Other similar attempts would have been made to harass
the Spaniards and divert them from their main work, had not Sir
Francis Vere been severely wounded in the head on the 4th of August
by a shot from the Spanish batteries, which continued to keep up
a tremendous fire upon the town. So serious was the wound that the
surgeons were of opinion that the only chance of saving his life
was to send him away from the din and turmoil of the siege; and on
the 10th he was taken to Middelburg, where he remained for a month,
returning to Ostend long before his wound was properly healed.
On the 1st of August a batch of recruits had arrived from England,
and on the 8th 1200 more were landed. The fire of the besiegers
was now so heavy that the soldiers were forced to dig underground
quarters to shelter themselves. Sir Horace Vere led out several
sorties; but the besiegers, no longer distracted by the feints
contrived by Sir Horace Vere, succeeded in erecting a battery on
the margin of the Old Haven, and opened fire on the Sand Hill Fort.
On the 19th of September Sir Francis Vere returned to the town, to
the great joy of the garrison. Reinforcements continued to arrive,
and at this time the garrison numbered 4480. There were, too, a
large number of noblemen and gentlemen from England, France, and
Holland, who had come to learn the art of war under the man who was
regarded as the greatest general of the time.
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