At this moment Andalusia was lost if Dupont had advanced; his inactivity saved it: instead of pushing his victory, he wrote to Savary for reinforcements, and to general Avril, desiring that he would without delay come to his assistance, but he himself remained in Cordoba, overwhelmed with imaginary dangers and difficulties; for although Castaños had in a few days collected at Carmona and Utrera seven or eight thousand regulars, and above fifty thousand new levies, and that Dupont’s letters were intercepted and brought to him, such was the condition of affairs that, resigning all thoughts of making a stand, he had, under the pretence of completing the defences of Cadiz, embarked [Appendix, No. 13.] the heavy artillery and stores at Seville, and was prepared, if Dupont should advance, to burn the timbers and harness of his field artillery, and to retreat to Cadiz.
Meanwhile continuing the organization of his forces, he filled up the old regiments with new levies, and formed fresh battalions, in which he was assisted by two foreigners, the marquis de Coupigny, a crafty French emigrant, of some experience in war, and Reding, a Swiss, a bold, enterprising, honest man, but without judgment, and of very moderate talents as an officer. Castaños wished to adopt a defensive plan, to make Cadiz his place of arms, and to form an entrenched camp, where he hoped to be joined by ten or twelve thousand British troops, and, in Sir H. Dalrymple’s Papers. security, to organize and discipline a large army; but, in reality, he had merely the name and the troubles of a commander-in-chief, without the power; for Morla was his enemy, and the junta containing men determined to use their authority for their own emolument and the gratification of private enmity, were jealous lest Castaños should control their proceedings, and thwarted him; humouring the caprice and insolence of the populace, and meddling with affairs foreign to the matter in hand.
As the numbers at Utrera increased, the general confidence augmented, and a retreat was no longer contemplated: plans were laid to surround Dupont in Cordoba; one detachment of peasants, commanded by regular officers, was sent to occupy the passes of the Sierra Morena, leading into Estremadura; another marched from Grenada, accompanied by a regiment of the line, to seize Carolina, and cut off the communication with La Mancha; a third, under colonel Valdecanas, proposed to attack the French in Cordoba without any assistance, and this eagerness for action was increased by a knowledge of the situation of affairs in Portugal, and by rumours exaggerating the strength of Filanghieri and Cuesta. It was believed that the latter had advanced to Valladolid, and offered Murat the option of abiding an attack, or retiring immediately to France by stated marches, and that, alarmed at Cuesta’s power, the grand duke was fortifying the Retiro.
These reports, so congenial to the wishes and vanity of the Andalusians, caused the plan proposed by Castaños to be rejected; and when Dupont’s despatches magnifying his own danger, and pressing in the most urgent manner for reinforcements were again intercepted and brought to head-quarters, it was resolved to attack Cordoba immediately; but Dupont’s fears outstripped their impatience.
After ten days of inactivity, by which he lost the immediate fruit of his victory at Alcolea,—the lead in an offensive campaign, and all the imposing moral force of the French reputation in arms, Dupont, finding Journal of Dupont’s Operations. that, instead of receiving direct reinforcements from Savary, he must wait until Moncey, having first subdued Valencia, could aid him by the circuitous route of Murcia, resolved to fall back to Andujar.
Napoleon’s notes, [Appendix, No. 1.]
He commenced his retreat the 17th of June, being followed as far as Carpio by the advanced guard of the Andalusians, under general Coupigny. Along the line of march, and in the town of Andujar, Whittingham. Journal of Dupont. where he arrived the evening of the 18th, he found terrible proofs of Spanish ferocity; his stragglers Foy’s History. had been assassinated, and his hospital taken, the sick, the medical attendants, the couriers, the staff Victoire et Conquêtes. officers, in fine, all who had the misfortune to be weaker than the insurgents, were butchered, with circumstances of extraordinary barbarity; upwards of four hundred men had perished in this miserable manner since the fight of Alcolea. The fate of colonel Renè was horrible; he had been sent on a mission to Portugal previous to the breaking out of hostilities; and was on his return, travelling in the ordinary mode, without arms, attached to no army, engaged in no operations of war, but being recognised as a Frenchman he was seized, mutilated, and then placed between two planks and sawed alive.
Dupont now collected provisions, and prepared to maintain himself in Andujar until he should be reinforced; but wishing to punish the city of Jaen, from whence the bands had come that murdered his sick, he sent captain Baste, a naval officer, with a battalion of infantry and some cavalry, to accomplish that object. The French soldiers, inflamed by the barbarity of their enemies, inflicted a severe measure of retaliation, for it is the nature of cruelty to reproduce itself in war; and for this reason, although the virtue of clemency is to all persons becoming, it is peculiarly so to an officer, the want of it leading to so many and such great evils.
The Andalusian army having remained quiet, Dupont, who knew that Vedel’s division, escorting a large convoy for the army, was marching through La Mancha, sent captain Baste with a second detachment to clear the pass of Despeñas Perros which was occupied by insurgents and smugglers from Grenada to the number of three thousand: the pass itself was of incredible strength, and the Spaniards had artillery, and were partially entrenched; but their commander, a colonel of the line, deserted to the enemy, and before Baste could arrive, Vedel forced the road without difficulty and reached Carolina. He posted a detachment there to keep open the communication with La Mancha, and then descended himself to Baylen, a small town sixteen miles from Andujar.
Meanwhile other insurgents from Grenada having arrived at Jaen were preparing to move by the Linhares road to Carolina and Despeñas Perros. General Cassagne, with a brigade of Vedel’s division, marched against them the 29th of June, and after fighting on the 2nd and 3d of July, he took possession of Jaen, and drove the Grenadans back with considerable slaughter, but lost two hundred men himself, and returned on the 25th to Baylen. Notwithstanding these successes, and that Vedel brought reinforcements for Barbou’s division and the cavalry, Dupont’s fears increased. His position at Andujar covered the main road from Seville to Carolina; but eight miles lower down the river it could be turned by the bridge of Marmolexo, and sixteen miles higher up by the roads leading from Jaen to the ferry of Mengibar and Baylen; and beyond that line by the roads from Jaen and Grenada to Uzeda, Linhares, and the passes of El Rey and the Despeñas Perros. The dryness of the season had also rendered the Guadalquivir fordable in many places. The regular force under Castaños was daily increasing in strength, the population around was actively hostile, Dupont’s Journal. and the young French soldiers were drooping under privations and the heat of the climate. Six hundred Foy’s History. were in hospital, and the whole were discouraged. It is in such situations that the worth of a veteran is found: in battle the ardour of youth often appears to shame the cool indifference of the old soldier, but when the strife is between the malice of fortune and fortitude, between human endurance and accumulating hardships, the veteran becomes truly formidable, when the young soldier resigns himself to despair.