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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
than twenty minutes after the above conversation , both fell , riddled with bullet holes . I now put my shoulder to the ladder , and , assisted by my comrades , moved onwards . There were six of us supporting the ladder to which I belonged , and #
I contrived to carry my grass-bag before me . We had not proceeded far when we heard a jabbering noise as of persons talking on our right , upon which we halted , and , supposing they might be enemies , I disengaged myself from the ladder , and , cocking my rifle , prepared for action . One of our party , however , cried " Take care ! ' tis the stormers of the 4 th division
coming to join us . " It proved to be the case . There was a small ravine through which ran a rivulet of water to our right , and their crossing it caused the noise which startled us . This panic over , we continued advancing , the rifles , as before , keeping in front . We had to pass close to a fort on our left , near the town . As we neared it the sentry of the French challenged . A shot was immediately fired from the fort , and another from the walls of the town . In a momenta fire-ball was thrown
out , which threw a bright red glare of light all around us ; and instantly a fire of grape-shot , canister , and small arms , poured in among us at a distance of about thirty yards , while we were yet on the glacis . f Three of the men carrying the ladder with me were shot dead in a breath , and the weight of the ladder falling on me , I fell down with the grass-bag on
my breast . The remainder of the stormers rushing up , not minding my cries nor yet the cries of those around me , were shot as rapidly as they advanced , and several of them fell dead upon me . I was drenched with blood ; the weight was intolerable : had it not been for the grass-bag on my chest , I should have been suffocated . It was now in vain that I
endeavoured to cry out . At length , by an effort of nature , I managed to extricate myself , in doing which I left my rifle behind me , and then drawing my sword , I rushed towards the breach which had been already effected by our cannon . There I found four men putting a ladder down the trench , and not daring to
pause , fresh lights being still thrown out of the town with a continued discharge of musketry , I slid quickly down the ladder , and , before I could recover myself , was again knocked down and covered by the dead bodies of those who had been shot in attempting the descent . Again I succeeded in extricating myself from underneath the bodies , and rushed forward
A grais-bag is used to throw down into the trenches for the men to jump on , 86 as to prevent them hurting themselves . They are from five to six feet long and two feet in circumference , and are generally filled with hay or recent grass . f The glacis means a gentle slope of ground extending from the parapet of the outer ditch going round a fortified town . It leads into the country , and terminal at Stance of about sttty yards . ' .- **» .. * .
Untitled Article
166 Fragments of a Soldier ' s Life .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 1, 1837, page 166, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1829/page/40/
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