I cannot quit thee, for the fourth and last time, without a parting
tribute to the remembrance of thy wild romantic scenery, and to the
kindness and hospitality of thy worthy citizens! May thy gates
continue shut to thine enemies as heretofore, and, as heretofore, may
they ever prove those of happiness to thy friends! Dear nuns of Santa
Clara! I thank thee for the enjoyment of many an hour of nothingness;
and thine, Santa Barbara, for many of a more intellectual cast! May
the voice of thy chapel-organ continue unrivalled but by the voices of
thy lovely choristers! and may the piano in thy refectory be replaced
by a better, in which the harmony of strings may supersede the
clattering of ivories! May the sweets which thou hast lavished on us
be showered upon thee ten thousand fold! And may those accursed iron
bars divide thee as effectually from death as they did from us!!!
April 15th.--Quartered at Castello Branco.
This town had been so often visited by the French and us, alternately,
that the inhabitants, at length, confounded their friends with their
foes; and by treating both sides as enemies, they succeeded in making
them so.
When I went this evening to present my billet on a respectable
looking house, the door was opened by the lady of it, wearing a most
gingerly aspect. She told me, with an equivocal sort of look, that she
had two spare beds in the house, and that either of them were at my
service; and, by way of illustration, shewed me into a sort of
servant's room, off the kitchen, half full of apples, onions,
potatoes, and various kinds of lumber, with a dirty looking bed in one
corner; and, on my requesting to see the other, she conducted me up to
the garret, into the very counterpart of the one below, though the
room was somewhat differently garnished. I told her, that they were
certainly two capital beds; but, as I was a modest person, and
disliked all extremes, that I should be quite satisfied with any one
on the floor which I had not yet seen. This, however, she told me, was
impossible, as every one of them were required by her own family.
While we were descending the stair, disputing the point, I caught the
handle of the first door that I came to, twisted it open, and seeing
it a neat little room, with nothing but a table and two or three
chairs, I told her that it would suit me perfectly; and, desiring her
to have a good mattress with clean linen, laid in one corner of it, by
nine o'clock; adding a few hints, to satisfy her that I was quite in
earnest, I went to dine with my messmates.
When I returned to the house, about ten o'clock, I was told that I
should find a light in the room and my bed ready. I accordingly
ascended, and found every thing as represented; and, in addition
thereto, I found another bed lying alongside of mine, containing a
huge fat friar, with a bald pate, fast asleep, and blowing the most
tremendous nasal trumpet that I ever heard! As my _friend_ had
evidently been placed there for my annoyance, I did not think it
necessary to use much ceremony in getting rid of him; and, catching
him by the two ears, I raised him up on his legs, while he groaned in
a seeming agonized doubt, whether the pain was inflicted by a man or a
night-mare; and before he had time to get himself broad awake, I had
chucked him and his clothing, bed and bedding, out at the door,
which I locked, and enjoyed a sound sleep the remainder of the night.
They offered me no further molestation; but, in taking my departure,
at daylight, next morning, I observed my landlady reconnoitring me
from an up-stairs window, and thought it prudent not to go too near
it.
While we had been employed at Badajos, Marmont had advanced in the
north, and blockaded Ciudad Rodrigo and Almeida, sending advanced
parties into the frontier towns of Portugal, to the confusion and
consternation of the Portuguese militia, who had been stationed for
their protection; and who, quite satisfied with the _report_ of their
coming, did not think it necessary to wait the report of their cannon.
Marshal Beresford, in his paternal address to "_Los Valerossos_," in
commemoration of their conduct on this occasion, directed that the
colours of each regiment should be lodged in the town-halls of their
respective districts, until they each provided themselves with _a
pair_ out of the ranks of the enemy; but I never heard that any of
them were redeemed in the manner prescribed.
The French retired upon Salamanca on our approach; and we resumed our
former quarters without opposition.
Hitherto we had been fighting the description of battle in which John
Bull glories so much--gaining a brilliant and useless victory against
great odds. But we were now about to contend for fame on equal terms;
and, having tried both, I will say, without partiality, that I would
rather fight one man than two any day; for I have never been quite
satisfied that the additional _quantum_ of glory altogether
compensated for the proportionate loss of substance; a victory of that
kind being a doubtful and most unsatisfactory one to the performers,
with each occupying the same ground _after_, that they did _before_;
and the whole merit resting with the side which did not happen to
begin it.
We remained about two months in cantonments, to recover the effects of
the late sieges; and as by that time all the perforated skins and
repairable cracked limbs had been mended, the army was assembled in
front of Ciudad Rodrigo, to commence what may be termed the second
campaign of 1812.
The enemy retired from Salamanca on our approach, leaving garrisons in
three formidable little forts, which they had erected on the most
commanding points of the city, and which were immediately invested by
a British division.
Salamanca, as a city, appeared to me to be more ancient than
respectable; for, excepting an old cathedral and a new square, I saw
nothing in it worth looking at, always saving and excepting their
pretty little girls, who (the deuce take them) cost me two nights good
sleep. For, by way of _doing a little dandy_ in passing through such a
celebrated city, I disencumbered the under part of my saddle of the
blanket, and the upper part of the boat-cloak with which it was
usually adorned; and the penalty which I paid for my gentility was,
sleeping the next two nights in position two miles in front of the
town, while these useful appendages were lying on the baggage two
miles in rear of it.
The heights of St. Christoval, which we occupied as a position to
cover the siege, were strong, but quite unsheltered, and unfurnished
with either wood or water. We were indebted for our supplies of the
latter to the citizens of Salamanca; while stubbles and dry grass were
our only fuel.
Marmont came down upon us the first night with a thundering cannonade,
and placed his army _en masse_ on the plain before us, almost within
gun shot. I was told that, while Lord Wellington was riding along the
line, under a fire of artillery, and accompanied by a numerous staff,
that a brace of greyhounds, in pursuit of a hare, passed close to him.
He was, at the moment, in earnest conversation with General Castanos;
but the instant he observed them, he gave the view hallo, and went
after them at full speed, to the utter astonishment of his foreign
accompaniments. Nor did he stop until he saw the hare killed; when he
returned, and resumed the commander-in-chief, as if nothing had
occurred.
The enemy, next morning, commenced a sharp attack on our advanced
post, in the village of Moresco; and, as it continued to be fed by
both sides, there was every appearance of its bringing on a general
action; but they desisted towards the afternoon, and the village
remained divided between us.
Marmont, after looking at us for several days, did not think it
prudent to risk an attack on our present post; and, as the
telegraph-rockets from the town told him that his garrison was reduced
to extremity, he crossed the Tormes, on the night of the 26th June, in
the hopes of being able to relieve them from that side of the river.
Our division followed his movement, and took post, for the night, at
Aldea Lingua. They sent forward a strong reconnoitring party at
daylight next morning, but they were opposed by General Bock's brigade
of heavy German dragoons, who would not permit them to see more than
was necessary; and, as the forts fell into our hands the same night,
Marmont had no longer an object in remaining there, and fell back,
behind the Douro, occupying the line of Toro and Torodesillas.
By the accidental discharge of a musket, one day last year, the ramrod
entered the belly, passed through the body, and the end of it stuck in
the back-bone of one of the soldiers of our division, from whence it
was actually hammered out with a stone. The poor fellow recovered, and
joined his regiment, as well as ever he had been, and was, last night,
unfortunately drowned, while bathing in the Tormes.
When the enemy retired, our division advanced and occupied Rueda, a
handsome little town, on the left bank of the Douro.
It abounded in excellent wines, and our usual evening dances began
there to be graced by a superior class of females to what they had
hitherto been accustomed. I remember that, in passing the house of the
sexton, one evening, I saw his daughter baking a loaf of bread; and,
falling desperately in love with both her and the loaf, I carried the
one to the ball and the other to my quarters. A woman was a woman in
those days; and every officer made it a point of duty to marshal as
many as he could to the general assembly, no matter whether they were
countesses or _sextonesses_; and although we, in consequence,
frequently incurred the most indelible disgrace among the better
orders of our indiscriminate collection, some of whom would retire in
disgust; yet, as a sufficient number generally remained for our
evening's amusement, and we were only birds of passage, it was a
matter of the most perfect indifference to us what they thought; we
followed the same course wherever we went.
The French army having, in the mean time, been largely reinforced;
and, as they commanded the passage of the Douro, we were in hourly
expectation of an offensive movement from them. As a precautionary
measure, one-half of our division bivouacked, every night, in front of
the town. On the evening of the 16th of July, it was our turn to be
in quarters, and we were in the full enjoyment of our usual evening's
amusement, when the bugles sounded to arms.
As we had previously experienced two false alarms in the same
quarters, we thought it more than probable that this might prove one
also; and, therefore, prevailed upon the ladies to enjoy themselves,
until our return, upon the good things which we had provided for their
refreshment, and out of which I hope they drew enough of consolation
for our absence, as we have not seen them since.
After forming on our alarm-post, we were moved off, in the dark, we
knew not whither; but every man following the one before him, with the
most implicit confidence, until, after marching all night, we found
ourselves, on the following morning, at daylight, near the village of
Castrejon, where we bivouacked for the day.
I was sent on piquet on the evening of the 17th, to watch a portion of
the plain before us; and, soon after sunrise on the following morning,
a cannonade commenced, behind a hill, to my right; and, though the
combatants were not visible, it was evident that they were not dealing
in blank-cartridge, as mine happened to be the pitching-post of all
the enemy's round shot. While I was attentively watching its progress,
there arose, all at once, behind the rising ground to my left, a yell
of the most terrific import; and, convinced that it would give
instantaneous birth to as hideous a body, it made me look, with an eye
of lightning, at the ground around me; and, seeing a broad deep ditch
within a hundred yards, I lost not a moment in placing it between my
piquet and the extraordinary sound, I had scarcely effected the
movement, when Lord Wellington, with his staff, and a cloud of French
and English dragoons and horse artillery intermixed, came over the
hill at full cry, and all hammering at each others' heads in one
confused mass, over the very ground I had that instant quitted. It
appeared that his Lordship had gone there to reconnoitre, covered by
two guns and two squadrons of cavalry, who, by some accident, were
surprised, and charged by a superior body of the enemy, and sent
tumbling in upon us in the manner described. A piquet of the
forty-third had formed on our right, and we were obliged to remain
passive spectators of such an extraordinary scene going on within a
few yards of us, as we could not fire without an equal chance of
shooting some of our own side. Lord Wellington and his staff, with the
two guns, took shelter, for the moment, behind us, while the cavalry
went sweeping along our front, where, I suppose, they picked up some
reinforcement, for they returned, almost instantly, in the same
confused mass; but the French were now the flyers; and, I must do them
the justice to say, that they got off in a manner highly creditable to
themselves. I saw one, in particular, defending himself against two of
ours; and he would have made his escape from both, but an officer of
our dragoons came down the hill, and took him in flank, at full speed,
sending man and horse rolling, headlong, on the plain.
I was highly interested, all this time, in observing the
distinguished characters which this unlooked-for _turn-up_ had
assembled around us. Marshal Beresford and the greater part of the
staff remained with their swords drawn, and the Duke himself did not
look more than half-pleased, while he silently despatched some of them
with orders. General Alten, and his huge German orderly dragoon, with
their swords drawn, cursed, the whole time, to a very large amount;
but, as it was in German, I had not the full benefit of it. He had an
opposition swearer in Captain Jenkinson, of the artillery, who
commanded the two guns, and whose oaths were chiefly aimed at himself
for his folly, as far as I could understand, in putting so much
confidence in his covering party, that he had not thought it necessary
to unfix the catch which horse-artillerymen, I believe, had to prevent
their swords quitting the scabbards when they are not wanted, and
which, on this occasion, prevented their jumping forth when they were
so unexpectedly called for.
The straggling enemy had scarcely cleared away from our front, when
Lord Combermere came, from the right, with a reinforcement of cavalry;
and our piquet was, at the same moment, ordered to join the battalion.
The movements which followed presented the most beautiful military
spectacle imaginable. The enemy were endeavouring to turn our left;
and, in making a counteracting movement, the two armies were marching
in parallel lines, close to each other, on a perfect plain, each ready
to take advantage of any opening of the other, and exchanging round
shot as they moved along. Our division brought up the rear of the
infantry, marching with the order and precision of a field-day, in
open column of companies, and in perfect readiness to receive the
enemy in any shape; who, on their part, had a huge cavalry force close
at hand, and equally ready to pounce upon us. Our movement was
supported by a formidable body of our own dragoons; and, as we drew
near the bank of the small river Guerrena, our horse-artillery
continued to file in the same line, to attract the attention of the
enemy, while we gradually distanced them a little, and crossed the
river into a position on the high grounds beyond it. The enemy passed
the river, on our left, and endeavoured to force that part of the
position; but the troops who were stationed there drove them back,
with great loss; and at dark the firing ceased.
During the early part of the 19th there appeared to be no movements on
either side; but, in the afternoon, having fallen asleep in my tent, I
was awoke by the whistling of a cannon shot; and was just beginning to
abuse my servant for not having called me sooner, when we were ordered
to stand to our arms; and, as the enemy were making a movement to our
right, we made a corresponding one. The cannonade did not cease until
dark, when we lay down by our arms, the two armies very near to each
other, and fully expecting a general action on the morrow.
July 20th.--We stood to our arms an hour before daylight, and Lord
Wellington held out every inducement for his opponent to attack him;
but Marmont evaded it, and continued his movement on our right, which
obliged us to continue ours, towards Salamanca; and we were a great
part of this day in parallel lines with them, the same as on the 18th.
July 21st.--We crossed the Tormes just before dark this evening, about
two miles above Salamanca, the enemy having passed it higher up.
Before reaching our ground, we experienced one of the most tremendous
thunderstorms that I ever witnessed. A sheet of lightning struck the
head of our column, where I happened to be riding, and deprived me of
the use of my optics for at least ten minutes. A great many of our
dragoon horses broke from their piqueting during the storm, and
galloped past us into the French lines. We lay by our arms on the
banks of the river, and it continued to rain in torrents the whole of
the night.