And here is his story, in the course of which the reader must make what he can of the curious fact that the cavalry on both sides were chiefly Germans!
"Our regiment was moved to the village of Fuentes d'Onoro, a few miles nearer Almeida. A great part of the way we moved through a wood of oak trees, in which the inhabitants of the surrounding villages had herds of swine feeding; here the voice of the cuckoo was never mute; night and day its simple notes were heard in every quarter of the wood.
"The village we now occupied was in Spain…. The site of the village was beautiful and romantic; it lay in a sort of ravine, down which a small river brawled over an irregular rocky bed, in some places forming precipitous falls of many feet; the acclivity on each side was occasionally abrupt, covered with trees and thick brush-wood. Three leagues to the left of our front lay the villages of Gallegos and Espeja, in and about which our Light Division and cavalry were quartered. Between this and Fuentes lay a large wood, which, receding on the right, formed a plain, flanked by a deep ravine, being a continuation of that in which the village lay. In our rear was another plain, on which our army subsequently formed, and behind that, in a valley, Villa Fermosa, the river Coa running past it.
"We had not been many days here when we received intelligence that the light troops were falling back upon our village, the enemy having recrossed the Agueda in great force, for the purpose of relieving Almeida, which we had blockaded. On the morning we received this intelligence (3rd May, 1811), our regiment turned out of the town, and took up their position with the rest of the division on a plain some distance behind it. The morning was uncommonly beautiful; the sun shone bright and warm; the various odoriferous shrubs, which were scattered profusely around, perfumed the air, and the woods rang with the song of birds.
"The Light Division and cavalry falling back, followed by the columns of the French, the various divisions of the army assembling on the plain from different quarters, their arms glittering in the sun; bugles blowing, drums beating, the various staff officers galloping about to different parts of the line giving orders, formed a scene which realized to my mind all that I had ever read of feats of arms, or the pomp of war—a scene which no one could behold unmoved, or without feeling a portion of that enthusiasm which always accompanies 'deeds of high daring'; a scene justly conceived, and well described by Moore, in the beautiful song:—
Oh, the sight entrancing
When the morning's beam is glancing
O'er files array'd
With helm and blade
And plumes in the gay wind dancing!