The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-10-26
500th Anniversary of Agincourt, Where English
 BOWmen Won the Day

1 Five hundred years ago yesterday, | on October 25, 1415, the famous bat 1 tie of Agincourt was fought on the plains in northern France near the | village and castle from, which the memorable combat has derived it's name. The scene of this clash of arms ] is not far from where the Allies and the Germans are now at grips, and has become the theatre of a war be- side which that waged by Henry V: against the French was but mere child's play. At Agincourt the Eng fish and French were foes, instead of friends, now. After the pleasant custom of his house, Henry V. had commenced his reign by an invasion of France. He captured Harfleur af- ter a siege of more than month During that period a terrible and la tai dysnetery had wrought havoc in his camp, and reduced his army to a shadow. His advisers wanted him to retufn to England, but the King re- fused, saying that he must first see a little more of this good land of France
 In the meantime the Frenh king had assembled all the brilliant chiv- airy of his great and warlike nation and dispatched them to intercept the invaders. Henry had left but 2,O0o horse and 5000 infantry, principally bill-men and archers. In a hostile country, Henry found it difficult to get supplies, and his. force was almost famished, as the French had laid waste the country through which he had to pass. Daily it rained and nightly it >freezed,'' wrote one of Hen rvs men; ''of fuel was scare ceness, of flakes plenty; money had enough, but comfort they had none."
 It was miserable little army of 5000 which opposed the resplen- dent array of France on the field near lAgtncourt. There were 60,000 French men, splendid in all the bravery and hera1dic pomp of medieval chivalry, and they expected to trample the worn and hungry Eng1ishmen under foot and leave not man alive. All
 night long before the battle the French feasted about their fires, with great revelry and abundance of good cheer, but the English had neither food nor fire, and found their only inspiration in a continual fanfare of trumpets. As day broke Henry post ed his little force on slope, with a deep, nliry meadow before it, between him and the cavalry, on which the French commander mainly relied, all though he had German arquebusiers and Genoese cross-bows Henry's archery were fortified behind iron pointed stakes, with an advanced body of. 200 picked archers, disposing his cavalry on the wings.
 The French were commanded by
 
 Their horsemen rushed down into the
 miry meadow and the Englishmen stood their ground without firing an arrow until the French were within two hundred yards, or point blank ar row shot. Then, at the word of com mand, the, whole front rank of the English stepped forth one pace, and drawing their boWstrings to the ear, sent a hail of arrows into the adVanc ing enemy, while the two hundred picked archers, springing up from their ambush from the flank of the charging horsemen, decimated it by their cross vo1leys. The miry meadow was soon filled with men and horses, in struggling, screaming mass. While the whole host was weltering in inextricable confusion, Henry brought out his reserves, his archers casting away their bows and arming themselves with their bills and lead=s en maI1ets. The French fought with their accustomed gallantry, but they were SO utterly in disarray that the battle became a massacre. From this victory the English only gained the power of returning home,Which they had better not have left. The success of the English was a triumph for their bowmen, and Agincourt was but one of many examples of the solid steadi- ness of British infantry.