The Boy Soldier; Or, Garibaldi's Young Captain — page 379: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE BOY SOLDIER; OR, GARIBALDI'S YOUNG CAPTAIN. 373 eo eee aim, they stopped advance, and equalized the fight in the centre and left, while Lopez was stemming the storm on the right and rear, “Pinding that some of their guns were playing havoc with our men, Lopez determined to make a bold dash and drive them. “ Collecting afew men, he rushed to the right and rear, but found one of our batteries already engaged in that quarter, and by accuracy of fire had disabled them, “Taking advantage of their confusicn, Lopez dashed forward with his companies, and before the enemy could recover from astonishment, five guns fell into our hands. “Other forces instantly following ug the move- ment, our horse dashed in upon them with terrific shouts and yells, discharging their shot—guns, rifles, and revolvers, at short distance; captured the sixth, their last gun, and begun cutting and se PnInE about them with wild vengeance and ury. “The enemy in this quarter was totally routed |! “ His infantry, opposed to ours, were not better than Dutchmen usually are, “Their flight was expedited by artillery, which hammered away at them, dropping shell into little groups of them, and clearing our whole front in that direction, “ But if things were thus successfully progressing on ourright, Maximilian was pushing Escobedo with great vigour in the centre and left. “Our artillery manfully stood to their gun§ against the accurate and deadly fire of the Belgian ‘regulars,’ ‘‘ But the loss was considerable. “The enemy occupied a hill, and all advances upon them were opposed by tremendous discharges from their whole force, occupying that elevated position, “But as reinforcements arrived from our right, together with artillery, Maximilian perceived that we were determined to win the field, and that nothing short of desperate courage could turn the tide setting against him. ‘Rallying his forces in a gallant manner, he rode to their front, and waving a handkerchief, cheered them on, making himself a conspicuous mark for our marksmen. “He had been wounded in the leg early in the day, but rode to the rear, had it dressed, and laughingly observed that ‘all was going on well, and he’d turn up trumps before night,’ &c. ‘He rode forward to the front again ; but by this time, our whole force was pushing a-head vigorously, and gradually advancing up hill. ‘The {idea seemed to be that Escobedo was en- deavouring to capture Mejias’ batteries. “But they were gradually withdrawn, and changed position. “Masses of infantry gallantly rushed forward to dispute our advance. “Their vollies were deafening. ‘The whole hill seemed to be vomiting forth fire. “ Clouds of smoke hung over all, and our advance was extremely difficult. ‘The men were in fine spirits, and rushed boldly to the attack, cheering, shouting, yelling, and keeping up an accurate fire of musketry. “Cannon to the rear sent shell and round shot whizzing over head, and making great slaughter among the enemy. “ Maximilian (whom I recognised on the field) was dashing about in great haste, from point to point, cheering and leading his men. “But as we reached the top of the hill, I never saw him afterwards, but thought he must have fallen, for every one was aiming at him, as he rode about so fearlessly. ‘“‘ As soon as we reached the brow of the hill, the enemy were found strongly posted, and seemed determined to make a stout resistance. “We cheered, and made a rush for the guns. “ But masses of their infantry came forward and protected the retreat, “T¢ was not until our whole force was collected and hurled at this point, that they finally gave way, and left the field in great confusion. ——____..____... u ‘ | ** Having secured the field, the wildest excitement. - ensued, “Our cavalry were sent forward to follow them up; but little was effected. “We captured many prisoners, arms, ammunition, storea, &c, “After pursuing several miles, we returned to camp, and made ourselves comfortable on the good things which had fallen to our lot, ‘“‘ Binos, a bosom friend of Maximilian, was found among some two thousand killed, wounded, and prisoners, and was decently coffined and sent on for interment. “ When the body of this officer was found upon the field, it was discovered that two small buckshot had penetrated, one above, and the other below, the left nipple, having caused almost instant death. “ When conveyed to the rear in a dying state, he exclaimed to his servant— *¢T’m afraid all is over for Maximilan |’ “ He was not more than forty-five years of age, small in stature, wiry, active, dark hair and com- plexion, small black eyes, fond of military pomp, but an excellent, though restless, and ambitious officer, “‘ His great ‘activity in aiding the suppression of Republican feeling in Mexico city endeared him to the Imperialists. ‘‘ He seized the arsenal, erected defences round the city, disarmed all Republican sympathizers, and rapidly rose from captain to major-general in two months, “His cruelty to all suspected Republican senti- ments, and conscienceless behaviour in the admin- istration of affairs, will long be remembered by all who had the misfortune to live under his brief and arbitrary rule. Viti “‘ He was brave, and had his troops imitated his reckless daring, things might have been very un- favourable to us, ‘His body was deserted by every one, and was interred by us in a metallic coffin, but subsequently given to his friends, who removed it to Belgium, where it now reposes beneath a costly monument. ‘We captured six cannon, many waggons, stores, and five or six hundred stand of arms. ‘Our loss was estimated at 250 killed, and 1,000 wounded and missing. «“ Of these Escobedo claims to have lost 150 killed, and 500 wounded. “Of the battle-field I can say little. or: “Our generals had but a shadow of true disci- pline in their commands. “ But the men fought well, and that was all that saved us, ‘‘ Had it not been for their impetuosity and valour we might all have been in Jericho or some other I EE Eee QO comico oo SoCO