June 21st, 1813.
Our division got under arms this morning before daylight, passed the
base of the mountain by its left, through the camp of the fourth
division, who were still asleep in their tents, to the banks of the
river Zadora, at the village of Tres Puentes. The opposite side of the
river was occupied by the enemy's advanced posts, and we saw their
army on the hills beyond, while the spires of Vittoria were visible
in the distance. We felt as if there was likely to be a battle; but as
that was an event we were never sure of, until we found ourselves
actually in it, we lay for some time just out of musket shot,
uncertain what was likely to turn up, and waiting for orders. At
length a sharp fire of musketry was heard to our right; and, on
looking in that direction, we saw the head of Sir Rowland Hill's
corps, together with some Spanish troops, attempting to force the
mountain which marked the enemy's left. The three battalions of our
regiment were, at the same moment, ordered forward to feel the enemy,
who lined the opposite banks of the river, with whom we were quickly
engaged in a warm skirmish. The affair with Sir Rowland Hill became
gradually warmer, but ours had apparently no other object than to
amuse those who were opposite to us, for the moment; so that, for
about two hours longer, it seemed as if there would be nothing but an
affair of outposts. About twelve o'clock, however, we were moved
rapidly to our left, followed by the rest of the division, till we
came to an abrupt turn of the river, where we found a bridge,
unoccupied by the enemy, which we immediately crossed, and took
possession of, what appeared to me to be, an old field-work, on the
other side. We had not been many seconds there before we observed the
bayonets of the third and seventh divisions glittering above the
standing corn, and advancing upon another bridge, which stood about a
quarter of a mile further to our left, and where, on their arrival,
they were warmly opposed by the enemy's light troops, who lined the
bank of the river, (which we ourselves were now on,) in great force,
for the defence of the bridge. As soon as this was observed by our
division, Colonel Barnard advanced with our battalion, and took them
in flank with such a furious fire as quickly dislodged them, and
thereby opened a passage for these two divisions free of expense,
which must otherwise have cost them dearly. What with the rapidity of
our movement, the colour of our dress, and our close contact with the
enemy, before they would abandon their post, we had the misfortune to
be identified with them for some time, by a battery of our own guns,
who, not observing the movement, continued to serve it out
indiscriminately, and all the while admiring their practice upon us;
nor was it until the red coats of the third division joined us, that
they discovered their mistake.
The battle now commenced in earnest; and this was perhaps the most
interesting moment of the whole day. Sir Thomas Graham's artillery,
with the first and fifth divisions, began to be heard far to our left,
beyond Vittoria. The bridge, which we had just cleared, stood so near
to a part of the enemy's position, that the seventh division was
instantly engaged in close action with them at that point.
On the mountain to our extreme right the action continued to be
general and obstinate, though we observed that the enemy were giving
ground slowly to Sir Rowland Hill. The passage of the river by our
division had turned the enemy's outpost, at the bridge, on our right,
where we had been engaged in the morning, and they were now
retreating, followed by the fourth division. The plain between them
and Sir Rowland Hill was occupied by the British cavalry, who were now
seen filing out of a wood, squadron after squadron, galloping into
form as they gradually cleared it. The hills behind were covered with
spectators, and the third and the light divisions, covered by our
battalion, advanced rapidly, upon a formidable hill, in front of the
enemy's centre, which they had neglected to occupy in sufficient
force.
In the course of our progress, our men kept picking off the French
videttes, who were imprudent enough to hover too near us; and many a
horse, bounding along the plain, dragging his late rider by the
stirrup-irons, contributed in making it a scene of extraordinary and
exhilarating interest.
Old Picton rode at the head of the third division, dressed in a blue
coat and a round hat, and swore as roundly all the way as if he had
been wearing two cocked ones. Our battalion soon cleared the hill in
question of the enemy's light troops; but we were pulled up on the
opposite side of it by one of their lines, which occupied a wall at
the entrance of a village immediately under us. During the few minutes
that we stopped there, while a brigade of the third division was
deploying into line, two of our companies lost two officers and thirty
men, chiefly from the fire of artillery bearing on the spot from the
French position. One of their shells burst immediately under my nose,
part of it struck my boot and stirrup-iron, and the rest of it kicked
up such a dust about me that my charger refused to obey orders; and,
while I was spurring and he capering, I heard a voice behind me, which
I knew to be Lord Wellington's, calling out, in a tone of reproof,
"look to keeping your men together, sir;" and though, God knows, I had
not the remotest idea that he was within a mile of me at the time,
yet, so sensible was I that circumstances warranted his supposing that
I was a young officer, cutting a caper, by way of bravado, before him,
that worlds would not have tempted me to look round at the moment.
The French fled from the wall as soon as they received a volley from a
part of the third division, and we instantly dashed down the hill, and
charged them through the village, capturing three of their guns; the
first, I believe, that were taken that day. They received a
reinforcement, and drove us back before our supports could come to our
assistance; but, in the scramble of the moment, our men were knowing
enough to cut the traces, and carry off the horses, so that, when we
retook the village, immediately after, the guns still remained in our
possession. The battle now became general along the whole line, and
the cannonade was tremendous. At one period, we held one side of a
wall, near the village, while the French were on the other, so that
any person who chose to put his head over from either side was sure of
getting a sword or a bayonet up his nostrils. This situation was, of
course, too good to be of long endurance. The victory, I believe, was
never for a moment doubtful. The enemy were so completely
out-generalled, and the superiority of our troops was such, that to
carry their positions required little more than the time necessary to
march to them. After forcing their centre, the fourth division and our
own got on the flank and rather in rear of the enemy's left wing, who
were retreating before Sir Rowland Hill, and who, to effect their
escape, were now obliged to fly in one confused mass. Had a single
regiment of our dragoons been at hand, or even a squadron, to have
forced them into shape for a few minutes, we must have taken from ten
to twenty thousand prisoners. After marching along side of them for
nearly two miles, and as a disorderly body will always move faster
than an orderly one, we had the mortification to see them gradually
heading us, until they finally made their escape. I have no doubt but
that our mounted gentlemen were doing their duty as they ought in
another part of the field; yet, it was impossible to deny ourselves
the satisfaction of cursing them all, because a portion had not been
there at such a critical moment. Our elevated situation, at this
time, afforded a good view of the field of battle to our left, and I
could not help being struck with an unusual appearance of unsteadiness
and want of confidence among the French troops. I saw a dense mass of
many thousands occupying a good defensible post, who gave way in the
greatest confusion, before a single line of the third division, almost
without feeling them. If there was nothing in any other part of the
position to justify the movement, and I do not think there was, they
ought to have been flogged, every man, from the general downwards.
The ground was particularly favourable to the retreating foe, as every
half-mile afforded a fresh and formidable position, so that, from the
commencement of the action to the city of Vittoria, a distance of six
or eight miles, we were involved in one continued hard skirmish. On
passing Vittoria, however, the scene became quite new and infinitely
more amusing, as the French had made no provision for a retreat; and,
Sir Thomas Graham having seized upon the great road to France, the
only one left open was that leading by Pampeluna; and it was not open
long, for their fugitive army, and their myriads of followers, with
baggage, guns, carriages, &c. being all precipitated upon it at the
same moment, it got choked up about a mile beyond the town, in the
most glorious state of confusion; and the drivers, finding that one
pair of legs was worth two pair of wheels, abandoned it all to the
victors.
Many of their followers who had light carriages, endeavoured to make
their escape through the fields; but it only served to prolong their
misery.
I shall never forget the first that we overtook: it was in the midst
of a stubble-field, for some time between us and the French
skirmishers, the driver doing all he could to urge the horses along;
but our balls began to whistle so plentifully about his ears, that he
at last dismounted in despair, and, getting on his knees, under the
carriage, began praying. His place on the box was quickly occupied by
as many of our fellows as could stick on it, while others were
scrambling in at the doors on each side, and not a few on the roof,
handling the baskets there so roughly, as to occasion loud complaints
from the fowls within. I rode up to the carriage, to see that the
people inside were not improperly treated; but the only one there was
an old gouty gentleman, who, from the nature of his cargo, must either
have robbed his own house, or that of a very good fellow, for the
carriage was literally laden with wines and provisions. Never did
victors make a more legal or useful capture; for it was now six in the
evening, and it had evidently been the old gentleman's fault if he had
not already dined, whereas it was our misfortune, rather than our
fault, that we had not tasted anything since three o'clock in the
morning, so that when one of our men knocked the neck off a bottle,
and handed it to me, to take a drink, I nodded to the old fellow's
health, and drank it off without the smallest scruple of conscience.
It was excellent claret, and if he still lives to tell the story, I
fear he will not give us the credit of having belonged to such a
_civil_ department as his appeared.
We did not cease the pursuit until dark, and then halted in a field of
wheat, about two miles beyond Vittoria. The victory was complete. They
carried off only one howitzer out of their numerous artillery, which,
with baggage, stores, provisions, money, and every thing that
constitutes the _materiel_ of an army, fell into our hands.
It is much to be lamented, on those occasions, that the people who
contribute most to the victory should profit the least by it; not that
I am an advocate for plunder--on the contrary, I would much rather
that all our fighting was for pure _love_; but, as every thing of
value falls into the hands of the followers, and scoundrels who skulk
from the ranks for the double purpose of plundering and saving their
dastardly carcasses, what I regret is, that the man who deserts his
post should thereby have an opportunity of enriching himself with
impunity, while the true man gets nothing; but the evil I believe is
irremediable. Sir James Kempt, who commanded our brigade, in passing
one of the captured waggons in the evening, saw a soldier loading
himself with money, and was about to have him conveyed to the camp as
a prisoner, when the fellow begged hard to be released, and to be
allowed to retain what he had got, telling the general that all the
boxes in the waggon were filled with gold. Sir James, with his usual
liberality, immediately adopted the idea of securing it, as a reward
to his brigade, for their gallantry; and, getting a fatigue party, he
caused the boxes to be removed to his tent, and ordered an officer and
some men from each regiment to parade there next morning, to receive
their proportions of it; but, when they opened the boxes, they found
them filled with _hammers, nails, and horse-shoes_!
Among the evil chances of that glorious day, I had to regret the
temporary loss of Colonel Cameron,--a bad wound in the thigh having
obliged him to go to England. Of him I can truly say, that, as a
_friend_, his heart was in the right place, and, as a _soldier_, his
right place was at the head of a regiment in the face of an enemy. I
never saw an officer feel more at home in such a situation, nor do I
know any one who could fill it better.
A singular accident threw me in the way of a dying French officer, who
gave me a group of family portraits to transmit to his friends; but,
as it was not until the following year that I had an opportunity of
making the necessary inquiries after them, they had then left their
residence, and were nowhere to be heard of.
As not only the body, but the mind, had been in constant occupation
since three o'clock in the morning, circumstances no sooner permitted
(about ten at night) than I threw myself on the ground, and fell into
a profound sleep, from which I did not awake until broad daylight,
when I found a French soldier squatted near me, intensely watching for
the opening of my _shutters_. He had contrived to conceal himself
there during the night; and, when he saw that I was awake, he
immediately jumped on his legs, and very obsequiously presented me
with a map of France, telling me that as there was now a probability
of our visiting his native country, he could make himself very useful,
and would be glad if I would accept of his services. I thought it
unfair, however, to deprive him of the present opportunity of seeing a
little more of the world himself, and, therefore, sent him to join the
rest of the prisoners, which would insure him a trip to England, free
of expense.
About midday, on the 22d, our three battalions, with some cavalry and
artillery, were ordered in pursuit of the enemy.
I do not know how it is, but I have always had a mortal objection to
be killed the day after a victory. In the actions preceding a battle,
or in the battle itself, it never gave me much uneasiness, as being
all in the way of business; but, after surviving the great day, I
always felt as if I had a right to live to tell the story; and I,
therefore, did not find the ensuing three days' fighting half so
pleasant as they otherwise would have been.
Darkness overtook us this night without our overtaking the enemy; and
we halted in a grove of pines, exposed to a very heavy rain. In
imprudently shifting my things from one tree to another, after dark,
some rascal contrived to steal the velisse containing my dressing
things, than which I do not know a greater loss, when there is no
possibility of replacing any part of them.
We overtook their rear-guard early on the following day, and, hanging
on their line of march until dark, we did them all the mischief that
we could. They burnt every village through which they passed, under
the pretence of impeding our movements; but, as it did not make the
slightest difference in that respect, we could only view it as a
wanton piece of cruelty.
On the 24th, we were again engaged in pressing their rear the greater
part of the day; and, ultimately, in giving them the last kick, under
the walls of Pampeluna, where we had the glory of capturing their
last gun, which literally sent them into France without a single piece
of ordnance.
Our battalion occupied, that night, a large, well-furnished, but
uninhabited chateau, a short distance from Pampeluna.
We got under arms early on the morning of the 25th; and, passing by a
mountain-path, to the left of Pampeluna, within range of the guns,
though they did not fire at us, circled the town, until we reached the
village of Villalba, where we halted for the night. Since I joined
that army, I had never, up to that period, been master of any thing in
the shape of a bed; and, though I did not despise a bundle of straw,
when it could conveniently be had, yet my boat-cloak and blanket were
more generally to be seen, spread out for my reception on the bare
earth. But, in proceeding to turn into them, as usual, this evening, I
was not a little astonished to find, in their stead, a comfortable
mattress, with a suitable supply of linen, blankets, and pillows; in
short, the very identical bedding on which I had slept, the night
before, in the chateau, three leagues off, and which my rascal of an
Irishman had bundled altogether on the back of my mule, without giving
me the slightest hint of his intentions. On my taking him to task
about it, and telling him that he would certainly be hanged, all that
he said in reply was, "by J--s, they had more than a hundred beds in
that house, and not a single soul to sleep in them." I was very much
annoyed, at the time, that there was no possibility of returning them
to their rightful owner, as, independent of its being nothing short of
a regular robbery, I really looked upon them as a very unnecessary
encumbrance; but being forced, in some measure, to indulge in their
comforts, I was not long in changing my mind; and was, ultimately, not
very sorry that the possibility of restoration never did occur.