GROCHOW, BATTLE OF.—Near Praga, Warsaw.—Fought February 20th, 1831, between the Poles and Russians. After a bloody battle, which continued all day and almost all the next, the Poles remained masters of the field. The Russians retreated, having lost 70,000 men, and the Poles, 2000.
GUADALOUPE.—Taken by the English, in 1759, and restored 1763. Again taken in 1779, 1794, and 1810. At last, restored to France at the peace of 1814.
GUARDS.—The custom of having guards was introduced by Saul, King of Israel, B.C. 1093. Bodyguards instituted by Henry VII, 1485. Horse guards by Edward VI, 1550. The three regiments of the British service, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Foot Guards, were raised in 1660, and the command of them given to Colonel Russell, General Monk, and Lord Linlithgow. The Second, or the Coldstream, was the first raised. The Horse Grenadier Guards, first troop raised 1693, and second in 1702.
GUNPOWDER.—Invented by a Monk of Cologne, 1320. It has entirely revolutionized the art of war; consists of three ingredients, viz., charcoal, sulphur and saltpetre.
H.
HALIDON HILL, BATTLE OF.—Fought July 19th, 1333.—“The Scots were rash enough to attack the English as they held the top of a bold hill, at the foot of which lay a marsh. The English archers, posted on the face of the hill, shot down the Scots, almost at their leisure, while they struggled heavily through the spongy ground. Under the deadly arrow flight, the Scots dragged themselves through the bog, and attempted, all breathless and exhausted, to charge up the hill against the fresh troops of England. They were forced down with great slaughter. Many more were slain as they struggled back through the fatal bog. The bloody lesson, however, seems not to have been lost. Once and again King Edward made the savage apparition of war to pass through Scotland. But the Scots baffled him by following the wise policy of Bruce. He traversed a country completely deserted and laid waste. The inhabitants, with their cattle and all their property, had retired to the inaccessible fastnesses of the mountains. Every advanced column and detached party of the English was assailed, stragglers cut off, and alarms kept up. Famine and disease did the work. Captain Hunger was more than a match for Captain Sword. Edward made nothing by his invasions, though he marched through the country as far north as Inverness. He was compelled each time to fall back again on his own territory, with great loss of men from hardships and misery, and the harassing attacks of the Scots, who sallied out from every glen, forest, and mountain defile.”
HALYS, BATTLE OF.—This great battle was fought between the Lydians and Medes, on the banks of the river Halys. It was interrupted by an almost total eclipse of the sun. Fought, May 28th, B.C. 585.
HANAN, BATTLE OF.—Fought, October 29th, 1813, between a division of the combined armies of Austria and Bavaria, 30,000 strong, under General Wrede and the French, 70,000 strong. The latter were on their retreat from Leipsic when encountered by the Allies, and suffered severely, although at the end of the battle the Austrians had to retire.
HARLAW, BATTLE OF.—Fought, July 24th, 1411, between the Earl of Mar, who commanded the Royal army, and Donald, the Lord of the Isles. Neither army gained the victory, it being a drawn battle. So many nobility and gentry were slain in this engagement that a Scottish historian declares, “more illustrious men fell in this one conflict alone than had fallen in foreign wars during many previous years.”