Of your domestic news in England I say nothing. The Ministry, and a country, showing that they have lost that noble, generous spirit for which they were so remarkable, are not very cheering topics, and I am too much fagged to dwell on anything so disgusting. I wish we had some of the soi-disant Patriots here for a month. Yrs., etc.,
Wm. Warre.
The Marshal is, thank God, perfectly well, and so is Ld. Wn., which, considering all his mind and body go through, is wonderful.
Villa Escusa, Prov. of Toro, June 30th, 1812.
My Dearest Father,
Since I wrote to you on the 25th from Salamanca a very hasty letter, our military situation has altered very much, and you will see by the map that we are already two marches in advance. The Forts at Salamanca, which had given us more trouble than was at first expected, were taken on the morning of the 27th. On the evening of the 26th, our Reserve Ammunition having arrived, a battery was opened against the rear of the advanced Fort of St Catano with excellent effect, and the Convent of St Vicente, in the principal Fort, was set on fire by red hot shot, but as night came on, and the breach in St Catano was not practicable, the firing ceased from the Batteries till morning. The enemy kept up their fire with great briskness the whole evening, but we lost very few men. In the morning the firing was renewed, and when we returned from the position with Ld. Welln., it was found that the breach in the outwork was practicable, and the Convent in a famous blaze. The Garrison appeared cowed and in considerable confusion and fired very little. The morning had been rainy and unpleasant, but towards 10 o’clock it cleared and everything was ready for the assault, when the enemy sent out several flags of Truce, but it appeared that they only wanted to gain time and perhaps put out the fire. They asked 3 hours to consider it, but as we had no time to lose, the Fort was attacked, and surrendered with very little resistance, and was taken possession of by our troops. We had only one man killed, and 5 or 6 wounded, even at the points assaulted, and our people behaved with their usual humanity to the enemy. We found these Forts a great deal stronger than we had any idea of, with deep ditches, the whole faced with strong masonry, the stones for which they took from about a 3rd of the town and some of the most beautiful buildings which they had pulled down to make an Esplanade round their works. They also had excellent casements and splinter proofs, and but for the circumstance of the place being on fire, they did not appear to have any more reason to surrender now, as far as their works went, than the first day.
The enemy had between 5 and 600 men in them, and the Commandant who did his duty very well, and is a fine young man enough, told me they had 3 Officers killed, 11 wounded, 40 men killed and about 140 wounded during the siege. They had mounted 29 guns and 7 Howitzers; a large quantity of ammunition and stores of all descriptions for their whole army, clothing, provisions, etc.
The flames gained so fast that it was impossible to extinguish them, and it was feared that the Magazine would blow up. The wounded were therefore removed as quickly as possible, and some of the stores that evening, and nobody allowed to go near it. It, however, fortunately did not explode, and all that was not burnt has been removed, and proper Officers have been left completely to demolish the Forts.