20th
Light Division moved through Galizes and went into bivouac in a fir grove near Vendas Novas. The French rear-guard was vigorously pursued by the cavalry and Horse Artillery, who took numbers of prisoners and stragglers. We found numbers of tumbrils, carts, waggons, and other articles abandoned by the French. Occasionally we found Portuguese peasants that had been most wantonly shot by the enemy.
21st
The Light Division marched on to the fir groves above Maceira and bivouacked. Two hundred more of the enemy taken by the cavalry.
22nd
Went into houses at Moimenta da Serva in consequence of the weather being very bad. Several of the poor people gave us a melancholy account of the cruelties they had suffered from the French; and in every village on the line of their march they had murdered many of the inhabitants in a most savage manner. A priest in the above village dead, and his body mutilated.
23rd
Marched in front of Sampayo and bivouacked in a wood.
24th