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Updated: May 19, 2025
The foe had now worked his way with galleries and ditches along the whole length of the counterscarp till he was nearly up with the Porcupine, and it was obvious that in a few days he would be master of the counterscarp itself.
At any time during his life, almost up to the present hour, he might have entered without question, for the gates were seldom closed and never locked, the portcullises, sheathed in the wall above, hung moveless in their rusty chains, and the drawbridges spanned the moat from scarp to counterscarp, as if from the first their beams had rested there in solid masonry.
The garden seemed quite fifty or sixty feet below us, and the sun pouring into it with an intense, moveless heat like that of an oven. Beyond rose the grey, grim wall seemingly of endless height, and losing itself right and left in the angles of bastion and counterscarp.
Some officers observed, that the garrison was very little diminished, and still in good spirits; that no breach was made in the body of the castle, nor a single cannon erected to batter in breach; that the loss of an outwork was never deemed a sufficient reason for surrendering such a fortress; that the counterscarp was not yet taken, nor, on account of the rocky soil, could be taken, except by assault, which would cost the enemy a greater number than they had lost in their late attempt; that they could not attack the ditch, or batter in breach, before the counterscarp should be taken, and even then they must have recourse to galleries before they could pass the fosse, which was furnished with mines and countermines; finally, they suggested, that in all probability the British squadron would be reinforced, and sail back to their relief; or if it should not return, it was the duty of the governor to defend the place to extremity, without having any regard to the consequences.
So he did not stir, but watched the rise of the dawn. * This ditch or dry moat is about 30 feet deep and 50 feet wide. The counterscarp by which one may descend into it has an angle of 45 degrees. Trans. When at eight o'clock some policemen and keepers came by, searching the ditch, they did not perceive him. As he had anticipated, the hunt had begun at the first glimmer of light.
At the shoulder of this island was Fort Moultrie, an irregular fort, without ditch or counterscarp, with a brick scarp wall about twelve feet high, which could be scaled anywhere, and this was surmounted by an earth parapet capable of mounting about forty twenty-four and thirty-two pounder smooth-bore iron guns.
Nevertheless, being sustained by the Dutch, they made a lodgement on the foremost covered-way before the gate of St. Nicholas, as also upon part of the counterscarp. The valour of the assailants on this occasion was altogether unprecedented, and almost incredible; while on the other hand the courage of the besieged was worthy of praise and admiration.
Will you be sufficiently light-hearted, or sufficiently imprudent, to await on a counterscarp the rigours of December and January? Keep your wit always, Madame la Marquise, and with this wit, which is such a charming resource, do not divest yourself of your noble pride. I am, always, your respectful and devoted servant,
They drove out the besiegers from the projecting angles of the counterscarp, which they had kept possession of for eight days. They twice repulsed seven thousand men who attacked their covered way and an outwork; at the third attack they lost an angle of the outwork; but remained masters of all the rest. So many attacks and engagements terribly weakened the garrison.
It is a little insignificant pettah, defended simply by a couple of gabions, a very ordinary counterscarp, and a bomb-proof embrasure. On the top of this my flag was planted, and the small garrison of forty men only were comfortably barracked off in the case-mates within. "On the night of the first of November, in the year 1804, I had invited Mrs. Major-General Bulcher and her daughters, Mrs.
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