THE RETREAT CONTINUED.
On this hill the artillery attached to the reserve were embattled; the
95th Regiment were drawn up in line on either side, and one company
advanced in loose order to cover the front. The road itself was now
occupied by the 28th Light Company, close to the guns, being the only
bayonets present. From this position the road descended suddenly in
semicircular direction down to the bridge which separated us from
Constantino, a village built on the slope of another hill beyond the
stream. To arrive at this further hill the road from the bridge assumed
a winding, zigzag course. Against our position on this side of the
stream the enemy’s light troops continued to advance, and became warmly
engaged with the company of the 95th thrown forward. But on their heavy
column coming up and gaining a full view of our position, they came to
a halt, which continued for some time--a most fortunate circumstance,
for at this juncture the main body of the reserve were passing over the
bridge and wending their way up the zigzag road leading to the summit
of the hill on the opposite bank, on which, as soon as gained, they
were placed in position by Sir John Moore himself. Had the enemy’s
heavy column, who were close behind their skirmishers, pushed gallantly
forward, which they would have been fully borne out in doing from
their numbers, they must have forced our guns and the 95th down to the
bridge, and by occupying the near bank of the stream, which was very
high, they would have been enabled to fire within pistol-shot into the
retiring columns, and this must have caused the greatest confusion and
loss.
[Sidenote: FIGHT AT A BRIDGE.]
Having at length gained confidence from increasing numbers or feeling
ashamed to delay their attack, the column, doubling its skirmishers,
moved forward at the very moment when, the reserve having gained the
opposite bank, our guns were withdrawn and passed us in a sharp trot
down towards the bridge. The 95th and the light company now began
also to withdraw, but scarcely had we left the position which we held
when the French cavalry occupied it. Their numbers were every moment
increasing, but, knowing that our guns had not as yet gained the
opposite ridge, we retired with measured step. During our movement
towards the bridge the cavalry frequently evinced an inclination to
charge the light company on the road; but seeing the beautiful manner
in which the 95th retired, close on either flank of the road, through
thickly planted vineyards, amongst which a horse could scarcely move,
and knowing the murderous fire which that gallant corps would have
poured forth had the cavalry attacked the light company, who with stern
aspect were prepared to receive them, the horsemen declined to give us
the honour of a charge.
We now approached the bridge; and the 95th, closing from the flanks,
came on to the road, which here narrowed and wound so suddenly towards
the bridge and so close, that, the bank being much above its level, it
lay concealed until approached within a few yards. The light company
now halted, and forming across the road as deep as our strength
permitted, faced the cavalry. They also halted; and the 95th, favoured
by the sudden turn, wheeled round and quickly crossed the bridge
unperceived. We now fully expected that the affair would terminate
in a trial of bayonets and sabres; but although the cavalry seemed
preparing for a charge, yet, doubtful as to our true position and not
knowing what had become of our guns or of the 95th, and dreading an
ambuscade such as was prepared for them in the morning, they hesitated
and remained firm. The light company now wheeled round, and with a
quick but orderly pace crossed the bridge unmolested. By this time the
reserve had occupied their new position. The bank, which we had just
gained, was lined down to the water’s edge by the 95th and other light
troops, the end of the bridge strongly defended, and our guns admirably
posted.
All this preparation was closely seen by the enemy, and yet it was
only now that they came forward in force and resolute in attack; in
fact, the warfare at the bridge seemed a revival of that courteous
chivalry renowned in olden times, when the advancing army delayed their
attack until their opponents should be prepared to resist the assault.
As their dense column, preceded by the sharpshooters and cavalry,
pushed forward to assail the bridge, they suffered severely from our
guns, which being advantageously posted above them had open play and
beautiful practise at the column; and the sharpshooters and cavalry who
mounted the bridge were instantly shot, which caused all their attacks
to fail.
[Sidenote: FIGHTERS IN FANCY DRESS.]
On this day the whole reserve presented a rather curious appearance, in
consequence of their being partially clad with the raiment which they
had snatched from the Spanish carts the previous night. I recollect
that Lieutenant Cadell, of the 28th Regiment (now lieutenant-colonel),
cut a hole in a blanket, through which he thrust his head, and thus
marched the whole day. Being a tall man, a grenadier, his appearance
was afterwards called to mind when we saw the shepherds clad in
sheepskins crossing the Pyrenean mountains on stilts. But the light
company of the 28th Regiment, being better supplied, in consequence
of their nocturnal visit to the carts from Nogales, appeared more
diversified in their dress than any others. Gray trousers, blue
trousers, and white breeches were promiscuously seen. Some wore black
shoes, some white; and many there were who wore shoes of both colours.
This being the company whom the enemy had in view almost the whole
day, they may have been led to imagine that we were all mixed up with
the stragglers from Romana’s army. But their variety of dress affected
neither the resolution nor discipline of the reserve; and after three
successive rushes which the enemy vainly made, cavalry and infantry
uniting to force their way over the bridge, they returned each time
under a thorough conviction that they had been received by British
troops alone--British to a nerve.
The fighting at the bridge continued. About dusk the main body of the
reserve retired, leaving piquets and a strong supporting party to
defend the passage. The piquets maintained an incessant fire with the
enemy on the opposite end of the bridge so long as either party could
distinguish the other; darkness intervening, the firing ceased. After
remaining quiet for some time and lighting our fires, and no movement
being perceived on the opposite bank, the piquets and supports were
silently withdrawn about half-past eleven o’clock and followed the
track of the main body, whom we joined about dawn on march to Lugo.
This morning’s march was heavy; for the enemy’s cavalry alone having
come up and keeping rather distant, the men complained of not having
an enlivening shot to break the dreary monotony. However, we were soon
gratified by seeing the whole British army in position about three
miles in front of Lugo.
We marched through the brigade of guards, who were for the most part
in their shirts and trousers, and in the act of cooking. All their
appointments swung airily from the branches of trees. As we passed,
some of the officers asked Major Browne if we had heard anything of the
French. “I’ll tell you what, my honest lads,” replied Browne, “you had
better take down your pipeclayed belts from those trees, put them on,
and eat your dinners, if you have any, as quick as you can; otherwise
you may not have an opportunity of finishing them.” The guards laughed
with an air of incredulity. We marched on, but had not proceeded half
a mile when we heard our guns, which were placed in the position
mentioned, open on the advancing enemy. We now laughed in our turn at
the guards, and continued our march to Lugo, where we arrived about two
o’clock in the afternoon.
[Sidenote: HALT AT LUGO.]
We were instantly ordered to commence pipeclaying our belts, and to
polish or clean every part of our appointments. This was considered
useless hardship; for grumbling at any orders, even supposed to come
from the Commander of the forces, was the order of the day, and few
considered that this very pipeclaying and polishing most powerfully
tended to restore that discipline throughout the army which was so
shamefully neglected during the march.
On the morning of the 7th we turned out at daybreak, although it rained
heavily, as clean as if we had just come out of our barrack-room in
Colchester, and marched as orderly into position in front of Lugo as
if crossing parade-ground in England. Here we remained the whole of the
7th and 8th to no purpose: for although Soult came up on the morning of
the former day, he merely made one or two demonstrations to feel our
strength and find out whether the whole British army were there or not;
and although he received a loudly affirmative answer wherever he moved,
yet from the morning until the night of the 8th the French army slept.
For, however active Soult was on the 7th in feeling his way along our
position, by which he sacrificed nearly four hundred men, on the 8th
not a shot was fired; and thus Sir John Moore evidently perceived that
it was not the French marshal’s intention to attack until he should be
joined by an overwhelming force, which he knew was fast approaching.
Nothing remained then for the British general but to retire. To attack
Soult commanding a stronger force than his own, and holding a stronger
position, would be preposterous; the most favourable result which could
occur would be to gain a victory, which, with a second stronger force
close by, would be worse than useless, as it would increase the delay
and consequently the peril. We had no hospitals, no transports for sick
or wounded, no magazines, no provisions, not even spare ammunition, and
not the shadow of an ally to support us.
Whatever Sir John Moore’s wishes as to fighting a battle at that period
of the campaign might have been, it is certain that he considered
a halt necessary to restore order and good conduct in the army. To
this effect the general issued a pungent order, censuring the want of
discipline among the men, and the neglect of those whose principal duty
it was to preserve it.
Having fully succeeded in restoring discipline, and in a great measure
remedying the immediate wants of the army, he determined without
further delay to continue his march to Corunna. The army therefore
retired from Lugo at half-past nine o’clock on the night of the 8th;
and had we had twelve hours of tolerably clement weather or even half
that time, our march would have been comparatively prosperous. But
fortune seldom favoured us; storms of sleet rain and wind immediately
assailed us on quitting our ground.
The reserve arrived without fail on the road leading to Corunna,
as was previously ordered, and was the only division, as well as I
recollect, who did arrive at the time appointed. The other divisions,
having missed their way, wandered about the greater part of the
night before they gained the road; therefore the reserve (the proper
rearguard) moved forward, but slowly, making frequent halts to await
the arrival of the misled divisions. Frequent halts and slow marching
between--always very detrimental to marching--was on this occasion
doubly harassing to the reserve. We felt all the fatigue and anxiety
of a rearguard, with most of our own troops behind us. On the approach
of any number of persons we were immediately on the alert, not knowing
whether to receive friends or resist foes. The night being pitch dark
and rainy, this continual halting and turning round was excessively
tormenting; and the men, from whom the true cause was kept concealed,
grumbled much at what they termed this cockney kind of marching, to
which they were not accustomed. Add to this that General Paget gave a
most positive order that no man should on any account whatever quit the
ranks or get off the road, not even during any of our halts. This may
appear harsh, but if the strictest discipline had not been maintained
in the reserve, the army would have been exposed to imminent danger.
Had the disgraceful scenes which occurred at Bembibre taken place now
in the reserve, with a veteran army close at our heels and commanded
by such an officer as Soult, the result must have been too evident to
require comment.
On the morning of the 9th the wandering divisions having come up, the
whole army halted for some hours in the rain, after which to our great
joy the main body, with the cavalry in their front, moved on, and the
reserve fell into its proper place, the rearguard. We allowed them
to get as far ahead as possible, and then again felt, as we had done
all through the retreat, a different corps and differently organised
from the other divisions; nor did we feel the same confidence in them,
except when drawn up before the enemy, when the general character of
British soldiers caused all distinctions to cease.
[Sidenote: AROUSING STRAGGLERS.]
But one of our greatest plagues was still to come. Some of the
divisions in front, instead of keeping together on the road during a
halt, which took place on the approach of the night of the 9th, were
permitted to separate and go into buildings; and on their divisions
marching off, immense numbers were left behind, so that when the
reserve came up we were halted to rouse up the stragglers. In many
instances we succeeded, but generally failed; we kicked, thumped,
struck with the butt ends of the firelocks, pricked with swords and
bayonets, but to little purpose. There were three or four detached
buildings in which some wine was found, and which also contained a
large quantity of hay; and between the effects of the wine and the
inviting warmth of the hay it was totally impossible to move the men.
And here I must confess that some even of the reserve, absolutely
exhausted from the exertions they used in arousing the slothful of
other divisions to a sense of their duty, and not having seen anything
so luxurious as this hay since the night of December 22nd (the one
previous to our march from Grajal del Campo), could not resist the
temptation; and in the partial absence of the officers, who were
rousing up other stragglers, sat and from that sunk down probably
with the intention of taking only a few minutes’ repose; yet they too
remained behind.
The division at this time were excessively harassed and fatigued. We
had formed an outlying piquet for the whole army on the night of the
7th at Lugo, all the other troops being put under cover. Our occupation
on the night of the 8th and the following day and night was still more
harassing; and here I must say that all our losses (those fallen in
action excepted) arose from our contiguity to the main body.
After having used every exertion to stimulate the stragglers to move
forward, we continued our march for about a mile and a half, and then
took up a position, thus affording support to the stragglers and
covering the army, who had previously marched into Betanzos, about
three miles distant.
During this disastrous march from Lugo to Betanzos more men had
fallen away from the ranks than during the whole previous part of the
campaign. The destruction of several bridges was attempted, but a
failure was the invariable result.
On the 10th the whole army halted. The main body remained in the town
of Betanzos; the reserve maintained its position in bivouac.
Directing our attention towards the stragglers as soon as day dawned,
we discovered them formed in tolerably good order, resisting the
French cavalry and retiring up the road to where we were in position.
General Paget saw the whole affair, and perceiving that they were
capable of defending themselves, deemed it unnecessary to send them any
support; but he declared in presence of the men, who from a natural
impulse wished to move down against the cavalry, that his reason for
withholding support was that he would not sacrifice the life of one
good soldier who had stuck to his colours to save the whole horde
of those drunken marauders who by their disgraceful conduct placed
themselves at the mercy of their enemies.
The stragglers by this time became formidable; and the enemy’s cavalry
having lost some men, and seeing the reserve strongly posted, declined
to follow further this newly formed levy _en masse_, who, true to their
system, straggled up the hill to our bivouac.
[Sidenote: BATTLE OF THE PANNIERS.]
This affair between the stragglers and the cavalry was termed by the
men the battle of the Panniers, from the following circumstance. A
soldier of the 28th Regiment, really a good man, who had the mule of
Doctor Dacres, to whom he was batman, having fallen in the rear because
the animal which carried the surgeon’s panniers was unable to keep up
with the regiment, stopped at the houses mentioned; and, getting up
before daybreak to follow the regiment he was the first to discover
the enemy as they advanced rather cautiously, no doubt taking the
stragglers for our proper rearguard. The doctor’s man shouted to the
stragglers to get up and defend themselves against the French cavalry;
but before they could unite into anything like a compact body, some
were sabred or taken. He then gallantly took command of all those who,
roused to a sense of danger, contrived a formation, until, to use his
own words, he was superseded by a senior officer, a sergeant, who then
assumed supreme command; upon which General Panniers, with his mule,
retired up the hill to where the reserve were posted. I understand
that the sergeant got a commission for his good conduct among the
stragglers; but the poor batman was neglected--a not unusual instance
of “Sic vos non vobis” in the British army.
[Sidenote: AMAZING LOOT.]
On the stragglers perceiving that they were no longer pursued by the
dragoons, they showed strong inclination to straggle anew and keep
aloof; but a strong piquet was now sent to meet them, not for their
assistance, but to prick them forward and compel them to close upon
the division. A guard was thrown across the road at the entrance to
our position, through which all the stragglers must pass. Each man as
he came up had his pack and haversack taken off and closely searched;
and all the money found upon them which it was fully ascertained
could have been acquired by robbery only was collected in a heap and
distributed among the men who never swerved from their colours, thus
rewarding the meritorious and well disciplined to the mortification of
those who disgraced their profession. The sum thus collected amounted
to a great deal; for many plunderers abandoned their ranks at an early
period of the retreat, contriving to keep between the reserve and
the other divisions, or keeping between the contending armies or on
their flanks. But it is totally impossible to enumerate the different
articles of plunder which they contrived to cram into their packs and
haversacks. Brass candlesticks bent double, bundles of common knives,
copper saucepans hammered into masses, every sort of domestic utensil
which could be forced into their packs, were found upon them without
any regard as to value or weight; and the greater number carried
double the weight imposed by military regulations or necessity. On this
day upwards of fifteen hundred robust marauders, heavily laden with
plunder, passed through the rearguard of the reserve. Those belonging
to the division were of course halted; but the great body were sent
under escort to Betanzos, there to be dealt with by their different
corps.