Breaking up of the cantonments and march into Spain -- Battle of
Vittoria -- Lawrence's private performances in the fight -- Rout
of the French -- Fatal blunder on the part of the officers --
Lawrence refits himself with boots -- Buonaparte's carriage with
its contents captured -- A fine take of mutton -- A good meal and
night's rest after the battle -- Paddy's new ingredient for
dough-boys.
We lay quite inactive in our cantonments until May, when preparations
for the ensuing campaign commenced in good earnest; and about the
middle of that month we left Portugal, bidding adieu to that kingdom
for ever, for we now hoped that the enemy would very soon be compelled
to quit the two shattered countries of the Peninsula, where we had
done so much, and of late done it with such success. Much more yet,
however, we found had to be accomplished before that hope could be
fulfilled, as I am now about to relate to the best of my ability.
We first commenced our march in a northerly direction, crossing the
River Douro in Portugal; and after about a fortnight's procedure
through almost insurmountable difficulties we arrived at Zamora, a
town in Spain, situated not more than twenty miles from the Portuguese
frontier on the north bank of the said river. The enemy had been
occupying it lately, but had abandoned it on our approach, so from
Zamora we followed them to a place called Valladolid, about seventy to
eighty miles off, and thence to Vittoria, a still longer march of at
least a hundred and sixty miles, during which some slight skirmishing
took place between the retreating and pursuing armies.
On nearing Vittoria we came up with the main body of the French posted
on some admirable heights, which they had made great use of to prepare
for a stubborn resistance: they not only having the advantage of the
heights, but we the attacking party having to cross a river below by
means of only narrow bridges, which was a great impediment to our
progress.
We arrived and encamped here on the 20th of June. On reconnoitring the
enemy's strong position much doubt was entertained as to our success,
our army being much fatigued after its tedious march and likewise
being very short of provisions. This latter circumstance caused many
to set off that night in search of something to eat; but the only
thing I with several comrades could find was some broad beans, and
those we had to gather for ourselves: we got a good many, but we were
certainly not out for them more than an hour altogether, as nearly the
whole of my party had to go on duty that night, and as it happened at
the general's own quarters, which were in a house which had been
deserted by its inhabitants. We occupied a kind of outhouse adjoining,
and having lit a fire in the centre and found a kettle belonging to
the house, we set to work and cooked a quantity of wheat that we found
stowed away there, and on that made a very good night's meal. I
likewise preserved a quantity and put it into my knapsack for a
favourite comrade who had been left in camp in charge of our beans;
but when I returned I found I need not have done that, for he had had
just as good a meal off the greater part of the beans as we had off
the wheat.
Next morning orders came to fall in under arms ready to advance and
attack the enemy's strong position. Our division, together with the
Third and Seventh, was ordered to advance against the centre of their
lines, so we had to bundle the remainder of our beans into our
knapsacks, for to use my comrade's expression, "it went hard to have
to leave any tommy behind in such times as these." Before we could get
at the enemy we had to cross a narrow bridge, which gave us some
trouble owing to the enemy's cannon, which played pretty sharply on
us: and a shell pitching into one of our ammunition waggons, it
immediately blew up, carrying with it two horses and the unfortunate
driver. But once on the other side of the river and formed into line
we were up and at them in spite of a murderous fire which they kept up
from their cannon. We soon neared them, fired, and then charged, and
succeeded in driving the centre over the hill. A column of their body
still appeared on our right, and we immediately received orders to
wheel in that direction; but the sight of us, together with the play
of our artillery on them, was quite sufficient to make them follow
their centre over the hill, whither we pursued them, but were unable
to come up with them.
I came across a poor wounded Frenchman crying to us English not to
leave him, as he was afraid of the bloodthirsty Spaniards: the poor
fellow could not at most live more than two hours, as a cannon-ball
had completely carried off both thighs. He entreated me to stay with
him, but I only did so as long as I found it convenient: I saw, too,
that he could not last long, and very little sympathy could be
expected from me then; so I ransacked his pockets and knapsack, and
found a piece of pork ready cooked and three or four pounds of bread,
which I thought would be very acceptable. The poor fellow asked me to
leave him a portion, so I cut off a piece of bread and meat and
emptied the beans out of my haversack, which with the bread and meat I
left by his side. I then asked him if he had any money, to which he
replied no, but not feeling quite satisfied at that, I again went
through his pockets. I found ten rounds of ball cartridge which I
threw away, and likewise a clothes-brush and a roll of gold and silver
lace, but those I would not give carriage to. However, I found his
purse at last, which contained seven Spanish dollars and seven
shillings, all of which I put into my pocket except one shilling,
which I returned to the poor dying man, and continued on my way up the
hill.
There I saw a French officer come out of a low copse close by, and
instantly fired at him, but without doing him any mischief. He made
his way up the hill as quickly as possible, using his sword as a
walking-stick, but a German rifleman who had been on the look-out cut
off his communication and succeeded in taking him prisoner. I did not
take any further notice of him, therefore, but proceeded along with my
company still in pursuit of the French, who were retreating in all
directions in a very disorderly state.
We might have taken hundreds of them prisoners had it not been for
our officers, who in their flurry had mistaken them for Spaniards; for
Lord Wellington had previously ordered the Spaniards to wear a piece
of white substance round their left arm to make some distinction
between the French dress and theirs, which was very similar; but the
French had got knowledge of this, and a great number of them, who were
obliged in their hurried retreat and on account of the difficulties of
the road to pass near our lines, had adopted the Spanish white band.
Still we fired at them both with muskets and artillery; but when the
officers perceived the white on their arms, without bestowing any more
consideration as to whether they were the enemy or the Spaniards, they
immediately stopped us from doing so. As soon as the French in passing
observed this, they sunk into the valley and piled arms as if they
were allies; and directly an opportunity afforded itself, they again
took up their muskets and fired right into our lines, doing terrible
mischief.
I never in all the days of the campaign saw men in such a rage as ours
were with the officers. I really thought that some serious
consequences would ensue, but as it was, all fortunately passed off as
well as could be expected after such a mistake. For if this trick had
before been observed, we might have taken the whole body prisoners by
a direct movement of our right flank, as no other way lay open to
their retreat without their encountering great difficulties; but the
chance was now thrown away, and repairs could not be made of the
damage done; many in our line having lost their irrecoverable lives,
and others being more or less injured. We had only to make what
consolation we could from beholding the almost express pace of the
party as it retreated from where lay our comrades, either as groaning,
wounded, or shattered corpses.
After their signal defeat at Vittoria, scarcely anything was left open
to the French but to cross the Pyrenees into their own territory on
the other side. Numberless quantities of warlike instruments were
captured, such as cannons, muskets, cartridges, and all kinds of
ammunition, besides supplies for the army, food, clothing, and the
like, which were considering our need at the time of great benefit to
the Allies.
I myself had my feet new rigged after this affair, and it was
certainly not before I wanted a covering for them; there was certainly
a part of the upper leathers of my old pair of boots left, but the
chief part of the sole was my own natural one belonging to my foot. I
had some little difficulty in procuring them, however; I happened to
see a shoe-wagon that had been captured from the enemy and was being
fast emptied by a number of our men, so I asked the captain to let me
fall out, as my shoes wanted replenishing. He only answered, "No, not
until the enemy is fairly away, and then you may do as you please;" so
I had to disobey orders again, and on the next halt step off to the
wagon to see what I could find. There were, however, such a number on
the same errand that I began to despair of getting any boots, but at
length I succeeded in getting into the wagon, and I hove out a hundred
pairs or so to the mob, while I took up six or seven pairs for myself,
or rather some likewise for some of my comrades, in hopes of making
off with them quietly.
My hopes, however, were far from being fulfilled, for no sooner was I
off the wagon, than I was completely smothered with parties that
wanted and craved for boots equally with myself; so I had to let all
my lot go, finding that I could not get clear, and got back into the
wagon. Then I threw out another stock to the barefooted mob, and
replenished my own lot, this time, however, only getting five pairs,
and of these I did not succeed in getting off with more than three
after all.
I made back to my company thinking to be unobserved, but in that I was
again mistaken, for the captain himself seeing me called out, "You
will disobey orders then, will you? and what are you going to do with
all those shoes?" I told him I was going to put on a pair as soon as
possible, to which he replied, "Very well, sir, mind you give the rest
to your comrades;" which I did, as that had been my intention from the
first; if not, I should not have troubled to get more than one pair,
as on such marches as ours it was not likely that any man would care
to carry a change in boots, or of anything else but food, which,
though seldom denied to us, was more seldom obtained.
At Vittoria, too, Buonaparte's carriage was captured with some ladies
in it. The French army had retreated to Pampeluna, so Lord Wellington
sent a sergeant and twelve men under a flag of truce to escort these
ladies into the French camp at that place, in return for which
Buonaparte behaved very well, for he gave the sergeant a doubloon and
each of the men one-half of that sum, and had them escorted out of his
lines by a French officer.
Our army meanwhile pursued the enemy until night put an end to our
proceedings, when we encamped two or three miles west of Vittoria,
there remaining two nights and one day busily engaged on the forage
for ourselves. Happily thousands of sheep were found, that the enemy
had been obliged to abandon on their retreat. I had been fortunate
enough to get one and bring it into camp, and was proceeding to kill
it by putting my bayonet through the neck, when Lieutenant Kelly of
our company happening to pass, "Hullo, Lawrence," he said, "you seem a
capital butcher." I said, "Would you like a piece of it?" "I certainly
should very much," he answered, "for I am devilish hungry;" so I took
out my knife and cut off one of the quarters just as it was, without
even skinning it, and gave it to him, saying, "There, sir, you must
skin it yourself." He thanked me and said, "Never mind the skin, I
will manage that."
Not only myself, but several of my comrades had likewise managed to
get a share of these sheep, so that night a general cooking ceremony
commenced: our first movement being to go round and gather all the odd
sticks we could lay our hands upon, including gates, doors, chairs,
tables, even some of the window-frames being knocked out of the many
deserted houses and gathered together in one heap for this great
purpose; and in a very short time both roast and boiled mutton were
seen cutting about in all directions. Nor had we altogether forgotten
our former experience of the beans which were growing plentifully at
that time and place, and we found that night's meal as good a one as
we had tasted for some weeks past. After it was over we lay down for
the night,--a body picket having previously been sent out to guard
against any surprise from the enemy; but we lay very comfortable
without being disturbed the whole night, and as our fires did not
cease burning we kept very warm as well.
Next day was likewise chiefly spent by those off duty in search of
food, some returning with one or more of such articles as wheat flour,
cabbages, turnips, carrots, and beans. A fellow-corporal of mine
seeing this, and neither of us having been out, said, "Lawrence, I'll
go and try my luck too, and if the drums should beat for orders, you
go and get them for me, and then we can share the profits of my
search." I consented, and he soon went, and was gone for at least two
hours before he returned loaded with his findings, having taken his
shirt off and tied the sleeves and collar up, and then filled his
impromptu sack quite full. He had evidently carried his burden no
small distance, for on his return the perspiration was running down as
big as peas. "Tare an' 'ounds," poor Paddy said, for he was an
Irishman, "I've got a fine lot of flour, but am as tired as a dog, and
as hungry as a hunter." "Well done, Burke," said I, for that was his
name, "we will soon have a blow out of dough-boys and mutton."
I accordingly got a tin dish which I took from a Frenchman at
Vittoria, and having filled it with our supposed flour, I poured some
water on it, intending to make some balls of dough for the pot; when I
suddenly found Paddy had been making a great mistake and that it was
nothing more or less than lime that he had brought instead of flour. I
said, "I'll be bothered if you haven't brought home lime for flour;"
but Paddy would not believe it, saying it was the best white flour,
till I told him to come and see it boiling and smoking in the pot,
which quite confounded him, and taking up the remainder in his shirt
he hove it out, saying, "Well I'm blessed, comrade, if I ain't off
again, and I'll take good care not to come back again this time till I
have some good flour."
He had been gone about an hour when he returned with at least half
his shirt full, for he had got on the same scent as a great many who
had been before him and were now fast returning already loaded. I then
commenced making the dough-boys by mixing a little salt and water with
the flour, and put them into a kettle swung over a fire on two sticks
placed perpendicularly on each side with a cross-bar on the top,
gipsy fashion, and by night our supper was hot and well done. As is
perhaps well known, dough-boys cannot be very greasy without fat or
suet of any kind, but they were quite passable in the hungry state we
were then in, and as we had no bread, we used some more of the mutton
to help them down. Our fires were then made up the same as the night
before, and at the proper time we again retired to rest comfortably
and were soon lost in a profound slumber.