CHAPTER XI.
Lisbon—Trip to the Army of Lord Wellington—Montemor Novo, O’Rodondo, Villa Vicosa, Elvas, Fort le Lippe.
I was appointed to a ship in the Tagus by the commander-in-chief, Admiral Sir G. Berkeley, whose amiable family treated me with great kindness and attention.
Having but little to do, I passed much time in examining the beautifully situated, but dirty town of Lisbon. If it were not for the scavenger dogs which prowl about and take “pot luck,” the streets would be impassable from filth. Having a brother[I] in the 14th Dragoons, with the army of Lord Wellington, whom I had not seen for more than seven years, and a remount of horses arriving from England for the regiment, amongst which was one for my brother, I thought it a very good opportunity of going to see him.
The admiral having been so obliging as to grant me a month’s leave of absence, on the 19th of July, I accordingly left Lisbon, placing on the horse a pair of saddle bags, blanket, great coat, sword and pistols, together with some hams and brandy, which I was told would be very acceptable in camp.
After a short ride, I embarked in a Portuguese passage boat, with a motley group of persons. A sail of three hours brought me safe to Aldea Galega, a small town on the southern bank of the Tagus.
I was now about to travel in a strange country. Unable to speak the language, and having no servant to take care of my horse, the troops having gone forward the previous day, I began to fear I should be placed in some difficulty. Before me was a march of five or six days,—during which my steed would require that care a groom only could bestow,—I determined, however, to push on and trust to fortune, and my Portuguese vocabulary. Looking about the miserable town of Aldea Galega for mules, I was lucky enough to meet with a dismounted dragoon, belonging to the 14th, going to Lisbon, who informed me that the detachment of his regiment, which I ought to have accompanied, had marched from Galega only the day before, and that by my making all haste, I most likely should overtake them in less than forty-eight hours. I pressed this man into my service, went to a commissary, got two mules, on one of which I put my baggage, mounting the soldier, with three days’ rations for myself and cattle, on the other. In the evening we left this town for a place called Pegoeus, twenty miles distant, and after a most disagreeable ride through a long stunted wood, with a heavy sandy soil, in which the horse and mules sank half-way up their knees at every step, a little before midnight reached Pegoeus, a most wretched place, consisting of three miserable dirty hovels, very much resembling cow-houses, into one of which we entered, in order to rest the horse and mules. Sitting down upon my baggage, I loaded my pistols, as the house was full of ill-looking Portuguese and Spanish muleteers and peasantry, nearly all armed, and half drunk, and making a great noise. Some people I was informed had been robbed a few hours before of everything, near this very place. Although very much tired, sleeping was out of the question; I was therefore glad when daylight arrived. While my cattle were being saddled, I was fain to undress by the road-side, and shake off some score of fleas that were scampering over me in all directions: then mounting my horse, a cool ride of five hours brought me to a small village called Vendas Novas, where I remained a short time to get something to eat, and rest the animals. Here we were fortunate enough to get tea and eggs for breakfast, and I heard to my great joy, that the detachment was only three hours’ march ahead of me. At half-past nine we left this place, and after riding sixteen miles in the heat of the day, almost broiled, reached a tolerably good town called Montemor Novo, built on a hill. At this place are the remains of a Moorish castle.
I joined the troops going to the army under the Hon. Major Butler, with whom I took up my quarters, and the next day sent the dragoon back with the mules. On the following morning at five we marched for a town called Arryoles, where we arrived at ten.
Most of the Portuguese villages and towns in the Alemtejo are dull and uninteresting, at least they appeared so to me. The next morning early, we moved to a small clean town called Vemeiro, only eight miles distant, which, losing our way, we did not reach until noon. I found it very pleasant marching with the troops, not but that it was distressing to put the inhabitants to so much trouble and inconvenience turning them out of their rooms to quarter officers and soldiers in them. It is but justice however to say that the British officers and men generally conducted themselves with so much propriety, forbearance, and good feeling towards the natives of the different towns where they were billeted, that mutual regrets frequently took place at parting. God forbid, old England ever should be the scene of warfare. Contending armies are one of the greatest scourges with which Divine providence can afflict a nation. Even your allies cannot avoid bringing with them desolation for a time, by destroying crops of all kinds, to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy. In short, ruin and devastation follow in the train of an army, whether friend or foe.
Being near the town of Usagree, in Estramadura, with a brigade of dragoons, I remember seeing whole fields of wheat, &c., cut down and given as green food to the horses of our army. The French being expected almost immediately to occupy the position we were then in, the commanding officer very properly thought it better to secure the grain for ourselves than leave it to fall into the hands of the enemy. A poor old Spaniard came up to the gallant colonel, the late Sir Felton Harvey, and, shaking his grey locks, implored him to spare his only field, which was to preserve himself and family from starving, and which he beheld our troops cutting to feed their horses. The reply was that we were his friends; that we were obliged to take the corn, since our horses must not starve; that, if they did not eat it, those of the French, his mortal enemies, would. The colonel concluded by giving the poor man an order on the commissary to pay him in dollars equal to what had been taken away. I give this anecdote for the edification of such of my countrymen as are apt, through ignorance, let us hope, to malign the conduct of our soldiers in the Peninsula, and who grudge the officers and men of both army and navy their hard-earned half-pay or pension, a return surely not more than sufficient for averting the horrors of war from the hearths of their fellow subjects.