THE IMMINENT DEADLY BREACH
Of the three great and memorable sieges of the Peninsula--Ciudad
Rodrigo, Badajos, and San Sebastian--Kincaid took part in the first
two, and has left a curiously interesting account of his experiences
in them. Wellington's capture of Ciudad Rodrigo was a very swift and
dazzling stroke of war. The place was a great frontier fortress; it
held vast magazines of warlike material. While in French hands it
barred Wellington's advance into Spain. If captured, it would furnish a
secure base for such an advance.
Marmont and Soult, each in command of an army stronger than that under
Wellington, kept watch over the great fortress. To pluck it from their
very hands would have been judged beforehand an impossible thing. Yet
Wellington did it! He achieved the feat by a combination of secrecy,
audacity, and speed rarely excelled in war. He hid his preparations
beneath a veil of profoundest silence and mystery. Then, when his foes
had been thrown completely off their guard, he leaped on the doomed
fortress; and almost before the thunder of his guns had reached the
ears of Soult and of Marmont the fortress was lost! Wellington had
everything against him. His supplies were scanty, his siege train
miserable. The weather was bitter, and rains incessant, the ground
rocky. Yet the siege never faltered nor paused. Wellington broke ground
on January 8; he stormed the city on January 19. Never was a great
warlike operation conceived more subtly, or executed with greater fire
and swiftness.
Kincaid has a special right to tell the tale of this siege. He shared
in the hardships of the trenches, and led the storming party at one of
the breaches.
"_January 8, 1812._--The campaign of 1812 commenced with the siege
of Ciudad Rodrigo, which was invested by our division on the 8th of
January.
"There was a smartish frost, with some snow on the ground, and, when
we arrived opposite the fortress, about mid-day, the garrison did
not appear to think that we were in earnest, for a number of their
officers came out, under the shelter of a stone wall, within half
musket-shot, and amused themselves in saluting and bowing to us in
ridicule; but, ere the day was done, some of them had occasion to
wear the laugh on the opposite side of the countenance.
"We lay by our arms until dark, when a party, consisting of a hundred
volunteers from each regiment, under Colonel Colborne of the 52nd,
stormed and carried the Fort of St. Francisco, after a short, sharp
action, in which the whole of its garrison were taken or destroyed.
The officer who commanded it was a chattering little fellow, and
acknowledged himself to have been one of our saluting friends of the
morning. He kept incessantly repeating a few words of English which
he had picked up during the assault, and the only ones, I fancy,
that were spoken, viz., 'dem eyes, b--t eyes!' and, in demanding
the meaning of them, he required that we should also explain why
we stormed a place without first besieging it; for, he said, that
another officer would have relieved him of his charge at daylight,
had we not relieved him of it sooner.
"The enemy had calculated that this outwork would have kept us at bay
for a fortnight or three weeks; whereas its capture the first night
enabled us to break ground at once, within breaching distance of the
walls of the town. They kept up a very heavy fire the whole night on
the working parties; but, as they aimed at random, we did not suffer
much, and made such good use of our time that, when daylight enabled
them to see what we were doing, we had dug ourselves under tolerable
cover.
"In addition to ours, the first, third, and fourth divisions were
employed in the siege. Each took the duties for twenty-four hours
alternately, and returned to their cantonments during the interval.
We were relieved by the first division, under Sir Thomas Graham, on
the morning of the 9th, and marched to our quarters.
"_January 12._--At ten o'clock this morning we resumed the duties of
the siege. It still continued to be dry, frosty weather; and, as we
were obliged to ford the Agueda, up to the middle, every man carried
a pair of iced breeches into the trenches with him.
"My turn of duty did not arrive until eight in the morning, when
I was ordered to take thirty men with shovels to dig holes for
ourselves, as near as possible to the walls, for the delectable
amusement of firing at the embrasures for the remainder of the
night. The enemy threw frequent fire-balls among us, to see where we
were; but, as we always lay snug until their blaze was extinguished,
they were not much the wiser, except by finding, from having some
one popped off from their guns every instant, that they had got
some neighbours whom they would have been glad to get rid of. We
were relieved as usual at ten next morning, and returned to our
cantonments.
"_January 16._--Entered on our third day's duty, and found the
breaching batteries in full operation, and our approaches close to
the walls on every side. When we arrived on the ground I was sent
to take command of the Highland company which we had at that time
in the regiment, and which was with the left wing, under Colonel
Cameron. I found them on piquet, between the right of the trenches
and the river, half of them posted at a mud cottage and the other
half in a ruined convent close under the walls. It was a very
tolerable post when at it; but it is no joke travelling by daylight
up to within a stone's throw of a wall on which there is a parcel of
fellows who have no other amusement but to fire at everybody they see.
"We could not show our noses at any point without being fired at;
but, as we were merely posted there to protect the right flank of the
trenches from any sortie, we did not fire at them, and kept as quiet
as could be, considering the deadly blast that was blowing around us.
There are few situations in life where something cannot be learnt,
and I myself stand indebted to my twenty-four hours' residence there
for a more correct knowledge of martial sounds than in the study of
my whole life-time besides. They must be an unmusical pair of ears
that cannot inform the wearer whether a cannon or a musket played
last, but the various notes, emanating from their respective mouths,
admit of nice distinctions. My party was too small and too well
sheltered to repay the enemy for the expense of shells and round
shot; but the quantity of grape and musketry aimed at our particular
heads made a good concert of first and second whistles, while the
more sonorous voice of the round shot, travelling to our friends on
the left, acted as a thorough bass; and there was not a shell, that
passed over us to the trenches, that did not send back a fragment
among us as soon as it burst, as if to gratify a curiosity that I was
far from expressing.
"Everything is by comparison in this world, and it is curious to
observe how men's feelings change with circumstances. In cool blood
a man would rather go a little out of his way than expose himself to
unnecessary danger; but we found, this morning, that by crossing the
river where we then were and running the gantlet for a mile exposed
to the fire of two pieces of artillery, that we should be saved the
distance of two or three miles in returning to our quarters. After
coming out of such a furnace as we had been frying in, the other
fire was not considered a fire at all, and passed without a moment's
hesitation.
"_January 19, 1812._--We moved to the scene of operations about two
o'clock this afternoon; and, as it was a day before our regular turn,
we concluded that we were called there to lend a hand in finishing
the job we had begun so well. Nor were we disappointed, for we found
that two practicable breaches had been effected, and that the place
was to be stormed in the evening by the third and light divisions,
the former by the right breach, and the latter by the left, while
some Portuguese troops were to attempt an escalade on the opposite
sides of the town.
"About eight o'clock in the evening our division was accordingly
formed for the assault, behind a convent, near the left breach.
"At a given signal the different columns advanced to the assault;
the night was tolerably clear, and the enemy evidently expected us,
for as soon as we turned the corner of the convent wall, the space
between us and the breach became one blaze of light with their
fire-balls, which, while they lighted us on to glory, lightened not a
few of their lives and limbs; for the whole glacis was in consequence
swept by a well-directed fire of grape and musketry, and they are the
devil's own brooms; but our gallant fellows walked through it to the
point of attack, with the most determined steadiness, excepting the
Portuguese sack-bearers, most of whom lay down behind their bags, to
wait the result, while the few that were thrown into the ditch looked
so like dead bodies, that, when I leapt into it, I tried to avoid
them.
"The advantage of being on a storming party is considered as giving
the prior claim to be 'put out of pain,' for they receive the first
fire, which is generally the best, not to mention that they are
also expected to receive the earliest salutations from the beams
of timber, hand-grenades, and other missiles which the garrison
are generally prepared to transfer from the top of the wall, to
the tops of the heads of their foremost visitors. But I cannot say
that I myself experienced any such preference, for every ball has
a considerable distance to travel, and I have generally found them
equally ready to pick up their man at the end as at the beginning of
their flight.
"We had some difficulty at first in finding the breach, as we had
entered the ditch opposite to a ravelin, which we mistook for a
bastion. I tried first one side of it and then the other, and seeing
one corner of it a good deal battered, with a ladder placed against
it, I concluded that it must be the breach, and calling to the
soldiers near me to follow, I mounted with the most ferocious intent,
carrying a sword in one hand and a pistol in the other; but, when
I got up, I found nobody to fight with, except two of our own men,
who were already laid dead across the top of the ladder. I saw in a
moment that I had got into the wrong box, and was about to descend
again, when I heard a shout from the opposite side that the breach
was there; and, moving in that direction, I dropped myself from the
ravelin, and landed in the ditch, opposite to the foot of the breach,
where I found the head of the storming party just beginning to fight
their way into it. The combat was of short duration, and, in less
than half-an-hour from the commencement of the attack, the place was
in our possession.
"After carrying the breach, we met with no further opposition, and
moved round the ramparts to see that they were perfectly clear of the
enemy, previous to entering the town. I was fortunate enough to take
the left-hand circuit, by accident, and thereby escape the fate which
befel a great portion of those who went to the right, and who were
blown up, along with some of the third division, by the accidental
explosion of a magazine.
"I was highly amused, in moving round the ramparts, to find some of
the Portuguese troops just commencing their escalade, on the opposite
side near the bridge, in ignorance of the place having already
fallen. Gallantly headed by their officers, they had got some ladders
placed against the wall, while about two thousand voices from the
rear were cheering with all their might for mutual encouragement;
and, like most other troops under similar circumstances, it appeared
to me that their feet and their tongues went at a more equal pace
after we gave them the hint. On going a little farther we came
opposite to the ravelin which had been my chief annoyance during my
last day's piquet. It was still crowded by the enemy, who had now
thrown down their arms and endeavoured to excite our pity by virtue
of their being 'Pauvres Italianos'; but our men had somehow imbibed
a horrible antipathy to the Italians, and every appeal they made in
that name was invariably answered with: 'You're Italians, are you?
then d--n you, here's a shot for you'; and the action instantly
followed the word.
"We continued our course round the ramparts until we met the head
of the column which had gone by the right, and then descended into
the town. At the entrance of the first street, a French officer
came out of a door and claimed my protection, giving me his sword.
He told me that there was another officer in the same house who was
afraid to venture out, and entreated that I would go in for him. I,
accordingly, followed him up to the landing-place of a dark stair,
and, while he was calling to his friend, by name to come down 'as
there was an English officer present who would protect him,' a
violent screaming broke through a door at my elbow. I pushed it open,
and found the landlady struggling with an English soldier, whom I
immediately transferred to the bottom of the stair head foremost. The
French officer had followed me in at the door, and was so astonished
at all he saw, that he held up his hands, turned up the whites of his
eyes, and resolved himself into a state of most eloquent silence.
"As the other officer could not be found, I descended into the
street again with my prisoner; and, finding the current of soldiers
setting towards the centre of the town, I followed the stream,
which conducted me into the great square, on one side of which the
late garrison were drawn up as prisoners, and the rest of it was
filled with British and Portuguese intermixed without any order or
regularity. I had been there but a very short time, when they all
commenced firing, without any ostensible cause; some fired in at the
doors and windows, some at the roofs of houses, and others at the
clouds; and at last some heads began to be blown from their shoulders
in the general hurricane, when the voice of Sir Thomas Picton,
with the power of twenty trumpets, began to proclaim damnation to
everybody, while Colonel Barnard, Colonel Cameron, and some other
active officers, were carrying it into effect with a strong hand;
for seizing the broken barrels of muskets which were lying about in
great abundance, they belaboured every fellow most unmercifully about
the head who attempted either to load or fire, and finally succeeded
in reducing them to order. In the midst of the scuffle, however,
three of the houses in the square were set on fire; and the confusion
was such that nothing could be done to save them; but, by the
extraordinary exertions of Colonel Barnard during the whole of the
night, the flames were prevented from communicating to the adjoining
buildings.
"We succeeded in getting a great portion of our battalion together by
one o'clock in the morning, and withdrew with them to the ramparts,
where we lay by our arms until daylight.
"There is nothing in this life half so enviable as the feelings of
a soldier after a victory. Previous to a battle there is a certain
sort of something that pervades the mind which is not easily defined;
it is neither akin to joy or fear, and, probably, anxiety may be
nearer to it than any other word in the dictionary; but, when the
battle is over, and crowned with victory, he finds himself elevated
for a while into the regions of absolute bliss! It had ever been the
summit of my ambition to attain a post at the head of a storming
party--my wish had now been accomplished and gloriously ended; and
I do think that, after all was over, and our men laid asleep on the
ramparts, that I strutted about as important a personage, in my own
opinion, as ever trod the face of the earth; and, had the ghost of
the renowned Jack-the-Giant-Killer itself passed that way at the
time, I venture to say that I would have given it a kick in the
breech without the smallest ceremony. But, as the sun began to rise,
I began to fall from the heroics; and, when he showed his face, I
took a look at my own and found that I was too unclean a spirit to
worship, for I was covered with mud and dirt, with the greater part
of my dress torn to rags.
"The fifth division, which had not been employed in the siege,
marched in and took charge of the town on the morning of the 20th,
and we prepared to return to our cantonments. Lord Wellington
happened to be riding in at the gate at the time that we were
marching out, and had the curiosity to ask the officer of the leading
company what regiment it was; for there was scarcely a vestige of
uniform among the men, some of whom were dressed in Frenchmen's
coats, some in white breeches and huge jack-boots, some with cocked
hats and queues; most of their swords were fixed on the rifles, and
stuck full of hams, tongues, and loaves of bread, and not a few were
carrying bird-cages! There never was a better masked corps!
"Among other things carried from Ciudad Rodrigo, one of our men had
the misfortune to carry his death in his hands, under the mistaken
shape of amusement. He thought that it was a cannon-ball, and took
it for the purpose of playing at the game of nine-holes, but it
happened to be a live shell. In rolling it along it went over a bed
of burning ashes, and ignited without his observing it. Just as he
had got it between his legs, and was in the act of discharging it a
second time, it exploded, and nearly blew him to pieces."
The story of the siege of Badajos is darker and more tragical than
that of the capture of Ciudad Rodrigo. The defences of Badajos were
much more formidable than those of the sister fortress, the garrison
was more numerous, the defence more stubborn and skilful. Phillipon,
the commander of the assailed city, has, indeed, won enduring fame by
the skill and valour of his defence. Yet the siege only lasted twenty
days. It was begun on March 16; on April 6 the city was stormed. It was
carried by a night assault; but the breaches were imperfect, and the
art of Phillipon had made the Great Breach practically impregnable. But
the fierce and unquailing valour with which the British stormers flung
themselves on the breaches, and died on their rough and blood-splashed
slopes, makes one of the most thrilling stories in the history of war.
All the attacks on the breeches failed; but Picton carried the castle
by escalcade, and Leith forced his way over the bastion of St. Vincent,
where no breach existed, and where the scarp was thirty feet high; and
so the town was carried. It was one of the Rifles of whom Napier tells
the story, that in his resolution to win, he thrust himself beneath
the chained sword-blades at the summit of the Great Breach, and there
suffered the enemy to dash his head to pieces with the ends of their
muskets. Of Major O'Hare, who led the stormers of the Rifles, a grim
story is told. As his men were moving off in the darkness he shook
hands with a brother officer, and said: 'A Lieutenant-Colonel or cold
meat in a few hours.' He fell, shot dead on the breach itself ten
minutes afterwards.
As Kincaid led one of the storming parties at Ciudad Rodrigo, a lighter
part was assigned to him at Badajos. He commanded a strong party whose
business it was to line the glacis and keep down the fire from the
ramparts. He tells the tale briefly:--
"On the 17th of March 1812, the third, fourth, and light divisions
encamped around Badajos, embracing the whole of the inland side of
the town on the left bank of the Guadiana, and commenced breaking
ground before it immediately after dark the same night.
"The elements on this occasion adopted the cause of the besieged,
for we had scarcely taken up our ground when a heavy rain commenced,
and continued, almost without intermission, for a fortnight; in
consequence thereof the pontoon bridge, connecting us with our
supplies from Elvas, was carried away by the rapid increase of
the river, and the duties of the trenches were otherwise rendered
extremely harassing. We had a smaller force employed than at Rodrigo,
and the scale of operations was so much greater that it required
every man to be actually in the trenches six hours every day, and
the same length of time every night, which, with the time required
to march to and from them, through fields more than ankle-deep in a
stiff mud, left us never more than eight hours out of the twenty-four
in camp, and we never were dry the whole time.
"One day's trench work is as like another as the days themselves,
and like nothing better than serving an apprenticeship to the double
calling of gravedigger and gamekeeper, for we found ample employment
both for the spade and the rifle.
"The Portuguese artillery, under British officers, was uncommonly
good. I used to be much amused in looking at a twelve-gun
breaching-battery of theirs. They knew the position of all the
enemy's guns which could bear upon them, and had one man posted to
watch them, to give notice of what was coming, whether a shot or
a shell, who accordingly kept calling out, 'Bomba, balla, balla,
bomba,' and they ducked their heads until the missile passed; but
sometimes he would see a general discharge from all arms, when he
threw himself down, screaming out, 'Jesus, todos, todos!' meaning
'everything.'
"An officer of ours was sent one morning before daylight with ten
men to dig holes for themselves opposite to one of the enemy's guns
which had been doing a great deal of mischief the day before, and he
had soon the satisfaction of knowing the effect of his practice by
seeing them stopping up the embrasure with sand-bags. After waiting a
little he saw them beginning to remove the bags, when he made his men
open upon it again, and they were instantly replaced without the guns
being fired. Presently he saw the huge cocked hat of a French officer
make its appearance on the rampart near the embrasure, but knowing
by experience that the head was somewhere in the neighbourhood, he
watched until the flash of a musket through the long grass showed
the position of the owner, and calling one of his best shots, he
desired him to take deliberate aim at the spot, and lent his shoulder
as a rest to give it more elevation. Bang went the shot, and it was
the finishing flash for the Frenchman, for they saw no more of him,
although his cocked hat maintained its post until dark.
"In proportion as the grand crisis approached, the anxiety of the
soldiers increased, not on account of any doubt or dread as to the
result, but for fear that the place should be surrendered without
standing an assault; for, singular as it may appear, although there
was a certainty of about one man out of every three being knocked
down, there were, perhaps, not three men in the three divisions who
would not rather have braved all the chances than receive it tamely
from the hands of the enemy. So great was the rage for passports into
eternity in our battalion on that occasion that even the officers'
servants insisted on taking their places in the ranks, and I was
obliged to leave my baggage in charge of a man who had been wounded
some days before.
"On the 6th of April three practicable breaches had been effected,
and arrangements were made for assaulting the town that night: the
third division by escalade at the castle, a brigade of the fifth
division by escalade at the opposite side of the town, while the
fourth and light divisions were to storm the breaches. The whole were
ordered to be formed for the attack at eight o'clock.
"_April 6, 1812._--Our division formed for the attack of the left
breach in the same order as at Ciudad Rodrigo. The command of it had
now devolved upon our commandant, Colonel Barnard. I was then the
acting adjutant of four companies, under Colonel Cameron, who were to
line the crest of the glacis, and to fire at the ramparts and the top
of the left breach.
"The enemy seemed aware of our intentions. The fire of artillery
and musketry, which for three weeks before had been incessant, both
from the town and trenches, had now entirely ceased as if by mutual
consent, and a death-like silence of nearly an hour preceded the
awful scene of carnage.
"The signal to advance was made about nine o'clock, and our four
companies led the way. Colonel Cameron and myself had reconnoitred
the ground so accurately by daylight that we succeeded in bringing
the head of our column to the very spot agreed on, opposite to the
left breach, and then formed line to the left without a word being
spoken, each man lying down as he got into line, with the muzzle of
his rifle over the edge of the ditch, between the palisades, all
ready to open. It was tolerably clear above, and we distinctly saw
their heads lining the ramparts, but there was a sort of haze on
the ground which, with the colour of our dress, prevented them from
seeing us, although only a few yards asunder. One of their sentries,
however, challenged us twice, "Qui vive," and, receiving no reply,
he fired off his musket, which was followed by their drums beating
to arms; but we still remained perfectly quiet, and all was silence
again for the space of five or ten minutes, when the head of the
forlorn hope at length came up, and we took advantage of the first
fire while the enemy's heads were yet visible.
"The scene that ensued furnished as respectable a representation of
hell itself as fire and sword and human sacrifices could make it, for
in one instant every engine of destruction was in full operation. It
is in vain to attempt a description of it. We were entirely excluded
from the right breach by an inundation which the heavy rains had
enabled the enemy to form, and the two others were rendered totally
impracticable by their interior defences.
"The five succeeding hours were therefore passed in the most gallant
and hopeless attempts on the part of individual officers, forming
up fifty or a hundred men at a time at the foot of the breach,
and endeavouring to carry it by desperate bravery; and, fatal as
it proved to each gallant band in succession, yet, fast as one
dissolved, another was formed. We were informed about twelve at night
that the third division had established themselves in the castle; but
as its situation and construction did not permit them to extend their
operations beyond it at the moment, it did not in the least affect
our opponents at the breach, whose defence continued as obstinate as
ever.
"I was near Colonel Barnard after midnight, when he received repeated
messages from Lord Wellington to withdraw from the breach and to form
the division for a renewal of the attack at daylight; but as fresh
attempts continued to be made, and the troops were still pressing
forward into the ditch, it went against his gallant soul to order
a retreat while yet a chance remained; but after heading repeated
attempts himself, he saw that it was hopeless, and the order was
reluctantly given about two o'clock in the morning. We fell back
about three hundred yards, and re-formed all that remained to us.
"Our regiment alone had to lament the loss of twenty-two officers
killed and wounded, ten of whom were killed, or afterwards died of
their wounds. We had scarcely got our men together when we were
informed of the success of the fifth division in their escalade, and
that the enemy were, in consequence, abandoning the breaches, and we
were immediately ordered forward to take possession of them. On our
arrival we found them entirely evacuated, and had not occasion to
fire another shot; but we found the utmost difficulty and even danger
in getting in in the dark, even without opposition. As soon as we
succeeded in establishing our battalion inside, we sent piquets into
the different streets and lanes leading from the breach, and kept the
remainder in hand until day should throw some light on our situation.
"When I was in the act of posting one of the piquets a man of ours
brought me a prisoner, telling me that he was the governor; but the
other immediately said that he had only called himself so the better
to ensure his protection, and then added that he was the colonel of
one of the French regiments, and that all his surviving officers were
assembled at his quarters, in a street close by, and would surrender
themselves to any officer who would go with him for that purpose.
I accordingly took two or three men with me, and, accompanying him
there, found fifteen or sixteen of them assembled, and all seeming
very much surprised at the unexpected termination of the siege. They
could not comprehend under what circumstances the town had been lost,
and repeatedly asked me how I had got in; but I did not choose to
explain further than simply telling them that I had entered at the
breach, coupling the information with a look which was calculated to
convey somewhat more than I knew myself; for, in truth, when I began
to recollect that a few minutes before had seen me retiring from the
breach under a fanciful overload of degradation, I thought that I had
now as good a right as any man to be astonished at finding myself
lording it over the officers of a French battalion; nor was I much
wiser than they were as to the manner of its accomplishment.
"They were all very much dejected, excepting their major, who was
a big, jolly-looking Dutchman, with medals enough on his left
breast to have furnished the window of a tolerable toy-shop. His
accomplishments were after the manner of Captain Dugald Dalgetty;
and while he cracked his joke he was not inattentive to the cracking
of the corks from the many wine bottles which his colonel placed
on the table successively, along with some cold meat, for general
refreshment, prior to marching into captivity, and which I, though a
free man, was not too proud to join them in.
"When I had allowed their chief a reasonable time to secure what
valuables he wished about his person, he told me that he had two
horses in the stable, which, as he would no longer be permitted to
keep, he recommended me to take; and as a horse is the only thing on
such occasions that an officer can permit himself to consider a legal
prize, I caused one of them to be saddled, and his handsome black
mare thereby became my charger during the remainder of the war.
"In proceeding with my prisoners towards the breach I took, by
mistake, a different road to that I came; and as numbers of Frenchmen
were lurking about for a safe opportunity of surrendering themselves,
about a hundred additional ones added themselves to my column as we
moved along, jabbering their native dialect so loudly as nearly to
occasion a dire catastrophe, as it prevented me from hearing some
one challenge in my front; but, fortunately, it was repeated and I
instantly answered; for Colonel Barnard and Sir Colin Campbell had a
piquet of our men drawn across the street on the point of sending a
volley into us, thinking that we were a rallied body of the enemy.
"The whole of the garrison were marched off as prisoners to Elvas,
about ten o'clock in the morning, and our men were then permitted
to fall out to enjoy themselves for the remainder of the day, as a
reward for having kept together so long as they were wanted. The
whole of the three divisions were by this time loose in the town, and
the usual frightful scene of plunder commenced, which the officers
thought it necessary to avoid for the moment by retiring to the camp.
"We went into the town on the morning of the 8th to endeavour
to collect our men, but only succeeded in part, as the same
extraordinary scene of plunder and rioting still continued. Wherever
there was anything to eat or drink, the only saleable commodities,
the soldiers had turned the shopkeepers out of doors and placed
themselves regularly behind the counter, selling off the contents of
the shop. By-and-by another and a stronger party would kick those out
in their turn, and there was no end to the succession of self-elected
shopkeepers, until Lord Wellington found that to restore order severe
measures must be resorted to. On the third day he caused a Portuguese
brigade to be marched in and kept standing to their arms in the great
square, where the provost-marshal erected a gallows and proceeded to
suspend a few of the delinquents, which very quickly cleared the town
of the remainder, and enabled us to give a more satisfactory account
of our battalion than we had hitherto been able to do.
"The third day after the fall of the town, I rode, with Colonel
Cameron, to take a bathe in the Guadiana, and, in passing the verge
of the camp of the fifth division, we saw two soldiers standing at
the door of a small shed, or outhouse, shouting, waving their caps,
and making signs that they wanted to speak to us. We rode up to see
what they wanted, and found that the poor fellows had each lost a
leg. They told us that a surgeon had dressed their wounds on the
night of the assault, but that they had ever since been without food
or assistance of any kind, although they, each day, had opportunities
of soliciting the aid of many of their comrades, from whom they could
obtain nothing but promises. In short, surrounded by thousands of
their countrymen within call, and not more than three hundred yards
from their own regiment, they were unable to interest any one in
their behalf, and they were literally starving. It is unnecessary to
say that we instantly galloped back to camp and had them removed to
the hospital.
"On the morning of the 7th, when some of our officers were performing
the last duties to their fallen comrades, one of them had collected
the bodies of four young officers who had been slain. He was in
the act of digging a grave for them, when an officer of the Guards
arrived on the spot, from a distant division of the army, and
demanded tidings of his brother, who was at that moment lying a naked
lifeless corpse under his very eyes. The officer had the presence
of mind to see that the corpse was not recognised, and, wishing to
spare the others feelings, told him that his brother was dangerously
wounded, but he would hear more of him by going out to the camp;
and thither the other immediately bent his steps, with a seeming
presentiment of the sad intelligence that awaited him."
One curious incident in the siege of Badajos may be related. The day
after the assault two Spanish ladies, the younger a beautiful girl of
fourteen, appealed for help to two officers of the Rifles, who were
passing through one of the streets of the town. Their dress was torn,
their ears, from which rings had been roughly snatched, were bleeding,
and to escape outrage or death they cast themselves on the protection
of the first British officers they met. One of the officers was Captain
Harry Smith of the Rifles. Two years later he married the girl he had
saved in a scene so wild. Captain Harry Smith, in after years, served
at the Cape as Sir Harry, and this Spanish girl, as Lady Smith, gave
her name to the historic town which Sir George White defended with such
stubborn valour. The two great sieges of Badajos and of Ladysmith are
separated from each other by nearly a century; but there exists this
interesting human link betwixt them.