Search -
Under Wellington's Command: A Tale of the Peninsular War
Under Wellington's Command A Tale of the Peninsular War Author:G. A. Henty As many into whose hands the present volume may fall will not have — read my prior book, With Moore in Corunna, of which this is a — continuation, it is necessary that a few words should be said, to — enable them to take up the thread of the story. It was impossible, in — the limits of one book, to give even an outline of the story of the — Peninsula... more »r War, without devoting the whole space to the military
operations. It would, in fact, have been a history rather than a tale;
and it accordingly closed with the passage of the Douro, and the
expulsion of the French from Portugal.
The hero, Terence O'Connor, was the son of the senior captain of the
Mayo Fusiliers and, when the regiment was ordered to join Sir Arthur
Wellesley's expedition to Portugal, the colonel of the regiment obtained
for him a commission; although so notorious was the boy, for his
mischievous pranks, that the colonel hesitated whether he would not
get into some serious scrapes; especially as Dick Ryan, one of the
ensigns, was always his companion in mischief, and both were aided and
abetted by Captain O'Grady.
However, on the way out, the slow old transport, in which a wing of
the regiment was carried, was attacked by two French privateers, who
would have either taken or sunk her, had it not been for a happy
suggestion of the quick-witted lad. For this he gained great credit,
and was selected by General Fane as one of his aides-de-camp. In this
capacity he went through the arduous campaign, under General Moore,