By England's Aid; or, the Freeing of the Netherlands (1585-1604)

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XXI

  THE BATTLE OF NIEUPORT

  The year after the capture of Cadiz, Lionel Vickars sailed underSir Francis Vere with the expedition designed to attack the fleetwhich Philip of Spain had gathered in Ferrol, with the intention,it was believed, of invading Ireland in retaliation for the disasterat Cadiz. The expedition met with terrible weather in the Bay ofBiscay, and put back scattered and disabled to Plymouth and Falmouth.In August they again sailed, but were so battered by another stormthat the expedition against Ferrol was abandoned, and they sailedto the Azores. There, after a skirmish with the Spaniards, theyscattered among the islands, but missed the great Spanish fleetladen with silver from the west, and finally returned to Englandwithout having accomplished anything, while they suffered from anothertempest on their way home, and reached Plymouth with difficulty.

  Fortunately the same storm scattered and destroyed the greatSpanish fleet at Ferrol, and the weather thus for the second timesaved England from invasion. Late in the autumn, after his returnfrom the expedition, Sir Francis Vere went over to Holland, and byhis advice Prince Maurice prepared in December to attack a forceof 4000 Spanish infantry and 600 cavalry, which, under the commandof the Count of Varras, had gathered at the village of Turnhout,twenty miles from Breda.

  A force of 5000 foot and 800 horse were secretly assembled atGertruydenberg. Sir Francis Vere brought an English regiment, andpersonally commanded one of the two troops into which the Englishcavalry was divided. Sir Robert Sidney came with 300 of the Englishgarrison at Flushing, and Sir Alexander Murray with a Scotchregiment. The expedition started on the 23d of January, 1598, andafter marching twenty-four miles reached the village of Rivels,three miles from Turnhout, two hours after dark.

  The night was bitter cold, and after cooking supper the men wraptthemselves up in their cloaks, and lay down on the frozen grounduntil daybreak. The delay, although necessary, enabled the enemyto make their escape. The news that the allies had arrived close athand reached Count Varras at midnight, and a retreat was at onceordered. Baggage wagons were packed and despatched, escorted bythe cavalry, and before dawn the whole force was well on its road.Prince Maurice had set off an hour before daybreak, and on reachingTurnhout found that the rear guard of the enemy had just left thevillage. They had broken down the wooden bridge across the RiverAa, only one plank being left standing, and had stationed a partyto defend it.

  Maurice held a hasty council of war. All, with the exceptionof Sir Francis Vere and Sir Marcellus Bacx, were against pursuit,but Maurice took the advice of the minority. Vere with two hundredDutch musketeers advanced against the bridge; his musketry firedrove off the guard, and with a few mounted officers and the twohundred musketeers he set out in pursuit. He saw that the enemy'sinfantry were marching but slowly, and guessed that they weredelayed by the baggage wagons in front.

  The country was wooded, and he threw the musketeers among thetrees with orders to keep up a dropping fire, while he himself withsixteen horsemen followed closely upon the enemy along the road.Their rear guard kept up a skirmishing fire, slightly woundingVere in the leg; but all this caused delay, and it was three hoursbefore they emerged on an open heath, three miles from the bridge.Vere placed his musketeers among some woods and inclosed fieldson the left of the heath, and ordered them to keep up a brisk fireand to show themselves as if advancing to the attack. He himself,reinforced by some more horsemen who had come up, continued tofollow in the open.

  The heath was three miles across, and Vere, constantly skirmishingwith the Spanish infantry, who were formed in four solid squares,kept watching for the appearance of Maurice and the cavalry. Atlength these came in sight. Vere galloped up to the prince, andurged that a charge should be made at once. The prince assented.Vere, with the English cavalry, charged down upon the rear of thesquares, while Hohenlohe swept down with the Dutch cavalry upontheir flanks. The Spanish musketeers fired and at once fled, andthe cavalry dashed in among the squares of pikemen and broke them.

  Several of the companies of horse galloped on in pursuit of theenemy's horse and baggage. Vere saw that these would be repulsed,and formed up the English cavalry to cover their retreat. In ashort time the disordered horse came back at full gallop, pursuedby the Spanish cavalry, but these, seeing Vere's troops ready toreceive them, retreated at once. Count Varras was slain, togetherwith three hundred of the Spanish infantry. Six hundred prisonerswere taken, and thirty-eight colours fell into the victor's hands.

  The success was gained entirely by the eight hundred allied horse,the infantry never arriving upon the field. The brilliant littlevictory, which was one of the first gained by the allies inthe open field, was the cause of great rejoicings. Not only werethe Spaniards no longer invincible, but they had been routed bya force but one-sixth of their own number, and the battle showedhow greatly the individual prowess of the two peoples had changedduring the progress of the war.

  The Archduke Ernest had died in 1595, and had been succeeded by theArchduke Albert in the government of the Netherlands. He had withhim no generals comparable with Parma, or even with Alva. His troopshad lost their faith in themselves and their contempt for theirfoes. Holland was grown rich and prosperous, while the enormousexpenses of carrying on the war both in the Netherlands and inFrance, together with the loss of the Armada, the destruction ofthe great fleet at Ferrol, and the capture of Cadiz and the shipsthere, had exhausted the resources of Spain, and Philip was drivento make advances for peace to France and England. Henry IV, knowingthat peace with Spain meant an end of the civil war that had so longexhausted France, at once accepted the terms of Philip, and madea separate peace, in spite of the remonstrances of the ambassadorsof England and Holland, to both of which countries he owed it inno small degree that he had been enabled to support himself againstthe faction of the Guises backed by the power of Spain.

  A fresh treaty was made between England and the Netherlands, SirFrancis Vere being sent out as special ambassador to negotiate.England was anxious for peace, but would not desert the Netherlandsif they on their part would relieve her to some extent of the heavyexpenses caused by the war. This the States consented to do, andthe treaty was duly signed on both sides. A few days before itsconclusion Lord Burleigh, who had been Queen Elizabeth's chiefadviser for forty years, died, and within a month of its signaturePhilip of Spain, whose schemes he had so long opposed, followedhim to the grave.

  On the 6th of the previous May Philip had formally ceded theNetherlands to his daughter Isabella, between whom and the ArchdukeAlbert a marriage had been arranged. This took place on the 18thof April following, shortly after his death. It was celebrated atValencia, and at the same time King Philip III was united to Margaretof Austria.

  In the course of 1599 there was severe fighting on the swampy islandbetween the rivers Waal and Maas, known as the Bommel Waat, and afresh attempt at invasion by the Spaniards was repulsed with heavyloss, Sir Francis Vere and the English troops taking a leading partin the operations.

  The success thus gained decided the States General to undertakean offensive campaign in the following year. The plan they decidedupon was opposed both by Prince Maurice and Sir Francis Vere as beingaltogether too hazardous; but the States, who upon most occasionswere averse to anything like bold action, upon the present occasionstood firm to their decision. Their plan was to land an army nearOstend, which was held by the English, and to besiege the townof Nieuport, west of Ostend, and after that to attack Dunkirk. Inthe opinion of the two generals an offensive operation direct fromHolland would have been far preferable, as in case of disaster thearmy could fall back upon one of their fortified towns, whereas,if beaten upon the coast, they might be cut off from Ostend andentirely destroyed. However, their opinions were overruled, and theexpedition prepared. It consisted of 12,000 infantry, 1600 cavalry,and 10 guns. It was formed into three divisions. The van, 4500strong, including 1600 English veterans, was commanded by SirFrancis Vere; the second division by Count Everard Solms; the reardivision by Count Ernest of Nassau
; while Count Louis Gunther ofNassau was in command of the cavalry. The army embarked at Flushing,and landed at Philippine, a town at the head of the Braakeman inlet.

  There was at the time only a small body of Spaniards in theneighbourhood, but as soon as the news reached the Archduke Albertat Brussels he concentrated his army round Ghent. The troops hadfor some time been in a mutinous state, but, as was always the casewith them, they returned to their habits of military obedience themoment danger threatened.

  The Dutch army advanced by rapid marches to the neighbourhood ofOstend, and captured the fort and redoubts which the Spaniards hadraised to prevent its garrison from undertaking offensive operations.

  Two thousand men were left to garrison these important positions,which lay on the line of march which the Spaniards must take comingfrom Bruges to Nieuport. The rest of the army then made their wayacross the country, intersected with ditches, and upon the followingday arrived before Nieuport and prepared to besiege it. The Dutchfleet had arrived off the town, and co-operated with the army inbuilding a bridge across the little river, and preparing for thesiege.

  Towards the evening, however, the news arrived from Ostend, ninemiles away, that a large force of the enemy had appeared before oneof the forts just captured. Most of the officers were of opinionthat the Spanish force was not a large one, and that it was a merefeint to induce the Dutch to abandon the siege of Nieuport andreturn to Ostend. Sir Francis Vere maintained that it was the mainbody of the archduke's army, and advised Maurice to march back atonce with his whole force to attack the enemy before they had timeto take the forts.

  Later on in the evening, however, two of the messengers arrivedwith the news that the forts had surrendered. Prince Maurice then,in opposition to Vere's advice, sent off 2500 infantry, 500 horse,and 2 guns, under the command of Ernest of Nassau, to prevent theenemy from crossing the low ground between Ostend and the sandhills, Vere insisting that the whole army ought to move. It fellout exactly as he predicted; the detachment met the whole Spanisharmy, and broke and fled at the first fire, and thus 2500 men werelost in addition to the 2000 who had been left to garrison theforts.

  At break of day the army marched down to the creek, and as soonas the water had ebbed sufficiently waded across and took up theirposition among the sand hills on the seashore. The enemy's armywas already in sight, marching along on the narrow strip of landbetween the foot of the dunes and the sea. A few hundred yardstowards Ostend the sand hills narrowed, and here Sir Francis Veretook up his position with his division. He placed a thousand pickedmen, consisting of 250 English, 250 of Prince Maurice's guard,and 500 musketeers, partly upon two sand hills called the East andWest Hill, and partly in the bottom between them, where they werecovered by a low ridge connecting the two hills.

  The five hundred musketeers were placed so that their fire sweptthe ground on the south, by which alone the enemy's cavalry couldpass on that side. On the other ridge, facing the sea, were sevenhundred English pikemen and musketeers; two hundred and fiftyEnglish and fifty of the guard held the position of East Hill,which was most exposed to the attack. The rest of the division,which consisted of six hundred and fifty English and two thousandDutch, were placed in readiness to reinforce the advanced party.Half the cavalry, under Count Louis, were on the right of the dunes,and the other half, under Marcellus Bacx, on the left by the sea.

  The divisions of Count Solms and Count Ernest of Nassau were alsoon the seashore in the rear of West Hill. A council of war was heldto decide whether the army should advance to the attack or awaitit. Vere advised the latter course, and his advice was adopted.

  The archduke's army consisted of ten thousand infantry, sixteenhundred horse, and six guns. Marshal Zapena was in command, whilethe cavalry were led by the Admiral of Arragon. They rested fortwo hours before advancing--waiting until the rise of the tideshould render the sands unserviceable for cavalry, their mainreliance being upon their infantry. Their cavalry led the advance,but the two guns Vere had placed on West Hill plied them so hotlywith shot that they fell back in confusion.

  It was now high tide, and there were but thirty yards betweenthe sea and the sand hills. The Spaniards therefore marched theirinfantry into the dunes, while the cavalry prepared to advance betweenthe sand hills and the cultivated fields inland. The second andthird divisions of Maurice's army also moved away from the shoreinland. They now numbered but three thousand men, as the fourthousand five hundred who had been lost belonged entirely to thesedivisions, Sir Francis Vere's division having been left intact.It was upon the first division that the whole brunt of the battlefell, they receiving some assistance from the thousand men remainingunder Count Solms that were posted next to them; while the reardivision was never engaged at all.

  At half past two o'clock on the afternoon of the 2d of June, 1600,the battle began. Vere's plan was to hold his advanced position aslong as possible, bring the reserves up as required until he hadworn out the Spaniards, then to send for the other two divisionsand to fall upon them. The company of Lionel Vickars formed part ofthe three hundred men stationed on the East Hill, where Vere alsohad taken up his position. After an exchange of fire for sometime five hundred picked Spanish infantry rushed across the hollowbetween the two armies, and charged the hill. For half an hour adesperate struggle took place; the Spaniards were then obliged tofall back behind some low ridges at its foot.

  In the meantime the enemy's cavalry had advanced along the grassgrown tract, a hundred and fifty yards wide, between the foot ofthe dunes and the cultivated country inland. They were received,however, by so hot a fire by the five hundred musketeers postedby Vere in the sand hills on their flank, and by the two cannonon West Hill, that they fell back upon their infantry just as theDutch horse, under Count Louis, advanced to charge them.

  Vere sent orders to a hundred Englishmen to move round from theridge and to attack the Spaniards who had fallen back from theattack of East Hill, on their flank, while sixty men charged downthe hill and engaged them in front. The Spaniards broke and fled backto their main body. Then, being largely reinforced, they advancedand seized a sandy knoll near West Hill. Here they were attackedby the English, and after a long and obstinate fight forced toretire. The whole of the Spanish force now advanced, and tried todrive the English back from their position on the low ridge acrossthe bottom connecting the two hills. The seven hundred men weredrawn from the north ridge, and as the fight grew hotter the wholeof the sixteen hundred English were brought up.

  Vere sent for reinforcements, but none came up, and for hours thesixteen hundred Englishmen alone checked the advance of the wholeof the Spanish army. Sir Francis Vere was fighting like a privatesoldier in the midst of his troops. He received two balls in theleg, but still kept his seat and encouraged his men. At last thelittle band, receiving no aid or reinforcements from the Dutch,were forced to fall back. As they did so, Vere's horse fell deadunder him and partly upon him, and it was with great difficultythat those around him extricated him. On reaching the battery on thesands Vere found the thousand Dutch of his division, who assertedthat they had received no orders to advance. There were also threehundred foot under Sir Horace Vere and some cavalry under CaptainBall. These and Horace's infantry at once charged the Spaniards,who were pouring out from the sand hills near to the beach, anddrove them back.

  The Spaniards had now captured East Hill, and two thousand oftheir infantry advanced into the valley beyond, and drove back themusketeers from the south ridge, and a large force advanced alongthe green way; but their movements were slow, for they were worn outby their long struggle, and the English officers had time to rallytheir men again. Horace Vere returned from his charge on the beach,and other companies rallied and joined him, and charged furiouslydown upon the two thousand Spaniards. The whole of the Dutch andEnglish cavalry also advanced. Solms' thousand men came up andtook part in the action, and the batteries plied the Spaniards withtheir shot. The latter had done all they could, and were confoundedby this fresh attack when they had considered the v
ictory as won.In spite of the efforts of their officers they broke and fled inall directions. The archduke headed their flight, and never drewrein until he reached Brussels.

  Zapena and the Admiral of Arragon were both taken prisoners, andabout a third of the Spanish army killed and wounded. Of the sixteenhundred English half were killed or wounded; while the rest of theDutch army suffered scarcely any loss--a fact that shows clearlyto whom the honour of the victory belongs. Prince Maurice, in hisletter to the queen, attributed his success entirely to the goodorder and directions of Sir Francis Vere. Thus, in a pitched battlethe English troops met and defeated an army of six times theirstrength of the veterans of Spain, and showed conclusively that theEnglish fighting man had in no way deteriorated since the days ofAgincourt, the last great battle they had fought upon the Continent.

  The battle at Nieuport may be considered to have set the finalseal upon the independence of Holland. The lesson first taught atTurnhout had now been impressed with crushing force. The Spaniardswere no longer invincible; they had been twice signally defeatedin an open field by greatly inferior forces. Their prestige wasannihilated; and although a war continued, there was no longer theslightest chance that the result of the long and bloody strugglewould be reversed, or that Spain would ever again recover her gripof the lost provinces.

  Sir Francis Vere was laid up for some months with his wounds. Amongthe officers who fought under him at Nieuport were several whosenames were to become famous for the part they afterwards bore inthe civil struggle in England. Among others were Fairfax, Ogle,Lambart, and Parker. Among those who received the honour of knighthoodfor their behaviour at the battle was Lionel Vickars. He had beenseverely wounded in the fight at East Hill, and was sent home tobe cured there. It was some months before he again took the field,which he did upon the receipt of a letter from Sir Francis Vere,telling him that the Spaniards were closing in in great force roundOstend, and that his company was one of those that had been sentoff to aid in the defence of that town.

  During his stay in England he had spent some time with Geoffrey inLondon. Juan Mendez had now arrived there, and the business carriedon by him and Geoffrey was flourishing greatly. Dolores had muchmissed the outdoor life to which she was accustomed, and her fatherhad bought a large house with a fine garden in Chelsea; and sheand Geoffrey were now installed there with him, Geoffrey going toand fro from the city by boat. They had now replaced the Spanishtrading vessels by an equal number of English craft; and at thesuggestion of Juan Mendez himself his name now stood second to thatof Geoffrey, for the prejudice against foreigners was still strongin England.