Among these latter the cannon were planted; whilst the other
divisions, as they came rapidly up, took post beyond them. In this
position we remained, eagerly desiring a renewal of the attack, till
dawn began to appear, when, to avoid the fire of the vessel, the advance
once more took shelter behind the bank. The first brigade, on the
contrary, and such portion of the second as had arrived, encamped upon
the plain, so as to rest their right upon the wood; and a chain of
picquets being planted along the entire pathway, the day was passed in a
state of inaction.
I hardly recollect to have spent fourteen or fifteen hours with less
comfort to myself than these. In the hurry and bustle of last night's
engagement, my servant, to whose care I had intrusted my cloak and
haversack, disappeared; he returned not during the whole morning; and as
no provisions were issued out to us, nor any opportunity given to light
fires, I was compelled to endure, all that time, the extremes of hunger,
weariness, and cold. As ill luck would have it, too, the day chanced to
be remarkably severe. There was no rain, it is true, but the sky was
covered with gray clouds; the sun never once pierced them, and a frost,
or rather a vile blight, hung upon the atmosphere from morning till
night. Nor were the objects which occupied our senses of sight and
hearing quite such as we should have desired to occupy them. In other
parts of the field, the troops, not shut up as we were by the enemy's
guns, employed themselves in burying the dead, and otherwise effacing
the traces of warfare.
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