CHAPTER II.
While the Spaniards were occupied with the debates of the Cortes, the French works were laboured with care. The chain of forts was perfected, each being complete in itself with ditch and palisades and a week’s provisions; the batteries at the Trocadero were powerful, and the flotillas at San Lucar de Barameda, Santa Maria, Puerto Real, and Chiclana, were ready for action. Soult repaired in person to San Lucar, and in the last night of October, thirty pinnaces and gun-boats slipping out of the Guadalquivir eluded the allied fleet, passed along the coast to Rota, and from thence, aided by shore batteries, fought their way to Santa Maria and the San Pedro. But, to avoid the fire of the fleet and forts in doubling Matagorda, the duke of Dalmatia, remembering what he had formerly effected at Campo Saucos on the Minho, transported his flotilla on rollers, overland; and in November, one hundred and thirty armed vessels and transports were assembled in the Trocadero canal. This success was, however, alloyed by the death of general Senarmont, an artillery officer of the highest reputation.
At the Trocadero point there were immense batteries, and some notable pieces of ordnance called cannon-mortars, or Villantroys, after the inventor. These huge engines were cast in Seville, and, being placed in slings, threw shells with such prodigious force as to range over Cadiz, a distance of more than five thousand yards. But to obtain this flight the shells were partly filled with lead, and their charge of powder was too small for an effective explosion. Nevertheless, they produced some alarm in the city, and were troublesome to the shipping. But Soult’s real design was first to ruin, by a superior fire, the opposite fort of the Puntales, then pass the straits with his flotilla, and establish his army between the Isla and the city; nor was this plan chimerical, for on the side of besieged there was neither concert nor industry.
Two drafts, made, in August and September, by lord Wellington, had reduced Graham’s force to five thousand men, and in October the fever broke out in Cadiz; but as Soult’s preparations became formidable, reinforcements were drawn from Gibraltar and Sicily, and, at the end of the year, seven thousand British, Germans, and Portuguese, were still behind the Santi Petri. Graham felt confident, 1º. that, with due preparation, he could maintain the Puntales even though its fire should be silenced. 2º. That Soult must establish a stronger flotilla than the allies, or his communication with Matagorda could not be maintained. 3º. That the intercourse between the army in Isla and the garrison of Cadiz could not be interrupted, unless the great redoubt of the Cortadura was lost.
To ensure a superiority of naval means, admiral Keats drew all the armed craft from Gibraltar. To secure the land defence, general Graham perseveringly Graham’s Despatches MSS.urged the Regency to adopt certain plans, and he was warmly seconded by sir Henry Wellesley; but neither their entreaties, nor the imminence of the danger, could overcome the apathy of the Spaniards. Their army, reinforced by a small body from Ceuta, was wanting in discipline, clothing, and equipments, and only sixteen thousand men of all arms were effective on a muster-roll of twenty-three thousand. The labour of the British troops, far from being assisted, were vexatiously impeded; it was the end of December, and after many sharp altercations, ere Graham could even obtain leave to put the interior line of the Cortadura in a state Appendix, [No. III.] Sections 1, 2, 3, 4.of defence, although, by a sudden disembarkation, the enemy might enter it from the rear, and cut off the army of the Isla from the city. But while the duke of Dalmatia was thus collecting means of attack, the events in Portugal prevented the execution of his design.
When Massena passed the frontier, his communications with France became so uncertain, that the emperor’s principal source of information was through the English newspapers. Foy brought the first exact intelligence of the posture of affairs. It was then that the army of the north was directed to support the army of Portugal; that the ninth corps was made a component part of the latter; that the prince of Esling was enjoined to hold fast between Santarem and the Zezere; to besiege Abrantes; and to expect the duke of Dalmatia, who had been already several times commanded to move through the Alemtejo, to his assistance. The emperor seems The King’s Correspondence, captured at Vittoriaeven to have contemplated the evacuation of Andalusia and the concentration of the whole army of the south on the Tagus, a project that would have strengthened rather than weakened the French in the Peninsula, because it was more important to crush the regular warfare in Portugal, than to hold any particular province.
Massena’s instructions reached him in due time, Soult’s were intercepted by the Guerillas, and the duplicates did not arrive before the end of December; a delay affording proof that thirty thousand men would scarcely have compensated for the uncertainty of the French communications. Postponing his design against Cadiz, the duke of Dalmatia repaired to Seville, carrying with him Latour Maubourg’s cavalry and five thousand infantry from the first corps. His instructions neither prescribed a line of movement nor enjoined any specific operation; the prince of Esling was to communicate his plan to which Soult’s was to be subordinate. But no certain intelligence even of Massena’s early proceedings had reached Seville, and such were the precautions of lord Wellington, such the activity of the Partidas, that from the time Soult quitted Cadiz, until his operation terminated, no communication could be effected between the two marshals, and each acted in perfect ignorance of the plans and situation of the other.
The duke of Dalmatia considering that Sebastiani had his hands full, and that the blockade of Cadiz, the protection of Seville on the side of Neibla Marshal Soult’s Correspondence. MSS.and of Araceña, would not permit the drawing off more than twenty thousand men, represented to the emperor that with such a force, he durst not penetrate the Alemtejo, leaving Olivenza and Badajos, and Ballasteros, (who would certainly join Mendizabel) on his rear; while Romana alone, without reckoning British troops, could bring ten thousand men against his front; hence he demanded leave to besiege those places, and Napoleon consented. Meanwhile, order was taken to secure Andalusia during the operations. Dessolles’ division had been recalled to form the army of the centre, and general Godinot took his place at Cordoba; a column of observation was posted under general Digeon at Ecija; Seville entrenched on the side of Neibla, was given over to general Daricau, and a detachment under Remond was posted at Gibraleon. The expeditionary army, consisting of sixteen thousand infantry, artillery, sappers and miners, and about four thousand cavalry and fifty-four guns, was assembled on the 2d January. An equipage of siege, a light pontoon train, and seventeen hundred carts, for stores and provisions were also prepared, and King Joseph’s Correspondence. MSS.Soult’s administration was now so efficient, that he ordered a levy of five thousand young Spaniards, called “escopeteros” (fuzileers) to maintain the police of the province.
SOULT’S FIRST EXPEDITION TO ESTREMADURA.
1811.
Mortier moving from Guadalcanal, entered Zafra on the 5th January, Mendizabel retired to Merida, and Ballasteros, in consequence of orders from the Regency, passed over the mountains to Frejenal. Winter tempests raged, and the French convoy which moved on Araceña, being overwhelmed by storms, was detained at the foot of the mountains, and to cover it, Gazan marching from Zafra, drove Ballasteros out of Frejenal. Meanwhile, the Spanish leaders, as well those in Estremadura, as in Cadiz, were quite ignorant of Soult’s intentions, some asserting that he was going to pass the Tagus at Almaraz, others, that his object was only to crush Ballasteros. Lord Wellington alone divined the truth, and it was he who first gave Mendizabel notice, that the French were not assembling Appendix, [No. II.] Sect. 5, 6.at Seville at all, so destitute of intelligence and of military knowledge were the Spaniards. Now when the French were breaking into Estremadura, terror and confusion spread far and wide; Badajos was ill provisioned, Albuquerque in ruins, Olivenza nearly dismantled; and, in the midst of this disorder, Ballasteros was drawn off towards the Condada de Neibla by the Regency, who thus deprived Estremadura of half its defenders at the moment of invasion.
Lord Wellington had advised that the troops should be concentrated, the bridges over the Guadiana mined for destruction, and the passage of that river disputed to gain time; but these things being neglected, an advanced guard of cavalry alone carried the bridge of Merida on the 6th. Soult then turned upon Olivenza with the infantry, and while Latour Maubourg’s dragoons held Mendizabel in check on the side of Badajos, Briche’s light horsemen collected cattle on the side of Estremadura; Gazan’s division, still posted near Frejenal, protected the march of the artillery and convoy, and La Houssaye’s brigade, belonging to the army of the centre, quitting Truxillo, marched against the Partidas and scoured the banks of the Tagus from Arzobispo to Alcantara.
FIRST SIEGE OF OLIVENZA.
This place, although regularly fortified with nine bastions, a covered way, and some unfinished ravelins, was incapable of a good defence. With an old breach slightly repaired, very few guns mounted, and commanding no passage of the Guadiana, it was of little importance to the French, yet, as containing four thousand troops, it was of some consequence to reduce it. Lord Wellington had pressed Romana to destroy the defences entirely, or to supply it with the means of resistance, and the marquis decided on the former; but Mendizabel slighting his orders, had thrown his best division into the place.
It was invested the 11th of January; an abandoned outwork, three hundred and forty yards south of the town, was taken possession of the first night; and breaching batteries of eight guns, and counter-batteries of six guns were then marked out. The trenches were opened on the west, and approaches carried on by the flying sap against the old breach; but the rains were heavy and continual, the scarcity of entrenching-tools great, and it was not until the 18th, when the head of the convoy had passed the mountains, that the works could be properly advanced.
On the 19th the covered way was crowned, and the 20th the breaching batteries opened their fire; two mortars also threw shells into the town, and a globe of compression was prepared to blow in the counterscarp. In the evening, the governor of Badajos skirmished unsuccessfully with Latour Maubourg’s horsemen, and, on the 21st, the mine was completed and preparations made for the passage of the ditch.
Mendizabel, unable from the absence of Ballasteros’ division to relieve Olivenza, demanded succour, and Romana sent Carlos D’España’s brigade from Abrantes the 18th, and general Virues, with his own Spanish division, from Cartaxo on the 20th. The 21st, the governor of Olivenza was informed of this, and replied that he would maintain the place to the last moment; but the next day he capitulated, having still provisions, ammunition, eighteen guns, and four thousand one hundred effective soldiers. The 26th Soult marched against Badajos.
Meanwhile Ballasteros advanced upon Neibla, but being followed by Gazan, was overtaken at Castillejos on the 28th, and, after a sharp battle, driven with the loss of a thousand men over the Guadiana. The Spanish artillery was saved in the castle of Paymigo, the infantry took refuge at Alcontin and Mertola; and, that nothing might be left to alarm the French in that quarter, the Regency recalled Copon’s force to Cadiz. In this manner a fortress was taken, and twelve thousand men, who, well employed, might have frustrated the French designs against Badajos, were all dispersed, withdrawn, or made prisoners in twenty days after the commencement of Soult’s expedition.
For many months previous to these events lord Wellington had striven to teach the Spanish commander that there was but one safe mode of proceeding in Estremadura, and Romana had just yielded to his counsels, when the sudden arrival of the French threw every thing into confusion. The defence of the Guadiana, the dismantling of Olivenza, the concentration of the forces were all neglected. Romana, however, had sent his divisions towards the frontier, and they reached Montemor the 22d; the 23d they received Mendizabel’s orders to halt as Olivenza had surrendered; and the 24th Romana died of an aneurism in the heart. He was a worthy man and of quick parts, although deficient in military talent. His death was a great loss, yet his influence was on the wane; he had many enemies, and his authority was chiefly sustained by the attachment of his troops, and by his riches, for his estates being in the Balearic Isles, his revenues did not suffer by the war.
Mendizabel now commanded in Estremadura. He had received Romana’s orders to adopt lord Wellington’s plan, which was still to concentrate all the Spanish troops, amounting to at least ten thousand men, on the frontier, and, before the enemy appeared on the right bank of the Guadiana, to occupy a certain position of great natural strength close to Badajos; the right touching the fort of St. Christoval, the front covered by the Gebora river and by the Guadiana, the fortress of Campo Mayor immediately in rear of the left, and Elvas behind the centre. When Mendizabel was entrenched on this position, and a strong garrison in Badajos, the English general thought Soult could not invest or even straighten the communications of the town, yet, knowing well the people he dealt with, prophetically observed, “with soldiers of any other Appendix, [No. II.] Section 6.nation success is certain, but no calculation can be made of any operation in which Spanish troops are engaged.”
When Olivenza fell, a small garrison was in Albuquerque, and another in Valencia d’Alcantara; Carlos d’España was in Campo Mayor, and Virues, with Romana’s divisions, at Montemor. When Soult drove back the outposts of Badajos on the 26th, Mendizabel shut himself up with six thousand men in that fortress; but, although a siege had been expected for a year, the place was still unprovisioned. It was, however, still possible to execute the English general’s plan, yet no Spaniard moved, and, on the 27th, Latour Maubourg, crossing the Guadiana at Merida, forded the Gebora, and cut off the communications with Campo Mayor and Elvas!
FRENCH SIEGE OF BADAJOS.
This city stands on a tongue of land at the confluence of the Guadiana with the Rivillas; the first is a noble river five hundred yards broad, the second a trifling stream. A rock, one hundred feet high, and crowned by an old castle, overhangs the meeting of the waters, and the town, spreading out like a fan as the land opens between the rivers, is protected by eight regular curtains and bastions, from twenty-three to thirty feet in height, with good counterscarps, covered way, and glacis. On the left bank of the Guadiana the outworks were, 1º. the Lunette of San Roque, covering a dam and sluice on the Rivillas, by which an inundation could be commanded; 2º. an isolated redoubt, called the Picurina, situated beyond the Rivillas, and four hundred yards from the town; 3º. the Pardaleras, a defective crown-work, central between the Lower Guadiana and the Rivillas, and two hundred yards from the ramparts.
On the right bank of the Guadiana a hill, crowned by a regular fort three hundred feet square, called San Christoval, overlooked the interior of the castle, and a quarter of a mile farther down the stream, the bridge, six hundred yards in length, was protected by a bridge-head, slightly connected with San Christoval, but commanded on every side.
Soult constructed a ferry on the Guadiana, above the confluence of the Gebora, and three attacks were opened against the town the 28th, two on the side of Picurina and one on that of the Pardaleras. The 29th and 30th slight sallies were repulsed, but tempestuous weather spoiled the works. Gazan’s division was distant; the infantry before the place were few, and, on the 30th, the garrison Conquête de l’Andalusie, par Edouard Lapéne.making a vigorous sally from the Pardaleras, killed or wounded sixty men and cleared the trenches. Meanwhile some Spanish cavalry, gliding round the left of the French, sabred several engineers and sappers, and then retired.
Siege de Badajos, par le Col. Lamare.
In the night of the 2d of February a violent tempest flooded the Rivillas, carried away the French bridges, drowned men and horses, damaged the depôts, and reduced the besiegers to the greatest distress. The cavalry employed in the investment could no longer forage; scarcity was felt in the camp; the convoys could only arrive by detachments; the rigour of winter bivouacs caused sickness, and, on the 3d, the Spaniards, making a second sally from Pardaleras, killed or wounded eighty men and ruined a part of the parallel. The same day Gazan arrived in camp, but the French cavalry being withdrawn from the Lord Wellington’s Correspondence. MSS.right bank of the Guadiana, in consequence of rigorous weather, the communication was re-established with Elvas, and Mendizabel called the divisions in Portugal to his assistance. Virues immediately marched upon Elvas, Carlo d’España, Mr. Stuart’s Papers. MSS.and Madden united at Campo Mayor, and Julian Sanchez brought down his Partida from Upper Estremadura.
In the night of the 5th, Mendizabel repaired to Elvas in person; passed the Caya the next day, and being joined on the road by the troops from Campo Mayor, pushed the few French horsemen still on the right of the Guadiana over the Gebora. The Portuguese brigade crossed that river in pursuit, and captured some baggage; but the infantry entered Badajos, for Mendizabel again neglecting lord Wellington’s counsel, designed not to take up a position behind the Gebora, but to raise the siege by a sally; yet he delayed this until the next day, thus risking to have his whole army shut up in an ill-provided fortress; for Latour Maubourg, seeing that Madden was unsupported, turned and drove him back over the Gebora with loss. Badajos now contained sixteen thousand men, and, early on the 7th, Carrera and Carlos d’España, at the head of five thousand infantry and three hundred cavalry, breaking out at the Picurina side, with one burst carried the trenches and the batteries; the soldiers fought with surprising ardour, but the entire want of arrangement on the part of the generals (unworthy to command the brave men under them) ruined all. They had not even provided the means to spike the guns, and when Mortier brought his reserves against the front and flank of the attack, the whole driven back in disorder, re-entered the city, having eighty-five officers and near six hundred soldiers killed and wounded; the enemy also lost several engineers and four hundred men.
While this action took place on the left bank, Latour Maubourg occupied the ground between the Gebora and the Caya, and again cut off the communication with Elvas and Campo Mayor; but his forces were too weak to maintain themselves there, and Mendizabel, leaving the defence of the town entirely to the governor, Rafael Menacho, pitched his own camp round San Christoval. Some days previous to this, the French had bombarded Badajos, a proceeding only mischievous to themselves; for the inhabitants, terrified by the shells, fled in great numbers while the communication was open, but left behind their provisions; which enabled Menacho to feed his garrison without difficulty.
Soult observing the numbers, and awake to all the real resources of the Spanish succouring army, feared lest delay should produce a change of commanders, or of system, and resolved to bring matters to a crisis. On the 11th he stormed the Pardaleras; on the 12th, he sent fifteen hundred cavalry across the Guadiana to Montijo; and, on the 14th, threw shells into the camp about Christoval, which obliged Mendizabel to remove from the heights in front of that fort. Meanwhile, intelligence that Castaños was appointed captain-general of Estremadura created the greatest anger amongst Romana’s soldiers: they had long considered themselves independent of the central government, and in this mood, although the position behind the Gebora, recommended by lord Wellington, was at last occupied, little attention Appendix, [No. X.] Section 2.was paid to military discipline. The English general had expressly advised Mendizabel to increase the great natural strength of this position with entrenchments; for his design was that the Spaniards, whom he thought quite unequal to open field-operations, Lord Wellington to Lord Liverpool. MSS.should have an impregnable post, whence they could safely aid in the defence of the town, and yet preserve a free communication with the Alemtejo, until the arrival of his own reinforcements (which he expected in the latter end of January) should enable him to raise the siege. Mendizabel, with that arrogance which is peculiar to his nation, rejected this counsel, and hung twelve days on the heights of Christoval in a torpid state; and, when driven thence by the French shells, merely destroyed a small bridge over the Gebora, but neither cast up entrenchments, nor kept a guard in his front, nor disposed his men with care. Soult observing these things, suddenly leaped upon him.
BATTLE OF THE GEBORA.
The Guadiana and the Gebora rivers covered the Spanish position; this did not deter the duke of Dalmatia from attempting to pass both and surprise the camp. But first to deprive Mendizabel of the aid of San Christoval, and to create a diversion, the French mortar-batteries again threw shells on the 17th: yet the swell of the rivers would not permit the main operation to be commenced before the evening of the 18th, when the cavalry drew down the right bank of the Guadiana from Montijo, and the artillery and infantry crossed at the French ferry, four miles above the confluence of the Gebora. These combinations were so exactly executed, that, at daybreak, on the 19th, six thousand infantry and three thousand cavalry were in order of battle on the right bank of the Guadiana; the Gebora was however still to be forded, and, behind it, the Spaniards had ten thousand infantry, a considerable artillery, and fifteen hundred cavalry, besides many armed followers of the camp; the whole number not being less than fifteen thousand.
A thick mist covered the country, no Spanish posts were in advance, and Soult, riding through the French ranks, and exhorting the soldiers to fight manfully, commenced the passage of the Gebora. His cavalry forded five miles up the stream, but his infantry passed in two columns, on the right and left of the ruined bridge: a few shots, near the latter, first alarmed the Spaniards, and, as the instant clamour amongst the multitude indicated that the surprise was complete, Mortier, who directed the movements, rapidly formed the line of battle.
At eight o’clock the fog cleared away, and the first beams of the sun and the certainty of victory, flashed together on the French soldiers; for the horsemen were already surrounding the Spanish left; and in the centre, infantry, cavalry, and guns, heaped together, were waving to and fro in disorder; while the right having fallen away from San Christoval was unsupported. In one moment, Girard, with three battalions, stood between the Spaniards and the fort; the artillery roared on both sides; and the French bore forward as one man to the attack: six battalions pressed the centre; Girard moved perpendicularly on the right, and Latour Maubourg charged the left. Thus surrounded, Mendizabel’s people instinctively crowding together on the centre, resisted, for some time, by their inert weight; but the French infantry closed with a destroying musketry, the horsemen rode in with loose bridles, and the Spaniards were shaken, divided, Appendix, [No. II.] Section 8.and slaughtered. Their cavalry fled outright, even Madden’s Portuguese, either from panic, or from hatred of their allies, disregarded alike his exhortations and example, and shamefully turned their backs. At ten o’clock the fight was over; Virues was taken, Mendizabel and Carrera escaped with difficulty, España alone made good his retreat to Campo Mayor with two thousand men; a few more reached Elvas, three thousand got into Badajos, by the bridge, and nine hundred bodies strewed the field: eight thousand, including armed followers, were made prisoners; and guns, colours, muskets, ammunition, baggage, all, fell into the enemy’s hands.
It was a disastrous and a shameful defeat. In the depth of winter, Soult, with a small force, had passed two difficult rivers, carried a strong position, and annihilated an army which had been two years in constant service. Mendizabel, instead of destroying the bridge over the Gebora, should have cast others, that he might freely issue to attack the French while crossing the Guadiana; he should have opposed them again in passing the Gebora; or he might have passed through Badajos, and fallen on the troops in the trenches, with his whole army, while Soult was still entangled between the rivers.
In the evening after the action the French cast up entrenchments, posting three battalions and the heavy cavalry on the important position they had gained; and the next day the works of the siege were renewed with greater activity; yet the difficulty of Soult’s undertaking was rendered apparent by his victories. The continual rains, interrupting the arrival of his convoys, obliged him to employ a number of men at a great distance to gather provisions; nearly two thousand French had been killed or wounded in the two sieges and in this battle, many also were sick, and Badajos was still powerful. The body of the place was entire, the garrison nine thousand strong, and, by the flight of the inhabitants, well provided with food; and there was no want of other stores: the governor was resolute and confident; the season rigorous for the besiegers; no communication had been yet opened with Massena; and lord Wellington, in momentary expectation that his reinforcements would arrive, was impatient to bring on a crisis; meanwhile, the duke of Dalmatia’s power, in Andalusia, was menaced in the most serious manner.
CONTINUATION OF THE BLOCKADE OF CADIZ.
Official Abstract of Military Reports. MSS.
When general Graham was aware of Soult’s departure, and knew, also, that the fifth corps had quitted Seville, he undertook, in concert with the Spaniards, to drive Victor out of his lines. A force, sailing from Cadiz the 29th of January, was to have been joined, in rear of the enemy, by the troops from Tarifa under major Brown, and by three thousand Spaniards, from Algesiras and San Roque under general Beguines; but contrary winds detained even the vessels carrying counter orders to Beguines and Brown, and they advanced, the first to Medina, the other to Casa Vieja. Victor, having notice of this project, at first kept close, but afterwards sent troops to retake Medina and Casa Vieja; and, in the course of February, twelve thousand men, drawn from the northern governments, were directed upon Andalusia, to reinforce the different Appendix, [No. I.] Section 5.corps. The first corps was thus increased to twenty thousand men, of which fifteen thousand were before Cadiz, and the remainder at San Lucar, Medina, Sidonia, and other quarters. Nevertheless, on the 21st of February, ten thousand infantry and near six hundred cavalry, of the allies, were again embarked at Cadiz; being to land at Tarifa, and march upon the rear of the enemy’s camp at Chiclana. Meanwhile, general Zayas, commanding the Spanish forces left in the Isla, was to cast a bridge over the San Petri, near the sea mouth; Ballasteros, also, with the remains of his army, was directed to menace Seville, the irregular bands were to act against Sebastiani, and insurrections were expected in all quarters.
The British troops passed their port in a gale, the 22d, but, landing at Algesiras, marched to Tarifa the next day. Being there joined by the Appendix, [No. IX.] Section 2.twenty-eighth, and the flank companies of the ninth and eighty-second regiments, somewhat more than four thousand effective troops (including two companies of the twentieth Portuguese and one hundred and eighty German hussars) were assembled under general Graham; all good and hardy troops, and himself a daring old man and of a ready temper for battle.
General La Peña arrived on the 27th, with seven thousand Spaniards, and Graham, for the sake of unanimity, ceded the chief command, although it was contrary to his instructions. The next day, the whole, moving forward about twelve miles, passed the mountain ridges that, descending from Ronda to the sea, separate the plains of San Roque from those of Medina and Chiclana: but being now within four leagues of the enemy’s posts, the troops were re-organized. The vanguard was given to Lardizabal; the centre to the prince of Anglona; the reserve, composed of two Spanish regiments and the British were confided to Graham; but the cavalry of both nations, formed in one body, was commanded by colonel Whittingham, then in the Spanish service.
The French covering division, under general Cassagne, consisted of three battalions and a regiment of horse at Medina, with outposts at Vejer de la Frontera and Casa Viejas. Before La Peña’s arrival, the irregulars had attacked Casa Viejas, and general Beguines had even taken Medina; but Cassagne, reinforced by a battalion of infantry from Arcos, retook and entrenched it the 29th; and the signal of action being thus given, the French generals in the higher provinces, perceiving that the people were ready for commotion, gathered in their respective forces at Seville, Ecija, and Cordoba; following the orders left by Soult. In Grenada Intercepted Letter of General Werlé to Sebastiani, Alhama, March 12.the insurgents were especially active; Sebastiani, doubtful if the storm would not break on his head, concentrated a column at Estipona as a good covering point to the coast line, and one whence he could easily gain Ronda. Victor manned his works at Rota, Santa Maria, Puerto Real, and the Trocadero with a mixed force, of refugee French, juramentados, and regular troops; but he assembled Appendix, [No. I.] Section 6.eleven thousand good soldiers near Chiclana, taking post between the roads of Conil and Medina, to await the development of the allies’ project.
At first, La Peña’s march pointed to Medina Sidonia, his vanguard stormed Casa Viejas on the 2d of March, and the troops from Algesiras, amounting to sixteen hundred infantry, besides several hundreds of irregular cavalry, came in to him; encreasing his force to twelve thousand infantry, eight hundred horsemen, and twenty-four guns. The 3d he resumed his march, but hearing that Medina Sidonia was entrenched, turned towards the coast, and drove the French from Vejer de la Frontera. The following evening he continued his movement, and at nine o’clock on the morning of the 5th, after a skirmish, in which his advanced guard of cavalry was routed by a French squadron, he reached the Cerro de Puerco, called by the English, the heights of Barosa; being then only four miles from the sea mouth of the Santi Petri.
Barosa is a low ridge, creeping in from the coast, about one mile and a half, and overlooking a high and broken plain of small extent. This plain was bounded on the left by the coast clifts, on the right by the forest of Chiclana, and in front by a pine-wood, beyond which rose the narrow height of Bermeja, filling the space between the Almanza creek and the sea. The Bermeja hill, could be reached either by moving through the wood in front, or along the beach under the clifts.
At Tarifa, Graham, judging that Victor would surely come out of his lines to fight, had obtained from La Peña a promise to make short marches; to keep the troops fresh for battle; and not to approach the enemy except in a concentrated Appendix, [No. IX.] Section 1.mass. Nevertheless, the day’s march from Casa Vieja, being made through bad roads, with ignorant guides, had occupied fifteen hours, and the night march to Barosa had been still more fatiguing. The troops came up in a straggling manner, and ere they had all arrived, La Peña, as if in contempt of his colleague, without either disclosing his own plans, or communicating by signal or otherwise with Zayas, sent the vanguard, reinforced by a squadron and three guns, straight against the mouth of the Santi Petri. Zayas had, indeed, cast his bridge there on the 2d, and commenced an entrenchment; but, in the following night, being surprised by the French, was driven again into the Isla: hence the movement of the vanguard was exceedingly dangerous. Lardizabal, however, after a sharp skirmish, in which he lost nearly three hundred men, forced the enemy’s posts between the Almanza creek and the sea, and effected a junction with Zayas.
Graham was extremely desirous of holding the Barosa height, as the key both to offensive and defensive movements, and he argued that no general in his senses would lend his flank to an enemy, by attacking the Bermeja while Barosa was occupied in force. Lascy, the chief of the Spanish staff, having however opposed this reasoning, La Peña commanded Graham to march the British troops through the wood to Bermeja. With great temper, he obeyed this uncourteous order; and leaving the flank companies of the ninth and eighty-second, under major Brown, as a guard for the baggage, commenced his march, in the full persuasion that La Peña would remain with Anglona’s division and the cavalry at Barosa; and the more so, as a Spanish detachment was still on the side of Medina. But scarcely had the British entered the wood, when La Peña, without any notice, carried off the corps of battle, directed the cavalry to follow by the sea-road, and repaired himself to Santi Petri, leaving Barosa crowded with baggage, and protected only by a rear guard of four guns and five battalions.
During these movements, Victor remained close in the forest of Chiclana, and the patrols of the allied cavalry reported that they could see no enemy; Graham’s march therefore, being only of two miles, seemed secure. The French marshal was, however, keenly watching the allies’ progress; having recalled his infantry from Medina Sidonia as soon as La Peña had reached Barosa, he momentarily expected their arrival; but he felt so sure of success, that the cavalry at Medina and Arcos were directed upon Vejer and other places, to cut off Appendix, [No. I.] Section 7.the fugitives after the approaching battle. The duke of Belluno had in hand fourteen pieces of artillery and nine thousand excellent troops, of the divisions of Laval, Ruffin, and Villatte; from these he drew three grenadier battalions as reserves, attaching two of them and three squadrons of cavalry to the division of Ruffin, which formed his left wing, the other to the division of Laval, which formed his centre. Villatte’s troops, about two thousand five hundred in number, after being withdrawn from Bermeja, were posted close to a bridge on the Almanza creek, to cover the works of the camp, and to watch the Spanish forces at Santi Petri and Bermeja.
BATTLE OF BAROSA.
When Victor observed that Graham’s corps was in the wood, that a strong body of Spaniards was on the Bermeja, that a third body, with all the baggage, was at Barosa, and a fourth still in march from Vejer; he took Villatte’s division as his pivot, and coming forth with a rapid pace into the plain, directed Laval against the English, while himself, with Ruffin’s brigade, ascending the reverse side of Barosa, cut off the Spanish detachment on the road to Medina, and drove the whole of the rear guard off the height towards the sea; dispersing the baggage and followers of the army in all directions, and taking three Spanish guns.
Major Brown, seeing the general confusion, and being unable to stem the torrent, slowly retired into the plain, sending notice of what was passing to Graham, and demanding orders. That general, being then near Bermeja, answered, that he was to fight; and instantly facing about himself, regained the plain with the greatest celerity, expecting to find La Peña, with the corps of battle and the cavalry, on the height: but when the view opened, he beheld Ruffin, flanked by the chosen battalions, near the top of Barosa at the one side, the Spanish rear guard and baggage flying in confusion on the other, the French cavalry between the summit and the sea, and Laval close on his own left flank; but La Peña he could see no where. In this desperate situation, he felt that to retreat upon Bermeja, and thus bring the enemy, pell mell with the allies on to that narrow ridge, must be disastrous, hence, without a moment’s hesitation, he resolved to attack, although the key of the field of battle was already in the enemy’s possession.
Ten guns, under major Duncan, instantly opened a terrific fire against Laval’s column, while colonel Andrew Barnard, with the riflemen and the Portuguese companies, running out to the left, commenced the fight: the remainder of the British troops, without any attention to regiments or brigades, so sudden was the affair, formed two masses, one of which under general Dilke marched hastily against Ruffin, and the other under colonel Wheately against Laval. Duncan’s guns ravaged the French ranks; Laval’s artillery replied vigorously; Ruffin’s batteries took Wheately’s column in flank; and the infantry on both sides pressed forward eagerly, and with a pealing musketry; but, when near together, a fierce, rapid, prolonged charge of the British overthrew the first line of the French, and, notwithstanding its extreme valour, drove it in confusion, over a narrow dip of ground upon the second, which was almost immediately broken in the same manner, and only the chosen battalion, hitherto posted on the right, remained to cover the retreat.
Meanwhile Brown, on receiving his orders, had marched headlong against Ruffin. Nearly half of his detachment went down under the enemy’s first fire; yet he maintained the fight, until Dilke’s column, which had crossed a deep hollow and never stopt even to re-form the regiments, came up, with little order indeed, but in a fierce mood, when the whole run up towards the summit; there was no slackness on any side, and at the very edge of the ascent their gallant opponents met them. A dreadful, and for some time a doubtful, fight ensued, but Ruffin and Chaudron Rousseau, commanding the chosen grenadiers, both fell mortally wounded; the English bore strongly onward, and their incessant slaughtering fire forced the French from the hill with the loss of three guns and many brave soldiers.
The discomfitted divisions, retiring concentrically, soon met, and with infinite spirit endeavoured to re-form and renew the action; but the play of Duncan’s guns, close, rapid, and murderous, rendered the attempt vain. Victor was soon in full retreat, and the British having been twenty-four hours under arms, without food, were too exhausted to pursue.
While these terrible combats of infantry were fighting, La Peña looked idly on, neither sending his cavalry, nor his horse-artillery, nor any part of his army, to the assistance of his ally, nor yet menacing the right of the enemy, which was close to him and weak. The Spanish Walloon guards, the regiment of Ciudad Real, and some Guerilla cavalry, indeed turned without orders, coming up just as the action ceased; and it was expected that colonel Whittingham, an Englishman commanding a powerful body of horse, would have done as much; but no stroke in aid of the British was struck by a Spanish sabre that day, although the French cavalry did not exceed two hundred and fifty men, and it is evident that the eight hundred under Whittingham might, by sweeping round the left of Ruffin’s division, have rendered the defeat ruinous. So certain, indeed, was this, that colonel Frederick Ponsonby, drawing off the hundred and eighty German hussars belonging to the English army, reached the field of battle, charged the French squadrons just as their retreating divisions met, overthrew them, took two guns, and even attempted, though vainly, to sabre Rousseau’s chosen battalions.
Such was the fight of Barosa. Short, for it lasted only one hour and a half, but most violent and bloody; for fifty officers, sixty serjeants, and above eleven hundred British soldiers, and more than two thousand Frenchmen were killed and wounded; and from the latter, six guns, an eagle, and two generals (both mortally wounded) were taken, together with four hundred other prisoners.
After the action, Graham remained some hours on the height, still hoping that La Peña would awake to the prospect of success and glory, which the extreme valour of the British had opened. Four thousand men and a powerful artillery had come over the Santi Petri; hence the Spanish general was at the head of twelve thousand infantry and eight hundred cavalry, all fresh troops; while before him were only the remains of the French line of battle retreating in the greatest disorder upon Appendix, [No. IX.] Section 1.Chiclana. But all military feeling being extinct in La Peña, Graham would no longer endure such command. The morning of the 6th saw the British filing over Zaya’s bridge into the Isla.
Vol. 3, Plate 9.
BATTLE of BAROSA
5th March, 1811.
London Published by T. & W. Boone Novr 1830.
On the French side, Cassagne’s reserve came in from Medina, a council of war was held in the night of the 5th, and Victor, although of a disponding nature, proposed another attack; but the suggestion being ill received, nothing was done; and the 6th, Admiral Keats, landing his seamen and marines, dismantled, with exception of Catalina, every fort from Rota to Santa Maria, and even obtained momentary possession of the latter place. Confusion and alarm then prevailed in the French camp; the duke of Belluno, leaving garrisons at the great points of his lines, and a rear Official Abstracts of Military Reports, MSS.guard at Chiclana, retreated behind the San Pedro, where he expected to be immediately attacked. If La Peña had even then pushed to Chiclana, Graham and Keats were willing to make a simultaneous attack upon the Trocadero; but the 6th and 7th passed, without even a Spanish patrole following the French. On the 8th Victor returned to Chiclana, and La Peña instantly recrossing the Santi Petri, destroyed the bridge, and his detachment on the side of Medina being thus cut off from the Isla, was soon afterwards obliged to retire to Algesiras.
All the passages in this extraordinary battle were so broadly marked, that observations would be useless. The contemptible feebleness of La Peña furnished a surprising contrast to the heroic vigour of Graham, whose attack was an inspiration rather than a resolution, so wise, so sudden was the decision, so swift, so conclusive was the execution. The original plan of the enterprise having however been rather rashly censured, some remarks on that head may be useful. “Sebastiani, it is said, might, by moving on the rear of the allies, have crushed them, and they had no right to calculate upon his inactivity.” This is weak. Graham, weighing the natural dislike of one general to serve under another, judged, that Sebastiani, harassed by insurrections in Grenada, would not hastily abandon his own district to succour Victor, before it was clear where the blow was to be struck. The distance from Tarifa to Chiclana was about fifty miles, whereas, from Sebastiani’s nearest post to Chiclana was above a hundred, and the real object of the allies could not be known until they had passed the mountains separating Tarifa from Medina.
Combining these moral and physical considerations, Graham had reason to expect several days of free action; and thus indeed it happened, and with a worthy colleague he would have raised Appendix, [No. IX.] Section 5.the blockade: more than that could scarcely have been hoped, as the French forces would have concentrated either before Cadiz or about Seville or Ecija; and they had still fifty thousand men in Andalusia.
Victor’s attack on the 5th, was well-judged, well-timed, vigorous; with a few thousand more troops he alone would have crushed the allies. The unconquerable spirit of the English prevented this disaster; but if Graham or his troops had given way, or even hesitated, the whole army must have been driven like sheep into an enclosure; the Almanza creek on one side, the sea on the other, the San Petri to bar their flight, and the enemy hanging on their rear in all the fierceness of victory. Indeed, such was La Peña’s misconduct, that the French, although defeated, gained their main point; the blockade was renewed, and it is remarkable that, during the action, a French detachment passed near the bridge of Zuazo without difficulty, and brought back prisoners; thus proving that with a few more troops Victor might have seized the Isla. Meanwhile Ballasteros, who had gone against Seville, was chased, in a miserable condition, to the Aroche hills, by Daricau.
In Cadiz violent disputes arose. La Peña, in an address to the Cortes, claimed the victory for himself. He affirmed that all the previous arrangements were made with the knowledge and approbation of the English general, and the latter’s retreat into the Isla he indicated as the real cause of failure: Lascy and general Cruz-Murgeon also published inaccurate accounts of the action, and even had deceptive plans engraved to uphold their statements. Graham, stung by these unworthy proceedings, exposed the conduct of La Peña in a letter to the British envoy; and when Lascy let fall some expressions personally offensive, he enforced an apology with his sword; but having thus shewn himself superior to his opponents at all points, the gallant old man soon afterwards relinquished his command to general Cooke, and joined lord Wellington’s army.