The English general resolved to operate along both the routes before spoken of, but the greater facility of supplying the troops by the coast-line, and, above all, the exposed position of the French right wing, so near the allies and so distant from succour, induced him to make the principal attack by the high road leading to Oporto.
The army was formed in one division of cavalry and three of infantry, exclusive of Beresford’s separate corps.
The first division, consisting of two brigades of infantry and twelve guns, was commanded by lieut.-general Paget.
The second, consisting of three brigades of infantry and six guns, by lieut.-general Sherbrooke.
The third, consisting of two brigades of infantry and six guns, by major-general Hill.
The cavalry by lieut.-general Payne.
The whole amounted to about fourteen thousand five hundred infantry, fifteen hundred cavalry, and twenty-four guns, of which six were only three-pounders.
The 6th of May, Beresford, with six thousand Portuguese, two British battalions, five companies of riflemen, and a squadron of heavy cavalry, marched upon Lamego by the road of Viseu.
The 7th, the light cavalry and Paget’s division advanced towards the Vouga by the Oporto road, but halted, on the 8th, to give Beresford time to reach the Upper Douro, before the attack on the French right should commence.