[90] Souham had anticipated St. Cyr’s orders, and started to advance from Vendrell before his chief’s dispatch from Igualada came to hand.
[91] Two battalions of miqueletes (Lerida and 1st of Tarragona), 300 cavalry, a field-battery, and a battalion of Reding’s own regiment of Swiss, about 2,100 men in all.
[92] Col. Doyle was present at this council: his account of it is in the Record Office. He declares that he himself was all for fighting, that Reding wavered, and the majority refused to take risks.
[93] There is a detailed estimate of Reding’s army given by St. Cyr in his Appendix no. 11. He says that the figures were given him by ‘a Spanish general taken prisoner at Valls,’ which must mean the Marquis of Casteldosrius, the only officer of that rank captured. The names of nearly all the battalions cited in this list are to be verified, either in Reding’s dispatch or in the narrative of Cabanes—all indeed except the regiment of Baza, and the three Miquelet Tercios, 1st and 2nd of Tarragona and Lerida. But it is probable that Casteldosrius gave St. Cyr a morning state of the whole army collected at Santa Coloma on the twenty-fourth, and that these corps (with a total force of 3,000 men) formed part of the force left with Wimpffen at Santa Coloma. I am driven to this conclusion by the statement of Doyle in his letter written from Santa Coloma, on the day before the battle, that Reding was marching “with 500 horse and a little over 10,000 foot,” for Tarragona. Doyle is arguing in favour of fighting, and has no object in understating the numbers. His figures are borne out by all the Spanish narratives. The force must have stood as follows:—
| Infantry. | |
| Granadan Division: | |
| Reding’s Swiss (one batt.) | 500 |
| Iliberia (or 1st of Granada) | 1,860 |
| Santa Fé (two batts.) | 2,300 |
| 1st of Antequera | 1,100 |
| 5,760 | |
| From the Old Catalan Army: | |
| Guards [150 Spanish, 280 Walloons] | 430 |
| Soria | 1,000 |
| 2nd of Savoia | 800 |
| Provincial Grenadiers of Old and New Castile | 1,300 |
| Wimpffen’s Swiss (two batts.) | 1,140 |
| Palma Militia | 350 |
| 5,020 | |
| Cavalry. | |
| Husares of Granada | 450 |
| Husares Españoles | 250 |
| 700 | |
| Artillery. | |
| 2 batteries, 8 guns | 200 |
| Sappers. | |
| 1 Company | 100 |
| Total | 11,800 |
[[Erratum from p. xii]: I have found from a Madrid document that part, though not the whole, of the Regiment of Baza was present at Valls. One battalion was left behind with Wimpffen: one marched with Reding: about 800 men therefore must be added to my estimate of the Spanish infantry.]
[94] These details are from Doyle’s letter of Feb. 24, in the Record Office.
[95] The French forces engaged at Valls were:—
- Souham’s Division:
- 1st Léger (three batts.).
- 42nd of the Line (three batts.).
- Provisional regiment:
- [One batt. each of 3rd Léger and 67th Line, two batts. 7th Line.]
- 10 battalions, about 5,500 men.
- 24th Dragoons, about 500 men, two batteries.
- Pino’s Division:
- 1st Italian Light Regiment (three batts.).
- 2nd Italian Light Regiment (three batts.).
- 4th Line (three batts.).
- 6th Line (three batts.).
- 7th Line (one batt.).
- 13 battalions, about 6,500 men.
- 7th Italian Dragoons (‘Dragoons of Napoleon’) and Italian Royal Chasseurs, together about 800 men.
Total about 13,800 men, a force somewhat superior to that of the Spaniards, if the latter had only the corps given in the last table.