History of the Peninsular War, Volume 4 (of 6)

by Robert Southey

♦Trant retreats to the Vouga.♦

On the evening of the 28th the enemy’s cavalry entered Boyalva, driving in a piquet of the Light Dragoons. It is an open village, on the western slope of the hill, where there is no defile, and where the ground is not broken. Trant was then at Sardam, where, during the following day and night, he occupied one half the united villages, the enemy’s cavalry occupying the other. As he could no longer be of service here, and was aware that he should be attacked in the course of the day if he remained longer, early on the 30th he resolved to retire behind the Vouga. La Croix, who, with a column of horse, was scouring the country upon the right flank of the invading army, fell in with his outposts, attacked them, and drove them in with the loss of one officer and five-and-twenty men[22]. The infantry, by good fortune, had effected their passage; they formed in defence of the bridge, and La Croix having no infantry, did not attempt to force it. The Vouga was at this time fordable, and therefore Trant marched in the night to Oliveira, on the Porto road, from whence, if it should be necessary, he could in one day reach the Douro, and cross it for the defence of that city. There were then no other troops to defend it, and if the enemy had pursued, Porto might have been a second time in their power. That this was not done is not surprising, because it did not consist with the scheme of Massena’s operations; but that the French should have neglected so fair an opportunity of dispersing Trant’s force, which if not dispersed might be expected presently to harass their rear, must be accounted among those errors with which the whole course of human events is marked, and in which the religious mind perceives the superintendence of a higher power than man.

♦The allies cross the Mondego.♦

The allies being on the shorter line to Coimbra, were sufficiently in advance of the enemy for all their movements to be conducted with the same coolness and order which had characterized the whole retreat. On the 30th the infantry crossed from Coimbra into the great Lisbon road. The rear-guard of cavalry bivouacked in front of Fornos, and remained bridled up all night, in a very dangerous situation, the enemy having pushed a strong force close to ♦Oct. 1.♦ them. In the morning they were driven in some confusion through Fornos by a large body of horse and foot: they formed on the great plain of Coimbra, and the French seeing the three brigades of cavalry with six guns of the horse artillery ready to receive them, did not venture to leave the inclosures. Before noon the rear-guard received orders to retire, and crossed the Mondego accordingly at the fords near S. Martinho do Bispo. The enemy pushed on their horse, came up just as the passage had been effected, and attempted to cross, as if in pursuit: they were charged, and driven back by a squadron of the 16th, after which they dismounted, and fired with their carbines ineffectually across the river. The passage might have been defended with good prospect of success, but this was not consistent with Lord Wellington’s plans, which were to draw the French to a point where they should be at the greatest distance from their resources, and where his own would be at hand.

♦1810.
October.
Flight of the inhabitants from Coimbra.♦

When it was known in Coimbra that the enemy were approaching, and the retreat of the British made it evident that the city would be at their mercy, a cry soon arose that the French had actually entered, and the whole of the inhabitants who had not yet provided for their safety ran shrieking toward the bridge. On all other sides they were cut off from flight. The bridge, which is long and narrow, was presently choked by the crowd of fugitives; and multitudes in the hurry of their fear rushed into the Mondego, and made their way through the water, which was in many parts three or four feet deep. The gateway, which was the city prison, is near the bridge, and the screams of the prisoners, who beheld this scene of terror from their grates, and expected something far more dreadful from the cruelty of the French than they had reason to apprehend from the laws of their own country, were heard amid all the uproar and confusion. Lord Wellington heard them, and in compassion sent his aide-de-camp, Lord March, to set them at liberty.

♦The French enter Coimbra.♦

Massena expected to find great resources in Coimbra, a large and flourishing city situated in the finest part of a beautiful and fertile country. He found it utterly deserted, like every place which the French had hitherto entered on their march. With the intent of securing the stores, he forbade all pillage, and gave orders that only the brigade which was to be left in garrison there should enter. In defiance of these orders Junot commanded his men to make their way in, and break open the houses, as the owners had thought proper to abandon them. Such directions were eagerly obeyed; the men forced the guard, which, in pursuance of Massena’s instructions, had been stationed at the gate of S. Sophia; the other troops immediately joined them in their occupation, and Massena neither attempted to enforce his own orders, nor manifested any displeasure during the scene of wanton waste and havoc which ensued. The magazines of the allied army had been removed, and Montbrun, who was dispatched to Figueira for the chance of overtaking them there, arrived too late: but provision enough, it is said, was found in Coimbra to have served the enemy for a month’s consumption, if proper measures had been adopted for its preservation. The people who so unanimously forsook their homes had had neither time nor means for removing their property. So long as it was uncertain in which direction the invaders would move, and while a possibility remained that they might be successfully resisted upon the way, the people of Coimbra had lived in hope that this dire necessity might be averted; and when it came upon them, so many cars were required for the sick and wounded, and other services of the enemy, that few or none were left for them.

♦The Portugueze people fly before the enemy.♦

It is the custom throughout the south of India, that when a hostile army approaches, the natives bury their treasure, forsake their houses, take with them as much food as they can carry, and seek the protection of some strong place, or conceal themselves among the woods and mountains. People in these deplorable circumstances are called the Wulsa of the district. The Wulsa has never been known to depart on the approach of a British force, if unaccompanied by Indian allies. This, however, is no peculiar honour of the British name; it belongs rather to the European character, for no such spectacle had ever been exhibited in European warfare till the present campaign. The orders of the Regency and of the commander-in-chief might have been issued in vain, if the Portugueze people had not from cruel experience felt the necessity of this measure for their individual safety. The alternative was dreadful, and yet better than that of remaining at the mercy of such invaders. It was a miserable sight to see them accompanying the columns of the retreating army, well-ordered as the movements of that army were, and resolutely, as on the few occasions which were offered, it met and checked the pursuers. All ranks and conditions were confounded in the general calamity: families accustomed to the comforts of a delightful climate and fruitful country followed the troops on foot; there was no security for age, or sex, or childhood, but in flight[23]. Every thing was left behind them except what the women could carry; for even in this extremity the men very generally observed the national prejudice, which deems it disgraceful for man to bear a burthen.