than that which has been described. General Dupont was esteemed the best
officer in the French army; yet he surrendered a most effective corps to
an army but just formed, and in part composed of inexperienced officers
and soldiers. The results were most fortunate for the Spaniards; the
kingdoms of Andalusia were freed from enemies, and their armies rendered
disposable for the other operations of the war.
About the time that Dupont had been detached to Cadiz, General Moncey
had been sent with 8,000 men to reduce Valencia to obedience; he marched
for that purpose from Madrid, and arrived without much opposition within
sight of the town.
Valencia is an old Moorish capital, surrounded by a very high wall, and
secure against a _coup de main_. Moncey determined to attack it; but,
without a battering train, he was reduced to the necessity of storming,
without having made any preparations for it. The assault was directed
against the southern gate, where the Spaniards had placed two guns, and
secured them by some works which were not easy to be carried; the troops
advanced from one of the streets of the suburbs, along which the Spanish
guns did great execution, and at last obliged Moncey to give up the
attempt, and retire with a considerable diminution of his numbers. The
Spanish corps that were without the town menaced his retreat and Moncey
was forced to march with great rapidity towards Alcira and St. Philippe,
to secure a passage by a different road from that by which he had
entered the kingdom. He was continually harassed, but he succeeded in
crossing the river Xucar, and afterwards retired to Madrid with about
half the corps he had originally taken from it.
The French were more successful in the battle of Rio Seco, mention of
which has already been made in the first pages of this work, yet they
were unable to follow up their successes; and the noble resistance of
Saragossa, under the directions of Palafox, obliged them to march a
considerable corps to besiege it.
The events of this campaign were so destructive to the enemy, that
Joseph resolved to quit Madrid, and seek a safer and more concentrated
position behind the Ebro. The first columns of his troops began to
retire from the capital upon the 30th of July, and it was totally
abandoned on the 10th of August; the siege of Saragossa was also raised,
and the head-quarters of the French armies were established at Vittoria.
Such was the state of things when Lieutenant General Sir John Moore was
ordered to carry the British army from Portugal to the assistance of the
Spaniards.
The Spanish troops were generally assembled in two great corps; the
left, under the orders of General Blake, in the provinces of Asturias
and Biscay; the right, along the south bank of the Ebro, at Logrono,
Tudela, &c., and under the command of Castanos; Palafox commanded the
army of Arragon; which, (although incorporated with that of Castanos),
yet yielded but an unwilling submission to his orders. The Marquis of
Romana, with the troops that had been withdrawn from Denmark, had landed
in Gallicia, and was moving forward to take the chief command of the
troops of Blake and the whole northern army.
Sir John Moore began his march from Lisbon on the 27th of October; he
determined to assemble his troops at Salamanca; but, from the
difficulties of roads, and of subsistence for the army, he was induced
to separate his corps, and to march them at distances so great from each
other, that they no longer were of any mutual support. The infantry
arrived in good order at Salamanca towards the end of November; but the
cavalry and artillery, which had moved within a few leagues of Madrid,
did not reach that place till three weeks or a month afterwards. Sir
David Baird was sent from England with a corps of 13,000 men to Corunna,
and was directed to place himself under the orders of Sir John Moore,
and effect his junction with him as early as possible. This officer met
with considerable obstructions from the Junta of Gallicia; he was, in
the first instance, refused the permission to land; and afterwards was
subjected to great inconvenience in provisioning his troops.
Soon after the arrival of Sir John Moore at Salamanca, he was apprized
that Buonaparte, with a large army, was already in Spain; and that his
first successes had been considerable; Sir John Moore seemed to think
them decisive.
The army of General Blake was beaten at Espinora de los Monteros on the
10th and 11th of November; and the battle of Tudela on the 28th put to
rout the army of Castanos. Sir John Moore had a most difficult card to
play. His army was not assembled, his cavalry and artillery had not
formed their junction, and a considerable distance divided him from the
corps of Sir David Baird. He resolved therefore to abandon offensive
operations, and directing this last-mentioned corps to retreat to Vigo,
and there embark for Lisbon, he himself prepared to retire into
Portugal. The direction of the French army upon Madrid changed, however,
Sir John Moore’s determination. He stopped the movement of Sir David
Baird, and ordered him to advance his corps to Benavente; from whence it
was his intention to combine an operation with the whole British force
upon the rear of Buonaparte.
General Soult commanded a corps of the French army upon the Carrion; Sir
John Moore determined to attack him, and moved forward with that
intention with the whole force under his command, which he had assembled
on the 20th of December at Mayorga, combined with the corps of Romana
upon his left. The British force amounted to 29,360 effective men. After
severe marches, Sir John Moore reached Sahagun on the 21st of December,
and prepared on the 23d to force the position of General Soult. He
received, however, information that Buonaparte was marching upon
Salamanca, and was seeking to surround his army. Sir John Moore
instantly gave up the offensive, and retired in the greatest haste upon
Benavente. When he arrived there, he found the advanced guard of
Buonaparte’s army at a short distance from the place; and on the 29th of
December, the British rear guard of cavalry distinguished itself in an
affair with the cavalry of the imperial guard.
The superiority of the British was manifest on this occasion; they had
in several preceding actions given samples of their bravery and good
conduct; Lieutenant General Lord Paget and Major General the Honourable
C. Stewart had led them on to the most decisive successes, and in an
affair at Sahagun, on the 21st of December, had almost annihilated a
regiment of French cavalry.
The fall of Madrid, after an inconsiderable resistance, had made a deep
impression upon the mind of Sir John Moore; he looked with despondency
upon the affairs of the Peninsula, after its surrender; and considered
the great cause of Spanish independence completely lost. He had made one
effort to relieve the southern provinces of Spain from the irruption
with which they were threatened; he succeeded in diverting it against
himself; and from that time he conceived that his first duty was to
withdraw from the country. With that view he commenced his retreat into
Gallicia; he at first determined to embark his army at Vigo; he
afterwards led it to Corunna. It had been expected that he would have
defended the strong ground he was passing over, but he continued his
retreat, and once only, on the 8th of January at Lugo, offered battle to
his pursuers[2]. The enemy was neither strong enough nor mad enough to
accept it; and after a retreat, the most disastrous for an unbeaten but
brave and gallant army that history records, Sir John Moore arrived at
Corunna on the 11th of January 1809. He took up a position in front of
the town to await the arrival of the transports; fortunately they were
not long delayed; they reached the harbour on the 14th; and Sir John
Moore prepared to embark his troops. Happily for the honour of the
British army, though we must lament the loss that ensued, the French
were too proud of the reputation they had gained against other armies,
to permit the embarkation to be unmolested. They attacked the British
corps, reduced by fatigue, by loss upon the march, by sickness, and by
the absence of its cannon, which was already on board the transports;
they attacked it when mustering only 16,000 men, placed in a bad
position, with its retreat cut off if beaten; yet they were completely
repulsed, with very severe loss, and a part of the position which they
occupied before the action, was carried at the point of the bayonet, and
maintained. The loss on the side of the British was considerable; Sir
John Moore fell in the arms of victory; he died a death worthy of the
character he had maintained through a long life of service and renown;
he fell by a cannon-shot while directing a charge against the enemy, and
commanded the respect, the admiration, and regret of his brother
soldiers and his countrymen. Sir David Baird was severely wounded, and
obliged to quit the field, and the command-devolved upon Sir John Hope.
This officer withdrew his troops from the position, and embarked them in
the course of the night and succeeding day; the rear-guard was commanded
by Major General Beresford, and the whole army was embarked without
loss, and sailed on the 17th of January; Thus ended the second campaign
in which the British troops had been engaged in the Peninsula. It would
be a melancholy task to canvass it throughout; the last action was
worthy of the men that have since delivered Spain from its merciless
invaders; but the movements which preceded it were far from being
generally approved. Great difficulties were indeed opposed to Sir John
Moore; but it would appear that in his own mind they were too highly
rated. He discharged his duty to his country, however, with his utmost
zeal. He died fighting to maintain its glory, and his name will ever be
ranked amongst its heroes.
Footnote 2:
One of the principal causes of the uninterrupted continuation of this
retreat was the total failure of the Commissariat in the establishment
of the Magazines which had been directed to be formed on the line of
march now pursued by the army.
During the period of Sir John Moore’s campaign in Spain, Sir John
Craddock had been appointed to the command of the British troops in
Portugal. Their number was small, and varied considerably during the
winter; some detachments which had been sent to Sir John Moore returned
without having effected their junction, and many stragglers and sick
from that army found their way into Portugal, and were formed into
battalions. The brigade under Major General R. Stewart was also
incorporated with the army under the orders of Sir John Craddock.
Before the retreat of Sir John Moore was known in England, a corps,
under the orders of Major General Mackenzie, had been sent to Cadiz,
with the view of being admitted as the garrison of that place. The
conduct of the Spaniards, in refusing to allow the British army to enter
Ferrol, although pressed by a superior enemy, made it necessary for the
Government of England to secure a point of safety for its fleet and
armies, before it could consent to the further co-operation of any
British force in Spain. It therefore required, as a condition to the
employment of an army for the defence of the southern provinces of the
Peninsula, that a British force should be admitted within the walls of
Cadiz. Much negotiation took place upon this point, but the Spanish
Government at last refused the permission, and thus put an end to the
proposed assistance of a British army.
The corps under Major General Mackenzie sailed from Cadiz to Lisbon, and
added to the force under Sir John Craddock.
After the evacuation of Corunna, by Lieutenant General Sir John Hope,
the French had entered it with two corps, those of Marshals Ney and
Soult; the latter was detached, about the beginning of February, to the
attack of Portugal. He succeeded, with little opposition, in occupying
the country to the north of the Douro. In Oporto, the Portuguese force
was collected to a considerable amount; but having neither discipline
nor regularity, it was unable to oppose more than a feeble resistance to
the French. Marshal Soult, who was anxious to strike terror amongst the
inhabitants of Portugal, permitted his soldiers, after storming the
town, and destroying an immense number of people, to continue their
cruelties during several days. The plunder of the place was accompanied
with every description of outrage; but the measure only succeeded in
increasing the detestation in which the enemy was held, without
effecting the subjugation of the country.
After the success of Buonaparte in the centre of Spain, and the
expulsion of the English army from Gallicia, General Victor had been
detached against the Spanish corps of General Cuesta, which was
quartered about Medellin. After some previous movements a general battle
was fought, in which the Spanish army was completely routed; it retired
to the mountains about Monasterio, where, with the assistance of the
reinforcements which were sent to it, it made head against the French
army. Victor at this time concerted with Marshal Soult, in Oporto, a
combined attack upon the unconquered provinces of Portugal. Soult was to
move through Coimbra, upon Lisbon; while Victor was to co-operate from
the Spanish frontier, through Portalegre, or Alcantara, upon Abrantes,
and from thence to march upon the capital. Sir John Craddock had
collected the British force, which had now become respectable from the
different reinforcements which had arrived, in positions in front of
Santarem, and upon the road to Coimbra, so as to be prepared to move
upon either of the two French corps, which threatened to advance upon
him. But on the 22nd of April, Sir Arthur Wellesley (who had been
selected for the command in Portugal) arrived with some reinforcements,
and assumed the direction of the army.
He decided to proceed instantly against the corps under Marshal Soult,
in Oporto. He left a division under Major General Mackenzie, with the
brigade of heavy cavalry under Major General Fane, at Abrantes, to watch
the corps of Marshal Victor: some Portuguese were placed to observe the
bridge of Alcantara, and with the rest of the army he proceeded to the
Douro. By the rapidity of his movement, Sir Arthur Wellesley
disconcerted the plans of the French; he drove their advance guard, in
three days, from the Vouga to Oporto, and arrived on the Douro, opposite
to that town, upon the 11th of May.
Sir Arthur Wellesley had detached Marshal Beresford, (who had lately
been appointed to the command of the Portuguese army,) to pass the
Douro, near Lamego, and to occupy Amaranthe; he had also directed
General Silviera with the troops under his command, to retain possession
of Chaves. By these movements he had hoped to enclose the French corps,
in the north of Portugal. On the morning of the 12th he determined to
cross the Douro, in face of the enemy, and to attack the town of Oporto,
although the bridge had been destroyed, and the boats (with the
exception of two that conveyed over the first soldiers) had been removed
to the opposite side of the river.
No operation could be more difficult, or require greater bravery in the
troops to execute, or talent in the general to combine; but complete
success attended it. Marshal Soult was surprised; the British army
passed the river in spite of every obstacle, and of the superior numbers
which were brought to overwhelm the first regiments that crossed; and
the French army was driven, with the loss of its sick and wounded, of
great part of its baggage, and of a considerable number of guns, from
the town of Oporto. Sir Arthur Wellesley pursued the French on the
following day; Marshal Beresford had driven them from Amaranthe; so
that, being pressed on all sides, they were obliged to abandon the whole
of their guns and baggage, and to fly the country by the mountain roads
to Orense; their rear was several times attacked, but the main body
could not be attained; and Sir Arthur Wellesley, unable any longer to
pursue an enemy who had abandoned every thing which constitutes an army,
and who fled without artillery, baggage, or equipment, halted on the
18th at Monte Alegre, and gave up the pursuit.
This short campaign, of only ten days, is perhaps the most brilliant
that ever has been executed. Marshal Soult, represented as the best
officer in the French army, had occupied the northern provinces of
Portugal, for upwards of two months; he had contemplated the entire
conquest of the country, and was employed in organizing the necessary
means. To defend himself from any attack, he had the Vouga, and the
Douro, both formidable rivers, and the advantage of the strongest
country in the Peninsula; he had a force equal in amount to the British,
or within very little of it, and in a state of superior military
organization. He had a perfect knowledge of the country; he commanded
its resources; and was in every way formidable from his talents and his
means. Yet the genius of Sir Arthur Wellesley deprived him at once of
the advantages of which he was possessed. In the space of four days he
was driven from Coimbra to the Douro; and in six days after, not having
had the time or opportunity of defending himself in a single position,
he was chased from the frontiers of Portugal.
The movements of the Portuguese about Chaves had disappointed the
expectations of Sir Arthur Wellesley, or his triumph would have been
more complete. He had entertained the hope of surrounding the French
army; but by the non-execution of a part of his plan the individuals who
composed it escaped; but there never was a more disgraceful escape; or a
retreat (if it deserve that name, and not a flight) more humiliating to
the officer who conducted it.
Lieutenant General Paget, who had displayed the greatest talent and
bravery in the attacks he conducted, with the advanced guard under his
command, before his arrival upon the Douro, passed that river with the
first company of the Buffs; and having most gallantly sustained the
desperate attack of the enemy upon the few troops under his orders,
which had as yet arrived upon the Oporto side of the river, was
unfortunately wounded in the arm, and suffered amputation. Major Hervey
also lost his arm, in a most gallant charge of the 14th light dragoons,
which he had led.
Whilst Sir Arthur Wellesley had been engaged in the pursuit of Marshal
Soult, Marshal Victor had made a movement upon the bridge of Alcantara,
and had threatened to enter Portugal in that direction; the bridge was
destroyed, and Marshal Victor made no further advance; but Sir Arthur
Wellesley, after making the necessary dispositions for the security of
the northern frontiers of Portugal, brought back his army to the Tagus.
The state of the French in the Peninsula, at this moment, was as
follows. Marshal Ney was at Corunna, Soult was retreating from Portugal,
and Mortier was at Valladolid; these corps together amounted to about
60,000 effective men, and kept the provinces of Gallicia, Asturias,
Biscay, and Castile, in tolerable subjection. There were other corps
employed in those provinces, but the amount of force of which we have
spoken, was to a certain degree disposable. In the centre of Spain,
Victor was at Merida; Sebastiani in La Mancha; and Joseph, with Jourdan,
at Madrid; their force amounted to 50,000 men; Suchet was at Saragossa,
in occupation of Arragon, with a corps of 20,000 men. The French force
in Catalonia was considerable, but, from the state of that province, it
could not be disposable for any offensive operations.
The distribution of the Spanish force was, General Cuesta at Monasterio,
with 40,000 men, mostly recruits; Vanegas, with 25,000 in the Carolina;
Romana, with 25,000 in different parts of Gallicia; and General Blake,
with 20,000 in Valencia. There were several other corps in different
quarters, of small amount, but which could not be considered as
efficient for the duties of a campaign. In Portugal, the army of Sir
Arthur Wellesley consisted of about 22,000 effective infantry, and 2,500
cavalry. The Portuguese, under Marshal Beresford, were as yet backward
in organization, but amounted to about 15,000 men, collected and ready
to take the field; besides the troops in garrisons, depôts, &c.
According to this estimate, the French had a force of 130,000 effective
men, while that opposed to them was about 150,000.
Sir Arthur Wellesley, upon his arrival on the Tagus, determined, if
possible, to liberate Madrid. To effect this object, he proposed to
bring the greater part of his own force, with that under General Cuesta,
and the corps under General Vanegas, amounting in the whole to near
90,000 men, to operate upon the forces of Joseph, Victor, and
Sebastiani, estimated at 50,000. He proposed to leave Marshal Beresford,
in conjunction with the Duke del Parque, to watch Soult, from the
neighbourhood of Ciudad Rodrigo; and he hoped that the troops under
Romana would give sufficient employment to Marshal Ney, in Gallicia.
During the month of June, Victor, (in consequence of the successful
operations of Sir Arthur Wellesley against Soult, and his return upon
the Tagus) withdrew his corps from the neighbourhood of Monasterio,
crossed the Tagus at the bridge of Almaraz, and took up a position at
Talavera de la Reyna; General Cuesta followed him to that place, but
finding him in position, retired to Almaraz, where he remained, with his
advance corps, under the Duke of Albuquerque, at Arzobispo. Towards the
end of the same month, Marshal Soult arrived with the corps under his
command, at Puebla di Senabria, from whence he marched to Zamora and
Salamanca.
In this state of things, Sir Arthur Wellesley (after having received the
most distinct declarations from the supreme Government of Spain that his
army should be supplied with provisions) advanced on the 25th and 26th
of June, from Abrantes, towards Placencia. Marshal Beresford moved at
the same time to the neighbourhood of Ciudad Rodrigo. Sir Arthur
Wellesley went on the 12th to the head-quarters of General Cuesta, at
Casas del Puerta, near the bridge of Almaraz, to concert with him the
operations of the campaign. He proposed as the first object, to occupy
in strength the positions of Baños and Bejar, which commanded the only
road from Upper Castile into Estremadura, and the country about Coria,
and Placencia. Sir Arthur Wellesley, (aware that his own army was the
only one that was efficient for the operations of a campaign,)
recommended that a corps of Spaniards should be destined for this
service.
It has since been known, that amongst the numberless intriguers who at
this moment sought to disunite the counsels of the allies, one of the
most busy had awakened the jealousy of General Cuesta upon this point,
and had represented to him, that the English general, with a view of
weakening the Spanish force in the field, would recommend him to make a
considerable detachment from his army. When the recommendation was
given, therefore, General Cuesta was convinced that the information he
had received was correct; and from the violence of his own nature, could
not easily repress his resentment at a proposal, which he thought was
intended to reduce his army, for the purpose of diminishing his share of
glory in the expulsion of the French from Madrid; a result which he
anticipated from the movements about to be carried into execution.
General O’Donaju, the adjutant-general of the Spanish army, prevailed
upon him, however, to agree to the arrangement, but General Cuesta never
carried it fairly into effect. The small force he afterwards sent to
Bejar was incompetent to any resistance, and was totally unprovided,
even with ammunition.