The Memoirs of the late War, " by the Earl
of MUNSTER' Captain COOKE, &c.,'' in two volumes, consists of one volume and three quarters by Captain COOKE, and the republication of two papers which formerly appeared in the United Service Jour- nal, the one by the Earl of MUNSTER, the other by Lieutenant MooniE : so that, though the Peer may confer the greater honour on the book, he contributes but a very small portion of the matter. The Memoir of Captain COOKE is the lively narrative of a militia officer, who early got a commission in the line. It is very enter- taining, and full of events cleverly told. The following sketch of a fearful scene—the unsuccessful storm- ing of a breach at Badajoz —is a fair specimen of Captain COOKE'S narrative. The effect is vivid and striking.
"At half-past eight o'clock that night, the ranks were formed, and the roll called in an under-tone. Lieutenant-Colonel M`Leod spoke long and earnestly to the regiment before it joined the division, expressing the utmost confidence in the result of the attack ; and finished by repeating, that he left it to the honour of all persons to preserve discipline, and not to commit any cruelty on the defenceless inhabitants of the town.
"The division drew up in the most profound silence behind the large 'quarry, three hundred yards from the three breaches, made in the bas- tions of La Trinidad and Santa Maria. A small stream separated us from the fourth division. Suddenly, a voice was heard from that direction, giving orders about ladders, so loud, that it might be heard by the enemy on the ramparts. It was the only voice that broke on the stillness of the moment ; every body was indignant, and Colonel M‘Leod sent an officer to say that he would report the circumstance to the General-in-Chief. I looked up the side of the quarry, fully expecting to see the enemy come forth, and derange the plan of attack. It was at half-past nine this hap- pened ; but, at.a quarter before ten, the ill-timed noise ceased, and no- thing could be heard but the loud croaking of the frogs. "At ten a carcass was thrown from the town ; this was a most beauti- ful fire-work, and illuminated the ground • for many hundred yards; two orthree fire-halls-followed; and; falling in different directions; showed a
bright light, and remained burning. The stillness that followed was the prelude to one of the strangest scenes that the imagination of man can conceive.
" Soon after ten o'clock, a little whispering announced that the for- lorn hope' were stealing forward, followed by the storming parties, composed of three hundred men (one hundred from each British regi- ment of our division) ; in two minutes the division followed. One mus- ket-shot, no more, was tired near the breaches by a French soldier, who was on the look-out. We gained ground leisurely, but silently; there were no obstacles. The 52nd, 43rd, and part of the rifle corps, closed gradually up to column of quarter distance, left in front ; all was hushed, and the town lay buried in gloom ; the ladders were placed on the edge of the ditch, when suddenly an explosion took place at the foot of the breaches, and a burst of light disclosed the whole scene :—the earth seemed to rock under us :—what a sight ! The ramparts crowded with the enemy—the French soldiers standing on the parapets—the fourth division advancing rapidly in column of companies on a quarter circle to our right, while the short-lived glare from the barrels of powder and combustibles flying into the air, gave to friends and foes a look as if both bodies of troops were laughing at each other.
" A tremendous firing now opened on us, and for an instant we were stationary ; but the troops were no ways daunted. The only three ladders were placed down the scarp to descend into the ditch, and were found exactly opposite the centre breach, and the whole division rushed to the assault with amazing resolution. There was no check. The soldiers flew down the ladders, and the cheering from both sides was loud and full of confidence.
"While descending the ladders into the ditch, furious blows were ex:: changed amongst the troops in their eagerness to get forward ; at the same time grape-shot and musketry tore open their ranks. The first officer I happened to see down was Captain Ferguson, who had led on our storm- ing-party here, and at Rodrigo ; he was lying to the right of the ladders, with a wound on the head, and holding a bloody handkerchief in his grasp. I snatched it out of his hand, and tied it round his head. The French were then handing over the fire-balls, which produced a sort of revolving light. The ditch was very wide, and when I arrived at the foot of the centre breach, eighty or ninety men were formed. One cried out, Who will lead?' This was the work of a moment. Death, and the most dreadful sounds and cries, encompassed us. It was a volcano! Up we went ; some killed, and others impaled on the bayonets of their own com- rades, or hurled headlong amongst the outrageous crowd. " The chevaux-de "rise looked like innumerable bayonets. When within a yard of the top, I fell from a blow that deprived me of sensa- tion. I only recollect feeling a soldier pull me out of the water, where so many men were drowned. I lost my cap, but still held my sword. On recovering, I looked towards the breach. It was shining and empty l fire- balls were in plenty, and the French troops standing upon the walls, taunting and inviting our men to come up and try it again. "Colonel M`Leod was killed while trying to force the left corner of the large breach. He received his mortal wound within three yards of the enemy, just at the bottom of some nine-feet planks, studded with nails, and hanging down the breach from under the cheatux-de-frise. "At half-past eleven the firing slackened, and the French detached soldiers from the breaches to repulse the other attacks, and to endeavour to retake the castle. I heard the enemy calling out on the ramparts in German, All is well in Badajoz !' "The British soldiers did as much as flies could do. The wood-work of the cherqux-de-frise was ponderous, bristling with short stout sword- blades fastened in it, and chained together. It was an obstacle not to be removed; and the French soldiers stood close to it, killing deliberately- every man who approached it. The large breach was at one time crowded with our brave troops; I mean the fourth division, the heroes of many hard-fought victories and bloody fields. The light division had recently been crowned with victory ; but to remove such obstacles was impracti- cable by living bodies, pushing against them up a steep breach, and sink- ing to theknees every step in rubbish, while a fearless enemy stood be- hind pushing down fragments of masonry and live shells, and firing bul- lets, fixed on the top of pieces of wood, the sides of which were indented with seven Cr eight buck-shot.
"Generals Picton, Colville, Kempt, Bowes, liervey, Walker, Chample- mond, and almost every officer commanding regiments, besides more than three hundred officers, and between four and five thousand gallant vete- ran soldiers, fell around these walls."
Let us add the following lines, by way of postscript. It de- scribes the military funeral of a brave officer, and is a picture. "Poor M`Leocl, in his twenty-seventh year, was buried half a mile from the town, on the south side, nearly opposite our camp, on the slope of a hill. We did not like to take him to the miserable breach, where, from the warmth of the weather, the dead soldiers had begun to turn, and their blackened bodies bad swollen enormously; we therefore laid him amongst some young springing corn ; and, with sorrowful hearts, six of us (all that re- mained of the officers able to stand) saw him covered in the earth. His cap, all muddy, was handed to me; I being without one, with merely a handkerchief round my bruised head, one eye closed, and also a slight wound in my leg." Captain COOKE appears to have been a meritorious soldier, and to have served through the whole of the Peninsular War, with no other reward than a company in the regiment which he entered as a lieutenant—the 43d Light Infantry.
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