The Light Division crosses the Agueda. Lord Wellington reconnoiters
Rodrigo. Don Julian Sanchez. The French governor taken prisoner by
Guerillas. A picket of our light cavalry made prisoners in the
Sierra de Gata. The Light Division reinforced by the third battalion
of the 95th Rifle Corps from Cadiz. Deaths by Alemtejo fever. I
cross the mountains with my own company and one of Portuguese. Wild
scenery. Goatherds. Their dress, language, and habitations. Rejoin
the Light Division. Marmont advances to Rodrigo. The Light Division
in position on the Vadillo. Gallant conduct of General Colville’s
brigade. The Light Division joins the 3d and 4th near Guinaldo. The
army falls back to Aldea de Ponte. The Light Division engaged with
the French cavalry and dismounted chasseurs. Brilliant charge of the
Fusileer brigade. General Picton’s light troops engaged. The army
retires to Soita. Marmont follows the allied army no further, and
falls back to Placentia. Our army goes into cantonments. Comparative
merits of Spanish and English greyhounds. A new governor arrives at
Rodrigo. Winter quarters in Spanish villages. Libraries not in
vogue. An essay on cigars, and their utility in campaigning. A party
made to shoot wild deer. General Hill surprises a French division. A
shooting party in the mountains. Boleros, fandangos, and Irish jigs.
Capital sport with the woodcocks. A good dancer and a particularly
bad shot. Excursion to Robadillia. Just punishment inflicted on a
demi-brigade of padres. The Light Division invests and lays siege to
Ciudad Rodrigo. Redoubt of San Francisco stormed and taken. The
siege and storming of Rodrigo. Death of Generals Crawford and
M’Kinnon. Remarks on the defence made by the French governor.
Contrast between the siege of 1810 and that of 1812. The army
marches to the southward and besieges Badajoz. Difficulty of keeping
our horses alive during the march. Siege of Badajoz. Storming of the
place.
But I must take leave of staff men, and proceed across the Agueda once
more. This was effected by the Light Division and some cavalry on the
10th of August, at a ford called Vado de Carros. We occupied Martiago
and other villages near it. On the following day Lord Wellington ordered
us to accompany him in a reconnoissance on Ciudad Rodrigo. On our
approaching the town, the governor sent out a few hundred infantry and
some field-pieces, which did not advance from under the protection of
the heavy guns of the works. We returned to our villages late that
night.
The whole army, except General Hill’s corps in Alemtejo, was now
cantoned on the northern frontier of Portugal; our division and the
German Hussars being advanced across the Agueda. Marmont’s head-quarters
were at Placentia, and the French also occupied Salamanca with some
thousand troops. Although Ciudad Rodrigo was not strictly blockaded, it
could not be said to have been much otherwise, for the Light Division
and some cavalry occupied villages near it, on the right bank of the
Agueda. Cavalry also watched it in the direction of El Bodon, on the
opposite bank; and the active Guerilla chief, Don Julian Sanchez,
eternally hung about the walls, ready to pounce on any small party which
might leave the town. One day a party of those Guerillas made the
governor and his escort prisoners, almost under cover of the guns of
Rodrigo. About this period an officer of one of our light dragoon
regiments, who was on picket in one of the passes of the Sierra de Gata,
was surprised and made prisoner, with all his party, by a strong patrole
of French cavalry.
On the 21st the Light Division was reinforced by five companies of our
third battalion, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Barnard. They
arrived at Lisbon from Cadiz, and had been present at the memorable
battle of Barossa, fought on the 5th of March. Two companies also of our
second battalion had been sent from England to join the Light Division
within the last six or eight months; those being the most effective men
that could be collected from a battalion which went to Walcheren in
1809, upwards of a thousand strong. Many officers and soldiers died
whilst we were in this neighbourhood, having undoubtedly brought the
malignant fever with them from that unhealthy camp on the Caya, in
Alemtejo. Amongst the number were Colonel Drummond of the 24th regiment,
(who commanded a brigade in the Light Division during Colonel Beckwith’s
absence in England, from ill health,) Major Elers of the 43d, three
officers of our own regiment, and a great number of soldiers.
On the 9th September I was detached with my own company, and one of
Portuguese Caçadores, across the Sierra de Gata to Las Herrias and Aldea
Juella, two villages of the worst possible description, buried in the
heart of mountains, as awfully grand and terrific as I ever beheld in
Spain, Switzerland, or elsewhere. The inhabitants of those wretched
hovels, which I have dignified with the name of villages, were all
dressed in the skins of goats, sheep, and wolves, looking more like
demons than any thing human. Although no Patagonian in height, I was
obliged to stoop double, in order to go in and out of the shed, which,
as commandant, I took care should not be the worst in the colony. Some
dried fern in a dark corner, which looked as if the devil should have
been its inmate, where myriads of fleas had established themselves as
“lords and masters,” was my bed, and my pillow a knapsack.
Although only a few leagues distant from the villages of Martiago, &c.
&c. on the north side of the mountains, from which we came, where the
Spanish language is spoken with tolerable purity, it was quite a
hopeless case to endeavour to understand those goatherds, or to make
them comprehend us. Their lingo resembled Hebrew or Arabic quite as much
as Castilian. I often wished that some one highly gifted with
descriptive powers could have taken a peep at the magnificent scenery
which surrounded us on all sides, and have done something like justice
to it.
We were detached to those villages to observe some narrow roads, by
which infantry or light cavalry might have approached from Marmont’s
outposts, between us and Placentia, and to collect such information as
we were able relative to the movements of the enemy.
During the fortnight which was spent amongst those uncouth goatherds, we
were constantly accoutred night and day, and ready to stand to our arms
at a moment’s notice. The days were passed in patrolling,
reconnoitering, and endeavouring to collect information from the
mountaineers, who either could not or would not enlighten us as to
Marmont’s movements. I believe our colonists were not a little nettled
because we took possession, by General Crawford’s orders, of such goats
and sheep as were requisite to ration the troops. Bread and wine were
sent to us from the head-quarters of the division every fourth day,
across the mountains on mules.
Two deserters came over to us on the 11th, who reported that Marmont was
detaching troops from Placentia to Salamanca. We were heartily rejoiced,
at the expiration of a fortnight, to be recalled, and to join the Light
Division in more Christian-like quarters at Martiago. On our march
across the mountains we saw a large wolf, which had been rambling about
near a village, and at which one of our men sent a rifle-ball, but it
had merely the effect of quickening his pace, the distance being too
great to give us a chance of killing him.
Marmont had assembled his whole army, and having crossed the mountains
from Placentia, was advancing to raise the blockade of Rodrigo, and to
throw into it a large convoy of provisions. His advanced guard was on
the Agueda, and some of his cavalry watched the Light Division, which
occupied a very extended line of country behind the Vadillo, a
mountain-river flowing into the Agueda; which latter stream separated us
from the remainder of the army, and rendered our position an extremely
ticklish one. Here we remained three days, on the last of which (25th
September) Marmont sent forward from Rodrigo a strong force of cavalry
with artillery towards El Bodon, in which village a brigade belonging to
the 3d Division was stationed, commanded by the Hon. General Colville.
On the heights near it, this brigade, with a few troops of (I believe)
the 11th and 12th Light Dragoons, and some Portuguese artillery, was
attacked most furiously, and they held their ground with a steadiness
and bravery which should immortalise them.
The Light Division being at the time on the Vadillo, some leagues off,
we could only hear the distant cannonade, and were kept many hours in a
state of uncertainty and anxiety, knowing, that unless the troops on the
left bank of the Agueda were able to keep the French in check, we must
necessarily be cut off from the main body of our army, and scramble into
the mountains, at whose base we were in position. Three British
battalions, weak in numbers, the 2d battalion of the 5th, the 77th, and
the 2d battalion 83d, composed General Colville’s brigade; and having
formed a square, they resisted repeated charges of a numerous cavalry,
and were for a length of time exposed to a destructive cannonade. The
conduct of the squadrons of our cavalry was equally gallant, who charged
and drove back, again and again, very superior numbers of French
dragoons. Some Portuguese guns, of which the French cavalry had gained
temporary possession, were retaken by the 5th regiment, which charged
and fairly beat them away.
This is almost the first instance on record of a battalion of infantry
in line, and on a plain, attacking a body of cavalry; yet that such was
the case on this occasion, I believe is beyond all doubt. This gallant
little brigade fell back in the course of the day towards Fuente
Guinaldo, near which the remainder of the 3d and 4th Divisions were in
position, and had hastily thrown up some field-works.
The same night the Light Division marched from the Vadillo, and on the
26th, crossing the Agueda by a ford near the mountains, joined the 3d
and 4th Divisions in the position at Guinaldo. Sir Thomas Graham was on
the Azarva, with some troops of cavalry and infantry.
The French employed the 26th in bringing forward heavy columns of
infantry and cavalry from Ciudad Rodrigo towards our position. As soon
as it was dark, all the troops at Guinaldo retired in the direction of
Aldea de Ponte, except the Light Division and some of the 1st German
Hussars, which were left as a rear-guard. About midnight we followed the
main body, and, with the exception of a short halt, were marching until
the evening of the 27th, when we joined some other divisions near Aldea
de Ponte. So much time would not have been requisite to go that
distance, had we not been interrupted in our retreat by the French
cavalry, who came up about mid-day, charging and driving in on us our
small body of German Hussars. On each side of the road the ground was
rough and rocky, which enabled us to bring their cavalry to a
standstill; but some of them dismounting, attacked us as light infantry,
which brought on a sharp skirmish between some companies of our regiment
and their dismounted chasseurs. After getting some broken heads, and
possibly not liking to carry on a light infantry warfare, they thought
fit to return to their horses, and to resume the shape of cavalry. The
remainder of the day they were more cautious in approaching us.
Late in the evening the Fusileer brigade, composed of the 7th and 23d
regiments, under the command of the Hon. General Pakenham, made a
brilliant charge, and drove back, in gallant style, a superior body of
French infantry near Aldea de Ponte, which Marmont had sent to take
possession of a hill, from which Lord Wellington was reconnoitering. The
light troops of General Picton’s division were briskly engaged also.
Until night put a stop to it, there was an animated cannonade; when Lord
Wellington, leaving the Light Division and some cavalry as a rear-guard,
withdrew his army towards Soita.
Our division followed at midnight, and about eight o’clock the next
morning reached a position near Soita, on which the whole allied army,
except General Hill’s corps, was drawn out to give battle to the Duke of
Ragusa, should he think proper to accept the challenge. But Marmont
followed us no further than Aldea de Ponte, except with some cavalry;
and in a few days he withdrew his whole army across the Agueda, and from
thence to Salamanca and Placentia. He had been obliged to collect, at
great inconvenience, a force vastly superior to that of the allies,
particularly in cavalry, and to march a long distance, for the purpose
of introducing a convoy of provisions into Ciudad Rodrigo; and by
draining Placentia, Salamanca, and other districts, of French troops, he
afforded an opportunity to the Spaniards of operating on his flanks and
rear.
In declining to give Marmont battle between the Agueda and Aldea de
Ponte, it is probable that Lord Wellington was influenced by two most
potent reasons: 1st, Because the French infinitely outnumbered the
British, particularly in cavalry, for the operation of which arm the
country was favourable; and 2dly, Because the further he drew Marmont
away after him from the Agueda, and from his resources, the fairer was
the opportunity offered to the Spaniards of stirring themselves in the
part of the country recently vacated by their invaders. These are my own
ideas on the subject, which may, however, be erroneous.
The Light Division was once more in villages on the Agueda, and the
remainder of the army were stationed nearly as before Marmont’s advance.
On the 10th of October a large coursing party went out on the plains
near Guinaldo, to set at rest a point long at issue amongst our sporting
characters, as to the comparative merits of English and Spanish
greyhounds. A capital hare was found, and she went away for a mile or
two over as fine a country for coursing as is any where to be found,
before two English greyhounds, which had lately been sent out to the 43d
regiment, and a Spanish greyhound, considered excellent. The hare was
killed by the English dogs, which were so exhausted by the heat of the
day and the severity of the course, that one of them died immediately,
and the other was saved with great difficulty by bleeding. The Spanish
dog came up very contentedly a long while after the hare and greyhound
were dead. The heat had not affected him, because he was accustomed to
the climate; and, moreover, he took particular care not to distress
himself by an over-display of zeal.
However well the cross between the English and Spanish greyhound may
answer, I would advise no sportsman, who does not wish to expose his own
judgment and his dog’s prowess, ever to think of running a greyhound of
the pure Spanish breed, even if he be the best that Spain ever produced,
against a moderately good English dog, at Newmarket or elsewhere.
Marmont sent, in the latter end of October, to Rodrigo, a new governor
from Salamanca, to replace the one who had been surprised some time
before, and made prisoner by the Guerillas, almost under the walls of
the town. This new governor was escorted by a body of cavalry and
infantry, to relieve the troops in the place, who returned, immediately
on the arrival of the new garrison, to Salamanca. When the weather
permitted, we amused ourselves as usual with coursing and shooting, and
at night either collected the village fair ones, and, aided by some
musicians of the band, danced the night half through, or sat round a
brass pan of charcoal, whiffing away care with our cigars, and
speculating on what the next campaign might produce. When the winter
rains confined us to our wretched hovels, and prevented us from
following our usual avocations in the field, it must be allowed that we
were sometimes brought to a nonplus, and sadly troubled to kill time
during the day.
It should be remembered that Spanish villages do not afford the same
resources as are to be found in every insignificant place in England.
Books were quite out of the question. Some few individuals of a corps
might possibly possess a small pocket volume or two; but when it is
considered that the first and most necessary point, and that which
occupied our chief attention, was to procure, by some means or other,
forage for our horses and mules, that the baggage which contained our
few comforts and necessaries might be carried with us from place to
place, it will readily be comprehended that a portable library was
deemed less essential for our existence than a portmanteau containing a
few changes of linen, boots, &c. &c., to say nothing of tea, sugar,
chocolate, rice, bread, meat, a pig’s-skin of wine, a keg of spirits,
cigars, spare horse-shoes and nails, &c. &c.,—that is to say, when any
of these good things could be procured for love or money, which very
frequently was not the case.
Our half-starved animals had more than enough to do in scrambling along
with such matters on their backs, without the additional weight of
libraries, even had it been possible to have procured books. A good
telescope and correct maps of the country were indispensable; next to
which may be mentioned cigars, without which there was no getting on.
To be able fully to appreciate their utility and comfort, it is
necessary that a man should sleep in a camp or bivouac in a dreary night
of rain or snow,—that he should know what a night march is, and be
initiated into every sort and kind of vicissitude which campaigning
brings in its train. If a man in England, after having eaten an
alderman’s dinner, and lounged on a sofa, with a Turkey carpet under his
feet, a blazing fire before him, and a cigar in his mouth, fancies that
he really knows the comfort of tobacco in that shape, he is very much
mistaken; as is in like manner the equestrian or pedestrian dandy, with
unshorn lip, who whiffs his cigar all over London, and through the Park,
on a fine, bright, butterfly morning. He must rise, wet to the skin and
numbed with cold, from the lee side of a tree or hedge, where he has
been shivering all night under a flood of rain,—then let him light his
cigar, and the warmth and comfort which it imparts is incredible. Or,
let him march, night after night, until he is so overpowered with
sleepiness as to tumble off his horse during his momentary doze,
(sleeping as he rides along, and falling in amongst the column of
soldiers, who are in a similar plight); or if he is marching on foot,
rolling about in the ranks in a state between sleeping and waking,—let
him then apply his cigar, and he is awake again.
Although I do not calculate on any of my friends in England trying such
experiments, in order to satisfy their curiosity, or to prove the
correctness of my statement, there are still living witnesses enough to
prove that the picture is not overdrawn.
On the 8th of November a large party of us set out to shoot wild deer in
the mountains near Serradilia. We soon roused three fine ones; but our
party were very noisy, and, as is invariably the case where all are
talkers and no hearers, a regular plan was not adopted, as should have
been the case, to out-manœuvre the game, by which means they were shot
at too soon, and in too great a hurry; and one of the marksmen was much
nearer killing a brother-officer than either of the deer.
About the middle of November we heard of General Hill’s corps having
surprised the French General Gerard’s division near Carceres; taking
their baggage, with some prisoners, and dispersing the remainder. The
French had many killed and wounded in this brilliant affair, which was
planned with secrecy and skill, and carried into effect with infinite
spirit and gallantry. It was with the greatest difficulty that the
commissariat could provide bread for the troops at the outposts at this
period; and we were sometimes without any for days together.
On the 11th of December, having heard of a flight of woodcocks, I went,
with two of my brother-officers, to a solitary farm-house in the
mountains beyond the Vadillo, where we slept. We took with us our
servants, a mule laden with provisions, portmanteaus, &c. &c., and the
Irish piper belonging to the band. In the evening we danced boleros,
fandangos, and Irish jigs, with the farmers’ daughters, and early the
next morning attacked the woodcocks, which I never remember to have seen
more numerous. We had capital sport, and returned late at night to our
quarters at Atalaia. One of our party, who was a better performer at the
dance than with a gun, fired thirty shots, at least, without killing a
single bird; and towards evening, by way of putting a finishing stroke
to the day’s work, he let fly at an enormous wild cat, which was perched
on a tree above his head, not twenty yards distant, and the animal
escaped unhurt. This was a standing joke against him ever after.
New-year’s day of 1812 brought with it snow and frost in abundance,
which induced a party of us to obtain a few days’ leave of absence, and,
with gun in hand, to make an excursion, on the 3d of January, to
Robadillia, a large village in one of the deepest and most secluded
valleys of the Sierra de Gata, where a Spanish family resided with whom
we had become acquainted on the other side of the mountains in the
previous autumn. We sent on two servants with mules, on which we carried
a change of clothes, tea, sugar, cigars, meat, &c. &c.; for, be it
known, that in Spain, if you wish to fare moderately well whilst
travelling, nothing of this kind should be left to chance.
The snow was so deep on the mountains, that we passed them with infinite
difficulty; and, but for the honour of the thing, might as well have
left our guns behind us, as the only living animal we saw was a wild
boar, going at the rate of thirty miles an hour, many gun-shots distant.
The old don, his wife and daughters, received us kindly, and procured
billets for us in the village. They beat up for volunteers, and having
collected the village belles, and a fiddler or two, we danced with great
glee; after which, we gave the fair ones a supper at our billets. This
was followed by duets, trios, catches, and glees, and melodies of all
sorts and kinds, both Spanish, Irish, Scotch, and English. Some young
padres, with the crowns of their heads shaved, were amongst the party
invited to accompany the ladies to our fête; and these lads were
evidently much annoyed at the preference which the signoras evinced
towards the heretical Englishmen; nor did they attempt to disguise their
feelings. I am free to confess that I never had a great predilection for
any of that idle, vagabond class; and in this I was by no means
singular, for I found my comrades quite ready to join in any frolic or
fun which might be proposed as a just punishment for their uncourteous
conduct.
When the amusements of the evening were over, and we had escorted our
partners to their homes, we still found some of those _clericos_ hanging
about the street with lanterns in their hands. We suddenly opened a
heavy fire of snow-balls on them, of the hardest and most terrific kind,
which smashed their lanterns to atoms, and battered them from head to
foot, to a degree beyond a joke. We heard their curses and execrations
on Englishmen and heretics gradually die away as they ran from us and
hid themselves in their respective habitations.
Thus ended our frolic in Robadillia, which was soon followed by matters
of a far different nature. Intelligence reached us that the Light
Division was instantly to invest and lay siege to Ciudad Rodrigo, and
that it was moving to El Bodon, Pastores, and other villages nearer that
fortress. Having said farewell to our friends in Robadillia (not
including the padres), we passed the whole day in floundering across the
snowy mountains, and joined our battalion late at night at El Bodon.
We found that the 1st, 3d, and 4th Divisions, which had been moved up to
villages nearer the Agueda, were, in conjunction with the Light
Division, to carry on the siege of Rodrigo, and that a pontoon bridge
had been thrown across the river some distance below the town. The
divisions were to relieve each other every twenty-four hours in the
trenches, as the frost was very severe.
On the 8th of January, the Light Division marched before break of day,
and forded the Agueda above the knees, near the convent of Carredad. The
weather being very sharp, the process was not a pleasant one. The
necessary dispositions for the investment of the place were soon
completed, under the immediate directions of Lord Wellington. There was
some cannonading from the town as the regiments advanced to take up the
different posts allotted to them. General Pack’s Portuguese brigade
invested the town on the left bank of the river, and was in a position
on the heights above the bridge which leads into it.
On some rising ground stood the redoubt of San Francisco, which it was
necessary to take before operations could be commenced against the town.
At nine o’clock at night, three hundred men, belonging to the 43d, 52d,
95th, and the 3d Portuguese Caçadores, under the command of
Lieutenant-Colonel Colbourne, of the 52d, stormed and carried it. Our
loss was three officers and about twenty men. We lost a lieutenant of
the Rifle corps, a most promising young man. All the French troops in
the fort, amounting to about seventy men and three officers, were either
made prisoners or bayoneted in the assault. Strong working parties
immediately commenced the first parallel on the heights where the
redoubt stood; and, as the garrison kept up an extremely heavy fire,
both of shot and shells, without intermission, throughout the night, we
worked like rabbits, and before daybreak were tolerably well covered in
the trenches. Daylight enabled the French to direct their fire with
greater accuracy, which was tremendous.
The 1st Division relieved ours on the 9th; and the French being enabled
to overlook us from the top of the cathedral tower, and to see the
troops as they arrived to relieve each other, always took that
opportunity, when the trenches were crowded with double numbers, to open
every gun and mortar which could possibly be brought to bear, and kept
up as dreadful a fire of shot and shells as men were ever exposed to.
General Crawford’s horse was killed under him by a round shot. Having
been relieved by the 1st Division, we went through the freezing
operation of fording the Agueda, and returned to our villages late at
night, they being some leagues distant from the fortress. No rocking was
necessary to send us to sleep, after thirty-six hours spent in the
manner I have related.
The siege was prosecuted the two following days by the 3d and 4th
Divisions; and on the 12th the Light Division was again in the trenches.
We were employed all day in completing some batteries, and at night in
laying the platforms for the battering artillery. The garrison kept up,
as usual, an eternal fire of shot, shells, and grape, by which we lost
many men. Some companies of our regiment were sent out of the trenches,
after it was dark, to get as near the town as possible, and to fire at
the artillery-men through the embrasures. If this operation was a
disagreeable one to the enemy, it was far from a delectable one for us:
they threw fire-balls among us, which were composed of such combustible
matter, that they could not easily be extinguished, and made every thing
near them as visible as at broad day. The moment we were perceived,
musketry and grape were served out with no sparing hand. When relieved
by the 1st Division on the 13th, we went through the same fiery ordeal
again, from every piece of ordnance which the garrison could make use
of.
On the night of the 13th, a convent in the suburbs, in which the French
had three pieces of artillery, which enfiladed the trenches, was stormed
and carried with great intrepidity, by some troops of the German Legion,
belonging to the 1st Division. On the following day, the 40th regiment
assaulted most gallantly another convent in the suburbs; and at four
o’clock the same afternoon our batteries opened on the town for the
first time. The 3d Division was in the trenches on the 15th, and the
firing from both parties was kept up with great fury. It was the turn of
the Light Division in the trenches on the 16th, and we commenced at
night a battery for seven guns very near the town. Every person who
shewed his nose above the trench next morning was instantly saluted with
grape and musketry, whilst shells were constantly dropping into the
battery. A sortie was made one morning under cover of a thick fog,
favoured by which the French approached unperceived near the trenches;
but some men of the 2d battalions of the 24th and 42d regiments on duty
there, immediately charged with the bayonet, and drove them back into
the town. Two breaches in the walls having been reported practicable on
the 18th, the 3d and Light Divisions were ordered to arrive on the
ground on the 19th, and to storm the town that night.
STORMING OF CIUDAD RODRIGO
The outline of the attack was as follows:—The 3d Division was to storm
the large breach, and the Light Division the lesser one, whilst General
Pack’s Portuguese brigade should make a false attack at a different
point. At eight o’clock at night the assault was given, and in less than
half an hour both the breaches were carried, after a severe struggle,
during which the assailants were exposed to a most destructive fire of
musketry and grape, hand-grenades, &c. &c.
Whilst the 3d Division was engaged at the large breach, one of the
enemy’s expense magazines exploded with a terrible crash, which blew up
a great number of both parties, amongst whom was Major-General M’Kinnon,
who commanded a brigade in the 3d Division. Captain Uniacke, of our
battalion, who had been sent, before the storm commenced, to keep up the
communication between the two divisions along the glacis, and to
endeavour to keep down the fire of the French infantry from behind the
ramparts, was blown up, with many men of his company. He was a
remarkably fine young man, and greatly regretted. General Crawford
received a mortal wound whilst bravely leading his division to the
assault, and was buried near the spot where he fell. General Vandeleur,
who commanded a brigade of the Light Division, was also severely
wounded; as were also Lieut.-Colonel Colbourne, and Major George Napier
of the 52d regiment: the latter lost an arm in command of the storming
party of the Light Division, consisting of three hundred men of the 43d,
52d, and 95th regiments. The loss of the 3d and Light Divisions was very
severe, although not more so than might have been expected.
When a town is stormed, it is inevitable that excesses will be, as they
ever have been, committed by the assailants, more particularly if it
takes place at night. It affords a favourable opportunity for the loose
and dissolute characters, which are to be found in all armies, to
indulge in every diabolical propensity. That this was the case to a
certain extent, on the night in question, no one will deny; but, at the
same time, I feel convinced that no town taken by assault ever did or
ever will suffer less than Rodrigo. It is true that soldiers of all
regiments got drunk, plundered, and made great noise and confusion in
the streets and houses, in spite of every exertion on the part of the
officers to prevent it; but bad and revolting as such scenes are, I
never heard that either the French garrison, when it had once
surrendered, nor any of the inhabitants, suffered personal indignities
or cruelty from the troops. About midnight some houses in the main
street caught fire, and the flames spread rapidly, the engines being out
of repair and almost useless. By dint of great exertions, the fire was
in some measure got under.
Daylight of the 20th presented a horrid sight, and unfit to be
contemplated in cold blood. Many objects, of both parties, lying near
the spot where the magazine had exploded, were frightful to a degree.
Bodies without limbs, and limbs without bodies, were scorched and
scattered about in different directions; and the houses near the
breaches were filled with such of the wounded as were able to crawl away
from the ramparts, with a view to find shelter from the severe frost,
which numbed their wounds. The French garrison were marched off as
prisoners of war, either to Oporto or Lisbon, on the 20th.
I think it will have forcibly struck every man who was present at the
siege and storm, that the governor directed much more of his attention
to keeping up an unremitting fire of shot and shells at the working
parties in the trenches, during the whole of the siege, than to a
judicious defence of the breaches.
The 5th Division was ordered into Rodrigo to assist in the repair of the
works and to garrison the place, and the 3d and Light Divisions, and
General Pack’s brigade, marched back to their respective villages.
Twelve days only after the town was first invested, it was stormed and
taken; and the operations against it were carried on in the dead of
winter, during very severe frost. It is fair, therefore, to remark, that
Massena, in 1810, besieged it with a numerous army, when it was defended
only by Spaniards, whom he affected to despise; yet it occupied him
three times as long to reduce the place as it did Lord Wellington,
although it was defended against the British and Portuguese by imperial
legions. If it is urged that the Spanish garrison in 1810 was very
superior in numbers to the French garrison in 1812, let it not be
forgotten that the besieging army and battering train brought against it
in 1810 were proportionably numerous. Marshal Marmont was so completely
taken by surprise, that the town had fallen almost as soon as
intelligence reached him of the allies having laid siege to it. Any
attempt, therefore, on his part, to relieve the garrison would have been
hopeless.
We remained in cantonments, within a short distance of Rodrigo, about
one month after the siege, and were then ordered to march to the
southward, and to besiege Badajoz. The 3d, 4th, and Light Divisions,
were selected for this duty, as it was considered they had learned
something of their business in that way at the siege of Rodrigo; the
breaches in which place were now in a tolerable state of repair, and a
Spanish garrison ready to march in.
A few days before we moved towards the south, several deserters, who
were taken in Rodrigo, were tried by a general court-martial, of which
Major-General Kempt, who had just joined the army in the Peninsula, was
the president. Some were shot and the remainder pardoned. The reason
they alleged for deserting to the enemy was, that they had several
months’ pay due, which they saw no prospect of ever receiving. The
excuse was a lame one, and the remedy which they adopted, in the hopes
of bettering themselves, most unjustifiable.
On the 25th of February we were to commence the march towards the
Guadiana; but the great consideration was, how we were to persuade our
scarecrows of baggage-horses and mules to perform the journey in winter,
when there was no green forage on the ground, nor any hay, straw, or
corn to be procured in the line of country through which our route lay.
I well remember purchasing, before we set out, a _fanega_ of wheat
(weighing about seventy pounds) for eleven Spanish dollars, and thought
myself fortunate in being able to procure it at that price; so
completely had every thing of the kind been consumed, or bought up by
the commissariat for the staff, cavalry, and artillery. In addition to
the wheat, we purchased for our quadrupeds, at an enormous price, small
cakes of Indian corn-flour, which the Portuguese peasantry eat. With
those, the wheat, and the straw, or rotten winter grass, which we were
sometimes able to glean after our day’s march, we contrived to reach
Elvas on the 16th of March, our division having halted at Castello de
Vide from the 7th to the 13th of the month.
On the 17th of March, at break of day, the Light Division marched out of
Elvas to the tune of St. Patrick’s Day, in commemoration of that saint;
and we joined the 3d and 4th Divisions before Badajoz, on the left bank
of the Guadiana, which divisions had arrived there the day before. Some
Portuguese troops invested the town on the opposite bank.
Detachments of the 3d, 4th, and Light Divisions commenced operations, as
soon as it was dark, against a strong redoubt called Fort Piccurina,
from which vollies of musketry and shells were fired on the covering and
working parties during the night. The rain descended in torrents, and
the cold was extremely severe. No sooner had day broke, than a heavy
fire from the town and the redoubt opened on us. At the expiration of
fourteen hours, we were relieved by detachments of the three divisions,
and returned to our camp, which was a short distance out of range of the
guns of Badajoz, situated in a muddy marsh full of water. The other
divisions of our army, not employed in the siege, were in a position in
the neighbourhood of Albuera, to protect the besieging army from any
attempt which Marshal Soult might make from the south to relieve the
garrison.
A sortie was made on the 19th, with about 1500 infantry and some
cavalry, who were driven back with considerable loss. Just before the
sortie was made, and for some time after it was repulsed, every gun on
the works was kept in play on the troops in the trenches, in the most
furious manner; and it occasioned us a heavy loss. The siege was
prosecuted with the utmost vigour, in spite of the rains, which
descended almost without intermission during the first ten days, and
filled the trenches with water. So many men were required to carry on
the operations, that nearly one half of our time was spent in the
trenches.
On the 22d, some riflemen were ordered to approach as near as possible
to the Guadiana, and to endeavour, by shooting the artillerymen across
the river, to silence some field-pieces brought out by the French from
Fort San Christoval, which enfiladed the trenches. This had the desired
effect; and the field-pieces were withdrawn into the fort, after some of
the gunners had bitten the dust.
On the 25th, our batteries opened their fire on the town, which was
returned with equal spirit. The same night Fort Piccurina was stormed
and carried by detachments from the 3d and Light Divisions, after
considerable resistance, and with the loss of many men. Immediately on
its fall, another parallel was commenced. From the ravelin of San Roque,
and from the walls of the town, the covering parties were exceedingly
galled by a constant fire of musketry.
In the end of March and the beginning of April our batteries were in
full play on the town, which being breached in several places, orders
were given that it should be stormed on the night of the 6th of April.
STORMING OF BADAJOZ
Two breaches were to be stormed by the 4th and Light Divisions, the
former assaulting that on the right, and the latter that on the left.
The 3d Division was to escalade the castle, whilst the 5th Division,
which had not taken a part in the siege, and had recently arrived in the
neighbourhood, was directed to attack the town and the fort of
Pardaleras to the left of the Light Division. Some Portuguese troops
threatened Fort San Christoval and the works on the right of the
Guadiana.
Soon after dark, the columns moved out of the trenches to the different
points allotted them to attack. Major O’Hare, of the 1st battalion 95th,
commanded the storming party which headed the Light Division; and some
companies of our corps lined the _glacis_, to keep down the fire of the
enemy from the ramparts. The discharge of grape-shot and musketry, with
buck shot in addition to bullets, the hand-grenades, rafters of wood,
and various weapons of destruction hurled from the ramparts on the heads
of the assailants in the ditch, in their desperate and reiterated
attempts to force their way through the breaches, and to mount the
ladders for the escalade of the castle and town, was of so dreadful and
destructive a nature, as to beggar all description, and to render it a
hopeless undertaking for the most gifted person to depict in true
colours.
The enemy had dug deep trenches between the top of the breaches and the
town, and had fixed sword-blades and pikes in the trench. From some
houses near the top of the breach a terrible fire of musketry was poured
on such as contrived to reach its summit. Those obstacles alone were
insurmountable, without the addition of a continued and most deadly fire
of grape and musketry from the ramparts, and from the summits of the
breaches; in the repeated and fruitless attempts to carry which, the
assailants were falling in vast numbers every moment. The 3d Division
having at length, after sustaining a dreadful loss, gained possession of
the castle by escalade, and the 5th Division having penetrated into the
town by the same means, and also possessed themselves of Fort
Pardalleras, the French were forced to retire from the breaches, by
which the 4th and Light Divisions, with difficulty, entered the town.
The French governor retired to Fort San Christoval, with some hundreds
of his men; but finding that the town and castle were in possession of
the allies, he surrendered.
In this manner fell Badajoz, after perhaps as desperate and destructive
a struggle as the annals of history afford, considering the numbers
employed in the attack and defence. Never were troops exposed to a more
terrible fire, or placed in a situation where their sterling qualities
were put more to the test. Every regiment employed suffered exceedingly,
both in the storm and in the arduous duties of the siege. Amongst the
many whom our regiment had to lament, was Major O’Hare, who fell in the
breach. The service boasted not a more truly gallant soldier.
Marshal Soult was marching from the south to the relief of Badajoz, but
his movements were too slow; and he retired towards Seville, on
receiving intelligence of its fall.
The Dukes of Dalmatia and Ragusa were most completely outwitted,
deceived, and disappointed,—one by losing Ciudad Rodrigo, and the other
Badajoz. Two frontier fortresses of vast importance were laid siege to
in winter, in the teeth of the French armies, and wrested from them in a
most skilful manner.