Along the whole course of the Coa, which is a considerable river, the banks are rugged, but the ravine continually deepens as the stream flows; and, during the first two days of April, the allies occupied a line parallel to the enemy’s right, which could not be attacked. Meanwhile Trant and Wilson, passing the Coa below Almeida, penetrated between that fortress and Ciudad Rodrigo, as if the passage of the river was to be made on that side. Lord Wellington’s aim was, however, against the other flank, and, to protect the left and rear of the army, he placed the sixth division opposite the sixth corps, and a battalion of the seventh division at the bridge of Seceiras.
At daylight, on the 3d of April the cavalry under general Slade, being on the extreme right, was directed to cross the Upper Coa; the light division was ordered to ford a little below; the third division still lower; and the fifth division, with the artillery, to force the bridge of Sabugal; the first and seventh, with the exception of the battalion at Seceiras, were held in reserve. The English general having thus, ten thousand men pivotted on the fifth division at Sabugal, designed to turn Reynier’s left, to separate him from the eighth corps, and to surround him before he could be succoured by the sixth corps. One of those accidents which are frequent in war marred this well-concerted plan, and brought on the
COMBAT OF SABUGAL.
The morning was so foggy, that the troops could not gain their respective posts of attack with that simultaneous regularity which is so essential to success; and in the light division no measures were taken by sir William Erskine to put the columns in a right direction: the brigades were not even held together, and he carried off the cavalry and the third caçadores without communicating with colonel Beckwith. This officer, who commanded the first brigade, being without any instructions, halted at a ford to await further orders, and at that moment a staff officer rode up, and somewhat hastily asked, why he did not attack? The thing appeared rash, but with an enemy in his front he could make no reply, and instantly passing the river, which was deep and rapid, mounted a very steep wooded hill on the other side. Four companies of the ninety-fifth led in skirmishing order, and were followed by the forty-third regiment; but the caçadores and the other brigade, being in movement to the true point, were already distant, and a dark heavy rain setting in rendered it impossible for some time to distinguish friends or foes. The attack was thus made too soon, for, owing to the obscurity, none of the divisions of the army had reached their respective posts. It was made also in a partial, disseminated, and dangerous manner, and on the wrong point; for Reynier’s whole corps was directly in front, and Beckwith, having only one bayonet regiment and four companies of riflemen, was advancing against more than twelve thousand infantry, supported by cavalry and artillery.
Scarcely had the riflemen reached the top of the hill, when a compact and strong body of French drove them back upon the forty-third; the weather cleared at that instant, and Beckwith at once saw and felt all his danger; but he met it with a heart that nothing could shake. Leading a fierce charge he beat back the enemy, and the summit of the hill was attained, but at the same moment two French guns opened with grape at the distance of a hundred yards, a fresh body appeared in front, and considerable forces came on either flank of the regiment. Fortunately, Reynier, little expecting to be attacked, had for the convenience of water, placed his principal masses in the low ground behind the height on which the action commenced; his renewed attack was therefore up hill; yet the musketry, heavy from the beginning, now encreased to a storm; the French sprung up the acclivity with great clamour, and it was evident that nothing but the most desperate fighting could save the regiment from destruction.
Captain Hopkins, commanding a flank company of the forty-third, immediately ran out to the right, and with admirable presence of mind seized a small eminence, close to the French guns and commanding the ascent up which the French troops turning the right flank were approaching. His first fire was so sharp, that the assailants were thrown into confusion; they rallied and were again disordered by the volleys of this company; a third time they endeavoured to form a head of attack; when Hopkins with a sudden charge increased the disorder, and at the same moment the two battalions of the fifty-second regiment, which had been attracted by the fire, entered the line. Meanwhile, the centre and left of the forty-third were furiously engaged and wonderfully excited; for Beckwith wounded in the head, and with the blood streaming down his face, rode amongst the foremost of the skirmishers, directing all with ability, and praising the men, in a loud cheerful tone.
The musket-bullets flew thicker and closer every instant, but the French fell fast, a second charge cleared the hill, a howitzer was taken, and the British skirmishers were even advanced a short way down the descent, when small bodies of French cavalry came galloping in from all parts, and obliged them to take refuge with the main body of the regiment. The English line was instantly formed behind a stone wall above; yet one squadron of dragoons surmounted the ascent, and, with incredible desperation, riding up to this wall, were in the act of firing over it with their pistols, when a rolling volley laid nearly the whole of them lifeless on the ground. By this time however a second and stronger column of infantry had rushed up the face of the hill, endeavouring to break in and retake the howitzer which was on the edge of the descent and only fifty yards from the wall; but no man could reach it and live, so deadly was the forty-third’s fire. Meanwhile two English guns came into action, and the two battalions of the fifty-second charging upon the flank of the assailants, vindicated the right of the division to the height. A squadron of French cavalry, which had followed the columns in their last attack, then fell in amongst the fifty-second men, extended as they were from the circumstances of the action, and at first created considerable confusion, but it was finally repulsed.
Vol. 3, Plate 10.