A council of war was held, but the discussion was turbulent, and the opinions were discordant. Palafox Ibid, and his Vindication. insisted on the defence of Aragon, as the principal, or rather the only object to be attended to, and he wished the whole army to pass to the left bank of the Ebro, and confine its operations to the protection of Zaragoza on that side, a proposal which alone was sufficient to demonstrate his total incapacity for military affairs. Castaños reasoned justly against this absurdity, but the important moments passed in useless disputation, and the generals came to no conclusion.
In the meantime, marshal Lasnes, bringing with him a division of the sixth corps (Maurice Mathieu’s), which had just arrived from France, concentrated above thirty thousand infantry, four or five thousand cavalry, and sixty pieces of artillery, at Lodosa on the 22d, and marching by Alfaro, appeared, at eight o’clock in the morning of the 23d, in front of the Spanish outposts, close to Tudela, just at the moment when the Aragonese were passing the bridge and ascending their position. From forty to fifty guns were distributed along the front of the Spanish army, which, numbering about forty-five thousand fighting men, was extended on a range of easy hills from Tudela to Taranzona, a distance of more than ten miles. Two divisions of the army of the centre connected the Aragonese with the fourth division, which occupied Cascante. Three divisions were in Taranzona, and there were no intermediate posts between these scattered bodies. The weakness attendant on such an arrangement being visible to the enemy at the first glance, Lasnes hastened to make his dispositions, and at nine o’clock commenced
THE BATTLE OF TUDELA.
General Morlot, with one division, attacked the heights above the town. Maurice Mathieu, supported by the cavalry, of Lefebre Desnouettes, assailed the centre, and general Lagrange advanced against Cascante. The whole of the artillery followed the columns of attack. The Aragonese resisted Morlot with vigour, and even pressed him in the plain at the foot of the hills, but Maurice Mathieu having gained possession of an olive wood, and a small ridge which was connected with the centre of the Spanish position, after some sharp fighting pierced the line, and Lefebre, breaking through the opening with his cavalry, wheeled up to his left, and threw the right wing into hopeless confusion. The defeated soldiers fled towards the bridge of Tudela, pursued by the victorious horsemen. In the meantime La-Peña, descending from Cascante with the fourth division, drove in Lagrange’s advanced guard of cavalry, and pressed forward briskly; but being met at a charging pace by the infantry, was beaten, and fell back to Taranzona, where three divisions remained during the whole of the action, which, strictly speaking, was confined to the heights above Tudela. Palafox, with the right wing and the centre, fled to Zaragoza with such speed that some of the fugitives are said to have arrived there the same evening.
When La-Peña was driven back upon Taranzona, the four divisions of the left wing commenced an orderly retreat towards Borja, but some cavalry, detached by Ney from the side of Soria, coming in sight, the Spaniards got into confusion; a magazine blew up, and in the midst of the disorder cries of treason were heard, the columns dissolved in a few moments, the road to Borja was covered with a disorganised multitude; and so ended the celebrated battle of Tudela, in which forty thousand men were beaten and dispersed by an effort that, being in itself neither very vigorous nor well sustained, was nevertheless sufficient for its purpose, and demonstrative of the incapacity of Spanish generals, and the want of steadiness in Spanish soldiers.
Eleventh Bulletin. Victoires et Conquêtes.
Several thousand prisoners, thirty pieces of artillery, and all the ammunition and baggage, fell into the hands of the French, who rated the killed and wounded very high. The total loss may be estimated at eight or nine thousand men. Fifteen thousand escaped to Zaragoza; a detachment of two thousand, under the Conde de Cartoajal and general Lille, left in the mountains of Nalda, were cut off by the result of the action, and two divisions, whose numbers were increased by fugitives from the others, were rallied at Calatayud on the 25th, but they were half starved and mutinous.
Castaños’ Account of the Battle of Tudela, and Vindication.
At Calatayud, Castaños received two despatches from the central junta, virtually restoring him to the command. For the first empowered him to unite the Aragonese army with his own; and the second, informing him that St. Juan was at the Somosierra, required his co-operation with that general to protect the capital. The battle of Tudela disposed of the first despatch, the second induced Castaños to march by Siguenza upon Madrid.
In the meantime, Napoleon, recalling the greatest part of his cavalry from the open country of Castille, left seven or eight thousand men in Burgos, and fixed his head-quarters at Aranda de Douero on the 23d. S.
Journal of Operations, MS. From the difficulty of transmitting despatches through a country in a state of insurrection, intelligence of the victory at Tudela only reached him on the 26th. Eleventh Bulletin. He was exceedingly discontented that Castaños should have escaped the hands of Ney. That marshal had been instructed to reach Soria by the 21st, to remain there until Lasnes should be in front of the Spaniards, and then to pass by Agreda, and intercept the retreat of the latter.