Historical record of the Seventh Regiment, or the Royal Fusiliers: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1685, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1846.Cannon, Richard
History
Historical record of the Seventh Regiment, or the Royal Fusiliers: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1685, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1846.
Cannon, Richard
Great Britain. Army -- History; Great Britain. Army. Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment)
The following description of the charge of the FUSILIER BRIGADE at
Albuhera is extracted from Colonel Napier's admirable history of
the Peninsular War.
"The fourth division was composed of two brigades; the one of
Portuguese, under General Harvey; the other, commanded by Sir
William Myers, consisted of the seventh and twenty-third regiments,
and was called the Fusilier Brigade. Harvey's Portuguese being
immediately pushed in between Lumley's dragoons and the hill, were
charged by some French cavalry, whom they beat off, and meanwhile
General Cole led the Fusiliers up the contested height. At this
time six guns were in the enemy's possession, the whole of Werle's
reserves were coming forward to reinforce the front column of
the French, the remnant of Hoghton's brigade could no longer
maintain its ground, and the field was heaped with carcases, the
lancers were riding furiously about the captured artillery on the
upper parts of the hill, and behind all, Hamilton's Portuguese
and Alten's Germans withdrawing from the bridge, seemed to be in
full retreat. Cole's Fusiliers, flanked by a battalion of the
Lusitanian legion under Colonel Hawkshawe, soon mounted the hill,
drove off the lancers, recovered five of the captured guns and one
colour, and appeared on the right of Hoghton's brigade exactly as
Abercrombie passed it on the left.
"Such a gallant line issuing from the midst of the smoke, and
rapidly separating itself from the broken multitude, startled the
enemy's heavy masses, which were increasing and pressing onwards as
to an assured victory: they wavered, hesitated, and then vomiting
forth a storm of fire, hastily endeavoured to enlarge their front,
while a fearful discharge of grape from all their artillery
whistled through the British ranks. Myers was killed; Cole, the
three colonels--Ellis, Blakeney, and Hawkshawe--fell wounded; and
the Fusilier battalions, struck by the iron tempest, reeled and
staggered like sinking ships. But suddenly and sternly recovering,
they closed on their terrible enemies, and then was seen with what
a strength and majesty the British soldier fights! In vain did
Soult, by voice and gesture, animate his Frenchmen; in vain did the
hardiest veterans, extricating themselves from the crowded columns,
sacrifice their lives to gain time for the mass to open out on such
a fair field; in vain did the mass itself bear up, and, fiercely
striving, fire indiscriminately upon friends and foes, while the
horsemen hovering on the flanks threatened to charge the advancing
line. Nothing could stop that astonishing infantry! No sudden
burst of undisciplined valour, no nervous enthusiasm, weakened the
stability of their order; their flashing eyes were bent on the dark
columns in their front; their measured tread shook the ground;
their dreadful volleys swept away the head of every formation;
their deafening shouts overpowered the dissonant cries that broke
from all parts of the tumultuous crowd, as foot by foot, and with
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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