Personal Narrative of Events, From 1799 to 1815

by William Stanhope Lovell

The constant state of alarm and anxiety that the whole of Spain and Portugal suffered while the contending armies were hovering about was extreme. As long as the British troops occupied their towns and villages, the poor inhabitants knew they had nothing to fear; but the moment the French came, plunder and destruction were the order of the day, and in very many cases, outrages were committed through mere wantonness: houses unroofed, the sides of others stove in, and the furniture destroyed. Our soldiers were the “lion and the lamb”; those of the French, to use Voltaire’s expression, the “tiger and the monkey.”

I was informed at Villa Vicosa, by a genteel Portuguese family, of the continual fear they lived in, and they related to me the following circumstance:—One night the alarm was given that the French were advancing into the town, nearly every person having gone to bed. Immediately all the church bells began tolling to give warning; everyone, even the sick, arose, these latter were put into cars, each person taking what things he could carry with him—one a bed, another articles of clothing, chairs, tables, or whatever else might be useful in their hiding places. After they had gone a short distance, it was found to be only a false alarm. An enemy’s foraging party had been seen during the evening in the neighbourhood, but had, fortunately for them, taken another direction. At this period our troops were in the north of Portugal, and the French having a strong garrison in Badajoz, used to send out occasionally a marauding party, which caused the above consternation!

We left Vemiero on the 23rd July, and arrived at Estramoy the same day. It is rather a large inland town, and once had been a garrison, the works of the fortifications remained, but the guns had been removed, the city being commanded by an eminence at the back of it still higher than the hill on which it is built. Unlike most other towns in Portugal, it is tolerably clean. On the following morning we marched from hence to a pretty neat little village called O’Rodondo, where we arrived at ten, and I had the pleasure of once more meeting my brother, who had just recovered from a sabre cut in his face, received at the battles of Fuentes d’Onor, which knocked out two of his teeth and split his tongue.

Since we had parted in the year 1804 on the peaceful shores of England, what trials and scenes had we both gone through and witnessed. He had been on the expedition under Sir Samuel Achmuty, at the taking of Monte Video, in South America; in four general actions; the two bloody days of Talavera in 1809; the battle of the Coa, Busaco, Fuentes d’Onor, where he was wounded, besides several warm affairs and skirmishes; and since then he was in the battles of Llerena, Salamanca, Vittoria, Pyrenees, Orthes, Toulouse, and numerous outpost affairs.

He has lately been sent with Lord William Russell as one of the Lieut.-Colonels employed by our Government as military reporters when Don Pedro returned to Portugal, the events of which period he has published in his “rough leaves.” He at present commands the 15th Hussars, and is with his regiment at Madras, having sailed from Gravesend, with the headquarters of his regiment, on board the Herefordshire, East Indiaman, on the 4th of June, 1839.

I, too, had been tried in fire at Trafalgar, and on various boat expeditions, etc., and had been wounded, and taken prisoner.

We remained at O’Rodondo three days, during which time I rode with my brother to various places in the neighbourhood. On the 28th of July, the regiment moved to Villa Vicosa, where we found some fine infantry regiments preparing for a march to the northward to invest Ciudad Rodrigo.

I liked Villa Vicosa much better than any other town I had yet seen in Portugal, the inhabitants were very civil, and I was introduced to several families, and did hope we should remain here for some days; the country round about it was pleasant, and a park full of deer, belonging to the Prince Regent, used to furnish us occasionally with venison. Those officers who had a regency certificate had permission to shoot in it.

Operations against Ciudad Rodrigo having been determined upon, we only remained here three days, during which time I visited Elvas, Borba, Alandroal, and other places. From Elvas, I had a very good view of Badajoz, with the river Guadiana, and the surrounding flat country. The town and fortifications of Elvas are well worth seeing, they are on a large scale, and built on a high hill. This being one of the principal frontier towns of Portugal, great pains had been taken by Count Le Lippe[J] to render the works as strong as possible. After he had completed the fortifications, he found it necessary to erect a strong fortress or castle, on a high hill, which commanded the best part of them, and which is considered so strong, that it is supposed to be impregnable; it is named after himself. Report says that a garrison of 15,000 men in Elvas, and 1200 in Fort Le Lippe, with plenty of provisions, would keep those places in defiance of any numbers that might be brought against them.

There is at Elvas a very large, fine, and curious aqueduct, differing from any I had yet seen: it has three tiers of arches, raised one above the other, and of great height.