When I read a carcass is “hurled into the darkness” from the walls of a fort, it sounds like a bundle of some flammable material used to shed some light much as a flare is used in today’s battlefield. I cannot find a definition of carcass of that nature. What we now call a carcass wouldn’t burn very well. I actually envision something like a bale of hay. Please enlighten me. (no pun intended) I’m two thirds through the Sharpe books, most enjoyable, and informative. As a colonist, I was not particularly aware of the Peninsular Wars, although I knew the British had fought the French all over the world.

Guy Turner