Spanish and Portuguese South America during the Colonial Period; Vol. 2 of 2

by Robert Grant Watson

General Auchmuty was the first to arrive. Taking with him the fourteen hundred men whom Popham had landed at Maldonado, and likewise three hundred men from the fleet, he invested Monte Video on the 28th of January. He was attacked by Sobremonte, with some mounted militia, but who were quickly dispersed, and who retired to Colonia. Auchmuty then established his batteries, and commenced to bombard Monte Video from the south. On the 2d of February the breach was declared practicable, and at daylight on the 3d the general ordered an assault.

An English writer, who as a youth was present at the assault on Monte Video, gives a vivid picture of the scene. Arriving with high hopes in the river Plata, in December 1806, the author of “Letters on Paraguay,” and his fellow-travellers, learned to their dismay that Buenos Ayres had been retaken by the Spaniards, and that General Beresford and his army were prisoners. Sir Samuel Auchmuty was now investing Monte Video, and, with the exception of the country immediately around that town, there was no footing for Englishmen in Spanish America. The “Enterprise” was ordered to proceed to the roadstead, there, together with hundreds of other ships similarly situated, to be under the orders of the English admiral.

Monte Video was strongly and regularly fortified. Its harbour presented a scene of the greatest animation; brigs-of-war were running close under the walls, and bombarding the citadel from the sea, whilst thousands of spectators on board ship were tracing, in breathless suspense, the impression made by every shell upon the town, and by every ball upon the breach. The frequent sorties made by the Spanish troops, and the repulses which they sustained, were watched with painful interest.

At length, one morning before dawn, the breach was enveloped in one mighty spread of conflagration. The roar of cannon was incessant, and the atmosphere was one dense mass of smoke, impregnated with the smell of gunpowder. By the aid of the night-glass, and by the flashes from the guns, it might be seen that a deadly struggle was going forward on the walls. It was succeeded by an awful pause; and presently the dawn of day revealed the British ensign floating from the battlements. The sight was received by a shout of triumph from the fleet.

That day the travellers might land, and might view the scene of the terrible carnage which had ensued. The grenadier company of the 40th regiment, missing the breach, had been annihilated. Colonel Vassall, of the 38th regiment, had been the first to mount, and whilst waving his sword had fallen, shot through the heart. The breach had been barricaded again and again with piles of tallow in skins, and with bullocks’ hides, which as they gave way carried the assailants with them on to the points of the enemy’s bayonets. The carnage on both sides was dreadful and was long uninterrupted; and piles of wounded, or of dead and dying, were to be seen on every side, whilst sufferers were being conveyed on litters to the hospitals and churches.

This writer bears the highest testimony to the discipline of the British troops as well as to the energy and philanthropy of their general, owing to which a speedy stop was put to the scenes of pillage which invariably accompany the capture of a fortified city. But to those who have witnessed the terrible effects produced by a bombardment, it is astonishing how quickly its results may be made to disappear, and such was now the case at Monte Video. In a week or two, says Mr. Robertson, the more prominent ravages of war disappeared, and in a month after the capture the inhabitants were getting as much confidence in their invaders as could possibly be expected. This early confidence was mainly attributable to the mild and equitable government of the commander-in-chief, Sir Samuel Auchmuty, who permitted the civil institutions of the country to remain unchanged, and who showed the greatest affability to all classes. The hundreds of vessels in the harbour now discharged their human freight, who were able somehow to procure accommodation on shore; and Monte Video soon began to have the appearance of being an English town, since to its mixed population of Spaniards, Creoles, and Mulattoes were added some four thousand English soldiers, together with two thousand merchants, traders, and adventurers of the same nation.

The loss of the Spaniards in the assault had been seven hundred men. The garrison, together with its commander General Huïdobro, became prisoners, six hundred of whom were despatched to England. The news of the capture of Monte Video produced such commotion in Buenos Ayres, that the people who could not yet readily believe that they were not invincible, chose to impute the blame to Sobremonte. He was accordingly solemnly deposed by a popular vote, the chief authority being vested in the High Court of Justice, pending the receipt of orders from Spain, whither Sobremonte was sent. Thus the province of Buenos Ayres was in full course of revolution. It was the people who had taken the lead in every movement which had followed the attack on Beresford; but as they were acting against the enemies of the King of Spain, everything was done in the name of that monarch, even to the degradation and dismissal of his Viceroy. The High Court of Justice, to which was temporarily confided the executive power, was composed exclusively of Spaniards. The magistrates, though they did not fail to perceive the revolutionary tendency of events, were yet aware that the Creoles alone were in a position to withstand the English; they therefore yielded to the current. The leaders of the revolutionary party took advantage of the complaisance of the Spanish authorities; and the municipality, who were greatly influenced by popular meetings, assumed every day greater importance.

On the capture of Monte Video the English established themselves in that most desirable place in a manner which showed that they had every intention of retaining possession of it. Whilst General Auchmuty occupied the chief city and likewise Maldonado, Colonel Pack had driven the Spaniards from Colonia, and the side of the river Plata, which to-day belongs to the Republic of Uruguay, was then in full English possession. Already the merchant ships thronged the river-side, carrying more goods than the people could afford to buy. In Monte Video goods were sold at a hundred per cent. less than the prices which, owing to Custom-House exactions, they had hitherto commanded. Even a half-English, half-Spanish journal, called the “The Southern Star,” was set on foot under English auspices, with a view of proclaiming the downfall of Spain.

General Whitelocke did not reach the Plata until three months after the capture of Monte Video. He was promptly joined by General Crawford, who had been overtaken on the Atlantic by the despatch-boat sent after him. With the united force at his disposal the reconquest of Buenos Ayres and its territory seemed to the commander-in-chief, as to everybody else, a very simple affair, as indeed it was. It was impossible to conceive that where a force of sixteen hundred men had in the first instance succeeded, one of ten thousand of the same army should fail. The reason, however, is not far to seek. It lay in the difference between Beresford and Whitelocke.

The English force was divided into four brigades. The first, composed of a battalion of rifles and one of infantry of the line, was commanded by General Crawford; the second, composed of three battalions, was led by Sir Samuel Auchmuty; the third, of two battalions and a regiment of dismounted dragoons, was under General Lumley; the fourth, likewise of two battalions and a regiment of dismounted dragoons, was under Colonel Mahon. The mounted batteries were kept in reserve, under the immediate orders of the commander-in-chief. The entire effective force amounted to nearly ten thousand men, some two thousand having been left for the defence of Monte Video, together with a small body of militia composed of all the English residents.