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Untitled Article
iftto tfce street . Her ^ w £ regaled ourselves , laid refrained merrily ettoWh alt aight . The next morning I went to view the right breach , when a horrid spectacle presented itself . The ground was covered with dead bodies , and a number of Irish women lying by the bodies of their husbands , were screaming and wringing their hands in the most frantic manner * We shortly afterwards , had
orders to fall m and . return to our cantonments , which were at Grenalda , We now marched over the bridge leading out of . the town , which had-the day previously been 1 occupied oy the French , and in doing so met the Fifth Division , which at first did not know u& ; ftof our men were differently clothed * some had on
Frenchmen ' s jackets ; and almost all were laden with plunder . They 86 frn > however , discovered , that we were British , cheered us , and passed on . A few days after the siege of Rodrigo , eight or ten men were tried for * desertion and shot . Among the number condemned was a brave fellow whose name I omit , in whose behalf all of us felt interested . His case was this : —he was ordered by
the commanding officer to turn away a Spanish girl to whom he was attached , and who lived with him . He refused to comply , and with her . deserted to Ciudad Rodrigo . He was brought to thte grave , the place of execution * and was then pardoned . He afterwards joined the Rifle Corps , and at the battle of Vitoria was struck in the mouth by a bullet , / which , after knocking out four of bis teeth , came out at the back of his head . He is , I
believe , still alive , and now a Chelsea pensioner . Here , having described so many plundering scenes , I shall make a few observations on the nature of the thing . Officers are in the habit of condemning men for what they call plundering ; but I know that the men most given to the practice are in general the Ibest soldiers . ^ The epaulette may distinguish the officer , and prevent him from openly plundering ; but after an action or the siege of a town , ^ he is always rea dy to partake of whatever the
H&nant soldier may have risked Ms life to seize . This 1 particular l y noticed on the advance from Santarem , in the year 1811 , in IPortugal ; but I never saw cruelty uaed , towards the * enemy , < $ x ** atfmtfrig on one occasion , when iwe overtook the French , and an o > fficef felKng into our hands , two or three of our fellows rushed » t hhn to see what money he bad , when , in turning him over and n * Ver to rifle his pockets , he died ; but he had already been danger ^ ^ usly wounded * * Men who risk their lives on a Forlorn Hope « rd generally actuated by the desirfe of plunder . Before San Stebttfttfan was taken by the' English , the Light Division was sftlftf * mpe $ i n $ ar the Bklasoa , between Beraand Liss ^ co on the side jrf a very steep hill . A storming party was wanted ; accordingly , ( I and some other wen of my company volunteered or * the Forlorn Hope , Only two of us , however , were required ; ami we
Untitled Article
348 TMSiegh of Rodrigo .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 1, 1837, page 348, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1832/page/30/
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