♦Communication with the Isle of Leon.♦
Villatte anticipated their movements, and fell upon both flanks of Lardizabal’s advance at the same time; at first he had the advantage, ... but the regiment of Murcia, under its Colonel D. Juan Maria Muñoz, checked his progress, Lardizabal with a battalion of the Canaries attacked his right, and the Spanish guards, and the regiment of Africa, under Brigadier D. Raymundo Ferrer, and Colonel D. Tomas Retortillo, charged with the bayonet. The enemy were routed, and the communication with the Isle of Leon was thus opened by this well-conducted and successful attack. Two battalions of the French escaped and carried off their field-pieces, the nature of the ground saving them. Lapeña’s first object was thus accomplished, and in order to maintain the important position that he had gained, which had in its front a thick pine forest, extending to Chiclana, and which he apprehended the enemy would use their utmost efforts to recover, he directed, in concert with General Graham, that the British troops should move down from Barrosa towards the Torre de Bermeja, leaving some Spanish regiments under Brigadier Begines upon the heights. The position which it was intended to occupy is formed by a narrow woody ridge, the right on the sea cliff, the left falling down to the creek of Almansa on the edge of a marsh. From the position of Barrosa to that of Bermeja, the communication is easy, along a hard sandy beach upon the west. General Graham’s division had halted on the eastern slope; his road therefore lay through the wood, and having sent cavalry patroles toward Chiclana, who saw nothing of the enemy, he began his march about noon.
General Lacy, the chief of the Spanish staff, was sent forward by Lapeña to maintain the heights of Bermeja; here it was that the danger was apprehended; and the firing had recommenced in that direction. The nature of the ground was such, that what was passing at Barrosa could not be seen at Bermeja; perhaps there was a deficiency in those arrangements, by which, in a well-organized army, information of what is passing in one part is rapidly conveyed to another; and there was certainly the want of a good intelligence between General Graham and the Spanish commander under whom he had consented to act. The British troops had proceeded about half way, and were in the middle of the wood, when they were informed that the enemy was appearing in force upon the plain, and advancing towards the heights of Barrosa. That position General Graham considered as the key to that of Santi Petri, and immediately countermarched in order to support the troops who had been left for its defence.
♦Heights of Barrosa.♦
The heights of Barrosa extend to the shore on one side, and slope down to the plain on the other towards a lake called the Laguna del Puerco: the ridge itself was called Cabeza del Puerco by the Spaniards, but it will retain the better name which was this day acquired for it. Victor with 8000 men advanced against this point. The troops which had been left there were the regiments of Siguenza and Cantabria, a battalion of Ciudad Real, another of the Walloon guards, and a battalion of the King’s German legion. Ignorant of Graham’s movements, and knowing themselves unable to maintain the post against such very superior numbers, they thought it best to form a junction with the British, whose rear they should by this means cover, and be themselves covered on the way by the pine forest through which they were to pass. Accordingly they made this movement with perfect coolness and in perfect order, General Whittingham covering one flank, Brigadier D. Juan de la Cruz Mourgeon the other; for on both sides the enemy endeavoured to envelope them.
♦General Graham marches back to the heights.♦
Graham, meantime, was marching rapidly back, but at a distance from the shore; whereas these troops kept near it, apparently to lessen the danger of being turned on that side by the enemy’s light infantry. In such intricate and difficult circumstances it was impossible to preserve order in the columns; and before the troops were quite disentangled from the wood, they saw that the detachment which they were hastening to support had left the heights; that the left wing of the French were rapidly ascending there, and their right stood upon the plain, on the edge of the wood within cannon shot. General Graham’s object in countermarching had been to support the troops in maintaining the heights; “but a retreat,” he says, “in the face of such an enemy (already within reach of the easy communication by the sea beach) must have involved the whole allied army in all the danger of being attacked during the unavoidable confusion of the different corps arriving on the narrow ridge of Bermeja nearly at the same time.” Trusting, therefore, to the courage of his men, and regardless of the numbers and position of the enemy, he resolved immediately to attack them.
♦Battle of Barrosa.♦
Marshal Victor commanded the French; General Ruffin, whose name was well known in the history of this wicked war, commanded the left upon the hill; General Leval the right. Graham formed his troops as rapidly as the circumstances required; there was no time to restore order in his columns, which had unavoidably been broken in marching through the wood. The brigade of guards, Lieutenant-Colonel Browne’s flank battalion of the 28th, Lieutenant-Colonel Norcott’s two companies of the 2nd rifle corps, and Major Acheson, with a part of the 57th (separated from the regiment in the wood), formed on the right under Brigadier-General Dilkes. Colonel Wheatley’s brigade, with three companies of the Coldstream guards, under Lieutenant-Colonel Jackson, (separated likewise from his battalion in the wood,) and Lieutenant-Colonel Barnard’s flank battalion, formed on the left; Major Duncan, opening a powerful battery of ten guns in the centre, protected the formation of the infantry; and as soon as they were thus hastily got together, the guns were advanced to a more favourable position, and kept up a most destructive fire.
Leval’s division, notwithstanding the havoc which this battery made, continued to advance in imposing masses, opening its fire of musketry. The British left wing advanced against it, firing. The three companies of guards, and the 87th, supported by the remainder of the wing, charged them with right British bravery; Colonel Bilson with the 28th, and Lieutenant-Colonel Prevost with part of the 67th, zealously supported their attack, which was decisive in this part of the field. An eagle, the first which the British had won, was taken. It belonged to the 8th regiment of light infantry, and bore a gold collar round its neck, because that regiment had so distinguished itself as to have received the thanks of Buonaparte in person. The enemy were closely pursued across a narrow valley, and a reserve, which they had formed beyond it, was charged in like manner, and in like manner put to the rout. General Dilkes was equally successful on his side. Ruffin, confident in his numbers and in his position, met him on the ascent. A bloody contest ensued, but of no long duration, for the best troops of France have never been able to stand against the British bayonet. Ruffin was wounded and taken, and the enemy driven from the heights in confusion. In less than an hour and a half they were in full retreat, and in that short time more than 4000 men had fallen, ... for the British loss in killed and wounded amounted to 1243; not a single British soldier was taken. The French loss was more than 3000. General Bellegrade was killed, General Rousseau mortally wounded and taken; the prisoners were only 440, because there was no pursuit.