History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France: From the Year 1807 to the Year 1814, Volume 2 |
Contents
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History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France, from the ... William Francis Patrick Napier No preview available - 1999 |
Common terms and phrases
Abrantes Agueda Albuquerque Alemtejo allies Almeida Andalusia arms arrived artillery attack Badajoz Ballesteros battalions batteries battle Beresford bridge brigade British army Cadiz castle Catalonia cavalry Celerico Ciudad Rodrigo Coimbra Colonel columns command commenced Cradock Crawfurd Cuesta defeated defence detachment Duke eighth corps enemy enemy's English Estremadura fifth corps fire flank force fortress French army front frontier garrison Gerona Guadiana guard guns Hill horse hundred junta latter left bank Lerida light division Lisbon Lord Wellington Madrid Marshal Massena Meanwhile miles military militia Mondego Morena Mortier mountains movement O'Donnel occupied officers operations Oporto passed Placencia Portugal Portuguese position province re-enforced rear regency regiments Regnier retired retreat river road Romana Santarem second corps sent Seville side siege Sierra Sir Arthur Wellesley sixth corps skirmishers soldiers Soult Spain Spaniards Spanish army squadrons Suchet Tagus Talavera Tarragona town troops Valencia valley Villa Viseu whole Zezere
Popular passages
Page 331 - Nothing could stop that astonishing infantry. No sudden burst of undisciplined valour, no nervous enthusiasm weakened the stability of their order, their flashing eyes were bent on the dark columns in their front, their measured tread shook the ground, their dreadful volleys swept away the head of every formation, their deafening shouts overpowered the dissonant cries that broke from all parts of the tumultuous crowd, as slowly and with a horrid carnage it was pushed by the incessant vigour of the...
Page 331 - ... hesitated, and then vomiting forth a storm of fire, hastily endeavoured to enlarge their front, while a fearful discharge of grape from all their artillery whistled through the British ranks. Myers...
Page 197 - Napoleon's troops fought in bright fields where every helmet caught some beams of glory, but the British soldier conquered under the cold shade of aristocracy, no honours awaited his daring, no despatch gave his name to the applauses of his countrymen, his life of danger and hardship was uncheered by hope, his death unnoticed.
Page 330 - Hartman's artillery was now in full play, and the enemy's infantry recoiled, but soon recovering, renewed the fight with greater violence than before. The cannon on both sides discharged showers of grape at half range...
Page 226 - ... but he had two miles of rugged ground to pass in a narrow column before he could mingle in the fight. Keeping the Royals in reserve, he directed the Thirty-eighth to turn the right of the French ; and as the precipice prevented this, Colonel Cameron, of...
Page 332 - There, the French reserve, mixing with the struggling multitude, endeavoured to sustain the fight, but the effort only increased the irremediable confusion, the mighty mass gave way and like a loosened cliff went headlong down the steep. The rain flowed after in streams discoloured with blood, and fifteen hundred unwounded men, the remnant of six thousand unconquerable British soldiers, stood triumphant on the fatal hill.
Page 322 - The officers of the army may depend upon it that the enemy to whom they are opposed are not less prudent than they are powerful. Notwithstanding what has been printed in gazettes and newspapers, we have never seen small bodies unsupported successfully opposed to large ; nor has the experience of any officer realized...
Page 331 - The play of the guns checked them a moment, but in this dreadful crisis Beresford wavered! Destruction stared him in the face, his personal resources were exhausted, and the unhappy thought of a retreat rose in his agitated mind. He had before...
Page 410 - Portuguese government, in more than one despatch, the difficulties and risks which attended any attack upon the enemy's position in this country; and the probable success, not only to ourselves, but to our allies, of our perseverance in the plan which I had adopted, and had hitherto followed so far successfully, as that the allies have literally sustained no loss of any description; and...
Page 331 - In vain did Soult, by voice and gesture, animate his Frenchmen; in vain did the hardiest veterans, extricating themselves from the crowded columns, sacrifice their lives to gain time for the mass to open out on such a fair field ; in vain did the mass itself bear up, and fiercely striving, fire indiscriminately upon friends and foes while the horsemen hovering on the flank threatened to charge the advancing line. Nothing could stop that astonishing infantry. No sudden burst of undisciplined valour,...