CHAPTER VII.
The operations, south of the Tagus, having been described, those which occurred, north of that river, shall now be traced; for previous to the invasion of Portugal, the French, stretching in one great line across the Peninsula, from Cadiz to Gihon, eagerly discussed the remnants of the Spanish armies.
It will be remembered, that the duke Del Parque left Martin Carrera in the Gata mountains, to interrupt the communication, between the Salamanca country and the valley of the Tagus. Julian Sanchez also, issuing from time to time out of Ciudad Rodrigo, cut off the French foragers in the open country between the Agueda and the Douro; and beyond the Douro, the Gallician army, under Garcia (in number about ten thousand), occupied Puebla de Senabria, Puente Ferrada, Villa Franca, and Astorga, and menaced the right flank, and rear, of the sixth corps. Mahy was organising a second army at Lugo, and in the Asturias, the captain-general D’Arco, commanded seven thousand men, three thousand of which were posted at Cornellana, under general Ponte. Thus an irregular line of defence, six hundred miles long, was offered to the invaders, but without depth or substance, save at Badajos and Ciudad Rodrigo, behind which the British and Portuguese troops were lying.
On the other hand, the French, holding the interior line, kept their masses only on the principal routes, communicating by moveable columns, and thus menacing all the important points without scattering their forces. The influx of fresh troops from France, continually added to their solidity, especially in Old Castile, where Ney had resumed the command, and was supported by Kellerman with the force of his government, and by an eighth corps under the duke of Abrantes.
The invasion of Andalusia was the signal for a general movement of all the French in Spain; and while Victor and Mortier, menaced Cadiz and Badajos, Ney summoned Ciudad Rodrigo, and Bonet, entering the Asturias, threatened Gallicia by the Concija d’Ibas. At the same time, Loison, with eight thousand fresh men, occupied Leon and Medina del Campo, and the advanced guard of the eighth corps passed Valladolid. Loison gave out that he would invade Gallicia by Puebla de Senabria, and on the 15th of February, his cavalry cut to pieces five hundred Spanish troops at Alcanizas, but he finally marched against Astorga, and, at the same time, Bonet destroyed Ponte’s force at Potes de Sierra, and advanced to Nava de Suarna. These movements alarmed the Spaniards. Garcia, menaced at once by Bonet and by Loison, and fearing equally for Astorga and Lugo, threw two-thirds of his army into the former, and carried the remainder to Villa Franca, to support Mahi.
Ney, however, made only a feint of escalading Ciudad Rodrigo, and Loison, although supported by the men from Leon, who advanced to Puente Orbijo, was repulsed from Astorga. Junot then concentrated the eighth corps at Benevente, intending to besiege Astorga in form; but he was suddenly called towards Madrid, lest disorders should arise in the capital during the king’s absence, and Mahi and Garcia being apprised of this, immediately brought up the new levies to the edge of the mountains, thinking that they might relieve the Asturians by threatening an irruption into the plains of Leon. But as Loison still remained at Benevente, they were unable to effect their object, and, after drawing off five thousand men from Astorga, retired to Villa Franca. Bonet, however, did not pass Nava de Suarna, and when general Arco had rallied the Asturian fugitives at Louarca, Garcia, leaving Mahi to command in Gallicia, marched himself with the remnant of the old army of the left, to join Romana at Badajos. Meanwhile Kellerman advanced to Alba de Tormes, and detachments from his and Ney’s force chased Carrera from the Gata and Bejar mountains, driving him sometimes over the Alagon, sometimes into Portugal. But it is unnecessary to trace all these movements, for the French, while preparing for greater operations, were continually spreading false reports, and making demonstrations in various directions to mislead the allies, and to cover their own projects.
Those projects were at first obscure. It is certain that the invasion of Portugal by the northern line, was not finally arranged, until a later period, yet it seems probable that, while Bonet drew the attention of the Gallician army towards Lugo, the duke of Abrantes designed to penetrate by Puebla Senabria, not as Loison announced, for the invasion of Gallicia, but to turn the Tras os Montes and descend by the route of Chaves upon Oporto, while Ney, calling the second corps to the aid of the sixth, should invest Ciudad Rodrigo. But whatever designs might have been contemplated, they were frustrated partly by the insurrection in Grenada and the failure of Suchet against Valencia, partly by disunion amongst the generals, for here also Ney and Junot complained reciprocally, and every where it was plainly seen that the French corps d’armée, however formidable in themselves, would not, in the absence of Napoleon, act cordially in a general system.
When the commotions in the south subsided, Junot returned to Old Castile, Loison joined the sixth corps on the Tormes, Kellerman retired to Valladolid, detachments, placed on the Douro, maintained the communications between Ney and Junot, and the latter, having drawn a reinforcement from Bonet, invested Astorga with ten thousand infantry, two thousand cavalry, eighteen field-guns, six twenty-four pounders, and two mortars. His covering-divisions were placed, one at Benevente, to watch the road of Mombuey, one near Puebla de Senabria, and one at Puente Ferrada. Mahi immediately concentrated the Gallician army at Villa Franca and Fonceabadon, and detached fifteen hundred men, under Echevarria, to Mombuey and Puebla, to harass the flank and rear of the investing Mr. Stuart’s Correspondence, MSS.army; yet his force was weak. The Gallician authorities had frequently assured lord Wellington that it amounted to twenty thousand well-organized troops; but it now appeared that only eight thousand were in the field, and those ill provided, and prone to desertion.
SIEGE OF ASTORGA.
Santocildes, governor of this place, was an officer of courage; his garrison consisted of two thousand five hundred infantry, besides cannoneers and armed peasantry, and the Moorish ramparts had been strengthened by fresh works; but there was little ammunition, scarcely twenty days’ rations, and nothing outside the walls, capable of seriously disturbing the enemy. The town stood in an open plain, and had three suburbs: Puerto de Hierro, to the north; St. Andreas, to the east; and Retebia, to the west. On the two last Junot made false attacks, but conducted his real approaches, against the front, between Puerto de Hierro and Retebia. The place was invested the 22d of March; and Puerto de Hierro was carried by storm, two sallies repulsed, and the trenches opened, before the end of the month. A breach was then commenced, but the battering-guns soon became unserviceable, and the line of approach was flanked by the houses of Retebia, which were filled with Spanish infantry. Nevertheless, the town suffered from shells, and the wall was so much broken, on the 20th of April, that an assault was ordered. A previous attack on Retebia had failed; but Santocildes was distressed for ammunition, and, during the preparations for storming, offered to capitulate.