15th
Marched and bivouacked near Matilla.
16th
Marched a few miles in the direction of Salamanca.
17th
Marched and forded the Rio Tormes above the town, bivouacked in a wood for the night. General Hill remained with the 2nd Division on the Alentejo frontier, as a check upon Marshal Soult's army, which was in Andaluçia. In May, General Hill, with his Division, took two forts near Almaraz, on the Tagus, by storm, viz. Fort Napoleon and Fort Ragusa, and some works of minor importance. My two brothers were in these affairs.
The enemy retired from Salamanca as the British army approached, merely skirmishing occasionally with our Dragoons as they made a forward movement. But a fort and two strong redoubts were constructed, which commanded the bridge and were occupied by a body of the enemy. They were formed out of two convents, and were placed in the heart of the town. The 6th Division was ordered to invest them, and it was droll enough to see numbers of officers belonging to regiments in bivouac coming into the town for curiosity, to see how the investment went on. I, with many others, went into a belfry which quite commanded the works. The enemy fired a shot at the church, and said if people were allowed to go into the belfry they would blow it down.
18th
Was in bivouac near Rio Seco, the whole army in position, and the French under Marshal Marmont concentrating his force in front of us. Very much exposed to the sun's rays and very little shade; for miles all round scarcely a tree of any consequence to be seen. This was directly opposite in appearance to the country we had passed through between Rodrigo and Salamanca, which was a perfect picture of nature as portrayed in her loveliest attire; woods, with rich and fertile meadows and rills intersecting them, having water of the clearest kind, and the most inviting shade on their banks. There is nothing in life half so pleasant to the tired soldier after marching all day under a moderate load for a good-sized donkey to find these comforts at the end of his journey.