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 grave-digger and game-keeper, for we found ample employment
both for the spade and the rifle.
The only varieties during the siege were,--First, The storming of
_Picuvina_, a formidable outwork, occupying the centre of our
operations. It was carried one evening, in the most gallant style, by
Major-General Sir James Kempt, at the head of the covering parties.
Secondly, A sortie made by the garrison, which they got the worst of,
although they succeeded in stealing some of our pickaxes and shovels.
Thirdly, A _circumbendibus_ described by a few daring French dragoons,
who succeeded in getting into the rear of our engineers' camp, at that
time unguarded, and lightened some of the officers of their
epaulettes. Lastly, Two field-pieces taken by the enemy to the
opposite side of the river, enfilading one of our parallels, and
materially disturbing the harmony within, as a cannon-shot is no very
welcome guest among gentlemen who happen to be lodged in a straight
ditch, without the power of _cutting_ it.
Our batteries were supplied with ammunition, by the Portuguese
militia, from Elvas, a string of whom used to arrive every day,
reaching nearly from the one place to the other (twelve miles), each
man carrying a twenty-four pound shot, and cursing all the way and
back again.
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 past: but, sometimes he would see a general discharge from all
arms, when he threw himself down, screaming out "_Jesus, todos,
todos!_" meaning "every thing."
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 sandbags. 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 to 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.