Opening the text

A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.Campbell, James

History

A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.

Name: A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.
Author: Campbell, James

Campbell, James

Great Britain. Army

He soon completely scoured out the ravine, in the style the light
division were accustomed to do every thing they undertook; and it was
then no longer difficult for the 3rd and 4th divisions to advance,
and in a few minutes, the advantageous ground, upon which the French
had made so brave a stand, was in possession of the leading brigade.
A chase then commenced, during which it was found very difficult to
restrain the ardour of the troops, and had it been deemed advisable for
our cavalry to have charged sooner than they did, the loss of the enemy
must have been much greater than it was reported to be.

I have been again rather minute in detailing the part performed in this
battle by the 3rd division, as I wish to attract attention to the mode
of fighting invariably practised, and with so much success, by Sir
Thomas Picton, who would have thought but little of any commander of a
brigade or regiment who did not instantly, but in compact order, push
forward upon the enemy; a mode of fighting which he knew to be most
suitable to British soldiers and the least relished by their foes, who
would always have preferred firing away, either skirmishing or even in
line.

It was not in the power of the British armies either at Talavera or
Waterloo (the actions which most resembled each other in fighting under
a heavy fire,) to go forward in the manner I have mentioned against the
French; and our losses were, consequently, in both these actions, very
great from the enemy's fire.--Since the battle of Fontenoy, in which
a long-continued steady advance of British troops, in compact order,
effected such wonders, and which would have been completely successful
if supported by the Dutch and the rest of the Duke of Cumberland's
army, down to the present day, I cannot find that the style of
fighting practised in the 3rd division was ever unsuccessful; but,
on the contrary, was always attended with the best results, and even
with much less loss than would have been sustained in any other mode of
acting: I therefore trust I may be pardoned for having endeavoured to
illustrate the correctness of the opinion I entertain in this respect,
not only by what I have related of the battle of Orthes, but also by
the rather minute description I ventured to give of the achievements of
the 3rd division at Salamanca.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History

A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.

Campbell, James

Great Britain. Army

He soon completely scoured out the ravine, in the style the light
division were accustomed to do every thing they undertook; and it was
then no longer difficult for the 3rd and 4th divisions to advance,
and in a few minutes, the advantageous ground, upon which the French
had made so brave a stand, was in possession of the leading brigade.
A chase then commenced, during which it was found very difficult to
restrain the ardour of the troops, and had it been deemed advisable for
our cavalry to have charged sooner than they did, the loss of the enemy
must have been much greater than it was reported to be.

I have been again rather minute in detailing the part performed in this
battle by the 3rd division, as I wish to attract attention to the mode
of fighting invariably practised, and with so much success, by Sir
Thomas Picton, who would have thought but little of any commander of a
brigade or regiment who did not instantly, but in compact order, push
forward upon the enemy; a mode of fighting which he knew to be most
suitable to British soldiers and the least relished by their foes, who
would always have preferred firing away, either skirmishing or even in
line.

It was not in the power of the British armies either at Talavera or
Waterloo (the actions which most resembled each other in fighting under
a heavy fire,) to go forward in the manner I have mentioned against the
French; and our losses were, consequently, in both these actions, very
great from the enemy's fire.--Since the battle of Fontenoy, in which
a long-continued steady advance of British troops, in compact order,
effected such wonders, and which would have been completely successful
if supported by the Dutch and the rest of the Duke of Cumberland's
army, down to the present day, I cannot find that the style of
fighting practised in the 3rd division was ever unsuccessful; but,
on the contrary, was always attended with the best results, and even
with much less loss than would have been sustained in any other mode of
acting: I therefore trust I may be pardoned for having endeavoured to
illustrate the correctness of the opinion I entertain in this respect,
not only by what I have related of the battle of Orthes, but also by
the rather minute description I ventured to give of the achievements of
the 3rd division at Salamanca.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.

A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be : $b illustrated by examples during the Peninsular War; with observations upon India; the United States of America; Canada; the boundary line; the navy; steam warfare, &c.

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