The battles of the world

by J. Douglas Borthwick

The guns from the citadel were in full play, the hill was in possession of, and covered by several hundreds of the enemy, both horse and foot; the ascent was considerable, and we were nearly two miles from it. However, it is not for Britons to look at difficulties in such a moment, for had we done so we should never have accomplished it; we set forward, and those in the fortress seeing our advance, opened a heavy fire upon us, which, Providence be thanked, showed us that they could not hit their mark, and we reached the foot of the hill with little loss. Those in possession leapt for joy, at the apparent opportunity of cutting us off. We commenced the ascent, throwing out skirmishers in every direction; our fire was kept up steadily as on a parade, and every ball seemed to find its desired billet; numbers fell, of course, but not near so many as we had been anticipating. We were obliged to halt half way to gain breath, and necessitated to keep up a heavy fire; we again advanced, and the enemy began to show symptoms of retiring, which greatly encouraged us, and we made a desperate effort, and sent a volley into them, charged, and at length they retired; we followed, and at last gained the summit. They rushed down the other side, and made off in the direction of Candahar, where they were met by a brigade sent round by the General for that purpose.

Having gained possession of the hill, those in the citadel began to pour the fire of artillery into us, but as usual without success, and in order to get out of sight we were ordered to lie down, that they might imagine we had evacuated our position; as we lay there, the balls were fast whistling over us, and the force under the command of the General was making a clean sweep of all those outside the walls, which, after he had effected, next repaired to the citadel. It was, however, found impracticable to storm the fortress that day; first, because the Sappers and Miners would not have time to complete their operations; and secondly, in consequence of the fatigued state of the troops. The 16th was to be left in charge of the hill, and the 40th were ordered to return to the encampment; this order was, if anything, even worse than the first, because all being comparatively quiet, we should, on retiring, be the only targets for them to fire at, and our utter destruction seemed inevitable; we, however, had to obey, and as was expected, no sooner did we come under cover of their guns than they opened a severe fire from all their pieces, but their firing was always either too far, or too short; and thus we reached camp in almost safety.

The followers had been all employed in pitching the tents, and the cooks (natives) had prepared our scanty meal; the 16th were left in possession of the hill; and the General ordered two guns, either under Captain Blood or Anderson, to proceed to the top of the hill, and dislodge them in the citadel, which, after some difficulty, was effected, and most ably did they accomplish their duty; they soon put a stop to them, and by their superior arrangement and management of artillery, disabled nearly all their guns. We had scarcely got well seated in our tents when we were suddenly surprised by the whizzing of a ball over the camp, which lodged in the officer’s mess tent of the 41st; after that came another and another, and they kept up a fine string of them, aiming most admirably. We soon discovered that they had a sixty-eight pounder, which before had remained quiet.

Those shots coming so fast, and lodging just in our midst, doing considerable damage, although we were nearly two miles from it, compelled the General to shift camp a mile further off, and we were at last out of the reach of the bull-dog; they most certainly in this distance did put us to the rout. This piece was called “Chuppa Jung,” of Persian manufacture, and as is usual in all the forts of importance in Asia, was placed in the citadel; and a most powerful piece it was.

The General now began to arrange his plans for storming and taking the fortress; the engineers were all busily employed in preparing for the operation; and as the day began to draw to a close, orders were issued for the troops to be in readiness to move just before daylight on the morrow. The night at length came on, and lights were ordered to be extinguished at eight P.M.; and at that hour all was darkness, and enveloped upwards of 20,000 souls.

All was at length prepared for the attack, and about half an hour before the day broke, the word was passed from tent to tent, to form up. Each rose in sadness, and many shook the hand of his comrade as for the last time; the cattle were dispatched with the powder, to ensure the explosion, and platforms had been carefully planted for the heavy battery to commence a breach. The troops were slowly and silently advanced, and arranged ready to storm immediately after the gates were blown up; and daybreak was to be the signal. At length the day dawned, and lo! what was our surprise when we saw floating on the highest tower the English colors. The sight relieved each heart as though we had a fortune. The enemy had during the night evacuated the citadel, having received certain orders to that effect from Caboul. Colonel McLaren, who had kept the hill, finding they had left it, took immediate possession, and placed “The Flag that braved a thousand years” on the highest point. Thus did Providence prevent the inevitable loss of some hundreds of our force, and never was a force more agreeably surprised than those at Ghiznee, on the 6th of September, 1842.”

GIBRALTAR.—A British fortress on the Straits of the same name. From the circumstance of its immense strength and impregnability, other great fortresses have also received its name, as Quebec, which is called the Gibraltar of America. The height of the wall is 1437 feet. Taken by the Saracens, in 712. In 1462, the King of Castile took the fortress and town from the Moors; and the English, under Sir George Brooke, the Prince of Hesse-Denmark, Sir John Leake, and Admiral Byng, bravely won it, July 24th, 1704. It was surrendered, after a dreadful cannonade, to the British by the Governor, the Marquis de Salines, and has ever since continued one of the most brilliant gems in the coronet of England’s Queen. Long may she reign to wear it. The following are the different attacks which have been made upon it since the British took it. On the 11th October, 1704, the same year it was captured by the British, it sustained a siege from the Spaniards and French, who lost 10,000 whilst the British loss was only 400. Again the Spaniards attacked it in 1720, but were repulsed with great loss. In 1728, they again attacked it but were driven back with the loss of 5000 out of 20,000, while the English lost 300. After this came the memorable siege of the Spaniards and French, whose prodigious armaments astonished the whole of Europe. They were the most stupendous up to that time ever brought before any city or fortress. The siege continued from July, 1770, to February, 1783. The allied army amounted to 40,000 men. The Duke of Crillon had 12,000 of the best troops of France, 1000 pieces of artillery were brought to bear against the fortress, besides which there were forty-seven sail of the line all three-deckers, ten great floating batteries esteemed invincible, carrying 212 guns, an immense number of frigates, xebeques, bomb-ketches, cutters, and gun and mortar boats; while small craft literally covered the bay. For weeks and weeks together 6000 shells were daily thrown into the town, and, on one single occasion, 8000 barrels of gunpowder were expended by the enemy, yet in one single night were all these immense batteries destroyed by red-hot cannon balls, and their whole line of works annihilated by a sortie of the garrison, commanded by General Elliot, November 27th, 1781. The loss of the enemy in this memorable night alone, amounted to upwards of £2,000,000 sterling. The grand defeat by the garrison of only 7000 British, occurred September 13th, 1782. Since then the British have remained in peaceful possession.

GISORS, BATTLE OF.—In France.—Fought between the armies of France and England, in which the former were signally defeated by Richard I, who commanding in person, and whose parole for the day was “Dieu et Mon Droit,” and from this it was made the motto of the Royal Arms of England, A.D. 1193.