The king, having passed the night of the 26th at St. Ollalla, put his troops in motion again before day-light, on the 27th. Latour Maubourg, with the cavalry, preceeded the column, and the first and fourth corps, the royal guards, and reserve, followed in succession. The appearance of the leading squadrons, near Cazalegas, hastened, as we have seen, Cuesta’s decision, and, about one o’clock in the afternoon, the first corps reached the heights of Salinas, from whence the dust of the allies, as they took up their position, could be perceived; but neither their situation nor disposition could be made out, on account of the forest, which, clothing the country from the Tagus nearly to the foot of the first range of hills, masked all their Semelé’s Journal of Operations MSS. evolutions. The duke of Belluno, however, being well acquainted with the ground, instantly guessed their true position; and, in pursuance of his advice, the king ordered the fourth corps to march against the left of the allies; the cavalry against the centre, and Victor himself, with the first corps, against the right: the guards and the reserve supported the fourth corps.
Two good routes, suitable to artillery, led from the Alberche to the position; the one, being the royal road to Talavera, was followed by the fourth corps and the reserve; the other, passing through a place called the Casa des Salinas, led directly upon sir Arthur Wellesley’s extreme left, and was followed by the first corps: but to reach this Casa, which was situated near the plain in front of the British left wing, it was necessary to ford the Alberche, and to march for a mile or two through the woods. A dust, which was observed to rise near the Casa itself indicated the presence of troops at that place; and, in fact, general Mackenzie’s division, and a brigade of light cavalry, were there posted: the infantry in the forest, the cavalry on the plain; but no patroles were sent to the front; and this negligence gave rise to the
COMBAT OF SALINAS.
For, about three o’clock, Lapisse and Ruffin’s division having crossed the Alberche, marched in two columns towards the Casa de Salinas, and their light infantry came so suddenly on the British outposts that the latter were surprised, and sir Arthur Wellesley, who was in the Casa, nearly fell into the enemy’s hands. The French columns followed briskly, and charged so hotly, that the English brigades were separated; and being composed principally of young battalions, got into confusion, one part fired upon another, and the whole were driven into the plain. But, in the midst of the disorder, the forty-fifth, a stubborn old regiment, and some companies of the fifth battalion of the sixtieth, were seen in perfect array; and when sir Arthur rode up to the spot, the fight was restored, and maintained so steadily, that the enemy was checked. The infantry, supported by two brigades of cavalry, then crossed the plain, and regained the left and centre of the position, having lost about four hundred men. General Mackenzie, with one brigade, immediately took post in second line behind the guards; the other, commanded by colonel Donkin, finding the hill on the left unoccupied, drew up there, and so completed the position. The cavalry was formed in column behind the left of the line.
Victor, animated by the success of this first operation, brought up Villatte’s division, together with all the artillery and light cavalry, to the Casa de Salinas; then, issuing from the forest, rapidly crossed the plain; and advancing, with a fine military display, close up to the left of the position, occupied an isolated hill directly in front of colonel Donkin’s ground, and immediately opened a heavy cannonade upon that officer’s brigade. Meanwhile, the fourth corps and the reserve approaching the right more slowly, and being unable to discover the true situation of Cuesta’s troops, sent their light cavalry forward to make that general shew his lines. The French horsemen rode boldly up to the front, and commenced skirmishing with their pistols, and the Spaniards answered them with a general discharge of small arms; but then, ten thousand infantry, and all the artillery, breaking their ranks, fled to the rear: the artillery-men carried off their horses; the infantry threw away their arms, and the adjutant-general O’Donoghue was amongst the foremost of the fugitives. Nay, Cuesta himself was in movement towards the rear. The panic spread, and the French would fain have charged; but sir Arthur Wellesley, who was at hand, immediately flanked the main road with some English squadrons: the ditches on the other side rendered the country impracticable; and the fire of musketry being renewed by those Spaniards who remained, the enemy lost some men, and finally retreated in disorder.
The greatest part of Cuesta’s runaways fled as far as Oropesa, giving out that the allies were totally defeated, and the French army in hot pursuit; thus, the rear became a scene of incredible disorder: the commissaries went off with their animals; the paymasters carried away their money chests; the baggage was scattered; and the alarm spread far and wide; nor is it to be concealed, that some English officers disgraced their uniform on this occasion. Cuesta, however, having recovered from his first alarm, sent many of his cavalry regiments to head the fugitives, and drive them back; and a part of the artillery, and some thousands of the infantry, were thus recovered during the night; but, in the next day’s fight, the Spanish army was less by six thousand men than it should have been, and the great redoubt in the centre was silent for want of guns.
COMBAT ON THE EVENING OF THE 27TH.
The hill on the left of the British army was the key of the whole position. It was steep and rugged on the side towards the French, and it was rendered more inaccessible by the ravine at the bottom; but towards the English side it was of a smoother ascent. Semelé’s Journal of Operations MSS. Victor, however, observing that the extreme summit was unoccupied, and that Donkin’s brigade was feeble, conceived the design of seizing it by a sudden assault. The sun was sinking; and the twilight and the confusion among the Spaniards on the right, appeared so favourable to his project that, without communicating with the king, he immediately directed Ruffin’s division to attack, Villatte to follow in support, and Lapisse to fall on the German legion, so as to create a diversion for Ruffin, but without engaging seriously himself. The assault was quick and vigorous: colonel Donkin beat back the enemy in his front, but his force was too weak to defend every part; and many of the French turned his left, and mounted to the summit behind him. At this moment, general Hill was ordered to reinforce him; and it was not yet dark, when that officer, while giving orders to the colonel of the 48th regiment, was fired at by some troops from the highest point. Thinking they were stragglers from his own ranks, firing at the enemy, he rode quickly up to them, followed by his brigade-major, Fordyce; and in a moment found himself in the midst of the French. Fordyce was killed; and Hill’s own horse was wounded by a grenadier, who immediately seized the bridle; but the general, spurring the animal hard, broke the man’s hold, and galloping down the descent met the 29th regiment, and, without an instant’s delay, led them up with such a fierce charge, that the enemy could not sustain the shock.
The summit was thus recovered; and the 48th regiment and the first battalion of detachments were immediately brought forward, and, in conjunction with the 29th and colonel Donkin’s brigade, presented a formidable front of defence; and in good time, for the troops thus beaten back were only a part of the 9th French regiment, forming the advance of Ruffin’s division; but the two other regiments of that division had lost their way in the ravine; hence the attack had not ceased, but only subsided for a time. Lapisse was in motion, and soon after opened his fire against the German legion; and all the battalions of the 9th, being re-formed in one mass, again advanced up the face of the hill with redoubled vigour. The fighting then became vehement; and, in the darkness, the opposing flashes of the musketry shewed with what a resolute spirit the struggle was maintained, for the combatants were scarcely twenty yards asunder, and for a time the event seemed doubtful; but soon the well known shout of the British soldier was heard, rising above the din of arms, and the enemy’s broken troops were driven once more into the ravine below. Lapisse, who had made some impression on the German legion, immediately abandoned his false attack, and the fighting of the 27th ceased. The British lost about eight hundred men, and the French about a thousand on that day. The bivouac fires now blazed up on both sides, and the French and British soldiers became quiet; but, about twelve o’clock, the Spaniards on the right being alarmed at some horse in their front, opened a prodigious peal of musketry and artillery, which continued for twenty minutes without any object; and during the night, the whole line was frequently disturbed by desultory firing from both the Spanish and English troops, by which several men and officers were unfortunately slain.
The duke of Belluno, who had learned, from the prisoners, the exact position of the Spaniards, until then unknown to the French generals, now reported his own failure to the king, and proposed that a second attempt should be made in the morning, at day-light; but marshal Jourdan opposed this, as being a partial enterprize, which could not lead to any great result. Victor, however, was earnest for a trial, and, resting his representation on his intimate knowledge of the ground, pressed the matter so home, that he won Joseph’s assent, and immediately made dispositions for the attack. The guns of the first corps, being formed in one mass, on the height corresponding to that on which the English left was posted, were enabled to command the great valley on their own right, to range the summit of the hill in their front, and obliquely to search the whole of the British line to the left, as far as the great redoubt between the allied armies.