The Military Sketch-Book, Vol. 2 (of 2) Reminiscences of seventeen years in the service abroad and at home

“It was a disastrous end to our expedition, and the death of these unfortunate men caused a panic throughout the settlement: the 73d was ordered out, in detachments, to scour th...

“Well, the moment all was ready, there was nothing but a dead silence. Every man--Generals and all--were in their places. A minute or two would take the column out from the wood...

“We cooked the remaining meat we had by broiling it; and all ate hearty of this and some ember cakes we the day before made. All rested under the shade; for we were tolerably fa...

_Vice-President._ Yes, Major, the Duke was our best friend; it was he who first raised the pay of the surgeons, and thus made the situation more worthy to be filled by men of ed...

_Volunteer._ Ay, playing the devil, Captain Provost. I wanted to prevent _them_ from playing the devil; that stupid Colonel of mine knows no more of military tactics than a hors...

I slept at Bastania the night I arrived: there were not more than a dozen houses in the village, and all filled with dragoons. Into one of those I went, and found the ground-flo...

E’er pass’d the red flashes, he seized on his prize-- Oh, think how the lover was blest! He chafed her--he kiss’d her--she open’d her eyes;-- “I’ve saved thee, my Ellen!” poor A...

At no period of the war was there more cause for strong hope in the Portuguese than at this time: all the fortresses in their frontier-towns were in our possession--those provin...

“Attention!” roared out the Colonel. The word, were it not that it was technically necessary, need not have been used, for the attention of all was most intense; and scarcely co...

A Commissariat clerk was on duty in that city at this period, who possessed a handsome wife. With his pay and allowances, amounting to about 180_l._ a-year, he managed to live v...

“By my soul! Sergeant, we had a throublesome job, I assure you. You know Andrews’s quarthers. Well, I was down there, taking tay with his wife, when the Sergeant-major came runn...

The power of music combined with poetry, seems more gigantic when applied to the struggles of a people for liberty--or in other words--to exalt the passion of patriotism, than a...

A very hot engagement had taken place, in which the 31st regiment had been hard at work. Quill had his instruments, &c. under a hedge in a valley; at a little distance from the...

We were now in a mountainous country, and consequently the army, which had been all united on the march after crossing the Esla, was obliged to separate, and move by various roa...

I went into the town through the breach, in the evening, and there witnessed the true horrors of war; the soldiers were, for the most part, half drunk--all were busy plundering...

Produced by Brian Coe, Wayne Hammond, The book cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain. and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at htt...

[15] Officers of the army, in the transactions which may require the interference of an agent, cannot be too much on their guard against a set of pretenders who prowl about the...