[645] Letter in Sidney’s Life of Hill, p. 211.
[646] viz. the 2/4th, 1/5th, 1/38th, 1/42nd, which had arrived in time for the battle of Salamanca, the 1/38th on the very battle morning, and the 1/82nd which came up after the battle. They were all Walcheren regiments: 1/82nd came from Gibraltar, 2/4th from Ceuta, the other three from England direct. The 1/5th and 2/82nd went on to Madrid in September.
[647] Wellington to Bathurst, Cuellar, August 4. Dispatches, ix. p. 339.
[648] Memorandum for General Clinton, to be communicated to General Santocildes. Dispatches, ix. pp. 344-6.
[649] It is curious to find that while in the ‘Memorandum’ of August 4 Wellington states that it is ‘not very probable’ that Clausel will move, in a letter to Santocildes sent off the very next day, he remarks that an advance from Burgos into the kingdom of Leon, to relieve Astorga, is ‘most likely.’ I fancy that the former was his real opinion, and that the latter was spoken of with some stress in the directions to Santocildes, mainly because Wellington wished to impress on the Spaniard the duty of being cautious and retiring to the Esla without offering battle.
[650] The 1st and 7th Divisions alone were up to their usual strength. The 4th and Light Divisions were still showing very weak battalions, owing to their dreadful Badajoz losses; and the former had also suffered very severely (1,000 casualties) at Salamanca. The 5th and 3rd had comparatively moderate casualties at each of these fights, but the combination of the two successive sets of losses had reduced them very considerably.
[651] Dyneley’s diary in R. A. Journal, vol. xxiii. p. 454.
[652] Many of the brigades did not march through Segovia, but by crossroads around it: steep gradients and fatigue were thereby avoided. One route was by the deserted palace of Rio Frio, an old royal hunting-box.
[653] All this from D’Urban’s unpublished diary, as are also most of the details about the movements of the troops.
[654] Reiset’s Souvenirs, ii. pp. 358-60.