Historical Record of the Fifth, or Princess Charlotte of Wales's Regiment of Dragoon Guards: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1685; with Its Subsequent Services to 1838Cannon, Richard
History
Historical Record of the Fifth, or Princess Charlotte of Wales's Regiment of Dragoon Guards: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1685; with Its Subsequent Services to 1838
Cannon, Richard
Great Britain. Army -- History; Great Britain. Army. Princess Charlotte of Wales's Dragoon Guards, 5th
"Nor were these valiant swordsmen yet exhausted. Their own
general, Le Marchant, and many officers had fallen, but Cotton
and all his staff were at their head, and with ranks confused,
and blended together in one mass, still galloping forward they
sustained from a fresh column an irregular stream of fire which
emptied a hundred saddles; yet with fine courage, and downright
force, the survivors broke through this the third and strongest
body of men that had encountered them, and Lord Edward Somerset,
continuing his course at the head of one squadron, with a happy
perseverance, captured five guns. The French left was entirely
broken, more than two thousand prisoners were taken, the French
light horsemen abandoned that part of the field, and Thomiere's
division no longer existed as a military body. Anson's cavalry,
which had passed quite over the hill, and had suffered little in
the charge, was now joined by D'Urban's troopers, and took the
place of Le Marchant's exhausted men; the heavy German dragoons
followed in reserve, and with the third and fifth divisions and
the guns formed one formidable line two miles in advance of
where Pakenham first attacked, and that impetuous officer with
unmitigated strength still pressed forward spreading terror and
disorder on the enemy's left."
[11] The sixty-sixth French regiment of infantry of the line, was
one of the corps which was nearly annihilated, and the staff of the
drum-major of that regiment is preserved as a trophy by the FIFTH
DRAGOON GUARDS, and carried on parades, &c., by the trumpet-major.
[12] While at Boulogne the regiment was inspected by Major-General
Sir Henry Fane, who expressed much gratification at its condition
after so long a march, and selected a number of horses to be given
up to the French government, for the purpose of mounting the royal
guard of Louis XVIII.
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