TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
* Italics are denoted by underscores as in _italics_, and small caps
are represented in upper case as in SMALL CAPS.
* Obvious printer errors have been silently corrected.
* Original spelling was kept, but variant spellings were made
consistent when a predominant usage was found.
* Errata and Notes on illustrations have been inserted into their
proper places in the text.
* To aid referencing places and names in present-day maps and
documents, outdated and current spellings of some proper names
follow:
Albaracin, now Albarracín,
Albondonates, now Algodonales,
Albuquerque, now Alburquerque,
Alcanizas, now Alcañices,
Alemtejo, now Alentejo,
Almanza, now Almansa,
Almunecar, now Almuñecar,
Araçena, now Aracena,
Arzobispo, now El Puente del Arzobispo,
Baccelar (Manuel), now Manuel Pinto de Morais Bacelar,
Ballasteros, now Ballesteros,
Barcellos, now Barcelos,
Baylen, now Bailén,
Boçaco, now Buçaco,
Bussaco, now Buçaco,
Cacabellos, now Cacabelos,
Caçeres, now Cáceres,
Calandriz, now Calhandriz,
Campredon, now Camprodón,
Cardadeu, now Cardedeu,
Compostella, now Compostela,
Cordova, now Córdoba,
Corunna, now La Coruña,
Dao, now Dão,
Daymiel, now Daimiel,
Deleytosa, now Deleitosa,
Despeña-Perros, now Despeñaperros,
Douro, now Duero (in Spain),
Douro (in Portugal),
El Moral, now Moral de Calatrava,
Estremadura, now Extremadura (in Spain),
Estremadura (in Portugal),
Golegão, now Golegã,
Guadalaviar (river), now Turia (río),
Guimaraens, now Guimarães,
La Baneza, now La Bañeza
La Bispal, now La Bisbal,
Loxa, now Loja,
Majorca, now Mallorca,
Meza, now Mesas de Ibor,
Momblanch, now Montblanch,
Nabao (river), now Nabão (río),
Ona (river), now Güeña (río),
Oña (river), now Oñar (río),
Palleresa, now Pallaresa,
Pampeluna, now Pamplona,
Ripol, now Ripoll,
Sabugoça, now Sabugosa
Santona, now Santoña,
Saragossa, now Zaragoza,
Senabria, now Sanabria,
Tagus (river), now Tajo (Spanish), Tejo (Portuguese),
Tajuna, now Tajuña,
Tondella, now Tondela,
Truxillo, now Trujillo,
Vierzo, now El Bierzo,
Villaharta, now Villarta de San Juan,
Vincente, now Vicente,
Vittoria, now Vitoria,
Xeres, now Jerez,
* Chapter headers and Table of contents have been made consistent.
* Footnotes have been renumbered into a single series. Each footnote
is placed at the end of the paragraph that includes its anchor.
* In p. 49, the anchor placement for footnote 52 is conjectured; no
anchor was found in the printed original.
* In pp. 202, 398 and 428, paragraphs have been broken at “(1)” for
a more natural presentation and an easier reading.
[Illustration:_Duke of Wellington_
_From a portrait in the Hope Collection_
(_1813_)]
A HISTORY OF THE
PENINSULAR WAR
BY
CHARLES OMAN, M.A.
FELLOW OF ALL SOULS COLLEGE
AND CHICHELE PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
FELLOW OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY
AND CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE REAL ACADEMIA
DE LA HISTORIA OF MADRID
VOL. III
SEPT. 1809-DEC. 1810
OCAÑA CADIZ BUSSACO TORRES VEDRAS
WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1908
HENRY FROWDE, M.A.
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
LONDON, EDINBURGH
NEW YORK AND TORONTO
PREFACE
This, the third volume of the History of the Peninsular War, covers
a longer period than either of its predecessors, extending over the
sixteen months from Wellington’s arrival at Badajoz on his retreat
from Talavera (Sept. 3, 1809) to the deadlock in front of Santarem
(Dec. 1810), which marked the end of Masséna’s offensive campaign
in Portugal. It thus embraces the central crisis of the whole war,
the arrival of the French in front of the Lines of Torres Vedras and
their first short retreat, after they had realized the impossibility
of forcing that impregnable barrier to their advance. The retreat
that began at Sobral on the night of Nov. 14, 1810, was to end at
Toulouse on April 11, 1814. The armies of the Emperor were never
able to repeat the experiment of 1810, and to assume a general and
vigorous offensive against Wellington and Portugal. In 1811 they
were on the defensive, despite of certain local and partial attempts
to recover their lost initiative. In 1812 they had to abandon
half Spain--Andalusia, Estremadura, Asturias, La Mancha, and much
more,--despite of Wellington’s temporary check before Burgos. In
1813 they were swept across the Pyrenees and the Bidassoa; in 1814
they were fighting a losing game in their own land. Rightly then
may Masséna’s retreat to Santarem be called the beginning of the
end--though it was not for a full year more that Wellington’s final
offensive commenced, with the investment of Ciudad Rodrigo on Jan. 8,
1812.
The campaign of Bussaco and Torres Vedras, therefore, marked the
turning-point of the whole war, and I have endeavoured to set forth
its meaning in full detail, devoting special care to the explanation
of Wellington’s triple device for arresting the French advance--his
combination of the system of devastation, of the raising of the
_levée en masse_ in Portugal, and of the construction of great
defensive lines in front of Lisbon. Each of these three measures
would have been incomplete without the other two. For the Lines of
Torres Vedras might not have saved Portugal and Europe from the
domination of Napoleon, if the invading army had not been surrounded
on all sides by the light screen of irregular troops, which cut
its communications, and prevented it from foraging far afield. Nor
would Masséna have been turned back, if the land through which he
had advanced had been left unravaged, and if every large village had
contained enough food to subsist a brigade for a day or a battalion
for a week.
The preparations, the advance, and the retreat of Masséna cover about
half of this volume. The rest of it is occupied with the operations
of the French in Northern, Eastern, and Southern Spain--operations
which seemed decisive at the moment, but which turned out to be
mere side-issues in the great contest. For Soult’s conquest of
Andalusia, and Suchet’s victories in Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia
only distracted the imperial generals from their central task--the
expulsion of Wellington and his army from the Peninsula. Most
readers will, I think, find a good deal of new information in the
accounts of the siege of Gerona and the battle of Ocaña. The credit
due to Alvarez for the defence of the Catalonian city has never
been properly set forth before in any English history, nor have the
details of Areizaga’s miserable campaign in La Mancha been fully
studied. In particular, the composition and strength of his army have
never before been elucidated, and Appendices V, VI of this volume
consist of absolutely unpublished documents.
I have to offer my grateful thanks to those who have been good
enough to assist me in the writing of this book, by furnishing me
with stores of private papers, or hitherto unknown official reports.
Two of the kind helpers who put me on the track of new information
for the compiling of Volume II have passed away while Volume III
was in progress. I bitterly regret the loss of my friends General
Arteche and Colonel F. A. Whinyates. The former, with his unrivalled
knowledge of the contents of the historical department of the Madrid
War Office, had enabled me to discover many a lost document of
importance. The latter had placed at my disposal his copious store
of papers, letters, and diaries relating to his old corps, the Royal
Artillery. In this present section of the history of the war I am
still using much of the material which he lent me.
But new helpers have come to my aid while this volume was being
written. To three of them I must express my special gratitude.
The first is Mr. W. S. M. D’Urban, of Newport House, near Exeter,
who has furnished me with copies of a collection of papers of
unique interest, the diary and correspondence of his grandfather,
Sir Benjamin D’Urban, who served as the Quarter-Master-General
of the Portuguese army, under Marshal Beresford, during the two
years covered by this section of my history. Thanks to the mass of
documents furnished by Mr. D’Urban’s kindness, I am now in a position
to follow the details of the organization, movements, and exploits
of the Portuguese army in a way that had hitherto been impossible to
me. Moreover, Sir Benjamin’s day by day criticisms on the strategy
and tactics both of Masséna and of Wellington have the highest
interest, as reflecting the opinions of the more intelligent section
of the head-quarters staff. It is noteworthy to find that, while
many of Wellington’s chief subordinates despaired of the situation
in 1810, there were some who already felt an enthusiastic confidence
in the plans of their leader, so much so that their criticisms
were reserved for the occasions when, in their opinion, he showed
himself over-cautious, and refused to take full advantage of the
uncomfortable positions into which he had lured his enemy.
The second mass of interesting private papers placed in my hands
of late is the personal correspondence of Nicholas Trant and John
Wilson, the two enterprising leaders of Portuguese militia forces,
to whom Wellington had entrusted the cutting off of Masséna’s
communication with Spain, and the restriction of his raids for
sustenance to feed his army. These letters have been lent me by
Commander Bertram Chambers of H.M.S. _Resolution_, a collateral
relative of Wilson. They fill up a gap in the military history of
1810, for no one hitherto had the opportunity of following out in
detail the doings of these two adventurous soldiers and trusty
friends, while they were engaged in the difficult task that was set
them. For a sample of Trant’s breezy style of correspondence, I may
refer the reader to pages 399-400 of this volume. Unfortunately, when
the two militia generals were in actual contact, their correspondence
naturally ceased, so that the series of letters has many _lacunae_.
But they are nevertheless of the highest value.
Thirdly, I have to thank Sir Henry Le Marchant for a sight of the
private papers of his grandfather, the well-known cavalry brigadier,
General John Gaspar Le Marchant, who fell at Salamanca. He did not
land in the Peninsula till 1811, but during the preceding year he was
receiving many letters of interest, some from his own contemporaries,
officers of high rank in Wellington’s army, others from younger men,
who had been his pupils while he was in command of the Military
College at High Wycombe. Some of the seniors, and one especially,
were among those down-hearted men--of the opposite type to Benjamin
D’Urban--who were consistently expecting disaster, and looked for a
hasty embarkation at Lisbon as the natural end of the campaign of
1810. The younger men took a very different view of affairs, and
invariably sent cheerful accounts of the doings of the army.
I must mention, once more, kind assistance from the officials of the
Historical sections of the War Ministries at Paris and at Madrid.
My friend Commandant Balagny, who gave me so much help during the
compilation of my second volume, has unfortunately been absent on a
military mission to Brazil during the last three years. But the kind
offices of M. Martinien have continually aided me in getting access
to the particular sections of the Paris archives with which I was
from time to time concerned. I must here take the opportunity of
expressing once more my admiration for his colossal work, the _Liste
des officiers tués et blessés pendant les Guerres de l’Empire_,
which, on the numberless occasions when no casualty-return appears
in the Paris archives, enables one to determine what regiments
were present at any action, and in what proportion they suffered.
At Madrid Captain Emilio Figueras has continued his kind services,
offered during the compilation of my second volume, and was
indefatigable in going through the papers of 1810 with me, during my
two visits to the Spanish capital.
Among my English helpers I must cite with special gratitude four
names. The first is that of Mr. C. T. Atkinson, Fellow of Exeter
College, Oxford, who has read the proofs of the greater part of
this volume, and given me many valuable corrections and pieces of
information, from his wide knowledge of British regimental history.
The second is that of Major John H. Leslie, R.A., who has compiled
the Artillery Appendix to this section, corresponding to that which
Colonel Whinyates compiled for the last. I am also most grateful to
him for an early view of the useful ‘Dickson Papers,’ which he is
publishing for the Royal Artillery Institution. The third is that
of the Rev. Alexander Craufurd, who has continued to give me notes
on the history of the Light Division, while it was commanded by his
grandfather, the famous Robert Craufurd. The fourth is that of Mr. C.
E. Doble of the Clarendon Press, who has again read for errors every
page of a long volume.
Lastly, the indefatigable compiler of the Index must receive once
more my heartfelt thanks for a labour of love.
The reader will find several topographical notes appended at the
end of chapters, the results of my first and second tours along the
borderland of Spain and Portugal. Two long visits to the battlefield
of Bussaco, and some days spent between the Coa and the Agueda, and
behind the Lines of Torres Vedras, gave me many new topographical
facts of importance. Drives and walks in the Badajoz-Elvas country,
and about Coimbra, also turned out most profitable. But my notes on
the battlefields of Fuentes d’Oñoro and Albuera can only be utilized
in my next volume, which I trust may not be long in following its
predecessor into print.
The spelling of many of the Spanish, and more especially the
Portuguese, names may appear unfamiliar to some readers. But I
believe that correctness should be studied above all things, even
though the results in cases like Bussaco with the double s, Golegão,
or Santa Comba Dao, may produce a momentary shock to the eye.
Portuguese spelling, both in personal names and in topography, was
in a state of flux in 1810. For example, the General commanding the
Artillery always appears as da Rosa in the official army lists, yet
signed his name da Roza; countless other instances could be produced.
Where it was possible I have followed the individual’s own version
of his name: he ought to have known best. There are still, no doubt,
errors of spelling surviving: no man is infallible, but I have done
my best to reduce them to a minimum.
C. OMAN.
OXFORD:
_March 1, 1908_.
CONTENTS
SECTION XVII
FROM TALAVERA TO OCAÑA
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Introductory. The Central Junta. Wellesley and
Wellington 1
II. Events in Eastern Spain during the Summer and Autumn
of 1809: the Siege of Gerona begins 9
III. The Fall of Gerona (Aug.-Dec. 1809) 37
IV. The Autumn Campaign of 1809: Tamames, Ocaña, and Alba
de Tormes 67