The fortress of San José had surrendered, or rather the French had
entered it when their artillery had reduced it to powder, and all of
its defenders had fallen, one by one, to lie among its fragments. The
Imperial soldiers, on entering, found heaps of bodies and stones matted
together with blood. They could not establish themselves there because
they were flanked by the batteries of Los Martires and the Botanical
Garden, so they continued operations by mining, in order to possess
themselves of those two points. The fortifications which we held were
so nearly destroyed that a general agreement was urgent, and the
terrible orders, calling upon all the inhabitants of Saragossa to work
in renewing them. The proclamation said that every citizen should carry
a gun in one hand and spade in the other.
The twelfth and thirteenth were without rest, the fire diminishing a
little because the besiegers, warned by sad experience, did not wish
to risk any more hand-to-hand conflicts. Understanding that theirs was
a work of patience and skill, rather than of boldness and bravery,
they opened slowly, and with security, roads and mines which should
lead to the possession of the redoubt without loss of men. It was
almost necessary to build our walls anew, or rather to substitute sacks
of earth for them, an operation in which many friars, canons, civil
officials, children, and women were occupied. The artillery was almost
useless, the fosse about filled up, and it was necessary to continue
the defence at short range. And so we wore through the thirteenth,
protecting the works as we rebuilt them, suffering much, and seeing
ourselves constantly decreasing in numbers, although new men came to
take the places of the many that we lost. On the fourteenth the enemy's
artillery tried to demolish our new walls, opening breaches for us on
the front and at the sides. They did not dare to try a new assault,
contenting themselves with opening a mine in such a direction that
we could not in any way cover it with our fire, nor with that of any
battery near by.
Our valorous tantalizing earthworks would soon be covered by the
fires of the French batteries, which were hurling to the four winds
the earth of which they were formed. In this situation, surrender
was inevitable sooner or later. Indeed we were at the mercy of the
French arms as a ship at the mercy of the waves of the ocean. Flanked
by roads and zig-zags, through which a strong and clever enemy might
walk without danger, protected by all the resources of science, our
bulwarks of defence were like one man surrounded by an army. We had
no serviceable cannons, nor could we bring other new ones, because
the walls would not have borne them. Our only resource was to keep
watch of the redoubt in order to fly from it at the moment when the
French should enter and destroy the bridge, in order to prevent them
from following us. This was done; and on the night of the fourteenth
they worked without rest on the mine, and we placed small mines at the
bridge, hoping that the following day the enemy would try to mount by
that wall. But this did not happen. Not daring to make another assault
without all the precautions and security possible, they continued
their work of digging very nearly up to our fosse. In this labor our
indefatigable fusileers did them little damage. We were desperate, but
without power to do anything. Our desperation was of no avail; it was
a useless force, like the rage of a lunatic in his cage.
We drew out the nails from the tablet which proclaimed ours to be the
unconquerable redoubt, in order to take away with us that witness
of our justifiable arrogance. At nightfall the fortification was
abandoned, only forty remaining to keep it until the end, and shoot all
they could, as our captain said that no chance might be lost to lose
the enemy a couple of men. From the Torre del Pino we saw the retreat
of the forty at about eight o'clock in the evening, after they had met
the invaders with bayonet-thrusts; they retreated fighting bravely.
The interior mine of the redoubt had had little effect, but the small
mines of the bridge acquitted themselves so well that the passage was
destroyed and the redoubt isolated from the other bank of the Huerva.
Gaining this position and San José, the French would have enough
protection to open their third parallel and to demolish at their
leisure the whole circuit of the city. We were saddened and just a
little discouraged; but of what importance is a little depression when
on the day following one has a diversion and a feast? After being madly
discouraged, a little jollity does not come amiss, especially when
time is wanting to bury the dead; nor was there room in the houses for
the many who were wounded. It is true that there were hands for all
that had to be done, thanks be to God.
The reason for the general rejoicing was that glorious rumors were
in circulation of Spanish armies that were coming to succor us, on
the heels of the French, in many parts of the Peninsula. The people
crowded into the Plaza de la Seo, and in front of the Magdalene arch,
waiting until the "Gazette" should appear; and at last it came out,
cheering everybody's spirits, and making all hearts palpitate with
hope. I do not know if such rumors had really reached Saragossa, or if
they originated in the wits of the chief editor, Don Ignacio Assor.
It is certain that they told us in print that Reading was coming to
succor us with an army of sixty thousand men, that the Marquis of
Lazan, after routing the mob in the north of Catalonia, had entered
France, spreading terror in every direction, and that also the Duke
del Infantado was coming to our aid, who with Blake and la Romana had
routed Napoleon, slaying twenty thousand men, including Berthier, Ney,
and Savary, and that at Cadiz had arrived several millions in hard cash
sent by the English for the expense of war. What did it all mean?
Could the "Gazette" explain all this?
In spite of the size of these mouthfuls of rumor, we swallowed them;
and there were demonstrations of joy, ringing of church bells, running
through the streets, and singing the music of the jota, with many other
patriotic excesses, which at least had the advantage of affording
us a little of that cooling off of our mental temperature which was
necessary. Do not believe that in consideration of our joy the rain of
bombs had ceased! Very far from that! They seemed to jeer at the news
of our "Gazette," as they repeated their dose. Feeling a lively desire
to laugh at them to their faces, we went to the walls. The musicians of
the regiments played in a tantalizing fashion, and we all sang in an
immense chorus the famous words,--
"The Virgin del Pilar says
She wouldn't like to be a Frenchwoman!"
They were in a mood for answering jests, and in less than two hours a
greater number of projectiles were sent into the city than during all
the rest of the day. There was now no longer a secure refuge; there
was not a hand's breadth of ground or of roof free from that Satanic
fire. Families fled from their homes, or took refuge in the cellars.
The wounded, who were numerous in the principal houses, were carried
to the churches, seeking shelter in their strong vaults. Others went
dragging themselves along. Some more active ones carried their bedding
upon their shoulders. Most of them were accommodated in the Pilar;
and after the floor was all filled, they were stretched out upon the
altars and crowded into the chapels. In spite of their misfortunes,
they were consoled by looking at the Virgin, who seemed to say to them
unceasingly with her brilliant eyes that she would not care to be a
Frenchwoman!