CHAPTER II.
SECOND INVASION OF PORTUGAL.
The Entre Minho e Douro and the Tras os Montes lying together, form the northern part of Portugal, the extreme breadth of either, when measured from the frontier to the Douro, does not exceed seventy miles.
The river Tamega, running north and south, and discharging itself into the Douro, forms the boundary line between them; but there is, to the west of this river, a succession of rugged mountain ridges, which, under the names of Sierra de Gerez, Sierra de Cabrera, and Sierra de Santa Catalina, form a second barrier, nearly parallel to the Tamega; and across some part of these ridges any invader, coming from the eastward, must pass to arrive at Oporto.
Other Sierras, running also in a parallel direction with the Tamega, cut the Tras os Montes in such a manner, that all the considerable rivers flowing north and south tumble into the Douro. But as the western ramifications of the Sierras de Gerez and Cabrera shoot down towards the sea, the rivers of the Entre Douro e Minho discharge their waters into the ocean, and consequently flow at right angles to those of Tras os Montes. Hence it follows, that an enemy penetrating to Oporto, from the north, would have to pass the Lima, the Cavado, and the Ave, to reach Oporto; and, if coming from the east, he invaded the Tras os Montes, all the rivers and intervening ridges of that province must be crossed before the Entre Minho e Douro could be reached.
The duke of Dalmatia was, however, now in such a position, near the sources of the Lima and the Tamega rivers, that he could choose whether to penetrate by the valley of the first into the Entre Minho e Douro, or by the valley of the second into the Tras os Montes: and there was also a third road, leading between those rivers through Montalegre upon Braga; but this latter route, passing over the Sierra de Gerez, was impracticable for artillery.
The French general had, therefore, to consider—
1º. If, following the course of the Lima, he should attack and disperse the insurgents between that river and the Minho, and then recovering his artillery from Tuy, proceed against Oporto by the main road leading along the sea coast.
2º. If he should descend the Tamega, take Chaves, and then decide whether to continue his route to Villa Real, near the Douro, and so take the defences of Tras os Montes in reverse, or, turning to his right, and crossing the Sierra de Cabrera by the pass of Ruivaens, enter Braga, and thus operate against Oporto.
The first project was irregular and hazardous, inasmuch as Romana and Sylveira’s troops might have fallen upon the flank and rear of the French during their march through a difficult country; but S.
Journal of Operations, MSS. as the position of those generals covered the road to Chaves, to beat them was indispensable, as a preliminary measure to either plan; and this was immediately executed.
The 4th of March the French movement commenced. The 5th, the van being at Villa Real and Penaverde, Soult sent a flag of truce to Romana, with a letter, in which, exposing fully the danger of the latter’s situation, he advised him to submit: but no answer was returned; nor would the bearer Sir J. Cradock’s Papers, MSS. have been suffered to pass the outposts, but that Romana himself was in the rear, for he dreaded that such an occurrence would breed a jealousy of his conduct, and, perhaps, cause his patriotism to be undervalued.
This failing, three divisions of infantry and one of cavalry marched the next morning against Monterey; while La Houssaye’s dragoons, taking the road of Laza, covered the left flank, and pushed parties as far La Gudina, on the route to Puebla de Senabria. The fourth division of infantry remained at Villa del Rey, to cover the passage of the sick and wounded men from Orense; for the duke of Dalmatia, having no base of operations, transported his hospitals, and other incumbrances, from place to place as the army moved, acting in this respect after the manner of the Roman generals, when invading a barbarous country.
As the French advanced, the Spaniards abandoned their positions in succession, spiked the guns in the S.
Journal of Operations, MSS. dilapidated works of Monterey, and after a slight skirmish at Verim, took the road to Puebla de Senabria; but Franceschi followed close, and overtaking two or three thousand as they were passing a rugged mountain, he assailed their rear with a battalion of infantry, and at the same time leading his horsemen round both flanks, headed the column, and obliged it to halt.
The Spaniards, trusting to the rough ground, drew up in one large square and awaited the charge. Franceschi had four regiments of cavalry; each regiment settled itself against the face of a square, and then the whole, with loud cries, bore down swiftly upon their opponents; the latter unsteady and dismayed, shrunk together from the fierce assault, and were instantly trampled down in heaps. Those who escaped the horses’ hoofs and the edge of the sword became prisoners, but twelve hundred bodies were stretched lifeless on the field of battle, and Franceschi continued his movements on La Gudina.
Romana was at Semadems, several miles in the rear of Verim, when his vanguard was attacked, and there was nothing to prevent him from falling back to Chaves with his main body, according to a plan before agreed upon between him and Sylveira, but [Appendix, No. 6], section 3. either from fear or indignation at the treatment his soldiers had received at the hands of the Portuguese, he left Sylveira to his fate, and made off with six or seven thousand men towards Bragança; from thence passing by Puebla de Senabria, he regained the valley of the Syl. Meanwhile, two thousand Portuguese infantry, with some guns, issuing from the side of Villaza, cut the French line of march at the moment when Franceschi and Heudelet having passed Monterey, Laborde was approaching that place. In the slight combat that ensued the Portuguese lost their guns and were driven, fighting, down the valley of the Tamega as far as the village of Outeiro, within their own frontier.
S.
Journal of Operations MSS.
The defeat and flight of Romana had such an effect upon the surrounding districts that the Spanish insurgents returned in crowds to their habitations and delivered up their arms. Some of the clergy, also, changing their opinions, exhorted the people to peace, and the prisoners taken on the 6th, being dissatisfied with Romana’s conduct, and moved by their hatred of the Portuguese, entered the French service. These affairs occupied Soult until the 9th, during which period his outposts were pushed towards Chaves, Montalegre, and La Gudina, but the main body remained at Verim to cover the arrival of the sick, at Monterey.
Sylveira, thus beaten at Villaza, and deserted by Romana, fell back on the 7th to a strong mountain position, one league behind Chaves, from whence he could command a view of all the French movements as far as Monterey. His ground was advantageous, but his military talents were moderate, his men always insubordinate, were now become mutinous, and many of the officers were disposed to join the French. The general wished to abandon Chaves, the troops resolved to defend it, and three thousand five hundred men actually did throw themselves into that town, in defiance of Sylveira, who was already, according to the custom of the day, pronounced [Appendix, No. 6], section 3. a traitor and declared worthy of that death which he would inevitably have suffered, but that some of his troops still continued to respect his orders.
S.
Journal of Operations MSS.
The 10th, the convoy of French sick was close to Monterey, and as Romana’s movement was known to be a real flight, and not made with a design to create fresh insurrections in the rear, the French troops were again put in motion towards Chaves; but Merle’s division remained at Verim to protect the hospital, and Franceschi’s took the road of La Gudina, as if he had been going towards Salamanca. A report that he had actually entered that town reached Lisbon, and was taken as an indication that Soult would not pass the Portuguese frontier at Chaves, but Franceschi quickly returned, by Osonio and Feces de Abaxo, and being assisted by Heudelet’s division, invested Chaves on the left bank of the Tamega, while Laborde, Mermet, La Houssaye, and Lorge, descending the right bank, beat the Portuguese outposts, and getting possession of a fort close under the walls of Chaves completed the investment of that town.
The place was immediately summoned to surrender, but no answer was returned, and the garrison, like men bereft of their wits, and fighting with the air, kept up a continual and heavy fire of musketry and artillery until the 12th, when they surrendered on receiving a second summons, more menacing than the first. The 13th the French entered the town, and Sylveira retired to Villa Real.
The works of Chaves were in a bad state, and few of the fifty guns mounted on the ramparts were fit for service; but there was a stone-bridge, and the town being in many respects more suitable for a place of arms than Monterey, the sick were brought down from the latter place, and an hospital was established for twelve hundred men, the number now unfit to carry arms. The fighting men were reduced to twenty-one thousand, and Soult, partly from the difficulty of guarding his prisoners, partly from a desire to abate the hostility of the Portuguese, permitted the militia and ordenanza to return to their homes, after taking an oath not to resume their arms. To some of the poorest he gave money and clothes, and he enrolled, at their own request, the few regular troops taken in Chaves.
Noble’s Campaign de Galice.
This wise and gentle proceeding was much blamed, by some of his officers, especially by those who had served under Junot. They desired that Chaves might be assaulted, and the garrison put to the sword, for they were embued with a personal hatred of the Portuguese, and being averse to serve in the present expedition endeavoured, as it would appear, to thwart their general; but the prudence of his conduct was immediately visible in the softened feelings of the country people. The scouting parties being no longer molested spread themselves, some on the side of Bragança Journal of Operations MSS. and Villa Real, others in the Entre Minho e Douro. The former reported that there was no enemy in a condition to make head in the Tras os Montes, but the latter fell in with the advanced guard of Freire’s army at Ruivaens, on the road to Braga, and this determined the further proceedings of the army.
Journal of Operations MSS.
The possession of Chaves enabled the duke of Dalmatia to operate against Oporto, either by the Tras os Montes or the Entre Minho e Douro. He decided on the latter; first, because the road, though crossed by stronger positions, was more direct, and more practicable for artillery, than that running through the valley of the Tamega; secondly, because a numerous Portuguese army was at Braga; and, thirdly, because he could the sooner remove his communication with Tuy.
The road from Chaves to Braga enters a deep and dangerous defile, or rather a succession of defiles, that extend from Venda Nova to Ruivaens, and re-commence after passing the Cavado river. Friere’s advanced guards, composed of ordenanza, occupied those places; and he had also a detachment under Eben on the road of Montalegre; but he recalled the latter on the 14th.
The 16th Franceschi forced the defile of Venda Nova, and the remainder of the troops being formed in alternate masses of cavalry and infantry, began to pass the Sierra de Cabrera. Lorge’s dragoons, however, descending the Tamega, ordered rations for the whole army along the road to Villa Real; and then, suddenly retracing their steps, rejoined the main body.
The 17th, Franceschi, being reinforced with some infantry, won the bridge of Ruivaens, and entered Salamonde. The Portuguese, covered by Eben’s detachment, which had arrived at St. Joa de Campo, then fell back on the Pico de Pugalados, close to Braga; and the French took post at Carvalho Este, two leagues in front of that city.
Soult now expected to reach Braga without further opposition, and caused his artillery, guarded by Laborde’s division, to enter the pass of Venda Nova; but the ordenanza, reinforced by some men from the side of Guimaraens, immediately re-assembled, and, clustering on the mountains to the left of the column of march, attacked it with great fierceness and subtlety.
The peasants of the northern provinces of Portugal, unlike the squalid miserable population of Lisbon and Oporto, are robust, handsome, and exceedingly brave. Their natural disposition is open and obliging; and they are, when rightly handled as soldiers, docile, intelligent, and hardy. They are, however, vehement in their anger; and being now excited by the exhortations and personal example of their priests, they came rushing down the sides of the hills; and many of them, like men deprived of reason, broke furiously into the French battalions, and were there killed. The others, finding their efforts unavailing, fled, and were pursued a league up the mountain by some battalions sent out against them, but they were not yet S.
Journal of Operations MSS. abashed; for, making a circuit behind the hills, they fell upon the rear of the line of march, killed fifty of the stragglers, and plundered the baggage; and, thus galled, the French slowly, and with much trouble, passing the long defiles of Venda Nova, Ruivaens, and Salamonde, gathered by degrees in front of Freire’s position.
That general was no more; and his troops, reeking from the slaughter of their commander, were raging, like savage beasts, at one moment congregating near the prisons to murder some wretch within, at another rushing tumultuously to Eben’s Report, MSS.
Sir J. Cradock’s Paper. the outposts, with a design to engage the enemy. The ordenanzas of the distant districts also came pouring into the camp, dragging with them suspected persons, and adding to the general distraction.
It appears that the unfortunate Friere, unable to establish order in his army, had resolved to retreat; and, in pursuance of that design, recalled Eben on the 14th, and gave directions to the officers at the different outposts in front of Braga to retire at the approach of the enemy. This, and his endeavour to prevent the waste of ammunition, gave effect to a plan which had been long prepared by the bishop’s faction for his destruction. In passing through Braga, he was openly reviled in the streets by some of the ordenanzas; and, as the latter plainly discovered their murderous intention, he left the army; but he was seized on the 17th, at a village behind Braga, and brought back: what followed is thus described by baron Eben, in his official report to sir John Cradock:—
“I did not reach Braga until nine o’clock in the morning of the 17th. I found every thing in the greatest disorder; the houses shut, the people flying in all directions, and part of the populace armed with guns and pikes. Passing through the streets, I was greeted with loud vivas. Though the people knew me, I could not guess the meaning of this: at the market-place, I was detained by the rapidly-increasing populace, who took the reins of my horse, crying out loudly, that they were ready to do any thing to defend the city; requesting me to assist them, and speaking in the lowest terms of their general. I promised them to do all in my power to aid their patriotic zeal; but said that I must first speak to him. Upon this, they suffered me to proceed, accompanied by about a hundred of them: but I had not got far on my way to his quarters, when I saw him on foot, conducted by a great armed multitude, who suffered no one to pass, and, on my attempting it, threatened to fire. I was, therefore, obliged to turn my horse; and this the people applauded. Two men had hold of the general’s arms, his sword was taken from him, and the people abused him most vehemently. On my way back to the market-place, they wanted to shoot me, taking me for general Friere; but I was saved by a soldier of the legion, who explained the mistake. When I reached the market-place, I found about a thousand men drawn up: I communicated to them my determination to assist them in their laudable endeavours to defend themselves, provided they would first permit me to speak to the general, for whose actions I promised to be answerable as long as I should be with him. I had ordered a house to be got ready for my reception, where the general arrived, accompanied as before; I saluted him with respect, at which they plainly discovered their disapprobation. I repeated my proposal, but they would not listen to it. I perceived the danger of the general, and proposed to take him to my quarters. My adjutant offered him his arm: when I spoke to him, he only replied, ‘save me!’”
“At the entrance of my house, I was surrounded by thousands, and heard the loud cry of ‘kill! kill!’ I now took hold of him, and attempted to force my way into the house, and a gentleman slightly wounded him with the point of his sword, under my arm. He collected all his strength, and rushed through them, and hid himself behind the door of the house. The people surrounded me, and forced me from the house. To draw the attention of the people from the general, I ordered the drummers to beat the alarm, and formed the ordenanzas in ranks; but they kept a constant fire upon my house, where the general still was. As a last attempt to save him, I now proposed that he should be conducted to prison, in order to take a legal trial; this was agreed to, and he was conducted there in safety. I now hoped that I had succeeded, as the people demanded to be led against the enemy, now rapidly advancing, in number about two thousand. I again formed them, and advanced with them; but soon after, I heard the firing again, and was informed that the people had put the general to death with pikes and guns. I was now proclaimed general.”
When this murder was perpetrated, the people seemed satisfied, and Eben announcing the approach of a British force from Oporto, sent orders to the outposts to stand fast, as he intended to fight; but another tumult arose, when it was discovered that Eben’s Reports, MS. an officer of Freire’s staff, one Villaboas, was in Eben’s quarters. Several thousand ordenanzas instantly gathered about the house, and the unhappy man was haled forth and stabbed to death at the door, the mob all the time shouting and firing volleys in at the windows. Yet, when their fury was somewhat abated, they obliged their new general to come out and show that he had not been wounded, and expressed great affection for him.
In the course of the night the legion marched in from Pico de Pugalados, and the following morning a reinforcement of six thousand ordenanzas came up in one mass. Fifty thousand dollars also arrived in the camp from Oporto; for the Portuguese, like the Spaniards, commonly reversed the order of military arrangements, leaving their weapons in store, and bringing their encumbrances to the field of battle.
In the evening the corregidor and two officers of rank, together with many persons of a meaner class, were brought to the town as prisoners and put in jail, the armed mob being with difficulty restrained from slaying them on the way thither; and in this distracted manner they were proceeding when Franceschi arrived at Carvalho on the 17th, and, surely, if that bold and enterprising soldier could have obtained a glimpse of what was passing, or known the real state of affairs, he would have broke into the midst of them with his cavalry; for, of the twenty-five thousand men composing the whole of the Portuguese force, eighteen thousand were only S.
Journal of Operations MS. armed with pikes, the remainder had wasted the greatest part of their ammunition, and the powder in store was not made up in cartridges. But Braga, situated in a deep hollow, was hidden from him, and the rocky and wooded hills surrounding it were occupied by what appeared a formidable multitude. Hence Franceschi, although reinforced by a brigade of infantry, was satisfied by feints and slight skirmishes to alarm his opponents, and to keep them in play until the other divisions of the French army could arrive.
While these events were passing at Braga, Sylveira had again collected a considerable force of militia and ordenanzas in the Tras os Montes, and captain Arentchild, one of the officers sent by sir John Cradock to aid the bishop, rallied a number of fugitives at Guimaraens and Amarante. In Oporto, however, the multitude, obeying no command, were more intent upon murder than upon defence.
Eben’s posts extended from Falperra, on the route of Guimaraens to the Ponte Porto, on the Cavado river; but the principal force was stationed on a lofty ridge called the Monte Adaufé, which, at the distance of six or seven miles from Braga, crossed the road to Chaves.
The left, or western, end, which overhangs the river Cavado, covered the detachment guarding the Ponte Porto.
The right rested on a wood and on the head of a deep ravine, and beyond this wood the ridge, taking a curved and forward direction, was called the Monte Vallonga, and a second mass of men was posted there, but separated from those on the Monte Adaufé by an interval of two miles, and by the ravine and wood before mentioned.
A third body, being pushed still more in advance, crowned an isolated hill, flanking the Chaves road, being prepared to take the French in rear when the latter should attack the Monte Adaufé.
Behind the Monte Vallonga, and separated from it by a valley three miles wide, the ridge of Falperra was guarded by detachments sent both from Guimaraens and from Braga.
The road to Braga, leading directly over the centre of the Monte Adaufé, was flanked on the left by a ridge shooting perpendicularly out from that mountain, and ending in a lofty mass of rocks which overhangs Carvalho Esté. The Portuguese neglected to occupy either these rocks or the connecting ridge, and Franceschi seized the former on the 17th.
The 18th, Soult arrived in person, and, wishing to prevent a battle, released twenty prisoners, and sent them in with a proclamation couched in conciliatory language, and offering a capitulation; but the trumpeter who accompanied them was detained, and the prisoners were immediately slain.
The 19th, Eben brought up all his reserves to the Adaufé, and the Portuguese on the isolated hill in front of Monte Vallonga took possession of Lanhoza, a village half way between that hill and the rocky height occupied by Franceschi on the 17th. But two divisions of French infantry being now up, Soult caused one of them and the cavalry to attack Lanhoza, from whence the Portuguese were immediately driven, and, being followed closely, lost their own hill also. The other French division took post, part in Carvalho, part on the rocky headland, and six guns were carried to the latter during the night. In this position the French columns were close to the centre of the Portuguese, and could, by a slight movement in advance, separate Eben’s wings. The rest of the army was at hand, and a general attack was arranged for the next morning.
BATTLE OF BRAGA.
The 20th, at nine o’clock, the French were in motion: Franceschi and Mermet, leaving a detachment on the hill they had carried the night before, endeavoured to turn the right of the people on the Monte Vallonga.
S.
Journal of Operations MSS.
Laborde, supported by La Houssaye’s dragoons, advanced against the centre by the ridge connecting Carvalho with the Monte Adaufé.
Heudelet, with a part of his division and a squadron of cavalry, attacked the left, and made for the Ponte Porto.
The Portuguese immediately opened a straggling fire of musketry and artillery in the centre; but, after a few rounds, the bursting of a gun created some confusion, from which Laborde’s rapidly-advancing masses gave them no time to recover; and Eben’s Report, MS. by ten o’clock the whole of the centre was flying in disorder down a narrow wooded valley leading from the Adaufé to Braga.
The French followed hard, and in the pursuit, discovering one of their voltigeurs, who had been a prisoner, still alive, but mutilated in the most S.
Journal of Operations MS. horrible manner, they gave little or no quarter. Braga was abandoned, and the victorious infantry passing through, took post on the other side; but the cavalry continued the havoc for some distance 011 the road to Oporto; yet, so savage was the temper of the fugitives that, in passing through Braga, they stopped to murder the corregidor and other prisoners in the jail, then, casting the mangled bodies into the street, continued the flight. Meanwhile, Heudelet, breaking over the left of the Monte Adaufé descended upon Ponte Porto, and, after a sharp skirmish, carried that bridge and the village on the other side of the Cavado.
Franceschi and Mermet found considerable difficulty in ascending the rugged sides of the Monte Vallonga, but having, at last, attained the crest, the whole of their enemies fled. The two generals then crossed the valley to gain the road of Guimaraens, and cut off that line of retreat, but fell in with the three thousand Portuguese posted above Falperra. These men, seeing the cavalry approach, drew up with their backs to some high rocks, and opened a fire of artillery. But Franceschi, placing his horsemen on either flank, and a brigade of infantry against the front, as at Verim, made all charge together, and strewed the ground with the dead. Nevertheless, the Portuguese fought valiantly at this point, and Franceschi acknowledged it.
The vanquished lost all their artillery and above four thousand men, of which four hundred only were made prisoners. Some of the fugitives crossing the Cavado river, made for the Ponte de Lima, others retired to Oporto, but the greatest number took the road of Guimaraens, during the fight at Sir J. Cradock’s papers, MSS. Falperra. Eben appears, by his own official report, to have been at Braga when the action commenced, and to have fled among the first; for he makes no mention of the fight at Falperra, nor of the skirmish at Ponte Porto, and his narrative bears every mark of inaccuracy.
When the French outposts were established in front of Braga, general Lorge crossed the Cavado and entered Bacellos; and the corregidor received him well, for which he was a few days after put to death by the Portuguese general, Bonteilho, who commanded between the Lima and the Minho.
Braga itself had been at first abandoned by the inhabitants, but they were induced to return the next day; and some provisions and a large store of powder being found in the magazines, the latter was immediately made up into cartridges, for the use of the troops. The gun-carriages and ammunition-waggons were again repaired, and an hospital was established for eight hundred sick and wounded: from whence it may be judged that the loss sustained in action, since the 15th, was not less than six hundred men.
The French general, having thus broken through the second Portuguese line of defence, was in a situation either to march directly against Oporto, or to recover his communication with the depôt at Tuy. He knew, through the medium of his spies and by intercepted letters, that general La Martiniere, although besieged, was in no distress; that he made successful sorties; and that his artillery commanded that in the fortress of Valença. On the other hand, information was received that sixty thousand troops of the line, militia, and ordenanza, were assembled at the entrenched camp covering Oporto, and the scouts reported that the Portuguese were also in force at Guimaraens, and had cut the bridges along the whole course of the Ave.
Meanwhile, Sylveira struck a great blow; for, being reinforced from the side of Beira, he remounted the Tamega, invested the French in Chaves on the 20th, and, in eight days, obliged the garrison, consisting of a hundred fighting men, and twelve hundred sick, to capitulate; after which he took post at Amarante. But Soult, ignorant of this event, left Heudelet’s division at Braga, to protect the hospitals from Bonteilho, and then continued his own movement against Oporto in three columns.
The first, composed of Franceschi’s and Mermet’s divisions, marched by the road of Guimaraens and San Justo, with orders to force the passage of the Upper Ave, and scour the country towards Pombeiro.
The second, which consisted of Merle’s, Laborde’s and La Houssaye’s divisions, was commanded by Soult, in person, and moved upon Barca de Trofa, while general Lorge, quitting Bacellos, made way by the Ponte d’Ave.
The passage of the Ave was fiercely disputed. The left column was fought with in front of Guimaraens, and at Pombeiro, and again at Puente Negrellos. The last combat was rough, and the French general Jardon was killed.
The march of the centre column was arrested at Barca de Trofa, by the cutting of the bridge, and the marshal, observing the numbers of the enemy, ascended the right bank, and forced the passage at San Justo: but not without the help of Franceschi, who came down the opposite side of the river, after the fight at Ponte Negrellos.
When the left and centre had thus crossed, colonel Lallemand was detached with a regiment of dragoons to assist Lorge, who was still held in check at the Ponte d’Ave; Lallemand was at first beaten back, but, being reinforced with some infantry, finally succeeded; and the Portuguese, enraged at their defeat, brutally murdered their commander, general Vallonga, and then dispersed.
The whole French army was now in communication on the left bank of the Ave; the way to Oporto was opened, and, on the 27th, the troops were finally concentrated in front of the entrenchments covering that city.
The action of Monterey, the taking of Chaves, and the defeat at Braga, had so damped the bishop’s ardour that he was, at one time, inclined to abandon the defence of Oporto; but this idea was relinquished when he considered the multitudes he had drawn together, and that the English army was stronger than it had been at any previous period since Cradock’s arrival; Beresford, also, was at the head of a considerable native force behind the Mondego; and, with the hope of their support, the bishop resolved to stand the brunt.
He had collected, in the entrenched camp, little short of forty thousand men; and among them were many regular troops, of which two thousand had lately arrived under the command of general Vittoria. This general was sent by Beresford to aid Sylveira: but when Chaves surrendered, he entered Oporto.
The hopes of the people, also, were high, for they could not believe that the French were a match for them; the preceding defeats were attributed each to its particular case of treason, and the murder of some innocent persons had followed as an expiation. No man but the bishop durst thwart the slightest caprice of the mob; and he was little disposed to do so, while Raymundo, and others of his stamp, fomented their fury, and directed it to gratify personal enmities. Thus, the defeat of Braga being known in Oporto, caused a tumult on the 22d; and Louis D’Olivera, a man of high rank, who had been cast into prison, was, with fourteen other persons, haled forth, and despatched with many stabs; the bodies were then mutilated, and dragged in triumph through the streets.
See [Plan 5].
The entrenchments extending, as I have said, from the Douro to the coast, were complete, and armed with two hundred guns. They consisted of a number of forts of different sizes, placed on the top of a succession of rounded hills; and where the hills failed, the defences were continued by earthen ramparts, loop-holed houses, ditches, and felled trees. Oporto itself is built in a hollow; a bridge of boats, nearly three hundred yards in length, formed the only communication between the city and the suburb of Villa Nova; and this bridge was completely commanded by batteries, mounting fifty guns, planted on the bluff and craggy heights that overhang the river above Villa Nova, and overlooked, not only the city, but a great part of the entrenched camp beyond it. Within the lines, tents were pitched for even greater numbers than were assembled; and the people ran to arms, and quickly manned their works with great noise and tumult, when the French columns, gathering like heavy thunder clouds, settled in front of the camp.
The duke of Dalmatia arrived on the 27th. While at Braga he had written to the bishop, calling on him to calm the popular effervescence; and now, beholding the extended works in his front, and reading their weakness even in the multitudes that guarded them, he renewed his call upon the prelate, to spare this great and commercial city the horrors of a storm. A prisoner, employed to carry the summons, would have been killed, but that it was pretended he came with an offer from Soult to surrender his army; and notwithstanding this ingenious device, and that the bishop commenced a negotiation, which was prolonged until evening, the firing from the entrenchments was constant and general during the whole of the 28th.
The parley being finally broken off, Soult made dispositions for a general action on the 29th. To facilitate this, he caused Merle’s division to approach the left of the entrenchments in the evening of the 28th, intending thereby to divert attention from the true point of attack: a prodigious fire was immediately opened from the works; but Merle, having pushed close up, got into some hollow roads and enclosures, and maintained his ground. At another part of the line, however, some of the Portuguese pretending a wish to surrender, general Foy, with a single companion, imprudently approached them; the latter was killed, and Foy himself made prisoner, and carried into the town. He was mistaken for Loison, and the people called out to kill “Maneta,” but with great presence of mind he held up his hands; and the crowd, convinced of their error, suffered him to be cast into the jail.
The bishop, having brought affairs to this awful crisis, had not resolution to brave the danger himself. Leaving generals Lima and Pareiras to command the army, he, with an escort of troops, quitted the city, and, crossing the river, took his station in Sarea, a convent, built on the top of the rugged hill which overhangs the suburb of Villa Nova, from whence he beheld in safety the horrors of the next day.
The bells in Oporto continued to ring all night; and about twelve o’clock a violent thunder storm arising, the sound of the winds was mistaken in the camp for the approach of enemies. At once the whole line blazed with a fire of musketry; the roar of two hundred pieces of artillery was heard above the noise of the tempest, and the Portuguese calling to one another with loud cries, were agitated at once with fury and with terror. The morning, however, broke serenely; and a little before seven o’clock the sound of the Frenchmen’s trumpets and drums, and the glitter of their arms, gave notice that the whole army was in motion for the attack.
BATTLE AND STORMING OF OPORTO.
S.
Journal of Operations MS.
The feint made the evening before against the left, which was the weakest part of the line, had perfectly succeeded, and the Portuguese generals placed their principal masses on that side; but the duke of Dalmatia was intent upon the strongest points of the works, being resolved to force his way through the town, and to seize the bridge during the fight, that he might secure the passage of the river.
His army was divided into three columns; of which the first, under Merle, attacked the left of the Portuguese centre; the second, under Franceschi and Laborde, assailed their extreme right; the third, composed of Mermet’s division, sustained by a brigade of dragoons, was in the centre. General Lorge was appointed to cut off and attack a body of ordenanza, who were posted with some guns in front of the Portuguese left, and beyond the works on the road of Villa de Conde.
The battle was commenced by the wings; for Mermet’s division was withheld, until the enemy’s generals believing the whole of the attack was developed, had weakened their centre to strengthen their flanks. Then the French held in reserve, rushing violently forwards, broke through the entrenchments, and took the two principal forts, entering by the embrasures, and killing or dispersing all within them. Soult instantly rallied this division, and sent two battalions to take the Portuguese left wing in the rear; while two other battalions were ordered to march straight into the town, and make for the bridge.
The Portuguese army, thus cut in two, was soon beaten on all points. Laborde carried in succession a number of forts, took fifty pieces of artillery, and reaching the edge of the city, halted until Franceschi, who was engaged still more to the left, could join him. By this movement a large body of Portuguese were driven off from the town, and forced back to the Douro, being followed by a brigade under general Arnaud. And now Merle, seeing that the success of the centre was complete, brought up his left flank, and carrying all the forts to his right in succession, killed a great number of the defenders, and drove the rest towards the sea. These last dividing, fled for refuge, one part to the fort of St. Joa, the other towards the mouth of the Douro; where, maddened by terror, as the French came pouring down upon them, they strove, some to swim across, others to get over in small boats; and when their general, Lima, called out against this hopeless attempt, they turned and murdered him, within musket shot of the approaching enemy; and then renewing the attempt to cross, nearly the whole perished.
The victory was now certain, for Lorge had dispersed the people on the side of Villa de Conde and general Arnaud had hemmed in those above the town and prevented them from plunging into the river also, as in their desperate mood they were going to do. But the battle continued within Oporto, for the two battalions sent from the centre having burst the barricadoes at the entrance of the streets, had penetrated, fighting, to the bridge, and here all the horrid circumstances of war seemed to be accumulated, and the calamities of an age compressed into one doleful hour.
More than four thousand persons, old and young and of both sexes, were seen pressing forward with wild tumult, some already on the bridge, others striving to gain it, and all in a state of phrenzy. The batteries on the opposite bank opened their fire when the French appeared, and at that moment a troop of Portuguese cavalry flying from the fight came down one of the streets, and remorseless in their fears, bore, at full gallop, into the midst of the miserable helpless crowd, and trampled a bloody pathway to the river. Suddenly the nearest boats, unable to sustain the increasing weight, sunk and the foremost wretches still tumbling into the river, as they were pressed from behind, perished, until the heaped bodies rising above the surface of the waters, filled all the space left by the sinking of the boats.
The first of the French that arrived, amazed at this fearful spectacle, forgot the battle, and hastened to save those who still struggled for life—and while some were thus nobly employed, others by the help of planks, getting on to the firmer parts of the bridge, crossed the river and carried the batteries on the heights of Villa Nova. The passage was thus secured.
But this terrible destruction did not complete the measure of the city’s calamities; two hundred men, who occupied the bishop’s palace, fired from the windows and maintained that post until the French, gathering round them in strength, burst the doors, and put all to the sword. Every street and house now rung with the noise of the combatants and the shrieks of distress; for the French soldiers, exasperated by long hardships, and prone like all soldiers to ferocity and violence during an assault, became frantic with fury, when, in one of the principal squares, they found several of their comrades who had been made prisoners, fastened upright, and living, but with their eyes bursted, their tongues torn out, and their other members mutilated and gashed. Those that beheld the sight spared none who fell in their way.
It was in vain that Soult strove with all his power to stop the slaughter; it was in vain that hundreds of officers and soldiers opposed, at the risk of their lives, the vengeance of their comrades, and by their generous exertions rescued vast numbers that would otherwise have fallen victims to the anger and brutality of the moment. The frightful scene of rape, pillage, and murder, closed not for many S.
Journal of Operations MS. hours, and what with those who fell in battle, those who were drowned, and those sacrificed to revenge, it is said that ten thousand Portuguese died in that unhappy day! The loss of the French did not exceed five hundred men.