English Battles And Sieges In The Peninsula Extracted From His Peninsula War By Sir W Napier War College Series

Author : William Francis Patrick Napier
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 472 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (986 download)

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Download or read book English Battles and Sieges in the Peninsula written by William Francis Patrick Napier and published by . This book was released on 2020-10-24 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: IN the year 1808 Sir Arthur Wellesley marched from the Mondego river with twelve thousand three hundred men, and eighteen guns, to attack General Junot who was in military possession of Portugal. The French troops were scattered, but General Laborde had been detached with a division to cover their concentration, and watch the English movements. This led to the first fight between the French and English in the Peninsula. COMBAT OF RORIÇA. (Aug. 1808.) Fourteen hundred Portuguese, under Colonel Trant, a military agent, joined the British on the march, and the French were felt the 15th of August at Brilos, in front of Obidos, where some men fell in a skirmish. Sir A. Wellesley then entered the Valley of Obidos, in the middle of which Laborde occupied isolated ground of moderate elevation, near the village of Roriça; he had only five thousand men and six guns, little more than one-third of the English numbers, but he had five hundred cavalry, had chosen his position well, and could handle troops with dexterity. On his right was a lofty mountain ridge, on his left lower but very rough ground, and the valley behind him was closed, not only by the commingling of the hills in a mountainous knot, but by a rocky projection called the Zambugeira or Columbeira heights, which, at less than a mile, stood like a citadel in his rear, and was so covered with copses, wild evergreens and forest trees, and so rugged that only by paths leading up deep clefts and hollows could it be ascended.