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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
iik , I believe , customary to hit at random on a certain number of men , Who are in that case ordered on the duty . I never , hoWever * Witnessed any such cage of compulsion , and I must * &f oar regiment was never backward in volunteering on such ofc * easions . The Forlorn Hope party having : been thus formed .
always starts before the division which is to attack the town , and being the first to receive the enemy ' s fire , is of course exposed to the greatest danger . I am now about to give an account of one of the bloodiest
contests a British soldier had ever to contend with ; compared to which the battle of Waterloo itself appeared to me , during the action , like a field-day in Hyde park . At about seveft o ' clock in the evening of the 6 th of April 1812 , the storming party fell in , each man having been previously served with "i
double ration of rum . I gave my knapsack to Robert FairfoGt , then acting corporal , now quarter-master in the Rifles , with ifrjr foiherts address , in case of being killed ; and joined the stormejn of the light division , which was composed of the 43 rd and 52 nd regiments , and our 2 nd and 3 rd battalions of Rifles , W ^ then fell in for the attack , our regiment , as usual , taking the front . I happened to be on the right of the front section ,
When Major O'Hare , * who commanded the four companies to which I belonged , came up in company with Captain Jones tff the £ 2 nd regiment , both in command of the storming J $ rtV » I believe a paw of uglier men nature tiever maiie ; but a br ^ ete of feetter soldiers never stood before the muzzle of a FreiicS * --fftftn ' ft gutt . " Well , O'Hare , " said Captain Jone ^ , " W&afc ^ b
i&u think of to-night ' s work ? " " don't know / ' replied pfcrir jPdfa ( for so we familiarly called Major O'Hare ) "I think $ t ^ i ll be my last , for , I know not how it is , I cannot keep ti ^ « pnit 8 up . " ** Tut , tut , man i" answered Captain Jon ^ s , " tfcfce & dtt » p of the cratur" and at thfc sam ^ time handed him M *
calabash . A countryman of my own , Sergeant Flemmi ^ g tk $ n coating up > told Major CTHare that a laijder ^ pattty ^ # & # aoted , abd a ^ ked What he was to do ? " Take tlifc li&bk ffl&f ' feaid the Major , of eaeh section / ' No sooner said tten dbfa ^ , fot I ««> d wy refer-rank man were insftafttVjr tapped oh ^ th ^ shoulder for the ladder- ^ arty . I now ^ ave fcp aH h 6 i > e & & $ ti i % t ^ rning . At R ^ rigo we had fatigue parties for ftit laddert , twit tio ^ r k was « ot the case ; besides which , % e ladders ^ # 1 mm fiiufeh Jon ^ er than at Rodiigo . I may j ust tnentiwi ^ fciwt , whatever may have been my own forebodings on the occasion , jthe iipjpw ^ en ol d cajpt&to , Mifdr t ^ H ^ , 1 ^ a # ^ m& # t % fei ! a fmts , wejoe aoon ifateliy re » li ^; *^» l » m »
¦ , ' ' A ' * ' * ^ NohcoiftTientnut mentioned in ttiese * fe * Qta » m Mfam JVwr ^ partits M 9 still living , md will not fail to rtcolltot the inoidenU referred to .
Untitled Article
Itfagmmii &fa Soldis ^ s Mfo . 1 M $
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 1, 1837, page 165, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1829/page/39/
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