Note 108 — AFFAIR UPON THE COA.—FALL OF ALMEIDA.
Reading edition
“The colonel reports, that the explosion of the magazine destroyed the whole town, made a breach in the place, blew all the guns, excepting three, into the ditch, destroyed all the ammunition, excepting ten or twelve barrels of powder, and killed or wounded the greater part of the artillerymen. The garrison, till this accident, had sustained no loss, and was in the best order and spirits, and had no thoughts of surrender, and expected to hold the place for two months. The colonel talks highly of the conduct of Governor Cox.
“The major commanding the artillery was the person employed by Cox to settle the capitulation for him. He went out and informed the French of the exact state of the place after the explosion, and never returned!! Massena has made him a colonel!!”—Wellington’s Despatches.