Heroism
Illustration★★★Military, In the war of La Vendée, General Kléber, with four thousand men, was completely surrounded by an overwhelming force of the enemy, and saw no other way of saving his little band, except by stopping for a short time the passage of the Vendeans through a barrow ravine, which was all that was between the two armies. He called an officer to him, for whom he had a particular friendship and esteem. “Take,” said he to him, ‘a company of grenadiers; stop the enemy before that ravine; you will be killed but you will save yourcomrades.”
‘“ General I shall do it,” replied the officer, who received the order to immolate himself with as much calmness as if it had been a simple military evolution. The prediction of Kléber was but too fatally verified.
The brave officer arrested the enemy’s progress, but perished in the achievement.
— Percy
The point
During the War in the Vendee, General Kleber orders an officer to sacrifice his company to hold a narrow ravine, saving the rest of the army at the cost of the officer's own life.