History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France: From the Year 1807 to the Year 1814, Volume 6T. & W. Boone, 1840 - Peninsular War, 1807-1814 |
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Common terms and phrases
Adour allies Arcangues artillery assailed assault attack battalions batteries battle battle of Vittoria Bayonne Beresford Bidassoa Bidouze BOOK breach bridge brigade British Catalonia cavalry CHAP Clauzel colonel columns command Copons corps D'Erlon defence detachment duke Ebro Echallar enemy enemy's English fight fire flank force fortress fourth division France French army front garrison guns heights Hill hundred infantry Irun Jean Pied latter Lerida light division lord Wellington lord William lord William Bentinck Meanwhile menaced miles military mountain movement Murray Napoleon Nive numbers officers operations Pampeluna pass Pied de Port Pierre Soult Portuguese position rear regiment Reille's reinforced retreat Rhune ridge river road San Marcial San Sebastian Sauroren seventh division side siege sir John sixth division skirmishers soldiers Soult Spain Spaniards Spanish Suchet Taragona thousand tion Tortoza troops Urumea Val Carlos Valencia valley of Lanz village Villefranque whole wounded XXII XXIII
Popular passages
Page lxiv - I have long been of opinion that a British army could bear neither success nor failure, and I have had manifest proofs of the truth of this opinion in the first of its branches in the recent conduct of the soldiers of this army. They have plundered the country most terribly, which has given me the greatest concern.
Page 156 - Some of the staff proposed to cut them off; the English general, whose object was to hide his own presence, would not suffer it; but the next moment three marauding English soldiers entered the valley, and were instantly carried off by the horsemen. Half an hour afterwards the French drums beat to arms, and their columns began to move out of San Estevan towards Sumbilla. Thus the disobedience of three plundering knaves, unworthy of the name of soldiers, deprived one consummate commander of the most...
Page xlvii - ... considerably above our right ; and shortly after he marched out of the wood opposite to us a strong force of cavalry, and two heavy columns of infantry, pointing them to our front, as if to attack the village and bridge of Albuera : during this time, under cover of his vastly superior cavalry, he was filing the principal body of his infantry over the river beyond our right, and it was not long before his intention appeared to be to turn us by that flank, and cut us off from Valverde.
Page 682 - Wellington's caution, springing from that source, has led friends and foes alike into wrong conclusions as to his system of war. The French call it want of enterprise, timidity ; the English have denominated it the Fabian system. These are mere phrases.
Page 685 - Orthes, the crowning battle of Toulouse ! To say that he committed faults is only to say that he made war; to deny him the qualities of a great commander is to rail against the clear mid-day sun for want of light. How few of his combinations failed. How many battles he fought, victorious in all ! Iron hardihood of body, a quick and sure vision, a grasping mind, untiring power of thought, and the habit of laborious minute investigation and arrangement ; all these qualities he possessed, and with them...
Page 217 - ... to the successful troops and always paid without delay. This money might be taken as ransom from enemies, but if the inhabitants are friends, or too poor, government should furnish the amount. With such regulations the storming of towns would not produce more military disorders than the gaining of battles in the field.
Page xlvii - The enemy on the 16th did not long delay his attack: at eight o'clock" (the very time mentioned by captain Gregory,) " he was observed to be in movement, and his cavalry were seen passing the rivulet of Albuera considerably above our right, and shortly after, he marched, out of the wood opposite to us, a strong force of cavalry and two heavy columns of infantry, posting them to our front, as if to attack the village and bridge of Albuera.
Page lxvii - I have had for this conduct, has been that they might treat our officers and soldiers well, who might fall into their hands, and I must do the French the justice to say that they have been universally well treated, and in recent instances the wounded prisoners of the British army have been taken care of before the wounded of the French army.
Page xciv - ... in his front on the north of that river ; to cut off from Lisbon the corps opposed to him ; and to destroy it by an attack in front and rear at the same time. This can be avoided only by the retreat of the right centre, and left of the allies, and their junction at a point at which, from the state of the river, they cannot be turned by the passage of the Tagus by the enemy's left.
Page 217 - ... be expressly made criminal by the articles of war, with a due punishment attached ; let it be constantly impressed upon the troops that such conduct is as much opposed to military honour and discipline as it is to morality ; let a select permanent body of men receiving higher pay form a part of the army, and be charged to follow storming columns to aid in preserving order, and with power to inflict instantaneous punishment, death if it be necessary. Finally, as reward for extraordinary valour...