The 2d Battalion of the 95th Rifles ordered to proceed to
Portugal--Our Author visits England--Returns to Portugal, and
joins his Regiment at Rodrigo--The Army move towards
Badajos--Siege of Badajos--Badajos surrenders--Insubordination
among the Troops--Quelled by the prompt measures of Lord
Wellington.
We remained at Isla till June, without any thing of importance
occurring, but at this time I was brought nigh to death's door by the
bursting of a bloodvessel in the lungs. I was so ill that it was deemed
necessary to send me home for change of air, it being exceedingly hot at
this time at Isla. I was accordingly removed to Cadiz to wait for the
first ship returning to England, and while there I suffered greatly, not
being able to lie down in bed. However, before a vessel could be had, an
order was received for my battalion to proceed to Portugal, and our
esteemed commander was likewise ordered to proceed to that country. As I
felt myself somewhat better, I obtained permission to accompany my
battalion to Portugal, and I accordingly embarked with it at Cadiz on
the 30th of that month, on board a transport, the name of which I
forget. General Graham intended to have gone in a 50 gun ship that was
leaving that port for England, he being to be left at Lisbon in passing.
He sent an aide-de-camp on board to prepare for his reception; but he
met with such treatment while on board, as induced the General to alter
his plan and go in a frigate, on board which some of our people were
embarked. It is said, that after the aide-de-camp had been shown the
accommodation, the captain intimated to him, that it was expected the
military officers would always keep on the leeward side of the
quarter-deck. The windward side on board a man-of-war is considered the
most honourable, therefore this was in fact putting the General beneath
himself. He suffered, however, for his ill-timed assumption of
supremacy, for there was a quantity of specie at Cadiz which was to be
transported at the same time for the use of the army in Portugal, and
which was intended to have gone in the ship with the General; but after
this reception of his aide-de-camp, and the imperious condition attached
to his going in this ship, he went on board the frigate with his suite,
and took the money with him, thus depriving him of a considerable
premium for its transport, to which he would have been entitled had the
General gone with him. He, however, being the senior officer, we were
all put under his charge, save the frigate before mentioned, and we were
greatly annoyed by him during our passage, which our master said he
prolonged in looking out for American merchantmen, there being then an
appearance of war between the two countries. They said he actually
detained one or two which left Cadiz when we did, and that he fired
small arms into them to bring them to, although war had not been
declared. One day during the passage he made a signal to the transports
which we did not immediately perceive. We were astonished at the report
of a gun, and at the same time a cannon-shot whizzed past our rigging.
This is not, I believe, customary, a blank gun being generally fired
first, and when nothing else will do, a shot a-head of the vessel, but
he appeared not to stand on any ceremony.
We were glad when the voyage was over, it continuing from the 30th June
to the 19th July, although three or four days only is the usual time.
We landed at Lisbon, and immediately set about preparing for our journey
up the country to join the army; but Colonel Barnard having received
letters respecting the settlement of our late Colonel (General
Manningham's) affairs, which could not be easily arranged without my
presence, determined to send me home for the purpose, with a promise,
however, that I should immediately come out again. I accordingly
embarked on board the same transport with a ship full of all kinds and
descriptions of people, sick and wounded, and lame and lazy; such a
motley group I have seldom seen. Our paymaster also returned home with
me, and besides him I did not know a person on board.
We had a long and tedious passage, not reaching Portsmouth till the 27th
August, although we embarked on the 1st of that month. When we entered
the chops of the Channel, there was a considerable swell in the sea. Our
master, for some purpose or other, had got up from the hold a small
quantity of ballast (gravel), which was laid upon the quarter-deck. A
fine stout young Irishman, an officer on board, came up the companion,
and seeing the ballast lying there, asked where it came from.
"Why, don't you see," says the master, "how rough the sea is? it has
been washed up from the bottom and thrown upon the deck."
The Hibernian seemed quite astonished at the effect of the swell, but
believed the story with all the simple-hearted credulity of a
Johnny-raw, as the soldiers term a young and inexperienced soldier. Our
paymaster was a little of a gourmand, and having for some time been
deprived of luxuries, determined to indulge a little now we had come to
the land of plenty. On our road, therefore, to London, (he and another
officer and myself posting it,) we stopped at Godalming for dinner; he
would needs have a carp, which he happened to see in a pond in the
garden, made ready for our dinner. It was prepared according to his
request, and with it and other good things we contrived to fare pretty
well; although, according to my taste, a fresh herring would have been
preferable. But lo, and behold! when the bill was called for, the awful
sum of _half a guinea_ for the carp was added to the other items of the
dinner, which amounted to quite enough without it. To remonstrate would
have been useless; we therefore paid the bill and set off, determined to
be more economical in future.
I passed through London, and reached the depot of my battalion, then
stationed at Ashford in Kent, where, after having arranged the business
for which I had been sent home, I obtained a three months' leave of
absence to visit my native place, where I arrived, thank God, in a much
improved state of health, and where I found all my friends and
connexions as well as could be expected, and no doubt happy to see me.
About the middle of November of the same year, I started once more for
foreign service, and embarked at Portsmouth for Lisbon on the 22d of
that month, on board a small brig heavily laden with corn for the army
in Portugal. We remained some time wind-bound, but at length got to sea
and proceeded on our voyage, but shortly after the wind headed us and
began to blow very fresh. We were therefore compelled to run for the
Race of Portland, where we came to anchor. But the wind coming more
favourable in a day or two, we weighed again, and got as far on our
voyage as opposite Torbay; but here again the wind coming foul, we were
obliged to enter the bay and drop anchor again. We were detained here a
good many days, during which I went ashore with another officer, who was
on board with me, and indulged in some Devonshire clotted cream at
Brixham.
In about a week we again started, and got about half way across the Bay
of Biscay, when a heavy gale overtook us, and in which we lost a
considerable portion of our quarter-bulwarks (I think they are called).
Indeed, from the brig being so heavily laden, the water being within a
very little of her gunwale, she did not weather the heavy seas which
struck her very well, for during the night one came clean over her,
partly filling the cabin where we lay with water; and I own I had
considerable apprehension for our safety, which I believe was pretty
universal on board. It pleased Him, however, who ruleth over all things,
to bring us through the gale without further injury, although we
appeared next morning in a very shattered condition, and after a few
more days' sailing, we reached the Tagus, and landed at Lisbon about the
middle of January 1812, and immediately commenced equipping for a
campaign with the army which was at this time besieging Ciudad Rodrigo.
I had to purchase a riding-horse and a mule to carry my baggage, and a
great deal more of essential requisites to enable me to do my duty in
the field; and to say truth, I had not, by any means, sufficient funds
to meet these considerable expenses, and was consequently forced to
borrow, and glad enough to find a friend who could and would lend me
enough for the occasion. And here I cannot but remark, that it seemed
peculiarly hard on junior officers, on their taking the field, to be
compelled to furnish all this equipment at their own expense. I have
known several who did not recover from the debt they thus incurred
(could they find a friend, as I did, to lend them what they wanted) for
a considerable time after they had joined the army; nay, I believe some
never recovered it, and the persons who were kind enough to oblige them
lost several large sums in this manner. In my own case, I know, I was
most wofully put to it to raise a sufficiency for this purpose; and
many, I know, have been compelled to take the field without the
necessary equipment to render them efficient. They were thus of little
service to the army for a considerable time after joining, and many of
them were obliged to leave it again, after striving to do their duty,
inadequately provided with the conveniences and comforts requisite to
enable a man to bear up against the fatigues he had to encounter. It
struck me as but just, and in this opinion I am not singular, that all
officers who have not sufficient pay and allowances to enable them to
provide themselves with the means of transport, ought to be furnished in
the first instance at the public expense, and then be afterwards obliged
to keep them in a fit state for service at their own.
I set out from Lisbon soon after, and joined my regiment, which was one
of those that formed the light division, and found them cantoned in the
neighbourhood of Rodrigo, that fortress having fallen some days previous
to my arrival. I had not been many days with the regiment till the
division was assembled at a village called Ituera, on the banks of the
Azava, to carry into execution the sentence of a general court-martial,
before which seven men of the division had been arraigned for desertion
to the enemy, they having been taken in Rodrigo at the capture of that
place. They were of course all found guilty, as they were taken as it
were out of the enemy's ranks, and never attempted to plead not guilty;
but they had said in palliation of their heinous crime, that they were
forced to desert from want of food and clothing; indeed the army had not
been so well supplied for a short while previously, as they had been
accustomed to, but there never was any thing like want. I understood the
clothing also was getting bad, but the men could not be got up the
country for want of transport, and they were no worse off than their
comrades. Indeed, from all I could learn, they had acted in a most
diabolical manner; for at the attack of the breaches in assaulting the
place, they were distinctly heard crying out to one another, "Now here
comes the light division; let us give it them, the rascals," or
something to that effect, and had, it is said, done more injury to the
assailing party than twice their number of Frenchmen. Death of course
was their sentence, and now the wretched victims of delusion were to
atone with their lives for one of the greatest crimes known in the
criminal code of the army.
The division was formed into three sides square, on a plain in front of
the village, the graves of the hapless beings occupying a part of the
fourth face of the square. When all was ready, and a firing party from
each regiment had been formed in the centre, the provost-marshal went to
the guard-tent, where the prisoners were in waiting, to conduct them to
the place of execution. They soon after appeared, poor wretches, moving
towards the square, with faces pale and wan, and with all the dejection
such a situation is calculated to produce. Their arms had been pinioned
one by one as they came out from the guard-tent, and all being ready,
the melancholy procession advanced towards the centre of the square. The
proceedings of the court which tried them, together with the sentence,
and the approval of the Commander of the Forces, was read by the
Assistant Adjutant-general, in the hearing of the whole division; which
concluded, the prisoners were marched round in front of every regiment,
that all might see and avoid their unhappy fate. They were then moved
towards their graves. I ought to observe that the chaplain of the
division had been with them in the guard-tent some little time
previously to their leaving it, and when they quitted as above
described, he followed them at a considerable distance, apparently
ashamed of his peculiar calling, and the duty incumbent on him in such a
conjuncture. They were led, as I said before, towards their graves; and
when they reached the bank of earth in front of each, they were made to
kneel down with their faces fronting the square, and then being one
after another blindfolded, and left for a few moments to their own
reflections or their prayers, the provost-marshal proceeded to the
firing party, who had been previously loaded, and directing the men of
each regiment to fire at their own prisoner, he advanced them to within
about ten or twelve paces of the wretched men, and giving the signals by
motion for their making ready and firing, the whole fired at once, and
plunged the unhappy criminals into eternity. There was, indeed, one
melancholy exception to this. One of the prisoners belonged to the troop
of horse artillery attached to the division, and it seems the provost,
in giving his orders for the soldiers of each regiment to fire at their
own man, had not recollected that the artillery had no men there to
fire. He was thus left sitting on his knees, when the others had fallen
all around him. What his feelings must have been it is in vain to guess;
but, poor fellow, he was not suffered long to remain in suspense, for a
reserve party immediately approaching, they fired and stretched him also
along with his companions in crime and misery; and in such of the others
as they perceived life still remaining, they also immediately put an
end to their sufferings, by placing their muskets close to their body,
and firing into them. One poor man, when he received his death wound,
sprung to a considerable height, and giving a loud shriek, he fell, and
instantly expired.
When all was finished, the division was formed into column, and marched
round in front of the bodies, where each soldier might distinctly
perceive the sad and melancholy effects of such a fatal dereliction of
duty. They were then, without more ado, thrown into their graves, which
were filled up without delay, and the division separating, each regiment
marched to its quarters.
I cannot describe the uncomfortable feelings this spectacle produced in
my mind--nay, not only there, but in my body also--for I felt sick at
heart; a sort of loathing ensued; and from the recollection of what I
then suffered, I could not easily be persuaded to witness such another
scene, if I had the option of staying away. Death in the hundred shapes
it assumes on the field of battle seems honourable, and not near so
revolting to the feelings, and withal comes suddenly; but to witness the
slow and melancholy preparations for an execution such as this, is
productive, in any heart that can feel, of the most unpleasant
sensations, I think, imaginable.
One of the poor wretches was the little shoemaker of our Highland
company, by name M'Guiniss, whom I had known for many years, and who
formerly bore an excellent character; but he had most likely been
seduced by some of his companions to commit this heinous crime.
Not many days after this, the whole army began to move towards Badajos.
On the 26th of February we left our cantonments, and passing by way of
Castello Branca and Villa Velha, we reached a village not far from Niza,
called Povo das Meadas, where my battalion took up its quarters for a
time. From hence I was dispatched to Lisbon for the regimental clothing,
which had then arrived at that port; but being unable to procure the
means of transport, I was obliged to return without it. I rejoined them
in the camp before Badajos about the 25th of March, and witnessed the
siege of that fortress from this period to its fall on the 6th of April.
The breaches having been reported practicable by the engineers on the
5th, in the evening the army was assembled for the assault, and was
disposed as follows: the 3d division under General Picton was ordered to
attack the citadel, and to endeavour to establish himself there by
escalade; the 4th and light divisions, the former under General
Colville, and the latter commanded by Colonel Barnard, were destined for
the breaches; the 5th division, which had not co-operated hitherto in
the siege, but brought this evening into the neighbourhood, was ordered
to occupy the ground in front of the town by way of reserve. One brigade
of that division was ordered to make a false attack on a work called the
Pardeleras, which was connected with the town, although not actually
belonging to it. Another brigade of the same division was ordered to
make another false attack round towards the gate near the river
Guadiana, which latter was to be turned into a real attack, if
circumstances permitted General Walker, who commanded it, to do so.
There was also a brigade of Portuguese, which was ordered to attack St
Cristoval, a fort on the other side of the river. Every thing was
arranged in the clearest and most satisfactory manner; all knew what
they had to do, the point they were to occupy in the attack having been
pointed out to most of them the day before. Soon after dark, the
different divisions began to move towards their destined posts, all
elated with the certainty of success.
I was then in the mess of the senior captain of my battalion, who
commanded it on this occasion; and my other messmates were poor little
Croudace and Cary, both lieutenants, the latter acting adjutant, and
another. We had taken a farewell glass before we got up from dinner, not
knowing which of them would survive the bloody fray that was likely soon
to commence. Poor Croudace, a native of the county of Durham, and
consequently a near countryman, put into my hand a small leather purse,
containing half a doubloon, and requested me to take care of it for him,
as he did not know whose fate it might be to fall or to survive. I took
it according to his wish, and put it into my pocket, and, after a little
more conversation, and another glass, for the poor little fellow liked
his wine, we parted, and they moved off. Although I had thus, as it
were, settled it in my mind that I would not go with them on this
occasion, for my services could have been of but very little utility,
yet, when they went away, I felt as if I was left desolate as it were,
and was quite uneasy at parting from my beloved comrades, whom I had
always accompanied hitherto. I therefore slung over my back my
haversack, containing my pistol and a few other things, and moved
forward, to try if I could find them; but falling in with some of my
friends, staff-officers of the 43d, who were in the same brigade, they
strongly dissuaded me from it, representing to me the folly of uselessly
exposing myself, and the little service I could render there; and one of
them requested me to accompany him to a hill immediately in front of the
breaches, where we could see the business as it proceeded.
We waited till about ten o'clock, when the fire first commenced from the
castle upon the 3d division, as they approached it; but the fire from
thence did not appear very heavy. Not long after it opened out at the
breaches, and was most awfully severe; indeed it was so heavy and so
incessant, that it appeared like one continued sheet of fire along the
ramparts near the breaches, and we could distinctly see the faces of the
French troops, although the distance was near a mile. All sorts of arms,
&c. were playing at once, guns, mortars, musketry, grenades, and shells
thrown from the walls, while every few minutes explosions from mines
were taking place. The firing too appeared to have such a strange
deathlike sound, quite different from all I had ever heard before. This
was occasioned by the muzzles being pointed downwards into the ditch,
which gave the report an unusual and appalling effect. This continued
without a moment's cessation, or without any apparent advantage being
gained by our struggling but awfully circumstanced comrades. Lord
Wellington had also taken his stand upon this hill, and appeared quite
uneasy at the troops seeming to make no progress, and often asked, or
rather repeated to himself, "What can be the matter?"
The enemy had adopted an excellent plan to ascertain where our columns
were posted; they threw an immense number of light balls on all sides of
the town, and when they found out where there was a large body, a rocket
was fired in the direction of where it stood, and instantly every gun,
mortar, and howitzer, not previously engaged, was turned in that
direction, and grievous was the destruction their shot made in the ranks
of these columns. Still our people at the breaches did not get forward,
although we distinctly heard, with emotion, the bugles of our division
sounding the advance. His lordship seemed now to lose all patience, and
aides-de-camp were sent to ascertain the cause of the delay. They flew
like lightning, while the whole rampart round the town seemed enveloped
in one flame of fire. Our brave but unsuccessful comrades were heard
cheering every now and then; but still the fire at the breaches did not
slacken. At length a dispatch arrived from General Picton, stating, that
he had established himself in the castle. This was cheering news to his
lordship, who expressed very strongly the gratitude he felt for that
gallant General.
During the reading of the dispatch, which was done by torchlight, the
enemy, perceiving the light, and that a number of people had assembled
on the hill, directed a shell in that direction; but it fell short, and
did us no injury. His lordship now rode off, and ordered our people at
the breaches to retire, as the town was now perfectly secure. I also set
off to inform my people of the happy circumstance. I found them drawn
off from the glacis a few hundred yards; but, oh! what a difference in
their appearance now from what they were previous to the attack! The
whole division scarcely mustered at this time 2000 men, so many had been
killed and wounded, and many had been sent to the rear with the latter.
I informed them that General Picton had got possession of the castle,
but my story appeared to them an incredible tale; for it was actually
impossible, they thought; and although they made me repeat it over and
over again, they could scarcely bring their minds to credit such
unexpected news.
It was now dawn of day, and the firing had ceased at every point. Here I
learnt the fate of my two beloved friends and messmates: Croudace had
been shot through the body, and carried to the rear; Cary had fallen,
but they could not tell what had become of him. I now went forward
towards the breaches, where I found that several men of both the 4th and
light divisions had remained; and when General Picton moved from the
castle towards that point, which I believe he stated in his dispatch to
be his intention, the enemy, finding themselves attacked in rear, began
to abandon the defence of the breaches, and our people were then enabled
to enter. Never did I witness any thing like the artificial impediments
which the enemy had here thrown up, which, added to the natural ones,
that is, to the breaches not having been so perfectly practicable as was
desirable, rendered it next to impossible to enter, even after all
opposition on their part had ceased. In one breach (the large one) this
was literally the case; for at the top of it was fixed a
chevaux-de-frize extending the whole width of the breach, and composed
of a strong beam of wood, with sharp-pointed sword-blades fixed in every
direction, they being generally about three quarters of a yard long, and
so closely set together, that it was impossible either to leap over them
or penetrate between them, and the whole so firmly fixed to the works at
the top, that it could not be moved. In addition, they had fitted a
number of long and thick planks, with spikes about an inch or more in
length, and laid them all down the breach, but fixed at the top, so that
it was impossible for any one to get up without falling on these. Beyond
the chevaux-de-frize several ditches had been cut, into which those must
have fallen who surmounted the obstacles on the breach; but I believe
none did, although I saw one Portuguese lying dead upon the ramparts;
but I imagine he must either have been thrown up there by some
explosion, or been one of those of the 3d division who came from the
castle. In addition to all the above, from the covered way down into the
ditch was, I should imagine, at least thirty feet; our people had
descended by ladders, and, I doubt not, in the dark, and, in the hurry
and confusion of the moment, many were thrown down and killed. In the
middle of the large ditch a smaller one had been cut, which was filled
with water, and in which, added to the inundation close to the right of
the breaches, (which had been caused by bringing the river partly into
the ditch,) numbers were drowned. Small mines had been constructed all
along in the ditch, which were exploded when it was filled with people,
and which produced infinite mischief.
On the top of the ramparts the enemy had a considerable number of shells
of the largest size, ready filled and fused; and when our people had
filled the ditch below, these were lighted, and thrown over on their
heads, each shell being capable of destroying from twelve to twenty men
or more. They had beams of wood also laid on the ramparts, with old
carriage-wheels, and every sort of missile imaginable, which were poured
upon the unfortunate people below.
When these things are taken into consideration, added to the incessant
and destructive fire of from 3000 to 4000 men, all emulous to do their
duty, at the short distance of perhaps twenty yards, with the ditch as
full as it could possibly stow, the reader will be able to form some
idea of the destruction that must naturally ensue: and awful indeed it
was, for, within the space of less than an acre of ground, I should
imagine not less than from 1200 to 1500 men were lying: it was a
heart-rending sight. I learnt afterwards that many were the desperate
efforts that had been made to ascend the breaches, but all in vain; that
many had nearly reached the top, but they being either shot or blown up,
the others were forced down again. Another and another trial still was
made, but each succeeding party shared the fate of their predecessors.
At last the bottoms of the breaches were nearly blocked up with the
bodies of those who fell.
By this time, General Philippon, the French governor, had surrendered.
When he found the 3d division had got possession of the castle, and were
preparing to move down to second the attack of the breaches by taking
the enemy in rear, and that General Walker, with a part of the 5th
division, had escaladed, and established themselves at the other end of
the town, he deemed further resistance useless, and retired, with the
garrison, to St Cristoval, on the opposite side of the river; and
shortly after the whole surrendered prisoners of war, the troops, after
being stripped of their arms and accoutrements, being marched along in
the ditch to one of the gates, from whence they were escorted on their
way to Elvas. They passed near the breaches while I was there, and I had
a full view of them as they moved along. I thought they seemed under
great apprehension for their safety, as they appeared quite downcast and
dejected, which is not generally the case with French prisoners, who
will shrug their shoulders, and tell you it is the fortune of war; but
these poor fellows, who certainly had made a noble defence, seemed
low-spirited and timid to a degree. Certainly by the rules of war, I
believe, they might have been put to death, for having stood an assault
of the place; but a British general does not resort to the same measures
which their Marshal Suchet did at Tarragona, when he put all, both
soldiers and inhabitants, to the sword.
Soon after daylight, the remaining men of attacking divisions began to
rush into the town, in hopes of sharing, with those who had already
entered, the plunder they imagined it would afford; and though every
thing was done by Colonel Barnard, aided by the other officers, to keep
out those of the light division, it was useless, although he even risked
his life to prevent their entering. He had bravely, during the attack,
repeatedly ascended the breach, in hopes of overcoming the obstacles
which presented themselves, but he had always been driven back, although
he escaped unhurt where all was death around him; and now his life
nearly fell a sacrifice, in endeavouring to restore that discipline in
his division which this unfortunate and unsuccessful assault had
considerably impaired. He opposed his personal and bodily strength to
the entrance of the plunderers, but in vain. They rushed in, in spite of
all opposition; and in wrenching a musket from one of the soldiers of
the 52d, who was forcing past him, he fell, and was nigh precipitated
into the ditch. He, however, finding resistance here in vain, set off,
accompanied by several other officers, into the town, to endeavour to
restrain, as much as lay in his power, the licentiousness of those
inside, whose bad passions, it was but too evident, would be let loose
upon the defenceless inhabitants.
I had been in company with Captain Percival, my commanding-officer
before alluded to, from the time of my first coming down to the division
before daylight; and now he and I, hearing the heart-piercing and
afflicting groans which arose from the numbers of wounded still lying in
the ditch, set to work to get as many of these poor fellows removed as
was in our power. This we found a most arduous and difficult
undertaking, as we could not do it without the aid of a considerable
number of men; and it was a work of danger to attempt to force the now
lawless soldiers to obey, and stop with us till this work of necessity
and humanity was accomplished.
All thought of what they owed their wounded comrades, and of the
probability that ere long a similar fate might be their own, was
swallowed up in their abominable rage for drink and plunder; however, by
perseverance, and by occasionally using his stick, my commandant at
length compelled a few fellows to lend their assistance in removing
what we could into the town, where it was intended that hospitals should
be established. But this was a most heart-rending duty, for, from the
innumerable cries of,--"Oh! for God's sake, come and remove me!" it was
difficult to select the most proper objects for such care. Those who
appeared likely to die, of course it would have been but cruelty to put
them to the pain of a removal; and many who, from the nature of their
wounds, required great care and attention in carrying them, the
half-drunken brutes whom we were forced to employ exceedingly tortured
and injured; nay, in carrying one man out of the ditch they very
frequently kicked or trode upon several others, whom to touch was like
death to them, and which produced the most agonizing cries imaginable.
I remember at this time Colonel (the late Sir Niel) Campbell passed out
at the breach, and, as he had formerly been a Captain in our regiment,
many of the poor fellows who lay there knew him, and beseeched him in
the most piteous manner to have them removed. He came to me, and urged
upon me in the strongest manner to use every exertion to get the poor
fellows away. This evinced he had a feeling heart; but he was not
probably aware, that for that very purpose both my commanding-officer
and myself had been labouring for hours; but it soon began to grow
excessively hot, and what with the toil and the heat of the sun, and the
very unpleasant effluvia which now arose from the numerous dead and
wounded, we were both compelled, about mid-day, to desist from our
distressing though gratifying labours.
It was now between twelve and one o'clock, and though we had had a great
many removed, a much greater number lay groaning in the ditch; but our
strength was exhausted, for he was lame and unable to move much, and I
had been obliged to assist in carrying many myself, the drunken
scoundrels whom we had pressed into the service seldom making more than
one or two trips till they deserted us. But my lamented friend and
messmate, poor Cary, was still to search for, and, after a considerable
time, he was found beneath one of the ladders by which they had
descended into the ditch. He was shot through the head, and I doubt not
received his death-wound on the ladder, from which in all probability he
fell. He was stripped completely naked, save a flannel waistcoat which
he wore next his skin. I had him taken up and placed upon a shutter, (he
still breathed a little, though quite insensible,) and carried him to
the camp. A sergeant and some men, whom we had pressed to carry him,
were so drunk that they let him fall from off their shoulders, and his
body fell with great force to the ground. I shuddered, but poor Cary, I
believe, was past all feeling, or the fall would have greatly injured
him. We laid him in bed in his tent, but it was not long ere my kind,
esteemed, and lamented friend breathed his last. Poor Croudace had also
died immediately after reaching the hospital, whither he had been
carried when he was shot.
Thus I lost two of my most particular and intimate acquaintances, from
both of whom I had received many acts of kindness and friendship. They
will long live in my memory. Cary was buried next day behind our tents,
one of the officers (my other messmate) reading the funeral service.
I cannot help adverting to some of the scenes which I witnessed in the
ditch, while employed there as above noticed. One of the first strange
sights that attracted our notice, was soon after our arrival. An officer
with yellow facings came out of the town with a frail fair one leaning
on his arm, and carrying in her other hand a cage with a bird in it; and
she tripped it over the bodies of the dead and dying with all the ease
and indifference of a person moving in a ball-room,--no more concern
being evinced by either of them, than if nothing extraordinary had
occurred. It was really lamentable to see such an utter absence of all
right feeling.
Soon after this the men began to come out with their plunder. Some of
them had dressed themselves in priests' or friars' garments--some
appeared in female dresses, as nuns, &c.; and, in short, all the
whimsical and fantastical figures imaginable almost were to be seen
coming reeling out of the town, for by this time they were nearly all
drunk. I penetrated no farther into the town that day than to a house a
little beyond the breach, where I had deposited the wounded; but I saw
enough in this short trip to disgust me with the doings in Badajos at
this time. I learnt that no house, church, or convent, was held sacred
by the infuriated and now ungovernable soldiery, but that priests or
nuns, and common people, all shared alike, and that any who showed the
least resistance were instantly sacrificed to their fury. They had a
method of firing through the lock of any door that happened to be shut
against them, which almost invariably had the effect of forcing it open;
and such scenes were witnessed in the streets as baffle description.
One man of our first battalion, I am told, had got a hogshead of brandy
into the streets, and, getting his mess-tin, and filling it from the
cask, and seating himself astride like Bacchus, swore that every person
who came past should drink, be who he may. His commanding-officer
happened to be one who came that way, and he was compelled to take the
tin and drink, for, had he refused, it is not improbable the wretch
would have shot him, for his rifle was loaded by his side, and the
soldiers had by this time become quite past all control. Another, who
had been fortunate enough to obtain a considerable quantity of
doubloons, put them in his haversack, and was making his way out of the
town, but was induced, before he left it, to drink more than he could
carry. He laid him down somewhere to take a nap, and awoke soon after
without even his shoes, and not only were the doubloons gone, but all
his own necessaries also.
In, short, a thousand of the most tragi-comical spectacles that can
possibly be imagined, might be witnessed in this devoted city. The
officers did all they could to repress these outrages, but the soldiers
were now so completely dispersed that one quarter of them could not be
found; and indeed the only benefit almost that the officers could render
was, by each placing himself in a house, which generally secured it from
being broken open and plundered. The different camps of our army were
for several days after more like rag-fairs than military encampments,
such quantities of wearing-apparel of all kinds were disposing of by one
set of plunderers to the other. But they were not content with what they
had brought out of Badajos; they had now got such relish for plunder,
that they could not leave it off when driven out of the town.
A night or two after the surrender of the place, they stole no less than
eight horses and mules belonging to my battalion, and took them to some
of the other divisions, where they sold them as animals captured from
the enemy. I lost on this occasion an excellent little mule, worth at
least L.20, and for which I of course never obtained a farthing. We
used every exertion to discover both the perpetrators and the animals,
but without success.
An English army is perhaps, generally speaking, under stricter
discipline than any other in the world; but in proportion as they are
held tight while they are in hand, if circumstances occur to give them
liberty, I know of no army more difficult to restrain when once broke
loose. A reason may perhaps be assigned for it in part. On such
occasions as this siege, where they were long and much exposed to
fatigue almost insupportable, to the most trying scenes of difficulty
and danger, which were generally borne with cheerfulness and alacrity,
they perhaps reasoned with themselves and one another in this
manner,--that as they had borne so much and so patiently to get
possession of the place, it was but fair that they should have some
indulgence when their work and trials were crowned with success,
especially as the armies of other powers make it a rule generally to
give an assaulted fortress up to plunder. They had also become quite
reckless of life from so long exposure to death; but an English army
cannot plunder like the French. The latter keep themselves more sober,
and look more to the solid and substantial benefit to be derived from
it, while the former sacrifice every thing to drink; and when once in a
state of intoxication, with all the bad passions set loose at the same
time, I know not what they will hesitate to perpetrate.
The reader will judge of the state of our soldiers who had been engaged
in the siege, when Lord Wellington found it absolutely necessary to
order in a Portuguese brigade to force the stragglers out of the town at
the point of the bayonet. At this time I think I was fairly tired of
life, so disgusting and so sickening were the scenes the few last days
had presented. I had also lost two of those for whom I had a great
regard, together with several others of my brother officers, all
excellent young men, with still a greater number wounded,--in all, in
our fifteen companies, to the amount of twenty-six,--and men in equal
proportion. It was indeed a trying time.
Notwithstanding what has been said above of the bad conduct of the
British troops on this occasion, I am fully persuaded there is more
humanity and generosity to be found in the breast of an English soldier
than in any other in the world, for, except when inflamed by drink, I am
confident it would be most revolting to his feelings to be ordered to
proceed with cool deliberation to the execution of such horrid
butcheries as we read of in the armies of other nations.--No! When calm
and sober, no man acts with more tenderness towards those in his power
than an English soldier. Bonaparte would not have found in them the
willing actors in his political tragedy in Egypt, when he coolly
fusiladed several thousands of his unfortunate Turkish prisoners, as
related by Sir R. Wilson.
If I may be permitted to make a few remarks on the taking of this strong
fortress, and of the conduct of the besiegers, I would say that never in
the annals of military warfare was greater devotion shown by those of
all ranks, from the General to the common soldier. The arduous and
dangerous service of the trenches was cheerfully performed by every
individual whose duty called him there; but the most conspicuous
gallantry was manifested in the assault. Conceive of the heroic Picton
and his brave division escalading a wall probably forty feet high, built
on the summit of an almost inaccessible rock, and with troops at the top
of all to oppose them as they reached its summit. It is true the enemy
were not numerous here, having only about 200 men in the castle, but
still one man in this situation was able to destroy probably twenty of
the assailants, by throwing down a ladder after it had been set up; most
of those ascending would be crushed to death by the fall over such a
precipice. But he carried every thing before him, and after establishing
his own division in this commanding situation, he either actually did,
or prepared to move upon the body of the enemy, who were defending the
breaches. General Walker also, who commanded a part of the 5th division,
bravely forced an entrance into the town at the opposite side,
overcoming every one of the numerous barriers and obstacles which
presented themselves; and where he himself, in the act, I believe, of
mounting the rampart, received a most desperate wound. It was said, but
I know not how truly, that when he fell, the French soldier who wounded
him was about to repeat the blow, which in all probability would have
deprived him of life, but that the General, whether intentionally or not
it is not said, made the masonic sign, which was understood by one of
the Frenchmen, and that he instantly interfered in his behalf and
stopped the blow. They say the General some time after found out that
his brave deliverer had been sent to Scotland with his fellow-prisoners,
and that he had him searched for and handsomely rewarded, and, I
believe, procured him his liberty.
It is well known, I believe, to be the rule in all services like the
assault of fortresses, &c., that those, both officers and men, who form
the forlorn hope and the storming party, are volunteers, these being
services of extreme danger, and which generally procure for the officers
who survive a step of promotion; but it might as well have gone (in the
light division at least) as a tour of duty, for on all occasions of this
nature, with only one or two exceptions, the senior officers of each
rank insisted upon being sent on that duty. Nay, in one instance this
heroic feeling was carried to an almost censurable excess. Lieutenant
Harvest of the 43d having been some time the senior of his rank in that
regiment, and there being a vacancy for a captain, he had been
recommended for the company; and although he had not been gazetted, yet
it had been intimated to him through his commanding-officer that his
name should shortly appear as captain. Thus his promotion was perfectly
secure; notwithstanding, when volunteers were called for for the
storming party, he insisted on his right of going as senior lieutenant;
so over scrupulous was he that his permitting a junior officer to occupy
this post might be construed to the detriment of his honour. He went,
and fell; and thus not only lost his company but his life, and by his
too refined sense of honour deprived another officer, probably, of that
promotion which would have been the consequence of going on this duty
had he survived.
Among the men also the same noble enthusiasm prevailed, for he who was
selected for this dangerous service out of the superabundant numbers who
always volunteered, was envied by his comrades as truly fortunate. In
fact, it required a character for good conduct to entitle a man to this
honourable employment. Whatever, therefore, their other faults might be,
a want of bravery was not one of them.