Madrid--Siege of Burgos--Retreat from Burgos--Combat of Venta
de Pozo--Combat on the Carion--Retreat from Madrid--Alba de
Tormes--Combat of the Huebra.
MADRID. (Aug. 1812.)
Wellington, having entirely separated the king’s army from Marmont’s,
had to choose between pursuing the latter and besieging Burgos, or
marching on Madrid. He adopted the last, and crossing the Guadarama
mountains descended on the Spanish capital, leaving General Clinton
with twelve thousand men to watch Clausel and co-operate with Spaniards
from Gallicia. Joseph had good troops, and being unwilling to fly
before a detachment occupied the Escurial, placing detachments on
all the roads. In this state D’Urban’s Portuguese cavalry drove back
Trielhard’s outposts and entered Majadahonda. Some German infantry,
Bock’s heavy cavalry, and a troop of horse-artillery then entered
Las Rozas, a mile in D’Urban’s rear; but in the evening, Trielhard,
reinforced by Schiazzetti’s Italian dragoons and the lancers of
Berg, returned; D’Urban called up the horse artillery and would
have charged, but his Portuguese fled, and three of the guns being
overturned on rough ground were taken. The victorious cavalry passed
through Majadahonda in pursuit, and though the German dragoons, albeit
surprised in quarters, stopped the leading French squadrons, yet,
when Schiazzetti’s horse came up, the fight would have ended badly if
Ponsonby’s cavalry and the seventh division had not arrived. Trielhard
then retired, carrying away captive, the Portuguese general, Visconde
de Barbacena, the colonel of the German cavalry, and others of less
rank. The whole loss was above two hundred, and the German dead lay
very thickly in the streets; many were stretched in their shirts and
trousers across the sills of the doors, thus manifesting the suddenness
of the action and their own bravery.
After this combat the king crossed the Tagus with his court, but in
the most horrible confusion, for his army, composed of Spaniards,
French and Italians, began to plunder the convoy. Marshal Jourdan threw
himself into the midst of the disorderly troops, and being aided by
other generals, with great personal risk arrested the mischief, and
succeeded in making the multitude file over the bridge of Aranjuez; yet
the procession was lugubrious and shocking; crowds of weeping women and
children and despairing men, courtiers of the highest rank, desperately
struggling with savage soldiers for the animals on which they were
endeavouring to save their families. Lord Wellington did not molest
them. Ignorant of their situation, or more probably, compassionating
their misery and knowing the troops could escape over the Tagus, he
would not strike. Perhaps also he thought it wise to leave Joseph with
the burthen of a court.
The king, expecting to find a strong reinforcement from Soult at
Toledo, was inclined to march towards the Morena; instead of troops he
found a positive refusal, and a plan for uniting his own and Suchet’s
army to Soult’s in Andalusia. From thence all were to menace Lisbon,
but this was too vast for the king’s genius, and his personal anger at
being denied the troops, overcoming prudence, he directed his march
on Valencia, peremptorily commanding Soult to abandon Andalusia and
join him there. Meanwhile Wellington entered Madrid and was met by the
whole population--not with feigned enthusiasm to a conqueror, for there
was no tumultuous exultation, famine was amongst them and misery had
subdued their spirit: but with tears and every sign of deep emotion
they crowded around his horse, hung by his stirrups, touched his
clothes, and throwing themselves on their knees blessed him aloud!
Madrid was still vexed by the presence of an enemy in the Retiro, which
was garrisoned with two thousand good soldiers besides convalescents,
and contained enormous stores, twenty thousand stand of arms, one
hundred and eighty pieces of artillery, and the eagles of two French
regiments. The works however were bad, and the French yielding on terms
were sent to Portugal, but on the way were basely robbed and many
murdered by the escort: an infamous action perpetrated by Spaniards,
far from Madrid. It was strange to see French generals, used to war,
thus giving up armies as it were to their enemies; for including the
garrisons of Toro, Tordesillas, Astorga and Zamora, all of which might
have been saved but were not, and this of the Retiro, which should not
have been left, six thousand good soldiers were absolutely given as a
present to swell the loss of Salamanca.
Some time Wellington remained in Madrid, apparently occupied with
balls and bull-fights, yet really watching events to decide whether he
should operate in the north or south. The hour of action came at last.
Soult abandoned Andalusia, and the 29th of August his rear-guard lost
two hundred men in Seville, where it was attacked by Colonel Skerrett
and some Spaniards from Cadiz; the former then joined Hill, who after
a series of operations against Drouet, in one of which he defeated
the French cavalry, now came to La Mancha. The south of Spain was for
the enemy then a scene of confusion which gave Wellington time for
action in the north, where his presence was absolutely required; for
Clausel had re-occupied Valladolid with a renovated force of twenty-two
thousand men and fifty guns, Clinton had made some serious errors, and
the Spanish generals had as usual failed on all points.
Leaving Hill a powerful force to co-operate with all the southern
Spanish armies beyond the Tagus, Lord Wellington quitted Madrid the
1st of September, and at Arevalo concentrated twenty-one thousand
men, three thousand being cavalry; yet the Portuguese soldiers were
ill equipped, and could scarcely be fed, because of the continued
misconduct of their government.
On the 6th he passed the Duero to fight Clausel, and called on Castaños
to join him with the Gallicians; but seldom did a Spanish general
deviate into activity; Castaños delayed and Clausel retreated slowly up
the beautiful valleys of the Pisuerga and Arlanzan, which, in denial
of the stories about French devastation, were carefully cultivated and
filled to repletion with corn, wine and oil. Nor were they deficient
in military strength. Off the high road ditches and rivulets impeded
the troops, while cross-ridges continually furnished strong positions,
flanked with lofty hills on either side, by means of which Clausel
baffled his adversary in a surprising manner. Each day he offered
battle, yet on ground Wellington was unwilling to assail, partly
because he momentarily expected the Gallicians; chiefly because of the
declining state of his own army from sickness, and that the hope of
ulterior operations in the south made him unwilling to lose men. By
flank movements he dislodged the enemy, yet each day darkness fell ere
they were completed and the morning’s sun always saw Clausel again in
position. Thus he barred the way at eight places, and finally covered
Burgos the 16th, by taking the strong position of Cellada del Camino.
But eleven thousand Spanish infantry, three hundred cavalry, and eight
guns, had now joined Wellington, who would have fallen on frankly
the 17th, if Clausel, alike wary and skilful, had not observed the
increased numbers and retired in the night to Frandovinez; he was
however next day pushed sharply back to the heights of Burgos, and the
following night passed through that town leaving behind large stores of
grain. Caffarelli, who had come down to place the castle in a state of
defence, now joined him and both retreated upon Briviesca.
The allies entered Burgos amidst great confusion. The garrison of
the castle had set fire to some houses impeding the defence, the
conflagration spread, and the Partidas, gathering like wolves round a
carcass, entered the town for mischief. Mr. Sydenham, an eye-witness
not unused to scenes of war, thus described their proceedings: “What
with the flames and plundering of the guerillas, who are as bad as
Tartars and Cossacks of the Kischack or Zagatay hordes, I was afraid
Burgos would be entirely destroyed, but order was at length restored by
the manful exertions of Don Miguel Alava.”
SIEGE OF BURGOS. (Sept. 1812.)
Caffarelli had placed eighteen hundred infantry, besides artillery-men,
in the castle; and Dubreton, the governor, in courage and skill
surpassed even the hopes of his sanguine countrymen. The works inclosed
a rugged hill, between which and the river the city of Burgos was
situated. An old wall with a new parapet and flanks offered the first
line of defence; the second line, within the other, was of earth,
a kind of field-retrenchment, but well palisaded; the third line,
similarly constructed, contained two elevated points, on one of which
was an intrenched building called the White Church, on the other
the ancient keep of the castle. This last, the highest point, was
intrenched and surmounted with a casemated work called the Napoleon
battery, which commanded everything around, save on the north. There
the hill of San Michael, only three hundred yards distant and scarcely
less elevated than the fortress, was defended by a horn-work with a
sloping scarp twenty-five, and a counterscarp ten feet high. This work
was merely closed by strong palisades, but was under the fire of the
Napoleon battery, well flanked by the castle, and covered in front by
intrenchments for out picquets. Nine heavy guns, eleven field-pieces
and six mortars or howitzers, were mounted in the fortress; and as the
reserve artillery and stores of the Army of Portugal were deposited
there the armament could be augmented.
FIRST ASSAULT. (Sept. 1812.)
So completely commanded were all the bridges and fords over the
Arlanzan by the castle guns, that two days elapsed ere the allies could
cross; but on the 19th, the passage being effected above the town,
Major Somers Cocks with the 79th, supported by Pack’s Portuguese, drove
in the French outposts on the hill of San Michael, and in the night,
reinforced with the 42nd Regiment, assailed the horn-work. The conflict
was murderous. The main storming column was beaten off, and the attack
would have failed if Cocks had not forced an entrance by the gorge.
The garrison was thus cut off, but the assailants not being closely
supported the French broke through them. The troops complained of each
other, and the loss was above four hundred, while that of the enemy was
less than one hundred and fifty.
The defences of the castle were feeble and incomplete, yet Wellington’s
means were so scant that he relied more upon the enemy’s weakness than
his own power. However, it was said water was scarce, and that the
provision-magazines might be burned; wherefore twelve thousand men were
set to the siege while twenty thousand formed the covering army.
For the attack, the trenches were to be opened on the right of San
Michael towards the town, and a battery for five guns established on
the right of the captured horn-work. A sap was then to be pushed from
the trenches towards the first wall, and from thence the engineer was
to proceed by gallery and mine.
When the first mine should be completed, the battery from San Michael
was to open against the second line of defence, and the assault given
on the first line. Approaches were then to be continued against the
second line, and the battery turned against the third line, in front of
the White Church, where the defences were exceedingly weak. Meanwhile
a trench for musketry was to be dug along the brow of San Michael, and
a concealed battery prepared within the horn-work for a final attack
on the Napoleon battery; but the artillery consisted of only three
eighteen-pounders with five iron twenty-four-pound howitzers: slender
means which, rather than the defects of the fortress, governed the line
of attack.
When the horn-work fell, a lodgement was commenced in the interior,
and continued vigorously under a destructive fire from the Napoleon
battery, but good cover was obtained in the night.
On the 21st the garrison mounted several field-guns, and at night fired
heavily with grape and shells on the workmen digging the musketry
trench. The 22nd this fire was redoubled, yet the besiegers worked with
little loss, and their musketeers galled the enemy. In the night the
battery was armed with two eighteen-pounders and three howitzers, and
the secret battery within the horn-work was commenced; but Wellington,
now deviating from his first plan, directed an escalade against the
first line. In this view, at midnight four hundred men with ladders
were secretly posted in a hollow road, fifty yards from the wall, which
was from twenty-three to twenty-five feet high without flanks; and to
aid this main column, a Portuguese battalion was assembled in the town
of Burgos for a flank attack.
SECOND ASSAULT. (Sept. 1812.)
In this assault, although the Portuguese were repelled by the fire of
the common guard, the principal party, composed of detachments under
Major Lawrie, entered the ditch, yet altogether and confusedly; Lawrie
was killed, the soldiers who mounted the ladders were bayoneted,
combustible missiles were thrown down in abundance, and the men gave
way, leaving half their number behind. The wounded were brought off
next day under a truce, and it is said, that on the body of an officer
the French found a complete plan of the siege. It was a very disastrous
attempt, which delayed the regular progress for two days, increased the
enemy’s courage and produced a bad effect upon the troops, some of whom
were already dispirited by the storm of the horn-work.
The original plan being now resumed, the hollow way from whence the
escaladers had advanced, running along the front of defence, was
converted into a parallel, and the trench made deep and narrow to
secure them from the plunging shot of the castle. Musketeers were also
planted to keep down the enemy’s fire. But heavy rains incommoded the
troops, and the French raised a palisaded work on their own right,
which flanked this parallel, and from thence they killed so many of the
besiegers’ marksmen that the latter were withdrawn.
In the night a flying sap from the right of the parallel was pushed
within twenty yards of the first line; but the directing engineer was
killed, and with him many men, for the French plied their musketry
sharply, and rolled large shells down the steep side of the hill. The
head of the sap was indeed so commanded as it approached the wall, that
a six-feet trench, added to the height of the gabions above, scarcely
protected the workmen; wherefore the gallery for a mine was worked as
rapidly as the inexperience of the miners would permit.
When the secret battery in the horn-work of San Michael was completed
two eighteen-pounders were removed from the first battery to arm it,
being replaced by two iron howitzers. The latter were used to drive
the French marksmen from their offensive palisaded wall, but after
firing one hundred and forty rounds without success the attempt was
relinquished; and ammunition was so scarce that the soldiers were paid
to collect the enemy’s bullets.
A zigzag was now commenced in front of the first battery, down the face
of San Michael, to obtain footing for a musketry trench to overlook the
enemy’s defences below: the workmen were exposed to the whole fire of
the castle at the distance of two hundred yards, and were knocked down
fast, yet the work went steadily on.
On the 26th the gallery was advanced eighteen feet and the soil found
favourable; but the men, in passing the sap, were hit by the French
marksmen, and an assistant engineer was killed. In the night the
parallel was prolonged on the right to within twenty yards of the
ramparts, in the view of driving a second gallery and mine; musketeers
were then planted there and at the same time the zigzag was continued,
and the musket trench completed with little loss, though the whole fire
of the castle was concentrated on the spot.
The 27th the French strengthened their second line, cut a step along
the edge of the counterscarp for a covered way, and palisaded the
communication. The besiegers finished the musketry trench on the right
of their parallel, and opened a gallery for the second mine; but the
first mine went on slowly, the men in the sap being galled by stones,
grenades, and small shells, which the French threw into the trenches by
hand; the artillery fire also knocked over the gabions of the musketry
trench on San Michael so fast that the troops were withdrawn during the
day.
In the night a trench of communication, forming a second parallel
behind the first, was begun and nearly completed from the hill of San
Michael, but at daylight the French fire was heavy, and the shells
which passed over came rolling down the hill again into the trench. The
completion of the work was therefore deferred until night, and though
the back roll of the shells continued to gall the troops, this, and the
other trenches in front of the horn-work, above and on the right of
the parallel below, were filled with men whose fire was incessant: the
first mine also was completed, and being loaded with a thousand pounds
of powder, and the gallery strongly tamped for fifteen feet with bags
of clay, another storm was ordered.
THIRD ASSAULT. (Sept. 1812.)
At midnight, the hollow road being lined with men to fire on the
defences, the storming party, three hundred strong, was assembled
there, attended by others who carried tools and materials to secure
a lodgement when the breach should be carried. The mine was then
exploded, the wall fell, and an officer with twenty men rushed forward
to the assault. The effect of the explosion was disappointing, yet it
cast the wall down, the enemy was stupefied, and the forlorn hope, a
sergeant and four daring soldiers, gained the summit of the breach;
soon however the French recovered, and threw them over pierced with
bayonet wounds. Meanwhile the officer, with his twenty men, missed the
breach in the dark, and finding the wall unbroken returned, saying
there was no breach; then the main body regained the trenches, and
before the sergeant and his comrades came in with streaming wounds to
tell their tale the enemy was reinforced: the scarcity of ammunition
would not permit a fire to be directed upon the work during the night,
and the French, raising a parapet behind it, placed obstacles on the
ascent which deterred the besiegers from renewing the assault at
daylight.
Twelve days had now elapsed since the siege commenced, one assault
had succeeded, two had failed, twelve hundred men had been killed or
wounded, little progress was made, and the troops were dispirited,
notably the Portuguese, who seemed to be losing their ancient spirit.
Discipline was relaxed, ammunition was wasted, work in the trenches
avoided and neglected by officers and men, insubordination was gaining
ground, and reproachful orders were issued, the Guards only being
noticed as presenting an honourable exception.
The French marksmen in the flanking palisaded work were so expert
that everything which could be seen from thence was hit, until the
howitzer battery on San Michael was reinforced with a captured French
eighteen-pounder, and this mischievous post was at last demolished. At
the same time the gallery of the second mine was pushed forward, and a
new breaching battery for three guns constructed behind it, so close
to the enemy’s defences that they screened it from the artillery fire
of their upper fortress. To arm this work the three eighteen-pounders
were dragged in the night from San Michael, and next day were, under
a musketry fire which thinned the workmen, placed in battery; but the
watchful Dubreton brought a howitzer down, with which he threw shells
into the battery, and making a hole through a flank wall, thrust out
a light gun also, which sent its bullets whizzing through the thin
parapet of the work at every round. The allies were thus driven from
their post, more French cannon were brought from the upper works, and
the battery was demolished; two of the gun-carriages were disabled, a
trunnion was knocked off one of the guns, and the muzzle of another
split: and vainly the marksmen endeavoured to quell this fire, the
French eventually remained masters.
In the night a more solid battery was made on the left of the ruined
one, but at daylight the French fire, plunging from above, made the
parapet fly off so rapidly, that the besiegers relinquished it also,
returning to their mines and breaching battery on San Michael. The two
guns still serviceable were now remanded to the upper battery, to beat
down a retrenchment formed by the French behind the old breach; but the
weather was so wet and stormy that the workmen, those of the Guards
excepted, abandoned the trenches, and at daylight the guns were still
short of their destination. However, on the 2nd of October they were
placed, and at four o’clock in the evening, their fire having cleansed
the old breach, and the second mine being tamped for explosion, a
double assault was ordered. For this operation a battalion of the 24th
British Regiment, under Captain Hedderwick, was formed in the hollow
way, having one advanced party under Lieut. Holmes near the new mine,
and a second under Lieut. Frazer towards the old breach.
FOURTH ASSAULT. (Oct. 1812.)
At five o’clock the mine exploded with terrific effect, sending many
of the French into the air and breaking down one hundred feet of the
wall; the next instant Holmes and his brave men went rushing through
the smoke and crumbling ruins; and Frazer, as quick and brave, was
already fighting with the defenders on the summit of the old breach.
The supports followed closely, and in a few minutes both points were
carried with a loss of thirty-seven killed and two hundred wounded,
seven being officers,--amongst them the conducting engineer.
During the night lodgements were formed on the ruins of the new breach,
imperfectly and under a destructive fire from the upper defences; but
the previous happy attack had revived the spirits of the army, vessels
with powder were coming coastwise from Coruña, a convoy was expected by
land from Rodrigo, and a supply of ammunition, sent by Sir Home Popham,
reached the camp from Santander. This promising state of affairs was
of short duration. On the evening of the 5th three hundred French came
swiftly down the hill, and, sweeping away labourers and guards from the
trenches, killed or wounded a hundred and fifty men, got possession of
the old breach, destroyed the works and carried off all the tools.
In the night the allies repaired the damage and pushed saps from
each flank, to meet in the centre near the second French line and
serve as a parallel to check future sallies. Meanwhile the howitzers
on San Michael continued their fire, and the breaching battery in
the horn-work opened; but the guns, being unable to see the wall
sufficiently low soon ceased to speak, and the embrasures were masked.
On the other hand the besieged could not, from the steepness of the
castle-hill, depress their guns to bear on the lodgement at the
breaches in the first line; yet their musketry was murderous, and they
rolled down large shells to retard the approaches towards the second
line.
On the 7th the besiegers were so close to the wall that the howitzers
above could not play without danger to the workmen, and two French
field-pieces taken in the horn-work were substituted. The breaching
battery on San Michael being amended renewed its fire and at five
o’clock had beaten down fifty feet from the parapet of the second line,
yet the enemy’s return was heavy and another eighteen-pounder lost a
trunnion. In the night block-carriages with supports for the broken
trunnions were provided, and the disabled guns again fired with low
charges; but rain now filled the trenches, the communications were
injured, the workmen negligent, the approaches to the second line
went on slowly, and again Dubreton came thundering down from the upper
ground, driving the guards and workmen from the new parallel at the
lodgements, levelling all the works, carrying off all the tools, and
killing or wounding two hundred men. Colonel Cocks, promoted for his
gallant conduct at the storming of San Michael, restored the fight and
repulsed the French, but fell dead on the ground recovered: he was a
young man of a modest demeanour, brave, thoughtful and enterprising: he
lived and died a good soldier.
After this severe check the approaches to the second line were
abandoned, the trenches were extended to embrace the whole of the
front attacked, and as the battery on San Michael had now formed a
practicable breach twenty-five feet wide the parallel was prolonged
towards it, and a trench was opened for marksmen at thirty yards’
distance. Nevertheless another assault could not be risked, because the
powder was nearly exhausted and the troops, if unsuccessful, would have
been without ammunition in front of the French army, then gathering
head near Briviesca. Heated shot were however thrown at the White
Church to burn the magazines, and the miners were directed to drive
a gallery on the other side of the castle against the church of San
Roman, a building occupied by the French beyond their line.
On the 10th a supply of ammunition arrived from Santander, but Dubreton
had meanwhile strengthened his works, and isolated the new breach on
one flank by a stockade, extending at right angles from the second
to the third line of defence. The fire from the Napoleon battery
then compelled the besiegers again to withdraw their guns within the
horn-work, and the attempt to burn the White Church was relinquished,
yet the gallery against San Roman was continued.
On the 15th the battery in the horn-work was rearmed against the
Napoleon battery, but was silenced in three-quarters of an hour. The
embrasures were then altered, that the guns might bear on the breach in
the second line, and the besiegers worked to repair the mischief done
by rain, and to push the gallery under San Roman, where the mine was
loaded with nine hundred pounds of powder.
The 17th the battery of the horn-work cleared away the temporary
defences at the breach, the howitzers damaged the rampart on each side,
and, a small mine being sprung, a cavalier or mound from which the
enemy had killed many men in the trenches was taken, yet the French
soon recovered that work.
On the 18th the new breach being practicable, the storm was ordered,
the explosion of the mine under San Roman to be the signal; that church
was also to be assaulted, and between these attacks the works covering
the ancient breach were to be escaladed.
FIFTH ASSAULT. (Oct. 1812.)
At half-past four o’clock the mine at San Roman exploded, with
little injury to the church itself; but the latter was resolutely
attacked by some Spanish and Portuguese troops, and though the enemy
sprung a countermine which brought the building entirely down the
assailants lodged themselves in the ruins. Meanwhile two hundred of
the Foot-Guards, with strong supports, pouring through the old breach
in the first line escaladed the second, and between that and the third
line were strongly met by the French. A like number of Germans under
Major Wurmb, similarly supported, simultaneously stormed the new
breach, and some men mounting the hill above actually gained the third
line. Unhappily at neither point did the supports follow closely, and
the Germans, cramped on their left by the enemy’s stockade, extended
their right towards the Guards; but at that moment Dubreton came
dashing like a torrent from the upper ground and in an instant cleared
the breaches. Wurmb and many other brave men fell, and the French
gathering round the Guards forced them also beyond the outer line.
More than two hundred men and officers were killed or wounded in this
combat, and next night the enemy recovered San Roman by a sally.
The siege was now virtually terminated, for though the French were
beaten out of San Roman again, and a gallery was opened from that
church against the second line, these were mere demonstrations. The
fate of Burgos was fixed outside. For while the siege was going on,
Caffarelli and Clausel had received a reinforcement of twelve thousand
men from France, and thus forty-four thousand good troops were prepared
to relieve the Castle before October, although they could not act
until Souham, appointed to command in chief, had arrived. It was also
essential to combine their operations with the king, who had formed
a great army to recover Madrid; but all the lines of correspondence
were so circuitous and beset by the Partidas that the most speedy and
certain communication was through the minister of war at Paris, who
found the information he wanted in the English newspapers! These, while
deceiving the British public by accounts of battles never fought,
victories never gained, enthusiasm and vigour nowhere existing, with
great assiduity enlightened the enemy upon the numbers, situation,
movements and reinforcements of the allies.
Souham arrived the 3rd of October with more reinforcements from
France, but he imagined that sixty thousand troops were around Burgos,
exclusive of the Partidas, and that three divisions were coming up
from Madrid; whereas none were coming, and little more than thirty
thousand were around Burgos, eleven thousand being Gallicians, scarcely
so good as the Partidas. Wellington’s real strength was in his
Anglo-Portuguese, now only twenty thousand; for besides those killed
or wounded at the siege, the sick had gone to the rear faster than the
recovered men came up. Some unattached regiments and escorts were near
Segovia and other points north of the Guadarama, and a reinforcement
of five thousand men had been sent from England in September; but the
former belonged to Hill’s army, and of the latter the Life-Guards and
Blues had gone to Lisbon: hence a regiment of Foot-Guards, and some
detachments of the line, in all three thousand, were the only available
forces in the rear.
During the first part of the siege, the English general, seeing the
French scattered and only reinforced by conscripts, did not fear
interruption; the less so, that Sir Home Popham was again menacing the
coast line; and now, when they were concentrating, he was willing to
fight; for he thought Popham and the guerillas would keep Caffarelli
employed, and he was himself a match for Clausel. Souham however,
over-rating the allies’ force, feared a defeat, as being the only
barrier between Wellington and France; and far from meditating an
advance dreaded an attack; hence, as want of provisions forbad a
concentration of his army permanently near Burgos, he prepared to fight
on the Ebro. Soon however, the English newspapers told him Soult was in
march from Andalusia--that the king intended to move upon Madrid,--that
no English troops had left that capital to join Wellington, that the
army of the latter was not numerous, and the castle of Burgos was
sorely pressed: then he resolved to raise the siege.
On the 13th a skirmish took place on a stream beyond Monasterio, where
Captain Perse of the 16th Dragoons, twice forced from the bridge
twice recovered it and maintained his post until F. Ponsonby, who
commanded the Cavalry reserves, arrived. Ponsonby and Perse were both
wounded, and this demonstration was followed by various others until
the evening of the 18th, when the whole French army was united and the
advanced guard captured a picquet of Brunswickers. This sudden movement
prevented Wellington taking, as he designed, the advanced position of
Monasterio. Falling back, therefore, he took ground covering the siege,
where, on the 20th, Maucune, advancing with two divisions of infantry
and one of cavalry, gained some advantage, yet, having no supports, was
finally outflanked and beaten back to Monasterio by two divisions under
Sir Edward Paget.
There were now in position, twenty-one thousand Anglo-Portuguese
infantry and cavalry, eleven thousand Gallicians, and the guerilla
horsemen of Marquinez and Julian Sanchez. Four thousand were troopers,
but only two thousand six hundred were British and German, and the
Spanish horsemen, regular or irregular, could scarcely be reckoned as
combatants. The artillery counted forty-two pieces, including twelve
Spanish guns extremely ill equipped and scant of ammunition. The French
had nearly five thousand cavalry, and more than sixty guns. Wellington
stood therefore at great disadvantage in numbers, composition, and real
strength. In his rear was the castle and the river Arlanzan, the fords
and bridges of which were commanded by the guns of the fortress; his
generals of division, Paget excepted, were not of marked ability, and
his troops were somewhat desponding, and deteriorated in discipline.
His situation was altogether dangerous. Victory could scarcely be
expected, defeat would be destruction, and he had provoked a battle not
knowing Caffarelli’s troops were united to Souham’s.
Souham should have forced an action, because his ground was strong,
his retreat open, his army powerful and compact, his soldiers full
of confidence, his lieutenants, Clausel, Maucune, and Foy, men of
distinguished talents, able to second, and able to succeed him in the
chief command: the chances of victory were great, the chances of defeat
comparatively small. It was thus he judged the matter himself, for
Maucune’s advance was designed as the prelude to a great battle, and
the English general was then willing to stand the trial. But generals
are not absolute masters of events. Extraneous events here governed
both sides. The king by the junction of Soult’s army was at the head of
a great force, and had designed not only to drive Hill from Madrid, but
to cut Wellington off from Portugal: hence he had ordered Souham not
to fight. Hill at the same time gave notice of the king’s advance; and
Wellington, fearing to be isolated when Hill was forced from Madrid,
raised the siege and resolved to retreat.
Some fighting had meanwhile taken place at Burgos. Dubreton had again
got possession of the ruins of San Roman but was driven away next
morning; but then, the order to raise the siege being received the
guns and stores were removed from the batteries. The greatest part of
the draught animals had however gone to fetch powder and artillery
from Santander, and the eighteen-pounders could not be carried off.
Thus the siege was raised after five assaults, several sallies and
thirty-three days of investment, during which the besiegers lost more
than two thousand, and the besieged six hundred men killed or wounded;
the latter also suffered severely from continual labour, want of water,
and bad weather; for the fortress was too small to afford shelter for
the garrison, and the greater part had bivouacked between the lines of
defence.
RETREAT FROM BURGOS. (Oct. 1812.)
It was commenced in the night of the 21st by the following daring
enterprise. The army quitted its position after dark, the artillery,
the wheels being muffled with straw, passed the bridge of Burgos under
the castle guns with such silence and celerity, that Dubreton, watchful
and suspicious as he was, knew nothing of the march until the Partidas,
failing in nerve, commenced galloping, when he poured a destructive
fire down but soon lost the range. By this delicate operation Souham
was compelled to follow, instead of using the castle to intercept the
line of retreat; for if Wellington had avoided the fortress, the French
by passing through it could have forestalled him at Cellada del Camino.
The 23rd the infantry crossed the Pisuerga, but while the main body
made this long march, Souham having passed through Burgos in the night
of the 22nd, vigorously attacked the rear-guard under Sir Stapleton
Cotton, which was composed of cavalry and horse-artillery, two
battalions of Germans and the Partidas of Marquinez and Sanchez.
At seven o’clock the picquets were first driven from the bridge of
Baniel, and then from the Hormaza stream, after which the whole
rear-guard drew up in a large plain behind Cellada del Camino. It had
on the left a range of hills occupied by Marquinez, on the right the
Arlanzan, and across the middle of the plain a marshy rivulet cut the
main road, being only passable by a little bridge near a house called
the Venta de Pozo. In front, about half-way between this stream and
Cellada, there was a broad ditch with a second bridge and a hamlet.
Cotton retired over the marshy stream, but left Anson’s horsemen and
Halket’s infantry as a rear-guard beyond the ditch, and then Anson,
placing the 11th Dragoons and the guns in advance at Cellada del Camino
on a gentle eminence, likewise prepared to pass the stream.
COMBAT OF VENTA DE POZO. (Oct. 1812.)
When the French approached Cellada, two squadrons of the 11th beat
back their leading horsemen, and the artillery plied them briskly with
shot; yet the main body, advancing at a trot along the road, compelled
the whole to retire beyond the bridge of Venta de Pozo. Meanwhile the
French general Curto, leading a brigade of hussars and followed by
Boyer’s dragoons, ascended the hills and drove Marquinez from them
towards a ravine at the foot, which could only be passed at particular
points; towards one of those the Partida galloped, just as the French
on the plain, after a sharp struggle had forced the 11th Dragoons
across the ditch between Cellada and Venta de Pozo. The German riflemen
were in the hamlet, and the ditch might have been disputed if it had
not been thus turned by Curto; but that event compelled Anson to retire
on the Venta de Pozo stream. His movement was covered by the 16th
Dragoons, and while passing the bridge there, the Partidas, pouring
down from the hills, were so closely pursued by the French hussars that
the mixed mass hurtled on the flank of the 16th at the moment it was
charged in rear by the enemy pursuing in the plain: Colonel Pelley and
many men were taken, and the regiment was driven back on the reserves,
which however stood fast, and while the French were reforming the whole
got over the bridge of Venta de Pozo.
Cotton now formed a new line. Anson was on the left of the road, the
German infantry and guns were in support, the heavy German cavalry on
the right--the whole presenting an imposing order of battle. But then
Caffarelli’s cavalry, composed of the lancers of Berg, a regiment of
chasseurs, and several squadrons of _gens d’armes_, all fresh men,
entered the line on the French left. At first they tried the stream on
a wide front, and finding it impassable wheeled with a quick daring
decision to their right, trotting under the heavy pounding of the
English artillery over the bridge and forming beyond in opposition
to the German cavalry. The latter charged with a rough shock and
broke their right, but they had let too many come over, the French
left gained an advantage, and their right, full of mettle, rallied;
a furious sword combat had place, in which the _gens d’armes_ fought
so fiercely that the Germans, maugre their size and courage and the
superiority of their horses, were beaten back in disorder. The French
followed on the spur with shrill and eager cries, and Anson being
outflanked and menaced on both sides retreated also; not happily, for
Boyer’s dragoons had now crossed the ravine at the foot of the hills
and came thundering in on his left, breaking the ranks and sending all
to the rear in a confused mass.
The Germans first extricated themselves and formed a fresh line on
which the others rallied, the _gens d’armes_ and lancers who had
suffered severely from the artillery as well as in the sword fight
having halted; but Boyer’s dragoons, ten squadrons, then attacked the
new line which was still confused and wavering, and though the German
officers rode gallantly to meet the charge their men followed but a
short way and finally turned, when the swiftness of the English horses
alone prevented a terrible catastrophe.
Some favourable ground enabled the line to reform once more, yet only
to be again broken. Meanwhile Wellington in person placed Halket’s
infantry and the guns in a position to cover the cavalry, and they
remained tranquil until the enemy, in full pursuit after the last
charge, came galloping down, lending their left flank, when the power
of the musket was again manifested. A tempest of bullets emptied the
French saddles by scores, and their hitherto victorious horsemen,
after three fruitless charges, drew off to the hills, while the
British cavalry, covered by the infantry, made good its retreat to the
Pisuerga. The loss in this combat was considerable on both sides. The
French suffered most, but took a colonel and seventy other prisoners;
and before the fight they had captured a commissariat store near Burgos.
While the rear-guard was thus engaged, drunkenness and insubordination,
the usual concomitants of an English retreat, were exhibited at
Torquemada, where the well-stored wine-vaults became the prey of the
soldiery: twelve thousand men were at one time in a state of helpless
inebriety. This was bad, and Wellington having now retreated fifty
miles, resolved to check the pursuit. His previous arrangements had
been well combined, but the means of transport were scanty, the
weather severe, and his convoys of sick and wounded were still on the
wrong side of the Duero: wherefore, crossing the Carion river at its
confluence with the lower Pisuerga, he turned and halted.
Here he was joined by a regiment of Guards and detachments coming from
Coruña, and his ground, extending from Villa Muriel to Dueñas below
the meeting of the waters, was strong; for though the upper Pisuerga
was parallel to the Carion, the lower part turned suddenly, to flow
at a right angle from the confluence. Hence his position, a range of
hills, lofty yet descending with an easy sweep, was covered in front by
the Carion, and on the right by the lower Pisuerga. A detachment was
left to destroy the bridge of Baños on this last river, and a battalion
was sent to aid the Spaniards in destroying the bridges high up on the
Carion at Palencia. On the immediate front some houses and convents,
lying beyond both rivers, furnished posts to cover the destruction of
the bridges of Muriel and San Isidro on the Carion, and that of Dueñas
on the lower Pisuerga.
Souham cannonaded the rear-guard at Torquemada on the 24th, and then
passing the upper Pisuerga sent Foy’s division against Palencia, but
ordered Maucune to pursue the allies to the bridges of Baños, Isidro,
and Muriel, halting himself, however, if fame does not lie, because the
number of French drunkards were even more numerous than those of the
British army.
COMBAT ON THE CARION. (Oct. 1812.)
Before the enemy appeared the summits of the hills were crowned, the
bridges mined, and that of San Isidro strongly protected by a convent
filled with troops. The left of the position was equally strong, but
the advantage of a dry canal with high banks, running parallel with the
Carion, was overlooked, and the village of Muriel was not occupied in
sufficient strength. Foy meanwhile reached Palencia, where, according
to some French writers, a treacherous attempt was made, under cover
of a parley, to kill him; he however drove the allies with loss from
the town, and in such haste that all the bridges were abandoned in a
perfect condition, and the French cavalry, spreading abroad, gathered
baggage and prisoners.
This untoward event compelled Wellington to throw back his left at
Muriel, thus offering two fronts, the one facing Palencia, the other
the Carion; in that state Maucune, having dispersed some caçadores
defending a ford, fell with a strong body of infantry and guns on the
troops at Muriel, just as a mine was exploded and the party covering
the bridge were passing the broken arch by means of ladders. The play
of the mine checked the advance of the French, but suddenly a horseman,
darting at full speed from their column, rode down to the bridge under
a flight of bullets from his own people, calling out he was a deserter.
When he reached the chasm made by the explosion, he violently checked
his foaming horse, held up his hands, exclaimed that he was a lost
man, and with hurried accents asked if there was no ford near. The
good-natured soldiers pointed to one a little way off, whereupon the
gallant fellow looked earnestly for a few moments to fix the exact
point, then wheeling sharply round, kissed his hand in derision, and
bending low over his saddle-bow dashed back to his own comrades, amidst
showers of shot and shouts of laughter from both sides. Maucune’s
column, covered by a concentrated fire of guns, then passed the river
at the ford thus discovered, made some prisoners in the village and
lined the dry bed of the canal.
At this moment Wellington came up, and turning some guns upon the enemy
desired that the village and canal might be retaken; General Oswald
said they could not be held afterwards; but Wellington, whose retreat
was endangered by the presence of the enemy on that side of the river,
peremptorily ordered one brigade to attack the main body, and another
brigade to clear the canal, strengthening the last with Spanish troops
and Brunswickers. A sharp fire of artillery and musketry ensued, and
the allies suffered some loss, especially by cannon-shot, which from
the other side of the river plumped into the reserves and threw the
Spaniards into confusion: they were falling back, when their fiery
countryman, Miguel Alava, with exhortation and example, for though
wounded he would not retire, urged them forward until the enemy was
driven over the river.
During these events other French troops attempted unsuccessfully to
seize the bridge of San Isidro, but at that of Baños on the Pisuerga
the mine failed, and their cavalry galloping over made both working and
covering party prisoners. Wellington’s position was thus sapped. For
Souham could concentrate on the allies’ left by Palencia and force them
to fight with their back upon the lower Pisuerga; or he could pass that
river on his own left and forestall them on the Duero at Tudela. If
the allies pushed over the Pisuerga by the bridge of Dueñas, Souham,
having the initial movement, might be first on the ground while Foy
fell on their rear. If Wellington sought by a rapid movement down the
right of the Pisuerga to cross at Cabezon, the next bridge, and so gain
the Duero, Souham, moving by the left bank, might fall on him while
in march and hampered between the Duero, Pisuerga, and Esquevilla: he
must then have retired through Valladolid and Simancas, giving up his
communications with Hill. In this critical state of affairs, keeping
good watch on the left of the Pisuerga, and knowing the ground there
was rugged and the roads narrow and bad, while on the right bank
they were good and wide, the English general sent his baggage in the
night to Valladolid, withdrew all the troops before day-break on the
26th, made a sixteen-mile march to Cabezon, passed to the left of the
Pisuerga and mined the bridge: it was a fine stroke of generalship.
Being then master of his own movements he sent a detachment to hold the
bridge of Tudela on the Duero, immediately behind him, and employed
the seventh division to secure the more distant bridges of Valladolid,
Simancas, and Tordesillas. The line of that great river, now in
full water, being thus assured, he again halted, partly because the
ground was favourable, partly to give the commissary-general Kennedy
time to remove the sick men and other incumbrances from Salamanca.
This operation was attended with great disasters from the negligence
of medical and escorting officers conducting the convoys, and the
consequent bad conduct of the soldiers. Outrages were perpetrated on
the inhabitants along the whole line of march, terror was predominant,
and the ill-used drivers and muleteers deserted by hundreds, some with,
some without their cattle. Great sufferings were endured by the sick,
the commissariat lost nearly the whole of the animals and carriages
employed, the villages were abandoned, and the under-commissaries were
bewildered, or paralyzed by the terrible disorder thus spread along the
line of communication.
Souham pursued on the 26th by the right of the Pisuerga, being deterred
from taking the left bank by the rugged nature of the ground, and by
the king’s orders not to risk a serious action. In the morning of the
27th his whole army was collected in front of Cabezon, but he contented
himself with a cannonade and an unmeaning display: the former killed
Colonel Robe of the artillery; the latter enabled Wellington for the
first time to discover the numbers he had to contend with, and taught
him that he could hold neither the Pisuerga nor the Duero permanently.
Nevertheless he kept his actual position, and when the French,
leaving a division in his front, extended their right by Valladolid
to Simancas, he caused the bridges at those places to be destroyed.
Congratulating himself that he had not fought in front of Burgos with
so powerful an army, he now resolved to retire behind the Duero and, if
pressed, even behind the Tormes. Meanwhile, as General Hill would then
be liable to a flank attack, and the more certainly if any disaster
happened on the Duero, he ordered him to retreat at once from Madrid,
giving a discretion as to the line, yet desiring him, if possible, to
come by the Guadarama passes: for he still designed, if all went well,
to unite with Hill in a central position, keep Souham in check with a
part of his force, and with the remainder fall upon Soult who was now
directing the king’s army.
On the 28th Souham, still extending his right, endeavoured to force
the bridges at Valladolid and Simancas on the Pisuerga, and that
of Tordesillas on the Duero. The first was defended by the seventh
division, but the French being strong and eager at the second it was
destroyed, and the regiment of Brunswick Oels was detached to ruin
that of Tordesillas. This was effected, and a tower behind the ruins
being occupied, the remainder of the Brunswickers took post in a
pine wood at some distance. The French arrived and seemed baffled,
yet very soon sixty officers and non-commissioned officers, headed
by Captain Guingret, a daring man, formed a small raft to hold their
arms and clothes, and then plunged into the water with their swords
between their teeth, swimming and pushing the raft before them.
Under protection of a cannonade they thus crossed this great river,
though it was in full and strong water and the weather very cold, and
having reached the other side, naked as they were, stormed the tower,
whereupon the Brunswickers, amazed at the action, abandoned their
ground, leaving the gallant Frenchmen masters of the passage.
When Wellington heard of the attack at Simancas and saw the whole
French army in march to its right down the Pisuerga he destroyed the
bridges at Valladolid and Cabeçon, and crossed the Duero at Tudela
and Puente de Duero on the 29th; but scarcely had he effected this
when intelligence of Guingret’s splendid action at Tordesillas reached
him. Critical then was his position, but with the decision of a great
captain he marched instantly by his left, reached the heights between
Rueda and Tordesillas on the 30th, and there fronting his powerful
enemy forbad further progress. The bridge had been repaired by the
French, yet their main body had not arrived, and Wellington’s menacing
position was too significant to be misunderstood. The bridges of Toro
and Zamora were now destroyed by detachments, and though the French,
spreading along the river, commenced repairing the former, the junction
with Hill’s army was insured; the English general, therefore, thinking
the bridge of Toro could not be restored for several days, again hoped
to maintain the line of the Duero permanently, because Hill, of whose
operations it is now time to speak, was fast approaching.
RETREAT FROM MADRID. (Oct. 1812.)
The king, having fifty thousand veteran infantry, eight thousand
cavalry and eighty-four pieces of artillery, came to drive the allies
from Madrid. Soult and Jourdan acted under him, and the former first
attacked General Cole at the Puente Largo, near Aranjuez on the Tagus;
but though the English mines failed to destroy the bridge the French
were vigorously repulsed. General Hill being thus menaced resolved
to retreat by the Guadarama and join Wellington, whom he knew to be
pressed by superior forces: he also thought the valley of the Tagus,
although opened, could not furnish provisions for the French; but the
commissary who had the care of that line had not removed the great
magazines formed for the allies’ advance to Madrid: they were full, and
Soult might have used them to interpose between Wellington and Portugal
while Souham pressed him in retreat; yet neither he, nor Hill, nor
Wellington, knew of their existence! Such is war.
Hill burned his pontoons and then causing the fort of the Retiro in
Madrid to be blown up with all its stores, retreated by easy marches
across the Guadarama, followed gently by the French; for Soult did
not know his actual force, and, suspecting Wellington’s design to
unite and fight a battle, moved cautiously. When near Arevalo, fresh
orders, founded on new combinations, changed the direction of Hill’s
march. Souham had repaired the bridge of Toro several days sooner than
Wellington expected, and thus his design to join Hill on the Adaja and
attack Soult was baffled; for Souham, possessing Toro and Tordesillas,
could fall upon his rear; and he could not bring Hill up to attack
Souham, because, having destroyed the bridges, he had no means to
repass the Duero, and Soult moving by Fontiveros would reach the Tormes
on his rear. His central position was therefore no longer available for
offence or defence, and he directed Hill to gain Alba de Tormes at once
by the road of Fontiveros. On the 6th of November he fell back himself
to San Christoval, covering Salamanca.
Joseph, thinking to prevent Hill’s junction, had gained Arevalo by
the Segovia road, and on the 8th, Souham’s scouts being met with at
Medina del Campo, the king, for the first time since he had quitted
Valencia, obtained news of the army of Portugal. One hundred thousand
combatants, of which above twelve thousand were cavalry, with a hundred
and thirty pieces of artillery, were then assembled on plains, over
which, three months before, Marmont had marched with such confidence
to his own destruction; and Soult, then expelled from Andalusia by
Marmont’s defeat, was now, after having made half the circuit of the
Peninsula, come to drive into Portugal that very army whose victory had
driven him from the south. Wellington had foreseen, and foretold, that
the acquisition of Andalusia, though politically important and useful,
would prove injurious to himself at the moment. The prophecy was
fulfilled. The French had concentrated a mighty power, from which it
required both skill and fortune to escape. Meanwhile the Spanish armies
let loose by this union of all the French troops kept aloof, or, coming
to aid, were found a burden rather than a help.
On the 7th Hill passed the Tormes at Alba, and the bridge there was
mined; for Wellington, holding Christoval and being still uncertain of
the real numbers of the enemy, was desirous to maintain the line of the
Tormes permanently and give his troops repose. His own retreat had been
of two hundred miles; Hill had marched a greater distance; Skerrett had
come from Cadiz; the soldiers who besieged Burgos had been in the field
with scarcely an interval of repose since January; all were barefooted,
their equipments were spoiled, the cavalry were weak, the horses out of
condition, and discipline was generally failing.
The excesses committed on the retreat from Burgos have been touched
upon; and during the first day’s march from the Tagus to Madrid,
five hundred of the rear-guard, chiefly of one regiment, finding the
inhabitants of Valdemoro had fled, plundered the houses; drunkenness
followed and two hundred and fifty fell into the hands of the enemy.
The conduct of an army can never be fairly judged by following in the
wake of a retreat. Here there was no want of provisions, no hardships
to exasperate, yet the author of this history counted on the first
day’s march from Madrid seventeen bodies of murdered peasants; by whom
killed, or for what, whether by English or Germans, by Spaniards or
Portuguese, whether in dispute, in robbery, or in wanton villany, was
unknown; but their bodies were in the ditches, and a shallow observer
might thence have drawn most foul and false conclusions against the
English general and nation.
Wellington desired a battle. Christoval was strong, the Arapiles
glorious as well as strong; and by the bridge of Salamanca and the
fords he could concentrate on either position on a shorter line
than the French. Yet he prepared for retreat, sending sick men and
stores to the rear, ordering up small convoys of provisions on the
road to Rodrigo, and destroying spare ammunition. He gave clothing,
arms and accoutrements to the Spanish troops, but an hour after had
the mortification to see them selling their equipments under his own
windows! At this time, indeed, the Spaniards, civil and military, began
to evince hatred of the British. Daily did they attempt or perpetrate
murder, and one act of peculiar atrocity merits notice. A horse, led
by an English soldier, being frightened, backed against a Spanish
officer commanding at a gate; he caused the soldier to be dragged into
his guard-house and there bayoneted him in cold blood, and no redress
could be had for this or other crimes, save by counter-violence, which
was not long withheld. A Spanish colonel while wantonly stabbing at
a rifleman was shot dead by the latter; and a British volunteer slew
another officer at the head of his own regiment in a sword fight,
the troops of both nations looking on, but here there was nothing
dishonourable on either side.
The civil authorities, not less savage, treated every person with
intolerable arrogance. The Prince of Orange, remonstrating about his
quarters with the sitting junta, they ordered one of their guards to
kill him; and he would have been killed, had not Lieut. Steele of the
43rd, a bold athletic person, felled the man before he could stab,
but then both had to fly. The exasperation caused by these things was
leading to serious mischief, when the enemy’s movements gave another
direction to the rising passions.
On the 10th Soult opened a concentrated fire of eighteen guns against
the castle of Alba de Tormes, which, crowning a bare rocky knoll and
hastily intrenched, furnished scarcely any shelter from this tempest;
for two hours the garrison could only reply with musketry, but
eventually it was aided by the fire of four pieces from the left bank
of the river; the post was thus defended until dark with such vigour
that the enemy would not assault. During the night the garrison was
reinforced, the damaged walls were repaired, barricades were made,
and in the morning the enemy withdrew. This combat cost the allies a
hundred men.
On the 11th the king reorganised his army. Uniting his own troops with
the army of the south, he placed the whole under Soult and removed
Souham to make way for Drouet. Caffarelli had before returned to Burgos
with his divisions and guns, and what with garrisons, stragglers, and
losses, scarcely ninety thousand combatants were on the Tormes; but
twelve thousand were cavalry, nearly all were veteran troops, and they
had one hundred and twenty pieces of artillery. Such a mighty power
could not remain idle, the country was exhausted of provisions, the
soldiers wanted bread, and the king, eager enough for battle, for he
was of a brave spirit and had something of his brother’s greatness of
soul, sought counsel how to deliver it with most advantage.
Jourdan was for the boldest and shortest mode. He said Wellington’s
position was composed of three parts, namely, a right wing at Alba; a
centre at Calvariza Ariba; a left wing at San Christoval, separated
from the centre by the Tormes. This line was fifteen miles long,
the Tormes was still fordable in many places above Salamanca, and
therefore the French army might assemble in the night, pass the river
at day-break by the fords between Villa Gonzalo and Huerta, and make
a concentrated attack upon Calvariza Ariba, which would force on a
decisive battle.
Soult opposed this. He objected to attacking a position Wellington
knew so well, which he might have fortified, and where the army must
fight its way even from the fords to gain room for an order of battle.
He proposed instead, to move by the left to certain fords, three in
number, between Exéme and Galisancho, seven or eight miles above Alba
de Tormes. Easy in themselves their banks were suited to force a
passage, and by a slight circuit the troops in march would not be seen
by the enemy. The army would thus gain two marches, would be placed
on the flank and rear of the allies, and would fight on ground chosen
by its own generals, instead of ground chosen by the enemy; or it
could force an action in a new position whence the enemy could with
difficulty retire in the event of disaster: Wellington must then fight
to disadvantage, or retire hastily, sacrificing part of his army to
save the rest, and the effect, militarily and politically, would be the
same as if he was beaten by a front attack.
Jourdan observed, that this was prudent, and might be successful if
Wellington accepted battle; but that general could not thereby be
forced to fight, which was the great object; he would have time to
retreat before the French could touch his communication with Rodrigo,
and it was supposed by some generals that he would retreat on Almeida
at once by San Felices and Barba de Puerco.[26]
Neither Soult nor Jourdan knew the position of the Arapiles, and the
former, while urging his plan, offered to yield if the king was so
inclined; but though Jourdan’s proposition was supported by all the
generals of the army of Portugal, except Clausel, who leaned to Soult’s
opinion, the last marshal commanded two-thirds of the army, and the
question was finally decided agreeably to his counsel. Nor is it easy
to determine which was right, for though Jourdan’s reasons were strong
and the result conformable, the failure was only in the execution.
Nevertheless it would seem, so great an army and so confident, for the
French soldiers eagerly demanded a battle, should have grappled in the
shortest way.
Wellington, well acquainted with his ground, desired a battle on either
side of the Tormes. His hope was indeed to prevent the passage of that
river until the rains, rendering it unfordable, should force the French
to retire from want of provisions, or engage him on the position of
Christoval: yet he also courted a fight on the Arapiles, those rocky
monuments of his former victory. He had sixty-eight thousand combatants
under arms, fifty-two thousand of which, including four thousand
British cavalry, were Anglo-Portuguese, and he had nearly seventy guns.
With this force concentrated upon the strong ridges of Calvariza Ariba
and the two Arapiles, the superiority of twenty thousand men would
scarcely have availed the French.[27]
Soult’s project was adopted, trestle bridges were made for the
artillery, and at daybreak on the 14th were thrown, while the cavalry
and infantry passed by the upper fords; the army then took a position
at Mozarbes, having the road from Alba to Tamames under the left flank.
Wellington remained in Salamanca, and when the first report came that
the enemy was over the Tormes, he made the caustic observation, that
he would not recommend it to some of them. Soon however the concurrent
testimony of many reports convinced him of his mistake, he galloped
to the Arapiles, ascertained the direction of Soult’s march, and drew
off the second division, the cavalry, and some guns to attack the head
of the French column. The fourth division and Hamilton’s Portuguese
remained at Alba to protect this movement; the third division secured
the Arapiles until the troops from Christoval should arrive; and he was
still so confident that the bulk of the troops did not quit Christoval
that day. But at Mozarbes he found the French already too strong to be
seriously meddled with, and when under cover of a cannonade which kept
off their cavalry, he examined their position, discovered that the evil
was without remedy. Wherefore he destroyed the bridge of Alba, leaving
only three hundred Spaniards in the castle, with orders, if the army
retired, to save themselves as they could.
He still hoped the French would give battle at the Arapiles, but
placed the first division at Aldea Tejada on the Junguen stream, to
secure a passage in case Soult should finally compel him to choose
between Salamanca and Rodrigo. Meantime Clausel’s army, now under
Drouet, finding the bridge of Alba broken and the castle occupied, also
crossed the Tormes at Galisancho, and then Soult, who had commenced
fortifying Mozarbes, extended his left towards the Rodrigo road: yet
slowly, because the ground was heavy and crossed by the many sources
of the Junguen and Valmusa streams, which were flooded with the rain.
This movement was like that of Marmont at the battle of Salamanca,
but on a wider circle, and an outward range of heights, beyond a
sudden attack and catastrophe. The result in each case was remarkable.
Marmont closing with a short quick turn, a falcon striking at an eagle,
received a buffet that broke his pinions and spoiled his flight. Soult,
a wary kite, sailing slowly and with a wide wheel to seize his prey,
lost it altogether.
When Wellington saw the French cavalry pointing to the Rodrigo
road, he judged the design was first to establish a fortified head
of cantonments at Mozarbes, from whence to operate against the
communication with Rodrigo; wherefore suddenly casting his army into
three columns he crossed the Junguen, and covering his left flank with
cavalry and guns, defiled in order of battle with a wonderful boldness
and facility at little more than cannon-shot from his enemy. He had
good fortune however to aid: for there was a thick fog and a heavy rain
which rendered the bye-ways and fields nearly impassable to the French
while he used the high roads. Then he took his army in one mass quite
round the French left, and having gained the Valmusa river halted for
the night, in rear of those who had been threatening him in front only
a few hours before!
This was truly a surprising exploit, yet it was not creditable to the
generalship on either side. The English commander, having suffered
Soult to pass the Tormes and turn his position, waited too long on the
Arapiles, or this dangerous movement would have been unnecessary; and
a combination of bad roads, bad weather, and want of vigour on the
other side, rendered it possible and no more. It has been said by a
great master, that the defect of Soult’s military genius was a want of
promptness to strike at the decisive moment, and here he was certainly
slack.
On the 16th the allies retired by three roads, all of which led, by
Tamames, San Munos, and Martin del Rio, to Rodrigo, through a forest
penetrable in all directions: in the evening they halted behind the
Matilla river. This march was only of twelve miles, yet stragglers
were numerous, and the soldiers finding vast herds of swine quitted
their colours by hundreds to shoot them; indeed such a rolling musketry
echoed through the forest, that Wellington thought the enemy was upon
him. Every effort was made to stop this excess, and two offenders were
hanged; still the hungry men broke from the columns, the property of
whole districts was swept away in a few hours, and the army was in
some degree placed at the mercy of the enemy; who were however content
to glean the stragglers, of whom they captured two thousand: they did
not press the rear until evening, when their lancers fell on, but were
checked by the 28th Regiment and the Light Dragoons.
During the night, the light division having the rear-guard, the cavalry
in the front, for some unknown reason, filed off by the flanks without
giving any intimation of the movement, and at daybreak as the soldiers
of the division were rolling their blankets some strange horsemen
were seen behind the bivouac; they were taken for Spaniards, until
their cautious movements and vivacity of gesture showed them to be
French. The troops run to arms, in good time, for five hundred yards
in front the wood opened on a large plain, where eight thousand French
horsemen were discovered advancing in one solid mass, yet carelessly,
and without suspecting the vicinity of the British. The division
immediately formed columns, two squadrons of dragoons came hastily
up from the rear, and Julian Sanchez’ cavalry also appeared in small
parties on the right flank. This checked the enemy’s march while the
infantry retired, but the French, though fearing to close, sent many
squadrons to the right and left, some of which rode on the flanks near
enough to bandy wit in the Spanish tongue with the British soldiers,
and very soon mischief was visible: the road was strewed with baggage,
the bâtmen came running in for protection, some wounded, some without
arms, and all breathless as just escaped from a surprise.
The thickness of the forest had enabled the French horsemen to pass
unperceived on the flanks, and, as opportunity offered, they galloped
from side to side, sweeping away the baggage and sabring the conductors
and guards; they even menaced one of the columns but were checked by
the fire of the artillery. In one of these charges General Paget was
carried off, and it might have been Wellington’s fortune, for he also
was continually riding between the columns and without an escort. The
main body of the army soon passed the Huebra river at three places and
took post behind it; but when the light division arrived at the edge
of a table-land which overhung the fords, the French cavalry suddenly
thickened, and the sharp whistle of musket-bullets with the splintering
of branches gave notice that their infantry were also up; for Soult,
hoping to forestal the allies at Tamames, had pushed a column towards
that place from his left, but finding Hill’s troops there in position,
turned short to his right in hopes to cut off the rear-guard.
COMBAT OF THE HUEBRA. (Nov. 1812.)
The English and German cavalry, warned by the musketry, crossed the
fords in time, and the light division should have followed without
delay; for the forest ended at the edge of the table-land, and the
descent to the river, eight hundred yards, was quite open and smooth,
the fords of the Huebra deep. Instead of this General C. Alten
ordered the division to form squares! All persons were amazed, but
then Wellington happily came up and caused the astonished troops
to glide off to the fords. Four companies of the 43rd and one of
riflemen, left by him to cover the passage, were instantly assailed
on three sides with a fire showing that a large force was at hand; a
driving rain and mist prevented them from seeing their adversaries,
they were forced through the wood, and thrown out on the open slope,
where they maintained their ground for a quarter of an hour, and then
swiftly running to the fords passed them under a sharp musketry. Only
twenty-seven fell, for the tempest, beating in the Frenchmen’s faces,
baffled their aim, and the division guns, playing from the low ground
with grape, checked the pursuit: yet the deep bellow from thirty pieces
of heavy French artillery in reply, showed how critically timed was the
passage.
The banks of the Huebra were steep and broken, but the French
infantry spread to the right and left and there were several fords
to be guarded; the 52nd and the Portuguese defended those below; the
guns, supported by the riflemen and 43rd, defended those above, and
behind the right of the light division, on higher ground, was the
seventh division. The bulk of the army was massed on the right of this
position, covering all the roads leading to Rodrigo.
One brisk attempt to force the fords guarded by the 52nd was vigorously
repulsed by that regiment, but the skirmishing, and the cannonade,
which never slackened, continued until dark; and heavily the French
guns played on the light and 7th divisions. The former was of necessity
held near the fords and in column, lest a sudden rush of cavalry should
carry off the division pieces from the flat ground, and it was plunged
into at every round, yet suffered little loss, because the clayey soil,
saturated with rain, swallowed the shot and smothered the shells. But
the 7th division was, with astonishing want of judgment, kept by Lord
Dalhousie on open and harder ground, in one huge mass, tempting havoc
for hours, when a hundred yards in his rear the rise of the hill and
the thick forest would have entirely protected it, without in any
manner weakening the position! Nearly three hundred men were thus lost.
On the 18th the army was to have drawn off before daylight, and
Wellington was uneasy, because the Huebra, good for defence, was yet
difficult to remove from at that season, inasmuch as the roads, hollow
and narrow, led up a steep bank to table-land, open, flat, marshy, and
scored with water-gullies. Moreover from the overflowing of one stream
the principal road was impassable at a mile from the position; hence to
get off in time, without jostling and without being attacked, required
nice management. All the baggage and stores had marched in the night,
with orders not to halt until they reached the high lands near Rodrigo;
but if the preceding days had produced some strange occurrences, the
18th was not less fertile in them.
Wellington, knowing the direct road was impassable from the flood,
had directed several divisions by another, longer and apparently more
difficult; this seemed so extraordinary to some generals, that, after
consulting together, they deemed him unfit to conduct the army, and led
their troops by what appeared to them the fittest line of retreat! The
condemned commander had before daylight placed himself on his own road,
and waited impatiently for the arrival of the leading division until
dawn; then, suspecting something of what had happened, he galloped to
the other road and found the would-be leaders, stopped by that flood
which his arrangements had been made to avoid. The insubordination and
the danger to the whole army were alike glaring; yet the practical
rebuke was so severe and well timed, the humiliation so complete and
so deeply felt, that, with one proud sarcastic observation, indicating
contempt more than anger, he led back the troops and drew off all his
forces safely.[28]
Some confusion and great danger still attended the operation, for even
on the true road one water-gully was so deep that the light division,
covering the rear, could only pass it man by man over a felled tree;
but Soult, unable to feed his troops a day longer, stopped on the
Huebra with his main body and only sent some cavalry to Tamames.
Thus the allies retired unmolested, yet whether from necessity, or
from negligence in the subordinates, the means of transport were too
scanty for the removal of the wounded men, most of whom were hurt by
cannon-shot; many were thus left behind; and as the enemy never passed
the Huebra, those miserable creatures perished by a horrible lingering
death.
The marshy plains over which the army was now marching exhausted the
strength of the wearied soldiers, thousands straggled, the depredations
on the herds of swine were repeated, and the temper of the troops
generally prognosticated the greatest misfortunes if the retreat should
be continued. This was however the last day of trial. Towards evening
the weather cleared up, the hills near Rodrigo furnished dry bivouacs
and fuel, good rations restored the strength and spirits of the men,
and next day Rodrigo and the neighbouring villages were occupied in
tranquillity. The cavalry was then sent out to the forest, and being
aided by Sanchez’ Partida, brought in from a thousand to fifteen
hundred stragglers who must otherwise have perished.
Such was the retreat from Burgos. The French gathered good spoil of
baggage, but what the exact loss of the allies in men was cannot be
exactly determined, because no Spanish returns were ever seen. An
approximation may however be easily made, and the whole loss of the
double retreat cannot be set down at less than nine thousand, including
the siege of Burgos.