[436] The 1st and 3rd Divisions. See the dispatches of Captain Carroll from Valmaceda, dated Nov. 5, in the Record Office.
[437] Napoleon, furious at the escape of the Asturians, administered a fiery rebuke to the Marshal. ‘He had left one of his own divisions, exposed by Lefebvre’s imprudence, to run the risk of annihilation. He had never gone to the front himself to look at Acevedo, but had allowed the reconnoitring to be done by an incapable subordinate. His guess that Villatte had been victorious and did not need help was absurd; why should the dying down of the fire mean that the French were successful rather than beaten? The first principles of the art of war prescribe that a general should march toward the cannon, when he knows that his colleagues are engaged’ (Nap. Corresp., 14,445).
[438] One battalion of Segovia and two of volunteers of Galicia.
[439] This engagement, unmentioned by Napier, Thiers, and most other historians, will be found in detail in Carroll’s dispatch and Arteche (iii. 273, 274).
[440] Indeed they were only saved from starvation by receiving at Espinosa 250 mules laden with biscuit, from English ships at Santander, which General Leith had pushed across the mountains. Blake in a letter of Nov. 9 to Leith (Record Office) acknowledges that this kept his men alive.
[441] I gather from a comparison of the muster-rolls of the Galician army in October and in December, that four battalions rejoined Blake and six escaped towards Santander.
| He had originally (see the table on [p. 403])— | ||
| Galician troops (four divisions and two brigades) | 23,313 | |
| The Asturian Division of Acevedo | 7,633 | |
| La Romana’s troops from the Baltic (the infantry only) | 5,294 | |
| Cavalry and artillery (400 and 1,000 respectively) | 1,400 | |
| 37,640 | ||
| From this have to be deducted— | ||
| Losses in battle and by desertion | 6,000 | |
| The cavalry, all the artillery save one battery, and two battalions guarding the same, all still to the rear towards Reynosa | 2,400 | |
| Two battalions of regiment Del Rey with Malaspina, at Villarcayo | 1,000 | |
| Part of the 4th Division, cut off and retreating on Santander | 2,200 | |
| 11,600 | ||
This leaves 26,040 available at Espinosa; the real figure was probably somewhat smaller.
[443] Malaspina had two battalions of Del Rey, and the Betanzos and Monterrey militia. (Journal of Blake’s Operations in the Vaughan Papers.)