[288] Le Noble (pp. 157-8), and Napier following him, say that the Portuguese murdered their commander, Brigadier-General Vallongo, when the bridges were forced, tore him in pieces, and buried his scattered members in a dunghill. It is a relief to know from Da Luz Soriano, the Portuguese historian, that nothing of the kind occurred, and that there was no officer of the name of Vallongo in the Portuguese army.
[289] Apparently the regiments of Oporto, Baltar, Feira, and Villa de Conde.
[290] I draw these deductions from Beresford’s and Eben’s reports in the Record Office. Beresford (writing to Castlereagh on March 29, the day of the storm) complains that he can get no proper ‘morning states’ out of the officers at Oporto, but says that the Bishop has there nos. 6 and 18 of the line, Vittoria’s two battalions and the wrecks of the 2nd Lusitanian Legion. He speaks of two or three militia regiments, 9,000 armed citizens, and an indefinite number of Ordenanza. Eben gives some details concerning his own doings. Da Luz Soriano mentions Champlemond and his battalion of the 21st of the line. As to the Ordenanza, 9,000 seems a high estimate for the local Oporto horde, for that town with 70,000 souls had already supplied two regiments of the line, two battalions of the Lusitanian Legion, and a militia regiment, 6,500 men in all.
[291] Le Noble, p. 161.
[292] Some of the French writers say that Foy was taken prisoner while carrying a flag of truce and a second letter for the Bishop’s eye. But what really seems to have happened was that he conceived a notion that one of the Portuguese outposts wished to surrender, rode in amongst them, and began to urge them to lay down their arms. But they seized him and sent him to the rear; his companion, the chef de bataillon Roger, drew his sword and tried to cut his way back to his men, whereupon he was bayonetted. One cannot blame the Portuguese, for officers, in time of truce, have no right to come within the enemy’s lines, still less to urge his troops to desertion. Foy proved that he was not Loison by holding up his two hands. Loison being one-handed (as his nickname Maneta shows), the populace at once saw that they had made a mistake. I follow the narrative in Girod de l’Ain’s new life of Foy (p. 78), corroborated by Le Noble (p. 162). Napier (ii. p. 57), of course, gives a version unfavourable to the Portuguese.
[293] Le Noble, and Napier following him, state that the breach in the bridge was caused merely by some of the central pontoons sinking under the weight of the passing multitude. Hennegan, who was present in Oporto that day, says the same. But it seems safer to follow Da Luz Soriano and other Portuguese witnesses, who state that no such accident occurred, but that the early fugitives pulled up the drawbridge in order to stay the pursuit, reckless as to the fate of those who were behind them. Historians telling a story to the discredit of their own party may generally be trusted.
[294] E.g. the 21st of the line had even in September, nearly six months after the storm, only 193 men under arms.
[295] Fantin des Odoards, Journal, April 28, p. 226.
[297] On Feb. 1 the force was, présents sous les armes, 7,692 infantry, about 1,000 cavalry, and 200 gunners.