But now the factions in his army had risen to such a height that he could no longer command the obedience of his lieutenants; Montbrun, Junot, Drouet, Reynier, and Ney were all at variance with each other and with him. The first had, in the beginning of the retreat, been requested to secure Coimbra; instead of which he quitted Portugal, carrying with him Claparede’s division; Marcognet’s brigade was then ordered for that operation, but it did not move; finally, Montbrun undertook it, and failed in default of vigour. Junot was disabled by his wound, but his faction did not the less shew their discontent. Reynier’s dislike to the prince was so strong, that the officers carrying flags of truce, from his corps, never failed to speak of it to the British; and Ney, more fierce than all of them, defied his authority. To him the dangerous delay at Pombal, the tardiness of Marcognet’s brigade, and, finally, the too-sudden evacuation of the position at Condeixa, have been attributed: General Pelet’s Notes. See Vol. xxi. Victoires et Conquêtes des Français.and it is alleged that, far from being ordered to set fire to that town on the 13th, as the signal for a preconcerted retreat, that he had promised Massena to maintain the position for twenty-four hours longer. The personal risk of the latter, in consequence of the hasty change of position, would seem to confirm this; but it is certain that, when Picton was observed passing the Sierra de Anciao by a road before unknown to the French, and by which the second corps could have been separated from the army, and the passes of Miranda de Corvo seized, Ney would have been frantic to have delayed his movement.
At Miranda, the long gathering anger broke out in a violent altercation between the prince and the marshal; and at Celerico, Ney, wishing to fall back on Almeida, to shorten the term of the retreat, absolutely refused to concur in the projected march to Coria; and even marched his troops in a contrary direction. Massena, a man not to be opposed with impunity, then deprived him of his command, giving the sixth corps to Loison; and each marshal sent confidential officers to Paris to justify their conduct to the emperor. From both of those officers I have derived information, but as each thinks that the conduct of his general was approved by Napoleon, their opinions are irreconcilable upon many points; I have, therefore, set down in the narrative the leading sentiments of each, without drawing any other conclusions than those deducible from the acknowledged principles of art and from unquestioned facts. Thus judging, it appears that Massena’s general views were as superior to Ney’s as the latter’s readiness and genius in the handling of troops in action were superior to the prince’s. Yet the duke of Elchingen often played too near the flame, whereas nothing could be grander than the conceptions of Massena: nor was the project now meditated by him the least important.
From Guarda to Zarza Mayor and Coria was not two days longer march than to Ciudad Rodrigo, but the army of Portugal must have gone to the latter place a beaten army, seeking for refuge and succour in its fortresses and reserves, and being separated from the central line of invasion: whereas, by gaining Coria, a great movement of war, wiping out the notion of a forced retreat, would have been accomplished. A close and concentric direction would also have been given to the three armies of the south, of the centre, and of Portugal; and a powerful demonstration effected against Lisbon, which would inevitably bring lord Wellington back to the Tagus. Thus the conquests of the campaign, namely, Ciudad Rodrigo, Almeida, Badajos, and Olivenza, would have been preserved, and meanwhile the army of the north could have protected Castile and menaced the frontier of Portugal. Massena, having maturely considered this plan, gave orders, on the 23d, for the execution; but Ney, as we have seen, thwarted him.
Meanwhile the English horse and the militia, hovering round Celerico, made, in different skirmishes, a hundred prisoners, and killed as many more; and the French cavalry posts withdrew from the Pinhel. The sixth corps then took a position at Guarda; the second corps at Belmonte; the eighth corps and the cavalry in the eastern valleys of the Estrella.
Ney’s insubordination had rendered null the plan of marching upon the Elga; but Massena expected still to maintain himself at Guarda with the aid of the army of the south, and to hold open the communications with the king and with Soult. His foragers had gathered provisions in the western valleys of the Estrella, and he calculated upon being able to keep his position for eight days with his own force alone; and, independent of the general advantage, it was essential to hold Guarda for some time, because Drouet had permitted Julian Sanchez to cut off a large convoy destined for Ciudad Rodrigo, and had left Almeida with only ten days’ provisions. Lord Wellington’s ready boldness, however, disarranged all the prince’s calculations.
The troops had come up from Moita on the 28th, and with them the reinforcements, which were organized as a seventh division.
The light division and the cavalry then passed the Mondego at Celerico, and, driving the French out of Frexadas, occupied the villages beyond that place: at the same time, the militia took post on the Pinhel river, cutting the communication with Almeida, while the third division was established at Porca de Misarella, half way up the mountain, to secure the bridges over the higher Mondego. Early on the 29th the third, sixth, and light divisions, and two regiments of light cavalry, disposed in five columns of attack on a half circle round the foot of the Guarda mountain, ascended by as many paths, all leading upon the town of Guarda, and outflanking both the right and left of the enemy; they were supported on one wing by the militia, on the other by the fifth division, and in the centre by the first and seventh divisions. A battle was expected, but the absence of Ney was at once felt by both armies; the appearance of the allied columns threw the French into the greatest confusion, and, without firing a shot, this great and nearly impregnable position was abandoned. Had the pursuit been as vigorous as the attack, it is not easy to see how the second corps could have rejoined Massena; but Reynier quitting Belmonte in the night, recovered his communication with a loss of only three hundred prisoners, although the horse-artillery and cavalry had been launched against him at daylight on the 30th. Much more could however have been done, if general Slade had pushed his cavalry forward with the celerity and vigour the occasion required.
On the 1st of April, the allied army descended the mountains, and reached the Coa; but the French general, anxious to maintain at once his hold of Portugal and the power of operating either on the side of Coria or of Ciudad Rodrigo and Almeida, was in position on the right bank of that river. The sixth corps was at Rovina, with detachments guarding the bridge of Seceiras and the ford of Atalayon, and the communication with Almeida was maintained by a brigade of the ninth corps, which was posted near the ford of Junça. The second corps was on the hills behind Sabugal, stretching towards Alfayates, but having strong detachments at the bridge of Sabugal and the ford of Rapoulha de Coa. The eighth corps was at Alfayates, and a post was established at Rendo to maintain the communication between the second and the sixth corps. In this situation, the French army was disposed on two sides of a triangle, the apex of which was at Sabugal, and both fronts were covered by the Coa, because Sabugal was situated in a sharp bend of the stream: by holding Alfayates, Massena also commanded the passes leading through St. Martin Trebeja to Coria.