Transcriber’s Note: The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain. ARTHUR, DUKE OF WELLINGTON. THE STORY OF A PENINSULAR VETERAN: SERGEANT IN THE FORTY-THIRD LIGHT INFANTRY, DURING THE PENINSULAR WAR. London: WESLEYAN CONFERENCE OFFICE 2, CASTLE-ST., CITY ROAD; AND 66, PATERNOSTER-ROW. HAYMAN BROTHERS AND LILLY, PRINTERS, HATTON HOUSE, FARRINGDON ROAD, LONDON, E.C. The writer of the following pages, in the descriptions of Battles, Sieges, and Military Incidents, is indebted to the History of the War in the Peninsula and the South of France, by W. F. P. Napier, C.B. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. CHAPTER II. CHAPTER III. CHAPTER IV. CHAPTER V. CHAPTER VI. CHAPTER VII. CHAPTER VIII. CHAPTER IX. CHAPTER X. CHAPTER XI. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Arthur, Duke of Wellington Frontispiece. View of Arklow 15 View of Copenhagen 37 The Bay of Corunna 62 Gate in Talavera 77 The Heroine of Matagorda 87 Battle of Busaco 112 Storming of Ciudad Rodrigo 157 Castle of Badajos 180 Abram returning from the Slaughter of the Kings 196 Martyrdom of Ridley 226 Portrait of Ridley 228 Portrait of Latimer 230 THE STORY OF A PENINSULAR VETERAN. 7 CHAPTER I. AUTHOR’S FAMILY AND BIRTH—CONDITION OF IRELAND—THE REBELLION—ITS CAUSES—ACTION AT RATHANGAN—MICHAEL MURPHY, THE FIGHTING PRIEST—MURDER OF JOHN TINKLER—THE PRETENDED MIRACLE WORKER—PRIEST ROCHE—ACTION AT ARKLOW—DEFEAT OF THE REBELS—ENTERS THE ARMY—APPREHENDED INVASION OF THE FRENCH—ORDERED ON ACTUAL SERVICE—THE SOLDIER AND HIS FAMILY—THE MILITARY ASYLUM. I have the advantage of being an Irishman. My parents had also the felicity of first seeing the light of day as it shone upon the soil of the land which for ages has seemed to possess such passing interest in the eyes of Britain. Their family consisted of six children: four boys and two girls. I was the youngest of the whole, and, for reasons I do not profess to comprehend, was a special favourite. I was named Thomas; which, interpreted by parental love, was converted into Benjamin, with a double portion of all that substance so scanty as theirs could supply. I was born in the small townsland of Enneham, King’s County, in the province of Leinster, about the year 1790, be the same a little earlier 8or later. The exact period I cannot specify; as at that time and place, and in consequence of the culpable negligence generally prevalent in parochial registration, very little thought or care was shown in recording such events.