On the 29th the army moved forward on the front and flanks of the strong position of Guarda, which stands perched on a high hill, and is said to be the most elevated town in Portugal.[98] Notwithstanding the strength of his position the enemy did not await our onset, but moved off in the direction of Sabugal, pursued by cavalry and artillery only. The Light Division was not now handled by the fiery Craufurd; and the enemy escaped with the loss of barely 200 prisoners, which fell into the hands of the pursuing cavalry.
The Battalion halted in Carapeta and other villages at the foot of the hill on which Guarda is placed.
On April 1 the Battalion marched by Adão to Pega, where they halted about an hour in very heavy rain; and then proceeded to Quintas de S. Bartolomeo on the banks of the Coa, and nearly opposite Sabugal, where the 2nd Corps of the French army, under Regnier, were posted in great force, having picquets on our side of the river.
The Battalion furnished the picquets, which were ordered to be extremely vigilant; not to interfere with the enemy if he did not molest them; but if attacked, to hold their post and never to quit it.
It was a very dark and stormy night, with heavy rain. George Simmons and Kincaid were on this picquet, and the latter relates a curious instance of the impossibility of a man’s walking quite straight in the dark. On going to visit one of his sentries about midnight, he found the man absent from his post. Being an excellent old soldier he felt assured that he had not deserted, and after searching for him in vain he called him by name. The man’s answer was instantly followed by the discharge of a French sentinel’s musket; and it then appeared that on every successive walk up and down his beat he had verged nearer and nearer to the French lines, which he was close to when called. The man, convinced that he had kept on his post, was astounded and incredulous that he had in the pitchy darkness edged away from it.
On the 2nd the Battalion moved towards the right, and nearer to the bridge in front of Sabugal, and during this movement had some slight skirmishes with the enemy’s advanced posts.
Drawn by Captn Moorsom, C.E. E. Weller, lith., London
London: Chatto & Windus.