196 SWABEY DIARY. 
perished on the breach, at the head of the stormers, and with 
him nearly all the volunteers for that desperate service? Who 
shall describe the springing valour of that Portuguese grena- 
dier who was killed, the foremost man at the Santa Maria ? 
or the martial fury of that desperate soldier of the 95th, who, 
in his resolution to win, thrust himself beneath the chained 
sword-blades, and there suffered the enemy to dash his head 
to pieces with the ends of their muskets? Who can sufti- 
ciently honour the intrepidity of Walker,> of Shaw,® of Canch,’ 
or the resolution of Ferguson’ of the 48rd, who having in 
former assaults received two deep wounds, was here, with his 
hurts still open, leading the stormers of his regiment, the 
third time a volunteer and the third time wounded? Nor 
would I be understood to select these as prominent, many and 
signal were the other examples of unbounded devotion, some 
known, some that will never be known; for in such a tumult 
much passed unobserved, and often the observers fell them- 
selves ere they could bear testimony to what they saw; but no 
age, no nation ever sent forth braver troops to battle than those 
who stormed Badajos. 
When the extent of the night’s havoc was made known to Lord 
Wellington, the firmness of his nature gave way for a moment, 
and the pride of conquest yielded to a passionate burst of grief 
for the loss of his gallant soldiers. . . ....2.~. 
Now commenced that wild and desperate wickedness, which 
tarnishes the lustre of the soldiers’ heroism. All indeed were 
not alike, for hundreds risked and many lost their lives in 
striving to stop the violence, but the madness generally pre- 
vailed, and as the worst men were leaders here, all the 
dreadful passions of human nature were displayed. Shame- 
less rapacity, brutal intemperance, savage lust, cruelty and 
there he was further injured by the surging multitude who passed over him ashe lay. At last he 
was carried off, and after his wounds had been dressed he was able to write to his father. Fora 
time it was thought he might survive his injuries, but he had lost so much blood and lain without 
assistance so long in the terrible confusion of the breach, that it had never been found possible to re- 
store warmth to his limbs, or to overcome the debility that supervened, and he died the eighth day 
after receiving his wounds. He was buried close to the breach where he so nobly fell, and Lieut.- 
Colonel Fletcher, his commanding officer, erected on the spot a monument to his memory. 
General Sir Thomas Graham on whose staff Major Nicholas had served at Barossa, and to whom 
he was much attached, in writing home on the occasion of his death, says, “If there can be any 
consolation to his family and friends for the loss of so valuable a life, it is the reflexion that no 
soldier ever distinguished himself more.’’—See Memoir of Major W. Nicholas, ‘‘ Royal Military 
Chronicle,’ February, 1813. 
4 Major Peter O’Hara. 
5 General G. Townshend Walker, his wounds were of a most extraordinarily severe nature. “A 
musket shot cut him across the stomach, grazing the main arteries, which continued oozing for 
many weeks, hourly threatening hemorrhage. He had also several ribs detached from the breast 
bone, the result of an explosion. After a long confinement in Badajos he was conveyed in his 
pallet on mens’ shoulders to Lisbon, where he embarked for England and recovered. He rejoined 
Lord Wellington’s army near Pamplona, and was again severely wounded.” “‘ Recollections of 
Badajos,” Captain McCarthey, 50th Regiment. 
5 Lieutenant James Shaw, 43rd Regiment, afterwards Sir James Shaw Kennedy, whose valuable 
notes on the battle of Waterloo are well known. 
7 Lieutenant Thomas Canch, 5th Regiment. 
8 Captain James Ferguson, 43rd Regiment. 
