Page:Letters from the Battle-fields of Paraguay (1870).djvu/221



VISIT TO GENERAL URQUIZA. 191

handle â€” has its own history. Here the War of Independence hegan in 1810, and the islet was carried from a force of seventy Spaniards and three gnns by Lieut. Caparroza and eighteen Patricio dragoons. A novel and interesting use for the " equine^"* is that of storming fortified and insu- lated posts. In '^ Argentine Gleanings^' we read of " horses making brick!" â€” of " horses thrashing corn!" â€” of "horses churning butter!| I may add, horses defending coasts and leading forlorn hopes (see Muratori) â€” horses attacking frigates (witness the Spanish Mer curio, grounded in 1810) â€” horses clearing earthworks (so did the gallant Osorio^s cavalry at Humaita) â€” and horses assaulting steam-engines, as happened to the " railway battery" of which we shall presently hear more.

In 1814, the Irishman, Admiral Brown, successfully ran past the batteries â€” a feat in which he was often rivalled by Garibaldi â€” yet the French squadron was subsequently checked by half a company of wounded men under command of Colonel Cortanses. The gallant Argentine was taken in the war, made prisoner, and sent to Dictator Kosas by the French admiral, with the Gallican epigram " Glory to the Conquered.^^ Two other Argentine soldiers, Mayer and Villanueva, who subsequently became well known in Prussia and Mexico, here began their careers : the people still show a quarry into which a Neapolitan Sappho, who lived in the island, threw herself after the departure of Phaon Mayer. In 1859, the brothers Cordero again ran their squadrons in safety past the four batteries, and proved how trifling an obstacle would be "Martin Garcia" against ironclads. Finally, here stands, in books, the Argyropolis of President Sarmiento : and if the Argentine Confederation wants a distinct Columbia and a City Washington, by all means place it in this pocket Botany Bay.

Martin Garcia once belonged to Banda Oriental, now she