Note 252 — SIEGE OF SAN SEBASTIAN
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“On the 10th, the Portuguese were formed in the streets of the ruined city, the British on the ramparts. The day was fine, after a night of heavy rain. About noon the garrison marched out at the Mirador gate. The bands of two or three Portuguese regiments played occasionally, but altogether it was a dismal scene, amid ruins and vestiges of fire and slaughter,—a few inhabitants were present, and only a few.
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“Many of the French soldiers wept bitterly; there was a marked sadness in the countenance of all, and they laid down their arms in silence. The commandant of the place had been uniformly attentive to the officers who had been prisoners. When this kindness was now acknowledged, he said that he had been twice a prisoner in England; that he had been fifty years in the service, and on the 15th of the passing month he should have received his dismission; he was now sixty-six, he said, an old man, and should never serve again; and if he might be permitted to retire into France, instead of being sent into England, he should be the happiest of men. Sir Thomas Graham wrote to Lord Wellington in favour of the kind-hearted old man, and it may be believed that the application was not made in vain.
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“Captain Saugeon was recognized at this time, who, on the day of the first assault, had descended the breach to assist our wounded. These, said he, pointing, ‘are the remains of the brave 22nd;—we were two hundred and fifty the other day, now no more than fifty are left.’ Lord Wellington, upon being informed of his conduct, sent him to France. Eighty officers and one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six men were all the remains of the garrison, and of these twenty-five officers and five hundred and twelve men were in the hospital.”
“The French general continuing obstinate, a flight of shells, exactly at the hour indicated, following each other in rapid succession, was perceived sailing through the firmament. In the darkness that prevailed, nothing could be more fallacious than the impression created, as our eyes followed them, by the fusees in their rotatory motion. Instead of passing through the air with the velocity and impetus they in reality possessed, in appearance they were majestically and slowly pursuing their course.”—Leith Hay.