Note 29 — Chapter II · 1701-1717. MARLBOROUGH’S CAMPAIGNS IN THE WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION.

From Parker we learn that the troops used to march off at 3 A.M.; about 9 they reached their camping ground, where “all manner of necessaries for man and horse awaited them, so that the soldiers had nothing to do but to pitch their tents, boil their kettles and lie down to rest.” This admirable system, carefully organised by Marlborough, whose care for his soldiers astonished his foreign colleagues, naturally came to an end after the army had passed out of the territories of the Allied Powers: once in the enemy’s country the British troops had to face many hardships.