History of the war in the Peninsula, and in the south of France from ... 1807 to ... 1814, Volume 3 |
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Abrantes Alburquerque Alemtejo allies Almeida Andalusia Aragon Aranjuez Areizaga arms army arrived artillery attack Augereau Badajos Ballesteros battalions batteries battle Beresford Blake BOOK bridge brigade British Cadiz Catalonia cavalry Central Junta Ceuta CHAP Ciudad Rodrigo colonel columns command commenced defeated defence detachment dragoons duke Ebro eight enemy enemy's English Estremadura fifth corps fire flank force fortress French front garrison Gerona Gibraltar Guadiana guard guns hills hundred infantry latter left bank Lerida light division Lisbon lord Wellington marshal Massena Meanwhile menaced Mequinenza miles military Mondego Morena Mortier mountains movement O'Donnel Ocaņa Olivenza operations Parque passed Portugal Portuguese position province rear Regency regiment reinforced retired retreat Reynier river road Santa Sebastiani second corps sent Seville side siege Sierra sixth corps skirmishers soldiers Soult Spain Spaniards Spanish squadrons succour Suchet Tagus Taragona thousand tion town troops Valencia valley Villa whole
Popular passages
Page 500 - ... like a loosened cliff", went headlong down the steep : the rain flowed after in streams discoloured with blood, and eighteen hundred unwounded men, the remnant of six thousand unconquerable British soldiers, stood triumphant on the fatal hill ! CHAPTER VII.
Page 499 - 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 Hank threatened to charge the advancing line.
Page 499 - ... Such a gallant line, issuing from the midst of the smoke, and rapidly separating itself from the confused and broken multitude, startled the enemy's heavy masses, which were increasing and pressing onwards as to an assured victory: they wavered, hesitated, and then vomiting...
Page 499 - But suddenly and sternly recovering, they closed on their terrible enemies, and then was seen with what a strength and majesty the British soldier fights In vain did Soult, by voice and gesture, animate his Frenchmen ; in vain did the hardiest veterans, extricating themselves from the crowded columns...
Page 499 - In vain did Soult with voice and gesture animate his Frenchmen ; in vain did the hardiest veterans, breaking 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.
Page 249 - French drum were then heard, and in another instant, the head of a noble column was at the long narrow bridge. A drummer and an officer in a splendid uniform leaped forward together, and the whole rushed on with loud cries. The depth of the ravine at first deceived the soldiers...
Page 588 - ... have been expected from such decisive movements? The enemy must either have retired instantly, and without occasioning any serious loss to the British division, or he would have exposed himself to absolute destruction, his cavalry greatly outnumbered, his artillery lost, his columns mixed and in confusion, a general dispersion would have been the inevitable consequence of a close pursuit. Our wearied men would have found spirits to go on, and would have trusted to finding refreshment at Chiclana.
Page 227 - That the British infantry soldier is more robust than the soldier of any other nation, can scarcely be doubted by those who, in 1815, observed his powerful frame, distinguished amidst the united armies of Europe; and, notwithstanding his habitual excess in drinking, he sustains fatigue, and wet, and the extremes of cold and heat with incredible vigour. When completely disciplined, and three years are required to accomplish this, his port...
Page 498 - Such a gallant line, issuing from the midst of the smoke and rapidly separating itself from the confused and broken multitude, startled the enemy's masses, which were increasing and pressing onwards as to an assured victory; they wavered, 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 was killed...
Page 572 - It appears that his eminence has expatiated on the inutility of laying fresh burdens on the people, " which were evidently for no other purpose than to nourish a war in the heart of the kingdom.