As they approached the wall, they discharged their muskets at the
enemy upon the walls, and, before assaulting the breach, they hurled a
shower of hand grenades at its defenders.
The preparations for the assault had been observed by the Irish, and they
were in readiness to receive it. The news had spread through the town,
and the excitement among the whole population was intense. The guns on
the walls ceased firing, in order that all might be ready to pour in
their shower of balls, when the assault commenced. The fire from the
batteries of the besiegers had also died away, and a silence, which
seemed strange after the constant din of the preceding days, hung over
the camp and city.
No sooner had the grenadiers leaped from the trenches, than the guns on
the walls, and the musketry of the defenders, poured their fire upon
them; while all the batteries of the besiegers opened, at the same
moment, to cover the assault. Through the hail of fire the grenadiers
kept on without faltering, and, as they neared the breach, the Irish
rushed out through the opening to meet them. There was a desperate
struggle, half hidden from the eyes of those on the walls by the cloud of
smoke and dust, which arose from the combatants; but the grenadiers,
fighting with the greatest gallantry, won their way to the counter-scarp,
and half the regiment forced its way through the breach and entered the
town.
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