Combats on the Coa and Agueda--Barba de Puerco--Combat of
Almeida--Anecdotes of British Soldiers--Battle of Busaco.
COMBATS ON THE COA AND AGUEDA. (July, 1810.)
“_I have fished in many troubled waters, but Spanish troubled waters I
will never try again._”
Thus said Sir A. Wellesley after the campaign of Talavera, by which
he had acquired the title of Viscount Wellington, and a thorough
knowledge of the Spanish character. Looking then to Portugal as his
base for future operations, he conceived and commenced the gigantic
lines of Torres Vedras as a depository for the independence of the
Peninsula--a grand project, conceived and enforced with all the might
of genius. But while preparing this stronghold he did not resign the
frontier, and when Massena, Prince of Essling, menaced Portugal in
1810 with sixty-five thousand fighting men in line, besides garrisons
and reserves, he found a mingled British and Portuguese army ready to
oppose him.
This defensive force was disposed in two distinct masses. One under
General Hill opposed invasion by the line of the Tagus, the other
under Lord Wellington opposed it by the line of the Mondego; they were
however separated by the great Estrella mountain and its offshoots, and
Massena, when he took Ciudad Rodrigo, could concentrate his whole army
on either line, moving in front of the Estrella by a shorter and easier
road than the English general could concentrate his troops behind that
mountain. Lord Wellington opened indeed a military road which shortened
the line of co-operation with Hill; yet this was only an alleviation,
the advantage remained with the French, and Wellington had to trust
his own quickness and the strength of intermediate positions for
uniting his army in the lines of Torres Vedras. Yield ground without
force however he would not, and therefore had, previous to the fall
of Ciudad Rodrigo, detached General Robert Craufurd with the light
division, two regiments of cavalry, and six pieces of horse-artillery,
to the Agueda, in observation of the French army. On that advanced
position they sustained several actions. The first at Barba de Puerco,
a village, between which and the opposite French post of San Felices
yawned a gloomy chasm, and at the bottom, foaming over huge rocks, the
Agueda swept along beneath a high narrow bridge. This post, held by the
English riflemen, was of singular strength, yet scarcely was the line
of the Agueda taken when General Ferey, a bold officer, desirous to
create a fear of French enterprise, attempted a surprise.
Secretly placing six hundred grenadiers below, at an hour when the
moon, rising behind him, cast long shadows from the rocks deepening the
darkness of the chasm, he silently passed the bridge, surprised and
bayoneted the sentinels, ascended the opposite crags with incredible
speed, and fell upon the picquets so fiercely that all went fighting
into the village while the first shout was still echoing in the gulf
behind. So sudden was the attack, so great the confusion, that no order
could be maintained, and each soldier encountering the nearest enemy
fought hand to hand, while their colonel, Sidney Beckwith, conspicuous
from his lofty stature and daring action, a man capable of rallying a
whole army in flight, exhorting, shouting, and personally fighting,
urged all forward until the French were pushed down the ravine again in
retreat.
After this combat Craufurd kept his dangerous position for four months,
during which several skirmishes took place. The one of most note was at
the village of Barquilla, where he surprised and captured some French
horsemen, but afterwards rashly charging two hundred French infantry
under Captain Gouache, was beaten off with the loss of the cavalry
colonel, Talbot, and thirty-two troopers.
COMBAT OF ALMEIDA ON THE COA. (July, 1810.)
Soon after this skirmish Ciudad Rodrigo fell, and Ney advanced towards
Almeida on the Coa. Craufurd’s orders were to recross that river, yet
from headstrong ambition he remained with four thousand British and
Portuguese infantry, eleven hundred cavalry and six guns to fight
thirty thousand French on bad ground; for though his left, resting on
an unfinished tower eight hundred yards from Almeida, was protected by
the guns of that fortress, his right was insecure; most of his cavalry
was in an open plain in front, and in his rear was a deep ravine, at
the bottom of which, more than a mile off, was the Coa with only one
narrow bridge for a retreat.
A stormy night ushered in the 24th of July, and the troops, drenched
with rain, were under arms before daylight expecting to retire when
some pistol-shots in front, followed by an order for the cavalry
reserves and guns to advance, gave notice of the enemy’s approach; then
the morning cleared, and twenty-four thousand French infantry, five
thousand cavalry, and thirty pieces of artillery, were observed in
march beyond the Turones. The British line was immediately contracted
and brought under the edge of the ravine, but Ney had seen Craufurd’s
false disposition, and came down with the stoop of an eagle--four
thousand horsemen and a powerful artillery swept the English cavalry
from the plain, and Loison’s infantry, rushing on at a charging pace,
made for the centre and left of the position.
While the French were thus pouring down, several ill-judged changes
were made on the English side; a part of the troops were advanced,
others drawn back; the 43rd Regiment was placed within an inclosure of
solid masonry ten feet high, near the road, about half-musket-shot down
the ravine and having but one narrow outlet! The firing in front became
heavy, the cavalry, the artillery and Portuguese caçadores successively
passed this inclosure in retreat, the sharp clang of the rifles was
heard along the edge of the plain above, and in a few moments the
imprisoned regiment would have been without a hope of escape, if here,
as in every other part of the field, the battalion officers had not
remedied the faults of the general. The egress was so narrow that some
large stones were loosened, a powerful simultaneous effort of the whole
line then burst the wall, and the next instant the regiment was up with
the riflemen. There was no room for array, no time for anything but
battle, every captain carried off his company independently, joining as
he could with the riflemen and 52nd, and a mass of skirmishers was thus
presented, acting in small parties and under no regular command, yet
each confident in the courage and discipline of those on his right and
left, and all keeping together with surprising vigour.
It is unnecessary to describe the first burst of French soldiers, it is
well known with what gallantry the officers lead, with what vehemence
the troops follow, with what a storm of fire they waste a field of
battle. At this moment, with the advantage of ground and numbers, they
were breaking over the edge of the ravine, their guns, ranged along
the summit, pouring down grape, while their hussars galloped over the
glacis of Almeida and along the road to the bridge sabreing everything
in their way. Ney, desirous that Montbrun should follow the hussars
with the whole of the French cavalry, sent five officers in succession
to urge him on, and so mixed were friends and enemies, that only a few
guns of the fortress dared open, and no courage could have availed
against such overwhelming numbers: but Montbrun enjoyed an independent
command, and as the attack was made without Massena’s knowledge he
would not stir. Then the British regiments, with singular intelligence
and discipline, extricated themselves from their perilous situation.
Falling back slowly and stopping to fight whenever opportunity
offered, they retired down the ravine, tangled as it was with crags
and vineyards, in despite of their enemies; who were yet so fierce and
eager that even their horsemen rode amongst the inclosures, striking at
the soldiers as they mounted the walls or scrambled over the rocks.
Soon the retreating troops approached the river, and the ground became
more open, but the left wing, hardest pressed and having the shortest
distance, arrived while the bridge was crowded with artillery and
cavalry, and the right was still distant! Major M‘Leod of the 43rd
instantly rallied four companies of his regiment on a hill to cover
the line of passage, he was joined by some riflemen, and at the same
time the brigade-major Rowan[10] posted two companies on another hill
to the left, flanking the road: these posts were maintained while the
right wing was filing over the river, yet the French gathering in
great numbers made a rush, forcing the British companies back before
the bridge was cleared, and when part of the 52nd was still distant
from it. Very imminent was the danger, but M‘Leod, a young man endowed
with a natural genius for war, turned his horse, called on the troops
to follow, waved his cap, and rode with a shout towards the enemy,
on whom the suddenness of the thing and the animating gesture of the
man produced the effect designed, for the soldiers rushed after him,
cheering and charging as if a whole army had been at their backs: the
enemy’s skirmishers not comprehending this stopped short, and before
their surprise was over the 52nd passed the river, and M‘Leod followed
at speed: it was a fine exploit!
As the infantry passed the bridge they planted themselves in loose
order on the side of the mountain, the artillery went to the summit,
and the cavalry observed the roads to the right; this disposition
was made to watch some upper fords two miles off, and the bridge of
Castello Bom; for it was to be apprehended that while Ney attacked in
front, other troops might pass by those fords and bridge of Castello
Bom and so cut off the division from the army: the river was however
rising fast with the rain, and it was impossible to retreat farther
until nightfall.
Soon the French skirmishers opened a biting fire across the water:
it was returned as bitterly; the artillery on both sides played
vigorously, the sounds were repeated by numberless echoes, and the
smoke slowly rising, resolved itself into an immense arch, spanning
the whole gulf and sparkling with the whirling fuzes of the flying
shells. Fast and thickly the French gathered behind the high rocks, and
a dragoon was seen to try the depth of the upper stream above, but two
shots from the 52nd killed horse and man, and the carcasses floating
down between the contending forces intimated that the river was
impassable save by the bridge. Then the monotonous tones of a French
drum were heard, the head of a noble column darkened the long narrow
bridge, a drummer and an officer, the last in a splendid uniform,
leaped together to the front and the whole rushed on with loud cries.
The depth of the ravine so deceived the English soldiers’ aim at first,
that two-thirds of the passage was won ere a shot had brought down
an enemy; yet a few paces onwards the line of death was traced, and
the whole of the leading French section fell as one man; the gallant
column still pressed forward, but none could pass that terrible line,
and the killed and wounded rolled together until the heap rose nearly
even with the parapet, while the living mass behind them melted away
rather than gave back.
The shouts of the British now rose loudly, yet they were confidently
answered, and in half an hour another column, more numerous than the
first, again crowded the bridge: this time the range was far better
judged, and ere half the passage was gained the multitude was again
torn, shattered, dispersed or slain: only ten or twelve men crossed to
take shelter under the rocks at the brink of the river. The skirmishing
was then renewed, yet a French surgeon, coming to the very foot of the
bridge, waved a handkerchief and commenced dressing the wounded under
the hottest fire; nor was the brave man’s touching appeal unheeded,
every musket turned from him, although his still undaunted countrymen
were preparing for a third attempt, a last effort, which was made
indeed, yet with fewer numbers and less energy, for the impossibility
of forcing the passage was become apparent. The combat was however
continued. By the French as a point of honour, to cover the escape
of those who had passed the bridge; by the English from ignorance
of their object. One of the enemy’s guns was dismantled, a field
magazine exploded, and many continued to fall on both sides until
about four o’clock, when torrents of rain caused a momentary cessation
of fire, the men amongst the rocks then escaped to their own side,
the fight ceased and Craufurd retired in the night behind the Pinhel
river. Forty-four Portuguese, two hundred and seventy-two British,
including twenty-eight officers, were killed, wounded, or taken; and
it was at first supposed that half a company of the 52nd, posted in
the unfinished tower, were captured; but their officer, keeping close
until the night, had passed the enemy’s posts, and crossed the Coa. The
French lost above a thousand men, and the slaughter at the bridge was
fearful to behold.
During the combat General Picton came up from Pinhel alone, and
Craufurd asked him for the support of the third division; he refused,
and they separated after a sharp altercation.[11] Picton was wrong,
for Craufurd’s situation was one of extreme danger; he could not then
retire, and Massena might, by the bridge of Castello Bom, have taken
the division in flank and destroyed it between the Coa and Pinhel
rivers. Picton and Craufurd were however not formed by nature to agree.
The stern countenance, robust frame, saturnine complexion, caustic
speech and austere demeanour of the first promised little sympathy
with the short thick figure, dark flashing eyes, quick movements
and fiery temper of the second: nor did they often meet without a
quarrel. Nevertheless, they had many points of resemblance in their
characters and fortunes. Both were harsh and rigid in command; both
prone to disobedience, yet exacting entire submission from inferiors;
alike ambitious and craving of glory, they were both enterprising, yet
neither was expert in handling troops under fire. After distinguished
services both perished in arms, and being celebrated as generals of
division while living, have been, since their deaths, injudiciously
spoken of as rivalling their great leader in war.
That they were officers of mark and pretension is
unquestionable--Craufurd far more so than Picton, because the
latter never had a separate command and his opportunities were more
circumscribed--but to compare either to the Duke of Wellington displays
ignorance of the men and of the art they professed. If they had even
comprehended the profound military and political combinations he was
then conducting, the one would have carefully avoided fighting on the
Coa, and the other, far from refusing, would have eagerly proffered his
support.
* * * * *
Here some illustrations of the intelligence and the lofty spirit of
British soldiers will not be misplaced.
When the last of the retreating troops had passed the bridge, an
Irishman of the 43rd, named Pigot, a bold turbulent fellow, leaned on
his firelock, regarded the advancing enemy for some time, and then in
the author’s hearing thus delivered his opinion of the action.
“_General Craufurd wanted glory, so he stopped on the wrong side of the
river, and now he is knocked over to the right side. The French general
won’t be content until his men try to get on the wrong side also, and
then they will be knocked back. Well! both will claim a victory, which
is neither here nor there, but just in the middle of the river. That’s
glory!_” Then firing his musket he fell into the ranks. Even to the
letter was his prediction verified, for General Craufurd published a
contradiction of Massena’s dispatch.
This sarcasm was enforced by one of a tragic nature. There was a
fellow-soldier to Pigot, a north of Ireland man, named Stewart but
jocularly called the _Boy_ because of his youth, being only nineteen,
and of his gigantic stature and strength. He had fought bravely and
displayed great intelligence beyond the river, and was one of the last
men who came down to the bridge, but he would not pass. Turning round,
he regarded the French with a grim look, and spoke aloud as follows.
“_So! This is the end of our boasting. This is our first battle and
we retreat! The boy Stewart will not live to hear that said._” Then
striding forward in his giant might he fell furiously on the nearest
enemies with the bayonet, refused the quarter they seemed desirous of
granting, and died fighting in the midst of them!
Still more touching, more noble, more heroic was the death of Sergeant
Robert M‘Quade. During M‘Leod’s rush this man, also from the north of
Ireland, saw two Frenchmen level their muskets on rests against a high
gap in a bank, awaiting the uprise of an enemy; the present Sir George
Brown, then a lad of sixteen, attempted to ascend at the fatal point,
but M‘Quade, himself only twenty-four years of age, pulled him back,
saying with a calm decided tone “_You are too young Sir to be killed_,”
and then offering his own person to the fire fell dead, pierced with
both balls!
BATTLE OF BUSACO. (Sept. 1810.)
Soon after Craufurd’s combat, Almeida was betrayed by some Portuguese
officers, and Massena, who had previously menaced both lines of
invasion, adopted that of the Mondego. This river, flowing between
the Estrella mountain and the Sierra de Caramula, is separated by the
latter from the coast, along which the Royal road runs from Oporto to
Lisbon. The roads on each side of the river were very rugged, and at
the southern end of the valley crossed by two mountain ridges, namely,
the Sierra de Murcella on the left bank, the Sierra de Busaco on the
right bank. Wellington had prepared the former for battle, and General
Hill was coming to it by the military road, but Massena, aware of its
strength, crossed to the right of the Mondego, and moved by Viseu, to
turn Wellington’s flank and surprise Coimbra; he however knew nothing
of Busaco, which covered that city, and so fell into the worst road and
lost two days waiting for his artillery. Meanwhile his adversary also
passed the Mondego, and sending troops to the front broke the bridges
on the Criz and Dão, mountain torrents crossing the French line of
march.
Coimbra could not then be surprised, yet Massena could from Viseu
gain the Royal coast-road and so reach Coimbra, turning the Busaco
position; he could also repass the Mondego and assail the Murcella;
wherefore the allied army was necessarily scattered. Hill had by forced
marches reached the Murcella; Spencer was detached to watch the Royal
coast-road; the light division, Pack’s Portuguese, and the cavalry,
were in observation on the Viseu road; the remainder of the army was
in reserve at the fords of the Mondego, to act on either side. In this
state of affairs happened a strange incident. The light division had
established its bivouac towards evening in a pine-wood, but a peasant
advised a removal, saying it was known as the Devil’s wood, that an
evil influence reigned, and no person who slept there had ever escaped
it. He was laughed at, yet he did not fable. In the night all the
troops, men and officers, seized as it were with sudden frenzy, started
from sleep and dispersed in all directions: nor was their strange
terror allayed until voices were heard crying out that the enemy’s
cavalry were amongst them, when the soldiers mechanically ran together
and the illusion was dissipated.
After some delay Massena moved down the Mondego and Busaco was then
occupied by the English general. His line was eight miles long, flanked
on the right by the river, and on the left connected with the Caramula
by ridges and ravines impervious to an army. A road along the crest
furnished easy communication, and the ford of Pena Cova, behind the
right, gave direct access to the Murcella ridge. Rugged and steep the
face of Busaco was, yet the summit had space for the action of a few
cavalry and salient points gave play to the artillery, while the
counter-ridge offered no facility to the enemy’s guns. When it was
first adopted some generals expressed a fear that the Prince of Essling
would not attack--“_But if he does I shall beat him_” was Wellington’s
reply: he knew his obstinate character.
Massena had three army corps, Ney’s, Junot’s, and Reynier’s, with a
division of heavy cavalry under Montbrun; and as he knew nothing of
the Torres Vedras lines, and despised the Portuguese, he was convinced
the English would retreat and embark. A great general in dangerous
conjunctures, he was here, from age and satisfied ambition, negligent,
dilatory, and misled by some Portuguese noblemen in his camp. Instead
of marching with his whole army compact for battle he retained Junot
and Montbrun in the rear, while Ney and Reynier, restoring the bridges
over the Criz, drove the English cavalry into the hills, forced back
the light division with a sharp fight, and crowned the counter-ridges
in front of Busaco.
Ney seeing that Busaco was a crested mountain and could not hide
strong reserves, that it was only half-occupied and the troops were
moving about in the disorder of first taking up unknown ground, wished
to attack at once; but Massena was ten miles in rear, and an officer
sent to ask his assent was kept two hours without an audience and
then sent back with an order to await the prince’s arrival.[12] A
great opportunity was thus lost, for Spencer had not then come in,
Leith was only passing the Mondego, Hill was on the Murcella, scarcely
twenty-five thousand men were in line, and there was unavoidable
confusion and great intervals between the divisions.
Ney and Reynier wrote in the night to Massena, advising an attack at
daybreak, yet he did not come up until midday with Junot’s corps and
the cavalry, and then proceeded leisurely to examine the position. It
was now completely manned. Hill had the extreme right, Leith was next
in line, Picton next to Leith. Spencer’s division and a regiment of
dragoons were on the highest crest in reserve, having on their left
the convent of Busaco. In front of Spencer a Portuguese division
was posted half-way down the mountain, and on his left, in front of
the convent, was the light division, supported by a German brigade
and the 19th Portuguese Regiment. Cole’s division closed the extreme
left, on a line with the light division and covered, flank and front,
by impassable ravines. There were long intervals in the line, but the
spaces between were unassailable, artillery was disposed on all the
salient points, skirmishers covered all the accessible ground, and so
formidable did the position appear that Ney now strongly objected to an
attack. Reynier however, a presumptuous man, advised one, and Massena
made dispositions for the next morning.
His ground did not permit any broad front of attack, and two points
were chosen. Reynier was to fall on Picton; Ney was to assail the
light division. These attacks, governed by the roads, were about three
miles asunder, and as Junot’s corps and Montbrun’s cavalry were held
in reserve, only forty thousand men were employed to storm a mountain
on which sixty thousand enemies were posted; yet the latter, from the
extent of their ground and the impossibility of making any counter
attack, were the weakest at the decisive points.
The light division was on a spur, or rather brow of ground, overhanging
a ravine so deep that the eye could scarcely discern troops at the
bottom, yet so narrow that the French twelve-pounders ranged across.
Into the lowest parts of this ravine their light troops towards dusk
dropped by twos and threes, and endeavoured to steal up the wooded
dells and hollows, close to the picquets of the division; they were
vigorously checked, yet similar attempts at different points kept the
troops watchful, and indeed none but veterans tired of war could have
slept beneath that serene sky, glittering with stars above, while the
dark mountains were crowned with innumerable fires, around which more
than a hundred thousand brave men were gathered.
Before daybreak on the 27th, five columns of attack were in motion, and
Reynier’s troops, having comparatively easier ground, were in the midst
of the picquets and skirmishers of Picton’s division almost as soon
as they could be perceived; the resistance was vigorous and six guns
played along the ascent with grape, yet in half an hour the French were
close to the summit of the mountain, with such astonishing power and
resolution did they overthrow everything that opposed their progress!
The right of the third division was forced back, the 8th Portuguese
Regiment broken, the highest part of the crest was gained between
Picton and Leith, and the leading battalions established themselves
amongst some crowning rocks, while a following mass wheeled to the
right, designing to sweep the summit of the sierra. Lord Wellington
immediately opened two guns loaded with grape upon their flank, a heavy
musketry was poured into their front, and the 88th Regiment, joined
by a wing of the 45th, charged furiously; fresh men could not have
withstood that terrible shock; the French, exhausted by their efforts,
opposed only a straggling fire, and both parties went mingling together
down the mountain side with a mighty clamour and confusion, their track
strewed with the dead and dying even to the bottom of the valley.
Meanwhile the battalions which had first gained the crest formed to
their left, resting their right on a precipice overhanging the reverse
side of the sierra: the position was thus won if any reserve had
been at hand; for the greatest part of Picton’s troops were engaged
elsewhere, and some of the French skirmishers actually descended the
back of the ridge. A misty cloud capped the summit, and this hostile
mass, ensconced amongst the rocks, could not be seen except by Leith;
but that officer had put a brigade in motion when he first perceived
the vigorous impression made on Picton, and though two miles of rugged
ground were to be passed on a narrow front before it could mingle
in the fight, it was coming on rapidly; the Royals were in reserve,
the 38th were seeking to turn the enemy’s right, and the 9th, under
Colonel Cameron, menaced his front: the precipice stopped the 38th,
but Cameron, hearing from a staff-officer how critical was the affair,
formed line under a violent fire, and without returning a shot run
in upon the French grenadiers and drove them from the rocks with
irresistible bravery; then he plied them with a destructive musketry as
long as they could be reached, yet with excellent discipline refrained
from pursuit lest the crest of the position should be again lost; for
the mountain was rugged, and to judge the general state of the action
difficult. Hill however now edged in towards the scene of action,
Leith’s second brigade joined the first, and a great mass of fresh
troops was thus concentrated, while Reynier had neither reserves nor
guns to restore the fight.
Ney’s attack had as little success. From the mountain-spur where the
light division stood the bottom of the valley could be discerned, the
ascent was much steeper than where Reynier had attacked, and Craufurd
in a happy mood of command made masterly dispositions. The platform
which he held was scooped so as to conceal the 43rd and 52nd Regiments,
though in line, and hence the German infantry who were behind them,
being on higher ground, appeared the only solid force for resistance.
Some rocks overhanging the descent furnished natural embrasures, in
which the divisional guns were placed, and the riflemen and Portuguese
caçadores, planted as skirmishers, covered the slope of the mountain.
While it was still dark a straggling musketry was heard in the deep
ravine, and when light broke, three heavy masses, entering the woods
below, threw forward a swarm of light troops. One column, under General
Marchand, on emerging from the dark chasm, turned to its left, and
seemed intent to turn the right of the division; a second under Loison
made straight up the face of the mountain by a road leading to the
convent; the third remained in reserve. General Simon’s brigade was at
the head of Loison’s attack, and it ascended with a wonderful alacrity;
for though the skirmishers plied it unceasingly with musketry, and the
artillery bullets swept through it from front to rear, its order was
not disturbed, nor its speed abated. The English guns were worked with
great rapidity, yet their range was contracted every round, the enemy’s
musket-balls came singing up in a sharper key, and soon the British
skirmishers, breathless and begrimed with powder, rushed over the edge
of the ascent--the artillery then drew back, and the victorious cries
of the French were heard within a few yards of the summit.
Craufurd, standing alone on one of the rocks, had silently watched the
attack, but now, with a quick shrill cry, called on the two regiments
to charge! Then a horrid shout startled the French column, and eighteen
hundred British bayonets went sparkling over the brow of the hill: yet
so sternly resolute, so hardy was the enemy, that each man of the first
section raised his musket, and two officers with ten soldiers of the
52nd fell before them--not a Frenchman had missed his mark! They could
do no more: the head of their column was violently thrown back upon the
rear, both flanks were overlapped, three terrible discharges at five
yards’ distance shattered the wavering mass, and a long trail of broken
arms and bleeding carcasses marked the line of flight. The main body of
the British stood fast, but some companies followed down the mountain,
whereupon Ney threw forward his reserved division, and opening his guns
from the opposite heights, killed some of the pursuers: thus warned,
they recovered their own ground, and the Germans were brought forward
to skirmish: meanwhile a small flanking detachment had passed round the
right, and rising near the convent, was defeated by the 19th Portuguese
Regiment under Colonel M‘Bean.
Loison did not renew the fight, but Marchand, having gained a pine-wood
half-way up the mountain, on the right of the light division, sent
a cloud of skirmishers up from thence about the time General Simon
was beaten: the ascent was however so steep that Pack’s Portuguese
sufficed to hold them in check, and higher up Spencer showed his line
of foot-guards in support; Craufurd’s artillery also smote Marchand’s
people in the pine-wood; and Ney, who was there in person, after
sustaining this murderous cannonade for an hour relinquished that
attack. The desultory fighting of light troops then ceased, and before
two o’clock parties from both armies were, under a momentary truce,
amicably mixed searching for wounded men.
Towards evening a French company with signal audacity seized a village
half musket-shot from the light division, and refused to retire;
whereupon Craufurd, turning twelve guns on the houses, overwhelmed them
with bullets; but after paying the French captain this distinguished
honour, recovering his temper, he sent a company of the 43rd down,
which cleared the village in a few minutes. Meanwhile an affecting
incident, contrasting strongly with the savage character of the
preceding events, added to the interest of the day. A poor orphan
Portuguese girl, seventeen years of age and very handsome, was seen
coming down the mountain, driving an ass loaded with all her property
through the midst of the French army. She had abandoned her dwelling
in obedience to the proclamation, and now passed over the field of
battle with a childish simplicity, totally unconscious of her perilous
situation, and scarcely understanding which were the hostile and which
the friendly troops, for no man on either side was so brutal as to
molest her.
This battle was fought unnecessarily by Massena, and by Wellington
reluctantly, being forced thereto from the misconduct of the Portuguese
government. It was however entirely to the disadvantage of the French,
who had a general and eight hundred men killed, two generals wounded,
and one, Simon, made prisoner. Their whole loss may be estimated at
four thousand five hundred men, while that of the allies did not exceed
thirteen hundred.
Massena now judged Busaco impregnable, and as it could not be turned
by the Mondego, because the allies might pass that river on a shorter
line, it was proposed in council to return to Spain; but at that moment
a peasant told him of a road leading over the Caramula and he resolved
to turn the allies’ left. To mask this movement the skirmishing was
renewed on the 28th so warmly that a general battle was expected; yet
an ostentatious display of men, the disappearance of baggage, and the
casting up of earth indicated some other design. In the evening, the
French infantry were sensibly diminished, the cavalry was descried
winding over the distant mountains towards the allies’ left, and the
project was then apparent. Wellington arrived from the right, and
observed the distant columns for some time with great earnestness; he
seemed uneasy, his countenance bore a fierce and angry expression, and
suddenly mounting his horse he rode off without speaking--one hour
later and the army was in movement to abandon Busaco, for Massena had
threaded the defiles of the Caramula and was marching upon Coimbra.
Wellington’s plan was to lay the country waste before the enemy, but
only the richest inhabitants had quitted Coimbra; that city was still
populous when the enemy’s approach left no choice but to fly or risk
the punishment of death and infamy announced for remaining: then a
scene of distress ensued that the most hardened could not behold
without emotion. Mothers with children of all ages, the sick, the old,
the bedridden, and even lunatics, went or were carried forth, the most
part with little hope and less help, to journey for days in company
with contending armies. Fortunately for this unhappy multitude the
weather was fine and the roads firm, or the greatest number must have
perished in the most deplorable manner: but all this misery was of no
avail, for though the people fled, the provisions were left and the
mills were but partially and imperfectly ruined.
On the 1st of October, the allied outposts were driven from a hill
north of Coimbra, and the French horsemen entered a plain, where they
suffered some loss from a cannonade. The British cavalry were there
drawn up on open ground in opposition, and as the disparity of numbers
was not very great, the opportunity seemed fair for a good stroke;
yet they withdrew across the Mondego, and so unskilfully that some of
the hindmost were cut down in the middle of the river, and the French
were only prevented from forcing the passage of the ford by a strong
skirmish in which fifty or sixty men fell.
This untoward fight compelled the light division to march hastily
through the city to gain the defile of Condeixa, which commenced at the
end of the bridge; all the inhabitants who had not before quitted the
place then rushed out with what could be caught up in hand, driving
animals loaded with sick people and children on to the bridge, where
the press became so great the troops halted. This stoppage was close
to the prison, from whence the jailer had fled with the keys, and the
prisoners, crowding to the windows, strived to tear the bars off with
their hands, and even with their teeth, bellowing in the most frantic
manner. Then the bitter lamentations of the multitude increased,
and the pistol-shots of the cavalry engaged at the ford below were
distinctly heard; it was a shocking scene; but William Campbell, a
staff officer of heroic strength and temper, broke the prison doors
and freed the wretched inmates. The troops now forced a way over the
bridge, yet at the other end, the defile was cut through high rocks,
and so crowded that no passage could be made, and a troop of French
dragoons, having passed an unwatched ford, hovered close to the flank:
one regiment of infantry could have destroyed the whole division,
wedged as it was in a hollow way, unable to retreat, advance, or break
out on either side.
Three days Massena halted at Coimbra, the fourth he advanced, leaving
behind his sick and wounded with a garrison, in all five thousand men,
who were suddenly captured four days later by a small militia force
under Colonel Trant! This “_heavy blow and great discouragement_”[13]
did not stop the French prince, and during his pursuit thirty-six
French squadrons fell on ten British squadrons, but in a severe fight
did not gain five miles in as many hours; yet a few days after his
cavalry had the advantage in a greater action, and finally the allies
entered the lines of Torres Vedras, the existence of which was first
made known to Massena by the bar they offered! Several skirmishes, in
which the English general Harvey was wounded and the French general St.
Croix killed, were necessary to convince him they could not be stormed;
but though he was without magazines, he continued to hold his menacing
position until the country behind him was a desert: then falling back
two marches, he took a defensive position at Santarem, and was in turn
blockaded by Lord Wellington.