Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1854-06-12
For the Grant County Herald

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Ie old tars of the British Navy, and
is Ike our own lamented CROUCH and Rea-
II ~" he well deserves the name. He
has been man of war from his YOUTH
N + Fiqhting is his atmosphere, as the ocean
his element. The sea is his legiti-
, Mate sphere of action but rather than
cuI not fight at all, he will fight ON land, and
al will only surrend er to death. In many
IN respects there is striking similarity
bstwixt him and the late Gen. Taylor
i Both idolized by their men,-both ia
ctmiliar, yet retaining discipline and COM
Imand, both would scorn to send their
Imen where they themselves would not
,Igo-both would lead their men precipi-
y ately against the foe, in uniform or not !;
n armed with the first weapon which cam e
hand whether it was musket, sword
" stick and both seemed to be irwin
eibie in BATTLE, and there was never any
ack of men to follow, when either was
going to lead.
Fighting Charley is the eldest son of
The Hon. Chas. Napier, of the Royal Ma
Ew He was born on the 9th March,
El786, and is consequently 68 years of
age.
At the age of % he commanded the
n Recruit brig, in the West Indies, where
he kept himself under the guns of three
French line-of- battle ships for "a hours,
in hopes of OBTAINING them till the Bri-
a fish squadron came up, which was five
miles of, and from which they were fly
Ill., inc. All this time he kept driving dou-
III Me-shotted broadsides into them. One
III Of the three, the Haulpolt, was taken
II the other two escaped. Sir Alexander
M Cochrane, the Admiral, promoted him on
II the spot, and gave him the command of
vi the captured ship. He was in command
III of ship at the seiee of Martinique
\ The enemy burned their shipping for
III fear Of an attack, and abandoned Fort
L Edward. Fort Bourbon stood 100 yards
Il off, and commanded it. Yet Napier pro-
L posed to go and examine it, and with 5
/ men he landed in open day, scaled the
I! walls, and planted the Union Jack upon
I the ramparts, regiment was soon af-
Z forwards landed the mortars of Fort
I Edward were turned upon the enemy,
f which shortened the siege of Martin
iqpe, and saved many lives. He was
wounded whilst chasing French ship.
The first shot fired broke his thigh, and
another carried away his main-mast.-
His prey escaped. On a public OCCASION
afterwards, he said of that event "he got
II precious licking, but the British flag
was not furnished"
Once during this long war, he lost his
command, under Tory administration,
Ri when he served campaign with the ar
my in Portugal, as volunteer, where
lie was again wounded. On his return
to England, he was appointed to the
command of the Thames, in the Medi-
terranean, and il is said che left his
mark from Mar to the Faro Point"
lie brought off upwards of 100 gun
boats and merch5 ntmen in that SIEGE
81 lie run his ship, the Thames, and anoth-
er, into the Mole of Ponza which was
thoroughly defended, and before they
8 could recover from their surprise, he
captured the Island without t he loss of
a man. Soon afterwards he fell in with
two French frigat es, and schooner
He chased them in the night close into
the Island Of Corsica. Whilst he fired
broadsides into one, going knots an
hour, he tried 10 run aboard of the 9TH
er. To avoid him she run aground and
became total wreck, as he was then
q brushing the shore, and it was dark he
q had to put to sea and leave them. From
the Mediterranean he was ordered to A
merica, and commanded the Euryalus up
to the Potomac. In one Of the engage
ments with battery erected on shore,
he received a wound in the neck.
Il On the arrival Of peace he went on
half pay. In 1888 he succeeded Admi-
raj Sartorios, in the command of Don
Pedro's fleet, and obtained signal VIC
tory over the more numerous and pow
ertul squadron of Don Miguel, which he
captured at a single blow, by boarding.
This settled Don Miguel's usurpation.
When the Viceroy of Egypt revolted
against the Sultan Of Turkey. Napier
was sent with combined fleet of Bri-
tish and Austrian ships to the coast OF
Svr,S and sufficient number of land
forces to operate by sea and land, and
bring Mehemit Ali to terms. He sue
oeeded. He tooS all the strong posts
including the impregaable one of .4crs
Some he took by bombarding them from
his ships. others he marched or rather
run his sailors, marines and Turks a
gainst by land. But everything fell BE-
fore him. AS he has fought for the
Turks before, and had them under his
command, his present position is not a
novel one. With the Turks, no doubt,
there is prestige in his name by sea, as
there is in that of Omar Pacha by land.
A good idea of his style Of lighting
may be obtained from an extract or two
from q letter written by one of his sal
Tors on the Syrian coast, to his father in
England. The whole letter would be
TOO long for this article, though it is
highly characteristic
"tIrst we took Sdon. | was ashore
with the Royal Marines. Their officers
proposed to send out skirmishers TO CO.
Yer their men while they formed land
ing, and go in what they call sections
But our brave Commodore, who IS call
ed Charley, swore he would have nc
parade nonsense but would make