[909] These are his own words, in his Report of August 2.
[910] Foy to Reille, July 20.
[911] Reille to Soult, July 27.
[912] The tall hat is vouched for by George L’Estrange of the 31st, and Wachholz from Ross’s brigade, the furled umbrella by Bainbrigge of the 20th, all eye-witnesses, whose narratives are among the few detailed accounts of this retreat.
[913] Words overheard by Bainbrigge in his own company.
[914] See Quartermaster-General to Picton, enclosing letter for Cole, sent off from Lesaca on July 23 (Supplementary Dispatches, viii. pp. 112-13), which must have reached Picton at Olague on the 24th.
[915] This seems a more controvertible plea. Orders went out from Lesaca on the 23rd, and must have reached Picton not very late in the day on the 24th. Supposing he had marched from Olague on the afternoon of the 24th, he would have been at Zubiri (only 6 miles off) on that same night, or even at Viscarret. And from Zubiri to Roncesvalles is not an excessive day’s march for the 25th, especially when firing was to be heard at the front.
[916] The remaining four were in the Caçador battalion of Stubbs’s Portuguese brigade.
[917] Unfortunately all French losses are given en bloc for the six days July 27 to August 1, and the casualties of each day cannot be disentangled. The casualties of Maya and Roncesvalles can be ascertained, but not those of the subsequent days.
[918] Viz. about 6,000 of Cole’s division, 5,000 of his own, 1,700 of Byng’s brigade, 2,500 of Campbell’s Portuguese at Eugui, only a few miles away, and something under 4,000 of Morillo’s Spaniards.