100 k to their heels, anti the general "'neer demanded of
tlw umpires ti rule the men of the Iron Duke's old reg. ,ut
out of the tight.

Knolls like this one, in especially one which was a central
mainehm, in the middle of the plain, served the turn of the
attacking artillery very well, while the defenve seemed Its-
aide to utilise the positions with such stubbormiess Cu might
have changed the fortunes of the day. lln role of these Was
collected the Duke of Panthridge. a large number of the
foreign military visitor+, and many Englishmen of distinction,
both as soldier and civilians. Un the extreme left of the
attack, on the lower slopes of Cholthan-ridges, hie cavalry
were mamenvring nub great effect without coming to close
quarters with infantry. Partly by their demonstrations,
partly by the general weight of the invaders' left, the main
body of the defending trace was forced to its left rear, into a
wide gap where the common is contracted between two en-
closures, at a tiny hamlet called Lucas-green. there, with a
brisk Institute, the tight terminated th this ditertion, the de-
fending force having been pushed over the verge of the tract
of ground prescribed for the performance of the evolutions
of the day