The battles of the world

by J. Douglas Borthwick

About this time, Napoleon, dissatisfied with the slow progress of the siege, sent Marshal Lannes to assume the command. This officer directed Mortier, with his division, to leave Calatayud, and to act on the left of the Ebro. Mortier attacked the force of Francisco Palafox, and succeeded in dispersing it with very considerable loss. Lannes, in order to depress the hopes of the garrison of external assistance, addressed a letter to Palafox, communicating this circumstance, and all the other disasters which had befallen the Spanish armies. But the mortifying intelligence thus conveyed, did not shake the firmness of the undaunted leader. He rejected all compromise, and continued, with undiminished vigour, to oppose every possible obstacle to the progress of the enemy.

All the outworks of the place had now fallen, except the castle of the Inquisition, which had been subjected to no serious attack. The newly-raised works of the Enceinte had been battered by fifty-five guns, and, on the 27th January, three breaches were declared practicable. One was near an oil-mill, which stood without the walls of the place, though but little removed from them. The second was to the left of this, between the convent of St. Joseph and the town. The third was in the convent of Sta. Engracia. All these were attacked. At mid-day, a column issued from the oil-mill, which had been occupied over-night, and, rapidly clearing the short distance which divided it from the walls, entered the breach, unbroken by the heavy fire to which they were exposed, and the explosion of two fougasses. Having reached the summit, the assailants found an interior retrenchment armed with two guns, which the garrison had unexpectedly erected to obstruct their progress. They attempted, without success, to surmount this obstacle, under a shower of grape, musketry and grenades. Forced to retire, the besiegers took advantage of the cover afforded by the exploded fougasses to effect a lodgment on the breach.

The breach in face of St. Joseph presented fewer obstacles to be overcome. The column of attack having reached the summit, succeeded in occupying the opposite house, which the artillery, in firing on the wall, had laid open. The houses adjoining were then gained; and on the right of the breach they found a gate which afforded another entrance into the town. Here, however, their progress was arrested by a battery of the enemy, commanding a court which it was necessary to pass. On the left, a double caponnier, which the garrison had used to communicate with St. Joseph’s, was repaired and lengthened to the breach.

The attack on Sta. Engracia was yet more successful. After a severe struggle, the assailants gained the breach of the convent, but in attempting to advance further, they met a spirited repulse. Another effort was made, which terminated in their gaining possession of the building. The curtain leading from Sta. Engracia to the bridge of the Huerba was then enfiladed, and, taking the tête-de-pont in reverse, the enemy at once became masters of that important post. Here they were joined by fresh troops, and, pushing on within the curtain of the convent of Mount Carmel, made an effort to gain possession of it, which met with a repulse.

From thence they advanced rapidly to the Capuchin convent, putting forty artillerymen, who constituted the whole of its garrison, to the sword, The assailants then established themselves along the rampart, in order to guard the posts they had been successful in acquiring.

A dreadful fire was soon opened on the besiegers from the houses commanding the rampart. From this they in vain sought shelter among the ruins of the half-demolished walls. Retreat became necessary, and the column was directed to retire on the Puerta del Carmen. The garrison, by a bold attack, regained possession of the Capuchin convent; but two battalions coming up to reinforce the assailants, it was again taken, and maintained, though at a dear price, by the enemy.

During the night, a strong but unsuccessful effort was made by the besieged to regain possession of the convents of Sta. Engracia and the Capuchins. The result of these operations were the loss to the besieged of fifteen guns and 200 prisoners, and that the enemy gained footing in the city at two different points. The loss in killed and wounded, by the French accounts, was nearly equal on both sides. It amounted to about 600.

The misfortunes of the Zaragozans were hourly accumulating. The fever demon stalked through the city like a destroying angel, conquering and to conquer. The number of dead per day amounted to 350, without including those who fell the more immediate victims of war. The hospitals were too small to contain the host of patients, and the medicines were exhausted. The burying grounds were choked with corpses; and large pits were dug in the streets, into which the dead were tossed indiscriminately. Heaps of bloated and putrescent bodies were piled before the churches, which were often struck by the shells; and the maimed and ghastly carcasses lay dispersed along the streets, a frightful spectacle of horror. Even under such evils the courage of the Zaragozans did not quail.

The city was now open to the invaders, and the war, as formerly, was carried on in the streets and houses. Not one inch of ground was yielded by the besieged without a struggle; and when finally driven from a building, they frequently, by a desperate offensive effort, recovered it; and an equal resistance had again to be encountered by the assailants. Traverses were cut around the portions of the city occupied by the enemy; and at the sound of the tocsin, the garrison were ever ready to rush to any quarter where hostilities had commenced.

Palafox, however, did not limit his efforts to obstructing the progress of the enemy; he made vigorous efforts to recover the ground already lost, and drive the assailants from their stations. Two attempts were made to regain the convent of the Capuchins. Both failed. A third more powerful effort was made on the 31st. A breach was effected during the day, and at night the assault took place. The besieged advanced with signal resolution towards the breach, but owing to a ditch sunk by the enemy, it was found impossible to mount it. They then threw themselves on the floor of the church, and endeavoured to force it. In spite of the fire from the windows, and the grenades showered from the steeple, they maintained their ground, and forced the door; but an epaulement within obstructed their progress; and fresh troops being brought up by the enemy, the project was at length renounced.