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Brunner and Suddarths Textbook of

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Chapter: Chapter 07: Individual and Family Considerations Related to Illness

Multiple Choice

1. A nurse in a wellness center is presenting a class on integrating holistic therapies with


traditional health care. The nurse talks about the trend in health care to treat each patient in a
manner that reconnects his or her total being. Which of the following would best be considered a
holistic approach to health?
A) Physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being
B) Emotional and sexual contact
C) Healthy work environment
D) Financial success and post-secondary education

Ans: A
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: B
Cognitive Level: Comprehension
Difficulty: Moderate
Integrated Process: Teaching/Learning
Objective: 1
Page and Header: 97, Holistic Approach to Health and Health Care

Feedback: A holistic approach to health reconnects the traditionally separate approach to mind
and body. The connection of physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being must be understood
and considered when providing health care. Options B, C, and D are incorrect because though
they may contribute to a total (or holistic) perception of the patient, they would not be the best
answer to the question.

2. You are the nurse admitting a new patient to your medical-surgical unit. You are completing
an initial health assessment of the patient and document that the patient appears to have an
emotionally healthy attitude. What behaviors would be indicative of an emotionally healthy
attitude?
A) Limiting goal setting
B) Having a sense of humor
C) Avoiding conflict
D) Desire to question reality
Ans: B
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: C
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Moderate
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 2
Page and Header: 97, Mental Health and Emotional Distress

Feedback: A mentally healthy person accepts reality and has a positive sense of self. Emotional
health is also manifested by having moral and humanistic values and beliefs, having satisfying
interpersonal relationships, doing productive work, and maintaining a realistic sense of hope.
Having hopes and dreams, resolving conflict, setting goals for the future, and having a sense of
humor are all characteristics associated with mental health.

3. A patient admitted to a telemetry unit with complaints of chest pain is a business executive in
a large corporation. During your assessment, you gather data that indicates the patient consumes
7 to 8 ounces of scotch every evening. What is the best indicator of this patient's ability to cope?
A) Maladaptive stress management
B) Inability to satisfy basic needs
C) Behaving in an unrealistic manner
D) Engaging in rewarding behavior

Ans: A
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: C
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Moderate
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 3
Page and Header: 101, Mental Health and Emotional Distress

Feedback: Drug and alcohol abuse are considered maladaptive ways to manage stress. People
who engage in substance abuse use illegally obtained drugs, prescribed or over-the-counter
medications, and alcohol alone or in combination with other drugs in ineffective attempts to cope
with the pressures, strains, and burdens of life. The other options are all indicators of this
patient's ability to cope, but they are not the best indicator.

4. As the nurse caring for a 25-year-old patient who has recently been diagnosed with testicular
cancer, you know that this patient's illness will impact every aspect of his life. What
developmental tasks might you expect to be affected?
A) Achieving self-actualization
B) Marrying and starting a family
C) Reviewing life's accomplishments
D) Establishing financial security

Ans: B
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: C
Cognitive Level: Comprehension
Difficulty: Moderate
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 6
Page and Header: 103, Family Health and Distress

Feedback: It is within families that people grow, are nurtured, acquire a sense of self, develop
beliefs and values about life, and progress through life's developmental stages. Developmental
tasks associated with young adulthood include marrying and starting a family. The other options
are incorrect because achieving self-actualization, reviewing life's accomplishments, and
establishing financial security are not developmental tasks for this stage of the patient's life.

5. You are the nurse caring for a young female patient who has just been diagnosed with
multiple sclerosis. The patient is in her early 30s and is the mother of two children under the age
of 5 years. After hearing this news, what initial emotional symptom would the nurse anticipate
the patient will most likely experience?
A) Lethargy
B) Bargaining
C) Lack of interest
D) Anxiety

Ans: D
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: C
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Moderate
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 4
Page and Header: 98, Mental Health and Emotional Distress

Feedback: In clinical settings, fear of the unknown, unexpected news about one's health, and
impairment of bodily functions engenders anxiety. Lethargy and lack of interest would be
manifestations of depression that might follow the anxiety. Bargaining is a stage of grief and
would not be an initial emotional symptom.
6. The clinic nurse is caring for a patient who has recently been involved in an automobile
accident. The patient was the driver of the car and his passenger died. The patient arrives in the
clinic with complaints of nightmares, inability to concentrate, and impaired memory. What
would you know the patient is most likely experiencing?
A) Posttraumatic stress disorder
B) Developmental difficulties
C) Drug addiction
D) Mild stress

Ans: A
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: C
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Moderate
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 4
Page and Header: 99, Mental Health and Emotional Distress

Feedback: Patients with posttraumatic stress syndrome have difficulty sleeping, an exaggerated
startle response, excessive vigilance, increased urinary epinephrine levels, and increased body
metabolism. The symptoms the patient is experiencing are not indicative of developmental
difficulties, drug addiction, or mild stress.

7. A nurse working in a behavioral health facility cares for patients with various symptoms.
Based on the patients' symptoms, which patient would the nurse identify as being at an increased
risk for suicide?
A) A 35-year-old man with anxiety
B) A person with a family history of suicide
C) A person with an inability to form trusting relationships
D) A person with loss of interest in career

Ans: B
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: C
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Moderate
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 3
Page and Header: 101, Mental Health and Emotional Distress
Feedback: Risk factors for suicide include a family history of suicide. Anxiety, loss of interest,
and poor personal relationships may contribute to depression but are not risk factors of suicide.

8. You are a nurse working in a drug rehabilitation facility. You are discussing codependent
behaviors with the husband of a patient who is addicted to alcohol. Which behavior of the
husband would be considered a codependent behavior?
A) Calling in sick at work on behalf of a hungover spouse
B) Showing anger because the wife has relapsed
C) Verbalizing a desire to end the marriage
D) Discussing the addiction with his wife

Ans: A
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: C
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Difficult
Integrated Process: Teaching/Learning
Objective: 6
Page and Header: 102, Mental Health and Emotional Distress

Feedback: Caring for codependent family members is another nursing priority. Codependent
people struggle with the urge to control others and a willingness to remain involved and suffer
with a person who has a drug problem. This may include covering up the loved one's addiction.
Becoming angry because of a relapse, verbalizing a desire to end the marriage, or discussing the
addiction with his wife would not be considered codependent behaviors.

9. You are caring for a patient who has recently been told that she is terminally ill. The woman
says to you, “If only I could live until my granddaughter has her first birthday.” In what stage of
grief would you assess this patient to be?
A) Disbelief
B) Anger
C) Acceptance
D) Bargaining

Ans: D
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: C
Cognitive Level: Analysis
Difficulty: Moderate
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 5
Page and Header: 104, Loss and Grief

Feedback: The patient's prayers to God for a few more months to live reflect the bargaining
stage of grief. Therefore the other answers are incorrect.

10. The three children of a 75-year-old woman are being counseled by a hospice nurse. Their
mother recently died from breast cancer, and the three children are experiencing differing stages
of grief. The hospice nurse discusses the grieving process with the three children. What would
the nurse define as a basic goal of the grieving process?
A) Healing the self
B) Constant reflection on the loss
C) Encouraging sadness and depression
D) Effectively role-modeling loss for offspring

Ans: A
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: C
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Moderate
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 4
Page and Header: 104, Loss and Grief

Feedback: The grieving process may be different in duration for each person experiencing a
loss. There are two basic goals of grieving: healing the self and recovering from the loss.
Constant reflection on the loss, the encouraging of sadness and depression, or effectively
role-modeling loss for offspring are not basic goals of the grieving process.

11. As a hospice nurse caring for terminally ill patients, part of your nursing care is to assist the
terminal patient to stimulate, regain, or strengthen a connection within his or her inner self. How
might the nurse accomplish this?
A) Inquire about the patient and his or her family's need for spiritual care
B) Have the patient transferred home
C) Have the patient keep a journal
D) Have a hospital volunteer read to the patient on a daily basis

Ans: A
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: C
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Moderate
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 7
Page and Header: 105, Spirituality and Spiritual Distress

Feedback: A simple assessment the nurse can make is to inquire about the patient and his or her
family's need for spiritual care. This shows the nurse supports a potential need for spiritual care.
Having the patient transferred home or having him or her keep a journal would not demonstrate
the nurse's support for a potential need for spiritual care. Having someone read to the patient on a
daily basis is not an action that would assist the patient to strengthen a connection with his or her
inner self.

12. The nurse practitioner at a metropolitan college is seeing a 20-year-old student who
presents at the student health center during finals week with vague complaints of “stomach
problems.” The student tells the nurse practitioner that she broke up with her boyfriend in the
first week of the semester and has not been feeling well or doing well in school since. What
would the nurse practitioner be aware of?
A) The “stomach problems,” may be cardiac related and she could be in danger.
B) The boyfriend is the core issue, and a plan of care that addresses his influence is important.
C) The girl is probably not telling the truth and could be in an abusive relationship.
D) The “stomach problems” are likely related to stress and depression.

Ans: D
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: A-2
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Moderate
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 4
Page and Header: 100, Mental Health and Emotional Distress

Feedback: People who are depressed often seek health care for somatic manifestations of
depression such as stomach problems, fatigue, and/or inability to cope with their activities of
daily living, like work or school. Option A is a valid concern, but she has not been feeling well
for a long period of time, and cardiac risk in low in this age group. Option B and C are incorrect;
the situation requires an assessment first before the boyfriend is included in the diagnosis or we
assume the girl is not telling the truth.
13. The nurse is meeting with a family that is facing the death of their father. The family tells
the nurse they are looking for ways to help him and themselves during this period. In order to
help this family, what would the nurse need to do first?
A) Assess the faith needs of the group
B) Diagnose any faith-related problems and evaluate their ability to provide spiritual care for
themselves
C) Inform the family it is out of the nurse's scope of care to provide spiritual guidance
D) Contact clergy to provide professional guidance

Ans: A
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: A-1
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Easy
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 8
Page and Header: 105, Spirituality and Spiritual Distress

Feedback: The first step in the nursing process is always assessment. Nurses are capable of
providing spiritual care as long as they are present and supportive when patients experience
doubt, fearfulness, suffering, despair, or other difficult psychological states of being. Option B is
incorrect; assessment is always completed prior to diagnosis of the actual or potential problems.
Option C is incorrect; nurses are capable of providing spiritual care by being present and
supportive. Option D is incorrect; again, an assessment would be completed prior to contacting
clergy.

14. Your patient is a 49-year-old woman who is terminally ill with metastatic breast cancer. She
has been coping with her impending death by speaking at cancer conventions, putting her affairs
into order and looking inward for answers. The family talks with the nurse about their loved
one's activities. What is the nurse aware of regarding these activities?
A) The activities could be spiritual in nature and the family would benefit if they were included
whenever possible.
B) The activities may result in dysfunctional behaviors and denial, which alienates the family.
C) The activities represent the need to control her final days by showing the world and her
family that she is fine.
D) The activities need to be addressed and limited so she spends time with her family, or it will
result in dysfunctional grieving when she dies.

Ans: A
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: A-2
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Moderate
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 7
Page and Header: 105, Spirituality and Spiritual Distress

Feedback: Often, spiritual behavior is expressed through sacrifice, self-discipline, and spending
time in activities that focus on the inner self or the soul. The families of people who are
terminally ill may feel disconnected with their loved one during this period, and they need to be
included in activities important to their loved one whenever possible. Option B is incorrect; any
positive behavior in excess may result in dysfunctional behaviors, but there is no evidence that
“she is in denial and alienating her family.” Option C is incorrect; there is no evidence that she
“needs to control her final days, by showing the world and her family that she is fine.” Option D
is a valid concern, but the answer is stated in absolute terms; there is no evidence that that she is
spending too much time pursuing spiritual behaviors or that the family is uninvolved.

15. A 45-year-old woman presents at the free clinic stating that she needs help. While talking
with this patient, the nurse illicit information about the woman's situation, including the fact that
her husband “drinks heavily.” Because of this, the patient feels that her family is being ruined.
What nursing intervention would be the best for this patient?
A) Call husband's family and friends to obtain support for an intervention.
B) Allow the woman to express her feelings and assess for codependent behaviors.
C) Call the police and have the man arrested for alcohol abuse and have him hospitalized.
D) Remind the woman that her husband's alcohol problem is not her fault and that it is simply a
defect in her husband's character.

Ans: B
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: A-1
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Difficult
Integrated Process: Communication and Documentation
Objective: 5
Page and Header: 102, Mental Health and Emotional Distress

Feedback: Assessment of the problem requires the women to first express her feelings and then
assess her position in the relationship. Codependent people tend to manifest unhealthy patterns in
relationships with others, and the family dynamics need to be assessed prior to diagnosis and the
development of a care plan. Option A is incorrect; it would be premature to call the husband's
family and friends to obtain support for an intervention. Option C is incorrect; the husband has
done nothing illegal at this point. Option D, reminding the women that her husband's alcohol
problem is not her fault, would be appropriate, but alcoholism is a disease, not a defect in her
husband's character.
16. The home health nurse has been caring for a 90-year-old patient who remains independent
in her home setting. This patient has reached a point where she needs help to remain at home.
The nurse meets with the family to discuss the situation and develop a plan of care for this
patient. The family is arguing about who is going to provide that care or who will pay for it.
What would the nurse's plan of care focus on?
A) Determining who is going to be involved in the care of the patient so that assignments can
be given
B) Allowing the patient to negotiate the situation with her family to create trust and
understanding
C) Providing family access to a professional problem solver, such as an attorney, to provide
legal advice to the woman
D) Assessing and facilitating family-member communication and designing interventions that
focus on coping behaviors

Ans: D
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: B
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Moderate
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 6
Page and Header: 103, Family Health and Distress

Feedback: The plan of care would need to assess family functioning to determine how the
particular family will cope with the women's changing health and increased family
responsibilities. If the family is chaotic or disorganized, promoting coping behaviors becomes a
priority in the plan of care. Option A, assessing who is going to be involved in the care of the
patient is a good start, but “giving assignments” is inappropriate. Option B is incorrect; the nurse
should always work as an agent for the patient to help to facilitate a plan of care, especially when
the family is not coping well. Option C is incorrect; the professional problem solver in this case
needs to be the nurse.

17. You are a community nurse who is attending a clinic at the local senior center. An elderly
man approaches you and shares his concern that his stress level is affecting his ability to cope
with many of his activities of daily living. The man tells you that while he was growing up, his
family didn't get along well, and the man feels that this is the reason he has “struggled with his
emotions in the past.” What would be your best response to this patient?
A) “Family experience and early childhood experiences often have little influence on our
coping ability, and stress is often related to needless worry.”
B) “Coping is determined by our own attitude and how we decide to view our family life today;
you need to try to take control of your behavior to decrease your stress level.”
C) “Family experience and early childhood experiences will often influence a person's ability to
cope, and exploring these issues may help relieve stress.”
D) “Children raised in dysfunctional homes may become mentally ill later in life and need to be
medicated; do you feel like medication may help?”

Ans: C
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: D-4
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Difficult
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 2
Page and Header: 98, Mental Health and Emotional Distress

Feedback: Coping ability is strongly influenced by family and childhood experiences.


Typically, people revert to the strategies observed early in life used by their family members.
The patient is already exploring the issue and has connected being “raised in a family that did not
get along well” with coping and is now struggling with his emotions, which is an appropriate
coping strategy. Option A is incorrect; coping ability is strongly influenced by family and
childhood experiences, and telling the patient “stress is often related to needless worry,"
minimizes his concern. Option B is incorrect; coping is not determined by our own attitude; it is
a continuous dynamic process. Option D is incorrect; the answer offers misinformation and
assumes the patient is mentally ill and then offers an intervention without sufficient evidence.

18. Following the death of her youngest daughter, the patient is in an acute depression. The
patient is on high-dose antidepressants and feels that the medicine is not helping her. She says to
the nurse “I hurt so bad, why don't the drugs make the pain go away?” What would be the nurse's
best response?
A) “The antidepressants will only work if you are willing to help yourself, so you need to try
harder.”
B) “Your sense of well-being will return in about a year when you forget about the death of
your daughter.”
C) “The medications help balance chemicals in our bodies during periods of depression, but
they do not fix the losses and stress that created the imbalance.”
D) “The key to the medication working is taking the medication correctly; are you taking it
every day at the same time and dose?”

Ans: C
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: D-4
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Moderate
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 2
Page and Header: 97, The Brain and Physical and Emotional Health

Feedback: The balancing of neurotransmitters provided by antidepressants will not replace the
grieving process or replace the loss of a loved one. The health care community should place as
much emphasis on emotional health as it places on physiologic health and should recognize how
biologic, emotional, and societal problems combine to affect individual patients, families, and
communities. Option A is incorrect; “trying harder” is a value judgment and will not balance
neurotransmitters. Option B is incorrect; the patient may learn to cope with her daughter's death,
but she will never “forget about it,” and offering a one-year timeframe for grieving is
inappropriate. Option D is incorrect; it is important for the patient to take the medicine correctly,
but is not the key to curbing her depression.

19. You are the nurse caring for a person newly diagnosed with diabetes, and you are
developing a holistic plan of care for this patient. You know that for this plan of care to be
successful, it must what?
A) Take into account the cost of care
B) Connect families, friends, and the environment
C) Provide a connection between medicine and nursing
D) Address the disease but also incorporate the mind, body, and spirit

Ans: D
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: A-1
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Easy
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 1
Page and Header: 97, Holistic Approach to Health and Health Care

Feedback: A holistic plan of care seeks to balance and integrate the use of crisis medicine and
advanced technology along with the mind, body, and spirit, which are incorporated though the
use of the nursing process. Option A is incorrect; taking into account the cost of care is only one
facet of a holistic picture. Option B, connecting families, friends, and the environment, is
important, but mind, body, and spirit define holism. Option C is incorrect; a holistic plan of care
may provide a connection between medicine and nursing, but it does not define it.

20. A nurse working in a senior center is giving a talk on grief and loss. The nurse encounters a
patient who, over the last 6 months, has lost his spouse as well as several friends and family
members. How can the nurse best assist the patient?
A) Recommend that the patient get over the loss and move on with his life
B) Encourage the patient to participate in grief counseling
C) Suggest that the patient move into a senior residence to reminder him of his wife
D) Ask another elder member of the senior center to discuss his experiences with grief with the
patient

Ans: B
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: C
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Moderate
Integrated Process: Caring
Objective: 8
Page and Header: 104, Loss and Grief

Feedback: In most instances, the grieving spouse will benefit from grief counseling. Some
patients do better in group counseling; others prefer individual counseling. Recommending that
the patient move on with his life ignores the reality that the patient must move through the stages
of grief at his own pace. If moving into a senior residence is the best option for a grieving
spouse, he should be advised to do so only after a period of counseling. Ignoring the patient's
grieving doesn't validate his feelings or help him progress through the stages of grief.

Multiple Selection

21. The nursing instructor is discussing holistic health care with her nursing students. The
instructor talks about the different factors the nurse must consider when creating a holistic plan
of care. What are these factors? (Mark all that apply.)
A) The patient's physical environment
B) The patient's developmental life stage
C) The patient's emotional context
D) The patient's conceptual integration of life
E) The patient's physiologic health condition

Ans: B, C, E
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: B
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Difficult
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 1
Page and Header: 97, Holistic Approach to Health and Health Care
Feedback: It is the nurse's conceptual integration of the physiologic health condition within the
emotional and social context, along with the patient's developmental life stage, that allows for
the development of a holistic plan of nursing care. The patient's physical environment and his or
her “conceptual integration of life” are not factors the nurse would take into account when
creating a holistic plan of care.

Multiple Choice

22. Nursing, as a profession, has long held the belief that providing nursing care to an
individual patient means providing nursing care to the entire family. What does this mean when
put into a holistic framework of patient care?
A) Families are caretakers even when the patient is not acutely ill.
B) It is necessary for the nurse, patient, and the patient's family to integrate the physical and
emotional environment of the patient.
C) Active participation by individuals and families in health promotion is integral to this
framework of patient care.
D) This model is congruent with the philosophy of traditional patriarchal medicine.

Ans: C
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: B
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Moderate
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 1
Page and Header: 97, Holistic Approach to Health and Health Care

Feedback: Active participation by individuals and families in health promotion supports the
self-care model historically embraced by the nursing profession. This model is congruent with
the philosophy that seeks to balance and integrate the use of traditional medicine and advanced
technology with the influence of the mind and spirit on healing. Families are not always
caretakers when the patient is not acutely ill; it is not necessary for the nurse, patient, and the
patient's family to integrate the physical and emotional environment of the patient. It is necessary
for the patient to integrate his or her physical and emotional environments. The holistic
framework of patient care is not a model that is congruent with the philosophy of traditional
patriarchal medicine.
23. You are admitting a patient who is terminally ill to the hospice facility where you work.
Part of the admission process is assessing the patient's spiritual strength. Which question would
you be sure to ask during the assessment of a patient's spiritual strength?
A) Do you have adequate family support?
B) How do you perceive yourself?
C) Have your spiritual beliefs and values changed since you became ill?
D) How does your family perceive you?

Ans: C
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: C
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Easy
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 7
Page and Header: 105, Spirituality and Spiritual Distress

Feedback: The nurse assesses spiritual strength by inquiring about the patient's sense of
spiritual well-being, hope, and peacefulness and assesses whether spiritual beliefs and values
have changed in response to illness or loss. Inquiring about family support and how the family
perceives the patient are not assessments of the patient's spiritual strength. The patient's
self-image is also not an assessment of the spiritual strength of the patient.

24. A young woman comes to the clinic where her primary care provider (PCP) works. She
asks to speak with the nurse. The patient says she has just come from the surgeon's office where
her PCP referred her and that the she has been told she is terminal. She says she felt she should
let her PCP know the results of her tests and that she has chosen to receive only palliative care
now. The woman is calm, smiles often, and exhibits no outward signs of anxiety. While speaking
with the nurse, the patient says that she needs to go home and talk to her family. The nurse asks
if she can do anything for the patient and is told by the patient “No, this will not be easy, I know,
but I am sure that my faith will not fail me.” What is the best way for the nurse to document the
patient's meeting with her?
A) “Patient feels that her physiologic condition will give her the strength to complete her final
tasks.”
B) “Patient feels that her spiritual belief will give her the strength to complete her final tasks.”
C) “Patient feels that her physical integrity will give her the strength to complete her final
tasks.”
D) “Patient feels that her congruent lifestyle will give her the strength to complete her final
tasks.”

Ans: B
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: C
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Easy
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 7
Page and Header: 105, Spirituality and Spiritual Distress

Feedback: Faith, considered the foundation of spirituality, is a belief in something that a person
cannot see. The spiritual part of a person views life as a mystery that unfolds over the lifetime,
encompassing questions about meaning, hope, relatedness to God, acceptance or forgiveness,
and transcendence. Nowhere in the scenario is it indicated that the patient feels her physiologic
condition, her physical integrity, or her congruent lifestyle will get her through this last part of
her life.

25. A 59-year-old man is being admitted to hospice care that will be given in his home. While
doing the admission assessment, the hospice nurse asks about the man's spiritual beliefs. The
man tells the nurse that he is of the Baha'i faith and that he is strong spiritually. What does the
hospice nurse realize about her patients' beliefs?
A) The spiritual beliefs of people and families are all basically the same and do not need
addressing.
B) The spiritual beliefs of people and families never cause tension and concern when a patient
is terminal.
C) The spiritual beliefs of people and families need to be acknowledged, valued, and respected.
D) The spiritual beliefs of people and families often cause misdirection and discomfort to those
who hold different beliefs.

Ans: C
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: C
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Moderate
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 7
Page and Header: 105, Spirituality and Spiritual Distress

Feedback: It is important that the spiritual beliefs of people and families be acknowledged,
valued, and respected for the comfort and guidance they provide. The spiritual beliefs of patients
and their families are not basically the same, and they do need to be addressed. Spiritual beliefs
can cause tension and concern among family members when a family member is terminal.
Spiritual beliefs do not generally cause misdirection of family members who do not subscribe to
the beliefs. They can, however, cause discomfort to family members who hold different beliefs.
26. The nurse is caring for an elderly man who has just been diagnosed with Alzheimer's
disease. This man does not communicate with his family or his care providers easily. The nurse
knows the best plan of care would emphasize ways for the patient to
A) distinguish sources of pain.
B) talk about his life goals.
C) detect events that connect him with others.
D) verbalize feelings and fears.

Ans: D
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: C
Cognitive Level: Comprehension
Difficulty: Easy
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 8
Page and Header: 99, Mental Health and Emotional Distress

Feedback: Caring strategies emphasize ways for the patient to verbalize feelings and fears and
to identify sources of anxiety. The part of the care plan pertaining to communication would not
emphasize distinguishing sources of pain. Finding ways for the patient to talk about his life goals
and to verbalize his feelings and fears would be addressed, but the best plan of care would not
emphasize these interventions.

27. You are caring for a patient diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. The patient's anxiety has
led to social and emotional isolation. The patient tells the nurse that he is now in danger of losing
his job because of their high levels of anxiety. What are the priorities of care for this patient?
A) Learning his anti-anxiety drug regimen
B) Use of relaxation techniques
C) Communicating his sources of anxiety with his supervisor
D) Notifying family members of an impending job loss

Ans: B
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: C
Cognitive Level: Comprehension
Difficulty: Easy
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 8
Page and Header: 99, Mental Health and Emotional Distress

Feedback: All nurses must be vigilant about patients who worry excessively and deteriorate in
emotional, social, or occupational functioning. The need to teach and promote effective coping
abilities and the use of relaxation techniques are the priorities of care. Therefore options A, C,
and D are incorrect.

Multiple Selection

28. The initial assessment of a patient has many aspects. What types of information would the
nurse illicit during an initial assessment? (Mark all that apply.)
A) Instituting nursing interventions
B) Identifying treatment protocols
C) Identifying substance abuse problems
D) Directing treatment protocols
E) Need for referrals

Ans: B, C, E
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: D-4
Cognitive Level: Comprehension
Difficulty: Moderate
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 8
Page and Header: 103, Mental Health and Emotional Distress
Feedback: Health care professionals are in pivotal positions to identify substance abuse
problems, institute treatment protocols, and make referrals. Option A is incorrect: it is not
obtaining information; it is beginning the use of nursing interventions. Option D is incorrect
because it is also not obtaining information; it is managing the patient's treatment protocols.

Multiple Choice

29. You are caring for a 49-year-old mother of three teenagers. Your patient has been
diagnosed with pancreatic cancer that has already spread throughout her body. The patient tells
you that her family is already experiencing difficulties because her husband has lost his job and
her sister's family has been staying with them for a month since losing their home in a fire. As
the nurse, what do you know about family participation in this patient's current health situation?
A) The family's stability lies in its numbers.
B) The person who will participate most in the current health situation is the patient's sister.
C) The loss of the husband's job does not impact the current health situation.
D) The family may require additional assistance before they can become involved in the current
health situation.

Ans: D
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: D-4
Cognitive Level: Comprehension
Difficulty: Easy
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 6
Page and Header: 103, Family Health and Distress

Feedback: The family with preexisting problems may require additional assistance before
participating fully in the current health situation. Option A is incorrect because nothing in the
scenario indicates that the family becomes more stable as it gets larger. Option B is incorrect
because the scenario does not indicate who will participate most in the patient's health situation.
Option C is incorrect because the husband's loss of his job and the resultant financial effects will
impact the current health situation.

Multiple Selection

30. You are a nurse working on a hospice team. The team is admitting a patient with a
diagnosis of stage IV colon cancer. What are the functions of the health care team? (Mark all that
apply.)
A) Facilitating the construction of a social support system
B) Continually assessing the occupational environment
C) Developing interventions created to handle the stressors
D) Implementing specified treatment protocols
E) Directing multigenerational task assignments

Ans: A, C, D
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: D-4
Cognitive Level: Application
Difficulty: Moderate
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 6
Page and Header: 104, Loss and Grief
Feedback: Ideally, the health care team conducts a careful and comprehensive family
assessment, develops interventions tailored to handle the stressors, implements the specified
treatment protocols, and facilitates the construction of social support systems. Assessing the
occupational environment and directing multigenerational task assignments are not functions of
the health care team.

Multiple Choice

31. The nurse caring for a 44-year-old female patient becomes concerned about the patient's
ineffective coping behaviors. What behavior exhibited by the patient would indicate to the nurse
that the patient is coping ineffectively?
A) Spiritual fulfillment
B) Compassionate caring
C) Denial and blaming
D) Severe family conflict

Ans: C
Chapter: 7
Client Needs: C
Cognitive Level: Comprehension
Difficulty: Easy
Integrated Process: Nursing Process
Objective: 3
Page and Header: 104, Loss and Grief

Feedback: Often, denial and blaming of people occur. Sometimes, physiologic illness,
emotional withdrawal, and physical distancing are the results of severe family conflict, violent
behavior, or addiction to drugs and alcohol. Spiritual fulfillment and severe family conflict are
not behaviors so these options are incorrect. Compassionate caring is not a behavior that would
indicate ineffective coping.

32. A man comes to the clinic complaining of feeling “unhappy.” As the nurse caring for this
patient, what would you know happens as the patient's tension grows?
A) Coping behaviors improve
B) Social interactions become more important
C) Financial concerns become less important
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practicable, and after dark, some Swiss deserters coming out
through the openings, brought intelligence, that the streets of the
town behind the breaches, were retrenched and defended by
batteries.
Suchet’s hopes of an early termination to the siege now rose high.
He had from the first supposed, that the vehemence of the citizens,
and of the armed peasantry who had entered the place, would oblige
the governor to fight the town to the last, instead of reserving his
efforts for the defence of the citadel. He knew that armed mobs
easily excited, are as easily discouraged, and he projected to carry
the breaches briskly, and, with one sweep, to force all the inhabitants
into the citadel, being well assured that they would hamper, if not
entirely mar, the defence of that formidable fortress: but he resolved
first, to carry the forts of San Fernando and the Pilar and the horn-
work of Fort Garden, lest the citizens, flying from the assault of the
breaches, should take refuge on that side. To effect this, three
columns, provided with ladders and other necessary implements,
simultaneously mounted the hill of Afranius that night; one marched
against the redoubts, and the others were ordered to storm the horn-
work on two sides. The Pilar was carried without difficulty, and the
garrison flying towards Fort Garden, fell in with the second French
column, which arrived with the fugitives at the ditch of the horn-work,
and being there joined by the third column, which had taken a wrong
direction, the whole mass entered the place fighting. The Spaniards
saved themselves in Fort Garden, and meanwhile the people in
Fernando resisted desperately, and that redoubt was not taken until
two-thirds of the defendants were put to the sword. Thus the French
effected their object with the loss of a hundred men.
During this operation the great batteries only played into the
citadel, but, at daybreak, renewed their fire on the breaches; steps
were also cut in the parallel, to facilitate the advance of the troops to
the assault; and all the materials, necessary to effect a solid
lodgement on the walls, were conveyed into the trenches. On the
other hand, the Spaniards were preparing a grand sally, to retake the
horn-work of Fort Garden, but the French arrangements being first
completed, at seven o’clock, in the evening of the 13th, four shells
were thrown as a signal, and the storming-parties, jumping out of the
trenches, rushed towards the breaches, two advancing against the
Carmen, a third attacking the Magdalen, and a fourth, moving close
by the river, endeavouring to break in on that side. The Spaniards,
unexpectant of the attack, at first permitted the French to mount the
breaches unmolested; but, soon recovering, poured such a fire of
musquetry and artillery upon the head of the principal columns that
they staggered, yet, being encouraged by general Habert, finally
forced their way into the town; and, at the same moment, the troops
on the right and left, being also successful, turned all the
retrenchments in the streets. On the other side of the river, general
Harispe carried the bridge, and Suchet himself, with the reserve,
followed close upon the steps of the storming-parties; the Spaniards
were thus overpowered, and the regular troops commenced a retreat
into the citadel.
It was now that the French general put his design in Suchet’s Memoirs.
execution. Harispe’s brigade passing the bridge, made
for the gate of St. Anthony, looking towards Fort Garden, and cut off
all egress from the town; and this done, the French columns
advanced from every side, in a concentric direction, upon the citadel,
and, with shouts, and stabs, and musquetry, drove men, women, and
children before them, while the guns of the castle smote friends and
foes alike. Then, flying up the ascent, the shrieking and terrified
crowds rushed into the fortress with the retiring garrison, and
crowded the summit of the rock; but, all that night, the French shells
fell amongst the hapless multitude, and, at daylight, the fire was
redoubled, and the carnage swelled, until Garcia Conde,
overpowered by the cries and sufferings of the miserable people,
hoisted the white flag.
At twelve o’clock, the horrible scene terminated, and the
capitulation that followed was honourable in terms to the besieged;
but Fort Garden being included, Suchet became master of Lerida,
with its immense stores and near eight thousand prisoners, for the
whole loss of the garrison had been only twelve hundred men.
Thus suddenly was this powerful fortress reduced, by a
proceeding, politic indeed, but scarcely to be admitted within the pale
of civilized warfare. For, though a town, taken by assault, be
considered the lawful prey of a licentious soldiery, this remnant of
barbarism, disgracing the military profession, does not warrant the
driving of unarmed helpless people, into a situation, where they must
perish from the fire of the enemy, unless a governor fail in his duty.
Suchet justifies it, on the ground, that he thus spared a great effusion
of blood which must necessarily have attended a protracted siege,
and the fact is true. But this is to spare soldiers’ blood at the expense
of women’s and children’s, and, had Garcia Conde’s nature been
stern, he, too, might have pleaded expediency, and the victory would
have fallen to him who could longest have sustained the sight of
mangled infants and despairing mothers.
C H A P. I V.
When Lerida fell, Conde was accused of treachery, but there
seems no foundation for the charge; the cause stated by Suchet is
sufficient for the effect; yet the defence was very unskilful. The walls,
on the side of the attack, could not be expected, and scarcely did,
offer an impediment to the French general; hence the citadel should
have been the better prepared, and, as the besiegers’ force, the
corps of observation being deducted, did not exceed the garrison in
number, it might have baffled Suchet’s utmost efforts. Engineers
require that the relative strength of besiegers and besieged, should
not be less than four to one; yet here the French invested a force
equal to themselves, and in a short time reduced a great fortress in
the midst of succouring armies, for Lerida had communications, 1º.
With the armed population of the high valleys; 2º. With O’Donnel’s
corps of fourteen thousand; 3º. With Cervera, where Campo Verde
was posted with four thousand men; 4º. With Tortoza, where the
marquis of Lazan, now released from his imprisonment, commanded
from five to six thousand; 5º. With Valencia, in which province there
was a disposable army of fifteen thousand regular and more than
thirty thousand irregular soldiers.
It is evident that, if all these forces had been directed with skill and
concert upon Lerida, not only the siege would have been raised, but
the very safety of the third corps endangered; and it was to obviate
this danger that Napoleon directed the seventh corps to take such a
position on the Lower Ebro as would keep both O’Donnel and the
Valencians in check; but Augereau, as we have seen, failed to do
this; and St. Cyr asserts that the seventh corps could never safely
venture to pass the mountains, and enter the valley of the Ebro. On
the other hand, Suchet affirms that Napoleon’s instructions could
have been obeyed without difficulty. St. Cyr himself, under somewhat
similar circumstances, blockaded Taragona for a month; Augereau,
who had more troops and fewer enemies, might have done the
same, and yet spared six thousand men to pass the mountains;
Suchet would then have been tranquil with respect to O’Donnel, and
would have had a covering army to protect the siege, and these
troops, fed from the resources of Aragon, would have relieved
Catalonia.
Augereau has been justified, on the ground, that the blockade of
Hostalrich would have been raised while he was on the Ebro. The
danger of this could not have escaped the emperor, yet his military
judgement, unerring in principle, was often false in application,
because men measure difficulties by the standard of their own
capacity, and Napoleon’s standard only suited the heroic
proportions. One thing is, however, certain, that Catalonia presented
the most extraordinary difficulties to the invaders. The powerful
military organization of the Miguelettes and Somatenes,—the well-
arranged system of fortresses,—the ruggedness and sterility of the
country,—the ingenuity and readiness of a manufacturing population
thrown out of work,—and, finally, the aid of an English fleet,
combined to render the conquest of this province a gigantic task.
Nevertheless, the French made progress, each step planted slowly
indeed and with pain, but firmly, and insuring the power of making
another.
Hostalrich and Lerida fell on the same day. The acquisition of the
first consolidated the French line of communication with Barcelona;
and, by the capture of the second, Suchet obtained large magazines,
stores of powder, ten thousand muskets, the command of several
dangerous rivers, easy access to the higher valleys, and a firm
footing in the midst of the Catalonian strong holds; and he had taken
or killed fifteen thousand Spanish soldiers. Yet this was but the
prelude to greater struggles. The Miguelettes supplied O’Donnel with
abundance of men, and neither his courage nor his abilities were at
fault. Urgel, Cardona, Berga, Cervera, Mequinenza, Taragona, San
Felippe Balaguer, and Tortoza the link of connexion between
Valencia and Catalonia, were still to be subdued, and, during every
great operation, the Partisans, being unmolested, recovered
strength.
Thus while the siege of Lerida was going on, the marquis of Lazan
entered the town of Alcanitz with five thousand men, and would have
carried the castle, but that general Laval despatched two thousand
men, from Zaragoza, to its succour, when the Spaniards, after a
skirmish in the streets, retired; and, while this was passing at
Alcanitz, Villa Campa, intercepted four hundred men conducting a
convoy of provisions from Calatayud to Zaragoza. Colonel Petit, the
commander, being attacked in the defile of Frasno, was forced to
abandon his convoy, and, under a continued fire, to fight his way for
ten miles, until his detachment, reduced to one hundred and eighty
wounded men, passed the Xalon river, and, at the village of
Arandiza, finally repulsed the assailants. The remainder of this
desperate band were taken or killed, and Petit himself, wounded, a
prisoner, and sitting in the midst of several Spanish officers, was
basely murdered the evening after the action. Villa Campa put the
assassin to death, but, at the same time, suffered the troops to burn
alive the Alcalde of Frasno, an old man taken among the French.
This action happened the day Lerida fell; and, the next day,
Chlopiski, following Villa Campa’s march from Daroca, reached
Frasno. The Spaniards were no longer there, and Chlopiski, dividing
his forces, pursued them, by the routes of Calatayud and Xarava, to
Molina, where he destroyed a manufactory for arms, and so pressed
the Spanish general, that his troops disbanded, and several hundred
retired to their homes. At the same time, an attack, made from the
side of Navarre, on the garrison of Ayerbe, was repulsed.
But these petty events, while they evinced the perseverance of the
Spaniards, proved also the stability of Suchet’s power in Aragon. His
system was gradually sapping the spirit of resistance in that
province. In Lerida his conduct was as gentle and moderate as the
nature of this unjust war would permit; and, however questionable,
the morality of the proceeding by which he reduced the citadel, it
must be acknowledged that his situation required most decided
measures, for the retreat of the seventh corps set free not only
O’Donnel’s army, but Campo Verde’s and all the irregular bands. The
Somatenes of the high valleys appeared in force, on the Upper
Segre the very day of the assault; eight hundred Miguelettes
attacked Venasque three days after; and Campo Verde, marching
from Cervera, by Agramunt, took post in the mountains of Lliniana,
above Talarn and Tremp, where great bodies of the Somatenes also
assembled.
Their plans were disconcerted by the sudden fall of Lerida; the
Miguelettes were repulsed from Venasque; the Somatenes defeated
at Tremp; and general Habert, marching from Balaguer, cut off
Campo Verde from Cervera, and forced him to retreat upon
Cardona. But, if the citadel of Lerida had held out, and O’Donnel,
less hasty, had combined his march, at a later period, with these
Somatenes and with Campo Verde, the third corps could scarcely
have escaped a disaster; whereas, now the plain of Urgel and all the
fertile valleys opening upon Lerida fell to the French, and Suchet,
after taking measures to secure them, turned his arms against
Mequinenza, which, by its situation at the confluence of the Segre
and the Ebro, just where the latter begins to be navigable, was the
key to further operations. The French general could not advance in
force against Tortoza, nor avail himself of the water-carriage, until
Mequinenza should fall.
Suchet’s activity was extreme; one detachment, sent the day after
the assault of Lerida, by the left bank of the Segre, was already
before the place, and general Musnier’s division, descending the
right bank of that river, drove in some of the outposts and
commenced the investment on the 20th of May.
Mequinenza, built on an elbow of land formed by the meeting of
the Segre and Ebro, was fortified by an old Moorish wall, and
strengthened by modern batteries, especially on the Fraga road, the
only route by which artillery could approach. A shoot from the Sierra
de Alcubierre filled the space between the two rivers, and narrowing
as they closed, ended in a craggy rock, seven hundred feet high and
overhanging the town, which was built between its base and the
water.
This rock was crowned by a castle, with a rampart, which being
inaccessible on two sides from the steepness, and covered, on a
third, by the town, could only be assailed, on the fourth, along a high
neck of land, three hundred yards wide, that joined the rock to the
parent hills; and the rampart on that side, was bastioned, lined with
masonry, and protected by a ditch, counterscarp, and covered way
with palisades.
No guns could be brought against this fort, until the country
people, employed by Suchet, had opened a way from Torriente, over
the hills, and this occupied the engineers until the 1st of June.
Meanwhile the brigade, which had defeated Lazan, at Alcanitz,
arrived on the right bank of the Ebro, and completed the investment.
The 30th of May, general Rogniat, coming from France, with a
reinforcement of engineer-officers, and several companies of
sappers and miners, also reached the camp, and, taking the
direction of the works, contracted the circle of investment, and
commenced active operations.

SIEGE OF MEQUINENZA.

The Spaniards made an ineffectual sally the 31st; and, the 2d of


June, the French artillery, consisting of eighteen pieces, of which six
were twenty-four-pounders, being brought over the hills, the
advanced posts of the Spaniards were driven into the castle, and,
during the night, ground was broken two hundred yards from the
place, under a destructive fire of grape. The workmen suffered
severely; and, while this was passing on the height, approaches
were made against the town, in the narrow space between the Ebro
and the foot of the rock. Strong infantry posts were also entrenched,
close to the water, on the right bank of that river, to prevent the
navigation; yet eleven boats, freighted with inhabitants and their
property, quitted the town, and nine effected their escape.
In the night of the 3d the parallels on the rock were perfected, the
breaching-batteries commenced, and parapets of sand-bags were
raised, from behind which the French infantry plied the embrasures
of the castle with musketry. The works against the town were also
advanced; but, in both places, the nature of the ground greatly
impeded the operations. The trenches above, being in a rocky soil,
were opened chiefly by blasting; those below were in a space too
narrow for batteries, and, moreover, searched by a plunging fire,
both from the castle, and from a gun mounted on a high tower in the
town wall. The troops on the right bank of the Ebro, however, opened
their musketry with such effect on the wall, that a part of the garrison
quitted it; both it and the tower were then escaladed without difficulty;
and the Spaniards all retired to the castle. The French placed a
battalion in the houses, and put those next the rock in a state of
defence; and although the garrison of the castle rolled down large
stones from above; they killed more of the inhabitants than of the
enemy.
The 6th the French batteries on the rock, three in number, were
completed; and, in the night, forty grenadiers carried by storm a
small outwork called the horse-shoe. The 7th Suchet, who had been
at Zaragoza, arrived in the camp; and, on the 8th, sixteen pieces of
artillery, of which four were mortars, opened on the castle. The
Spaniards answered with such vigour, that three French guns were
dismounted; yet the besiegers acquired the superiority, and, at nine
o’clock in the morning, the place was nearly silenced, and the
rampart broken in two places. The Spaniards endeavoured to keep
up the defence with musketry, while they mounted fresh guns, but
the interior of the castle was so severely searched by the
bombardment, that, at ten o’clock, the governor capitulated.
Fourteen hundred men became prisoners of war; forty-five guns,
large stores of powder and of cast iron were captured, and
provisions for three months were found in the magazines.
Two hours after the fall of Mequinenza, general Mont-Marie,
commanding the troops on the right bank of the Ebro, marched, with
his brigade, against Morella, in the kingdom of Valencia, and took it
on the 13th of June; for the Spaniards, with a wonderful negligence,
had left that important fortress, commanding one of the principal
entrances into the kingdom of Valencia, without arms or a garrison.
When it was lost, general O’Donoju, with a division of the Valencian
army, advanced to retake it, but Mont-Marie defeated him. The works
were then repaired, and Morella became a strong and important
place of arms.
By these rapid and successful operations Suchet secured, 1º. A
fortified frontier against the regular armies of Catalonia and Valencia;
2º. Solid bases for offensive operations, and free entrance to those
provinces; 3º. The command of several fertile tracts of country and of
the navigation of the Ebro; 4º. The co-operation of the seventh
corps, which, by the fall of Lerida, could safely engage beyond the
Llobregat. But, to effect the complete subjugation of Catalonia, it was
necessary to cut off its communications by land with Valencia, and to
destroy O’Donnel’s base. The first could only be attained, by taking
Tortoza, the second by capturing Taragona. Hence the immediate
sieges of those two great places, the one by the third, and the other
by the seventh corps, were ordered by the emperor.
Suchet was ready to commence his part, but many and great
obstacles arose: the difficulty of obtaining provisions, in the eastern
region of Catalonia, was increased by O’Donnel’s measures, and
that general, still commanding above twenty thousand men, was
neither daunted by past defeats, nor insensible to the advantages of
his position. His harsh manners and stern sway, rendered him
hateful to the people, but he was watchful to confirm the courage,
and to excite the enthusiasm of his troop’s by conferring rewards and
honours on the field of battle; and, being of singular intrepidity
himself, his exhortations had more effect.
Two years of incessant warfare had also formed several good
officers, and the full strength and importance of every position and
town were, by dint of experience, becoming known. With these helps
O’Donnel long prevented the siege of Tortoza, and found full
employment for the enemy during the remainder of the year.
Nevertheless, the conquest of Catalonia advanced, and the fortified
places fell one after another, each serving, by its fall, to strengthen
the hold of the French, in the same proportion that it had before
impeded their progress.
The foundations of military strength were however, deeply cast in
Catalonia. There the greatest efforts were made by the Spaniards,
and ten thousand British soldiers, hovering on the coast, ready to
land on the rear of the French, or to join the Catalans in an action,
would at any period of 1809 and 1810, have paralized the operations
of the seventh corps, and saved Gerona, Hostalrich, Tortoza,
Taragona, and even Lerida. While those places were in the hands of
the Spaniards and their hopes were high, English troops from Sicily
were reducing the Ionian islands or loitering on the coast of Italy, but
when all the fortresses of Catalonia had fallen, when the regular
armies were nearly destroyed, and when the people were worn out
with suffering, a British army which could have been beneficially
employed elsewhere, appeared, as if in scorn of common sense, on
the eastern coast of Spain.
Notwithstanding the many years of hostility with France, the
English ministers were still ignorant of every military principle; and
yet too arrogant to ask advice of professional men; for it was not until
after the death of Mr. Perceval, and when the decisive victory of
Salamanca shewed the giant in his full proportions, that even
Wellington himself was permitted the free exercise of his judgement,
although he was more than once reminded by Mr. Perceval, whose
narrow views continually clogged the operations, that the whole
responsibility of failure would rest on his head.
C H A P T E R V.
Suchet’s preparations equally menaced Valencia, and Catalonia,
and the authorities in the former province, perceiving, although too
late, that an exclusive and selfish policy would finally bring the
enemy to their own doors, resolved to co-operate with the
Catalonians, while the Murcians, now under the direction of Blake,
waged war on the side of Grenada, and made excursions against the
fourth corps. The acts of the Valencians shall be treated of when the
course of the history leads me back to Catalonia, but those of the
Murcian army belong to the

O P E R AT I O N S I N A N D A L U S I A .

During the month of February, the first corps was before Cadiz, the
fourth in Grenada, Dessolles’ division at Cordoba, Jaen, and Ubeda,
and the fifth corps (with the exception of six battalions and some
horse left at Seville) in Estremadura. The king, accompanied by
marshal Soult, moved with his guards and a brigade of cavalry, to
different points, and received from all the great towns assurances of
their adhesion to his cause. But as the necessities of the army
demanded immediate and heavy contributions, both of money and
provisions, moveable columns were employed to collect them,
especially for the fourth corps, and with so little attention to discipline
as soon to verify the observations of St. Cyr, that they were better
calculated to create than to suppress insurrections. King Joseph’s
The people exasperated by disorders, and violence, Correspondence,
captured at
and at the same time excited by the agents of their Victoria. MSS.
own and the British government, suddenly rose in
arms and Andalusia, like other parts of Spain, became the theatre of
a petty and harassing warfare.
The Grenadans of the Alpujarras, were the first to resist, and this
insurrection spreading on the one hand through the Sierra de Ronda,
and on the other, towards Murcia, received succours from Gibraltar,
and was aided by the troops and armed peasantry under the
command of Blake. The communication between the first and fourth
corps across the Sierra de Ronda, was maintained by a division of
the former, posted at Medina Sidonia, and by some infantry and
hussars of the latter quartered in the town of Ronda. From this place,
the insurgents, principally smugglers, drove the French, while at the
other extremity Blake marching from Almeria, took Ardra and Motril.
The mountaineers of Jaen and Cordoba at the same time interrupted
Dessolles’ communications with La Mancha.
These movements took place in the beginning of March, and the
king and Soult being then in the city of Grenada, sent one column
across the mountain by Orgiva to fall upon the flank of Blake at
Motril, while a second moving by Guadix and Ohanes upon Almeria,
cut off his retreat. This obliged the Murcians to disperse, and at the
same time, Dessolles defeated the insurgents on the side of Ubeda;
and the garrison of Malaga, consisting of three battalions, marched
to restore the communications with the first corps. Being joined by
the detachment beaten at Ronda, they retook that post on the 21st of
March; but during their absence the people from the Alpuxaras
entered Malaga, killed some of the inhabitants as favourers of the
enemy, and would have done more, but that another column from
Grenada came down on them, and the insurrection was thus
strangled in its birth. It had however, sufficed to prevent the march of
the troops designed to co-operate with Suchet at Valencia, and it
was of so threatening a character, that the fifth corps was recalled
from Estremadura, and all the French troops at Madrid, consisting of
the garrison, and a part of the second corps, were directed upon
Almagro in La Mancha, the capital itself being left in Mr. Stuart’s
charge of some Spanish battalions in the invader’s Correspondence.
MSS.
service. The king then repaired to La Mancha, fearing
an offensive movement, by the Valencian and Murcian armies, but
after a time returned to Madrid. The duke of Dalmatia then remained
chief commander of Andalusia, and proceeded to organize a system
of administration so efficacious, that neither the efforts of the
Spanish government, nor of the army in Cadiz, nor the perpetual
incursions of Spanish troops issuing from Portugal, and supported by
British corps on that frontier, could seriously shake his hold, but this
will be better shewn hereafter; at present, it is more convenient to
notice.

THE BLOCKADE OF CADIZ.

Marshal Victor declining, as we have seen, an assault on the Isla,


spread his army round the margin of the bay, and commenced works
of contravallation on an extent of not less than twenty-five miles. The
towns, the islands, castles, harbours, and rivers, he thus enclosed
are too numerous, and in their relative bearings, too intricate for
minute description; yet, looking as it were from the French camps, I
shall endeavour to point out the leading features.
The blockade was maintained in three grand divisions or
entrenched positions, namely, Chiclana, Puerto Real, and Santa
Maria. The first, having its left on the sea coast near the Torre
Bermeja, was from thence carried across the Almanza, and the
Chiclana rivers, to the Zuraque, on a line of eight miles, traced along
a range of thickly wooded hills, and bordering a marsh from one to
three miles broad. This marsh, traversed in its breadth by the above-
mentioned rivers, and by a number of navigable water courses or
creeks, was also cut in its whole length by the Santi Petri, a natural
channel connecting the upper harbour of Cadiz with the open sea.
The Santi Petri, nine miles long, from two to three hundred yards
wide, and of depth to float a seventy-four, received the waters of all
the creeks crossing the marsh and was the first Spanish line of
defence. In the centre, the bridge of Zuazo, by which the only road to
Cadiz passes, was broken and defended by batteries on both sides.
On the right hand, the Caraccas, or Royal Arsenal, situated on an
island just in the harbour mouth of the channel, and on account of
the marsh inattackable, save by water or by bombardment, was
covered with strong batteries and served as an advanced post. On
the left hand the castle of Santi Petri, also built on an island,
defended the sea mouth of the channel.
Beyond the Santi Petri was the Isla de Leon, in form a triangular
island, the base of which rests on that channel, the right side on the
harbour, the left on the open sea, and the apex points towards
Cadiz. All this island was a salt-marsh, except one high and strong
ridge in the centre, about four miles long, upon which the large town
of La Isla stands, and which being within cannon shot of the Santi
Petri, offered the second line of defence.
From the apex, called the Torre Gardo, a low and narrow isthmus
about five miles long, connected the island with the rocks upon
which Cadiz stood, and across the centre of this narrow isthmus, a
cut called the Cortadura, defended by the large unfinished fort of
Fernando, offered a third line of defence. The fourth and final line,
was the land front of the city itself, regularly and completely fortified.
On the Chiclana side therefore, the hostile forces were only
separated by the marsh; and although the Spaniards commanded
the Santi Petri, the French having their chief depôts in the town of
Chiclana, could always acquire the mastery in the marsh and might
force the passage of the channel, because the Chiclana, Zuraque,
and Almanza creeks, were navigable above the lines of
contravallation. The thick woods behind, also afforded the means of
constructing an armed flotilla, and such was the nature of the ground
bordering the Santi Petri itself, on both sides, that off the high road, it
could only be approached by water, or by narrow footpaths, leading
between the salt-pans of the marsh.
The central French or Puerto Real division extending from the
Zuraque on the left, to the San Pedro, a navigable branch of the
Guadalete on the right; measured about seven miles. From the
Zuraque to the town of Puerto Real, the line was traced along a ridge
skirting the marsh, so as to form with the position of Chiclana a half
circle. Puerto Real itself was entrenched, but a tongue of land four
miles long projected from thence perpendicularly on to the narrow
isthmus of Cadiz. This tongue, cloven in its whole length by the
creek or canal of Troccadero, separated the inner from the outward
harbour, and at its extreme points stood the village of Troccadero,
and the fort of Matagorda; opposed to which there was on the
isthmus of Cadiz a powerful battery called the Puntales. From
Matagorda to the city was above four thousand yards, but across the
channel to Puntales was only twelve hundred, it was the nearest
point to Cadiz and to the isthmus, and was infinitely the most
important post of offence. From thence the French could search the
upper harbour with their fire and throw shells into the Caraccas and
the fort of Fernando, while their flotilla safely moored in the
Troccadero creek, could make a descent upon the isthmus, and thus
turn the Isla, and all the works between it and the city. Nevertheless,
the Spaniards dismantled and abandoned Matagorda.
The third or Santa Maria division of blockade, followed the sweep
of the bay, and reckoning from the San Pedro, on the left, to the
castle of Santa Catalina the extreme point of the outer harbour, on
the right, was about five miles. The town of Santa Maria, built at the
mouth of the Guadalete in the centre of this line, was entrenched
and the ground about Santa Catalina was extremely rugged.
Besides these lines of blockade which were connected by a
covered way, concealed by thick woods, and when finished armed
with three hundred guns, the towns of Rota and San Lucar de
Barameda were occupied. The first, situated on a cape of land
opposite to Cadiz, was the northern point of the great bay or
roadstead. The second commanded the mouth of Guadalquivir.
Behind the line of blockade, Latour Maubourg, with a covering
division, took post at Medina Sidonia, his left being upon the upper
Guadalete, and his advanced posts watching the passes of the
Sierra de Ronda. Such was the position of the first corps. I shall now
relate the progress of events within the blockaded city.
The fall of the Central Junta, the appointment of the regency and
the proclamation for convoking the national Cortes have been
already touched upon. Albuquerque, hailed as a deliverer, elected
governor, commander in chief, and president of the Junta, appeared
to have unlimited power; but in reality, possessed no authority except
over his own soldiers, and he did not meddle with the administration.
The regency appointed provisionally and composed of men without
personal energy or local influence, was obliged to bend and truckle
to the Junta of Cadiz; and that imperious body without honour,
talents, or patriotism, sought only to obtain the Albuquerque’s
command of the public revenue for dishonest Manifesto.
purposes, and meanwhile, privately trafficked with the public stores.
Albuquerque’s troops were in a deplorable state; the Private
whole had been long without pay, and the greater part Correspondence of
Officers from
were without arms, accoutrements, ammunition, or Cadiz. 1810. MSS.
clothes. When he demanded supplies, the Junta
declared that they could not furnish them; but the duke affirming this
to be untrue, addressed a memorial to the Regency, and the latter,
anxious to render the Junta odious, yet fearing openly to attack
them, persuaded Albuquerque to publish his memorial. The Junta
replied by an exposition, false as to facts, base and ridiculous in
reasoning; for although they had elected the duke president of their
own body, they accused him amongst other things, with retreating
from Carmona too quickly; and they finished with an intimation, that,
supported by the populace of Cadiz, they were able and ready to
wreak their vengeance on all enemies. Matters being thus brought to
a crisis, both Albuquerque and the Regency gave way, and the
former being sent ambassador to England, died in that country some
months after of a phrenzy brought on, as it is said, by grief and
passion at the unworthy treatment he received.
But the misery of the troops, the great extent of the positions, the
discontent of the seamen, the venal spirit of the Junta, the apathy of
the people, the feebleness of the Regency, the scarcity of provisions,
and the machinations of the French, who had many favourers and
those amongst the men in power, all combined to place Cadiz in the
greatest jeopardy; and this state of affairs would have led to a
surrender, if England had not again filled the Spanish store-houses,
and if the Regency had not consented to receive British troops into
the city.
At the same time, general Colin Campbell (who had General Campbell’s
succeeded Sir John Cradock as governor of Gibraltar) Correspondence.
MSS.
performed a great service to his country, for, by
persevering negotiation, he obtained that an English garrison should
likewise enter Ceuta, and that the Spanish lines of San Roque, and
the forts round the harbour of Algesiras should be demolished. Both
measures were very essential to the present and permanent
interests of England; but the first especially, because it cleared the
neighbourhood of the fortress, and gave it a secure harbour.
Gibraltar, at this time, contained a mixed and disaffected population
of more than twelve thousand persons, and merchandize to the
value of two millions sterling, which could have been easily
destroyed by bombardment; and Ceuta which was chiefly garrisoned
by condemned troops, and filled with galley-slaves, and its works
miserably neglected, had only six days’ provisions, and was at the
mercy of the first thousand French that could cross the streights. The
possession of it would have availed the enemy in many ways,
especially in obtaining provisions from Barbary, where his emissaries
were exceedingly active.
General William Stewart arrived in Cadiz, on the 11th of February,
with two thousand men, a thousand more joined him from Gibraltar,
and the whole were received with an enthusiasm, that proved sir
George Smith’s perception to have been just, and that Mr. Frere’s
unskilful management of the Central Junta, had alone prevented a
similar measure the year before. The 17th of February, a Portuguese
regiment, thirteen hundred strong, was also admitted into the city,
and Spanish troops came in daily in small bodies. Two ships of war,
the Euthalion and Undaunted, arrived from Mexico with six millions
of dollars; and another British battalion, a detachment of artillery, and
more native troops, having joined the garrison, the whole force
assembled behind the Santi Petri, was not less than Official Abstract of
four thousand Anglo-Portuguese, and fourteen Operations at
Cadiz. 1810. MSS.
thousand Spaniards. Yet there was little of enthusiasm
amongst the latter; and in all this time, not a man among the citizens
had been enrolled or armed, or had volunteered, either to labour or
to fight. The ships recovered at Ferrol, had been transferred to
Cadiz, so there were in the bay, twenty-three men of war, of which
four of the line and three frigates were British; and thus, money,
troops, and a fleet, in fine, all things necessary to render Cadiz
formidable, were collected, yet to little purpose, because
procrastination, jealousy, ostentation, and a thousand absurdities,
were the invariable attendants of Spanish armies and governments.
General Stewart’s first measure, was to recover Matagorda. In the
night of the 22d, a detachment consisting of fifty seamen and
marines, twenty-five artillery-men, and sixty-seven of the ninety-
fourth regiment, the whole under the command of captain M’Lean,
pushed across the channel during a storm, and taking possession of
the dismantled fort, before morning effected a solid lodgement, and
although the French cannonaded the work with field-artillery all the
next day, the garrison, supported by the fire of Puntales, was
immoveable.
The remainder of February passed without any event of
importance, yet the people suffered from the want of provisions,
especially fresh meat; and from the 7th to the 10th of March, a
continued tempest, beating upon the coast, drove three Spanish and
one Portuguese sail of the line, and a frigate and from thirty to forty
merchantmen, on shore, between San Lucar and St. Mary’s. One
ship of the line was taken, the others burnt and part of the crews
brought off by boats from the fleet; but many men, and amongst
others a part of the fourth English regiment fell into the hands of the
enemy, together with an immense booty.
Early in March, Mr. Henry Wellesley, minister plenipotentiary
arrived, and on the 24th of that month, general Graham coming from
England assumed the chief command of the British, and immediately
caused an exact military survey of the Isla to be made. It then
appeared, that the force hitherto assigned for its defence, was quite
inadequate, and that to secure it against the utmost efforts of the
enemy, twenty thousand soldiers, and a system of redoubts, and
batteries, requiring the labour of four thousand men for three
months, were absolutely necessary. Now, the Appendix, No. 3,
Spaniards had only worked beyond the Santi Petri, Sect. 1.
and that without judgement; their batteries in the marsh were ill
placed, their entrenchments on the tongue of land at the sea mouth
of that channel, were of contemptible strength, and the Caraccas
which they had armed with one hundred and fifty guns, being full of
dry timber could be easily burned by carcasses. The interior
defences of the Isla were quite neglected, and while they had
abandoned the important posts of Matagorda, and the Troccadero,
they had pushed their advanced batteries, to the junction of the
Chiclana road with the Royal Causeway, in the marsh, that is to say,
one mile and a half beyond the bridge of Zuazo, and consequently
exposed, without support, to flank attacks both by water and land.
It was in vain that the English engineers presented plans, and
offered to construct the works; the Spaniards would never consent to
pull down a house, or destroy a garden; their procrastination,
paralized their allies, and would have lost the place, had the enemy
been prepared to press it vigorously. Nor were the English works
(when the Spaniards would permit any to be constructed) well and
rapidly completed, for the Junta furnished bad materials, there was a
paucity of engineer-officers, and, from the habitual negligence of the
ministerial departments at home, neither the proper stores, nor
implements had been sent out. Indeed, an exact history, drawn from
the private journals of commanders of British expeditions, during the
war with France, would show an incredible carelessness of
preparation on the part of the different cabinets. The generals were
always expected to “make bricks without straw,” and thus the laurels
of the British army were for many years blighted. Even in Egypt, the
success of the venerable hero, Abercrombie, was due, more to his
perseverance and unconquerable energy before the descent, than to
his daring operations afterwards.
Additional reinforcements reached Cadiz the 31st of March, and
both sides continued to labour, but the allies slowly and without
harmony, and, the supplies being interrupted, scarcity increased,
many persons were forced to quit Cadiz, and two thousand men
were sent to Ayamonte to collect provisions on the Guadiana. But
now Matagorda, which, though frequently cannonaded, had been
held fifty-five days, impeded the completion of the enemy’s works at
the Troccadero point. This small fort, of a square form, without a
ditch, with bomb-proofs insufficient for the garrison, and with one
angle projecting towards the land, was little calculated for resistance,
and, as it could only bring seven guns to bear, a Spanish seventy-
four and an armed flotilla were moored on the flanks, to co-operate
in the defence. The French had however raised great batteries
behind some houses on the Troccadero, and, as daylight broke, on
the 21st of April, a hissing shower of heated shot, falling on the
seventy-four, and in the midst of the flotilla, obliged them to cut their

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