Meantime, in consequence of this inactivity, in dereliction of all duty, on Ballasteros’s part, and of the inefficiency of the Anglo-Sicilian army, Marshal Soult and Suchet were enabled, without any impediment, to concert their operations with the Intruder, and carry them ♦Gen. Maitland gives up the command of the Anglo-Sicilian army.♦ into effect. General Maitland’s health gave way under the anxieties of his situation, so that it became necessary for him to return to Sicily. Major-General William Clinton was sent from thence to take the command in his stead, and till his arrival, it devolved upon Major-General John Mackenzie. That general made an attempt to seize the castle of Denia by a coup-de-main: from its strength and its position on commanding ground close to the sea it might have easily been maintained against the enemy, and would have afforded great opportunity for annoying ♦Unsuccessful attempt upon Denia.♦ him. Major-General Donkin, Quarter-Master-General of this army, was intrusted with the enterprise; it failed, but the men and guns which had been landed were re-embarked with ♦The French prepare to march from the south against Lord Wellington.♦ little loss. Knowing that nothing was to be apprehended from this army in its present state, Marshals Jourdan, Soult, and Suchet, held a counsel in presence of the Intruder, at Fuente la Higuera. They had feared at one time that it might have been necessary to abandon Valencia: that apprehension was removed, and they now believed that, as the long and brave resistance which had been made by the garrison at Burgos had given the army of Portugal time to recover strength and to unite with the troops in the north, nothing more was required for restoring their affairs, than that the armies of the south and the centre should co-operate with it, for the double purpose of beating Lord Wellington, and re-establishing the Intrusive government at Madrid. It was not deemed necessary to take any part of Suchet’s forces for this service; the state of Aragon and Catalonia on the one hand, and the presence of the Anglo-Sicilian expedition on the other, made it dangerous to weaken him.
At the point where the roads from Alicante and Valencia ♦Castle of Chinchilla taken by the French.♦ to Madrid join, stands the little castle of Chinchilla; it was in possession of the Spaniards, and while the Intruder was reconnoitring it one day with a telescope, a shot from an eight-pounder passed close by him. This place the French besieged; it was ably defended by the Governor D. Juan Antonio Cearra, who was a lieutenant-colonel of engineers: but the enemy were not scrupulous as to any means which could accelerate their success; and during a night’s truce they erected a battery of eight guns, in the most advantageous situation; by this battery the works were much injured, and the garrison considerably reduced in number; and of twenty artillerymen, ♦Oct. 9.♦ there only remained eight to work the guns, when some of these men were struck dead by lightning, many more, and among them the governor, wounded by it, and the works so shaken, that it became necessary to surrender. The enemy’s preparations ♦They begin their march.♦ were complete soon after this obstacle was removed; and on the 16th of October, the Intruder set out from Valencia towards the Tagus, with Marshals Jourdan and Soult at the head of 70,000 troops, 10,000 being cavalry. Lord Wellington received intelligence of this from Sir Rowland Hill on the 21st, and the same advices informed him that the Tagus was already fordable by individuals in many places, and was likely soon to be so for an army. As long as the Tagus remained unfordable, Sir Rowland’s position was tolerably secure; but when the river fell, it became too hazardous for him to maintain an advanced position near Madrid in front of an enemy so greatly superior. It was necessary that Lord Wellington should move towards him, lest the corps under his own command should be insulated in consequence of the movements which Sir Rowland might find himself compelled to make. He determined therefore to fall back upon the Douro, so as to afford Sir Rowland a point upon which to return, and by uniting their forces, to secure a retreat into Portugal.
♦Lord Wellington raises the siege of Burgos.♦
This resolution was executed as promptly as it was formed. He instantly raised the siege, and filed his whole army in the night of the 21st under the walls of the castle and over the bridge, which was closely enfiladed by its artillery; a bold and unprecedented manœuvre, which military men adduce as a proof that the march of troops cannot be stopped by the fire of artillery in the night. The allies moved in silence and good order; but a party of Guerrillas, regardless of discipline, then, as at all times, put their horses to their speed, and the clatter which they made alarmed the garrison. A fire was consequently opened from the guns which were directed on the bridge, and the first discharge was most destructive; but the gunners then lost the range and direction, and their farther fire served only to quicken the speed of the carriages. Every thing was brought away in this retreat except the three disabled guns, and the eight pieces of the enemy which had been taken in the horn-work. The loss of the allies during the siege amounted to 24 officers and 485 men killed; 68 officers and 1487 men wounded ♦Retreat from Burgos.♦ and missing. The enemy did not begin to follow till late on the ensuing day; 10,000 of their troops encamped that day on the south of Burgos, and on the morrow at noon they came up in force with the retreating army. Sir Stapleton Cotton detained them for above three hours at the passage of the Hormaza, in front of Celada del Camino; they were twice charged there by Major-General Anson’s brigade with great success, and the rear-guard continued to fall back in the best order, till the Guerrillas on their left were driven in and came flying upon them, four or five of the enemy’s squadrons being mixed with them in pursuit. In the confusion which ensued, the French were mistaken for Spaniards, and, favoured by that mistake, they fell upon the flank and rear of the allies. Some loss was sustained, and Lieutenant-Colonel Pell, of the 16th dragoons, was taken prisoner, having had his horse shot. A very superior body of cavalry, in which the enemy were strong, now came up, and the allied cavalry fell back hastily, lest they should be surrounded; but having crossed a wide and deep ditch by a narrow bridge, the brigades of Major-Generals Bock and Anson charged their pursuers when only part had filed over: in this they were repulsed, hardly pressed, and forced upon the infantry rear-guard of German light troops under Colonel Halkett; that officer formed his troops in four squares, and the men behaving, as that legion ever did, admirably, repulsed the enemy in several charges, and checked the ♦The allies cross the Pisuerga.♦ pursuit. The right of the army crossed the Pisuerga that afternoon at Torquemada, and the left at Cordovilla, where head-quarters were established that night.
The army continued its march on the 24th towards ♦Disorders during the retreat.♦ the Carrion. Throughout the north of Castille, which is a great wine country, the wine is stowed either in caves dug in the hill sides, or excavated in the earth, the soil from the excavation being formed into a mound over them, and the entrance appearing like the chimney of a subterraneous dwelling. These cellars were now filled with new wine; the soldiers broke into them during the night, and it was not without the greatest exertions that the officers in the morning could put their battalions in march. The enemy, however, after their yesterday’s repulse were less pressing; and the whole army having that day marched twenty miles, took up its ground behind the Carrion with its right at Dueñas and its left at Villa Muriel; and here the brigade of guards which had disembarked at Coruña joined them. The retreating army did not exceed 20,000 men; the French displayed above thirty; they were confident also in the superiority of their cavalry, in that country the most efficient force; and as it is their national character to be easily elated, they might well be elated now at having baffled Lord Wellington before so poor a fortress as the castle at Burgos, and compelled him who had driven Massena out of Portugal, and routed Marmont at Salamanca, to retreat before them. English soldiers are neither lightly elated, nor soon cast down; they keep their courage on a retreat, for that never gives way; but they become disdainful of control when they have no opportunity of wreaking their wrathful feelings upon the enemy who is in pursuit, and insubordination is then the sin which most easily besets them. This was already felt, though as yet they had suffered little, and though the retreat was so deliberately made, and with so firm a face toward the enemy, that the men lost none of their confidence in their Commander.
The army halted on the 25th, and measures were taken for impeding the pursuit. A battalion of the royals was posted at Palencia, to cover the operations for destroying the bridges over the Carrion at that old city; but the French assembled there in such force that the commanding officer being attacked and overpowered, found it necessary to retire upon Villa Muriel, and the bridges were left uninjured for the pursuers to pass. Two other bridges over the same river at Villa Muriel and at Dueñas were mined, that they might be exploded on the enemy’s approach, and one in like manner over the Pisuerga at Tariago. The two former were successfully exploded, that at Villa Muriel under a fire of grape-shot from the enemy; but they discovered a ford there, and passed over a considerable body both of horse and foot. A false report that the enemy had already crossed at Tariago, delayed the commencement of the work there; the French came up before it was completed; it was exploded prematurely, and consequently to no effect; their cavalry galloped over and made the party prisoners. This enabled them to push a corps on the right into contact with the posts on the Carrion; their passing at Palencia made it necessary for Lord Wellington to change the front of his army, and this second success rendered his farther retreat difficult, and even precarious. Major-Generals Pringle and Barnes were therefore ordered to attack those who had crossed the Pisuerga; the Spanish troops co-operated in this, and the enemy were driven across the river with considerable loss. Neither could they maintain themselves upon the Carrion after having forded at Villa Muriel; the Spaniards who were employed to dislodge them, faltered in the charge, and Alava, while leading them on and in the act of encouraging them, fell badly wounded: the fall of this gallant leader did not inspire them with more courage, but the Brunswickers were then ordered to advance; those brave men ran into the village without firing a shot; the Spaniards took heart and followed them, and the French withdrew; and the fifth division under General Oswald advancing against their main body, compelled it to recross.
♦Oct. 26. The allies halt.♦
The next day the allies retreated sixteen miles without molestation, and crossed the Pisuerga at Cabezon del Campo; the bridge there was barricadoed and mined, and the army halted in its rear. The ruined bridges at Dueñas and Villa Muriel had impeded Souham’s movements, so that he did not approach till evening; he then halted his whole army ♦Oct. 27.♦ on the right bank of the Pisuerga. The morning of the 27th was foggy, but when the mist cleared, their whole force was seen encamped at about three miles’ distance. They brought up two brigades of artillery and cannonaded the town, with little other harm than that of severely wounding Lieutenant-Colonel Robe of the artillery. Being opposed to a superior fire, they made no farther attempt in front, but made considerable detachments to their right, through Cigales, with a view of getting possession of the bridge at Valladolid, and thus interposing in the rear of the retreating army. Lord Wellington had an opportunity of seeing their whole force from a high ground, and saw that they were in very great strength. On the 28th they extended their right still farther, and endeavoured in the morning to force the bridge over the Douro at Simancas, which was defended by Colonel Halkett, with his brigade of the 7th division, while the Earl of Dalhousie, with the remainder of the division, defended the bridge at Valladolid. Halkett being hard pressed blew up the bridge, and disappointed them of their passage there; at the same time he sent the Brunswick Oels regiment to Tordesillas, whither the enemy detached troops in the evening, and where also the bridge over the Douro was destroyed in time. Lord Wellington sent orders to the Brunswickers to take post on its ruins, in such manner as to prevent them from repairing it; and breaking up from the Pisuerga, he crossed the Douro on the 29th, by the bridges of Puente Douro, and Tudela, both which, and that at Quintanilla also, were blown up, and subsequently those at Toro and Zamora. The pursuers that evening displayed more enterprise than they had hitherto shown; they passed a body of men in the night of the 29th, by swimming the Douro near Tordesillas, and these gallant fellows falling upon the guard who had been left in a tower on the south end of the bridge, and looked for no attack on that side, surprised and overpowered them, and immediately fell to work to restore the communication. Lord Wellington was apprised of this in time, or it would have frustrated all his former precautions; he marched his army early on the morrow, and posted them on the heights, between Rueda and Tordesillas, immediately opposite and near the bridge: the bridge by this time had been nearly repaired, but the French had made no attempt to pass; and in that position, which he strengthened with batteries, Lord Wellington remained from the 30th till the 6th of November, the enemy meantime extending along the river from Toro to Valladolid. He thus obtained the double object of resting the troops, and gaining time for Sir Rowland Hill’s movements; for, ... though his first view had been in falling back upon the Douro to afford Sir Rowland a point upon which to retire when he should no longer be able to maintain an advanced position in front of Madrid, against the very superior force which would be brought against him, ... having seen the strength of Souham’s army, it had become necessary to order Sir Rowland to break up from the Xarama, for the purpose of securing his own retreat.
♦Sir Rowland Hill retreats from the Xarama.♦
Sir Rowland was an officer upon whom Lord Wellington might always rely with the most perfect confidence. He expected such orders, and receiving them on the 29th, intended to begin his march on the following morning; but the mine which should have destroyed the Puente Larga, on the Xarama, failed; and the enemy, who had collected a large body between that bridge and Aranjuez, immediately made an attack upon the allied post there. They were repulsed by Colonel Skerrett with considerable loss on their part, and that of some forty men on ours: this affair delayed the march of Sir Rowland’s right till the evening, the enemy however made no subsequent attempt to molest him, farther than by picking up such stragglers as fell behind for the sake of plundering and drinking; and these were numerous. The army marched all night and reached Madrid on the following morning. That capital presented ♦State of Madrid.♦ a melancholy scene: it was known that these allies could make no attempt to defend it, and that their retreat would be followed by the entrance of the enemy; and two days before, when the Military and Provisional Government were about to transfer their authority to the Ayuntamiento, that body dissolved itself, regardless of its duty. Upon this, the Regidor D. Pedro Baranda, who had been on the point of resigning his office, came bravely and honourably forward to take himself the charge from which they had shrunk, and summoning persons to his aid who had been in authority when the French withdrew, began to take measures for averting the evils which there was so much cause to apprehend. The letters in the post-office were sent off to Avila, lest they should be seized by the enemy, and many persons brought into danger by their contents. And to prevent the excesses which must be expected, if on the entrance of the enemy the prisons should be thrown open, the alcaydes were called upon to deliver in ♦November.♦ a list of those persons who were imprisoned for disloyalty to the national cause, and they were set at liberty while there yet existed an authority which could restrain them from acts of immediate vengeance.