Page:Tupper family records - 1835.djvu/116

 94 MEMOIR OF COLONEL TUPPER.

some verses were published on ' ' La Muerte del Coro- nel Tupper," in ridicule of this premature rejoicing, and in exultation at his escape.

Having recovered from his wounds, Colonel Tupper proceeded northwards to Chilian, which town was garrisoned by three hundred and fifty hostile infantry. Its reduction was highly desirable, and Colonel Viel, the superior in rank, thought that by taking an out- work, they would be enabled to command the main defences of the place. Accordingly, on the night of the 9th of March, Colonel Tupper made the attack indicated with one hundred and forty-six old and tried soldiers of his battalion, all he had with him, and they carried the outwork by assault, although strongly entrenched and bravely defended. But as the garrison retired into an inner fortification, which could not be reached by musketry, it became neces- sary to abandon the redoubt, after sustaining a severe loss of good soldiers, who could but ill be spared at that moment. Two of his officers were severely wounded, one the brave Captain Sayago. Colonel Tupper was also much exposed in this affair, as, ever prodigal of his person, he was one of the first to mount the ladders amid a shower of bullets. Two days after, in a letter to his wife, he assured her that, unless in the event of a foreign invasion, this cam- paign would be the last he would make, and added : " Enfin, il me restait ce compromis avec le General Freire, — il a fallu le remplir, — je sais que j'ai pousse la delicatesse tres-loin, — en tout cas, je ne serai que plus digne de toi."

General Freire, having been repulsed from Coquim- bo, landed near the river Maule, after sustaining the, to him, irreparable loss of a vessel laden with arms

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