Читать книгу The Battles of the World or, cyclopedia of battles, sieges, and important military events онлайн

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The effect on our men was almost miraculous. The sight of the foe strongly entrenched, and determined to wait their attack, stimulated them in an extraordinary degree. Fatigued as they were by the labours they had undergone,—despondent from their five nights’ melancholy bivouac on the wet earth, it seemed as if a new life were suddenly infused into them. Diarrhœa and dysentery had not quite departed from their ranks, and many had returned to the vessels, unable to accompany the march. But when they stood on the hill-tops on that memorable morn, and saw the tents of the Russian army, not a man but felt the strength of a giant, and burned with a fierce desire to cross bayonets with the enemy. Many a brave fellow, who had staggered thus far leaning on a comrade’s arm, and ready to drop behind and perish by the wayside, begged for a draught of brandy, and then, forgetting his weakness, and deriving new strength from the occasion, shouldered his musket, took his wonted position among his comrades, and marched bravely to the encounter.