_November 8._--Start at nine o’clock for Zarza, and arrive about two.
My host is a Spanish gentleman, very civil, and the lady apologises for
giving me a tin wash-hand basin, as all the silver ones are buried in
the woods on account of the French.
Wait three hours for dinner, and at eight o’clock in comes cold meat.
_November 9._--Get up at half-past four to start for Perales.
Shall be glad when we get to Ciudad Rodrigo and emerge from this
miserable part of Spain.
We pass remarkable ridges of mountains and Moorish castles, also
through great woods and watery tracts, but no towns, houses, or human
beings. Perales six leagues from Zarza.
_November 10._--Rise at four; very dark. Straw makes a good torch.
The guide of the 20th Regiment takes them the wrong road. Error soon
discovered. Violent rain.
General starts without a guide. I return for one, and by threats get
an old postillion. The road by the Puerte desalto de Perales goes
marvellously over the very summit of an exceeding high mountain,
excessively steep, and much injured by great rain. Looking back, while
climbing, I find the view most extensive and well wooded, half obscured
by a heavy cloud, whose watery skirts, as they lift, reveal more and
more of the landscape; then looking forward, I see a convent resting in
a bunch of rare trees on the bosom of the mountain.
Here was formed a vast abrupt vale, in which better than ever before I
could observe the system of waters as they sever the mountains. Many
little runs joining, form a larger one, many of these again join, and
amass a larger course, which forms a ravine; these ravines, falling
into the same bottom, wear a torrent, these torrents brooks, and
brooks rivers, and rivers a great river. All this lay with the most
interesting development before the eye; but soon, ascending higher, I
reached the clouds, and could see nothing but a circle of two yards
round me, the bleak, rocky, wretched road, with a black hill on one
side, and a precipice on the other, both lost in the impenetrable
clouds, and what one could see of them covered with the stumps of
heath, which, having been burnt, were quite black, and this, added to
the excessive cold, made me feel as if I were travelling on the bare
outside of the world, bordered by the chaotic beginning of things.
Soon after, without descending much, one enters a vast oak wood,
which continues even to Penaparda, a miserable village. Wait with
the postillion at the Alcalde’s house. The General arrives an hour
afterwards. Proceed to Gainaldo, a noble city compared to Penaparda.
Get good billets, and a happy family by a kitchen fire make me a
welcome guest. Go to bed betimes.
_November 11._--Gainaldo; halt to-day. This place is two leagues from
Penaparda, six from Perales. The happy family now sitting at dinner
before me by a good fire. Three fine brats have a little table and a
little pot of porridge apiece. There is besides a beautiful omelet. The
man and his wife and mother at another table.
The right wing of the 20th Regiment marches into the town. Ride my
pony, _restivissimo_! Sentence him to an immediate hard gallop, and
further to carry his master to Ciudad Rodrigo to-morrow.
_November 12._--Breakfast at five; start at seven, I on my pony, which
starts very docilely to-day. The ground about this place is open and
cultivated. Slight hills and enclosures. Part of the ride put me in
mind of that part of the walk to Ollerton where there is a sandy hollow
and a steep bit of the road. Fine morning, but the huge mountains
threaten rain, which attacks us a short league from Ciudad Rodrigo,
with sufficient spirit to wet us through completely. On our arrival we
meet some officers of the 50th and 28th, and Colonel Ronch conducts the
General to his quarters.
I get to a priest’s house, who makes a good palaver; but on seeing my
little dungeon-room I sink under the weight of my afflictions. So after
taking a glass of Malaga I sally forth, and get an excellent billet
with a watchmaker. I intend to tell the priest that I am very fond of
him, but detest his apartments.
Sir John Moore left this morning, without baggage, for Salamanca.
_November 13._--Read papers, and see a great many old acquaintances,
and on returning to the house find Engineers’ horses at my
door--Fletcher, Burgoyne, and Mulcaster. We call on General Paget, who
asks us all to dinner.
Ciudad Rodrigo, a walled handsome town, standing on the river Agueda,
which runs beneath.
_November 15._--Go on miserable beasts, with Stewart, to Almeida,
within six leagues of this place, and arrive at dark, getting horrid
dirty billets.
_November 16._--In the morning I go with Wilmot round the hexagonal
works of Almeida, and also to Fort Conception. The angles of the flank
and the ravelin of one front blown up by the French.
Return to Ciudad Rodrigo and desired to report on the place.
_November 17._--Get up at six and start on “Blacky” to examine. Try to
ford the river, and fail in several attempts. At last he and I part
company; he runs home on one side, and I on the other. Walk the rest,
and write my report.
Ordered to set out to-morrow for Salamanca.
_November 18._--Start at eight, and _en route_ get a volunteer guide
for Cuba de Sancho, who runs amazingly fast and long. On arrival get
comfortably lodged, and start at dawn for Salamanca, which we reach by
five o’clock, being in all eleven leagues.
Here meet Mr. Fletcher, Mulcaster, and Foster, who tell us that the
French had pushed on cavalry to Valladolid, and also that an order
has been given to the troops at Salamanca to prepare to march at the
shortest notice.
_November 20, Sunday._--Breakfast with General Paget and write out
report upon last roads.
Salamanca merits particular notice and attention. The church
magnificent, and the door of the cathedral the richest, most superb
thing I ever saw.
_November 29._--Anxiety prevails about the Allies, and I receive orders
late in the day to accompany Colonel Offeney on an excursion.
_November 30._--We start at six, and after passing Tormerellas meet a
sickly-looking man on horseback, whom we stop. He appears a good deal
frightened, and confesses to have conducted thirty dragoons to Pedroso.
He also delivers up certain papers--a requisition for 50,000 rations
of bread and 10,000 of forage; a paper from Besseares to the Spanish
people; and another, a bulletin from the grand army, announcing the
total defeat of Castanos, which, added to that of Blake and La Romano,
left nothing of a Spanish army but a small corps in the rear of the
enemy under Palafax. Send this fellow with his papers to headquarters.
Start again, and having learned that the enemy had abandoned Pedroso,
proceed thither, and find they had left the town two hours before our
arrival. It was thought they had merely withdrawn into a wood a mile
beyond, into which it was not deemed prudent to penetrate.
It appeared they had come for information, asking after us; and hearing
that we had 24,000 in Salamanca, they said, “It was nothing; they had
40,000, and would soon settle us.”
_December 1._--Enter the wood with some precaution, and strike off to
the left, crossing the stagnant Guareña to some houses, and are induced
to believe that the French have gone back to Fresno.
Strike to the right to Villa Fuente, a short league distant. Then
return to Pitiegua, and sleep at the house of the excellent curé,
having made a hideous dinner upon nothing.
_December 2._--Start for Mollorido, a mill on the road to Valladolid,
and the next day receive intelligence that 10,000 infantry and 2000
cavalry have marched towards Segovia.
Go again to Tarazona, and meet on the edge of the wood the servant
of the Bishop of Coimbra on his way home from Bourdeaux. The Bishop
was one of the Portuguese grandees sent as hostages to France, and the
servant had been to visit him. He told us that he had both seen and
spoken to Napoleon at Burgos, and that he was now at Aranda on his
way to Madrid, to which the whole attention of the French seemed now
turned, in consequence of the defeat or rout of Castanos.
We send this man with a dragoon to headquarters, and proceed to
Mollorido, where we meet some people who advise us of a Don living at
Tarazona, a village half a league to the left. Go there, and find Don
Jose Mental, who had fled from Rosseda, and here he was in his own
farmhouse. We endeavoured to make him a sort of master intelligencer.
He promised much, but is actually no great shakes. Leaving him, we
return by the sedgy banks of the wild poolly Guareña. I rode ahead
with the guide, and whenever we came to a pool he gave a shuddering
look thereon, and looking at me and shaking his head, said it was a
terrible place, and whoever went in never came out again. This was his
impression, as he could not swim, and had probably never been immersed
in his life; to me it was no more than a deep pool.
_December 4, Sunday._--General Alton calls, and we ride with him to
Bahel Fuenta _via_ Villa Ruella.
Set out on return journey, not knowing the road. The guide says he
is sure that the wrong road is the right one. We take the wrong, and
wander a long, long time in a heavy impenetrable fog, not seeing
three feet before us. At length we shoot into a flock of sheep, and
I, thinking there must be a shepherd, begin to whistle as hard as I
can; and soon, to my great joy, I behold three upright forms advancing
towards me, and make one of them put us on the right road for Pitiegua.
We had gone more than our distance, and were still five miles off.
_December 6._--Take a walk with the curate. He asks me about my birth,
parentage, and education, and finding I had a mother, he says, “Ah,
how often does she say to herself, ‘Oh, if he should be dead, my dear
child!’” This throws me into the blue devils.
_December 7._--Yesterday General Alton intercepted the imperial mail
from Burgos to Madrid. It was carried by a Spanish courier, and guarded
by two French officers and a French courier. The party was attacked by
about twenty peasants a few leagues from Burgos. One French officer and
the French courier were killed. The other Frenchman made his escape,
and the Spanish courier set off full speed for the English outposts.
The mail had many letters for Napoleon and his dukes and nobles.
To-day we set out for Tarazona, but on meeting some people from
Cantalapiedra, they tell us such a parcel of stuff that we determine to
go there.
We reach Cantalapiedra, five leagues off, and ask for news. A priest,
coming up, asks, “Do they seek for news here?” “Yes.” “Oh,” he says,
“the Emperor of Russia has sent his ambassador to Buonaparte to Madrid,
to say that unless he desists from his projects against Spain, the
Muscovite will declare against him.”
The Marquis Goraze is here in retirement. He is the intendente of
Burgos, and made his escape. The people point to an equipage just
arriving. ’Tis the Marchioness, drawn in a dung-cart, her daughters and
women preceding her on donkeys, and the Marquis himself bringing up the
rear.
After a most beautiful sunbright day and clear night there advances
suddenly from the north (between Pedroso and Pitiegua) an overwhelming
cloud resting on the earth. I kept before it some time, and could see
far before me (though it was night), but behind me not an inch, till at
last, meeting a man and talking with him a moment, it got ahead, and
I found myself in the thickest pudding of a night, and was obliged to
grope my way to Pitiegua.
_December 8._--Stay indoors and determine on what to be done.
_December 9–11._--Ride north, reconnoitre, make maps and plans.
Frost and excessive cold. Get a letter from Burgoyne,[21] dated
Salamanca, about my coat. He tells me that General Hope is with them
at Alba, and that the French have attacked Madrid in force, and are
reported to be repulsed with loss. Also that Napoleon has declared in
Paris--“I am now going at the head of 200,000 men to place a prince of
my own family on the throne of Spain, after which I shall proceed to
plant the Imperial eagles on the walls of Lisbon.”
Napoleon has been at Aranda de Duero some time.
_December 14._--Start for headquarters, and find that General Stewart
has surprised a valuable convoy of cotton in some town on the Douro,
taking thirty-seven prisoners, fine-looking fellows.
Colonel Murray tells me I shall find General Paget at Toro, and that
Captain Campbell is going thither. Arrive at Toro. General Paget not
there, and I get put up at his old quarters, and am informed that an
officer had murdered his landlord, and immediately after, there enters
a man with his head all bloody, and people screaming.
My first object was, and always is, with the Spaniards, to make them
cease their storm, and then I can redress or excuse their wrongs and
talk reason to them. For the passion of the Spaniard rises at the
sound of his own voice; he hears it reciting in an angry tone, and
his grievances mount to sudden fury and chide the tardy execution of
revenge. I take the man to General Beresford.
Noises and knockings at the door all night.
_December 15._--In the morning an old woman enters and gives a most
humorous description of the night’s disturbances.
Start with Captain Bayley for Tiedra, and there find General Paget, who
had arrived with the Reserve.
_December 17._--Hard frost, march to Villalpando. Met by the people
with enthusiastic exclamations.
The Generals have a confab, Sir D. Baird having joined.
_December 18._--Sunday. I am desired to plan the place.
_December 19._--Advance to Valderas and make a sketch. The cavalry pass
the bridge, and while on the bank, under-run by the river Cea, I was
almost blown away and benumbed by the violence of the wind.
Sir John dines with General Paget,--and Battle is the word!!
[_The Journal here is omitted from 19th December to 24th December,
the details of the campaign being more clearly related in the
letter to his father, dated 24th December._]
GRAJAL,[22] _December 24, 1808_.
MY EVER DEAREST FATHER--I see so many foolish letters in the papers
respecting the operations of armies and the faults or merits of
Generals, that however naturally I might be inclined to chat with
you and give you in narrative my ideas of our movements, made
and required, I have, I believe, pretty generally refrained from
entering into the subject more than in a general cursory manner.
The enemy was in force at Saldana, and extended to other towns
on the river Carrion, which runs from the Asturias through Leon
into the Douro. It was determined to beat him here if he would
wait, and accordingly by a mutual flank movement right and left, a
junction having been formed with Sir David Baird, the whole army
advanced towards the Carrion without losing time, taking up at the
end of each day’s march such lines of cantonment as were the most
secure that the situation of the towns and villages would admit of,
keeping the cavalry in our front, then the Reserve, behind which,
in three divisions, was the main army, having its flanks covered by
the cavalry and flank corps of light troops.
As in the advance our patroles fell in with those of the enemy,
that superior valour of which the English are so conscious, and
which is conspicuous in all descriptions of English warriors in
their battles with the enemy, was very strongly and repeatedly
displayed by our Hussars. Lord Paget having gained information
that 700 of the enemy’s cavalry were at Sahagun, conceived it
possible to take them by surprise. He therefore moved at midnight
with the 10th and 15th. He divided these regiments at a suitable
spot, and directing the 10th to move direct into Sahagun, so as to
arrive at a stated time, he himself advanced by another road with
the 15th, so as to turn the town and prevent the escape of the
enemy.
This plan, wise as it was, was frustrated by a neighbouring picquet
of the enemy, having been attacked in the first instance, perhaps
not wisely, for though some were taken, some (as might be expected
at night) got off, and put the others on the _qui vive_, in
consequence of which Lord Paget, advancing towards the place with
the 15th in a column of division, found the enemy drawn up in line
to receive him. He was thus with 400 opposed to 700, and according
to all military rules, in a devil of a scrape. His Lordship,
however, forming them into line, immediately led them on to the
charge. The French are said at first to have stood like a wall and
received the enemy with front give point. The impetuosity of the
charge broke them, however, and much single-handed work ensuing,
the final result was I don’t know how many killed, and 140 taken
prisoners, besides which 2 lieutenant-colonels and 20 officers, one
of the former being nephew to Josephine and aide-de-camp to King
Joseph. The 10th came up too late to make the result of this affair
more brilliant.
Brigadier-General Stewart with the 18th, both before and since this
affair, has been in several instances proportionately dashing and
successful, and latterly 30 of the 18th attacked 100 of the enemy’s
cavalry, killed 20, and took 6 alive.
Our loss has been so trifling that I forgot to give it due place;
it does not exceed 3 killed and 6 wounded in all--that is,
seriously wounded, and these wounds have evinced (sufficiently, I
hope) that the muff Hussar cap is no defence to the head, all the
wounds being in consequence of their non-resistance, while our
fellows hacked at the brass casques of the enemy in vain. As it was
found that the chief body of the enemy under Marshal Soult, Duke of
Dalmatia, was at Saldana, behind the Carrion, it was resolved to
cross this river at the bridge of Carrion, five leagues distant,
and to march upon Saldana with the left flank upon the river.
Arrangements were accordingly made, in pursuance of which the
Reserve under General Paget moved from this place at six o’clock
yesterday evening, and was to take its place with respect to the
rest of the army at a given time.
The bridge of Carrion was to be forced at daylight, and a
subsequent battle was fully expected and ardently desired by all
ranks of the army, from Sir John Moore to the junior drummer--at
least so I believe, and spite of the severe frost and night cold,
with snow upon the ground, the spirits of the troops beat high;
they enjoyed the night march, for they thought that at last they
had caught this “Duke of Damnation,” whom they believed they had
been running after from the neighbourhood of Lisbon. No men, they
think, did ever go so fast, for they never saw anything of them,
and almost despaired of coming up with them.
The Reserve had moved about four miles when an officer met General
Paget, and the division was marched back to Grajal, its former
cantonment. This is all I know. I suppose the enemy was found to
have bolted, and that it will not do for us to play with them in
the middle of this continent.
I therefore think that we shall get away as soon as we can. I think
our Chief very wise, very brave, and very disinterested.--God bless
you,