With a detachment, consisting of one major, two captains, four
subalterns, one assistant-surgeon, and 248 rank and file, I took leave
of Athlone on the morning of the 17th of August 1811, and proceeded to
Fairbane, on our way to the place of embarkation. On the 18th we moved
forward to Birr--next day to Roscrea--on the 20th to Thurles--and on
the 21st to Tipperary, where we halted on the following day. On the 23d
our route led us to Mitchelstown, and to Fermoy on the 24th. Here an
order had preceded us for forty-eight of the detachment to return to
Athlone, they being considered too young to undergo the fatigues of a
Peninsular campaign. The poor young lads, on being made acquainted with
their new destiny, absolutely shed tears of sincere heart-felt sorrow.
Two hours before day-light, on the morning of the 30th, they commenced
their retrograde movement; and about as long after day-break we also
bade adieu to Fermoy,--proceeded to Cork,--and on the following
morning embarked at Monkston, on board of the Minerva transport.
Having previously purchased a competent stock of provisions for our
little voyage, we weighed anchor at seven o'clock on the morning of
the 7th of September, and shortly after quitted Cove harbour, under a
gentle breeze from the land. Continuing to scud along with a favourable
gale, we descried the Rock of Lisbon a little after sun-rise on the
19th. About two o'clock a pilot paid us a visit, and carried the
old bark up the majestic Tagus in fine style, to a berth opposite
Fort-Belem. At three o'clock, P.M. on the following day, we disembarked
at the Blackhorse square. The men were quartered in a convent, and the
officers upon the inhabitants.
The exterior appearance of Lisbon from the Tagus is extremely
beautiful, vieing in splendour with the finest city in Europe. But
the interior view of it is so truly disgusting, that we are forced to
place it in a scale beneath the rank of the very lowest. The streets,
which are narrow and ill-paved, are filthy beyond description. But how
can it be otherwise, when every night, between nine and ten o'clock,
every thing, no matter how disgusting, is tumbled from the windows
and balconies of the houses into the streets, and with so little
warning, that the ominous Garde-del'eau seldom reaches the ears of the
passengers till they have been completely soused by their brethren in
the upper regions. Now, to remove this abominable nuisance, which
offends the eye, as well as the nasal organs of every stranger, none of
the inhabitants ever contribute either personal service, or pecuniary
aid. What, therefore, can be expected in a city such as Lisbon, but
filth, particularly when it possesses no scavengers, save the rains
of heaven which occasionally descend in torrents, and hordes of
half-starved dogs, which are confined all day without meat, and in the
evening turned adrift to find food as they best can, to satisfy the
cravings of hunger. The piteous howlings of those wretched animals,
as they crawl along the streets, would wring a tear of sympathy from
the heart of a savage; and yet it produces no other effect on that of
a Portuguese, than to excite a laugh at the expense of the individual
who may have the humanity to commiserate the cruel fate of the poor
four-footed scavengers.
A little before our arrival at Lisbon, a party of officers, on landing
from England, agreed to dine together previous to retiring to their
respective billets. Happy to meet, and sorry to part, they continued
to while away the time so pleasantly, that the clock told nine before
they were aware that more than seven hours of the last half of the day
had passed away. As their quarters lay in different parts of the city,
each individual at parting had to act as his own guide. In the group
there was one, who, to an amiable, added rather a timorous disposition.
This officer had proceeded but a short way on his journey, when the
usual cry, Garde-del'eau, struck his ears from various quarters at the
same time. Being alike ignorant of the language, as of the customs
of the Portuguese, he fancied himself surrounded by individuals who
intended doing him some bodily harm. Pausing a moment, to see if any
friendly hand was near, or any loop-hole by which he could effect his
escape, he was glad to observe but few people in the street, and that
the greater portion of his enemies were several stories above him. This
discovery led him to try if a good pair of heels would remove him to a
place of greater safety. He accordingly started at a pace which would
not have disgraced any of the winners of the Great St Leger, but in the
hurry, his foot unfortunately struck the corner of a broken flag, when
down he tumbled, amidst shouts of Garde-del'eau, and the contents of
numerous mortars from the batteries above. In a twinkling he started
to his feet, and bounded along like a deer, he knew not whither, every
now and then receiving the partial contents of an additional mortar.
At length worn-out, and observing something resembling a guard-house,
he walked in. His appearance, however, being a little cadaverous, the
officer of the guard (a Portuguese) shewed at first a disinclination to
hold converse with him; but on the British hero making his hair-breadth
'scapes known to his foreign brother, the latter, though he deeply
commiserated the fate of his visitor's uniform, yet enjoyed a hearty
laugh at his expense, in which not only the guard, but the subject of
merriment himself, ultimately joined.
From the immense number of British officers and soldiers that were
continually parading the streets of Lisbon, a stranger not knowing
the cause, would, on first witnessing the novel spectacle, have been
apt enough to exclaim, "What! has Portugal become a colony of Great
Britain?" From morning to night the Adjutant General, Quarter-master
General, and Town-major's offices were constantly filled with officers
and non-commissioned officers. Some reporting their arrival from
England--others from the army. Some were applying for a passage to
England--others for a route to the army on the frontiers. Some were
necessarily and usefully employed in copying extracts from the general
orders of the army, regarding the marching of detachments to and from
the army,--others were in quest of billets,--and the whole were in
close pursuit of the Commissary.
Having received our camp equipment, and every other article we
required, we embarked in boats at six o'clock on the morning of the
28th of September, and both wind and tide being favourable, the whole
disembarked at Valada, forty miles above Lisbon, at two o'clock in the
afternoon. This small village stands on the right bank of the Tagus,
and at that time almost every house in it bore ample testimony of the
friendship which the ruthless invaders entertained for the proprietors.
When Lord Wellington retired from Almeida to the far-famed position of
Torres-Vedras, the inhabitants were invited to remove their persons and
property to a place of security in rear of the allied army. _Amongst
the few_ who were deaf to all entreaty, was an elderly man, who, with
his wife, and a beautiful daughter, occupied a house in Valada. On
Massena's progress being arrested at Torres-Vedras, the whole country
was instantly over-run with his legions, in search of shelter from the
inclemency of the weather. Valada, as a matter of course, was occupied,
and a party quartered on the obstinate old man. They had not been many
days in the house before the sparkling eyes of the beautiful Maria had
so far captivated the hearts of the foreign inmates, that two of them
successively paid their addresses to her, which, however, she rejected
with marked disdain. This so irritated the villains, that from that
day they sought the ruin of the family. The eyes of the father being
at length opened, he, with the most sincere and poignant grief, beheld
for the first time, his daughter standing on the brink of inevitable
destruction. But alas, it was too late to retrieve the error into which
his obstinacy had betrayed him. An order arriving for the detachment
to proceed to Santarem, one of her lovers again made Maria a tender
of his hand, which was rejected as before. This was conclusive of
her fate. In an instant the innocent girl was dragged from under her
father's roof, and he, in an attempt to rescue her from the grasp of
the ruffians, received a wound from one of their bayonets, of which he
soon after died. Her mother was afterwards maltreated, and the house
plundered; in fact nothing was left but the bleeding trunk of the once
happy father--the wretched mother--and the once beautiful and happy,
but thenceforth the miserable and unhappy Maria. The former then lay
hid from the sight of men, but the other two I saw in Valada; the
widowed mother mourning over the loss of a beloved husband, and the
misfortunes of an only daughter; and poor Maria, deprived of a parent's
fostering care, sat brooding over her misfortunes, with misery staring
her in the face, being unable to render any assistance to her mother
from the barbarous treatment she experienced at the hands of the vile
miscreants.
How often since that time have I fancied that I heard this interesting
girl repeating, in all the calm utterance of despair,
----"O cover not
His blood, thou earth; nor ye, ye blessed souls
Of heroes, and of murdered innocence,
O! never let your everlasting cries
Cease round the eternal throne, till the Most High,
For all these unexampled wrongs, hath given
Full overflowing vengeance."
Our route led us on the 29th to the once beautiful city of Santarem,
but then little better than a heap of ruins. That part of it
denominated the New Town, stands on the summit of a considerable
eminence, and commands a most extensive and delightful view of the vale
of the Tagus, and country on its left bank. The Old Town is built along
the eastern base of the hill, close to the bank of the river.
When Marshal Massena retired from before Lord Wellington at
Torres-Vedras, he selected the position of Santarem as one admirably
adapted for a defensive post, against an assailant moving from the side
of Lisbon. The left of the French army rested on Santarem, and the
right extended westward a considerable distance. What nature had left
unfinished to render the position formidable, Massena endeavoured to
accomplish. Field-works of various kinds crowned the eminence, while
the face of the hill was studded with innumerable breast-works, from
which thousands of Gallic soldiers for some time looked down upon
their opponents with the scowl of defiance. From the plain the allied
troops could advance by one road only to the assault of the left of the
enemy's position, and that was so completely commanded by the works
above noticed, that thousands of them would have bit the dust before
they could have made the smallest impression in that quarter. For not
attempting to drive Massena from this position, the British general
was roundly but most unjustly censured by various classes in England.
At first the troops were a little disappointed in not being allowed an
opportunity of measuring weapons with the enemy; but before Massena
finally relinquished his hold of Santarem, I believe there was not a
man in the British army but was convinced that their chief acted on
that occasion with his usual prudence and caution, in not attacking
the crafty Marshal in his almost impregnable post, defended as it was
by a numerous and veteran army, and commanded by a general, who, from
his numerous successes, had been dubbed by his _Imperial Master, the_
"CHILD OF FORTUNE."
On the 30th we moved forward to Gallegao, fourteen miles from Santarem.
During the last invasion of Portugal, some hundreds of the inhabitants
of this large village were turned adrift on the world by the French,
who subsequently ransacked and pillaged their houses, and then either
threw them down, or burned them. But even these barbarous acts did not
always satisfy the enemy. No: when it suited their convenience, murder
was added to their long catalogue of crimes.
See yonder cottage, once the peaceful seat
Of all the pleasures of the nuptial state.
The sturdy son, the prattling infant there,
And spotless virgin blessed the happy pair.
In gentle sleep undreaming ill, they lay;
But, oh! no more to see the cheerful day.
Observing a young man of genteel appearance walking rather hurriedly,
and apparently in deep meditation, behind the counter of a very small
coffee-shop, we stepped in under pretence of purchasing a cup of that
excellent beverage, but, in reality, to obtain information relative
to the conduct of the French troops during their sojourn in that town
and vicinity. After enumerating various acts of uncommon barbarity,
he informed us, that before the French invasion, his father, mother,
brother, and two sisters, occupied one of the neatest cottages in
Gallegao, where, blessed with a competency, they lived in the full
possession of every earthly comfort, which a family united within
itself, and possessing the esteem and love of its neighbours, could
enjoy. Being the reputed possessor of riches, the enemy naturally
conceived that the old man would have a portion of his cash secreted
near his person, but how to lay their talons on it, they were for some
time at a loss to invent a proper excuse. At length, however, the happy
thought struck them, that as our informant was then in the ranks of
the Portuguese army, nothing could be more plausible than a charge of
_treason_ against his father and brother. Accordingly they were seized,
tried, and on a charge of corresponding with the British, condemned and
executed. Their once happy abode was plundered and unroofed, and his
beloved sisters were dragged from their native village, and compelled
to accompany the murderers of their parent and brother. Of their fate
he was then totally ignorant; but his opinion was, (and tears trickled
down his cheek as he spoke,) that if they had escaped the fate of
the former, it was not improbable but that both of them, rather than
survive their dishonour, had put a period to their wretched existence.
Next morning we occupied Punhete, once a neat village, but then almost
a ruin. It stands on a piece of level ground, at the confluence of the
Tagus and Zezere, and is completely surrounded with hills, as barren
as they are uninteresting to the eye. To those who have not witnessed
the distressing spectacle, no language can properly convey the most
distant notion of the destruction of property by the enemy at Punhete,
in spring 1811.
Almost every piece of furniture, and every door and window in the
village was removed to the French bivouac, in its vicinity, but not one
article ever returned; for every thing was consigned to the flames,
when the enemy took a final leave of Punhete. The village church was
not even held sacred by the unhallowed crew. No: from under the sacred
roof every thing portable was removed, and the interior of the building
was then converted into a place of repose for mules and asses. God
grant that a similar calamity may never befal the sacred edifices of
our own happy isle!
On the 2nd of October, we entered Abrantes. This ancient city crowns
the summit of a hill, two sides of which, the south and the east,
are extremely steep and difficult of access. The base of the eminence
on these sides, and part of the west, is washed by the Tagus, over
which there was then a bridge of boats, by which all reinforcements
and stores for the army, proceeding from Lisbon by Abrantes, crossed
to the left bank, up which, those intended for General Hill's corps,
ascended as far as Alpalhao, and turned to the right; and those for the
main army, as high as Villa-Velha, where they again crossed the noble
stream by a similar conveyance, and then proceeded to their destination
by Castello-Branco. The claims of Abrantes to rank high as a military
station, will be taken into consideration, along with those of Elvas
and Castello-Branco.
Having rested our limbs on the 3rd, we advanced to Gavao on the 4th.
Crossing by the bridge before mentioned, our route led us two leagues
over a sandy plain, studded with cork trees; and then a similar
distance over a heath as barren and uninteresting as any spot I had
ever before traversed. In a morning when a little fog is skimming along
the surface of the ground, the country around Gavao, when viewed from
the spire of the village church, or any other building of equal height,
presents a singular appearance--its _natural undulations_ giving to
the whole surrounding space, as far as the eye can reach, all the
appearance of the mountain waves of a watery expanse, when violently
agitated by a dreadful gale of wind.
At Alpalhao, on the 5th, the people complained bitterly of their
poverty; but when they found that we required nothing from them, they
praised the English and cursed the French, as roundly as the greatest
enemy of the latter could have wished.
Early on the following morning we quitted Alpalhao, and moved forward
to Portalegre, then the head-quarters of General Hill, as well as of
our first battalion. Our march was a very dreary one; but the warm
reception which we met with from our friends, who on our arrival
hastened to welcome us to share their dangers and their glory, soon
banished all traces of it from our remembrance.
On the breaking up of the allied army from its encampment in the
vicinity of Estremoz, on the 1st of August, the main body under Lord
Wellington, proceeded towards Almeida, and the remaining portion
of it was formed into a corps of observation, which, at the date
of our arrival at head-quarters, was composed of the following
brigades of artillery, cavalry, and infantry, under the command of
Lieutenant-General Rowland Hill.
_Allied Artillery._
Three Brigades, British and Portuguese.
_Allied Cavalry._
Commanded by Lieutenant General Sir William Erskine.
_British Brigade._--Major-General Long.
The 9th and 13th British Light Dragoons, and 2nd Hussars King's German
Legion.
_Portuguese Brigade._--Colonel Campbell.
The 4th and 10th Light Dragoons.
_2nd Division, Allied Infantry._
Under the temporary command of Major-General Howard.
_1st British Brigade._--Major-General Howard.
The 1st Battalions of the 50th, 71st, and 92nd Regiments, and one
company 5th Rifle Battalion 60th Regiment.
_2nd Brigade._--Colonel Byng.
The 1st Battalions of the 3rd and 57th, and 2nd Battalions of the 31st
and 66th Regiments.
_3rd Brigade._--Colonel Wilson.
The 1st Battalion 28th, and 2nd Battalions of the 34th and 39th
Regiments.
_4th, or Portuguese Brigade._--Colonel Ashworth.
The 6th and 18th Regiments of the Line, and 6th Cacadores.
General Hamilton's _Division of Portuguese Infantry_.
_1st Brigade._--Brigadier-General Campbell.
The 2nd and 14th Regiments of the Line.
_2nd Brigade._--Brigadier-General De Costa.
The 4th and 10th Regiments of the Line.