“I want eight hundred horses and mules for the common conveyance of provision and the equipment of the artillery.”
Commissary Rawlings to sir J. Cradock, April 9.
“Some of the persons employed to provide cattle for the troops have returned without effecting their mission. This disappointment must be attributed to the movements of the enemy in the north, from whence our supply has hitherto been obtained.”
Sir J. Cradock to marshal Beresford, Caldas, April 18.
“You can form no adequate idea of the difficulty to procure supplies. The subject of forage for the cavalry keeps me in alarm without intermission, and there is no certainty for a single day. The country appears to be without the ability to furnish straw.”—“In short, the supply is just for the day, and barely sufficient.”—“I have begged of Mr. Villiers to desire the regency would send a person, in special authority, to this district to furnish supplies, if they are to be found. I shall act like the French, and make requisition, with this difference, that we are ready to pay for every thing to the utmost.”
Cradock to Berkely, Caldas, April 17.
“Such is the dearth of supply in this part of the country, and even in advance as far as we could go, that, unless victuallers are sent (or some other arrangement to the same effect) to Peniché and St. Martinho Bay, we cannot maintain our position. We cannot advance, for all our means of transport are gone back to Lisbon; and even in a retreat the cavalry could not be fed.”—“If there is insurmountable risk in sending the victuallers to Peniché, I request your declaration to this effect; for I must, in that case, retire the army to a station close to Lisbon, to fed be from thence.”
Cradock to Villiers, April 17.
“This letter is plainly to state that, unless some victuallers are sent, even at risk, to Peniché and St. Martinho Bay, we cannot maintain our position, and must retreat.”—“If the articles are in the country we must have them, and all ceremony must be dispensed with. The enemy would have them without paying for them: we must equally exact and pay.”
Cradock to Beresford, April 20.