There fell into the hands of the victors 7000 prisoners and 11 pieces of cannon, but the loss of the enemy in killed and wounded was not ascertained. General Marmont himself was wounded, and many of his officers were killed or disabled. The loss of the allies was 624 killed, and about 4000 wounded.
Among other important results to which this victory led, not the least was the appointment of Lord Wellington as generalissimo of the Spanish armies, by which he was enabled to direct and control the operations of the whole Spanish forces, which had hitherto acted as independent corps.
The allied army pushed forward to Madrid, and, after various movements and skirmishes, entered that city on the 12th of August amid the acclamations of the inhabitants. Learning that General Clausel, who had succeeded Marshal Marmont in the command, had organised an army, and threatened some of the British positions on the Douro, Lord Wellington left Madrid on the 1st of September, and marching northward, entered Valladolid on the 7th, the enemy retiring as he advanced. Being joined by Castanos, the Spanish general, with an army of 12,000 foot, he took up a position close to Burgos, in which the enemy had left a garrison of 2500 men. The castle was in ruins, but the strong thick wall of the ancient keep was equal to the best casemates, and it was strengthened by a horn-work which had been erected on Mount St Michael. A church had also been converted into a fort, and the whole enclosed within three lines, so connected that each could defend the other. Preliminary to an attack on the castle, the possession of the horn-work was necessary. Accordingly, on the evening of the 19th of September, the light infantry of General Stirling’s brigade having driven in the outposts, took possession of the outworks close to the mount. When dark it was attacked by the same troops, supported by the 42d, and carried by assault.
On the 29th an unsuccessful attempt was made to spring a mine under the enemy’s works, but on the 4th of October another mine was exploded with better effect. The second battalion of the 24th regiment established themselves within the exterior line of the castle, but were soon obliged to retire. The enemy made two vigorous sorties on the 8th, drove back the covering parties, and damaged the works of the besiegers, who sustained considerable loss. A third mine was exploded on the 13th, when the troops attempted an assault, but without success. The last attack, a most desperate one, was made on the 19th, but with as little success; two days after which, Lord Wellington, on the 21st, to the great disappointment of the besiegers, ordered the siege, which had lasted thirty days, to be raised, in consequence of the expected advance of a French army of 80,000 men. The loss sustained by the 42d in this siege was 3 officers, 2 sergeants, and 44 rank and file killed and 6 officers, 11 sergeants, 1 drummer, and 230 rank and file wounded. The officers killed; were Lieutenants R. Ferguson and P. Milne, and Ensign David Cullen; those wounded were Captains Donald Williamson (who died of his wounds), Archibald Menzies, and George Davidson, Lieutenants Hugh Angus Fraser, James Stewart, and Robert Mackinnon.[329]
Whilst Lord Wellington was besieging Burgos, the enemy had been concentrating their forces, and on the 20th of October his lordship received intelligence of the advance of the French army. Joseph Buonaparte, newly raised by his brother to the throne of Spain, was, with one division, to cut off Lord Wellington’s communication with General Hill’s division between Aranjuez and Toledo, and another, commanded by General Souham, was to raise the siege of Burgos. After the abandonment of the siege, on the 21st of October, the allied army retired after night-fall, unperceived by General Souham, who followed with a superior force, but did not overtake them till the evening of the twenty-third.
During the retrograde movement, the troops suffered greatly from the inclemency of the weather, from bad roads, but still more from the want of a regular supply of provisions; and the same irregularities and disorganisation prevailed among them as in the retreat to Corunna.
The allied army retired upon Salamanca, and afterwards to Frenada and Corea, on the frontier of Portugal, where they took up their winter quarters. The enemy apparently unable to advance, unwilling to retire, and renouncing the hope of victory, followed the example thus set. Subsequent events proved that this opinion, expressed at the time was correct, “for every movement of the enemy after the campaign of 1812 was retrograde, every battle a defeat.”
Having obtained a reinforcement of troops and abundant military supplies from England, Lord Wellington opened the campaign of 1813 by moving on Salamanca, of which, for the third time, the British troops took possession on the 24th of May. The division of Sir R. Hill was stationed between Tormes and the Douro, and the left wing, under Sir Thomas Graham, took post at Miranda de Douro. The enemy, who gave way as the allies advanced, evacuated Valladolid on the 4th of June, and General Hill having, on the 12th attacked and defeated a division of the French army under General Reille, the enemy hastened their retreat, and blew up the works of the castle of Burgos, on which they had expended much labour the preceding year.
The enemy fell back on Vittoria, followed by Lord Wellington, who drew up his army on the river Bayas, separated by some high grounds from Vittoria. His men were in the highest spirits, and the cheerfulness and alacrity with which they performed this long march, more than 250 miles, formed a favourable contrast with their conduct when retreating the previous year. The French army, under the command of Joseph Buonaparte and Marshal Jourdan, made a stand near Vittoria, for the purpose of defending the passage of the river Zadorra, having that town on their right, the centre on a height, commanding the valley of that stream, and the left resting on the heights between Arunez and Puebla de Arlanzon. The hostile armies were about 70,000 men each.
On the morning of the 21st of June, the allied army moved forward in three columns to take possession of the heights in the front of Vittoria. The right wing was commanded by General Hill, the centre by General Cole, and the left wing by General Graham. The operations of the day commenced by General Hill attacking and carrying the heights of Puebla, on which the enemy’s left rested. They made a violent attempt to regain possession, but they were driven back at all points, and pursued across the Zadorra. Sir Rowland Hill passing over the bridge of La Puebla, attacked and carried the village of Sabijana de Alava, of which he kept possession, notwithstanding repeated attempts of the enemy to regain it. The fourth and light divisions now crossed the Zadorra at different points, while almost at the same instant of time, the column under Lord Dalhousie reached Mendoza; and the third, under Sir T. Picton, followed by the seventh division, crossed a bridge higher up. These four divisions, forming the centre of the army, were destined to attack the right of the enemy’s centre on the heights, whilst General Hill pushed forward from Alava to attack the left. The enemy dreading the consequences of an attack on his centre, which he had weakened to strengthen his posts on the heights, abandoned his position, and commenced a rapid retreat to Vittoria.