But it was not the French alone who had run short of ammunition.
Marlborough had also been greatly straitened, and there being now
no possibility of getting through convoys from Brussels, he
persuaded the home government to direct a considerable expedition,
which had been collected for the purpose of exciting an alarm on
the coast of Normandy, and was now on board ship in the Downs, to
be sent to Ostend. It arrived there, to the number of fourteen
battalions and an abundant supply of ammunition, on the 23rd of
September; and Marlborough detached 15,000 men from his army to
protect the convoy on its way up.
On the 27th of September, the convoy started, crossed the canal of
Nieuport at Leffinghen, and directed its course by Slype to defile
through the woods of Wyndendale. General Webb, who commanded the
troops detached for its protection, took post with 8000 men to
defend its passage through the wood, which was the most dangerous
portion of the journey, while Cadogan with the rest of the force
was stationed at Hoglede to cover the march farther on.
Vendome had received information of the march of the column, and
detached Monsieur de la Mathe with 20,000 men to intercept the
convoy. At five in the evening the force approached the wood,
through which the convoy was then filing. Webb posted his men in
the bushes, and when the French--confident in the great superiority
of numbers which they knew that they possessed--advanced boldly,
they were received by such a terrible fire of musketry, poured in
at a distance of a hundred yards, that they fell into confusion.
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