Importance of the battle of Salamanca—Anecdotes of the 88th—Gallantry of
Captain Robert Nickle—Pursuit of the defeated army of Marshal
Marmont—French infantry in square broken and destroyed by
cavalry—March on Madrid—Frolics at St. Ildefonso—Sudden attack of
the French Lancers—Disgraceful conduct of the Portuguese Dragoons.
No battle since that of Marengo, in 1800, which opened the gates of
Vienna to the first Consul of France, had been fought whose consequences
ought to be more duly appreciated than the battle of Salamanca.
Had that battle been lost, the disasters of the French army before
Moscow would have been of little account in the scale of the south, and
the imperial eagles would have soared with the same splendour, from
Madrid to Cadiz, or perhaps to Lisbon, as if no event of importance had
occurred beyond the Vistula. Portugal would have been then open to
invasion—the siege of Cadiz continued—the lines of Lisbon once more
invested—and what then?—why, the probable withdrawal of the British army
from the Peninsula. Portugal would be thus conquered—Spain laid
prostrate—England in utter dismay—and one hundred and fifty thousand
veteran French troops marched across the Pyrenees to take a part in the
combats of Lutzen and Leipsic. These would have been the results of a
defeat at Salamanca; and who is the man bold enough to say what the
results in the north of Europe would have been, had such an augmentation
of force—which would have been certain—joined Napoleon in the end of
1812, or even in the spring of 1813? As it was, he gained the battle of
Lutzen with a “green army.” Had he been backed by one hundred and fifty
thousand veteran troops from Spain, it requires no conjuror to tell what
the upshot would have been. These are the consequences which would have
followed a defeat at Salamanca. The gaining that battle placed matters
on a different footing. Portugal had nothing to dread—Soult was forced
to raise the siege of Cadiz—Madrid was evacuated, and Castille and
Andalusia were freed from the presence of a French force; but, above
all, no reinforcement of any account durst leave Spain to succour the
French army in the north of Europe; and the European struggle was
brought to a favourable result, and England saved from invasion—perhaps
ultimate conquest! But those services of the Peninsular army are
forgotten, and unrewarded.
At ten o’clock at night, Lord Wellington at the head of twelve thousand
infantry, and two thousand horsemen, was in pursuit of the routed and
discomfited army of Marmont, while the bulk of his own soldiers lay on
the field of battle. The results of that battle were—prisoners, one
hundred and thirty officers, seven thousand five hundred men, two
eagles, and fourteen guns. The field of battle was heaped with the
slain, and the total loss of the enemy may be estimated at seventeen
thousand: it has been reckoned by some writers as exceeding twenty
thousand; but I apprehend I am nearer the mark, and that seventeen
thousand was the outside. The dead and wounded on the side of the
British and Portuguese (for the Spanish army, commanded by Don Carlos de
España, lost _four men_!) were nearly five thousand; but the greater
number of the Portuguese either fell in their feeble attempt against the
Arapilles height, or by the shot that passed over the first line,
composed of British, which fell at random amongst the Portuguese placed
in the rear.
The troops that had gained the victory lay buried in sleep until two
o’clock of the morning following, when the arrival of the mules carrying
rum aroused them from their slumber, but the parties sent out in search
of water had not yet reached the field. The soldiers, with parching
lips, their tongues cleaving to their mouths from thirst, their limbs
benumbed with cold, and their bodies enfeebled by a long abstinence from
food, and the exertion of the former day, ran to the casks, and each man
drank a fearful quantity. This for a short time satisfied them, but a
burning thirst followed this rash proceeding, and before any water
arrived, we were more in need of it than at the close of the battle.
The inhabitants of Salamanca, who had a clear view of what was passing,
hastened to the spot, to afford all the relief in their power. Several
cars, most of them loaded with provisions, reached the field of battle
before morning; and it is but due to those people to state, that their
attentions were unremitting, and of the most disinterested kind, for
they sought no emolument.
They brought fruit, and even quantities of water, well knowing how
distant the river was from us, and how scantily the countryside around
was provided with so necessary a relief to men who had not tasted a drop
for so many hours, under a burning sun, and oppressed with the fatigue
they had endured during the fight.
During the battle there were many circumstances which, if related in
their places, at the period they occurred, would have broken in upon the
narrative, but may be told with more propriety now.
When the 3rd Division under Pakenham had crossed the flat, and were
moving against the crest of the hill occupied by Thomières'
_tirailleurs_, a number of _Caçadores_ commanded by Major Haddock were
in advance of us. The moment the French fire opened, these troops, which
had been placed to cover our advance, lay down on their faces, not for
the purpose of taking aim with more accuracy, but in order to save their
own sconces from the French fire. Haddock dismounted from his horse and
began belabouring with the flat side of his sabre the dastardly troops
he had the misfortune to command, but in vain; all sense of shame had
fled after the first discharge of grape and musketry, and poor Haddock
might as well have attempted to move the great cathedral of Salamanca as
the soldiers of his Majesty the King of Portugal.
At the time the Colonel of the 22nd French Regiment stepped out of the
ranks and shot Major Murphy dead at the head of his regiment, the 88th,
a number of officers were beside Murphy. It is not easy at such a moment
to be certain who is the person singled out. The two officers who
carried the colours of the regiment, and who were immediately in the
rear of the mounted officers, thought that the shot was intended for
either of them. Lieutenant Moriarty, carrying the regimental flag,
called out, “That fellow is aiming at me!”—“I hope so,” replied
Lieutenant D‘Arcy, who carried the other colour, with great coolness—“I
hope so, for I thought he had _me_ covered.” He was not much mistaken:
the ball that killed Murphy, after passing through him, struck the staff
of the flag carried by D‘Arcy, and also carried away the button and part
of the strap of his epaulette! This fact is not told as an extraordinary
occurrence, that the ball which killed one man should strike the coat of
him who happened to stand in his rear, for such casualties were by no
means uncommon with us; but I mention it as a strong proof of the great
coolness of the British line in their advance against the enemy’s
column.
When the cavalry of Le Marchant passed through Wallace’s brigade, in
their advance against Thomières' column, Captain William Mackie of the
88th, the discountenanced leader of the forlorn hope at Rodrigo, who
acted as aide-de-camp to Colonel Alexander Wallace, was missing. In the
confusion that prevailed it was thought he had fallen. No one could give
any account of him; but in a short lapse of time, after the cavalry had
charged, he returned covered with dust and blood, his horse tottering
from fatigue, and nothing left of his sabre—but the hilt! He joined the
cavalry so soon as the fighting amongst the infantry had ceased, and
those who knew the temperament of the man were not surprised at it:
wherever glory and danger were to be met, there was Mackie to be found,
and nothing—not even the chilling slights he had experienced—could damp
his daring spirit.
At the first dawn of the morning of the 23rd of July Lord Wellington
continued the pursuit of the defeated army of Marmont. He placed himself
at the head of the Light Division, which opened the march, followed by
the heavy German cavalry under General Bock, and Anson’s brigade of
light horse. Those two superb brigades of dragoons had only joined the
army the night before. The 1st Division of infantry, composed of the
Guards and German Legion, followed the cavalry, and Lord Wellington, at
the head of thirteen thousand men that had not pulled a trigger, or
unsheathed a sabre in the battle, followed the enemy’s track; but the
retreat was so quick that Marmont’s headquarters were thirty miles from
Salamanca the day after the battle. Nevertheless, the corps that covered
the retreat, consisting of three battalions of infantry and five
regiments of cavalry, were overtaken near the village of La Serna. The
infantry formed themselves into three squares, the cavalry were posted
on the flanks for its support, but the panic with which all were
infected by the defeat of the preceding day had taken such a fast hold
of them, that the French horse in advance could not be prevailed upon to
show a front. This threw those that were at hand to support them into
disorder; confusion was communicated to the remainder, and the field of
battle was precipitately abandoned by the cavalry, who, in the most
unaccountable manner, left their companions, the infantry, to their
fate.
The cavalry having thus fled, Bock, with his German horse, galloped at
the squares, and breaking through, slew or took prisoners the entire;
and the contest ended in one dreadful massacre of the French infantry.
Nevertheless, many of the troopers fell; for one regiment in particular,
the 105th French, bravely stood their ground, but the ponderous weight
of the heavy cavalry broke down all resistance; and arms lopped off,
heads cloven to the spine, or gashes across the breast and shoulders,
showed to those who afterwards passed the spot the fearful encounter
that had taken place; and from this moment nothing more of the army of
Portugal was to be seen.
The overthrow of the rear-guard which covered the flight of the army of
the Duke of Ragusa, and the rapid manner in which Clausel made good his
retreat from the heights of La Serna, where that army for the last time
made any show of a stand against the British troops that had defeated it
on the plains of Salamanca, finished the campaign, so far, at least, as
regarded the army of Portugal.
The leading regiments followed the enemy’s track as far as Flores de
Avila, which town, distant ten leagues from Salamanca, had been
evacuated by them two days after the battle. The cavalry and artillery
of the northern army met them on their retreat near Arevalo; but
nothing—not even this reinforcement—could inspire them with confidence;
and the mass of fugitives hastily followed the road leading to
Valladolid. The good generalship displayed by Clausel, and the steady
front he showed when in the presence of a victorious army, raised him
considerably, and justly so, in the estimation of his own troops; but
all his skill would have been of no avail had the battle not been
unavoidably prolonged until dark.
The march of the British army continued without interruption. Those
divisions which followed the enemy were enthusiastically welcomed as
they passed through the different towns and villages on the Valladolid
road; the inhabitants met us in vast numbers with a supply of wine,
fruit, bread, and vegetables, which were all bought up by the soldiers.
Arrived at Valladolid, and finding himself as far as ever from being
able to overtake the army of Marmont, Lord Wellington made a full stop.
Giving the troops one day’s rest for the purpose of allowing the
stragglers to come up, he, on the 1st of August, turned off abruptly
towards the grand Madrid road; while Hill, with the second corps,
reached Zafra.
Marmont being thus disposed of for the present, and Lord Wellington
having formed the resolution of marching to the Spanish capital, every
road leading to it was occupied, and thronged by cavalry, infantry, and
artillery, baggage and commissariat mules, stores of all descriptions,
the reserve park guns, and the followers of the camp, such as sutlers,
Portuguese servants, and women who followed the soldiers. These, when
assembled together, formed one vast mass of between sixty thousand and
seventy thousand souls. The sight was an imposing one; the weather was
beautifully fine, and the advance of the army as it moved onward towards
the capital was one scene of uninterrupted rejoicing. Never was the
general feeling in Spain so much in favour of the British nation, the
British army, and the Hero who commanded it, as on the present occasion.
The news of the great victory gained by the British army only a few days
before, under the walls of Salamanca, which was witnessed by thousands
upon thousands of Spaniards, was spread afar; and the different routes
which the army traversed were crowded almost to suffocation by the
Spanish people, who vied with each other to gain a passing view of the
men who had so distinguished themselves, and to supply them with every
assistance in their power. Every face was cheerful; and at the
termination of each day’s march, our bivouacs, or the villages we
occupied, were crowded with Spanish girls and young men, who either
brought wine, lemonade, or fruit; the evening was wound up by boleros
and fandangos; and, in short, our march to Madrid more resembled a
triumphal procession—which, in point of fact, it really was—than the
ordinary advance of an army prepared for battle.
Meanwhile King Joseph hastily endeavoured to make arrangements to stop
the torrent which threatened his capital. He had advanced upon Blasco
Sancho on the 25th of July; but there, hearing of the fate that had
befallen his favourite general at Salamanca, he retraced his steps, and
gaining the passes of the Guadarama, retired towards the palace of the
Escurial. He collected all the disposable force that could be taken from
the capital; but his army, chiefly composed of _Juramentados_ (Spaniards
that entered into King Joseph’s service), counted not quite fifteen
thousand bayonets and sabres—a force as to number, without taking into
account its _morale_, not of that formidableness very likely to
disconcert the grand designs of Lord Wellington. In short, the army
continued its march towards the Spanish capital without molestation. On
the 6th of August the headquarters were at Cuellar; on the 7th, at the
ancient town of Segovia, so celebrated in Spanish romance; and on the
8th the divisions destined to march upon Madrid were concentrated at St.
Ildefonso.
St. Ildefonso is beautifully situated. The magnificent waterworks, the
elegant taste with which the gardens and pleasure-grounds are laid out,
and the vast concourse of people who thronged them on the day of our
arrival, gave to it the appearance, in our eyes at least, of the most
enchanting spot on the face of the globe. At each of the principal
walks, bands of music played inspiring airs; and at half-past six in the
evening the waterworks were in full play. These works, situated at the
base of a lofty blue mountain, cast up water to an immense height; and
one in particular seemed to us to be much superior to anything we
afterwards witnessed at either Versailles or St. Cloud. To me it
certainly seems so; but I, in common with many others, may be wrong;
for, in truth, we were so charmed with the novelty of the scene we then
witnessed, and the vast contrast it presented to the scenes we had for
such a length of time not only witnessed, but taken an active part in,
that all due allowance ought to be made—if we are wrong—for our
prepossession in favour of this spot.
At eight o’clock Lord Wellington, surrounded by a number of generals of
different nations, a splendid staff, and many grandees of Spain, entered
the gardens. All the bands, at one and the same moment, played “See the
Conquering Hero comes,” the singers joined in chorus, and the vast
multitude rent the air with acclamations. The females, disregarding all
form or etiquette, broke through the crowd to get a nearer view of his
Lordship, and many embraced him as he passed down the different alleys
of the gardens. The groups of singers continued to sing; this was
succeeded by bolero-dancing, fandango-dancing, and waltzing; and all was
wound up by one of the most intoxicating and delightful nights of
pleasure that we had ever witnessed, and, if I mistake not greatly, that
was ever acted on the same spot. It was late before we retired to
rest—and indeed we had need of repose: our minds as well as bodies
required it; and when the shrill note of the bugle the following morning
(for that matter it was the same morning) aroused us from our sleep, all
that had passed seemed but as a dream.
The causeway leading to Madrid is broad and well arranged; as we reached
each league-stone we counted with anxiety the distance we had yet to
pace ere we arrived at the capital of Spain. The mountains which
overhang the Guadarama passes are bold and lofty; these passes, easy of
defence, and requiring but a small force, were abandoned without a
musket-shot being fired for their protection; and, in fine, on the 11th,
Lord Wellington was near the village of Majadahonda, distant but one
march from the capital. Thirty thousand infantry were encamped half a
league in its rear; the different brigades of horse and artillery
attached to the infantry were at hand—in short, all was in readiness;
but the advanced guard of cavalry, unfortunately entrusted to the
brigade of Portuguese of D‘Urban, was in front of all. Behind them, at
the distance of a mile, were the two regiments of heavy German horse,
while the splendid troop of horse artillery, commanded by Captain
Macdonald, was ready to support D‘Urban.
The greatest part of the day had passed over without any event taking
place between the advanced posts; some slight skirmishing between the
enemy’s lancers and D‘Urban’s cavalry left matters as they were at the
commencement. The army was preparing its arrangements for the night’s
repose and the march of the following day, when the thunder of
Macdonald’s artillery aroused us in an instant from our occupations. It
was soon manifest that the enemy’s advance had attacked the Portuguese
cavalry; and the vast cloud of dust that came rolling onward towards the
village, where the German horse were placed in reserve, told but too
plainly that the Portuguese were routed, and the Germans about to be cut
off. The infantry betook themselves to their arms, and in a few moments
the entire were in readiness to march to the scene of action—for so in
fact it was. The Portuguese dragoons fled at the first onset, without
waiting to exchange one sabre-cut with the French; and so rapid was
their flight—for they rode through the village where the reserve of
Germans were posted to support them—that not more than half of the
Germans were mounted. Many men thus fell before they could defend
themselves, and their Colonel was cut down while in the act of shaving
himself; but his brave soldiers, forming themselves together in the best
manner the time would admit of, closed with drawn sabres upon the French
lancers, which turned the stream, broke the mad fury of the attack, and
drove back the lancers in confusion.
Up to this time the combat was one scene of desperation. An irregular
and furious crowd might be seen mixed together, fighting without order
or regularity, and from the confusion that prevailed it was not possible
to see distinctly to which side the victory belonged; but at a distance,
far from the scene of action, the burnished helmets of the Portuguese
troopers were distinguishable as they fled from the post they had
deserted, and from their brave companions, the Germans, whom they left
to be massacred. The din of arms, the clashing of swords, and the
thunder of the cannon, mingled with shouts from every side, completed
the confusion. In the hurry of the moment some tents belonging to the
74th Regiment took fire, the flames soon communicated with those of the
next regiment, and the camp was enveloped with smoke; but this was soon
overcome; and by the time we approached near the point in dispute, the
French cavalry had been driven off the field, but not before many of the
Germans had fallen. Two guns of Macdonald’s brigade had also been taken;
and upon the whole, it was one of the most disgraceful and unlooked-for
events that had taken place during the campaign. To be beaten at any
time was bad enough, but to be beaten by a handful of lancers, on the
eve of our entering Madrid, almost in view of the city, was worse than
all. But what caused our defeat—our disgrace—under the eyes of the
people of Madrid? The placing undue reliance on the Portuguese troops.