Military food supplies were scarce, and Wellington had made it plain that soldiers would have to forage and live off the land. Lieutenant Nicholas Hatton taught every man under his command to hunt for food, then turned a blind eye as Sergeant O’Neil taught them to filch poultry, eggs, and vegetables, as well as fodder for their animals, from the farms in the vicinity. At the same time Hatton and O’Neil taught the men to be ever vigilant for ambush as they scouted the countryside and to be on guard every moment when they patrolled around the walls of the seiged town. Hatton set his own rules for his own men. Drunkenness was forbidden, and he commanded that they form bonded pairs and foursomes so that they never hunted or patrolled alone. After one of his men caught a bullet in the shoulder from the ramparts of the seiged fortress, he taught them to be one another’s eyes and ears. “You must watch one another’s backs. We all have strengths and weaknesses. The stronger must watch out for the weaker; for all to survive, you must be your brothers’ keepers.”
