The March commenced—Scenes on the Road—Villa Dalla—Toro—Castro
Monte—Palencia—Prospects of a General Action—Skirmishing—Massa.
Head-quarters, Civil Department,
Torre de Moncorvo, May 27, 1813.
MY DEAR M——,
We here halt a-day; on the 22nd, about twelve, I arrived at
Almeida—that heap of ruins—and turned out, by the authority of the
Governor, two Portuguese officers, to get one miserable room as my
quarters. Colonel Le Mesurier, the late governor, was too ambitious
a man to remain inactive, shut up in Almeida during a campaign. He
therefore applied for a brigade in the Portuguese service, and,
though he could not obtain it, gave up his government to command a
regiment. I met him at the gate on his way to Miranda de Duero to
join his division. The new Portuguese governor was just moving, but
as he had not yet got into the present government-house he gave us
up all the great stable, which was very good, and he was in every
respect very civil and willing to do the most for us. In my way
here we had no particular adventures. By the aid of the Spaniard in
loading we have much less trouble, and I have always ridden on, and
got a quarter before the baggage arrived. My only companions were the
Paymaster-general, Hunter, and Mr. Whitter, and nine other clerks
with him, and the military chest, &c., and two or three commissariat
parties. The weather has been uniformly fine, and at times very hot.
We have daily been roused at five o’clock, and off at six, but have
nevertheless suffered from the heat, at times very much, before we
arrived at our station.
On the 23rd we left Almeida and descended to the Coa and passed it by
a very picturesque bridge, rendered more so from one stone arch having
been blown up, and repaired with wood in a rough style. After a mile
of steep ascent, we reached a lofty, rough, level common, in a wild,
uncultivated country, like Dartmoor; with the Sierra d’Estrella on
one side, still partly tipped with snow, and the ridge of hills and
Castello Rodrigo on the other. We passed Valverde,—a complete ruin
now—a village without one roof remaining! I was sorry to hear that
we had begun the destruction of it, and that the Portuguese soldiers
afterwards left very little remaining for the French to do. The next
village, Periero, was pleasingly situated, and we then soon got down
by a river, and observed Pinhel with its old Moorish tower, fort, and
walls, and a bishop’s palace, and a convent adjoining, a league before
us, on the brow of a hill. At Pinhel we were all fixed by the _Juez de
Fores_ in the bishop’s palace, and had a choice of large empty rooms
in this now uninhabited but lately handsome house. It was all tight,
and Mr. Hunter having a table by means of baggage, and tubs for seats,
we fared very well. The stables are magnificent, good ones for thirty
horses, and inferior for sixty horses more.
At Almeida there was no green forage to be had; we bought small
bundles of grass at about a shilling each in the grass-market for
our animals. At Pinhel we however got an order for green barley from
the Juge, twenty-eight pounds each animal for the day, and they all
fared so luxuriously that my black gentleman was the next day very
troublesome. In the bishop’s palace at Pinhel, the rooms formed a very
handsome suite round a square court in the centre; the hangings, &c.,
all removed, but the ceilings ornamented; the rooms well shaped, with
a tolerable garden adjoining; but the house standing exactly like the
Castle Inn at Marlborough, by the road side, at the end of the town.
The water is very bad, a nuisance from which we are, it seems, to
suffer much throughout the summer in Spain. Last year our men were
at times obliged to hold their noses when they drank. At the convent
adjoining the palace, which has been much damaged but not destroyed,
one or two monks still remained, and I met one as I wandered over the
building. He was very civil. The palace is now appropriated as barracks
for officers or troops as they pass. The bishop lives at another, at
Santa Euphemie, a league beyond Pinhel.
The castle is like all the Moorish castles I have seen here, with the
square smooth towers of well-cut hard stone, as sharp now almost as
when first built. In the castle lying about are four curious specimens
of old cannon, two ribbed, made of beaten iron bars and braced
together; one of them appeared to be hollow at both ends, and solid in
the middle. The other two a sort of mortar, something in the shape of
a very old-fashioned, clumsy earthenware jug, with a sort of handle to
raise and fix it for use.
At the convent was a small aqueduct of stone pillars across the garden,
to conduct a little stream of water to the monks’ habitations; the
stream was so small in the pipe that you could scarcely see it run at
all, but it was good, and ran constantly all the year, which, as the
only good water was a mile off in the river, was very valuable.
On the 24th, our party, consisting of the ten paymasters, three
commissaries, and myself, with about fifteen dragoons, and thirty or
forty horses, and about thirty or forty baggage animals, assembled at
five in the morning in the palace-court and marched onwards.
In less than a league we passed a very pretty village, called, I
believe, Valbom, and in another short league came to Euphemia, another
village, with rather a large but imperfect house where the bishop
resides now; and I believe he was there sitting in his shady colonnade.
In a short time we descended again and crossed the Lamego; here we all
dismounted, and let the animals graze on the banks, whilst we got some
bread and cheese. Half a league further on we turned up out of our
road to Cotimos, our destination for the night. It was a bad village,
but with a few houses formerly good and still tight. Mr. Hunter, Mr.
Whitter, and I, were in a fidalgo’s house, and tolerably comfortable,
though there was only an old woman there, but we had chairs and tables.
We made a great cup with the country wine, brandy, lemons, &c., and
were very well off for a dinner by the purchase of a leveret, eggs and
bacon, and mutton broth.
On the 25th left Cotimos; and about a league beyond we came to a
much better village, with two or three very good houses, of imposing
appearance. This was directly in our road, and would have been a better
division of the distance. After another league of excellent road we
passed Marialva, half a league on our left, a village, with another
Moorish castle. After another half league we came to the entrance of
a long winding descent of a mile and a half, which brought us into a
pretty vale, with another Moorish castle on the hill on our left; and
there we again ate and the animals grazed in the meadows near a little
stream. Thence we had a league and a half of excessively steep hill
to ascend until we got on the high level where stands Villa Nova de
Foscoa; this ascent at near one o’clock was tremendously hot work, and
very difficult for the baggage.
We here began to get into the army train. About twenty hospital waggons
were encamped on the hill near the town, and two troops of the waggon
train; and near them were about eighty ox-cars with bales of cloth done
up in a sort of sacks to fill with straw for hospital beds, &c. We here
got good quarters and tolerable fare.
On the 26th, leaving Villa Nova, we began immediately to descend a
winding road to the Douro; this was very fine, one of the best things I
had seen here.
I was off as soon after sunrise as possible to pass the ferry before
the military chest. I got down to the bank and found about eighty cars
drawn up to pass with ammunition, boards, planks, and beams, for the
repair of bridges, &c. Two at a time crossed in one boat; and there
was another for mules, &c. I stopped some Portuguese; and having
waited an hour for the baggage, who had loitered on the road when I
left them, we at last got on board this platform as close as we could
stick.—Mr. Hunter, and six other gentlemen, about a dozen servants,
seven stallions, three mares, and six loaded baggage mules. After some
kicking and confusion, we landed safely, and after a league of ascent
arrived at Torre de Moncorvo. Both banks of the river were covered on
the sides of the road with parties of artillery or baggage grazing,
&c.; some bivouacking, and others in camp. The scene was interesting,
except that I regretted the obligation of cutting so much of the corn
for green forage just as it was becoming ripe.
Here we found the same scene in all the environs; parties picketed and
bivouacking, and more artillery drivers; quarters very moderate; but
shops very decent; the town not destroyed, for the French have never
been here.
The great number of troops which have been quartered here on the march
has cleared most of the shops, and injured many of the buildings; even
here we cannot buy anything except honey, sugar, bacon, bread, and
cheese. The convent of Franciscans above the town is nearly entire, and
has two tolerable pictures—the altarpiece, and one in the refectory,
by Romano, the monks said, and from the style it may be so. There are
some houses here with the furniture remaining; that of the Capitan
Mor (the head inhabitant, and a colonel of militia) has painted coved
ceilings, and apricot-coloured silk hangings, with old-fashioned wooden
chairs and sofas, with bottoms to match the hangings. The church also
is handsome. The town is surrounded by hills like Bath, and yet we
ascended to it three miles from the Douro. I saw also something like
a female to-day, a smart, pretty Lisbon miss going to church—quite a
curiosity; and so, I believe, the inhabitants think. My old patrona (or
landlady) here came to tell me to look out of the window, as “The Lady”
was going by.
_Head-Quarters, Civil Department, Villa Dalla, May 29th, 1813._—On the
27th, the night before I marched from Torre de Moncorvo, we had some
heavy rain, which cooled the air, laid the dust, and made our journey
onwards much more agreeable.
On the 28th, the road to Lagouça was very rough and hilly, and the
distance four long leagues. The country is fine; the distance very
like parts of Somersetshire and Devonshire in its general features,
but the valleys are less rich, and there are some large pine-woods on
the hills. About half way we passed Carvacies, a large village; and
at the end of four leagues, Tornas, a poor place, where we had the
option of stopping, but preferred Lagouça. A part of the staff corps
were encamped near the pine-wood, with several cars and materials for
bridges. They are, I understand, about to lay down a bridge somewhere
on the Douro, very near that part, as a safe retreat in case of
accidents.
At Lagouça I got a tolerable quarter, and bed, at the padre’s. House
dirty only. I found books which he could not understand, and I believe
never looked at. There was the ‘Recopilacion of the Spanish Laws,’ a
book of authority in Spain. He asked me if it was mine—the authority
I acted from; had I known how to carry it I would have bargained with
him for it. There was also a Horace, Bourdaloue’s Sermons in Spanish,
and a few other sermons. He gave me some wine, and was very civil; and
honestly sent after me something that I left behind.
Within a mile of Lagouça, but out of the main road, you look down on
the Douro, which runs down in a deep rocky chasm, very fine and wild,
with a very picturesque convent, which was once Mas Bonito, half way
down on the Spanish side of the river, and the Spanish town of Miesa
above. The French had long been at these places, and had much injured
the convent; but had never got over, as there is only one little bark;
and the brave Portuguese had a sort of battery. The scene was very fine.
To-day (the 29th) I started again after breakfast (but before six
o’clock, being always called at four) for this place. The road was in
general good, though rather hilly and in parts boggy. We passed to
the left of Brosa; to the right of Majaduero, and near two or three
other villages. The country is finer, and still more approaching
Somersetshire. I have here, at Villa Dalla, got a decent quarter in a
great farm-house, where there are five or six beds about my room, which
has, however, only a door, no window or ceiling. In winter I should
have been starved; it is now well enough. I got a table and chairs,
and have bought one small fowl for a dollar, and two little chickens,
nearly as big as pigeons, all bone, for half a dollar. We get eggs,
and sometimes milk; and though this country has never seen the French,
the houses do not seem quite in a state of English repair. The whole
road is covered with marks of the encampments of troops, &c. The back
of the village Lagouça was just like a drawing of an Otaheite village,
and not much better, with bad thatch instead of tile, the general roof.
The villages, however, are numerous, and much more populous than in the
other parts of Portugal I have seen, and rather cleaner, being nearer
Spain. There was bread from Zamora in the market at Lagouça regularly
for sale.
_Miranda de Duero, May 30th._—I came on here to-day a very long
journey, meaning to have two days’ rest, but found Lord Wellington’s
head-quarters had passed through here this morning; that his lordship
left Salamanca yesterday, and was to be six leagues off in advance,
near the Esla, to-day, the 30th. The French absolutely ran away, near
Salamanca, and a small party were taken. Spanish head-quarters here
to-day, and all in confusion.
_Head-Quarters, Toro, June 3rd, 1813._—A day’s halt will enable me to
give you a few lines to let you know how we go on. The day I sent my
last from Miranda de Duero (May 30th), I learnt that head-quarters
were to be that day and the next at Carbajales, near the Esla, to
superintend one great object of the movement, the passage of the Esla,
a formidable river in a military point of view. Fearing to be left
behind, though without orders, I determined to march again the next
morning (31st), at four, six long leagues to Carbajales. I tried to
find the nearest road, the longest being round by Constantia, and,
though the best, I did not wish to go above a league out of my way. My
directions were to pass Yal d’Aguia, Aldea Nova, Fonfrio, and Vermilho.
I got right to near Fonfrio and then, through a wrong direction given
me by a little miss who sent me by mistake for Carvajosa, I found
myself two leagues out of my way at Pino, and had to cross straight
over the country for Vermilho. The consequence was that I arrived
late and tired at Carbajales, where head-quarters still remained, and
at last got a very bad quarter there, but a good stable, which General
Graham had just left.
In the evening of the 30th I went down part of the way to see the ferry
over the Douro at Miranda. The scenery was very fine, and very like
that at Lagouça; the river very deep and narrow, running violently
through a chasm of rocks not unlike Chedder cliffs in Somersetshire;
and the little ferry-boat almost invisible from above the road down and
up above three miles, though the real distance across seems not above
a quarter of a mile. Lord Wellington and a part of the staff only came
over there. Heavy baggage, printing-press, &c., were left with the
light division near Salamanca.
In my way to Carbajales, the road I kept near the Douro towards Aldea
Nova was very picturesque, but bad. For the rest of the way the road
became better, but the country was ugly, like Bagshot Heath, only
with several villages—and the mountains in Gallicia, still tipped
with snow, on our left, or nearly behind us. The morning of the day I
got to Carbajales (the 31st), the pontoon bridge was placed, and made
passable on the Esla, in less than three hours. The Hussars passed a
bad ford of above four feet water and bad bottom early in the day to
protect this operation, and two divisions of the army passed before
night and encamped. Lord Aylmer, who had forded in the morning to go
over and look about him, found the bridge ready, and the troops passing
as he returned. These were the pontoons which had travelled up from
Lisbon, and had been the cause of so much anxiety. About nine of them
were used, and the river about the width of the Thames at Windsor. This
being the state of things, the orders were to have all head-quarters’
baggage down at the water-side by six, and to get them over before the
other troops should arrive and the guns. As I had got into a quarter
with Spaniards, and they were lazy, I had some trouble to get mine
off, but succeeded at last, and afterwards rode with Lord Aylmer.
We soon fell into the train of head-quarters’ baggage, the whole of the
eighteen-pounders with their ammunition, &c., and one hundred and sixty
oxen and their spare horses; and also the whole of the fourth division
of the army—a train of three miles length in the whole. The scene
presented by the winding down the hill to the bridge, and the order
with which everything was managed, and the winding up the opposite
bank, was very interesting. We passed about eight o’clock, baggage and
all, and the guns and two more divisions of the army were safely over
before five o’clock in the evening, with baggage, &c. We then had about
three more leagues of a Bagshot Heath road, sand and pines, until we
suddenly came in sight of Zamora and the Douro. The latter is here
about as wide as the Thames at Kew Bridge, rather wider—more perhaps
as it is at Fulham. It winds along a large plain on the south side
under the ridge of higher ground to the north, on which, boldly and
well-placed, stands Zamora with its Moorish church.
The town pleased me much. It is nearly the size of Salamanca, and
having been much less destroyed, is, at present quite as good a town:
the convents alone have suffered and been gutted. Some of the French
had not left the place until the very morning our troops entered; the
greater part, however, went off the night before. The castle was rather
strong, and would, if defended, have delayed us two or three days,
but the garrison would have been sacrificed. It was fitted up very
regularly in the inside by the French for troops, places appropriated
for everything, with the names inscribed. There was also a large
foundling hospital, and a general hospital for the poor. In the former
were only about ten or twelve babies, and about sixteen children, for
they had now scarcely any funds. Nearly opposite was the general
hospital, with much space and good wards, but not above six or eight
sick, partly from the same reasons, and partly because the French had
only left the people the use of one small ward, and the room of the
intendant, and occupied the rest with their sick and wounded. They had
also now in this last retreat carried off all the linen, &c., and only
left bedsteads and bedding. They had not, however, done any wanton
mischief in Zamora when they left it this time.
The bridge is handsome, but in our retreat last year we blew up the
centre arch out of about a dozen; it had been repaired since with wood.
This the French had burnt, on the 30th, but by to-day it is repaired
and passable. The people received us very cordially, scattered roses
over our heads, cried _viva_, &c., and hung all their counterpanes and
the hangings of their rooms out of the windows. The lady at my quarters
embraced me, and was very kind, but—she was old. There was another like
a plump Englishwoman, to whom I passed on the compliment.
The people entertained Lord Wellington and the staff with a concert,
lemonade, and ices, &c. The former did not admire the time lost in
singing psalms to him, as he said. I met him in the evening, in his
Spanish uniform, riding down to the bridge to give directions. In the
morning he was on one side of the pontoon bridge, and Marshal Beresford
on the other. I almost knocked myself up running about to see Zamora,
for we were to march again next morning. I could not attend a little
dance given by Lord Wellington in the evening, and except for the iced
lemonade should have been in a fever. A thunder-storm in the evening
cooled the air, and a good bed made me ready again to march for this
place (Toro), five long leagues, the next morning, June 2nd. The French
having left Toro on the 1st of June, it became an object to take
possession, and open a communication with the light division, and the
second from Salamanca.
The road was admirable; a flat sandy level, by the river nearly all the
way, until we came to the ascent on which the town of Toro is placed,
standing still more boldly over the river than Zamora. The only village
we passed, and that a poor one, was Fresno; but we saw several on our
left, and across the river in the flat on our right.
Toro is very old, surrounded by ruined mud walls, and though it covers
much ground has not many good houses, and is not to be compared to
Zamora; there is, however, a market, with a little mutton and beef,
and vegetables, pork, eggs, &c. The Moorish church here is much
smaller than at Zamora, though that is not very large; there are a few
tolerable pictures in both. The castle here is stronger than the one at
Zamora, and appears almost new: it stands on the hill above the bridge,
and is rather formidable. The two centre arches of this bridge had been
blown up by us, repaired by the French with wood, burnt again by them
now, and is now being repaired again by us.
We passed, two miles from hence, the sixth division and the seventh,
taking up their encamping ground on a fine meadow by the river side,
near a small wood. It was a very lively scene, the men marching with
music, and as regular, without any disorder or loiterers, as if going
to a review; the whole in high order. Yesterday evening the light
division arrived from a place within three leagues of Salamanca, a
march of nearly eight leagues, and encamped in a meadow near the water
side, close to the bridge and ford opposite this town: they only left
six men behind in their march. This morning the horse, the baggage, and
the artillery, have all come over, passing by the ford; and though it
is both wide and deep, I believe without accident, except wet baggage.
The infantry crossed by ladders across the breach in the bridge—that
is, down one side, then up the other—one by one. They encamp at Morales
to-day. This was also a very interesting and animating scene from the
hill, which is a humble imitation of Richmond Hill in point of beauty.
The Hussars have commenced famously; they brought into Zamora an
officer of the 16th (French), and about thirty prisoners, whom
they dashed at, and knocked over in fine style, with little loss.
The officer came in here prisoner on horseback, which offended the
Spaniards, who were disposed to insult the prisoners, whom they dared
not fight, and who had been with them now nearly four years or more.
Yesterday the Hussars again came up with the 16th French cavalry and
some others; the latter had only a small bridge to pass which would
only carry four abreast. Two squadrons of the 10th formed and charged;
the French stood at first well, but were broken, and then formed again.
The 10th formed, charged again, and again broke the French; the latter
then still made another effort, but at last ran for the bridge. The
10th killed a few, and brought about a hundred and ninety prisoners in
here; no horses were taken. Twelve or fifteen men badly wounded were
left about two miles off, where it happened. Several of those who came
in here were much cut and wounded, covered with blood, wounds neither
washed nor dressed; but they were fine-looking men; their horses thin,
and smaller than ours. Another officer was taken, to whom I spoke.
He said he had advised that they should not remain on this side the
bridge, but his superior officer ordered otherwise, and afterwards ran
away when attacked. We lost a Captain, who was taken prisoner, and a
Lieutenant killed, both of the 10th; and about five or six men killed
and wounded. The Captain passed some way over the bridge, where the
French had artillery and infantry in force, and they came down and cut
him off.
The French had yesterday, I hear, nearly ten thousand men about five
miles off, and nearly thirty-eight thousand or more in the vicinity of
Valladolid. This made us halt to-day. The second division are still
between this and Salamanca, but are expected. The whole are now within
eight leagues of this, I believe; most of the divisions very close. The
Spaniards are near Benevente: Don Julian’s cavalry, between this and
Salamanca, have sent in about thirty prisoners and two officers here
to-day, who were marauding, I suppose. The French told the people here
that they were only moving to make room for other troops.
The Portuguese troops are generally in very high order, as well as
ours, quite as well clothed, and hitherto well in health, though they
bivouac when ours encamp, their Government not furnishing them with
tents. Yesterday was a pleasant cool day for a long march. I met Lord
Wellington again last night, walking about in his grey great coat
alone. We have a hundred pieces of field artillery with us, besides the
eighteen-pounders.
A French commissariat party were caught in a wine-house on the 1st of
June; one was brought in prisoner, and nine were killed in the house,
as they would not surrender.
Lord Wellington reviewed the sixth and seventh divisions near Morales
to-day. They did not perform well, and the poor aides-de-camp were
galloped all over the country in consequence: the Portuguese were
stupid.
_Head-Quarters, Castro Monte, June 5th, 1813._—On the 3rd, we started
for La Mota, three long leagues of good road. I was late, for my
careless fellows had allowed one of the mule-saddles to be stolen in
the night, and we were a long time getting off in consequence, and
vainly endeavouring to replace the loss; but upon the whole, when I
hear of all the sore backs, lost animals, &c., around me, I am lucky. I
looked at the two hundred French cavalry horses which were sold, with a
view to purchase one, but they were all half-starved, and the service
having seized upon the best hundred and fifty for Government, the
remainder, which were sold by auction, were most miserable.
The road from Toro was full of animation: it was one train of baggage
and soldiers the whole way, three leagues, as we are now in the midst
of the division. La Mota is a very good, large farming village,
in a productive corn country, and the quarters were very good in
consequence, the inhabitants being comfortable; the French, however,
who had left it the day before, had carried off all the bread and
fowls, &c. My landlord, Don Fernando Granado, was very gracious to
me. Lord Wellington was in a large and elegant palace of the Duke of
Berwick and Alva, and, in order to celebrate the King’s birthday, had
the band playing, &c.
At five this morning we marched for this place, three long leagues
again only. It is a miserable hole; with only eighty houses of all
sorts, and we require a hundred billets. Several are doubled up,
several are encamped, which, as we have now a thunder-storm and rain,
is not very agreeable. I have an humble quarter, with mules and all
close.
We had a hot but cheerful ride to-day, as we were in the midst of the
march. I first passed the Household Brigade; the Blues look very well,
the Life Guards fair enough; then the third division, then the fourth,
the seventh; I saw also the light division; five are within a league of
this. The second crossed the Douro yesterday, and are to-day about a
league on our right, under General Hill. I saw Picton with his, looking
tolerably well. The French left Madrid the 20th or 28th of May,
finally, and have by forced marches joined their army near here. The
French were off again yesterday from Valladolid and Tordesillas, and
were to be to-day at Duennas; it is thought they may stand at Palencia,
or near there; I suspect not, however, though we all wish they would,
and fight whilst our men are in health and spirits. I have just heard
that their right is at Placencia.
To-morrow we move for Amputia, a good town, it is said, five leagues
off. On our road to-day, about half way, we passed one of the
finest convents in Spain—La Espina—in ruins; situation good, domain
considerable; a large building, handsome, as far as it remains, but
the walls only are standing. Adieu: I shall finish and send this off
to-morrow.
_Amputia, 2 o’clock, 6th June._—I arrived here at ten, having left
Castro Monte at half-past five, and seen my baggage off, after
breakfast; of course I was up soon after three. The road was by a
bye-way over the common, but tolerably good, and covered with troops
and baggage the whole way, for the third, fourth, and light divisions
of infantry, with their baggage and artillery, head-quarters, the
Household Brigade, and the Hussars were all on our route, and passed in
their way; they are now in this neighbourhood.
We passed Villa Alba de Alcor, three leagues further; an old ruined
village rather, with a castle and walls all around, but nothing
particular; after that Villa Real, a little village, and then here.
This is a large old-fashioned town, with the houses in the streets
projecting, and standing on wooden pillars, so as to form covered
footways, a tolerably large church, and a castle nearly perfect,
where our police corps and the cavalry are quartered. The people are
apparently more cordial and zealous. I have been over the church, spire
and all, and castle, and have taken two sketches, for the rain has
made it rather cool and pleasant to-day. The country round this town
onwards, towards Sahagun, Placencia, &c., is a dead flat, covered with
villages and towns, but no trees. Another large castle on a hill, half
a league off, and on the whole rather striking.
The French left Palencia the day before yesterday, and are off again
in advance, with a good start. Report says they have also left Burgos
town, not the castle; they are seventy thousand strong, but think us,
we hear, too much for them, and are consequently retiring to strong
positions. By very long marches we might perhaps press them, and take
some prisoners, and part of the cattle and provisions they are carrying
off; but this might put our army out of the high order and condition it
is now in, and Lord Wellington does not seem to think this worth while
for such an object. So the Hussars and Household are both kept quiet
in this neighbourhood, and not sent in pursuit; indeed they could do
little without strong support.
_Head-Quarters, Amusea, June 9th, 1813._—Another halt to-day enables me
to proceed with my journal. The night I sent my last from Amputia, our
orders were to have all the baggage ready to start, at the end of the
town, by five o’clock on the following morning; and that I should fall
in, and proceed on the road towards Palencia, in the rear of the column
of the third division, but at the head of the baggage of all the light,
third, and fourth divisions. This was because the French had shown
twelve squadrons of cavalry at Palencia; and Colonel Waters who went
on there that day, could not enter, so that it was not certain that it
should be safe to give out in orders, “head-quarters, Palencia.” The
cavalry had marched early; and as they entered one end of Palencia at
about six in the morning, the last of the French were off at the other.
I passed the third and fourth divisions, went through Paradilla, and
entered Palencia with the light division. On getting my billet, I
wandered about to see all that was to be seen before my baggage came.
The city is old and curious, in size much about the same as Zamora.
Lord Wellington passed us on the road soon after six, and went on
through Palencia, some way, to reconnoitre.
We passed through a good open corn country until about a league beyond
Paradilla, and then descended a long hill, with a deep clay soil, into
the green and rich valley in which Palencia stands. The city appears
to great advantage surrounded with meadows, and some trees, but mostly
young ones. The Carrion is a respectable river, and we passed the canal
near it, about half a mile from the city, where a very considerable
paper manufactory remains unfinished; and the French having taken down
windows, mill-wheels, &c., for firing and shelter in their huts for
their bivouacs there the day before, the work will, I take it, be for
some time interrupted.
The bridges into Palencia were handsome and entire. The streets are
rather narrow, and the main one, the “Calle Mayor,” about a good
half-mile long, contains about three hundred houses, all old-fashioned,
and standing upon stone tall pillars over the footway, on each side,
with the shops under, like Covent Garden. The houses are in the old
style, like Exeter, or Chester, and Geneva; the streets badly paved,
with a most offensive gutter in the middle; the whole dirty. The
bishop’s palace is a large, plain, neat stone edifice, quite modern, of
1799, being built round a square, complete only on one side and a half
however, the rest being bare walls.
The cathedral is Gothic and very handsome, the arches lofty and rich;
but the custom all over Spain of having the choir in the centre, with
very high double screens, deprives you altogether of the fine main
aisle, so magnificent in our churches. This spoils the effect, though
the screens and sides of the choir in the centre were most richly
wrought, with Gothic masonry, like some of our monuments of Henry
VIIth’s time. The side-aisles above are left open, and as there is a
range of chapels the whole way down each side, and at the end, filled
with gildings, saints, and pictures, the whole striking. There were
also a few good pictures.
I afterwards went to the top of the spire, to survey the town,
villages, and roads around. On my return, I was sorry to find orders to
march again for this place, Amusea, next morning.
The town was all hung with counterpanes on our arrival, which made it
look gay, and the people cheered us much. The general cry, however, is
everywhere, “_Viva Espana!_” though there is scarcely a Spaniard to be
seen in our line of march. Now and then, however, we hear, “_Vivan los
Ingleses!_” and “_Los Portugueses!_” or “_Las tres naciones aliadas!_”
The Portuguese are in the highest order, the men really look at least
equal to ours, better than some; the officers are well dressed and gay,
and have the advantage of language; the infantry and the Caçadores
in particular. The whole army marches very fresh hitherto, but the
Portuguese in particular: they come in even to the last mile singing
along the road. The cavalry are not nearly so good, and, I suppose, are
not much to be trusted. From what passed last year near this place,
when they turned short round and ran away, they are called the Vamuses,
for they ran off with a general cry of “Vamus!” Their infantry are
termed Valorosas, from their having hugged and cheered each other early
in the war, when they had for the first time behaved well and beat off
the French, each patting the other on the heart, and saying, “_Mucha
valorosa!—Mucha valorosa!_”
I hope the latter will support their name; and indeed they are disposed
to do so, for we have put so much beef into both men and officers,
that they are quite different animals, and will not submit at all to
what they used to do, even from the English.
Our horses finished the half-eaten meal of the French, and I believe
that has been all they have left behind for us hitherto; not a store of
any kind, sick man, or anything else, has been discovered at Valladolid
or anywhere; they must have been well-prepared for this plan.
The young avenues of trees round the town suffered a little by the
French bivouac; and our men laid waste many a field of wheat in their
march and for forage. The former is particularly wrong, being quite
unnecessary, and merely to save perhaps a few hundred yards, or to get
before others a little. I was glad to see General Picton stop a party,
and about to punish them on the spot. The taking the wheat for forage
is also very bad, for the commissaries regularly buy a field at each
place, and allow us to take each our proportion, cutting the whole
fairly and properly; whereas the fellows who go and steal, cut patches
all about, and tread down more than they cut.
King Joseph left Torquemados, three leagues on the right, the day
before yesterday, and it is said, peeped in again afterwards. The last
French troops left it yesterday at five in the morning, and I believe
General Hill’s head-quarters were there afterwards from Duennas.
Castanos and his Spaniards are on our left all the way; they came by
Benevente across the Esla and so towards Carrion. Their head-quarters
were yesterday, I believe, at Villoldo, on our left. The Life-Guards
and Blues looked well on their entrance into Palencia, and on their
march yesterday the former, however, seem dull and out of spirits,
and have some sore backs among their horses. The Blues seem much more
up to the thing, but they are neither of them very fit for general
service here. Lord Wellington saves them up for some grand coup, houses
them when he can, and takes care of them. To be sure, if many of the
French cavalry are like some specimens we have seen, particularly two
deserters yesterday, who were on ponies I could almost jump over, one
of our Householders must upset them like an elephant, if they come
fairly in contact.
A French officer, a deserter (the third officer), came in two days
since, with a pretty woman, daughter of a General, with him; he calls
her his wife. Another starved scullion came here yesterday, and says he
is an officer, and has some papers, but I think he stole them. He is a
little dirty beast, in rags and without uniform. The cavalry who have
been taken and deserters are quite new-clothed, and the men very fine;
the last who has come in is a Fleming, and had they not persuaded him
to enter our corps of guides, I should have taken him as a groom, and
bought his pony.
Tamarra, a village a league from this, was deserted by the inhabitants,
with their provisions; the French, in consequence, made an example
of it, and it is as bad as the Portuguese villages now, almost a
heap of ruins. Indeed, all the houses and villages on the high road
to Torquemada have suffered terribly, and the villages generally are
now becoming worse, more dirty, and _à la Portuguese_. I hear this is
now the case all round Burgos, and till we get across the Ebro, if we
are destined to do this. We are eleven leagues now from Burgos. The
weather has been cool and excellent for the march this last week, and
rain often in the night; it has now rained the last sixteen hours,
and I hope will be fine again for the march to-morrow. I dined with
Lord Wellington yesterday, for the first time on the march, and gave
him your Roman Catholic book, with the lists of their schools and
establishments in England. He looks well, but anxious, as you may
suppose just now, for a false step may be fatal. All prospers hitherto.
The eighteen-pounders are near, the twenty-fours still at Corunna,
and if wanted will, I suppose, go round by sea to St. Andero. For the
present, adieu.
_June 11th, Head-Quarters, Castrogores._—The church at Amusea is
large and handsome: a room 150 feet by 50, and 70 feet high, without
a pillar, and the whole end one mass of gilding. Yesterday morning,
after the violent rains of our halting day, we started at five on a
fine day, the roads in a terrible state, for Mergan de Fernamental,
head-quarters, on the 10th, five long leagues. Our way was near the
noble canal, and through Pino (one league), a large village. From
thence another league through Fromista, a larger place; then another
league to Requena: then another to Lantidillo, where we crossed the
Pisuerga over a large bridge, left entire; and then after another long
league, Mergan de Fernamental.
The country was flat, and rich in corn, meadows, &c., nearly all the
way, but low and boggy, and a hard march for men and baggage, &c.;
mine started at five, and did not arrive till about two. There were
villages thickly set all around us, and all with large churches. The
latter, compared with ours, are very much superior, considering the
size of the places: all possess a considerable church of rather curious
construction, and all somewhat different, though in general appearance
alike. The church at Mergan was particularly handsome, and more like
our Saxon at Gloucester and Tewkesbury. It had some decent pictures, so
indeed have several of the quarters, though perhaps not very valuable.
Many are to be bought very cheap, and I should have purchased some, had
I known how to carry them home.
At Mergan we were in the right road for Reynosa and St. Andero, and the
first division were two leagues in advance the same way. I conjectured
we were going to open a communication with St. Andero, and to cross
the Ebro as soon as the French from Burgos, and thus turn them. There
seems now, however, to be a change of plan, as to-day we are come three
leagues here, nearly in the right road again for Burgos, which we had
before left on our right. Here we have fallen in with General Hill’s
division, who are now within half a league of this place. We are thus
all now quite close together, and report says that the French have
united their army of the north to the rest, and are now between this
and Burgos eighty thousand strong, about four leagues distant.
They thus seem to make a stand here, and we are, probably, assembled
in case they should persist, but many think it is still only a plan to
make us assemble and draw up, to see what we have, and also to give
time for their baggage and plunder, oxen, &c., to withdraw without
loss: time will show. The sooner the battle comes for us the better, I
think: and so do most, but it will be more tremendous, probably, than
any hitherto fought in Spain. The numbers now approach those of the
great continental armies on both sides, and we are at least equal, if
you reckon all that are well dressed and ought to fight on our side; as
to the Spaniards, hitherto we must put a query to that. Don Julian’s
cavalry have sent in about forty or fifty infantry stragglers of the
French, and have killed a dozen or more,—about fifty or sixty in all;
several with bad pike or lance wounds.
Mergan is a very dirty old town, but this town, Castrogores, though
larger, and the quarters better, is in that respect much worse; the
streets so offensive, that you must hold your nose in passing through
them, and everything about the place filthy. We passed the German
hussars in quarters half a league off on our way here, and crossed the
line of march of the light and fourth divisions, meeting General Hill’s
army on our arrival here.
The scene is now very animated. This place is above a mile long, round
the bottom of an insulated hill, with a castle at the top of it, which
looks over a rich country for some way to a ridge of hills which bound
the whole, about a league off; trees, however (except just round a few
quintas or villas, and about the several ruins of the old monasteries),
are very scarce; corn most luxuriant, but not much forwarder than with
us in England. Weather, hitherto, scarcely at all too hot, and that
only for a few hours; at times very cold. Lord Wellington has gone
through again on in front.
_Castrogores, June 12th._—As we halt here to-day, instead of marching
to Eglesia, as was intended, I determined to finish this, and seal
up to-day for Lisbon. Colonel A——, of the German hussars, told me
that he saw about two or three thousand French cavalry the day before
yesterday, but they filed off as we came in sight. Colonel Waters went
on yesterday to within a league of Burgos. He only saw about fifteen
thousand French in a valley near there, near Quinta della Duennas. They
were about to march, and the reports are that they are off again, and
the whole of the second division of General Hill’s army have advanced
hence this morning. They began at daylight, and about eight o’clock
the Spaniards began to file by, just below my house. This was General
Murillo’s corps: I went down to look at them. There were about ten
regiments, I think, but most of them small ones. The men looked very
well, though a great many were quite boys. They were singing, joking,
and in good spirits: the artillery with them in good order, the draft
mules quite fat. The clothing and equipments of some very good, though
unequal to ours, or to the Portuguese; others moderate only. They wore
a sort of flannel jacket and trousers not at all alike, and some were
ragged, here and there a man barefoot,—very few; all with good caps, in
the French style, and the officers more respectable than usual, and
generally mounted; some very fierce-looking pioneers, fine grenadiers,
and all with good English town muskets in good order, brighter than
our own, being, most probably, nearly new: in short, the whole was
respectable. If they will but fight as well as they look, it will do.
Doyle’s regiment was one of the best; but the very best, I think, was
the Regimento del Unione.
General Alava, the Spanish great man at head-quarters, is in high
spirits, thinks all going on well, and is beginning to ask one or two
to dine with him at his mansion near Vittoria, where his estates lie.
He only begs that he may have a guard to preserve his green forage
from our soldiers. The Spaniards are astonished at our baggage. The
French carry very little, as they make the people at the quarters
furnish everything they want, which is not so much as we require. We
carry everything with us. An English captain, therefore, has (plunder
excepted) almost as much baggage as a French colonel. Barley is
already scarce, and not to be bought, though we pay in guineas. Bread
is also scarce, as well as beef. I hope soon to hear through St.
Andero, but the French have Castro and Santona. We still have reports
that the works at Burgos are being destroyed; it may be so, if the
French resolve to go to the Ebro, for the garrison will otherwise be
sacrificed. We have only six eighteen-pounders, about the same as last
year; the twenty-fours are at Corunna. This will not do for the siege
well, and I hope that will not be necessary. For the last thirty miles
and more the style of the houses has changed. They are generally now
mud or cob walls, like those in Devonshire, whitewashed, but not in the
best repair, or else they are unburnt brick, or dried mud bricks with
mud plaster.
_Miserable Head-Quarters at Massa, June 14th, 1813._—The regular
English post-day was yesterday, but I had not time to write then, and
as it is ten to one but that this will be in time for the same packet,
though you will have, I hope, a long letter by the same mail, yet,
wishing to give you the latest news from hence, and to let you know the
events which have occurred, I write again.
At four o’clock on the 12th, as I told you, Lord Wellington had not
returned from the front when my last letter was sent off. He came back
at seven o’clock; he and his horse and his comrades well tired. The
enemy were found about fifteen thousand strong, two leagues south-west
nearly of Burgos, with cavalry and artillery. We had up the hussars
(heavy), and General Fane’s brigades of cavalry. Manœuvring went on a
considerable time with skill. Our infantry could not get up in force
in time, or much would have been done. We had a gun, however, close to
a French column, and killed a few. We also took an officer and about
ninety men prisoners, some desperately wounded, and one gun. A charge
of cavalry was ordered, but the French moved off.
There seems to be considerable confusion at times in the intermixture
of the French and English. The light divisions were at hand; the
second near with the Spaniards, but not up. The Prince of Orange
galloped about well, with orders; he knocked up his horse, and was in
some danger. Lord March met a French dragoon, took him till he came
close for an English soldier, turned short round, was struck at by
the Frenchman, and his horse slightly hit below the ear: in short,
something material was very nearly happening.
The next day (the 13th) we had orders to march to Villa Diego, where
head-quarters were yesterday; a dirty place, but quarters tolerable.
The country between is rich and good, and covered with villages. We
passed, among others, Ormillos, Villa Sandine at a distance, and
Sasamon, in perfect ruin; the whole place, church and all, both of
considerable extent and size, having been burnt by Romana and his army
for some real or supposed treason. The destruction was certainly well
performed; the punishment severe, and very impartially inflicted. The
next place we came to, which had been a very neat village, was nearly
in the same state, from the same cause. Villa Diego was nearly six or
seven leagues from Burgos. Lord Wellington, &c., went round that way,
to see how matters went on. They could not find any French, and at last
ascertained that the works, castle, &c., of Burgos, had been all blown
up and destroyed by five o’clock yesterday morning. This news caused no
little joy to every one, and most particularly to those who expected
to have to knock their heads against the place. Many good lives have
thus been saved. This news met us about four o’clock yesterday, and in
consequence to-day we had a long march to this place, Massa, on our way
to the Ebro.
We shall probably nearly all get across about the same time; I think
French and all. Some of the Spanish army of Gallicia pass to-day up
towards Reynosa. The first division do the same to-day or to-morrow. We
met one cavalry brigade on their road to cross at St. Martine to-day.
General Murray told me that we should probably cross to-morrow; but
I find we are here five leagues from a bridge or ford. The first two
leagues here to-day were through a productive country like Wiltshire;
round smooth chalk hills, well-watered meadows, and rich pasture
valleys, with abundance of grass: draining and better farming, with
cleanliness, were all requisite. We then entered a rough, wild country,
with rocks, &c. We nearly all lost our way, including General Murray,
the Quarter-Master-general, with whom I was riding, Lord Wellington
himself, and nearly all the baggage! We were near a place called
Brulla, ought to have passed Cuirculo, near Urbel de Castro, whereas
we got through a rugged pass in the rock, came down to a picturesque
village, called La Piedra (so called, probably, from the rocks around
it), and there we fell in with the fifth division. At last, after
passing another little space called Fresnoy, and leaving Urbel de
Castro, in a valley on our right, with a curious small castle on a
pointed hill close to it (from whence the name), we arrived at this
wretched place. The houses in this place would not in any way hold half
of us; so the Spaniards have been sent back to Fresnoy, the artillery,
commissaries, paymasters, and doctors to Vilalda, or some such place, a
league off.
I was forgotten, but have, from there being one spare quarter, got a
wretched dirty hole here: it is the worst of dirty cottages. My baggage
is all in the entrance. I have no place but a dirty passage to put up
my bed in; I have a table and chair, but am surrounded by baskets,
hampers, tubs, boxes, sheepskins, dirt, &c. Cobwebs and dirt are
dropping upon me continually. Most have encamped. Lord Wellington and
Marshal Beresford are walking up and down the street, and the Military
Secretary is writing under a wall, upon his knees, whilst his servants
are pitching his tent. In a little field where General Alava is about
to encamp, there were just now the Military Secretary, Colonel Scovell,
the Commander of the Police Corps, Fitzclarence, General Alava, the
Spanish Aide-de-camp, Colonel Waters, the Prince of Orange, and your
humble servant, all lying upon the ground together, round a cold ham
and bread, some brandy, and a bottle of champagne. And no bad fare
either you will say. The Prince and Lord Fitzroy, like two boys, were
playing together all the time.
The people in this part of the country are as bad, if not worse than
in Portugal. There is nothing but filth and laziness. They are not
good-looking either. They live in dirty mud houses, and fleas are so
abundant that I cannot sleep from their annoyance. I suppose we shall
cross near Puente Arences, or Rampalaise, to-morrow, or next day at the
latest. The French have left about ninety sick or wounded at Burgos,
and the bedding of the hospitals, about eight hundred beds. No cannon,
&c. We are already short of forage or corn for the horses; bread
scarce, as well as spirits, and the country we enter produces little or
nothing.