General Thiebault writes, that an obstinate combat took place in the streets, but the Portuguese never made head for a moment against a strong body, during the whole course of the insurrection. How, indeed, was it possible for a collection of miserable peasants, armed with scythes, pitchforks, a few old fowling pieces, and a little bad powder, under the command of some ignorant countryman or fanatic friar, to maintain a battle against an efficient and active corps of French soldiers? For there is this essential difference to be observed in judging between the Spanish and Portuguese insurrections; the Spaniards had many great and strong towns free from the presence of the French, and large provinces in which to collect and train forces at a distance from the invaders; but in Portugal the naked peasants were forced to go to battle the instant even of assembling. The loss which Maransin sustained must have arisen from the stragglers (who in a consecutive march of forty miles would have been numerous) having been cut off and killed by the peasantry. This blow, however, quieted the Alentejo for the moment, and Kellerman having cleared the neighbourhood of Elvas from the Spanish parties, placed a commandant in La-Lyppe, and concentrated the detachments under Maransin and Avril, proceeded towards Lisbon.
The duke of Abrantes was in great perplexity; the intercepting of his couriers and isolated officers had been followed by the detection of all his spies, and he was exposed, without assistance, to every report which the fears of his army, or the ingenuity of the people, could give birth to. Now there are few nations that can pretend to vie with the Portuguese and Spaniards in the fabrication of plausible reports: among those current, the captivity of Loison was one; but nothing was certainly known except that the insurgents from the valley of the Mondego were marching towards Lisbon. General Margaron was therefore ordered to disperse them, and, if possible, to open a communication with general Loison: he advanced, with three thousand men and six pieces of artillery, to Leria, whither the patriots had retired in disorder when they heard of his approach. The Thiebault. greater part dispersed at once, but those who remained were attacked on the 5th of July, and a scene Accursio de Neves. similar to that of Beja ensued; the French boasted of victory, the insurgents called it massacre and pillage.
In a combat with armed peasantry, it is difficult to know where the fighting ceases and the massacre begins: men dressed in peasants’ clothes are observed firing, and moving about, without order, from place to place; when do they cease to be enemies? They are more dangerous when single than together; they can hide their muskets in an instant and appear peaceable; the soldier passes and is immediately shot from behind.
The example at Leria did not however deter the people of Thomar from declaring against the French; and the neighbourhood of Alcobaça rose at the same time. Thus Margaron was placed between two new insurrections at the moment he had quelled one. English fleets, with troops on board, were said to be hovering off the coast, and the most alarming reports relative to Loison were corroborated, his safety was despaired of, when suddenly authentic intelligence of his arrival at Abrantes revived the spirits of the general-in-chief and the army.
After arranging all things necessary for the security of Almeida, Loison had quitted that town the 2d of July, at the head of three thousand four hundred and fifty men, and arrived at Abrantes upon the 8th, having in seven days passed through Guarda, Atalaya, Sarsedas, Corteja, and Sardoval. During this rapid march he dispersed several bodies of insurgents that were assembled on the line of his route, especially at Guarda and Atalaya. It has been said that twelve hundred bodies were stretched upon the field of battle near the first town; this is absurd beyond all measure. Twelve hundred slain would give, at a low average, five thousand wounded: six thousand two hundred killed and wounded by a corps of three thousand four hundred and fifty men, in half an hour! and this without cavalry or artillery, and among fastnesses that vie in ruggedness with any in the world! The truth is, that the peasants, terrified by the reports that Loison himself spread to favour his march, fled on all sides, and if two hundred and fifty Portuguese were killed and wounded during the whole passage, it was the utmost. The distance from Almeida to Abrantes is more than a hundred and eighty miles, the greatest part is a mountain pathway rather than a road, and the French were obliged to gather their provisions from the country as they passed; now, to forage, to fight several actions, to pursue active peasants well acquainted with the country so closely as to destroy them by thousands, and to march a hundred and eighty miles over bad roads, and all in seven days, is impossible.
The whole French army was now concentrated; the insurrection at Alcobaça had been quelled by Kellerman, and that of Thomar was also quieted, but the insurgents from Oporto were gathering strength at Coimbra; the last of the native soldiers deserted the French colours; the Spanish troops at Badajos, strengthened by a body of Portuguese fugitives, and Thiebault. commanded by one Moretti, were preparing to enter the Alentejo, which was again in commotion: the Parliamentary Papers, 1809. English admiral had opened a communication with the insurgents on the side of Setuval, and the patriots were also assembled in considerable numbers at Alcacer do Sal.
In this dilemma Junot resolved to leave the northern people quiet for a while, and to bend his force against the Alentejo, because that was his line of retreat upon Spain; from thence only he could provision the capital, and there also his cavalry could act with the most effect. Accordingly, Loison, with seven thousand infantry, twelve hundred cavalry, and eight pieces of artillery, crossed the Tagus the 25th of July, and marched by Os Pegoens, Vendanovas, and Montemor. At the latter place he defeated an advanced guard, which fled to Evora, where the Portuguese general Leite had assembled the mass of the insurgents; and assisted by three or four thousand Spanish troops under Moretti, had taken a position to cover the town.
When Loison came up he directed Margaron and Solignac to turn the flanks of the patriots, and fell upon their centre himself. The Spanish auxiliaries performed no service, and the Portuguese soon took to flight, but there was a great and confused concourse; a strong cavalry was let loose upon them, and many being cut off from the main body, were driven into the town, which had been deserted by the principal inhabitants. There, urged by despair, they endeavoured to defend the walls and the streets for a few moments, but were soon overpowered, the greater part slain, and the houses pillaged. The French lost about two or three hundred men, but the number of Thiebault. the Portuguese and Spaniards that fell was very considerable; and disputes having arisen between the [Appendix, No. 12.] troops of those nations, the latter ravaged the country in their retreat with more violence than the French.
Loison, after resting two days at Evora, proceeded to Elvas, and drove away the numerous Spanish parties which had long infested the neighbourhood of that fortress, and were become extremely obnoxious to friends and enemies. His detachments scoured the country round, and were accumulating provisions to form great magazines at Elvas, when their labours were suddenly interrupted by a despatch from the duke of Abrantes, directing Loison to return to the right bank of the Tagus. The British army, so long expected, had descended upon the coast, and manly warfare reared its honest front amidst the desolating scenes of insurrection.