Condeixa being thus evacuated, the British cavalry pushed towards Coimbra, opened the communication with Trant, and cutting off Montbrun, captured a part of his horsemen. The rest of the army kindled their fires, and the light division planted piquets close up to the enemy; but, about ten at night, the French divisions, whose presence at Fonte Coberta was unknown to lord Wellington, stole out, and passing close along the front of the British posts, made for Miranda de Corvo. The noise of their march was heard, but the night was dark, it was imagined to be the moving of the French baggage to the rear, and being so reported to sir William Erskine, that officer, without any further inquiry, put the light division in march at day-light on the 14th.
COMBAT OF CASAL NOVA.
The morning was so obscured that nothing could be descried at the distance of a hundred feet, but the sound of a great multitude was heard on the hills in front; and it being evident that the French were there in force, many officers represented the rashness of thus advancing without orders and in such a fog; but Erskine, with an astounding negligence, sent the fifty-second forward in a simple column of sections, without a vanguard or other precaution, and even before the piquets had come in from their posts. The road dipped suddenly, descending into a valley, and the regiment was immediately lost in the mist, which was so thick, that the troops unconsciously passing the enemy’s outposts had like to have captured Ney himself, whose bivouac was close to the piquets. The riflemen followed in a few moments, and the rest of the division was about to plunge into the same gulf; when the rattling of musketry and the booming of round shot were heard, and the vapour slowly rising, discovered the fifty-second on the slopes of the opposite mountain, engaged, without support, in the midst of the enemy’s army.
At this moment lord Wellington arrived. His design had been to turn the left of the French, for their front position was very strong, and behind it they occupied the ridges, in succession, to the Deuca river and the defiles of Miranda de Corvo. There was, however, a road leading from Condeixa to Espinhal, and the fourth division was already in march by it for Panella, having orders, to communicate with Nightingale; to attack Reynier; and to gain the sources of the Deuca and Ceira rivers: between the fourth division and Casal Nova the third division was more directly turning the enemy’s left flank; and meanwhile the main body was coming up to the front, but as it marched in one column, required time to reach the field. Howbeit Erskine’s error forced on this action, and the whole of the light division were pushed forward to succour the fifty-second.
The enemy’s ground was so extensive, and his skirmishers so thick and so easily supported, that, in a little time, the division was necessarily stretched out in one thin thread, and closely engaged in every part, without any reserve; nor could it even thus present an equal front, until Picton sent the riflemen, of the sixtieth, to prolong the line. Nevertheless, the fight was vigorously maintained amidst the numerous stone enclosures on the mountain side; some advantages were even gained, and the right of the enemy was partially turned; yet the main position could not be shaken, until Picton near and Cole further off, had turned it by the left. Then, the first, fifth, and sixth divisions, the heavy cavalry, and the artillery, came up on the centre, and Ney commenced his retreat, covering his rear with guns and light troops, and retiring from ridge to ridge with admirable precision, and, for a long time, without confusion and with very little loss. Towards the middle of the day, however, the British guns and the skirmishers got within range of his masses, and the retreat became more rapid and less orderly; yet he finally gained the strong pass of Miranda de Corvo, which had been secured by the main body of the French.
Montbrun also rejoined the army at Miranda. He had summoned Coimbra on the 13th at noon, and, without waiting for an answer, passed over the mountain and gained the right bank of the Deuca by a very difficult march. The loss of the light division this day was eleven officers and a hundred and fifty men; that of the enemy was greater, and about a hundred prisoners were taken.
During the action of the 14th, Reynier, seeing the approach of the fourth division, hastily abandoned Panella; and Cole having effected a junction with Nightingale, passed the Deuca; when Massena fearing lest they should gain his rear, set fire to the town of Miranda, and passed the Ceira that night. His whole army was now compressed and crowded in one narrow line, between the higher sierras and the Mondego; and to lighten the march, he destroyed a great quantity of ammunition and baggage; yet his encumbrances were still so heavy, and the confusion in his army so great, that he directed Ney to cover the passage with a few battalions; yet charged him not to risk an action. Ney, however, disregarding this order, kept on the left bank, ten or twelve battalions, a brigade of cavalry, and some guns.
COMBAT OF FOZ D’ARONCE.
The 15th, the weather was so obscure that the allies could not reach the Ceira, before four o’clock in the evening, and the troops, as they came up, proceeded to kindle fires for the night; thinking that Ney’s position being strong, nothing would be done. The French right rested on some thickly wooded and rugged ground, and their left upon the village of Foz d’Aronce, but lord Wellington, having cast a rapid glance over it, directed the light division, and Pack’s brigade, to hold the right in play, ordered the third division against the left, and at the same moment the horse-artillery, galloping forward to a rising ground, opened with a great and sudden effect. Ney’s left wing being surprised and overthrown by the first charge of the third division, dispersed in a panic, and fled in such confusion towards the river, that some, missing the fords, rushed into the deeps and were drowned, and others crowding on the bridge were crushed to death. On the right the ground was so rugged and close that the action resolved itself into a skirmish, and thus Ney was enabled to use some battalions to check the pursuit of his left, but meanwhile darkness came on and the French troops in their disorder fired on each other. Only four officers and sixty men fell on the side of the British. The enemy’s loss was not less than five hundred, of which one-half were drowned; and an eagle was afterwards found in the bed of the river when the waters subsided.
In the night Massena retired behind the Alva; yet Ney, notwithstanding this disastrous combat, maintained the left bank of the Ceira, until every encumbrance had passed; and then blowing up seventy feet of the bridge, sent his corps on, but remained himself, with a weak rear guard, on the opposite bank. Thus terminated the first part of the retreat from Santarem, during which the French commander, if we except his errors with regard to Coimbra, displayed infinite ability, but withal a harsh and ruthless spirit.