The battles of the world

by J. Douglas Borthwick

ROSAS, BAY OF.—Brilliant naval action by the boats of the Tigre, Cumberland, Volontaire, Apollo, Topaz, Philomel, Scout, and Tuscan, commanded by Lieutenant Tailour, which ended in the capture or destruction of 11 armed vessels in the bay. November 1st, 1809.

ROSBACH, BATTLES OF.—In the first battle fought at Rosbach 40,000 rebel Flemings, under the command of the Duke of Burgundy, the King Charles VI in France being present, fell November 17th, 1382. A second battle between the Prussians, commanded by their King and the combined army of the French and Austrians, in which the latter sustained a severe defeat. Many thousands were slain on both sides, November 5th, 1757.

ROSES, WARS OF THE.—These wars arose out of a contest for the throne, between the two houses of York and Lancaster. It was termed the War of the Roses, from the badge of the York party being a white, and that of the Lancaster a red rose. It arose in complicated disputes about the succession among the descendants of Edward III. The feud thus arising was not concluded until Henry VII asserted the ascendency of the Lancaster party, on the field of Bosworth, and united the two, by marriage with a daughter of the York party.

King Richard was killed at Bosworth and the Crown conferred upon the Earl of Richmond, and an end put to the wars between the two houses of York and Lancaster, begun upon the intrusion of king Henry IV, and continued till the death of King Richard III. There were fought 12 pitched battles, and 2 kings, 1 prince, 10 dukes, 2 marquesses, 24 earls, 27 lords, 2 viscounts, 1 lord prior, 1 judge, 139 knights, 441 esquires, and 84,998 private soldiers were slain; which, being added to the 638 of superior quality, there appears to have been killed in the quarrels between the two roses, 85,625.

ROSS, BATTLE OF.—In Ireland.—Fought, June 4th, 1698, between the Royal troops and the insurgent forces, when, after the most obstinate contest, the latter were defeated losing more than 2600 killed on the field.

ROXBURGH.—The following describes the razing of this fortress A.D. 1460: “Ever since the captivity of David II, a period of more than a hundred years, the castle of Roxburgh had been in possession of the English. James laid siege to it. He had gone with several of his nobility to watch the effect of a battery of cannon which had begun to play on the fortress. One of the pieces, a large gun of Flemish manufacture, formed of iron bars hooped together, burst in firing. A heavy fragment struck the King on the groin, and killed him on the spot. A holly tree in the park of Fleurs Castle still marks the place where James of the Fiery Face, not yet 30 years old, came to his untimely end. On hearing the lamentable tidings, the queen came immediately to the camp. She appeared in the midst of the army, leading by the hand her little son, now the King. The spirited woman exhorted the soldiers to spend no time in vain regrets, but to show their regard for the dead, by gaining the victory which he had so much at heart. Catching ardour from her appeal, the army renewed the attack and carried the castle by storm that same day. The ruins of the stronghold, which cost Scotland so dear, are still to be seen on the tongue of land where Tweed and Teviot join, a little way above Kelso Bridge.

S.

SACRED WAR.—Sacrum Bellum.—The first, about the celebrated temple of Delphi, took place B.C. 448. The second occurred also at the same place, when it was attacked by the Phœnicians, B.C. 356.

SADOWA, BATTLE OF.—Fought, July 3rd, 1866, between the Prussians and Austrians. Dr. Russel thus writes:—

“In spite of the sombre morning and of the grey clothing, relieved only by the darker but livelier green of the Jagers and their plumed hats, the effect of the whole host wheeling, deploying, advancing, taking ground to the right or left, or marching in lengthened column, was so bright that it was difficult to believe they all, horses and men, had been sleeping out under the veiled stars of heaven, and were still dank and heavy with the night dew and the rain of the morning. But there could be no mistake about the reality of the work in which they were engaged, for the Austrians on the brow of the slope to the right were pounding away fiercely at the invincible enemy in the valley. That there was an enemy was plain enough, for the earth flew up on the slope as the answering shells glanced upwards, and then exploded among the infantry in the rear. This was about 8.30 A.M. At nine o’clock a heavy shower obscured the field, and when it drifted northwards three Austrian batteries were still busy on the slope, and several columns of infantry, deploying on its side, moved up around it and disappeared into the valley, whence there soon came masses of curling smoke, and then the batteries limbered up and moved over also, showing that the enemy were falling back. The second line on the right made a slight movement to the right and upwards, but it did not seem as if the Austrians concerned themselves much for the ground between the rear of Imilovitz and the river. The cannonade which had all this time been going on towards the right now extended towards the middle or centre; a line of batteries moving on or halting to fire could be seen on the plateau to the right of Klum, and it was evident that the enemy was in great force in that direction. It looked as if the Prussians had attacked the position almost simultaneously from left to right, for no sooner had the action developed itself on the centre than it rolled back from Nechanitz on the left, and before 9.30 the whole range of hills and valleys and slopes for nine miles and more was as if the earth had been turned into snow wreaths agitated in a wintry gale. Before 10 o’clock a thicker and darker cloud rose from the trees and the village on the right. “My God, Imilovitz is in flames,” exclaimed the guardian of the tower. The officers said “Ja so!” “Hem!” and uttered various other sounds of varied import possibly, smoked their cigars, and looked on. Imilovitz, indeed, blazed up furiously after a time, and in about a quarter of an hour more the Austrian batteries which had gone down the slope toiled up again, unlimbered, and fired from the brow. Puffs of smoke high in the air or rising from the ground showed where the Prussian fire was plying the Austrians on the right; but their guns replied vigorously, and all through that day, though sometimes ill-placed, the Austrian artillery behaved most gallantly. It was difficult to ascertain why the Austrian corps on the right were so unsteady, and why so many men were leaving the ranks of regiments still invisible; but after a time another sponge-like rain-cloud wiped away everything, and left it all like a clean slate, from behind which there issued a rolling fire of cannon as close as the volleys of a feu de joie. When the shower passed away, the cannonade on the right near the tree had sensibly diminished, and the Austrians seemed to have the advantage all along the front, judging by the advance of their guns and infantry, except near the left centre and right of their line. On the extreme left another black cloud now rose up, licked by flames at the base. “Gott in Himmel!” exclaimed the guardian of the tower, “Sadowa burns now!” And so it was. The pleasant little village, snug church, hospitable mill—all were burning. It was with surer divination of the coming woe than we had that the poor people had fled in tears, or remained in hopeless sorrow in their homes. The heat of this great battle burned up whatever it touched, and sent forth the lava which destroyed as it flowed on all sides. Between the big tree and Klum, in the centre and far away towards the second ridge, the fight was raging with extraordinary fury from 10 o’clock till 10.30—and that half-hour seemed an age. But still the Austrians advanced. One grey mass of men followed another into the smoke, and was lost there. Towards Sadowa and Nechanitz on the left they also were gaining ground, and before 11 o’clock their columns had gone out of sight into the valley or undulations, and the Prussians could be seen by their fire to have fallen back on the opposing slopes of the second range of hills.