Boys of the Light Brigade: A Story of Spain and the Peninsular WarStrang, Herbert
General
Boys of the Light Brigade: A Story of Spain and the Peninsular War
Strang, Herbert
Peninsular War, 1807-1814 -- Juvenile fiction
With a cheer the Black Watch returned to the attack. Moore followed the
brilliant charge with kindling eyes. "Splendid fellows!" he exclaimed.
He was just turning to give Jack the promised message when a cannon-shot
from the battery above struck him to the ground. For one brief moment
it might almost have been thought that the hurt was a trivial one, for
the general, raising himself upon his right arm, continued to gaze
eagerly and with a look of noble pride upon the struggle beneath. It was
not until the success of his troops was assured that he sank back and
allowed himself to be removed from the field. Four soldiers carried him
tenderly in a blanket to the rear. No doctor was needed to tell the
grief-stricken bearers that the wound was mortal. The injured man knew
that there was no hope. They would have removed his sword; its hilt was
pressing against the wound. "It is as well as it is," he said. "I had
rather it should go out of the field with me." As they carried him
towards Corunna he more than once bade them turn to learn how the fight
was going. They bore him to a house in the town; as he lay dying his
mind was filled with his country and the commanders who had served him
and England so well during the bitter days of the retreat. "I hope the
people of England will be satisfied. I hope my country will do me
justice." He spoke of Paget, asking to be remembered to him. "General
Paget, I mean; he is a fine fellow." He left messages for all his
friends, and in the midst of his agony mentioned for promotion several
officers whose gallantry in the field he had noticed. He bore his
dreadful sufferings without a murmur. Only when he dictated a last
message to his aged mother did he show signs of breaking down. And
thus, nobly as he had lived, when night had stilled the sounds of war
and the stars blinked over the awful field, the great soldier passed
away.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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