Matagorda--Battle of Barosa--Massena’s Retreat--Combat of
Redinha--Cazal Nova--Foz d’Aronce--Sabugal--Fuentes Onoro--Battle
of Fuentes Onoro--Evacuation of Almeida.
MATAGORDA. (March, 1811.)
Before Massena invaded Portugal king Joseph had subdued Andalusia,
except the Isla de Leon where Cadiz stands. He left Soult in that
province with a large army, of which a part under Sebastiani held
Granada, while another part under Victor blockaded the Isla with
immense works; the remainder, under Soult in person, formed a
field-force to war against insurrections and the numerous Spanish
troops, which in separate bodies acted against him. The Spaniards,
after long demurring, admitted an auxiliary British and Portuguese
force into Cadiz, under General Graham,[14] whose arrival was
signalized by the cannonade of Matagorda. This small fort, without
ditch or bomb-proof, was held for fifty-four days by a garrison of
seamen and soldiers, under Captain M‘Lean,[15] close to the French
lines at the Trocadero. A Spanish seventy-four, and a flotilla, had
co-operated in the resistance until daybreak on the 21st of March, but
then a hissing shower of heated shot made them cut their cables and
run under the works of Cadiz, while the fire of forty-eight guns and
mortars of the largest size, was turned upon the fort, whose feeble
parapet vanished before that crashing flight of metal, leaving only the
naked rampart and undaunted hearts of the garrison for defence. The men
fell fast, and the enemy shot so quick and close, that a staff bearing
the Spanish flag was broken six times in an hour; the colours were then
fastened to the angle of the work itself, but unwillingly by the men,
especially the sailors, all calling out to hoist the British ensign,
and attributing the slaughter to their fighting under a foreign flag!
Thirty hours this tempest lasted, and sixty-four men out of one
hundred and forty had fallen, when Graham, finding a diversion he had
projected impracticable, sent boats to carry off the survivors. With
these boats went Major Lefebre, an engineer of great promise, but to
fall there, the last man whose blood wetted the ruins thus abandoned:
and here be recorded an action of which it is difficult to say whether
it were most feminine or heroic. A sergeant’s wife, named Retson, was
in a casemate with wounded men, when a young drummer was ordered to
fetch water from the well of the fort; seeing the child hesitate, she
snatched the vessel from him, braved the terrible cannonade, and when a
shot cut the bucket-cord from her hand, recovered it and fulfilled her
mission.
BATTLE OF BAROSA. (March, 1811.)
After Matagorda was abandoned, the Spaniards in Cadiz became so
apathetic that General Graham bitterly said of them “_They wished the
English would drive away the French, that they might eat strawberries
at Chiclana_.” However, in December, Soult was ordered to co-operate
with Massena, and when his departure was known in January, 1811,
Victor’s force being then weak, Graham undertook, in concert with La
Peña, captain-general at the Isla, to raise the blockade by a maritime
expedition. Contrary winds baffled this project, and in February
Victor was reinforced; nevertheless ten thousand infantry and six
hundred cavalry were again embarked, being to land at Tarifa, march
upon Chiclana, and take the French lines in reverse. Meanwhile General
Zayas, who remained with the Spanish forces left in the Isla, was to
cast a bridge near the sea-mouth of the Santi Petri, a ship-canal
joining the harbour to the sea and cutting off the Isla from the
continent; Ballesteros was to menace Seville; the Partidas were to keep
Sebastiani in check, and insurrections were expected in all quarters.
The British troops, passing their port in a gale the 22nd, landed at
Algesiras and marched to Tarifa, being there joined by the garrison.
Somewhat more than four thousand men, including two companies of the
20th Portuguese, and one hundred and eighty German hussars, were thus
assembled under Graham, good and hardy troops, and himself a daring
old man of a ready temper for battle. La Peña arrived the 27th with
the Spanish contingent, and Graham, to preserve unanimity, ceded the
command, although contrary to his instructions. Next day the whole
moved forward twelve miles, passing some ridges, which, descending
from the Ronda to the sea, separate the plains of San Roque from those
of Medina and Chiclana. The troops were then reorganized. General
Lardizabal had the vanguard, the Prince of Anglona the centre; the
reserve, of two Spanish regiments and the British troops, was confided
to Graham, and the cavalry of both nations was given to Colonel
Whittingham, an English officer in the Spanish service.
At this time a French covering division, under General Cassagne, was at
Medina, with outposts at Vejer de la Frontera and Casa Vieja. La Peña
stormed the last the 2nd of March, and then General Beguines, coming
from San Roque, augmented his force to twelve thousand infantry, eight
hundred horsemen, and twenty-four guns. The 3rd, hearing Medina was
intrenched, he turned towards the coast and drove the French from Vejer
de la Frontera. In the night of the 4th he continued his movement, and
on the morning of the 5th, after a skirmish, in which his advanced
guard of cavalry was routed by a French squadron, he reached the Cerro
de Puerco, called by the English the heights of Barosa, four miles from
the sea-mouth of the Santi Petri.
This Barosa ridge, creeping in from the coast for a mile and a half,
overlooked a broken plain, which was bounded on the left by the
coast cliffs, on the right by the forest of Chiclana, in front by a
pine-wood, beyond which rose a long narrow height called the Bermeja,
to be reached by moving through the pine-wood, or by the beach under
the cliffs. Graham, foreseeing Victor would come out of his lines
to fight, had previously obtained La Peña’s promise to make short
marches, and not approach the enemy except in a mass. In violation of
this promise the march from Casa Vieja had been one of fifteen hours
on bad roads, and the night march to Barosa was still more fatiguing.
The troops therefore straggled, and before all had arrived, La Peña,
as if in contempt of his colleague, neither disclosing his own plans
nor communicating by signal or otherwise with Zayas, sent Lardizabal
straight to the mouth of the Santi Petri. Zayas had there cast his
bridge on the 2nd, but he was surprised in the night and driven into
the Isla; Lardizabal had therefore to win his way with a sharp fight,
in which three hundred Spaniards fell, yet he forced the French posts
and effected a junction.
La Peña directed Graham to follow the vanguard, but the latter desired
to hold Barosa, arguing justly that Victor could not attack Lardizabal
and Zayas, as no general would lend his flank to an enemy by assailing
the Bermeja while Barosa was occupied: Lascy, chief of the Spanish
staff, controverted this, and La Peña peremptorily commanded Graham to
march. With great temper he obeyed this discourteous order, leaving
only the flank companies of the 9th and 82nd regiments under Major
Brown to guard his baggage. He moved however in the persuasion that La
Peña would remain at Barosa with Anglona’s division and the cavalry,
because a Spanish column was still behind near Medina: yet scarcely had
he entered the pine-wood when La Peña carried off the corps of battle
and the cavalry by the sea-road to Santi Petri, leaving Barosa crowded
with baggage and protected only by a rear-guard of four guns and five
battalions.
During these events Victor kept close in the forest of Chiclana, the
patrols could find no enemy, and Graham’s march of only two miles
seemed safe--but the French marshal was keenly watching the movement.
He had recalled Cassagne from Medina when La Peña first reached Barosa
and hourly expected his arrival; yet he felt so sure of success, as
to direct most of his cavalry, then at Medina and Arcos, upon Vejer
and other points to cut off the fugitives after the battle. He had
in hand fourteen pieces of artillery and nine thousand excellent
soldiers, commanded by Laval, Ruffin, and Villatte. From this force
he drafted three grenadier battalions as reserves, two of which and
three squadrons of cavalry he attached to Ruffin, the other to Laval.
Villatte with two thousand five hundred men, originally on the Bermeja,
now covered the works of the camp against Zayas and Lardizabal; but
Cassagne was still distant when Victor, seeing Graham in the pine-wood,
Zayas and Lardizabal on the Bermeja, a third body and the baggage on
the Barosa height, a fourth in movement by the coast, a fifth still
on the march from Vejer, poured at once into the plain and began the
battle. Laval confronted the British force, while Victor, leading
Ruffin’s men in person, ascended the rear of the Barosa height, and
having thus intercepted the Spanish column on the Medina road, drove
the rear-guard off the hill towards the sea, dispersed the baggage and
followers, and took three Spanish guns.
Major Brown, who had kept his troops in good order, being unable to
stem the torrent, slowly retired into the plain and sent for orders to
Graham, who was then near Bermeja. Fight! was the laconic answer, and
facing about himself he regained the open plain, expecting to find La
Peña and the cavalry on the Barosa hill. But when the view opened, he
beheld Ruffin’s brigade, flanked by the two grenadier battalions, near
the summit on the one side, the Spanish rear-guard and the baggage
flying towards the sea on the other, the French cavalry following the
fugitives in good order, Laval close upon his own left flank, and La
Peña nowhere!
In this desperate situation, feeling that a retreat upon Bermeja would
bring the enemy pell-mell with the allies on to that narrow ridge and
be disastrous, he resolved to make a counter-attack, although the key
of the battle-field was already in the enemy’s possession. Ten guns
under Major Duncan instantly opened a terrific fire against Laval’s
column, and Colonel Andrew Barnard[16] running vehemently out with his
riflemen and some Portuguese companies, commenced the fight; the rest
of the troops, without attention to regiments or brigades, so sudden
was the affair, formed two masses, with one of which General Dilkes
marched against Ruffin while Colonel Wheatley led the other against
Laval. Duncan’s guns ravaged the French ranks, Laval’s artillery
replied vigorously, Ruffin’s batteries took Wheatley’s column in flank,
and the infantry on both sides closed eagerly and with a pealing
musketry; but soon a fierce, rapid and prolonged charge of the 87th
Regiment overthrew the first line of the French, and though the latter
fought roughly, they were dashed so violently upon the second line that
both were broken by the shock and went off, their retreat being covered
by the reserve battalion of grenadiers.
Meanwhile Graham’s Spartan order had sent Brown headlong upon Ruffin,
and though nearly half his detachment went down under the first fire,
he maintained the fight until Dilkes’ column, having crossed a deep
hollow, came up, with little order indeed but in a fighting mood. Then
the whole ran up towards the summit, and there was no slackness, for
at the very edge of the ascent their gallant opponents met them and a
dreadful and for some time a doubtful combat raged; but soon Ruffin,
and Chaudron Rousseau who commanded the chosen grenadiers fell, both
mortally wounded, the English bore strongly onward, and their incessant
slaughtering fire forced the French from the hill with the loss of
three guns and many brave soldiers. All the discomfited divisions then
retired concentrically from their different points, and thus meeting,
with infinite spirit endeavoured to renew the action, but the play of
Duncan’s guns, close, rapid and murderous, rendered the attempt vain:
Victor quitted the field, and the British, who had been twenty-four
hours under arms without food, were too exhausted to pursue.
While these terrible combats of infantry were being fought, La Peña
looked idly on, giving no aid, not even menacing Villatte who was close
to him and comparatively weak. The Spanish Walloon guards, the regiment
of Ciudad Real, and some Guerilla cavalry, turning without orders, came
up indeed just as the action ceased, and it was expected that Colonel
Whittingham, an Englishman commanding a strong body of Spanish horse,
would have done as much; yet no stroke of a Spanish sabre was that day
given, though the French cavalry did not exceed two hundred and fifty
men, and the eight hundred under Whittingham would have rendered the
defeat ruinous. So certain was this, that Frederick Ponsonby, drawing
off his hundred and eighty German hussars, reached the field of battle,
charged the French squadrons in their retreat, overthrew them, took
two guns, and even attempted though vainly to sabre Rousseau’s chosen
grenadiers. Such was the fight of Barosa. Short, for it lasted only
one hour and a half; violent and bloody, for fifty officers, sixty
sergeants, eleven hundred British soldiers, and more than two thousand
French were killed and wounded; and six guns, an eagle, two generals,
both mortally wounded, with four hundred other prisoners fell into the
hands of the victors.
Graham remained several hours on the height, still hoping La Peña
would awake to the prospect of success and glory which the extreme
valour of the British had opened. Four thousand fresh men and a
powerful artillery had come over the Santi Petri; he had therefore
twelve thousand infantry and eight hundred cavalry, while before him
were only the remains of the French line of battle, retreating in the
greatest disorder upon Chiclana; but military spirit was extinct with
the Spaniard, Graham could no longer endure his command and leaving the
dastard on the Bermeja filed the British troops into the Isla.
MASSENA’S RETREAT. (March, 1811.)
Soon after the Barosa fight, Wellington and Massena were again pitted
in attack and defence. Massena had kept Santarem until the 6th of
March expecting Soult’s co-operation, yet retreated when that marshal
after defeating twenty thousand Spaniards on the Gebora, and taking
Olivenza, Badajos, Albuquerque and Campo Mayor, was coming to his
aid; of this however he was ignorant, because Wellington’s forces on
the south bank of the Tagus had intercepted all communication. Hence
when Soult was invading Portugal on one side of that river, Massena
abandoned the other side and was pursued by the allied army. He left
however a desert behind him, and soon a horrible spectacle disclosed
all the previous misery of the inhabitants. In the hills was found a
house where thirty women and children were lying dead from hunger,
and sitting by the bodies fifteen or sixteen living beings--only one
a man--so enfeebled by want they could not devour the food offered to
them. All the children were dead; none were emaciated, but the muscles
of their faces were invariably dragged transversely, as if laughing,
and unimaginably ghastly. The man was most eager for life, the women
patient and resigned, and they had carefully covered and laid out the
dead! A field of battle strewed with bloody carcasses would have been a
solacing sight by comparison!
Strong positions crossed Massena’s line of retreat, which was confined
by mountains, every village being a defile; and Ney, governing the
rear-guard, lost no advantage. He was driven by the light division with
a sharp skirmish from Pombal the 10th, but on the 11th he offered
battle at Redinha with five thousand infantry, some cavalry and guns;
his wings were covered by pine-woods which, hanging on the brow of the
table-land he occupied, were filled with light troops; the deep bed of
the Soure protected his right, his left rested on the Redinha, which
flowed also round his rear; behind his centre the village of Redinha,
lying in a hollow, masked a narrow bridge, and on a rugged height
beyond a reserve was so posted as to seem a great force.
COMBAT OF REDINHA. (March, 1811.)
The light division under Sir William Erskine soon won the wooded slopes
covering Ney’s right, and the skirmishers pushed into the open plain,
but were there checked by a heavy rolling fire, and a squadron of
hussars, charging, took fourteen prisoners. Erskine then formed his
line, which, outflanking the French right, was reinforced with two
regiments of dragoons. Picton had also seized the wood covering the
French left, and Ney’s position was laid bare; but he, observing that
Wellington, deceived by the reserve beyond the bridge, was bringing all
the allied troops into line, would not retire; he even charged Picton’s
skirmishers and held his ground, though the third division was nearer
to the bridge than his right, and there were troops and guns enough
on the plain to overwhelm him. In this posture both sides remained
an hour, but then three cannon-shots fired from the British centre,
gave the signal for a splendid spectacle of war. The woods seemed
alive with troops, and suddenly thirty thousand men, presenting three
gorgeous lines of battle, were stretched across the plain, bending on a
gentle curve and moving majestically onwards, while horsemen and guns,
springing simultaneously from the centre and left, charged under a
general volley from the French battalions, who were thus covered with
smoke, and when that cleared away none were to be seen! Ney, keenly
watching the progress of this grand formation, had opposed Picton’s
skirmishers with his left, while he withdrew the rest of his people
so rapidly as to gain the village before even the cavalry could touch
him, the utmost efforts of the light troops and horse-artillery only
enabling them to gall the hindmost with fire.
One howitzer was dismounted, but the village of Redinha was in flames
between it and the pursuers, and Ney in person carried off the injured
piece; yet with a loss of fifteen or twenty men and great danger to
himself; for the British guns were thundering on his rear, and the
light troops, chasing like heated bloodhounds, almost passed the river
with his men; his reserve beyond the bridge then opened a cannonade,
but fresh dispositions soon made it fall back ten miles. Twelve
officers and two hundred men were killed and wounded in this combat.
Ney lost as many, but he might have been destroyed, Wellington paid him
too much respect.
Condeixa, where the French now took position, commanded two roads, one
behind their right leading to Coimbra; the other on their left, leading
to the Sierra de Murcella. The first offered the Mondego as a permanent
line of defence, with the power of seizing Oporto by a detachment.
The second presented only a rugged narrow line of retreat up the left
bank of the Mondego, and involved the evacuation of Portugal; for that
river was not fordable at the season and the Portuguese militia were in
force on the other side. Massena first detached Montbrun to ascertain
the state of Coimbra, which was really defenceless, yet Trant with
a few militia-men made such show of resistance that it was reported
inattackable; whereupon the French prince set fire to Condeixa and
adopted the position of Cazal Nova on the Murcella road: not however
without a skirmish in which he narrowly escaped capture.
No orders were given in the night to attack, nevertheless, next
morning, although an impenetrable mist covered the French position and
the dull sound of a stirring multitude came from its depths, Sir W.
Erskine, with astounding indifference, and against the opinion of all
the officers about him, ordered the 52nd Regiment to plunge in column
of sections, without even an advanced guard, into the sea of fog below
him. The road dipped suddenly and the regiment was instantly lost in
the mist, which was so thick that, the troops, unconsciously passing
the enemy’s out-posts, nearly captured Ney, who slept with his pickets.
The rest of the division was about to descend into the same gulf, when
the rattling of musketry and the booming of round shot were heard, the
vapour rose slowly, and the 52nd was seen on the slopes of the opposite
mountain, closely engaged in the midst of an army!
COMBAT OF CAZAL NOVA. (March, 1811.)
Wellington arrived. His design was to turn the French left, for their
front was strong, and they held mountain-ridges in succession to the
Deuca river and the defiles of Miranda de Corvo. He had sent Cole by
a circuit towards the sources of the Deuca and Ceira, Picton more
directly to menace the French flank, and the main body was coming up,
when Erskine forced the light division prematurely into action. Ney’s
ground was extensive, his skirmishers so thick and well supported, that
the light division offered only a thread of battle, closely engaged in
every part, without any reserve; nor could it then present an equal
front, until Picton sent some riflemen to prolong the line. Some
advantages were indeed gained, but the main position was not shaken,
until Picton near and Cole further off, had turned the left, and three
divisions, with the heavy cavalry and artillery, came up in the centre.
Then Ney, covering his rear with guns and light troops, retired from
ridge to ridge without confusion until midday, when the guns got within
range of his masses and his retreat became more rapid and less orderly,
yet he reached the strong pass of Miranda de Corvo, where Massena was
in position. The light division lost eleven officers and a hundred and
fifty men; the French loss was greater, and a hundred prisoners were
taken.
COMBAT OF FOZ D’ARONCE. (March, 1811.)
Massena, fearing Cole would get in his rear, set fire to the town
of Miranda, crossed the Ceira in the night, and being then crowded
in a narrow way between the sierras and the Mondego, destroyed
ammunition and baggage, and directed Ney to cover the movement with a
few battalions, but charged him not to risk an action: Ney, however,
little regarding his orders, kept the left bank with ten or twelve
battalions, a brigade of cavalry and some guns, and thus provoked a
combat. His right was on rugged ground, his left at the village of Foz
d’Aronce; the weather was obscure and rainy, the allies did not come up
until evening, and little expecting an action kindled their fires; but
Wellington, suddenly directing the light division and Pack’s brigade to
hold the French right in check, sent the third division against their
left, and the horse-artillery on the gallop to rising ground, whence it
opened with a surprising effect.
Ney’s left wing was soon overthrown by the third division, and fled
in such confusion towards the river that many men rushed into the
deeps and were drowned, while others madly crowding the bridge were
crushed to death. On the other flank the ground was so rough the action
resolved itself into a skirmish, and Ney sent some battalions to stop
the pursuit of his left; but then darkness fell and the French troops
in their disorder fired on each other. Four officers and sixty men fell
on the side of the British; the enemy lost above five hundred, one half
drowned, and an eagle was afterwards found in the bed of the river.
Massena retired in the night behind the Alva. Ney kept his post on the
Ceira until every encumbrance had passed, and then blowing up seventy
feet of the bridge, remained with a weak rear-guard. Wellington halted.
Up to this point of the retreat the French prince had displayed
infinite ability, with a ruthless spirit. The burning of some towns
and villages protected his rear, but Leiria and the convent of
Alcobaça were off the line yet given to the flames by express orders
and in a spirit of vengeance. But every horror that could make war
hideous attended this retreat. Distress, conflagrations, death, in all
modes from wounds, from fatigue, from water, from the flames, from
starvation! On all sides unlimited violence, unlimited vengeance.
I myself saw a peasant hounding on his dog to devour the dead and
dying, and the spirit of cruelty smote even the brute creation; for
the French general, to lessen encumbrances, ordered beasts of burden
to be destroyed, and the inhuman fellow charged with the execution
hamstringed five hundred asses and left them to starve; they were so
found by the British, and the mute, sad, deep expression of pain and
grief visible in the poor creatures’ looks, excited a strange fury in
the soldiers: no quarter would have been given at that time: humane
feelings would have thus led direct to cruelty. But all passions are
akin to madness.
From this quarter, Lord Wellington, who had before detached troops
with the same view, now sent Cole’s division to join Beresford in the
Alemtejo, where the latter had been left to oppose Soult’s progress.
COMBAT OF SABUGAL. (April, 1811.)
The pursuit of Massena was soon resumed. He attempted to hold the
Guarda mountain on the flank of the Estrella, and being driven from
thence with the loss of three hundred prisoners descended the eastern
slopes to take a position behind the Coa. There being reinforced, he
disposed his troops on two sides of a triangle, the apex at Sabugal,
where Reynier commanded. Both wings were covered by the river, which
had a sharp bend at Sabugal, and the right had free communication with
Almeida, on which side the craggy ravine of the Coa forbade an attack.
Above Sabugal it was easier, and Wellington, after menacing the right
for two days, suddenly, at daybreak on the 3rd of April, sent Slade’s
cavalry and the light division to pass the upper stream by a wide
movement and penetrate between the left wing and centre of the French.
The third division moved at the same time to cross the river by a
closer movement, yet still above the bridge of Sabugal, which the fifth
division and the artillery were to force. Two other divisions were in
reserve, and it was hoped Reynier, whose main body was some distance
above bridge, would be thus turned surrounded and crushed before the
wings could succour him: one of those accidents so frequent in war
marred this well-concerted scheme.
A thick fog prevented the troops gaining their points of attack
simultaneously, and Erskine took no heed to put the light division in
a right direction; his columns were not even held together, and he
carried off the cavalry without communicating with Colonel Beckwith,
who commanded his first brigade. That officer thus left without
instructions halted at a ford, until one of the general staff came
up and rudely asked why he did not attack; the thing appeared rash,
yet with an enemy in front, Beckwith could only reply by passing the
river, which was deep and rapid. A very steep wooded hill was on the
other side and four companies of riflemen ascended, followed by the
43rd Regiment, but the caçadores of the brigade had joined another
column which was passing the river higher up and moving independently
to the right, on the true point of direction. At this time very heavy
rain was falling, all was obscure, and none of the other divisions had
yet reached their respective posts; Beckwith’s attack was therefore
premature, partial, dangerous, and at the wrong point; for Reynier’s
whole corps was in front, and one bayonet-regiment, with four companies
of riflemen, were assailing more than twelve thousand infantry
supported by cavalry and artillery!
Scarcely had the riflemen reached the top of the hill when a strong
body of French drove them back upon the 43rd, the weather cleared at
the instant, and Beckwith saw and felt all the danger, but his heart
was too big to quail. With one fierce charge he beat back the enemy,
and he gained, and kept the summit of the hill, although two French
howitzers poured showers of grape into his ranks, while a fresh force
came against his front, and considerable bodies advanced on either
flank. Fortunately, Reynier, little expecting to be attacked, had for
the convenience of water placed his main body in low ground behind the
height on which the action commenced; his renewed attack was therefore
up-hill, yet his musketry, heavy from the beginning, soon increased
to a storm, and his men sprung up the acclivity with such a violence
and clamour it was evident that desperate fighting only could save the
British from destruction, and they fought accordingly.
Captain Hopkins, commanding a flank company of the 43rd, running out
to the right, with admirable presence of mind seized a small eminence,
close to the French guns and commanding the ascent up which the French
troops turning the right flank were approaching. His first fire threw
them into confusion; they rallied and were again disordered by his
volleys; a third time they made head; but a sudden charge shook them,
and then two battalions of the 52nd Regiment, attracted by the fire,
entered the line. The centre and left of the 43rd were all this time
furiously engaged, and wonderfully excited; for Beckwith, with the
blood streaming from a wound in the head, rode amongst the skirmishers,
praising and exhorting them in a loud cheerful tone as a man sure to
win his battle; and though the bullets flew thicker and closer, and
the fight became more perilous, the French fell fast and a second
charge again cleared the hill. A howitzer was taken by the 43rd, and
the skirmishers were descending in eager pursuit when small bodies of
cavalry came galloping in from all parts and compelled them to take
refuge with the main body, which had reformed behind a low stone wall;
one French squadron however, with incredible daring rode close to
this wall, and were in the act of firing over it with pistols when a
rolling volley laid nearly the whole lifeless on the ground. A very
strong column of infantry then rushed up and endeavoured to retake the
howitzer, which was on the edge of the descent, fifty yards from the
wall, but no man could reach it and live, so deadly was the 43rd’s
fire. Two English guns now came into action, and the 52nd charging
violently upon the flank of the enemy’s infantry again vindicated the
possession of the height; nevertheless fresh squadrons of cavalry,
which had followed the infantry in the last attack, seeing the 52nd
men scattered by this charge, flew upon them with great briskness and
caused some disorder before they were repulsed.
Reynier, convinced at last that he should not use his troops
piece-meal, then put all his reserves, six thousand infantry with
artillery and cavalry, in motion, and outflanked the English left,
resolute to storm the contested height. But at that moment the fifth
division passed the bridge of Sabugal, the British cavalry appeared on
the hills beyond the French left, and, emerging from the woods close
on Reynier’s right, the third division opened a fire which instantly
decided the fate of the day. The French general, fearing to be
surrounded, hastily retreated, and meeting the right wing of the army,
which had also retired, both fell back, pursued by the English cavalry.
In this bloody encounter, which did not last quite an hour, nearly
two hundred British were killed and wounded, and the enemy’s loss was
enormous: three hundred dead bodies were heaped together on the hill,
the greatest part round the captured howitzer, and more than twelve
hundred were wounded, so unwisely had Reynier handled his masses, and
so true and constant was the English fire. It was no exaggeration of
Lord Wellington to say, “this was one of the most glorious actions
British troops were ever engaged in.”
Massena retreated on Ciudad Rodrigo, and the 5th crossed the frontier
of Portugal, when the vigour of French discipline was surprisingly
manifested. Those men who had for months been living by rapine, whose
retreat had been one continued course of violence and devastation,
having passed a conventional line became the most orderly of soldiers.
Not the slightest rudeness was offered to any Spaniard, and everything
was scrupulously paid for, although bread was sold at two shillings a
pound! Massena himself also, fierce and terrible as he was in Portugal,
always treated the Spaniards with gentleness and moderation.
During these events Trant crossed the Lower Coa with four thousand
militia near Almeida, but the river flooded behind him, the bridges had
been broken by Massena, and there was a French brigade close at hand;
hence, constructing a temporary bridge with great difficulty, he was
going to retire, but there came a letter from Wellington, desiring him
to be vigilant in preventing communication with Almeida, and fearless,
because next morning a British force would be up to his assistance.
Boldly then he interposed between the fortress and the French brigade,
yet the promised succour did not appear, and the advancing enemy was
within half a mile. His destruction appeared inevitable, when suddenly
two cannon-shots were heard to the southward, the French hastily formed
squares to retire, and six squadrons of British cavalry with a troop of
horse-artillery came up like a whirlwind in their rear; military order
however marked their perilous retreat, and though the bullets fearfully
ploughed through their masses while the horsemen flanked their line of
march, they got over the Agueda by Barba de Puerco, with the loss of
only three hundred men killed wounded and prisoners.
A few days after this, Colonel Waters, the boat-finder at Oporto, who
had been taken prisoner, escaped by an effort of extraordinary daring.
Confident in his own resources he refused parole, but having rashly
mentioned his intention of escaping to the Spaniard in whose house he
was lodged at Ciudad Rodrigo, the man betrayed counsel; his servant,
detesting the treachery, secretly offered his own aid, but Waters
only told him to get the rowels of his spurs sharpened, no more, for
his design was one of open daring. Guarded by four _gens d’armes_, he
was near Salamanca when the chief, who rode the only good horse of
the party, alighted, whereupon Waters gave the spur to his own mare,
a celebrated animal, and galloped off. They were on a wide plain,
and for many miles the road was covered with the French columns, his
hat fell off, and thus marked he rode along the flank of the troops,
some encouraging him, others firing at him, the _gens d’armes_ being
always, sword in hand, close at his heels. Suddenly he broke at full
speed between two of the columns, gained a wooded hollow, baffled
his pursuers, and the third day reached head-quarters, where Lord
Wellington had caused his baggage to be brought, observing that he
would not be long absent!
FUENTES ONORO. (May, 1811.)
On the Agueda Massena could not subsist. He retired to Salamanca, where
he was in communication with Marshal Bessières, who commanded a great
force called the Army of the North. Wellington then invested Almeida,
thinking it was provisioned only for a fortnight, yet it was still
resistant the latter end of April, when the Prince of Essling, having
reorganized his army and obtained cavalry and guns from Bessières, came
down to raise the blockade. The English general, not expecting this
interference, had gone southwards to superintend the operations of
Marshal Beresford, but he returned rapidly when he heard of the French
movement, and fixed on a field of battle between the Agueda and Coa.
There the ground, though open and fit for cavalry, was traversed from
east to west by three nearly parallel rivers, the Azava, Duas Casas,
and Turones; the first considerable, and all having, in common with the
Agueda and Coa, this peculiarity, their channels deepen as the water
flows: mere streams with low banks in their upper courses, they soon
become foaming torrents rushing along rocky gulfs.
Almeida, situated on high table-land between the Turones and Coa, was
closely blockaded, the light division and the cavalry were on the Azava
covering the investment, the rest of the army was cantoned in the
villages behind them. Swollen and unfordable was the Azava, and two
thousand French attempted to seize the bridge of Marialva on the 24th,
but the ground was strong, and they were vigorously repulsed by Captain
Dobbs of the 52nd, though he had but a single bayonet-company and some
riflemen. Next day Massena reached Ciudad Rodrigo in person, and the
27th he felt the light division posts from Espeja to Marialva. On the
28th Wellington arrived, and took position behind the Duas Casas.
The Azava was still difficult to ford, and Massena continued to feel
the outposts until the 2nd of May, when the waters subsided and his
army came out of Ciudad Rodrigo. The light division, after a slight
skirmish of horse at Gallegos, retired from that place and Espeja upon
the Duas Casas, a delicate operation, for though the country behind
those villages was a forest, an open plain between the woods offered
the enemy’s powerful cavalry an opportunity of cutting off the retreat;
the French neglected the advantage and the separated brigades of the
division remained in the woods until the middle of the night, and then
safely crossed the Duas Casas at Fuentes Onoro, a beautiful village
which had been uninjured during the previous warfare although occupied
alternately for above a year by both sides. Every family was well known
to the light division, and it was with deep regret and indignation
they found the preceding troops had pillaged it, leaving shells of
houses where three days before a friendly population had been living
in comfort. This wanton act was felt indeed so much by the whole army,
that eight thousand dollars were subscribed for the inhabitants, yet
the injury sunk deeper than the atonement.
Wellington did not wish to risk much for the blockade, and he knew
Massena could bring down superior numbers; for so culpably negligent
was the Portuguese government that their troops were starving
under arms, the infantry abandoning their colours or dropping from
extenuation by thousands, the cavalry useless: it was even feared that
a general dispersion would take place. Nevertheless, when the trial
came, he would not retreat, although his troops, reduced to thirty-two
thousand infantry, twelve hundred cavalry in bad condition, and
forty-two guns, were unable to oppose the enemy’s numerous horsemen in
the plain. His position was on the table-land between the Turones and
the Duas Casas, his left being at Fort Conception, his centre opposite
the village of Alameda, his right at Fuentes Onoro. The whole distance
was five miles, and the Duas Casas, here flowing in a deep ravine,
protected the front of the line.
Massena dared not march by his own right upon Almeida, lest the allies,
crossing the ravine at the villages of Alameda and Fuentes Onoro,
should fall on his flank and drive him upon the Lower Agueda; hence,
to cover the blockade, maintained by Pack’s brigade and an English
regiment, it was sufficient to leave the fifth division near Fort
Conception, and the sixth division opposite Alameda, while the first
and third concentrated on a gentle rise cannon-shot distance behind
Fuentes Onoro, and where a steppe of land turned back on the Turones,
becoming rocky as it approached that river.
COMBAT OF FUENTES ONORO. (May, 1811.)
On the 3rd of May the French came up in three columns abreast. The
cavalry, the sixth corps, and Drouet’s division, threatened Fuentes,
while the eighth and second corps moved against Alameda and Fort
Conception, menacing the allies’ left, which caused the light division
to reinforce the sixth. Loison, without orders, now fell upon Fuentes,
in which were five battalions detached from the first and third
divisions. Most of the houses were in the bottom of the ravine, but
an old chapel and some buildings on a craggy eminence behind offered
a prominent point for rallying, and all the low parts were vigorously
defended; yet the attack was so violent and the cannonade so heavy the
British abandoned the streets, and could scarcely maintain the upper
ground about the chapel; the commanding officer fell badly wounded, and
the fight was being lost, when the 24th, the 71st, and 79th regiments,
coming down from the main position, charged the French and drove them
quite over the Duas Casas. During the night the detachments were
withdrawn, the three succouring regiments keeping the village, where
two hundred and sixty British and somewhat more of the French had
fallen.
On the 4th Massena arrived, accompanied by Bessières, who brought up
twelve hundred cavalry and a battery of the imperial guard. Designing
to fight next morning he resolved to hold the left of the allies in
check with the second corps, and turn their right with the remainder
of the army. Forty thousand French infantry and five thousand horse,
with thirty pieces of artillery, were under arms, and they had shown
their courage was not abated; it was therefore a very daring act of the
English general to receive battle; for though his position, as far as
Fuentes Onoro, was strong and covered his communication across the Coa
by the bridge of Castello Bom, the plain was continued on his right to
Nava d’Aver, where a round hill, overlooking all the country, commanded
the roads leading to the bridges of Seceiras and Sabugal. Massena could
therefore have placed his army at once in battle-array across the
right flank and attacked the army between the Duas Casas, the Turones,
the Coa and the fortress of Almeida: the bridge of Castello Bom alone
would then have been open for retreat. To prevent this, and cover his
communications with Sabugal and Seceiras, Wellington, yielding to
Spencer’s suggestions, stretched his right wing out to the hill of Nava
d’Aver, where he placed Julian Sanchez, supporting him with the seventh
division under General Houstoun. This line of battle was above seven
miles, besides the circuit of blockade; and above Fuentes Onoro the
Duas Casas ravine became gradually obliterated, resolving itself into a
swampy wood, which extended to Poço Velho, a village half-way between
Fuentes and Nava d’Aver.
BATTLE OF FUENTES ONORO. (May, 1811.)
Massena’s intention was to attack at daybreak, but a delay of two hours
occurred and all his movements were plainly descried. The eighth corps,
withdrawn from Alameda and supported by all the French cavalry, was
seen marching to turn Poço Velho and the swampy wood, both occupied
by Houstoun’s left, his right being thrown back on the plain towards
Nava d’Aver. The sixth corps and Dronet’s division were likewise
taking ground to their left, yet keeping a division to menace Fuentes
Onoro. At this sight the light division and the cavalry hastened to
the support of Houstoun, while the first and third divisions made a
movement parallel to that of the sixth corps; the latter, however,
drove the seventh division from Poço Velho, and was gaining ground in
the wood also, when the riflemen of the light division arrived there
and restored the fight.
The French cavalry, after passing Poço Velho, formed an order of battle
on the plain between the wood and the hill of Nava d’Aver, whereupon
Sanchez retired across the Turones, partly in fear, more in anger,
because his lieutenant, having foolishly ridden close up to the enemy,
making violent gestures, was mistaken for a French officer and shot
by a soldier of the Guards before the action commenced. Montbrun lost
an hour observing this _partida_, but when it disappeared he turned
the right of the seventh division and charged the British cavalry;
the combat was unequal; for by an abuse too common, so many men had
been drawn from the ranks as orderlies to general officers, and other
purposes, that not more than a thousand English troopers were in the
field. The French therefore with one shock drove in all the outguards,
cut off Norman Ramsay’s battery of horse-artillery, and came sweeping
in upon the reserves and the seventh division.
Their leading squadrons, approaching in a loose manner, were partially
checked by the British, and then a great commotion was observed in
their main body. Their troopers were seen closing with disorder and
tumult towards one point, where a thick dust arose, and where loud
cries and the sparkling of blades and flashing of pistols indicated
some extraordinary occurrence. Suddenly the crowd became violently
agitated, an English shout pealed high and clear, the mass was rent
asunder, and Norman Ramsay burst forth sword in hand at the head of his
battery, his horses, breathing fire, stretched like greyhounds along
the plain, the guns bounded behind them like things of no weight, and
the mounted gunners followed close, with heads bent low and pointed
weapons in desperate career. At this sight Brotherton[17] of the 14th
Dragoons, instantly galloping to his aid with a squadron, shocked the
head of the pursuing troops, and General Charles Stewart,[18] joining
in the charge, took the French colonel Lamotte, fighting hand to hand.
However the main body came forward rapidly, and the British cavalry
retired behind the light division, which was thrown into squares; the
seventh division, which was more advanced, endeavoured to do the same,
but the horsemen were too quickly upon them, and some were cut down;
the remainder stood firm, and the Chasseurs Britanniques, ranged behind
a loose stone wall, poured such a fire that the French recoiled and
seemed bewildered.
While these brilliant actions were passing, the enemy had made progress
in the wood of Poço Velho, and as the English divisions were separated
and the right wing turned, it was abundantly evident the battle would
be lost if the original position above Fuentes Onoro was not quickly
regained. To effect this Wellington ordered the seventh division to
cross the Turones and move down the left bank to Frenada, while the
light division and the cavalry retired over the plain; he also withdrew
the first and third divisions, and the Portuguese, to the steppe of
land before mentioned, as running perpendicularly from the ravine of
Fuentes Onoro to the Turones.
Craufurd, who had now resumed command of the light division, covered
the passage of the seventh over the Turones, and then retired slowly
along the plain in squares. The French horsemen outflanked him and
surprised a post of the Guards under Colonel Hill, taking that officer
and fourteen men prisoners, but continuing their course against the
42nd Regiment were repulsed. Many times, this strong cavalry made as if
it would storm the light division squares, yet always found them too
formidable, and happily so, for there was not during the war a more
perilous hour. The whole of that vast plain was covered with a confused
multitude of troops, amidst which the squares appeared as specks,
and there was a great concourse of commissariat followers, servants,
baggage, led horses, and peasants attracted by curiosity, and all mixed
with broken picquets and parties coming out of the woods: the seventh
division was separated by the Turones, while five thousand French
horsemen, with fifteen pieces of artillery, were trampling, bounding,
shouting, and impatient to charge; the infantry of the eighth corps
being in order of battle behind them, and the wood on their right
filled with the sixth corps. If the latter body, pivoting upon Fuentes,
had come forth while Drouet’s division fell on that village, if the
eighth corps had attacked the light division and all the cavalry had
charged, the loose crowd encumbering the plain, driven violently in
upon the first division, would have intercepted the latter’s fire and
broken its ranks: the battle would have been lost.
No such effort was made. The French horsemen merely hovered about
Craufurd’s squares, the plain was soon cleared, the British cavalry
took post behind the centre, and the light division formed a reserve to
the first division, the riflemen occupying the rocks on its right and
connecting it with the seventh division, which had arrived at Frenada
and was again joined by Julian Sanchez. At sight of this new front,
perpendicular to the original one and so deeply lined with troops, the
French army stopped short and commenced a cannonade, which did great
execution amongst the close masses of the allies; but twelve British
guns replied with such vigour that the enemy’s fire abated, their
cavalry drew out of range, and a body of infantry attempting to glide
down the ravine of the Turones was repulsed by the riflemen and the
light companies of the Guards.
All this time a fierce battle was going on at Fuentes Onoro. Massena
had directed Drouet to carry this village when Montbrun’s cavalry first
turned the right wing, it was however two hours later ere the attack
commenced. The three British regiments made a desperate resistance,
but, overmatched in number and unaccustomed to the desultory fighting
of light troops, they were pierced and divided; two companies of the
79th were taken, their Colonel, Cameron, mortally wounded, and the
lower part of the town was carried: the upper part was however stiffly
held and the musketry was incessant.
Had the attack been made earlier, and all Drouet’s division thrown
frankly into the fight, while the sixth corps from the wood of Poço
Velho closely turned Fuentes Onoro, the latter must have been forced
and the new position falsified. But Wellington, having now all his
reserves in hand, detached considerable masses to support the fight,
and as the French reinforced their troops, the whole of the sixth corps
and part of Drouet’s were finally engaged. At one time the fighting
was on the banks of the stream and the lower houses, at another on the
heights and around the chapel, and some of the enemy’s skirmishers
even penetrated towards the main position; yet the village was never
entirely abandoned by the defenders, and in one charge against a
heavy mass on the chapel eminence a great number of French fell. Thus
the fight lasted until evening, when the lower part of the town was
abandoned by both parties, the British holding the chapel and crags,
the French retiring about cannon-shot distance from the stream.
After the action a brigade of the light division relieved the regiments
in the village, a slight demonstration by the second corps, near Fort
Conception, was checked by a battalion of the Lusitanian legion, and
both armies remained in observation. Fifteen hundred men and officers,
of which three hundred were prisoners, constituted the loss of the
allies. That of the enemy was estimated at the time to be near five
thousand, but this was founded on the supposition that four hundred
dead were lying about Fuentes Onoro. Having had charge to bury the
carcasses at that point, I can affirm, that about the village not
more than one hundred and thirty bodies were to be found, more than
one-third of which were British.
EVACUATION OF ALMEIDA. (May, 1811.)
Massena retired on the 10th across the Agueda, and was relieved in
his command by Marmont. The fate of Almeida was then decided, yet its
brave governor, Brennier, who had been exchanged after the battle of
Vimiero, carried off the garrison. He had fifteen hundred men and
during the battle had skirmished boldly with the blockading force,
while loud explosions, supposed to be signals, were frequent in the
place. When all hope of succour vanished, a French soldier, named
Tillet, penetrated in uniform through the posts of blockade, carrying
an order to evacuate the fortress and rejoin the army by Barba de
Puerco. Meanwhile the British general, placing the light division
in its old position on the Azava with cavalry-posts on the Lower
Agueda, had desired Sir William Erskine to send the 4th Regiment to
Barba de Puerco, and directed General Alexander Campbell to continue
the blockade with the sixth division and Pack’s brigade. Campbell’s
dispositions were negligently made and negligently executed. Erskine
transmitted no orders to the 4th Regiment, and Brennier resolved to
force his way through the blockading troops. An open country and a
double line of posts greatly enhanced the difficulty of the enterprise,
yet he was resolute not only to cut his own passage but to render the
fortress useless. In this view he had mined the principal bastions,
and destroyed his guns by a singular expedient, firing several at the
same moment with heavy charges but placing the muzzles of all but one
against the sides of the others; thus while some shots flew towards the
besiegers others destroyed the pieces without attracting notice: these
were the explosions supposed to be signals.
At midnight on the 10th he sprung his mines and in a compact column
broke through the picquets, passing between the quarters of the
reserves with a nicety proving his talent and his coolness. Pack,
following with a few men collected on the instant, plied him with a
constant fire, yet could not shake or retard his column, which in
silence gained the rough country leading upon Barba de Puerco, where
it halted just as daylight broke. Pack still pursued, and knowing some
English dragoons were a short distance off sent an officer to bring
them out upon the French flank, thus occasioning a slight skirmish
and consequent delay. The other troops had paid little attention to
the explosion of the mines, thinking them a repetition of Brennier’s
previous practice, but Pack’s fire had roused them, the 36th Regiment
was now close at hand, and the 4th also, having heard the firing, was
rapidly gaining the right flank of the enemy. Brennier drove off the
cavalry and was again in march, yet the infantry, throwing off their
knapsacks, overtook him as he descended the deep chasm of Barba de
Puerco and killed or wounded many, taking three hundred, but the 36th
Regiment rashly passing the bridge was repulsed with a loss of forty
men. Had Erskine given the 4th Regiment its orders, the French column
would have been lost, and Lord Wellington, stung by this event, and
irritated by previous examples of undisciplined valour, issued this
strong rebuke. “_The officers of the army may depend upon it that the
enemy to whom they are opposed is not less prudent than powerful.
Notwithstanding what has been printed in gazettes and newspapers, we
have never seen small bodies unsupported successfully opposed to large;
nor has the experience of any officer realized the stories which all
have read of whole armies being driven by a handful of light infantry
and dragoons._”