Star.
London, England, 1814-03-16 00:00:00

ARMY.

. .
Yesterday morning the Duke of Yogic franslcred
military blisinest with the Nike Ititur.art and•afier-
wardi went to his office, and held at Levee, at
Major 6TANIfOPit, and upsiAidi of twentf Officers,
were do the hut, ind had interviews of his Poyal
Highness.
The Provisional Battalioni of Militia; and all dr'
tachments that can be mustered, are to proceed fi-rth;
with to Holland, to reiniorcv the army under Calera?
Sir TiroraAsGßAnAra, K.B. and Lieutenant-General
C. R. FERCUSION, it is said, it to go OM with the re-
inforcements, and to be second in corny:hind.

The destination of the tmops under the command
of Federal BA/LNY, that were under orders to join
Lord WatztNo-rotes army in France, i• changed:
These troops will now be immediately bent to Hol-
land, to reinforce General Clt %/LAM.

The Marchioness of 131; tKlNGliebt has presented
every man belonging to the First Provisional Batta-
lion of Militia, under the command of the Noble
Marquis, with a pair of Aces; on Monday she pre-
sented the battalion with a pair of colours, after which
ceremony the men partook of refreshment at the Marc
chioness's expence.
THE LATE ATTACK UPON BERGEN OP ZOOM.
LETTER FROG! AN OFFICER OF RAMC
kosendial, March 9. 1614.
'. I gave you an account, in a former letter, of
two unsuccessful attempts to take Antwerp by as-
sault, and to capture or burn the fleet. We failed
because oar force was wholly inadequate, and
cause our Allies, the Prussians, had ulterior objects
to pursue. A few days ago we got a large supply of
military stores, together with a quantit yof Congreve
rockets, some of which were played off with very fine
effect from the ramparts of Williams adt. in presence
of our gallant commander, Sir T. Graham. All the
formidable materiel of war moved on to the advance
of our army, and we received a recent reinforcement
of two fine regiment:, the Ist Royals, and the 91st,
from Stralsund. Every one supposed that Another
attack on the fleet was immediately to tate place,
and we were anticipa ing the most favourable results
when, this morning, the arrival -of a number el
wounded men gave us to uncle, stand that the attack
was made, not on Antwerp, but on Bergen-op-Zoom.
Bergen-op-Zoom iaione of the strongest towns in Eu-
rope. In former campaigns the French ( I think in
1746) attempted to carry it by assault ; they were
repulsed, and left about a thous tnd of their men dead
on the glacis. Marshal Saxe, however, renewed the
attempt, and took it by stratagem. We were encou-
raged to expect success, because it was known that
the French garrison willed to evacuate it, and to
throw itself; into Antwerp; and also that the town's
people were all in our interest. The British *tiny,
therefore, advanced from all its cantonments un the
6th and 7th, towards Antwerp, the head-qualters
being at Kalmhout. On tla.s Bth, it suddenly march-
ed t 0... Fort Lillo and Bergen-opqiuom -11 these
places being Drily a few hours mania from each other.
The object proposed iu be attacked was given out to
be Fort Lillo, which lies between Bergen and Antwerp-
The former, however, was only masked, and the real
attack was made cn Bergen un the same night. Bee-
gen is on a rising ground or hill, the only one in the
country, prote.ted by a marsh onrfhe o. E. and wa-
-tered by the little river Zoom, whish is divided into
dykes And canals. On the west it is washed by a
branch of the Scheldt. The assault was made by
two brigades, simultaneously, on the North side, next
Tholen. and on the Scythe mt. The brave Major.
General Skerrett, the intrepid Lief ader of Tarifa,
commanded the attack. He had .ome time before
broke his leg by a fall from his horse, from which he
was not re.overed. The ot'.er brigade was conduc -
cd by Major-General Gore. It consisted of the lat
Guards, Ist Royals, and 44th, with a detachmentuf
the 91st. It traversed a frozen mores,, cleared t' e
etnpalements and cheraux-de-frise, and s ailed the
ramparts ;—they actually got into the town undisco-
vered. The other brigad-z, consisting of the 55th,
69th, and 33d, and some of the 21st and a7th, also
assaulted by escalade, but wes vig rously opposed.
The enemy rased up the ladders from he top of the
ramparts with hooks, and dashed down the men on
the frozen ditches; the gates, however, were forced
open from the inside, and the greater part of the as.
sailants entered. The garrisen, thm.gh sulpri,ed,
was not thrown into confusion : it tallied, lined the
houses on each side the streets with musketry, and
enfiladed them with grape-shot and howitaer-hells.
The Guards were drawn up, and prepared to fire by
platoons, when the' were ordered to throw out their
priming and to charge. They advanced at the par
de charge, but they met nothing Init showers of grape,
cannister-sho;, and bullets. Almost all the Irriga 'e
was laid prostrate ; nor did the other brigade suffer
less, though they only gained the ramparts ; in short
it was very hire the Buenos Ayres business, only that
no blame can possibly amt. h to our brave veteran
Commander ; in fact nothing could be better planned
than the attack, or more heroically executed. The
two leaders, Generals Gorc and Skerrett, were lite-
rally pierced with balls—the frost fell dead on bc.tpc
of slain, but General Skerrett has survived. The
corps now began to retreat ; but here the enemy feel-
ing his strength and his vantage ground, shut the
gates. Many threw themselves over the ramparts,
but the greater number remained in the town, killed,
wounded, and prisoners. To intercept the rev eat
the French opened the sluices, which flooded the
dykes over the ice. Three lines of Work-, and three
courses of dykes, had the ret caters to pass, under
showers of round and grape, and shells, before they
could be safe ; yet, wonderful to tell, numbers of
wounded men, with balls in their bodies, gut over all;
numbers also were drowned in the attempt. It was
a moon-light night, but occasionally clouded; no blue
lights, &c. were exhibited ; but the aim was not less
sure, nor the fire less destructive. Of about 4500
men engaged in the assault, it is said, that not 1,500
escaped. We trust, however, the loss will turn out not
near so great. The enemy will boast of having taken
two pair of colours, but there was no honour lost—
they were lost only when their gallant defenders ceas-
ed to breathe. The enemy's General, whose name I
have not yet learnt, behaved with urbanity. Hesent
ae
dfi ag
men,o f trucewnie
ht proposeo
proposal
was
givi
CenagCup the, worst wound-
pted, and between
sit and seven hundred were delivered to us at the
hopegate. Su oh has been the restat ef what I
w 2
prove the last sacrifice tO MolocL"
•

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