OF A 
 OFFICER IN 
 
 CAMPAIGN 
 
DUKE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2018 with funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/cavalryofficerin01gord 
 
THE JOURNAL OF A CAVALRY OFFICER 
 IN THE CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 
 
CAPTAIN ALEXANDER GORDON 
 i S th (KING'S) HUSSARS 
 1809 
 
A CAVALRY OFFICER IN 
 THE CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 
 
 1808—1809 
 
 THE JOURNAL OF CAPTAIN GORDON 
 
 OF THE 15th HUSSARS 
 
 EDITED BY COLONEL H. C. WYLLY, C.B. 
 
 WITH PORTRAIT AND MAPS 
 
 LONDON 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. 
 
 1913 
 
u 
 
 nrviUc 
 
 At 
 
 DEDICATED 
 BY PERMISSION 
 TO THE 
 
 OFFICERS, NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS, AND 
 MEN OF THE 15th (THE KING’S) HUSSARS 
 
 no 2 op 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Introduction - 
 Preface 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Departure from England—The Voyage to Corunna— 
 Disembarkation—Corunna in 1808—The Place and 
 the People—King Joseph and King Ferdinand 1- 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Captain Gordon leaves Corunna—Rumoured Abandon¬ 
 ment of the Advance—Lugo—Nogales, Retreat 
 commenced—French reported near Astorga—Joins 
 15th near Benevente—Zamora reached—Signs of 
 the Enemy—Arrival at Morales - - 39 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Whole of the Cavalry at Tordesillas—In Touch with 
 the French—Orders to Advance—Severe Cold— 
 Mayorga—Night March to Sahagun—The Action 
 
 j- O * ' r > | 
 
 vv JL Jl f 
 
 PACKS 
 
 xi 
 
 xv 
 
 38 
 
 ■81 
 
 124 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 viii 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 pagp:s 
 
 Advance to attack Soult at Saldana—Counter-orders— 
 
 The Retreat begins—Pass through Sahagun—The 
 Affair at Mayorga—Condition of the Horses— 
 Recross the Ezla—Action at Benevente—State of 
 Romana’s Army—The Stragglers—Bembibere— 
 
 “ A Shocking Spectacle ”—Action of Cacabelos— 
 Strictures on Moore—Scenes of Suffering - 125—172 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Straggling and Disorganization increase—The Halt at 
 Lugo—Moore offers Battle—Retreat resumed— 
 
 The 15th save some of the Treasure—Army reaches 
 Corunna—Slaughter of the Cavalry Horses—Em¬ 
 barkation—Arrival in England—Final Comments 
 
 173—212 
 
 Appendices ..... 213 —236 
 
 Index 
 
 237 
 
PORTRAIT AND MAPS 
 
 Portrait of Captain Alexander Gordon 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 Plan of the Action at Sahagun 
 
 TO PACE PAOF. 
 
 - 102 
 
 Plan of the Action at Cacabelos 
 
 - 164 
 
 Sketch-Map of Route traversed by 15th Hussars At end 
 
 IX 
 
✓ 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Alexander Gordon, the writer of this journal, 
 was bom in 1781. He inherited the estate of 
 Auchlunies and, subsequently, the estates of 
 Ellon, in Aberdeenshire, from his father, the 
 third Earl of Aberdeen, in succession to his half- 
 brother, the Hon. William Gordon. 
 
 He was a pupil of the Rev. Sydney Smith. He 
 entered the army in 1803, being on July 9 of that 
 year appointed Cornet in the 15th Light Dragoons, 
 becoming Lieutenant on January 22, 1805. Just 
 three years later he obtained a company in the 
 3rd West India Regiment, which, however, 
 he probably never joined, as almost immediately 
 —on March 3, 1808—he was reappointed to 
 a troop in his old regiment, now Hussars, with 
 which he served during the campaign under 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 xii 
 
 Sir John Moore. In March, 1811, Captain 
 Gordon transferred to the 60th Foot, and retired 
 by the sale of his commission on October 17. 
 In 1847 he was awarded the Peninsular Medal 
 with clasp for Sahagun. 
 
 He married in 1811 Albinia Louisa, daughter 
 of Captain Richard Cumberland (a son of Richard 
 Cumberland the dramatist) and Lady Albinia, 
 daughter of the third Earl of Buckingham¬ 
 shire. 
 
 Captain Gordon was a J.P. and Deputy- 
 Lieutenant for Aberdeenshire ; he died in 1872. 
 
 His journal, now in the possession of his 
 grandson, Mr. Arthur Gordon, C.M.G., of 
 Ellon, seems to supply something that has 
 up to the present time been wanting in 
 the history of the Corunna campaign ; for 
 though many diaries and journals have been 
 published, they deal chiefly with the doings of 
 the other arms, and we know but little of the 
 work of the cavalry during the advance and 
 retreat. The story of hardship, gallantry, and 
 privation here set down has the advantage of 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 xiii 
 
 being related by an officer who belonged to an 
 arm the discipline of which remained unimpaired, 
 and to a Regiment which, throughout the retire¬ 
 ment, was always with the rear-guard. 
 
 The maps are from sketches executed by 
 Captain Gordon, and his portrait, which forms 
 the frontispiece, is from a miniature by Andrew 
 Robertson, now in the possession of the Hon. 
 Mrs. Richard Cavendish Boyle, Captain Gordon’s 
 youngest daughter. 
 
 H. C. W. 
 
 September, 1913. 
 

 
 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The following narrative, comprising a journal of 
 the disastrous campaign in Spain under Sir John 
 Moore, was drawn up from notes taken on the 
 spot, immediately after my return to England, 
 while the occurrences it relates were still fresh in 
 my memory. The details refer chiefly to the 
 operations of my own corps, from which I was 
 seldom absent; but during the retreat the troops 
 were so much concentrated that regimental 
 officers—those of the cavalry, at least—enjoyed 
 opportunities of becoming acquainted with the 
 situation and general movements of the army 
 superior to those afforded by staff appointments 
 in ordinary cases. 
 
 Owing to the short period of our stay in the 
 country ; our continual moving, seldom remain- 
 
 XV 
 
XVI 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 ing twenty-four hours in the same place ; the 
 gross ignorance of the people in general; and our 
 imperfect knowledge of their language, whioh 
 prevented a free communication with the few 
 well-informed persons we were so fortunate as to 
 meet with—it was extremely difficult to obtain 
 accurate information upon any subject. It is 
 therefore by no means improbable that I may 
 have been led into error occasionally in my 
 remarks on the manners and customs of the 
 Spaniards, or in the description of the places we 
 visited; but I noted everything as it appeared 
 to me at the time, and if there be mistakes in 
 these pages, I trust they are neither numerous 
 nor important. 
 
 A. G. 
 
THE JOURNAL OF 
 A CAVALRY OFFICER IN THE 
 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 [The campaign of Vimiera was over; the French, 
 hitherto invincible upon the Continent of Europe, 
 had felt in the Peninsula the weight of the British 
 arms, and had been no less surprised than demoral¬ 
 ized. The agreement known as the Convention of 
 Cintra—but which had been negotiated near Torres 
 Vedras and signed at Lisbon—had been completed: 
 Portugal wets set free and its harbours secured 
 as the base for future operations. The three British 
 Generals—Sir Hew Dalrymple, Sir Harry Burrard , 
 and Sir Arthur Wellesley—who had put their names 
 to the Convention and to the armistice which had 
 preceded it, had gone to England to answer for 
 their actions before a court of inquiry , leaving in 
 command of the British army in Portugal Sir John 
 Moore, who had landed at Lisbon while the arrange- 
 
 1 
 
EARLIER OPERATION 
 
 2 
 
 merits for the conclusion of the Convention were, in 
 progress. 
 
 Shortly before the British forces had arrived in 
 the country, the Spaniards had defeated the French 
 under Dupont at Baylen, when the whole population 
 at once sprang to arms. The French army hurriedly 
 retired behind the River Ebro, and the Spanish forces 
 now reoccupied Madrid, and pushed forward three 
 armies—in Biscay, beyond Tudela, and into Aragon 
 —to oppose the French, to drive them from Spain, 
 and even, as some boasted, to pursue them across the 
 Pyrenees. So soon as the news of Dupont's disaster 
 reached Napoleon, he sent off reinforcements, and 
 an amended scheme of operations to deal with 
 the situation which had arisen; and finally, on 
 October 30 , 1808 , he left Paris to take command 
 in person of the army of 250,000 men now gathered 
 in the Peninsula. 
 
 On October 6 despatches from England had 
 reached Sir John Moore at Lisbon, informing him 
 of his appointment to the chief command of the army 
 to be employed in Spain—an army which, with a 
 force still to sail from Falmouth to Corunna, would 
 comprise some 40,000 men. Sir John Moore’s 
 natural exultation at his good fortune finds ex¬ 
 pression in his diary, wherein, under date of 
 October 14 , he writes: 11 There has been no such 
 command since Marlborough for a British officer.’' 
 
PLANS OF OPERATION 
 
 3 
 
 The original object with which the British ex¬ 
 peditionary force had been sent to the Peninsula — 
 the expulsion of the French from Portugal—had 
 been achieved by Wellesley s victories and by the 
 fulfilment of the terms of the Convention of Cintra; 
 but there had been considerable uncertainty among 
 the Ministers at home as to the direction which any 
 future operations should take , and while Dalrymple 
 was in chief command he had been asked to forward 
 suggestions as to where and in what manner an 
 army of 30,000 or 40,000 men could most profit¬ 
 ably be employed. Two plans finally assumed 
 prominence: either that the British should advance 
 across the frontiers of Portugal into Spain, and, 
 in combination with the Spanish forces, attack the 
 French immediately in their front; or that they 
 should re-embark , proceed to Asturias by sea , and 
 assail the French armies in flank and rear. Finally , 
 on September 25 , it had been decided that the whole 
 of the British army then in Portugal should act 
 in co-operation with the Spanish forces in the North 
 of Spain for the expulsion of the French; and it was 
 left to Moore, when the command of the British 
 army was ultimately confided to him, either to 
 embark his troops and go to Corunna by sea, or 
 to march them by land from Lisbon to Valladolid, 
 where he hoped to effect the junction of all his forces 
 He decided to move by land for the reasons given in 
 
4 
 
 THE “ONLY” BRITISH ARMY 
 
 his diary — viz ., that “ the passage by sea is pre¬ 
 carious, an embarkation unhinges , and when I get 
 to Corunna I should still have to equip the army 
 before I could stir, and in Galicia it might have 
 been impossible to have found sufficient means of 
 carriage 
 
 But it is important to note, for it is a point which 
 critics of Moore’s operations are apt sometimes to 
 overlook, that, in the instructions communicated, at 
 various times both to Moore himself and to his pre¬ 
 decessors in command, it seems clear that the British 
 force—not only a British army, but the only one 
 England then possessed—was entrusted to him for 
 the purpose of co-operating as an auxiliary body 
 with formed and organized Spanish forces in the 
 field; that these forces were believed to be not less 
 than 100,000 strong; that the armies of France then 
 operating in Spain were estimated at scarcely more 
 than half that strength; while the British force 
 could scarcely effect its concentration covered by the 
 Spanish armies strung out, under a number of more 
 or less independent commanders , along a front of 
 200 miles. 
 
 Having decided to move forward by road, Sir 
 John Moore, mindful that the rainy season was at 
 hand, had now to determine what route or routes he 
 should follow. Certain inquiries as to the general 
 condition of the roads had been set on foot by 
 
ROUTES OF ADVANCE 
 
 5 
 
 Dalrymple, ivho had, however, done little in the 
 direction of collecting transport or supplies. The 
 local authorities could give Moore hut small informa¬ 
 tion as to whether any or which of the roads were 
 practicable for the passage of artillery; hut the 
 general consensus of opinion seemed to he that all the 
 roads north of the Tagus were impassable hy guns. 
 Moore finally decided to move hy four roads, and on 
 October 11 his leading regiments started from Lisbon 
 on the march which was to end at Corunna, and 
 cover the army with “ glory, disgrace, victory, and 
 misfortune." 
 
 The following, then, were the routes taken from 
 Lisbon and Elvas to Salamanca, and the troops 
 that traversed them: 
 
 By Coimbra and Celorico: Beresford's Brigade — 
 Is/ Battalion 9th , 2nd Battalion 43 rd, and 
 2nd Battalion 52nd. 
 
 Fane's Brigade —Is/ Battalion 3&th, Is/ Bat¬ 
 talion 79th, and four companies 2nd Bat¬ 
 talion 95th. 
 
 By Abrantes and Guarda : Bentinck's Brigade 
 —Is/ Battalion 4 th, Is/ Battalion 28 th, Is/ 
 Battalion Bind, and four companies 2nd 
 Battalion 95 th. 
 
 LUll's Brigade — 1st Battalion 5 th, 1st Battalion 
 2>2nd, and Is/ Battalion 91s/. 
 
 2 
 
6 
 
 THE ARTILLERY ROUTE 
 
 By Elvas and Alcantara: Anstruther's Brigade — 
 20 th, l.si Battalion 52 nd, and jive companies 
 1st Battalion 95 th. 
 
 Aliens Brigade —l.s£ and 2nd Light Infantry 
 of the King’s German Legion. 
 
 Five companies 5 th Battalion 60 th also accom¬ 
 panied Moore's force. 
 
 One battery of artillery accompanied the Abrantes 
 and Guarda column. 
 
 It ivas confidently asserted, by those who seemed to 
 Moore best qualified to know, that none of the above 
 three roads were fit for the passage of guns, and 
 he therefore decided, much against his better judg¬ 
 ment, that his artillery must follow a fourth road, 
 which led south of the Tagus by Elvas and Badajoz, 
 crossed the Tagus at Almaraz, and thence proceeded 
 by Talavera, the Escurial Pass, Espinar, and 
 Arevalo. By this route marched the remaining six 
 batteries with the army, the 18 th Hussars, the 3rd 
 Light Dragoons of the King's German Legion, and 
 the 2nd, 36th, five companies of the 5th Battalion 
 60 th, list, and 9 2nd Regiments, the whole under 
 Sir John Hope. By this arrangement, which 
 seems under the circumstances to have been all but 
 unavoidable, the junction of the British forces was 
 considerably delayed; while Hope's column, more¬ 
 over, had to move in somewhat dangerous proximity 
 
MOORE LEAVES LISBON 
 
 7 
 
 to the enemy. This risk was not diminished by the 
 fact that , owing to want of money and supplies , bad 
 transport, and losses among his horses, Hope had to 
 move his column in six small 'parties, each one day's 
 march in rear of the other. 
 
 Having seen nearly all his troops out of Lisbon, 
 Moore started himself from that city on October 27, 
 leaving behind him a division of British troops for 
 the protection of the capital, Elvas, and Almeida, 
 under Sir John Cradock, who had been sent out 
 from home , and whose arrival in Portugal was 
 then hourly expected. This division numbered some 
 9,000 men, and was made up of the 3rd Buffs , then 
 garrisoning Almeida , the ls£ Battalion 6th , 9th, 
 29 th, 40th , 45th, 50th , 82 nd, and 97 th Regiments, 
 the remnants of the 20 th Light Dragoons, and six 
 batteries of artillery. The 3rd and 50 th were to 
 follow Moore when relieved by the 3rd Battalion 
 27th and 2nd Battalion 31s£, which regiments had 
 left England with Baird, while the ls£ Battalion 6 th 
 and 82 nd also later joined the main army, but the 
 Buffs were sent back to Portugal from Salamanca. 
 
 Ln the meantime the home authorities had been 
 busied in the preparation of the force to be sent from 
 England to join Moore , which was to consist of 
 nearly 14,000 of all ranks, and to be commanded 
 by Sir David Baird. Ln September Sir David 
 proceeded to Cork to superintend the embarkation of 
 
8 
 
 BAIRD’S FORCE 
 
 his troops, and was then told not to wait for the 
 horses for his batteries, which ivould be sent after 
 him; he very properly, however, refused to start 
 without them. From Cork the transports sailed to, 
 and were concentrated at, Falmouth, which port was 
 left on October 8, the fleet eventually reaching 
 Corunna on the 13 th. Baird's force was thus 
 composed: 
 
 ls£ and 3rd Battalions Guards, 3rd Battalion 1st, 
 2nd Battalion 14 th, 2nd Battalion 23rd, 1st 
 Battalion 26th, ls£ Battalion 43 rd, 51st, 
 2nd Battalion 59 th, 16th, 2nd Battalion 31st, 
 five companies 1st Battalion 95th, six com¬ 
 panies 2nd Battalion 95 th. 
 
 With Baird there also sailed three field batteries, 
 but the arm in which Moore was weakest was cavalry, 
 and the three reinforcing regiments of this arm — 
 1th, 10 th, and 15 th Hussars—were by some mis¬ 
 management at home shipped off last of all.'] 
 
 The Fifteenth or King’s Regiment of Light 
 Dragoons (Hussars), having received orders to 
 prepare for foreign service, marched from Rom¬ 
 ford Barracks to Portsmouth, where our embarka¬ 
 tion was completed on Sunday, October 30, 
 1808. 
 
EMBARKATION OF THE FIFTEENTH 9 
 
 I went with part of my troop on board the 
 Rodney, a ship of 300 tons burden, fitted 
 up to receive forty men and thirty-six horses. 
 Major Leitch, Surgeon Lidderdale, and Cornet 
 Phillips (who had just joined the regiment from 
 Eton), took their passage in the same vessel; 
 and, with the exception of the Major, who occu¬ 
 pied the state cabin, we were wretchedly accom¬ 
 modated. The berths were so bad that Lidder¬ 
 dale and myself preferred sleeping in cots slung 
 in the cabin to the risk of being poisoned by the 
 smell of the bilge-water, and a bed was prepared 
 on the floor for Phillips. As soon as the horses 
 were got on board, the master of the Rodney 
 went to take his amusement in the town ; and, 
 as he did not make his appearance late in the 
 afternoon of the next day—long after orders had 
 been given for the transports to quit the harbour 
 —I went on shore to make a complaint to the 
 Commissioner of Transports, who promised to 
 appoint another to the command. About three 
 o’clock, however, our friend returned in a state 
 of intoxication, and we proceeded to our station 
 in Stokes Bay, where we were terribly tossed all 
 night, and most of our glass and crockery was 
 broken. 
 
10 
 
 LEAVING ENGLAND 
 
 On November 2 the fleet, consisting of thirty- 
 five sail of transports, left Stokes Bay under 
 convoy of the Endymion frigate, commanded by 
 the Hon. Captain Capel. 
 
 It was a fine autumnal evening, and the moon, 
 which had risen in full splendour before we 
 cleared the Solent, shed its mild radiance on the 
 landscape, and enabled us to trace each well- 
 known spot in the beautiful scenery of the Isle 
 of Wight and opposite coast. Notwithstanding 
 the exultation with which we had hailed the 
 signal for “getting under weigh,” I could not 
 banish the melancholy idea that we were quitting 
 our friends and our country perhaps to return to 
 them no more ; and, whilst watching the track 
 of the vessel until it was lost in the surrounding 
 waters, I reflected that in a few short weeks my 
 own career might be closed, and all traces of my 
 existence equally obliterated. I was roused 
 from this gloomy reverie by the cries of a poor 
 boy, who had been washed out of a boat at the 
 stern of one of the transports, nearly abreast of 
 the Rodney. Owing to the rate at which we 
 were sailing, all attempts to rescue him were 
 ineffectual, and his cries became fainter and 
 fainter until we could hear them no longer. His 
 
COMMENCEMENT OF VOYAGE 
 
 11 
 
 only chance of escape rested on his being noticed 
 by some of the sternmost ships, but in all proba¬ 
 bility he perished. 
 
 The breeze freshened soon after we passed the 
 Needles, and I was driven below by a violent 
 attack of sea-sickness, and I suffered so much 
 from this malady during the whole voyage that 
 I could seldom venture to leave my cot, or even 
 to sit up in it. Seven or eight sail parted 
 from the convoy during the night, and we pur¬ 
 sued our course with favourable weather until 
 Sunday, the 6th, when we encountered a squall, 
 which damaged some of the transports. Our 
 ship rolled so excessively that we every moment 
 expected her masts to go overboard. Several of 
 the horses were thrown down—the labouring of 
 the vessel having displaced some of the bars 
 which divided the stalls—and one of them was 
 so much injured that we were obliged to destroy 
 him. 
 
 We also lost a fine piece of fresh beef, which 
 was dislodged from its place in the maintop, 
 and, besides occasioning considerable alarm below- 
 deck by the crash, nearly demolished the Major 
 in its descent! 
 
 We were at this time in the Bay of Biscay, 
 
12 
 
 ARRIVAL AT CORUNNA 
 
 and I was struck with astonishment at the 
 prodigious swell after the gale had subsided ; 
 the waves were so immense that, when our 
 vessel was in the trough of the sea, we could not 
 discern the masthead of a single ship of the fleet, 
 although some of them were almost within 
 hail. On the 7th the convoy was thrown into 
 some alarm by the appearance of a French 
 privateer, to which the Endymion gave chase, 
 and soon quieted our apprehensions. 
 
 At daybreak on the 8th there was a thick 
 fog, which cleared away about nine o’clock, and 
 we found ourselves close in with the land under 
 Cape Ortegal. We immediately stood off, and 
 anchored in the Bay of Corunna the same evening. 
 About half an hour before the fog cleared away, 
 I inquired of the master of the Rodney “ when 
 he expected to get into port ” ? Upon which he 
 asserted that we were above a hundred miles 
 from land, so that, if the haze had not dispersed 
 thus opportunely, in all probability we should 
 have been wrecked, as the ship was going at the 
 rate of six or seven knots an hour with her head 
 right to the breakers. 
 
 The Bay of Corunna was crowded with 
 shipping; and the fleet, with the 7th and 10th 
 
SHIPPING IN THE BAY 
 
 13 
 
 Light Dragoons (Hussars) and two troops of 
 Horse Artillery on board, which left Yarmouth 
 Roads (Isle of Wight) two days before we sailed, 
 arrived about the same time we did. As it was 
 quite dark before the heavy sailers reached their 
 stations, some of them ran foul of those already 
 at anchor, notwithstanding the numerous lights 
 displayed ; and for some hours there was an 
 incessant uproar and confusion occasioned by 
 the squabbles betwixt the crews of vessels which 
 came in contact or athwart hawse. 
 
 In the course of the night the wind freshened, 
 and it blew a hard gale in the morning. The 
 Rodney was anchored above a mile from the 
 quay, and it was with difficulty I could prevail 
 upon the master to set me on shore; but I had 
 suffered so dreadfully from sea-sickness, and 
 found myself so much reduced by it, that I was 
 determined not to remain on board a single hour 
 after it was practicable to quit the ship. The 
 weather becoming more moderate about noon, 
 Major Leitch and myself got into the boat, 
 which was nearly swamped before we could get 
 clear of the vessel, and rowed to the harbour. 
 We had scarcely landed before we had a sample 
 of the violence of the rains in Spain at this 
 
14 
 
 GORDON LANDS 
 
 season of the year; a shower poured down like 
 a waterspout, and soaked us to the skin before 
 we could find shelter. The town was crowded 
 with the officers and men of Sir David Baird’s 
 army, which had disembarked a few days before 
 our arrival; and it was fortunate for us that 
 several divisions had already moved to the 
 interior of the country, as we should otherwise 
 have been obliged to remain on board our trans¬ 
 ports. Even as it was, I traversed the streets 
 for a considerable time without any prospect of 
 procuring either food or lodging. At the Leon 
 d’Oro, the principal hotel in the place, I could 
 obtain nothing but a glass of liqueur and a few 
 apples. At length, happening to meet Captain 
 McMahon of the 60th Regiment, who had 
 formerly served in the 15th, he conducted me to 
 the Hotel d’lngleterra — which we afterwards 
 called the “ British ”—where a table d'hote was 
 established, and the landlord, an Italian, who 
 could speak French a little, promised, as a par¬ 
 ticular favour, to accommodate me with an 
 apartment in his house. 
 
 At four o’clock we repaired to the dining-room, 
 where about thirty persons, chiefly British officers, 
 were assembled. The tablecloth was coarse and 
 
THE BEST HOTEL 
 
 15 
 
 dirty ; the forks and spoons, which were silver, 
 looked like pewter ; the salt was coarse, brown, 
 and almost tasteless; and the apparatus of the 
 table was completed by a mixture of pepper, oil, 
 and vinegar, which was called “mustard,” although 
 not a particle of that seed had been used in its 
 composition. A decanter filled with a weak red 
 wine, the growth of the province, was placed 
 beside each cover; it is the ordinary beverage, 
 plain or diluted, but I do not think those 
 who drink it unmixed run the smallest risk of 
 intoxication. Malt liquor is rarely to be met 
 with. 
 
 After waiting a considerable time, the com¬ 
 pany, who were all pretty sharp-set, began to 
 show signs of impatience at the delay of their 
 dinner, which at length made its appearance, 
 served by our host and two or three ill-looking 
 fellows, each with a dirty napkin thrown grace¬ 
 fully over the left shoulder. The repast con¬ 
 sisted of a profusion of meat, game, fish, and 
 poultry, with a dessert, and as much of the 
 execrable vino-tinto as we chose to drink, for 
 which each person paid sixteen reals—about three 
 shillings and fourpence. 
 
 The scene during dinner was highly diverting; 
 
16 
 
 ACCOMMODATION 
 
 the awkward attempts of some of the party to 
 speak French or Spanish were truly ridiculous, 
 whilst others called for what they wanted in 
 English, and seemed quite astonished at not 
 being understood by the wondering waiters, 
 whom they damned for stupid scoundrels. A 
 trait of the national character was displayed in 
 the conduct of these ragamuffins, who attended 
 with alacrity to the call of those who addressed 
 them by the title of senor , whilst they took as 
 little notice as possible of those who vociferated 
 muchaclio ! 
 
 I went to the theatre in the evening, and on 
 my return to the hotel was ushered to my 
 bedroom, which certainly had no very inviting 
 appearance. It was a small cockloft about 
 10 feet square ; the scanty portion of light that 
 was admitted came through a pane of coarse 
 green glass, fixed in a sort of wooden chimney in 
 the middle of the ceiling, and there was no mode 
 of obtaining fresh air except by keeping the door 
 open. The furniture consisted of a chair, a table, 
 and a pallet with a hard mattress. By dint of 
 earnest entreaties, I procured the addition of 
 a basin and towel, which the people of the house 
 seemed to consider as quite an unreasonable 
 
DELAYED DISEMBARKATION 
 
 17 
 
 indulgence. The basins used in this country 
 are either large and shallow, like a pie-dish, or 
 round and deep ; but they invariably have a broad 
 rim with a notch in it, and bear a sufficient 
 resemblance to the skullcaps, formerly worn, to 
 warrant Don Quixote’s mistake in the affair of 
 Mambrino’s helmet. The materials are generally 
 silver, copper, or brass, although they are some¬ 
 times made of earthenware. The sheets and 
 pillow-cases were of very fine linen, and edged 
 with a broad frill of muslin or cambric, which 
 did not correspond with the mean appearance 
 of the bedstead and furniture. 
 
 I slept very comfortably in this wretched 
 garret—infinitely preferable, in my opinion, to 
 the best accommodation of a transport—but 
 was glad to exchange it for a less elevated 
 apartment which became vacant in a day or 
 two. 
 
 In consequence of the place not affording 
 stable room for so large a body of cavalry, a part 
 of our brigade was obliged to remain on board 
 the ships until the departure of the troops which 
 were first landed ; and the Fifteenth was not dis¬ 
 embarked for some days. This delay proved 
 very detrimental to the horses, and they fell off 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 A CAPTURED TRANSPORT 
 
 rapidly in point of condition ; many of them lost 
 the use of their legs for a time, and some were 
 rendered quite unserviceable. 
 
 The Nelson, our headquarters ship, having 
 Colonel Grant, Captain Murray, the Paymaster, 
 and the Adjutant, on board, was one of the vessels 
 which had separated from the convoy, and for 
 several days we entertained considerable appre¬ 
 hensions on their account. At length, however, 
 after giving up all hopes of them, we had the 
 satisfaction to see her enter the harbour. We 
 also received information that two of the trans¬ 
 ports which were missing had put into Muros 
 Bay. One of them, which carried Cornet Jenkins 
 and about thirty hussars, had been taken by a 
 French privateer; but a British sloop of war 
 coming in sight obliged the enemy to abandon 
 their prize before they had time to shift the 
 prisoners or to destroy the horses. The Com¬ 
 mander, however, took away all the arms he 
 could discover, and obliged the officer to give 
 his parole not to serve against France or her 
 allies during the war. The validity of this con¬ 
 vention was disallowed at headquarters, not¬ 
 withstanding the urgent remonstrances of poor 
 Jenkins, who was afraid of being shot for break- 
 
THE START FROM CORUNNA 
 
 19 
 
 ing his parole, if he should have the misfortune 
 to be taken prisoner a second time. 
 
 The last division of the infantry left Corunna 
 on November 10; one regiment and a battalion 
 of detachments remained to guard the ammuni¬ 
 tion and military stores, and to garrison the 
 citadel. Sir David Baird with his staff followed 
 in a day or two, and on the 15th three troops of 
 the 7th Hussars, forming the first division of the 
 cavalry, commenced their march. The difficulty 
 of procuring forage, and the want of accommoda¬ 
 tion for the horses in the miserable villages of 
 Galicia, obliged us to move in small detach¬ 
 ments ; and in order to spare the horses as much 
 as possible, and allow them time to recover from 
 the effects of confinement during the voyage, 
 the route to Astorga was divided into twelve 
 easy stages with two halting days. 
 
 Having no military duties to attend to during 
 the interval between our arrival and the disem¬ 
 barkation of the regiment, 1 employed that period 
 in visiting everything worthy of notice in the 
 town; but as my horses were still on shipboard 
 I was prevented from making any excursions 
 into the adjacent country, and thus lost the 
 opportunity of seeing Ferrol, which I particu- 
 
20 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF CORUNNA 
 
 larly regretted, as it is reckoned the chief naval 
 arsenal of Spain, and is one of the largest and most 
 complete establishments of the kind in the world. 
 
 Corunna is situated on a peninsula at the end 
 of a fine bay, sheltered by hills which rise imme¬ 
 diately behind the town. The harbour is excel¬ 
 lent, and capable of containing a numerous fleet; 
 it is in the form of a crescent, and the entrance 
 is defended by the Castle of St. Antonio, built 
 on a steep rock which commands the roadstead. 
 This castle is also used as a State prison. The 
 harbour is, besides, protected by three forts and 
 by the citadel, which is a tolerably regular forti¬ 
 fication, but in a neglected state, and incapable 
 of defence against an attack from the land side, 
 as it is commanded by the surrounding hills, and 
 the lower town extends nearly to the foot of the 
 glacis. The citadel is situated on a rocky pro¬ 
 montory, and encloses the new town of Corunna 
 within its walls. The streets are narrow and ill- 
 paved ; the houses are lofty, but have little archi¬ 
 tectural beauty to recommend them, although 
 the hotels of the principal nobility of the province 
 are to be found there. The theatre stands in the 
 fosse which has been excavated from the solid 
 rock. 
 
THE SPANISH GARRISON 
 
 21 
 
 Upon a hill near the citadel stands an ancient 
 tower of considerable strength and elevation; 
 the erection of this building is attributed by the 
 Galicians to Hercules, whose name it bears. It 
 is also called the Iron Tower, and is undoubtedly 
 of very great antiquity, although historians are 
 divided in opinion whether it is a Phoenician or 
 a Roman work. Whatever its origin, the build¬ 
 ing is now converted into a lighthouse—which 
 is probably the use for which it was first designed 
 —and is, from its situation, a conspicuous land¬ 
 mark to vessels at sea. The Iron Tower forms 
 the armorial bearings of the town of Corunna. 
 
 There were no regular Spanish troops in gar¬ 
 rison here; but I saw about COO Patriots, who 
 mounted guards and shared fatigue duties with 
 our infantry. These volunteers were wretchedly 
 clothed and but indifferently armed, and their 
 appearance was by no means calculated to im¬ 
 press an observer with a very high opinion of 
 their prowess; but I was at this time sanguine 
 in the cause, and persuaded myself that these 
 peasants possessed an invincible courage, which 
 would counterbalance every other deficiency. 
 1 understood that 5,000 volunteers had been 
 equipped at this place, and sent to join General 
 
 4 
 
THE SUBURBS 
 
 Blake’s army; and that recruits were continually 
 forwarded to his headquarters as fast as they 
 could be supplied with arms, and drilled to the 
 manual and platoon exercises. 
 
 In addition to these disposable levies, a number 
 of the principal inhabitants had formed them¬ 
 selves into a corps for the defence of the town; 
 and although their enrolment was but of recent 
 date, they made a very respectable appearance. 
 
 The lower town, called also Pescaderia, or fish- 
 market, which extends almost to the walls of the 
 citadel, occupies a narrow neck of land formed by 
 the harbour on one side, and Orsan Bay on the other. 
 At the opposite extremity a line of entrenchments 
 is carried across the isthmus, and, at the distance 
 of a quarter of a mile, the suburb of St. Lucia 
 stretches along the harbour. This suburb is a 
 place of some extent, and contains large barracks, 
 as well as magazines of naval and military stores. 
 The aqueduct, which supplies the town with 
 water from the neighbouring hills, is also to be 
 seen in this direction. Corunna, including St. 
 Lucia, extends about two miles along the bay, 
 and, according to the best information I could 
 procure, contains nearly 6,000 inhabitants. There 
 are four parish churches, four convents, and two 
 
THE PEOPLE 
 
 hospitals, in the citadel and lower town; there 
 are three squares with a fountain in each ; but 
 none of the buildings, either public or private, 
 have been erected with any view to external 
 ornament—even the churches are only remark¬ 
 able for the plainness and solidity of their struc¬ 
 ture. The streets are steep and narrow, ex¬ 
 tremely dirty, and paved with large flat stones, 
 upon which our horses could with difficulty keep 
 their footing. 
 
 The merchants and shopkeepers reside in the 
 lower town, where all the business and commerce 
 of the place is transacted. There are some 
 extensive hat manufactories, and the chocolate 
 made here is highly esteemed; the shops are 
 numerous, but the greater part of the articles on 
 sale—which are chiefly of foreign manufacture— 
 are highly priced and of inferior quality. The 
 hotels are very indifferent, and the conduct of 
 many of the landlords was quite unaccountable ; 
 upon the first arrival of the British troops they 
 were perfectly willing to accommodate small 
 parties of officers with board and lodging, but 
 when the number of customers increased they 
 either shut up their houses or restricted their 
 business to the furnishing of coffee, chocolate, 
 
24 
 
 THE OX-CARTS 
 
 etc., and we could not prevail upon them to pro¬ 
 vide us with a dinner on any terms. The motives 
 J for this behaviour, so evidently at variance with 
 their interest, always remained a mystery to us. 
 The only description of cart used in this province 
 is a miserable vehicle, the body of which is com¬ 
 posed of a few rough planks, tied or nailed 
 together, to form the bottom, with three or four 
 stakes placed upright on each side at intervals of 
 two feet. From the front of the platform issues 
 a pole, to the ends of which the oxen are harnessed 
 by the horns, instead of being yoked by the neck, 
 as is usual in other countries. The wheels are 
 solid, and do not revolve on the axletree, but the 
 axle itself turns round, making the most horrible 
 creaking that can be imagined. The Spaniards, 
 although they make such liberal use of grease 
 in their kitchens, seem most scrupulously to 
 refrain from applying the smallest portion to the 
 wheels of these infernal machines. The concert 
 formed by a train of these cars, accompanied by 
 the cries of the drivers to encourage their cattle, 
 is almost sufficient to make anyone within reach 
 of the sounds pray to be divested of the sense of 
 hearing. 
 
 Southey, in his “ Travels in Spain,” speaking 
 
MEANS OF TRANSPORT 
 
 25 
 
 of the cars used in Galicia, mentions that the 
 Governor of Corunna once ordered them to be 
 kept well oiled to prevent the horrid creaking of 
 the wheels. But the drivers petitioned against 
 it, declaring that the oxen liked the sound and 
 would not draw without it. The order was 
 revoked in consequence. Another reason alleged 
 by them is that the noise frightens away the 
 devil, who would otherwise injure the animals. 
 
 It is said—with greater probability—to have the 
 effect of scaring the wolves, which might certainly J 
 do mischief to the oxen in the wild mountainous 
 districts, if they were not kept off by this frightful 
 sound. 
 
 The few coaches and chariots I saw in this 
 part of the country are exceedingly heavy and 
 old-fashioned ; they appear to have been built on 
 the model of the carriages represented in the 
 plates which embellish the old editions of “ Don 
 Quixote” and “Gil Bias.” The harness is com¬ 
 monly composed of ropes, but the carriage mules 
 are frequently very superb. Those which I saw, 
 belonging to the Duke of Veragua, measured 
 about sixteen hands in height, and cost 300 
 dollars each. Litters are sometimes used in 
 making journeys or transporting the sick; the 
 
26 
 
 HOUSES OF THE HIDALGOS 
 
 body is that of a coach, chariot, or sedan-chair, 
 fixed, like the latter, upon poles and carried 
 betwixt the mules. 
 
 The houses of the hidalgos are spacious, but 
 meanly fitted up and ill-furnished—in fact, an 
 English tradesman lives more comfortably, and 
 in some respects even more luxuriously, tha v a 
 grandee of Spain. Whilst I remained at Corunna 
 I had the honour of dining with the Duke of 
 Veragua, a grandee of the first class, and one 
 of the knights of Calatrava. He is the lineal 
 descendant, by the female line, and representative 
 of the discoverer of America, who is called 
 Colon by the Spaniards. The palace of 
 Veragua stands in the citadel, and is by far 
 the most comfortable house to which I had 
 access during our short abode in the country. 
 It is furnished pretty much in the English style, 
 and some of the apartments are fitted up with 
 an attention to convenience and comfort which 
 is seldom found out of Britain. I was much 
 disappointed with a portrait of Columbus which 
 hangs in one of the antechambers. I expected 
 to have seen a countenance indicative of profound 
 thought and gentle disposition combined with 
 resolution, but the face produced by the painter 
 
DESCENDANTS OF COLUMBUS 
 
 27 
 
 is compounded of vulgarity and stupidity. In 
 one corner of the canvas the armorial bearings 
 of the family are emblazoned with the arms of 
 Castile and Leon in an escutcheon of pretence. 
 The crest is a ship circumnavigating the globe, 
 with the following Spanish couplet by way of 
 motto: 
 
 “ A la Castilla y a Leon, 
 
 Nuevo Mondo dio Colon.” 
 
 The present Duke does not appear to have 
 inherited either the abilities or the energy of 
 mind of his illustrious progenitor, but he is affable, 
 cheerful, and hospitable. He pressed me very 
 much to take up my abode in his house during 
 the remainder of my stay at Corunna, and offered 
 me the apartment Mr. Stuart had occupied a few 
 weeks before. I was obliged to decline this 
 civility, which would have been attended with 
 a great deal of inconvenience, but was much 
 indebted to him for the use of an excellent 
 stable for my horses, which had been very ill- 
 accommodated in that respect before. When 
 I dined with the Duke, the party consisted of 
 six Spaniards, one of whom was a naval officer, 
 and two of the others had the look of secular 
 priests. The Duchess was at a country-seat at 
 
28 
 
 A SPANISH DINNER-PARTY 
 
 some distance. I regretted her absence, as I 
 wished for an opportunity of observing the 
 manners of a Spanish lady of high rank. I was 
 told that she was very handsome and very agree¬ 
 able, and that her husband was so jealous that 
 he had retired from the Court some months ago, 
 in order to withdraw her from the too particular 
 attentions of one of the French officers. The 
 Duke and two of his friends understood French, 
 but had great difficulty in expressing themselves 
 in that language. The conversation, of course, 
 was carried on chiefly in Spanish, in which I had 
 made but little progress, and therefore could not 
 enter much into the subjects of discourse, which 
 generally turned upon the situation of public 
 affairs, and it appeared to me that the expecta¬ 
 tions of the majority were not very sanguine. 
 
 We dined at three o’clock, and were served 
 on plate which would have looked splendid if it 
 had been properly cleaned ; but, from the slovenly 
 manner in which it is kept, plate does not give 
 the same eclat to an entertainment in Spain that 
 it does in England. 
 
 The first course consisted of soups and roast 
 meat, followed by fish and boiled meat; then a 
 course of poultry and game; and lastly pastry 
 
THE TABLE SERVANTS 
 
 29 
 
 and confections, in which the Spanish cooks 
 excel. Each person carved the dish that hap¬ 
 pened to be next him by cutting portions of it 
 into a plate, which was then handed round the 
 table for the company to help themselves. By 
 this means, as the plates followed each other in 
 quick succession, and it seemed to be the rule 
 to refuse nothing, we had several different kinds 
 of food before us at the same time. Of the 
 domestics who waited upon us—six or seven in 
 number — only two were in livery, one was in the 
 habit of a page, and the rest were dressed in very 
 shabby suits. The butler wore a threadbare coat 
 with one of the sleeves nearly torn off, and was 
 more occupied in endeavouring to conceal this 
 misfortune than in attending to his duty at the 
 sideboard. He appeared, however, to be exceed¬ 
 ingly amused by the conversation, and laughed 
 heartily at his master’s jokes, throwing in a few 
 remarks of his own occasionally. 
 
 I happened to meet him in the street next day, 
 when he accosted me with the greatest familiarity 
 and offered to shake hands, a freedom which 
 rather astonished me; but when I became better 
 acquainted with the manners of the people, I 
 observed that it was customary for servants to 
 
30 
 
 WINES OF THE COUNTRY 
 
 take such kind of liberties, and that they were 
 always on the most familiar footing with their 
 employers. The nobility generally retain the 
 servants of their deceased relations, and a do¬ 
 mestic is seldom discarded except for some 
 heinous offence, or from incapacity for service, 
 in which case he is allowed a pension. This 
 system must occasion an enormous expense to 
 the grandees, many of whom have several dozen 
 idle retainers to provide for. 
 
 The wine we drank at dinner was the common 
 vin du pays, scarcely superior in quality to that 
 furnished at the table d'hote. The Duke and 
 his friends took large draughts of it, and seemed 
 to relish it prodigiously. I have often heard the 
 Galicians expatiate on its virtues, and many of 
 our soldiers drank it to excess, although I can 
 only compare the taste of it to a mixture of 
 vinegar and ink. In general it is so weak that 
 one would scarcely believe it possible to drink 
 sufficient to cause intoxication ; but when mulled 
 with plenty of sugar and spice it is not unpalat¬ 
 able. The dinner was followed by an elegant 
 dessert, when the vino tinto was replaced by 
 three or four sorts of rich sweet wines, of which 
 we drank a few glasses, and then adjourned to 
 
ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 31 
 
 the drawing room, where coffee was served, soon 
 after which I withdrew, and the Spaniards went 
 to take their siesta. 
 
 Many of the principal families which usually 
 reside in Corunna were absent while we were in 
 the place, but soon after our arrival a grand ball 
 was given to the officers by a Countess whose 
 name I do not recollect. The company was 
 numerous, and we danced minuets, waltzes, and 
 country-dances ; the entertainment was alto¬ 
 gether so much in the English style that it 
 afforded no criterion by which we could form an 
 opinion of Spanish manners. 
 
 I occasionally spent the evening at tertullas, 
 which are private assemblies, or conversaziones, 
 and always found these parties exceedingly dull; 
 the company generally consisted of from ten to 
 twenty persons, the majority priests and friars, in 
 a spacious room scantily furnished and ill-lighted. 
 Cards, conversation, and music, formed the 
 agremens of the evening; sugared biscuits and 
 lemonade were sometimes offered, but this cere¬ 
 mony was more frequently dispensed with. The 
 gentlemen seldom appear at these parties with¬ 
 out their cigars, which are often passed from 
 mouth to mouth in long succession, and both 
 
32 
 
 STYLE OE DRESS 
 
 sexes have an abominable habit of spitting on 
 the floors. 
 
 In the houses of the merchants and poor 
 hidalgos it is customary to have a bed in the 
 parlour or family sitting-room, placed within an 
 alcove, and the apartment is equally used by the 
 inmates, whether the occupier of the bed is in it 
 or not, without appearing to make the slightest 
 embarrassment on either side. The females in 
 the houses where we were billeted often visited 
 us in the morning before we got up, to ask us 
 how we had passed the night and to bring us our 
 chocolate ; they then entered into conversation, 
 and sometimes extended their visits to such a 
 length that we were obliged to request them to 
 retire. 
 
 The costume of the nation varies so much in 
 the different provinces and stations of life that it 
 is difficult to give a general description of it. 
 Dark colours are commonly worn by the men, 
 who, when they go abroad, are always muffled 
 up in the capa, a long and ample cloak, which 
 effectually conceals the face as well as the person, 
 and gives to each individual the appearance of a 
 bravo. Black is the colour most esteemed for 
 full dress, and, amongst the peasantry, dis- 
 
FEMALE DRESS 
 
 33 
 
 tinguishes the master of the family from his 
 servants. In several districts they wear slouch 
 hats with very broad brims, which must be of 
 essential utility in a country where the rays of 
 the sun are so powerful. But in Galicia and the 
 northern parts of Leon the montero cap is com¬ 
 monly worn; it is very convenient, and at the 
 same time picturesque. The peasants frequently 
 go bare-legged, and wooden shoes are much used 
 by both sexes. 
 
 The French mode of dress is pretty generally 
 adopted by the ladies, but many still adhere to 
 the ancient Spanish costume, which is so be¬ 
 coming that it is much to be regretted it should 
 have given place to any other. This habit con¬ 
 sists of a body and petticoat of silk or satin, 
 trimmed with velvet, over which is worn a dress 
 of lace, terminated by a fringe of silken cords, 
 which reaches to the knees. The mantilla, a 
 lace veil or scarf, which covers the head and 
 falls over the neck and shoulders, is worn with 
 this dress, instead of a hat or bonnet. This 
 elegant habit, which is always worn at Mass, is 
 on those occasions invariably black—indeed, it is 
 rare to see it in colours. The women wear short 
 petticoats in order to display their feet and ankles, 
 
 5 
 
34 
 
 THEATRES 
 
 which are well proportioned ; they step well, pay 
 particular attention to their chaussure, and their 
 air in walking is remarkably graceful. Cocked 
 hats are universally worn by the gentry and 
 middling classes, and even by boys of seven or 
 eight years old, who also wear long coats and 
 boots. It is by no means unusual to see children 
 who can scarcely walk, dressed like grown-up 
 women in short petticoats, bodice, and scarf, 
 looking as old-fashioned as if they were grand¬ 
 mothers. This early imitation of the dress 
 of their elders gives the very infants a most 
 grave and sedate appearance; and the formal 
 behaviour and pompous manner of children under 
 eight years of age is highly ludicrous. 
 
 The theatre, usually called the “ opera,” is 
 the only place of public amusement at Corunna. 
 It is larger than most of the provincial theatres 
 in Britain, and greater attention is paid to the 
 accommodation of the public. The benches in 
 the pit have backs and each seat is numbered, 
 and the tickets of admission are numbered to 
 correspond, so that every person’s place is marked 
 by his ticket. All crowding and disputes for 
 places are by these means avoided, and it is easy 
 to secure any particular seat by applying in the 
 
PLAYS 
 
 35 
 
 morning for the number desired. Females never 
 appear in the pit—indeed, I believe there is a 
 regulation to prevent them. The scenery and 
 decorations are tolerably good, the music very in¬ 
 different. The performances consist of comedies 
 and stories from sacred history ; among those 
 I saw represented were Daniel in the Den of 
 Lions ; Susannah and the Elders ; Shadrach, Me- 
 shach, and Abednego, in the Fiery Furnace; 
 Nebuchadnezzar’s Metamorphosis. These repre¬ 
 sentations were truly absurd, and only calculated 
 to turn the subject into ridicule, which certainly 
 was not the intention either of the author or the 
 actors. 
 
 Men in tawdry dresses performed the part of 
 the lions, who rolled about the stage like Wind 
 puppies, and “ aggravated their voices ” like 
 Bottom, so that they “ roar’d as gently as any 
 sucking doves.” Allegorical pieces in allusion 
 to the situation of the country were often per¬ 
 formed, in which Spain, under the figure of a 
 beautiful woman, was represented as enslaved by 
 the treachery of France, and liberated by the 
 exertions of England. On these occasions our 
 venerable Monarch, with several members of the 
 Royal Family, were introduced upon the stage 
 
36 
 
 THE BALLET 
 
 to embrace Ferdinand, and the spectacle con¬ 
 cluded with the engagement of the latter to 
 marry an English Princess—the curtain falling 
 amidst shouts of “ Viva Fernando!” “ Viva 
 Gorge tercero !” “ Viva Spana !” “ Viva Ingle- 
 terra !” 
 
 The prompter’s head appears from a little box 
 just above the boards in front of the stage, and 
 he reads every speech from beginning to end 
 with as loud a voice as the actors’ recite. They 
 declaim in a querulous tone, and do not use 
 much gesture. The principal actress was blind 
 of one eye—a blemish which I observed not 
 infrequently amongst the women. The dancing 
 was the only part of the performance which 
 excited much interest, and the ballets generally 
 concluded with the fandango or the bolero, 
 danced by persons habited in the costume of 
 Andalusia. The two principal dancers would 
 not have disgraced our opera, and the effect of 
 the castanets added much to the spirit of the 
 scene. 
 
 During the time I remained at Corunna I 
 made some progress in learning the language, 
 and neglected no opportunity of speaking it. 
 I soon understood Spanish sufficiently to read 
 
KING JOSEPH 
 
 37 
 
 the public journals, which teemed with abuse of 
 the Bonaparte family ; and the chief efforts of the 
 editor’s ingenuity seemed to be employed in the 
 invention of nicknames. Napoleon was con¬ 
 verted by the patriots into “ Napo-ladron.” If 
 we happened to mention the name of Bonaparte, 
 we were immediately interrupted, and desired to 
 say “Malaparte.” Joseph, their new King, has 
 obtained the reputation of being immoderately 
 addicted to the bottle ; and, as the people look 
 upon a drunkard with contempt and abhorrence, 
 they have been particularly severe in the epithets 
 they have applied to him—Josef-boracho, Key 
 de botillas, Pepecubas, etc., are appellations 
 very liberally bestowed upon him by all who 
 profess attachment to Ferdinand. But it would 
 appear that they suffer their zeal in his cause to 
 evaporate in abuse of the usurper of his throne, 
 for I never saw any disposition in his partisans 
 to incur the slightest personal risk in his service. 
 Although our army marched above 800 miles 
 in the country, it was not joined by a single 
 Spaniard ; and even where the spirit of patriotism 
 appeared to be in its zenith, the people seemed 
 to think they gave ample support to the good 
 cause by hailing us with vivas as we passed, and 
 
 6 
 
38 
 
 KING FERDINAND 
 
 by furnishing us with provisions for which we 
 paid the full value. 
 
 From the character given of Ferdinand by his 
 friends, I should imagine that he is totally 
 unfit to wield a sceptre; the only reply I ever 
 obtained to my inquiries respecting his abilities— 
 from those who professed themselves his most 
 devoted adherents—was that he was “ mucho pio.” 
 Now, although this character—which must be 
 understood to mean that he is a bigot to the 
 superstitions of the Church of Rome—would be 
 a suitable recommendation to an abbacy or a 
 bishopric, I question whether it will enable him 
 to govern an extensive empire with advantage 
 to his subjects if he should ever recover the 
 throne, which at present seems rather problem¬ 
 atical. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 [Much had happened between the departure from 
 England of the advanced portion of Baird's force, 
 and the eastward move from, Corunna of his cavalry 
 brigade. The troops which sailed with Sir David 
 reached tlieir destination on October 13, but were not 
 permitted by the Spanish authorities to land until the 
 2 Gth, being then pushed forward into Leon in small 
 parties. By November 4 all these had been put on 
 shore , and , so soon as he had seen the arrival of the last 
 of the transports conveying his mounted troops, Sir 
 David Baird started to join his infantry at Astorga. 
 On the road, Baird heard of the ill-fate which had 
 pursued the Spanish armies — Blake's reverse at 
 Zornosa, Belvedere's route at Gamonal, Blake's over¬ 
 throw at Espinosa, the crushing of Castanos. He 
 must have learnt during his halt at Astorga that 
 Asturias lay at the feet of the French , who were 
 already in Valladolid, with their cavalry at Bene- 
 vente on the road to Salamanca, where Baird was 
 to have joined hands with Moore. Baird now saw 
 no course open to him but to retreat. 
 
 39 
 
40 
 
 JUNCTION OF THE FORCES 
 
 Meanwhile Moore had reached Salamanca on 
 November 13, also met at every halting-place by 
 tidings of French successes, and he recognized that, 
 while he might gather his own troops round him at 
 Salamanca, a junction with those under Baird teas 
 impossible should the French continue to advance. 
 On the 21 st Moore bid Baird prepare for retreat; 
 on the 23 rd Moore's infantry had all joined him, but 
 on the 28 th came news of the disaster at Tudela, and 
 Moore then decided himself to retreat on Portugal, 
 directed Baird to fall bach on Corunna, embarking 
 thence for the Tagus, and ordered Hope to join at 
 once by forced marches. 
 
 Hope, by equal skill and good fortune, evaded 
 interference by the French, and ivas in touch with 
 Moore by December 4, by which date the situation 
 had already begun to show signs of improvement. 
 Napoleon, ceasing to move westward, ivas concentra¬ 
 ting upon Madrid; Blake's scattered army was being 
 reorganized; the people of Madrid had flown to 
 arms, and were bent upon resistance. Moore felt 
 \ that he was in duty and in honour bound to support 
 the national movement, and cancelled the orders for 
 retreat, already in course of being carried out, and 
 on December 6 and 8 he directed Baird to send his 
 cavalry at once to Zamora, moving the remainder 
 of his force to Benevente .] 
 
GORDON LEAVES CORUNNA 
 
 41 
 
 The Cavalry and Horse Artillery marched in 
 ten divisions; the 15th Hussars formed the 
 eighth and ninth ; and the last was composed of 
 men and horses belonging to the brigade, who 
 had been unable to accompany their respective 
 corps. When I left Corunna the inhabitants 
 were in the greatest consternation and distress, 
 occasioned by accounts, which had arrived the 
 evening before, of the destruction of General 
 Blake’s army in a series of actions near Reynosa. 
 
 November 23rd ,—The tenth division, which did 
 not exceed twenty-live men and horses, with 
 Veterinary-Surgeon Castley, of the 15th, who 
 was the only officer who accompanied me, 
 was ordered to be in readiness to march at ten 
 o’clock, but, owing to various causes of delay, 
 we did not leave the barracks at St. Lucia until 
 past twelve ; and as it was necessary to proceed 
 slowly, on account of the weakly condition of 
 the horses, it was four o’clock before we arrived 
 at Betanzos, although the distance is little more 
 than three leagues. 
 
 The road from Corunna to Astorga is perhaps 
 one of the finest public works in Europe ; the 
 country it passes through is in general moun¬ 
 tainous, and the road is conducted along the side 
 
42 
 
 BETANZOS 
 
 of the hills, for the most part, about halfway 
 between the base and the summit; and in this 
 manner it is carried, by a very gradual ascent, 
 over some of the highest mountains in Galicia. 
 This road, which is broad and well formed, is 
 above 180 miles in length, and from the nature 
 of the ground, and the manner in which it is 
 executed, must have been a work of immense 
 expense and labour. The Spanish league measures 
 four English miles and about half a furlong; at 
 the end of each league a stone pillar is erected, 
 on which the distance from Corunna is marked. 
 
 The country between Corunna and Betanzos 
 is very beautiful; it is mountainous, but the 
 valleys are well cultivated, the hills verdant, and 
 occasionally clothed with wood. Betanzos is 
 finely situated in a bottom, completely sur¬ 
 rounded by hills which offer many strong 
 positions. An arm of the sea runs nearly up 
 to the town, which stands on the banks of the 
 River Mandeo. But, notwithstanding the advan¬ 
 tages of its situation, the place has very little 
 trade, and, from the dilapidated appearance of 
 many of the streets and houses, seems to be rapidly 
 falling into a state of complete decay. The town 
 is small, and contains no buildings worthy of 
 
BILLETS 
 
 43 
 
 notice, with the exception of a large convent, 
 which I had not leisure to enter. 
 
 The inhabitants appeared inclined to receive 
 us with hospitality, but they were too indigent 
 to show any substantial marks of their good-will. 
 I was billeted at the house of a poor hidalgo, and 
 accompanied my host and his lady to a tertulla 
 at a house in the outskirts of the town. The 
 whole assembly did not exceed eight persons ; 
 some of them played cards, and a young lady 
 favoured us with a song which she accompanied 
 by playing on the guitar, but I could not discover 
 much melody either in the voice or the instru¬ 
 ment. Having had no dinner, supper became an 
 important consideration, and, observing no pre¬ 
 parations for that meal, I retired to my quarters 
 and regaled on hog’s puddings and garlic d I'Es- 
 pcignole with my host, who assured me he had 
 entertained Admiral Cochrane at his house 
 formerly. 
 
 24M.—As my instructions were to bring for¬ 
 ward all the men and horses left on the road by 
 the preceding divisions, the strength of the 
 detachment augmented daily; and having been 
 joined by a small party at Betanzos, we marched 
 three leagues through a beautiful but very hilly 
 
44 
 
 DIFFICULTIES OF TRANSPORT 
 
 country, and halted for the night at Monte 
 Salgueiro. This posada,* a lone house situated 
 on an extensive heath, is one of the most miser¬ 
 able places I ever saw. The apartments we 
 occupied were filled with dirt, and the furniture 
 consisted of a clumsy deal table and form, and 
 two truckle bedsteads without blankets or bed¬ 
 ding of any kind. A Spanish family had arrived 
 just before us, and were dining, on some pro¬ 
 visions they had brought with them, on a piazza in 
 front of the house, whilst the mules were baiting 
 in the courtyard. Their coach was filled with 
 blankets, pillows, and other articles which travel¬ 
 lers are obliged to carry with them, as the inns 
 in general only furnish house room and wine. 
 
 Even at this early period of the campaign, the 
 difficulty we experienced in procuring cars and 
 oxen for the conveyance of the baggage of the 
 army and military stores, might have satisfied us 
 of the little dependence to be placed on the co¬ 
 operation of the inhabitants. The peasants either 
 disregarded the orders of the alccddes or obeyed 
 them with reluctance, and it was frequently 
 necessary to enforce obedience by threats and 
 
 * Monte Salgueiro was the name given to this inn by our 
 staff, but the proper name is Posada Castillana. 
 
ORDERS TO HALT 
 
 45 
 
 blows. The alcaldes themselves were in general 
 but one degree above the lower class of peasants, 
 who often treated them with disrespect; on such 
 occasions these village magistrates seemed to have 
 no idea of keeping up the dignity of their office, 
 nor any means of causing their authority to be 
 regarded except the volubility of their tongues. 
 Many of them were suspected of being well 
 affected towards the enemy. 
 
 In many parts of this almost desert country 
 wild - dogs prowl about in herds ; I saw the 
 carcasses of two which had been shot the night 
 before by some of our men, who were encamped 
 on the moor. These animals resemble the wolf, 
 but are smaller. 
 
 2 5th .—The weather had been remarkably fine 
 for several days, but we marched this morning in 
 a drizzling rain, which made our quarters appear 
 even more wretched, and the thick mist which 
 hung upon the mountains prevented us from 
 seeing the country. At the end of two leagues we 
 passed through a dirty, miserable-looking village 
 called Gutoriez, and about a mile on the other 
 side of it met Cornet Laroche, of the Fifteenth, 
 who was proceeding with despatches to Corunna, 
 and had orders to halt all the troops he should 
 
46 
 
 ADVANCE RESUMED 
 
 meet on the road, the intention of advancing 
 being abandoned, as he told us, in consequence 
 of the immense force the French were pouring 
 into Castile, and the inefficient state of the 
 Spanish armies. 
 
 In obedience to these orders, I returned with 
 my detachment to Gutoriez, where I found 
 a posada infinitely superior in point of accommo¬ 
 dation to that at Monte Salgueiro. The land¬ 
 lady, however, was a complete vixen, and the 
 inhabitants of the village were so much irritated 
 by the rumoured retreat of the British, that 
 I expected them to give vent to their choler by 
 attacking my small party. I therefore made 
 arrangements for defending the house, which 
 was a substantial stone building with a courtyard 
 enclosed by a high wall; but fortunately the day 
 passed without any unpleasant occurrence. 
 
 2 CM.— Received orders in the course of the 
 morning to continue our advance, and marched 
 two leagues to Bamondd, a pleasant little village 
 situated in an extensive and fertile plain watered 
 by the Mino, which is here a considerable river. 
 The circumjacent country is well cultivated, and 
 there are several detached farmhouses and quintas 
 in the neighbourhood, which have a neat and 
 
LUGO 
 
 47 
 
 comfortable appearance. Whilst taking a walk 
 in the fields before dinner, I met a peasant 
 carrying a hare he had just killed, which proved 
 a very seasonable addition to our mess of tough 
 ration beef. I gave the man a peseta (the fifth 
 part of a dollar), which excited his gratitude to 
 such a pitch that, before I was aware of his 
 intentions, he threw his arms round my neck, 
 and almost suffocated me with the stench of 
 tobacco and garlic. 
 
 27th .—Marched to Lugo, four leagues. This 
 city, once the metropolis of Spain, is of great 
 antiquity, and was a Roman station under the 
 name of Lucus Augusti. It is now the see of 
 a Bishop, and is chiefly known on account of its 
 warm medicinal springs. The ancient walls are 
 of an extraordinary thickness, and still in good 
 repair, and the town must have been a place 
 of considerable strength from its commanding 
 situation. It is supplied with water from the 
 Mino by an aqueduct, and there is a handsome 
 stone bridge across the river at the distance of 
 half a league from the gates. The neighbouring 
 country, which is broken into hill and dale, is 
 very much intersected by dry stone walls, 
 enclosing the fields and vineyards. 
 
48 
 
 CITY AND PEOPLE 
 
 One quarter of the city is an open area, where 
 the foundations and ruins of buildings are very 
 apparent; in other respects Lugo, although 
 a gloomy and dirty place, does not exhibit the 
 marks of desertion and decay so evident in most 
 Spanish towns. But I could not discover 
 whether this prosperity was owing to the profits 
 of trade, or merely to its being the seat of govern¬ 
 ment for the province. The cathedral is an 
 ancient Gothic edifice; it has been repaired 
 lately, and the architect has added a portico in 
 the Grecian style, which spoils the effect of the 
 building. The interior is very richly ornamented, 
 but there was not a great display of relics. 
 
 The city contains many churches and convents, 
 a college, and four hospitals ; the latter buildings 
 were converted into barracks and magazines, or 
 filled with the sick of our army, who were already 
 but too numerous. The plaza, or great square, 
 is very spacious, the houses built on piazzas ; 
 there are several smaller squares, three of which 
 have fountains in the centre, covered with 
 grotesque decorations. The population is com¬ 
 puted at 6,000 souls. The episcopal palace is 
 a fine old building, but rather in a dilapidated 
 state. The Bishop, who is about sixty years 
 
LOCAL CLERGY 
 
 49 
 
 of age, from his rotundity of person would not 
 disgrace the English bench. He affected to 
 adore the British, and expatiated in the most 
 hyperbolical terms on the immense resources 
 of the country and the energy of Spanish valour. 
 I have since heard that he was secretly attached 
 to the French party, which appears to have been 
 the case from his subsequent conduct. 
 
 I received an invitation to dine with him, 
 which I declined, but paid him a visit about 
 noon, when I found him just beginning his meal, 
 and was not a little edified by witnessing his 
 abstinence 1 His figure recalled to my recollec¬ 
 tion the description given of the Canon Sedillo 
 in “ Gil Bias,” except that he made good use of 
 his hands. He was waited upon by a subaltern 
 priest, who placed a single dish on the table, 
 which he took care to remove as soon as the 
 contents were devoured. The prelate dispensed 
 with the use of either knife or fork, and contrived, 
 with the assistance of two large bloodhounds, to 
 empty near a dozen dishes of meat and pastry. 
 Two priests conversed with him during his 
 repast, and he again pressed me to dine with 
 his family at three o’clock. He appeared to be 
 a good-humoured, ignorant old man. I saw him 
 
 7 
 
50 
 
 CONSTANTINO 
 
 afterwards in the dusk of the evening taking an 
 airing without the walls, in a clumsy old coach 
 drawn at a foot’s pace by six mules. 
 
 The Provincial Junta of Galicia was established 
 here, and held their meetings in the town-hall, 
 an ancient structure, the walls of which are 
 covered with a profusion of curious arabesque 
 ornaments. I had occasion to attend their sitting 
 for the purpose of making some arrangements 
 for the conveyance of military stores, and found 
 their proceedings exceedingly dilatory. Indeed, 
 on all occasions a lamentable degree of apathy 
 seemed to pervade everything connected with 
 the public service. 
 
 Baron During, the Lieutenant of my troop, 
 was sent to reconnoitre the country betwixt 
 Lugo and Vigo, attended by an old Spanish 
 soldier, to act as guide and interpreter. 
 
 28 th .—Halted at Lugo. 
 
 29th .—The division marched four leagues to 
 Constantino, a miserable village at the foot of 
 a range of mountains. The doorways of the 
 hovels of this place were so low that we had 
 great difficulty in getting our horses under 
 cover. 
 
 30 th .—To Las Nogales, four leagues. About 
 
NOGALES 
 
 51 
 
 midway passed the puente nueva, a beautiful 
 bridge of three arches, raised on stone pillars 
 more than 100 feet above the bed of a rivulet. 
 The road is here carried across a considerable 
 ravine in a very picturesque situation. It is 
 almost a continued ascent from Constantino, and 
 there are many romantic spots betwixt Lugo 
 and this place; but the prospect is in general 
 tiresome from its uniformity, the hills being 
 similar to each other in shape, and not broken 
 into the abrupt outlines usual in mountainous 
 countries. Instead of that variety we have here 
 a regular succession of round hills, rising gradually 
 behind each other, and separated by narrow 
 valleys watered by small streams. 
 
 Nogales is a large village prettily situated at 
 the base of a lofty mountain. The River Valcazar 
 Hows near the place, which is surrounded by 
 well-cultivated Helds and ornamented with Hue 
 trees. In summer it must be a delightful spot; 
 but whilst we were there the weather was bad, 
 the streets dirty, and the inhabitants so ill- 
 disposed towards us that I was much annoyed 
 at receiving directions to halt till further orders. 
 
 The determination to retreat, which had been 
 suspended for a few days, was now acted upon, 
 
52 
 
 GORDON PUSHES ON 
 
 and it is not surprising that our allies should have 
 formed unfavourable opinions of our intentions 
 from witnessing the indecision of our com¬ 
 manders. To-day they might see troops and 
 stores hurried forward with the utmost despatch ; 
 to-morrow, perhaps, they would be marched back 
 again with equal precipitation. 
 
 December 1st .—Dined with Major Blackall, of 
 the 51st Regiment, and three or four infantry 
 officers who were stationed here in charge of 
 ammunition and stores. In the evening I re¬ 
 ceived orders to join the brigade as soon as 
 possible, with such men and horses only as were 
 lit for the most active service. Whilst employed in 
 making the necessary arrangements for the march, 
 I was visited by two young Scotsmen who were 
 returning to their native country. They told me 
 they had quitted the College of Valladolid, on 
 the general dispersion of the students a few days 
 before, in consequence of the approach of the 
 French army. They assured me that the enemy 
 had met with no resistance, and that his advanced 
 guard, consisting of 8,000 men, entered the city 
 before they quitted it. 
 
 2nd .—Having selected the horses that appeared 
 fit for hard duty, which reduced the strength of 
 
VILLAFRANCA 
 
 53 
 
 my detachment from 110 to 24, I proceeded to 
 Trabadelos, a distance of seven leagues, where I 
 found Cornet Phillips, who was on his way to 
 Nogales to take the command of the division 
 I had left there. In the course of this day’s 
 march we crossed a mountain above seven miles 
 in ascent. Near the summit we met the 76th 
 Regiment, which formed the advanced guard 
 of our retreating army ; the appearance of these 
 troops, dimly seen through the mist as they 
 wound round the hill, and the occasional gleams 
 of sunshine reflected from their arms, had a very 
 fine effect. 
 
 Trabadelos is a wretched village ; here I first 
 observed the charnel-house, which is common in 
 the country churchyards. All the bones dug up 
 in making fresh graves are deposited in these 
 buildings, and seem to be carefully preserved. 
 Several hundred skulls are often seen in one 
 of these houses. 
 
 The 51st and 59th Regiments passed through 
 the village soon after we had taken up our 
 quarters. 
 
 3?y/. —Marched two leagues to Villafranca, 
 where we halted for a few hours to procure 
 provisions and forage, and then continued our 
 
 8 
 
54 
 
 THE CITY 
 
 route to Cacabelos, four leagues distant from 
 Trabadelos. 
 
 Yillafranca is beautifully situated in a hollow 
 at the base of a high mountain, which appears to 
 overhang the town. The approach from the 
 north is beautiful and romantic ; the road for 
 some miles winds through a defile betwixt steep 
 rocks, occasionally covered with wood; and the 
 Burvia, a clear and rapid stream, runs in the 
 bottom, sometimes rippling between smooth, 
 green banks, and sometimes foaming over a 
 rocky channel. This town belongs to the province 
 of Leon, but stands on the borders of Galicia. 
 There is an ancient castle here, which belonged 
 to the ferocious Duke of Alva; it is a gloomy 
 building, and I believe is generally used as a 
 prison, but when I saw it, was occupied as a 
 barrack by our men. The streets are narrow and 
 dismal, and the buildings for the most part mean ; 
 there is, however, a monastery of Franciscans, 
 which is a magnificent structure. The town was 
 full of troops ; it appeared to be a place of no 
 trade. 
 
 I breakfasted with some officers of the 81st 
 Regiment, and found that it was supposed to be 
 the intention of Sir David Baird to throw up 
 
CACABELOS 
 
 55 
 
 entrenchments on the heights, and maintain a 
 position at Villafranca until Blake and Romana 
 had recruited their armies, which had been almost 
 annihilated in a series of disastrous actions in the 
 province of Las Montanos. This plan appeared 
 the most judicious that could be adopted, as the 
 town is situated at the entrance of the strong 
 mountain passes which continue almost with¬ 
 out interruption to Constantino, a distance of 
 twelve leagues; and the whole of this district 
 presents obstacles to the advance of an army, 
 which, in the presence of a resolute enemy, may 
 be termed insurmountable. 
 
 Upon leaving Villafranca the prospect became 
 more extensive, and we entered the level country 
 called El Bierzo, in which Cacabelos is situated. 
 This town stands on the left bank of the Cua, a 
 river which, although nearly dry during the sum¬ 
 mer, in the rainy season, and when swollen by 
 the melting of the snow in the mountains, is 
 both broad and rapid, and often occasions con¬ 
 siderable damage to the fields and vineyards. 
 This tract of country is fertile, and there is more 
 appearance of wealth and comfort amongst the 
 inhabitants than can be found in any part of 
 Galicia. The wine made in this district is chiefiy 
 
56 
 
 BEMBIBERE 
 
 white; it is rather sweet, but has a pleasant 
 flavour, and is infinitely superior in every respect 
 to the vino tinto of the adjoining province. 
 
 The town bears strong marks of decay, and 
 two sides of the plaza are in ruins. Sir David 
 Baird and his staff passed through in the after¬ 
 noon on their way to Villafranca. 
 
 4 th .—The detachment assembled at daybreak 
 and reached Bembibere, after a march of five 
 leagues through a rich country beautifully varied 
 with hill and dale, and in some places well 
 wooded. I remarked several populous villages 
 near the road ; the fields appeared well cultivated; 
 and a large proportion of the land was laid out 
 in vineyards. We met several large droves of 
 mules, laden chiefly with wine, which is carried 
 in pigs’ skins; the seams are pitched, which often 
 communicates a disagreeable flavour to the liquor. 
 The muleteers are persons of great importance, 
 and are treated with marked attention at the 
 posadas. They wear a sort of cuirass of strong 
 buff leather ; broad-brimmed hats; and always 
 travel well armed. Indeed, in this part of the 
 country—which, by the way, is the scene of Gil 
 Bias’s adventures with the robbers—it is rare to 
 meet any traveller, either mounted or on foot, 
 
FRENCH PRISONERS 
 
 57 
 
 who does not carry a long firelock on the shoulder 
 or slung to the saddle. 
 
 Bembibere is a dirty, ugly town, one quarter 
 of which is completely in ruins. The River Sil 
 runs near it, and there is some very beautiful 
 scenery in the neighbourhood. 
 
 The 14th and 23rd Regiments, with a brigade 
 of artillery, were in quarters here, and some staff 
 officers, among whom I recognized several old 
 acquaintances. By clubbing our different messes 
 together we contrived to furnish a tolerably 
 good dinner—the first I had eaten since I left 
 Corunna. The wine was so bad that we could 
 not drink it, but a small stock of brandy and 
 rum which remained in my canteens enabled us 
 to spend the evening very jollily ; and when this 
 supply was exhausted, some regimental surgeons 
 who were of the party proposed spirits of wine 
 from the hospital stores as a substitute. The 
 experiment was tried, and the punch gave so 
 much satisfaction that the night was far advanced 
 before we separated. 
 
 A few French prisoners were brought into the 
 town in the afternoon and lodged in the gaol; it 
 required a strong guard to protect them from 
 the fury of the populace, who were with difficulty 
 
58 
 
 ASTORGA 
 
 prevented from breaking into the prison and 
 butchering these unfortunate captives. 
 
 5th .—To Astorga, eight leagues. The road 
 for a considerable part of the distance passes 
 through a barren and dreary tract of country, 
 with scarcely any vestige of inhabitants or culti¬ 
 vation ; the mountains, however, afford pasturage 
 for numerous flocks of goats. The passes in this 
 range are almost as difficult as those near Villa- 
 franca, especially in the neighbourhood of Man- 
 zanal, four leagues from Bembibere, where, owing 
 to the extraordinary winding of the road, two 
 pieces of artillery, well served, would be sufficient 
 to check the progress of a numerous army. This 
 is the country of the Mauregatos, a distinct 
 tribe, differing in countenance, dress, and customs, 
 from the rest of the population. In some respects 
 they bear a resemblance to our gipsies, but are 
 happily free from the thieving propensities of 
 that vagabond race. 
 
 Astorga is situated in a sandy plain which 
 extends farther than the eye can reach ; there 
 are many populous villages in the vicinity. The 
 soil is very productive, and the bread made here 
 is remarkably white and good, whereas through¬ 
 out the whole province of Galicia it is brown, 
 
AN ANCIENT TOWN 
 
 59 
 
 sour, and full of sand, which is attributed to the 
 softness of the millstones. This town is of great 
 antiquity ; it stands on a small eminence, and 
 must have been a place of uncommon strength 
 in former ages. The ancient walls which still 
 remain are above 12 feet in thickness ; the towers 
 are massive and lofty, and were probably erected 
 by the Moors when they were in possession of 
 the country. Caverns have been formed in the 
 foundations of the walls, which serve for the 
 habitations of a most miserable and squalid troop 
 of beggars, several of whom I observed lying in 
 the ditch quite naked, basking in the sunshine, 
 and employed in freeing each other from vermin. 
 The cathedral is a noble specimen of ancient 
 Gothic architecture ; it is exceedingly rich in 
 jewels, plate, and other valuables, to the amount, 
 as I was assured, of half a million sterling; but 
 everything that could be removed had been 
 secreted, in order to be preserved from the 
 rapacity of the French, from whom the inhabi¬ 
 tants expected a visit. 
 
 The convents and churches had been put in 
 requisition for the accommodation of the British 
 forces ; our horses were stabled in the chapel of 
 a convent where the detachment was quartered, 
 
60 
 
 STRANGE QUARTERS 
 
 and I found one of them tied to a large image 
 of the Virgin, and some others fastened to a 
 brazen font, which at the same time answered 
 the purpose of a manger. Considering the 
 characteristic superstition and bigotry of the 
 nation, I was astonished at the indifference with 
 which the Spaniards witnessed the profanation 
 of their sacred edifices by heretics. The town 
 contains several churches and convents; but it 
 was late in the afternoon before we arrived, and 
 I was then so much occupied in getting quarters 
 for my party and making other necessary arrange¬ 
 ments, that I had not leisure to take even a 
 cursory view of them. The place is gloomy, and 
 the streets narrow and dirty, but the houses are 
 large and tolerably well furnished. The shops 
 were well supplied with provisions and other 
 necessaries, notwithstanding the consumption 
 that must have been made by our army, which 
 had been stationed in the neighbourhood for 
 several days. The cavalry and horse artillery 
 had marched in the morning, leaving a great 
 number of men with horses unfit for severe duty, 
 who were to return to Corunna under the com¬ 
 mand of Colonel Quintin, of the 10th Hussars. 
 In consequence of this and former deductions, 
 
ROMANA’S MEN 
 
 61 
 
 the actual strength of each regiment could 
 scarcely exceed 400 men mounted in the field. 
 
 I found a note from the Adjutant of the 
 Fifteenth, with orders for me to join the regiment 
 by ten o’clock the next morning, but without any 
 directions where to find it, as the destination 
 had been kept a profound secret, even from the 
 General commanding the brigade. The dis¬ 
 covery of their route was therefore left to my 
 ingenuity. 
 
 The army of the Marquis de la Romana 
 entered the town about four o’clock. The men 
 were strangely equipped, and seemed quite un¬ 
 disciplined ; they marched in file, moving in 
 double-quick time, with a wretched drum at 
 the head of each regiment. This force did not 
 exceed 2,000 men, part of whom were dressed in 
 English uniforms. 
 
 In the evening the greatest confusion and 
 terror prevailed in the place on account of the 
 approach of the enemy, who was reported to 
 have entered Leon—ten leagues from Astorga— 
 within twelve hours after Romana’s corps quitted 
 it. In consequence of this rumour the shops 
 were shut up, and all the inhabitants who 
 possessed the means of removal prepared for 
 
62 
 
 OVERTAKES THE REGIMENT 
 
 their departure by packing up their most valuable 
 effects. 
 
 Qth. — Being very anxious to overtake the 
 brigade, I ordered my party to assemble before 
 daylight, and, as the forward movement of the 
 cavalry, under existing circumstances, could only 
 be for the purpose of forming a junction with 
 Sir John Moore’s army, we took the road to 
 Benevente, and at the end of four leagues 
 reached La Baneza, a small town at the con¬ 
 fluence of the Rivers Tuerta and Orbigo, where, 
 to my great delight, I found the brigade. I 
 have seldom experienced greater satisfaction 
 than I felt on transferring the men of my detach¬ 
 ment to their respective regiments. I had been 
 heartily sick of my command from the very 
 commencement of the march, for, although the 
 conduct of the individuals of my own regiment 
 was most exemplary, nothing could exceed the 
 insubordination of the rest. They treated their 
 non-commissioned officers with the most pro¬ 
 found contempt, and I was on one occasion 
 obliged to draw my sword on a private of the 
 
 -to enforce obedience to the order to turn 
 
 out for a march. 
 
 The pleasure of rejoining my corps after a 
 
VICINITY OF THE ENEMY 
 
 63 
 
 separation which had appeared extremely tedious, 
 was enhanced by the expectation of speedily 
 coming into action, as it was supposed the French 
 would occupy the towns of Benevente and 
 Zamora, and secure the bridges across the Ezla 
 and Duero before we could reach them; in 
 which case it was Ford Paget’s intention that 
 we should cut our way through their line. It 
 was the prevalent opinion that Sir John Moore 
 would be forced to retire from Salamanca before 
 we could arrive there, and that our march would, 
 in consequence, be directed towards Portugal. 
 
 As the advanced parties of the enemy’s cavalry 
 were said to be in our neighbourhood, picquets 
 were posted in all the avenues to the town, and 
 the roads were patrolled in every direction; the 
 hour and object of our march were also carefully 
 concealed from the inhabitants. The bugles 
 sounded “ to horse ” at eleven o’clock at night, 
 when the troops assembled at the alarm post. 
 There was a sharp frost, and we moved at a foot¬ 
 pace, and halted frequently to wait for the 
 reports of our reconnoitring parties, which occa¬ 
 sioned us to feel the cold more sensibly. 
 
 7 th .—The march to Benevente occupied nine 
 hours, although the distance from La Baneza is 
 
64 
 
 BENEVENTE 
 
 only six leagues. This is a walled town in an 
 extensive plain watered by the Ezla. I believe 
 the only thing particularly worthy of notice in 
 the place is a castle, which was formerly the 
 residence of the Counts of Benevente. It is a 
 magnificent specimen of Moorish and Gothic 
 architecture; the turrets are richly ornamented 
 with fretwork, and many of the towers have their 
 summits bound round with a massive chain 
 sculptured in the stone—a common ornament in 
 Moorish buildings. That front of the castle 
 which overlooks the plain is raised on ranges of 
 Moorish arches, supported by columns of por¬ 
 phyry and granite. I understood the interior 
 was fitted up in a style of equal magnificence, 
 but I had not leisure to examine it. 
 
 The streets are narrow, and the general appear¬ 
 ance of the place is gloomy ; but there was an 
 air of cleanliness and comfort in the houses which 
 I had not met with hitherto, and the shops were 
 well supplied with articles of provisions, etc., 
 which were of the greatest necessity to men who 
 had been scantily fed and ill-lodged for several 
 days. The shopkeepers, however, took care to 
 make us pay an exorbitant price for what we 
 wanted. The population, which scarcely ex- 
 
CROSSING THE EZLA 
 
 65 
 
 ceeds 4,000 souls, is by no means in proportion 
 to the extent of the place. 
 
 The brigade was ordered to assemble at eleven 
 o’clock, but it was considerably past midnight 
 before we commenced our march, owing to the 
 Seventh and Tenth mistaking the place of ren¬ 
 dezvous. 
 
 8th .—At the distance of half a league from 
 Benevente we crossed the Ezla by a noble stone 
 bridge of several arches, and passed through 
 Castro Gonzalo, a large village seated on the 
 steep bank of the river. We had not proceeded 
 far from this place when two or three blue lights 
 were observed to rise at some distance, which 
 were considered as signals made by the enemy’s 
 spies to give notice of our approach, as this was 
 one of the points where we expected our progress 
 to be interrupted. The regiments were in con¬ 
 sequence directed to move in open column of 
 divisions—or half-squadrons, whenever the ground 
 would admit of it; the greatest precautions were 
 observed, and every individual was ordered to 
 keep on the alert. We proceeded, however, un¬ 
 molested, except by the severity of the cold, 
 until nine o’clock, when we halted in a plain 
 near the villages of Ruegos and Cabiera, 
 
 9 
 
66 
 
 PAGET AND SLADE 
 
 seven leagues from Benevente and five from 
 Zamora. 
 
 During this march I had an opportunity of 
 learning in what slight estimation our Brigadier 
 (General Slade) was held by the commander of 
 the cavalry. 
 
 Just after the blue lights had been noticed, 
 and whilst we were in momentary expectation 
 of an attack, Lord Paget rode along the flank of 
 the column giving directions respecting the order 
 of the march and precautions to be attended to, 
 which he desired the General to repeat to the 
 squadron officers of the Tenth; but no sooner 
 had Slade left him than his lordship called one 
 of his aides-de-camp, whom he ordered to “ ride 
 after that damned stupid fellow ” and take care 
 that he committed no blunder. This speech— 
 which, to say the least of it, was very ill-timed— 
 was made within hearing of a number of officers 
 and soldiers, and was calculated to deprive the 
 Brigadier even of the slight degree of respect 
 previously entertained for him by the troops. 
 
 As soon as we arrived on the ground we were 
 to occupy during the day, strong picquets were 
 detached in every direction; officers were des¬ 
 patched to reconnoitre, and foraging-parties sent 
 
ADVANCE TO ZAMORA 
 
 67 
 
 into the nearest villages. The horses were then 
 unsaddled and picketed, and fires kindled for 
 cooking and warming ourselves. In the fore¬ 
 noon a patrol of the Tenth reported that they 
 had seen some French dragoons about three 
 miles from our bivouac. They probably belonged 
 to a foraging or an advanced post from the force 
 at Rio Seco, and retired as soon as they noticed 
 our patrol, for the picquet which was sent in 
 search of them returned without success. The 
 horses were saddled at sunset, and the column 
 was formed at midnight. 
 
 9 th .—This march was conducted with the same 
 silence and precaution as the two former, and 
 during the greater part of it neither officers nor 
 men could keep their eyes open; the extreme 
 cold, added to the fatigue of three night marches, 
 caused a drowsiness which it was almost im¬ 
 possible to resist. The cold had been severe on 
 the two former nights, but on this the frost was 
 so intense that in the morning our fur caps were 
 bristled with icicles. We entered Zamora* about 
 seven o’clock, crossing the ditch by a temporary 
 
 * Turquoises were found in abundance in the neighbour, 
 hood, whence the town was named Medina Zamoratorio by 
 the Moors. 
 
68 
 
 PUBLIC FEELING 
 
 bridge of planks, the stone bridge having been 
 demolished to prevent the entrance of the enemy’s 
 cavalry, whose foragers had been scouring the 
 adjacent country for some days past. Our recep¬ 
 tion here was of a nature to revive those ardent 
 feelings in the cause of Spain which had been 
 somewhat damped by the apathy we had wit¬ 
 nessed since we left Corunna. The cannons on 
 the ramparts roared for an hour after our arrival; 
 drums beat and trumpets sounded in all quarters ; 
 and the streets were crowded with people shout¬ 
 ing, “Vivan los Ingleses!” Every balcony was 
 filled with ladies waving handkerchiefs, and even 
 the nuns thrust their fair hands through the 
 grated windows of their convents, and showered 
 the warmest benedictions on their “brave de¬ 
 fenders.” In short, our progress through the 
 streets resembled a triumphal procession. 
 
 The Junta gave a public breakfast to the 
 officers, and the soldiers were feasted by the 
 inhabitants upon whom they were quartered. 
 
 This city and Toro are the only places besides 
 Corunna where there appeared a probability of 
 the populace making a determined effort to resist 
 the invaders ; but any opposition they could have 
 offered here must have been quickly overcome 
 
A PLEASANT BILLET 
 
 69 
 
 by regular troops, as there are no fortifications 
 except an ancient stone wall and dry ditch, and 
 the volunteers who composed the garrison were 
 neither numerous nor well disciplined. The 
 situation of the place also incapacitates it for 
 defence, for, although it is protected on one side 
 by the Duero, it is commanded by higher ground 
 on the remaining quarters. 
 
 I was billeted with Captain Seelinger and 
 Surgeon Lidderdale at the house of a hidalgo, 
 who had filled some office in the household of 
 Ferdinand before he succeeded to the crown. 
 Our host treated us in the most hospitable 
 manner, and sent an express to his country-seat 
 for his wife and daughter, who had quitted the 
 city to avoid the inconvenience of the expected 
 attack from which our arrival secured it, that 
 they might assist him in paying attention to the 
 “ English heroes,” as he was pleased to term us. 
 Every officer was treated with equal kindness, 
 for the people seemed to vie with each other 
 in hospitality to their allies. If the rest of the 
 country had been animated with the same spirit 
 that prevailed in the corregimientos of Zamora 
 and Toro, I may venture to assert that the result 
 of the campaign would have been far different; 
 
 10 
 
70 
 
 CITY OF ZAMORA 
 
 and very different, I am confident, would have 
 been the sentiments towards the Spaniards with 
 which we quitted the country. 
 
 Zamora is the see of a Bishop ; it contains a 
 number of churches and convents, besides three 
 hospitals and other public buildings; but owing 
 to the short time we remained there, and the 
 portion that was necessarily devoted to military 
 duties and repose, I had no opportunity of ex¬ 
 amining any of them. The same causes fre¬ 
 quently operated to prevent our seeing anything 
 worthy of notice in the places we passed through. 
 
 From the size of the town I should rate the 
 population at about 15,000 souls. There is a 
 handsome stone bridge across the Duero, which 
 is very broad at this spot, although 150 miles 
 from its mouth. Many of the streets are toler¬ 
 ably spacious, clean, and well paved ; some of the 
 principal ones are lighted by lamps at night. 
 The town upon the whole seems rich and pros¬ 
 perous, and free from the appearances of desola¬ 
 tion and decay so generally to be seen in Spanish 
 towns. The houses are large and well furnished ; 
 some of the apartments are provided with fire¬ 
 places, which is a very uncommon case in Spain, 
 where, except in the kitchen, the substitute for a 
 
MOVE TO TORO 
 
 71 
 
 fire is usually a brasero —a brass pan filled with 
 charcoal, around which the shivering natives sit, 
 enveloped in the ample folds of their capcis and 
 inhaling the noxious vapours, but certainly gain¬ 
 ing very little additional heat. 
 
 The surrounding country is in general fiat, 
 but occasionally swells into hills; the soil is 
 sandy, and produces abundant crops. The wine 
 made here is particularly good; it is a strong¬ 
 bodied red wine, equal to port of the first 
 quality. 
 
 10 th .—We expected to halt here one day at 
 least to refresh the horses ; but at ten o’clock, 
 just as we had sat down to a capital breakfast, 
 we were surprised by the unwelcome sound of 
 “ Boots and saddles,” and within an hour bade 
 adieu to Zamora, which we left with regret, and 
 proceeded to Toro, six leagues distant. On the 
 march we passed through Fresno, a large village, 
 and traversed an extensive wood of cork-trees 
 and dwarf evergreen oaks. The road is generally 
 carried near the banks of the river, which in 
 many places are steep and picturesque. On 
 approaching Toro the country becomes more 
 hilly, and is chiefly laid out in vineyards; the 
 town is seated on the summit of a very steep 
 
72 
 
 DEFENCES OF TORO 
 
 ascent on the right bank of the Duero, over 
 which it has a noble stone bridge of many arches. 
 On the banks of a small river which falls into the 
 Duero at a short distance below the bridge, there 
 are several fulling-mills, which have a very pretty 
 effect, as the buildings are whitewashed and 
 stand amidst gardens and vineyards. 
 
 Toro is a large town, not inferior in size to 
 Zamora, and contains a number of churches and 
 religious edifices, many of which are of great 
 antiquity. The place is surrounded by a mud 
 wall and defended by an ancient castle; but 
 little dependence can be placed on these fortifica¬ 
 tions. It is, however, much more capable of 
 defence than Zamora from its situation, and 
 the citizens were actuated by the same spirit of 
 loyalty to Ferdinand and hatred to the French; 
 the latter feeling was even more lively amongst 
 them, as they had been subjected a short time 
 before to the insolence and oppression of a 
 French garrison. 
 
 During this day’s march I commanded the 
 advance guard, which was met above a mile 
 from the town by a great concourse of people, 
 chiefly of the lower classes, who saluted us with 
 “ vivas.” It was late in the evening before we 
 
ILLUMINATIONS 
 
 73 
 
 entered the place, and as we passed through the 
 streets many of the inhabitants displayed lights 
 in their windows; but when we reached the 
 plaza we found it completely illuminated. Flam¬ 
 beaux were ranged on every balcony ; an immense 
 crowd was assembled in the square and adjoining 
 streets ; and the windows were filled with ladies 
 waving their handkerchiefs, and crying, “ Vivan 
 los Ingleses,” which we returned by exclamations 
 of “ Viva Fernando Vllmo !” “ Viva Spana !” 
 
 The quartermasters had not been sent forward 
 in time to provide billets for the troops, but 
 every house was open to the soldiers, and the 
 owners exerted themselves to make us comfort¬ 
 able. I lodged at the house of a physician, who 
 treated me with great hospitality. He complained 
 bitterly of the conduct o( two French officers, 
 who had been billeted at his house during the 
 summer. In the course of the evening the con¬ 
 versation turned on the subject of religion, and 
 I was obliged to explain to my host the points 
 wherein the Protestant faith differs from the 
 Roman Catholic ; but I fear my illustrations only 
 led him into error, as he arrived at the conclu¬ 
 sion that there is no material difference between 
 the tenets of the two Churches. This mistake, 
 
74 
 
 BED AND BREAKFAST 
 
 however, had the effect of increasing the cordiality 
 of the whole family towards me. 
 
 As I had been obliged to leave my breakfast 
 half finished, and had tasted nothing since, I was 
 rather impatient for the arrival of the supper 
 hour, and saw the table covered with much satis¬ 
 faction. The dishes consisted chiefly of pork, 
 dressed in different ways, but always with abun¬ 
 dance of oil and garlic; hog’s puddings; and an 
 olla podrida. 
 
 The next morning, when I came downstairs, 
 I found the lady of the house taking her chocolate 
 in bed in the common sitting-room. Feeling 
 rather abashed at what I considered an intrusion 
 into her apartment, I was about to retire, but 
 was desired by her husband to remain and pay 
 my respects to the lady. I mentioned this 
 circumstance to Major Leitch, who told me that 
 at his quarters there was a tertulla, and, upon 
 his expressing his wish to go to rest, he was 
 shown a bed within a recess in the same room 
 where the company was assembled, and desired 
 to undress without ceremony. A Spaniard’s 
 breakfast is a very poor apology for that meal, 
 being nothing more than a small cup of chocolate 
 and a thin slice of toasted bread or a sugared 
 
PRODUCTS OF TORO 
 
 75 
 
 biscuit. It is frequently taken in bed, and they 
 seem to consider this early breakfast of great 
 consequence to the preservation of their health, 
 and never go abroad in the morning fasting if 
 they can avoid it. 
 
 Toro is a very gloomy place ; the streets are 
 in general narrow and excessively dirty ; the 
 mud was above a foot deep, although there had 
 been no rain for several days, and the stench that 
 proceeded from this congregation of every sort 
 of filth was most abominable; it was, besides, 
 impossible to cross a street without wading 
 through this mass of corruption. 
 
 The swine here are of immense size and 
 exceeding fat; they are allowed to go at large 
 through the town and wallow in the mud all day 
 long, which perhaps causes the superiority of the 
 Toro pork. I never met with well-fed mutton 
 or beef, but the pork was invariably good. The 
 shops here were tolerably well stocked, but the 
 tradespeople were by no means moderate in their 
 demands upon our purses, notwithstanding their 
 patriotism. Leathern bottles and skins for keep¬ 
 ing wine ( borachos) seemed to be the chief articles 
 of manufacture. 
 
 1 Itk .—About two o’clock in the afternoon the 
 
76 
 
 MORALES 
 
 left squadron of the Fifteenth marched to occupy 
 Morales, a small town one league from Toro, on 
 the road to Valladolid. Information had been 
 received that bodies of French cavalry were 
 stationed at Rio Seco and Rueda, in consequence 
 of which we were kept on the alert; and at mid¬ 
 night I was roused from my bed and sent to post 
 a picquet at Villa Vendemia, about a league 
 from Morales, in the direction of Villalpando. 
 Three Spaniards on foot accompanied us as 
 guides ; but on attempting to find the way back, 
 after executing the duty I had been sent upon, I 
 missed the road, which was merely a track in the 
 sand, and wandered about on the plain above 
 two hours before I got to my quarters. 
 
 12 th .—At three o’clock in the afternoon I was 
 detached with my own troop to occupy the 
 village of Villa Vendemia, in order to patrol the 
 roads in the direction of Rio Seco, and com¬ 
 municate during the night with the picquets 
 from Toro, Morales, and Pedrosa del Rey. I took 
 up my abode at the house of the Alcalde, with 
 whom I drank a cup of wine the night before 
 when I came to post the picquet. Senor Bar- 
 toleo, my host, was a substantial farmer, whose 
 person resembled the description given of the 
 
VILLA VENDEMIA 
 
 77 
 
 renowned squire of “ Don Quixote.” He seemed 
 good-tempered and hospitable ; his wife was an 
 agreeable woman, but without any pretensions to 
 beauty. Indeed, notwithstanding the reputation 
 of this country for female beauty, the number of 
 handsome women I have seen is very limited. 
 They have in general fine, expressive dark eyes, 
 and often neat feet and ankles, without anything 
 else in their personal appearance to attract ad¬ 
 miration. 
 
 Bartoleo’s house, like the generality of the 
 habitations belonging to the peasants in the 
 plains, had low mud walls and a thatched roof; 
 but the interior was sufficiently commodious, 
 clean, and comfortably furnished. The bed I 
 slept in was remarkably good, but so short that 
 I could not stretch myself in it. One might 
 be tempted to imagine that the Spaniards are 
 measured for beds as well as for clothes, and, as 
 they are usually of diminutive stature, we always 
 found their beds deficient in length. The superior 
 height and fine appearance of the British soldiers 
 struck them with admiration, and both men and 
 women, as we passed through their towns and 
 villages, continually exclaimed : “ What tall, 
 stout, handsome men !” 
 
78 
 
 THE VILLAGE PRIEST 
 
 The sight of Bartoleo’s kitchen made me almost 
 fancy myself in an English farmhouse. There 
 was a blazing fire on the hearth, which was piled 
 with logs of wood instead of being made with 
 chaff or cow-dung kneaded into cakes with clay, 
 which is often the only fuel to be procured. 
 T he walls were whitewashed, and garnished with 
 numerous cooking utensils perfectly bright and 
 clean. From the ceiling hung the carcasses of 
 above fifty sheep, goats, and hogs—chined and 
 dried or salted—with a plentiful stock of black 
 puddings and sausages ; and a large quantity of 
 bread, baked for winter provision, of rye and 
 Indian corn. 
 
 The parish priest and a student from Sala¬ 
 manca supped with us ; the former was so much 
 smitten with the hussar uniform that he put on 
 my pelisse and fur cap, in which he strutted about 
 the kitchen, and, drawing my sabre, he flourished 
 it over his head, to the great dismay of the women 
 and imminent danger of the links of black pud¬ 
 dings and sausages. We had an excellent supper, 
 highly seasoned with garlic, but I was by this 
 time too much accustomed to Spanish cookery 
 to be fastidious; besides, our opportunities of 
 getting a good meal were so precarious that it 
 
WINE-CELLARS 
 
 79 
 
 would have been highly imprudent to let one 
 slip. The farmer’s wife waited upon us, and did 
 not sit down to her own supper until we had 
 finished. 
 
 I cannot tell whether it was owing to their 
 keeping but few cattle in the plains of Castille 
 and Leon, or that they were housed for the 
 winter, but we seldom saw any in the fields, and 
 I never coidd procure cow’s milk after we left 
 Galicia. A substance they called “ butter ” was 
 lard preserved in pig’s gut, and too rancid to be 
 eatable ; it is used by the natives in cookery as a 
 substitute for oil. I may here observe that we 
 found the oil in general very bad, owing to the 
 slovenly manner in which it is manufactured, as 
 the Spaniards do not even take the trouble to 
 pick out the rotten or unripe olives. 
 
 13///.—I was relieved in the afternoon by a 
 squadron of the Seventh, and received orders to 
 return to Morales, where I found the regiment 
 assembled, with the exception of the right 
 squadron, which was detached to Villa Don 
 Alonzo, a league and a half in advance. 
 
 A considerable quantity of wine of an excel¬ 
 lent quality is made in this district. The wine- 
 cellars— bodegas — are sunk to a considerable 
 
80 
 
 A COMPANY OF FRIARS 
 
 depth underground, and so constructed as to be 
 warm in winter and cool in summer. They are 
 usually excavated in convenient situations near 
 the towns and villages, and from a little distance 
 have the appearance of a range of low hills. 
 Notwithstanding the fastenings to the doors are 
 very slight, I believe instances of their being 
 robbed were of rare occurrence until a British 
 army traversed the country. 
 
 At Morales I was billeted in the house of 
 Manuel de la Pena, a farmer, where I found a 
 few books, and amongst them the translation of an 
 English novel, called “ Louisa; or, The Cottage 
 on the Moor.” Although I can only describe 
 Senors Bartoleo and Manuel as farmers, I dare 
 say they are both hidalgos with pedigrees from 
 the time of Pelagius at least. In the evening I 
 was favoured with the company of half a dozen 
 friars ; their ignorance on every subject of con¬ 
 versation was such that I could not even obtain 
 from them the most trifling information respect¬ 
 ing the country in the immediate vicinity. I 
 showed them my pocket map of Spain, which 
 excited so much admiration that I am convinced 
 they had never seen one before. It cost me at 
 least a quarter of an hour’s labour to make them 
 
THE FANDANGO 
 
 81 
 
 comprehend the relative position of some of the 
 principal Spanish towns. But it was quite beyond 
 my power to make them understand the situation 
 of the British Isles, which they were very anxious 
 to ascertain; or to persuade them that our coun¬ 
 try is separated both from France and Spain by 
 the ocean. 
 
 These friars, and, indeed, the people in general, 
 were very inquisitive respecting the cost of our 
 dress and appointments, and desirous to learn 
 whether the buttons and lace of our pelisses were 
 silver. I was also repeatedly questioned as to 
 my rank in the service and the pay attached to 
 it; on these occasions I always caused great 
 astonishment by stating the pay of a captain of 
 cavalry at 30,000 reals per annum. 
 
 Before supper two of the farmer’s servants 
 performed the fandango, to my great amusement. 
 They danced to the music of a tambour dc Basque, 
 accompanied by the voice, and snapped their 
 fingers to imitate the sound of the castanets. 
 They wore wooden shoes, and moved round the 
 room in slow time with the most perfect gravity, 
 whilst their ludicrous attempts to display the 
 graces of the dance were diverting beyond 
 measure. 
 
 11 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 \_0n December 9 Colonel Graham , who had been 
 sent by Moore to Madrid to find out ivliat ivas really 
 taking place in the capital , returned with the news 
 that a capitulation had already been signed, and 
 Moore thereupon determined to effect his junction 
 with Baird at Valladolid , thereafter acting as cir¬ 
 cumstances might dictate. Three days later Moore 
 communicated to Baird his intention, already noted 
 in his diary of the 11th, of moving upon Palencia 
 and Burgos, in order to make a diversion in favour 
 of the Spaniards by threatening the French communi¬ 
 cations ; at this period the Commander of the British 
 Forces was under the impression that the French 
 armies in Spain comprised no more than, at most, 
 90,000 men , that the people of Madrid were hot for 
 resistance , and that the Spanish armies still mustered 
 60,000 strong. 
 
 On December 13 Moore was at Alaejos, where he 
 was handed the famous intercepted despatch from 
 Berthier to Soult, which opened Moore's eyes—not 
 
 82 
 
MOORE’S ARMY 
 
 83 
 
 only to the risks of prosecuting his projected move¬ 
 ment on Burgos, hut to the immense numerical 
 superiority of the French forces in Spain; at the 
 same time it showed him plainly that Soult on the 
 Carrion was weak and isolated , and was open to 
 attack and rout before he could be supported from the 
 south or east. On the 15 fh Moore crossed the Douro 
 and moved upon Mayorga, being joined by Baird at 
 Voider as, where the whole combined army was re¬ 
 distributed. 
 
 Soidt had in the meantime become aivare of the 
 movements of the British, and had called his two 
 infantry divisions together at Saldana and Carrion, 
 covered by his cavalry at Saliagun and Riberos ; on 
 the night of December 20-21 Lord Paget surprised 
 and overwhelmed Debclle’s cavalry brigade at the 
 former place .] 
 
 December 14 th .—The Light Brigade of Sir 
 John Moore’s army passed through Morales at 
 one o’clock, and we received orders soon after¬ 
 wards to march to Tordesillas, five leagues 
 distant. We did not arrive there until eight 
 o’clock, and the roads were so slippery, owing 
 to the severity of the frost, that we could scarcely 
 keep our horses on their legs. It was quite dark 
 when we entered the town, and large bonfires 
 
84 
 
 FRENCH HUSSARS 
 
 were burning in the streets; lights were also 
 displayed at the windows and doors of many 
 of the houses. The populace greeted us with 
 “ vivas,” but we were not received with the 
 same enthusiasm as was shown at Zamora and 
 Toro. It was even asserted that the bonfires 
 were made by persons in the French interest to 
 enable spies, who were placed in different parts 
 of the town, to take an accurate account of our 
 force for the enemy’s information. 
 
 A short time before our arrival twenty-four 
 French hussars were in the town for several 
 hours, and obtained a considerable quantity of 
 forage and provisions, all their requisitions being 
 complied with in a place containing at least 
 4,000 inhabitants, although the army of their 
 allies was only a few leagues distant. Informa¬ 
 tion of the circumstance was, indeed, sent to 
 our advanced squadron at Villa Don Alonzo ; 
 but the enemy were allowed to retire with their 
 booty before the picquet which was despatched 
 to intercept them had time to arrive. This was 
 not a very favourable specimen of the courage 
 of a people who, we had flattered ourselves, were 
 capable of contending with the veteran troops of 
 France ; but repeated instances of the same kind 
 
TORDESILLAS 
 
 85 
 
 occurred to prove that, however strong their 
 professions of hatred to the invaders, the presence 
 of a mere handful of French troops was at any 
 time sufficient to convert the hostility of the 
 most populous towns into submission. Indeed, 
 I never saw anything in the conduct of the 
 Spaniards that denoted valour; on the contrary, 
 from the few opportunities I have had of forming 
 an opinion on the subject, I should conclude them 
 to be a remarkably timid nation. 
 
 Tordesillas is situated on the right bank of the 
 Duero, over which it has a fine stone bridge of 
 ten arches; the centre is occupied by a large 
 tower. One half of the plaza is in ruins, and 
 every quarter of the town presents the strongest 
 signs of poverty and decay. The place is not 
 fortified, but would make a strong position, as 
 it commands the river and adjacent country. 
 The only public buildings I saw, besides the 
 churches, were a large hospital and a very fine 
 convent dedicated to St. Clare, which stands 
 near the bridge. The wine made in this neigh¬ 
 bourhood is excellent, and very much resembles 
 champagne; it would be much improved if it 
 were bottled instead of being kept in borachos 
 and casks. 
 
 U 
 
86 
 
 THE EIGHTEENTH AT RUEDA 
 
 The whole of the cavalry was assembled here; 
 the 18th Hussars and 3rd Hussars of the German 
 Legion, who had marched from Portugal with 
 Sir John Hope’s column, arrived soon after us ; 
 a party of the former regiment having on the 
 preceding day surprised a detachment of the 
 enemy’s cavalry at Rueda, a small town two 
 leagues from hence on the opposite side of the 
 Duero, when several waggons laden with cotton, 
 said to be worth £80,000, fell into the hands ot 
 the victors. The greater part of the French— 
 who were superior in number to their opponents 
 —were killed or made prisoners. The loss of the 
 Eighteenth was inconsiderable, and several of them 
 appeared on parade next day equipped with the 
 broad buff belts and gauntlet gloves of the French 
 dragoons, which caused some repining amongst 
 our men at the superior luck of the Eighteenth. 
 Orders were given out this evening for the cavalry 
 to proceed to Simancas, a town on the borders of 
 Old Castille, six leagues from Tordesillas ; but in 
 the morning there was a change of plan at head¬ 
 quarters—in consequence of the information con¬ 
 tained in an intercepted letter from Berthier to 
 Soult*—and after being kept in suspense for 
 * For the terms of this letter see Appendix I. 
 
THE FIFTEENTH AT LA MOTTA 
 
 87 
 
 some hours our destination was fixed for La 
 Motta. 
 
 1 5th .—The brigade divided on the march. 
 General Slade halted with the Fifteenth at La 
 Motta, four leagues from Tordesillas ; the other 
 regiments occupied St. Cyprien, Valmoase, 
 Pedrosa del Rey, and Villa Don Diego. On the 
 route we passed through the town of Vega, near 
 which place some horsemen were observed on 
 an eminence. As they had a suspicious appear¬ 
 ance, a party was despatched to discover what 
 they were, but was unable to overtake them. 
 
 La Motta is a small town situated in the 
 midst of sandhills, which abound in this part of 
 the country; the plain is much intersected by 
 deep and wide ditches, and scarcely a single tree 
 is to be seen for a distance of many leagues. 
 This town was formerly walled round and 
 defended by a strong castle, the foundations 
 of which may be traced and enclose a consider¬ 
 able space. One of the towers is still standing, 
 the walls of which are very massive and in good 
 repair. 
 
 We found on our arrival that the Junta had 
 issued a proclamation forbidding the inhabitants 
 to take any money from the English, and I had 
 
88 
 
 LIEUTENANT CARPENTER 
 
 great difficulty in prevailing on a poor woman, 
 from whom I bought some chestnuts, to receive 
 the payment I offered. 
 
 The weather continued to be very fine for the 
 season, and the temperature of the air during the 
 day was sufficiently warm ; but the nights were 
 intensely cold, and the severity of the frost often 
 made the roads dangerous. 
 
 We mounted a picquet of a hundred men, as 
 the enemy’s cavalry was stated to be in force at 
 Valladolid and Palencia, which made it necessary 
 for us to be on our guard. Lieutenant Carpenter, 
 who was one of the subalterns on duty, having 
 been sent to visit the vedettes and patrols about 
 midnight, I was informed soon afterwards that 
 his horse had returned without a rider, upon 
 which I despatched some hussars in search of 
 the Lieutenant. He soon made his appearance 
 at our fire, and related his adventures, which 
 afforded us a hearty laugh at his expense. It 
 appeared that, in withdrawing his leg from under 
 his horse, which had slipped up with him, he left 
 his boot behind ; and after looking for it a long 
 time in vain, when he attempted to remount, the 
 Camel, which was the name his charger had 
 obtained, broke loose and galloped off, leaving 
 
VICINITY OF THE FRENCH 
 
 89 
 
 his master to hop back without a boot. He 
 complained that his foot was almost frozen, and 
 grievously lamented his loss, but in the morning 
 the boot was discovered fixed in the stirrup! 
 
 The night passed without any alarm, and I 
 took out a small party before daybreak in the 
 hope of surprising a French picquet, which, from 
 the reports of our patrols, 1 had reason to believe 
 was stationed a few miles off, on the road to Rio 
 Seco, but was obliged to give up the search, after 
 riding about for two hours, without discovering 
 any traces of an enemy having been in the neigh¬ 
 bourhood. A party which had been sent in the 
 direction of Valladolid on a similar errand was 
 equally unsuccessful. 
 
 1C th .—The regiment halted at La Motta on 
 the 16 th. 
 
 The only building 1 saw there worth notice is 
 a palace belonging to the Duke of Alva, who 
 has very extensive possessions in this part of the 
 country. The Duke, who is a minor, does not 
 reside there, but the house is inhabited by an 
 intendante, whose wife and sisters were the most 
 beautiful women I had yet seen in Spain. Some 
 of the officers who went to view the building 
 were invited to dinner, when a sumptuous repast 
 
90 
 
 TO VILLA GRAXIMA 
 
 was provided, after which we danced minuets, 
 country-dances, and waltzes, but could not prevail 
 upon the ladies to favour us with an exhibition 
 of the fandango. The music was very indifferent, 
 the only instruments being a miserable spinet 
 and a square tambourine covered with parchment 
 on both sides, and without bells. The palace is 
 a large stone edifice in a plain style of architec¬ 
 ture ; the walls of a gallery which overlooks the 
 gardens are covered with a series of ludicrous 
 paintings, not of the most delicate description, 
 in which nuns and monks are the principal 
 characters. 
 
 V7th .—We marched this day to Villa Graxima, 
 which by the direct road is only three leagues 
 from La Motta; but General Slade, with his 
 wonted sagacity, contrived to find out a route 
 which increased the distance by two leagues. We 
 passed through Valmoase, where we were re¬ 
 ceived with “ vivas,” and noticed several small 
 towns and villages to our right and left, but 
 I do not recollect their names; they were all 
 situated on elevated ground, and one of them— 
 St. Cyprien, I believe — was defended by a 
 Moorish castle, the walls and towers of which 
 appeared in complete repair. 
 
A SPANISH BEAUTY 
 
 91 
 
 Villa Graxima is a small town containing 
 nothing worth notice except a handsome church; 
 the inhabitants received us hospitably, and 
 seemed anxious to make us as comfortable as 
 their slender means would allow. 
 
 Maria Antonia de Barbadillo y Castro, the 
 daughter of a hidalgo at whose house I was 
 quartered, was a very beautiful and agreeable 
 young woman. Almost every moment of my 
 brief sojourn at Villa Graxima was devoted to 
 this lady, and I employed my stock of Spanish 
 compliments and flattering speeches with such 
 success that, at parting, she made me promise to 
 write to her, and engaged to accompany me to 
 England when we returned from driving the 
 Gallic invaders out of Spain ! The unfortunate 
 issue of the campaign rendered these engage¬ 
 ments nugatory, and I cannot reflect without 
 pain on the probable fate of this interesting girl, 
 subjected as the province has since been to the 
 brutal excesses of the French soldiery. 
 
 About GOO of the enemy’s cavalry were 
 stationed at Medina del Rio Seco, one league 
 from this place, and a party of their foragers— 
 by whose exertions we profited—were employed 
 here when our quartermasters, who preceded the 
 
92 
 
 WANT OF ENTERPRISE 
 
 regiment to provide billets, appeared in sight, 
 upon which they retired with precipitation to 
 give the alarm. After our picquets were posted, 
 Colonel Grant and some of the officers rode to 
 Rio Seco, and were met by a great concourse of 
 the inhabitants, who informed them, with great 
 exultation, that the French had decamped an 
 hour before, taking the road to Palencia. They 
 effected their retreat in a most admirable manner, 
 without leaving a single man, horse, or article of 
 baggage behind, notwithstanding the shortness 
 of the notice. 
 
 We had great reason on this occasion to lament 
 the want of enterprise displayed by our worthy 
 Brigadier, and his total neglect of all means to 
 procure information ; it was an unfortunate 
 circumstance that he had chosen to attach him¬ 
 self to the Fifteenth, for if he had remained with 
 the Tenth I have little doubt that Colonel Grant 
 would have given us an opportunity of proving 
 our mettle. 
 
 The country is quite level about Villa Graxima, 
 but swells into hills in the immediate neighbour¬ 
 hood of Rio Seco. I was told by a Spaniard, 
 who boasted of having been present and wounded 
 in the action, that his countrymen occupied the 
 
MARCH RESUMED 
 
 98 
 
 heights previous to the battle fought there last 
 July.* He added that in the early part of the 
 day the advantage was on their side; flushed 
 with this partial success, they imprudently quitted 
 their position, and descended into the plain, 
 which exposed them to the charge of the French 
 cavalry. They were in consequence defeated 
 with immense slaughter, but not until they had 
 occasioned a loss of G,000 men to the conquerors. 
 I merely state this account without pretending 
 to vouch for its accuracy. 
 
 18///.—This being Sunday, we expected to 
 have remained quiet at Villa Graxima, and I 
 accompanied my fair friend to matins ; but whilst 
 we were in the church the bugles sounded “ Boots 
 and saddles !” orders having arrived for the regi¬ 
 ment to march to Villalpando, six leagues 
 distant, and in less than three hours we were 
 drawn up at the alarm-post outside the town. 
 Here I took leave of my senorita, who, attended 
 by a duenna, came to see the parade. As this 
 march to Villalpando was decidedly a retrograde 
 movement, it caused considerable discontent, 
 although we endeavoured to persuade ourselves 
 
 * On the 14th of that month Cuesta was defeated by 
 Bessi^res.—E d. 
 
94 
 
 BAD NEWS 
 
 it was only directed with the view of concen¬ 
 trating our forces. At two leagues from Villa 
 Graxima we passed Torre de Humos, a small 
 town on the banks of the Rio Seco, where there 
 are the remains of a noble Moorish castle ; the 
 place belongs to the Duke of Alva. 
 
 It was nearly dark when we arrived at Villal- 
 pando, and, as the town was quite filled with 
 British troops, it was late in the evening before 
 the regiment was provided with quarters ; and, 
 after all, our accommodations were so bad that 
 we might as well have remained in the streets. 
 The horses were crowded into the cloisters of 
 a convent, where they had scarcely room to stand, 
 and the hussars could neither get straw to lie 
 upon nor fire to cook their rations. Major Leitch 
 and myself were billeted at a miserable hovel, 
 where about twenty of the Rifle Corps were 
 quartered; and there were so many different 
 messes cooking at the same time that it was ten 
 o’clock before we could get any dinner. 
 
 Here we first heard the news of the surrender 
 of Madrid, and I conversed with some Spanish 
 soldiers who had been engaged in the conflict 
 which preceded the capitulation. They attributed 
 all their disasters to the incapacity and treason 
 
INTENSE FROST 
 
 95 
 
 of their commanders, and boasted of their own 
 individual achievements. 
 
 It was the general opinion that, in consequence 
 of the unfortunate situation of affairs in Castille, 
 our army would immediately fall back upon 
 Portugal, but we were most agreeably surprised 
 by receiving orders to advance in the direction 
 of Burgos. Villalpando is a dirty, miserable- 
 looking place; many of the houses are built of 
 mud, and the inhabitants displayed, both in their 
 persons and dwellings, a degree of dirt and 
 poverty to which we had been strangers for 
 some time. 
 
 19 tJi .— Ever since the beginning of the month 
 the weather had been colder than it usually is in 
 England at this season, but for the last five or 
 six days the frost had become most intense and 
 the roads very slippery. The cavalry, horse 
 artillery, and some brigades of infantry, assembled 
 at eight o’clock, and marched in company to 
 Valderas, a distance of five leagues, where the 
 infantry and General Stewart’s brigade of hussars 
 halted. Our route lay through an open country, 
 generally level, but occasionally rising into hills ; 
 the whole district presented a most dreary pros¬ 
 pect, without a tree or even a shrub to enliven it, 
 
96 
 
 REACH MAYORGA 
 
 but the snow-capped mountains of Leon, which 
 bounded the view, formed a grand horizon. 
 
 Our brigade, with the horse artillery, after 
 separating from the rest of the division at 
 Valderas, marched three leagues farther, and it 
 was quite dark before we arrived at Mayorga. 
 Having been eleven hours on the march, we 
 remained on horseback in the streets above an 
 hour, exposed to a heavy fall of snow, whilst the 
 quartermasters were arranging the billets. It 
 continued snowing all night, and in the morning 
 the ground was covered to the depth of 8 or 
 10 inches. 
 
 20th .—We marched from Mayorga at ten 
 o’clock. The Tenth and horse artillery halted 
 at Melgar de Arriba, two leagues from our 
 last quarters, where there is a fine convent, in 
 which we had the good fortune to deposit General 
 Slade, who seemed happy to take shelter from a 
 heavy fall of snow in a place which promised such 
 comfortable accommodations. The Fifteenth 
 proceeded a league farther to Melgar de Abaxo, 
 a dirty, miserable village, the inhabitants of 
 which did not appear to rejoice much in our 
 company. Many of them deserted their dwellings 
 on our approach, taking especial care, however, to 
 
THE EVE OF “SAHAGUN” 
 
 97 
 
 leave their doors and windows well secured ; in 
 consequence of which we were obliged to break 
 open several of the houses, a mode of proceeding 
 that increased at the same time both the ill-will 
 and the civility of the people who remained in 
 the place. They no longer dared to show any 
 marks of dislike to their visitors, but contented 
 themselves with bewailing their misfortunes and 
 imploring the succour of their favourite saints, 
 devoutly crossing themselves whilst they freely 
 consigned the bodies and souls of the ma/detos 
 hereticos to the guardianship of his Satanic 
 Majesty. The Junta here appeared to be no 
 better affected towards us than the rest of the 
 population. 
 
 The officers commanding troops and squadrons 
 were summoned to Colonel Grant’s quarters at 
 ten o’clock in the evening, when he acquainted 
 us that Lord Paget had directed the regiment 
 to be formed in readiness to march on a par¬ 
 ticular service precisely at midnight, and that we 
 should probably be engaged with the enemy 
 before daylight. 
 
 The Colonel ordered the troops to be assembled 
 as silently as possible at eleven o’clock, and 
 cautioned us to keep the Spaniards in ignorance 
 
 13 
 
98 
 
 THE ASSEMBLY 
 
 of the intended march, that they might not have 
 it in their power to give information to the 
 enemy. The regiment was formed at the hour 
 appointed, but owing to the irregular manner in 
 which we had been obliged to take up our 
 quarters, and the bugles not being allowed to 
 sound, several men were left behind whom the 
 non-commissioned officers had not informed of 
 the order to turn out. Lieutenant Buckley, who 
 had joined us in the evening with a number of 
 men and horses that had been left in Galicia, 
 remained in the village to follow with the baggage 
 and ineffectives in the morning. 
 
 21st .—Whilst we were drawn up at the alarm- 
 post, waiting for the arrival of Lord Paget, a 
 fire broke out in the village, occasioned, probably, 
 by the carelessness of some of our dragoons. The 
 glare of the flames partially illuminated the ground 
 where we stood, and contrasted finely with the 
 dark mass of our column ; whilst the melancholy 
 sound of the church bell, which was struck* 
 
 * In all the churches and convents I had opportunities of 
 seeing, the bells, which are without clappers, do not swings 
 but are fixed. The sexton goes up to the belfry to sound them 
 by striking quick strokes with an iron rod, which produces a 
 sound more like the clattering of fire-irons, or pots and pans, 
 than the music of the bells. 
 
THE MARCH 
 
 99 
 
 to rouse the sleeping inhabitants, broke the 
 silence of the night, and, combined with the 
 object and probable consequences of our expedi¬ 
 tion, made the whole scene peculiarly awful and 
 interesting. 
 
 Captain Thornhill, of the Seventh, who attended 
 Lord Paget, with ten or twelve orderlies of his 
 regiment, rode beside me during part of the 
 night, and told me the object of our movement 
 was to surprise a body of cavalry and artillery 
 posted in a convent at Sahagun, a large town on 
 the Cea, five leagues from Melgar de Abaxo. I 
 afterwards learned that General Sladewas directed 
 to attack the convent with the Tenth and Horse 
 Artillery, whilst the Fifteenth was to make a 
 circuit and form on the opposite side of the 
 town, in order to intercept their retreat. This 
 plan, however, was rendered abortive by the bad 
 state of the roads and the dilatory proceedings 
 of the Brigadier, who on this occasion is reported 
 to have made a long speech to the troops, which 
 he concluded with the energetic peroration of 
 “ Blood and slaughter—march !” 
 
 Our march was disagreeable, and even danger¬ 
 ous, owing to the slippery state of the roads ; 
 there was seldom an interval of many minutes 
 
100 
 
 PICQUET OF FRENCHMEN 
 
 without two or three horses falling, but fortu¬ 
 nately few of their riders were hurt by these falls. 
 The snow was drifted in many places to a con¬ 
 siderable depth, and the frost was extremely 
 keen. We left Melgar in the midst of a heavy 
 fall of snow, and when that ceased I observed 
 several vivid flashes of lightning. 
 
 We passed through two small towns or 
 villages ; in one of these, about two leagues 
 from Sahagun, is a noble castle, which appeared 
 to great advantage “ by the pale moonlight.” 
 Near this place our advanced guard came upon 
 the enemy’s picquet, which they immediately 
 charged; the Frenchmen ran away, and in the 
 pursuit both parties fell into a deep ditch filled 
 with snow. Two of the enemy were killed, and 
 six or eight made prisoners; the remainder escaped 
 and gave the alarm to the troops at Sahagun. 
 Just at this period, when despatch was particularly 
 required, our progress was very much impeded by 
 two long narrow bridges, 4 ' without parapets, and 
 
 * In the atlas of the roads through Spain which accom¬ 
 panies De la Borde’s statistical account of the country, 
 Calzada de Sahagun and Calzada de los Hermanillos are 
 marked at the distance of about a league from Sahagun. It 
 was probably these causeways which impeded our advance so 
 much on the morning of December 21, by obliging the 
 
THE MANOEUVRE 
 
 101 
 
 covered with ice, which we were obliged to cross 
 in single file. 
 
 On our arrival at Sahagun we made a detour, 
 to avoid passing through the streets, and dis¬ 
 covered the enemy formed in a close column of 
 squadrons near the road to Carrion de los Condes ; 
 but, owing to the darkness of the morning and 
 a thin mist, we could neither distinguish the 
 number nor the description of the force opposed 
 to us, further than to ascertain it consisted of 
 cavalry. 
 
 Lord Paget immediately ordered us to form 
 open column of divisions and trot, as the French, 
 upon our coming in sight, made a flank move¬ 
 ment, apparently with the intention of getting 
 away; but the rapidity of our advance soon con¬ 
 vinced them of the futility of such an attempt. 
 They therefore halted, deployed from column of 
 squadrons, and formed a close column of regi¬ 
 ments, which, as it is their custom to tell off in 
 three ranks, made their formation six deep. 
 During the time the two corps were moving in 
 a parallel direction, the enemy’s flankers, who 
 
 regiment to break into single file, and which, owing to 
 the darkness, appeared to me like narrow bridges without 
 parapets. 
 
 14 
 
102 
 
 THE CHARGE 
 
 came within twenty or thirty yards of our 
 column, repeatedly challenged, “ Qui vive ?” 
 but did not fire, although they received no 
 answer. As soon as the enemy’s order of battle 
 was formed, they cheered in a very gallant manner, 
 and immediately began firing. The Fifteenth 
 then halted, wheeled into line, huzzaed, and 
 advanced. The interval betwixt us was perhaps 
 400 yards, but it was so quickly passed that they 
 had only time to fire a few shots before we came 
 upon them, shouting : “ Emsdorff and victory !” 
 The shock was terrible ; horses and men were 
 overthrown, and a shriek of terror, intermixed 
 with oaths, groans, and prayers for mercy, issued 
 from the whole extent of their front. 
 
 Our men, although surprised at the depth of 
 the ranks, pressed forward until they had cut 
 their way quite through the column. In many 
 places the bodies of the fallen formed a complete 
 mound of men and horses, but very few of our 
 people were hurt. Colonel Grant, who led the 
 right centre squadron, and the Adjutant who 
 attended him, were amongst the foremost who 
 penetrated the enemy’s mass; they were both 
 wounded—the former slightly on the forehead, 
 the latter severely in the face. It is probable 
 
PLAN OK THE ACTION AT SAHAGUN. 
 
THE TERRAIN 
 
 103 
 
 neither of them would have been hurt if our fur 
 caps had been hooped with iron like those of the 
 French Chasseurs, instead of being stiffened with 
 pasteboard. 
 
 It was allowed, by everyone who witnessed the 
 advance of the Fifteenth, that more correct move¬ 
 ments, both in column and in line, were never 
 performed at a review; every interval was ac¬ 
 curately kept, and the dressing admirably pre¬ 
 served, notwithstanding the disadvantages under 
 which we laboured. The attack was made just 
 before daybreak, when our hands were so be¬ 
 numbed with the intense cold that we could 
 scarcely feel the reins or hold our swords. The 
 ground was laid out in vineyards intersected by 
 deep ditches and covered with snow. Our horses, 
 which had suffered from confinement on ship¬ 
 board, change of forage, and the fatigues of 
 incessant marches in inclement weather, were 
 not in their usual condition; and, as the com¬ 
 manding officer had neglected to halt the regi¬ 
 ment during the march for the purpose of 
 tightening their girths, they had become so 
 slack that when we began to gallop several of 
 the blankets slipped from under the saddles. 
 
 The French were well posted, having a ditch 
 
104 
 
 THE FORMATION 
 
 in their front, which they expected to check the 
 impetus of our charge; in this, however, they 
 were deceived. Lord Paget misjudged the dis¬ 
 tance or halted the Fifteenth too soon, by which 
 means our right was considerably outflanked, 
 and we outflanked theirs by a squadron’s length. 
 It was said afterwards that he intended the left 
 squadron should have remained in reserve to 
 support the charge, but no explicit order to that 
 effect reached us. After the horses had begun 
 to gallop, indeed, the word of command, “ Left 
 squadron to support 1” was passed from the 
 centre, but so indistinctly that Major Leitch 
 did not feel authorized to act upon it, and at 
 that moment we were so near the enemy that 
 it would have been difficult to restrain either the 
 men or horses. 
 
 My post being on the left of the line, I found 
 nothing opposed to my troop, and therefore 
 ordered, “ Left shoulders forward 1” with the 
 intention of taking the French column in flank ; 
 but when we reached the ground they had 
 occupied, we found them broken and flying in 
 all directions, and so intermixed with our hussars 
 that, in the uncertain twilight of a misty morn¬ 
 ing, it was difficult to distinguish friend from foe. 
 
THE m£lEE 
 
 105 
 
 Notwithstanding this there was a smart firing of 
 pistols, and our lads were making good use of 
 their sabres. Upon reaching the spot where the 
 French column had stood, I observed an officer 
 withdrawn from the melee. I followed, and, 
 having overtaken him, was in the act of making 
 a cut at him which must have cleft the skull, 
 when I thought I distinguished the features of 
 Lieutenant Hancox ; and, as I then remarked 
 that he wore a black fur cap and a cloak which, 
 in the dim light of the morning, looked like 
 blue, I was confirmed in the idea that he belonged 
 to our regiment. Under this impression, although 
 his conduct in quitting the field at such a period 
 struck me as very extraordinary, I sloped my 
 sword, and merely exclaiming: “What, Hancox! 
 is it you ? I took you for a Frenchman !” turned 
 my horse and galloped back to the scene of action. 
 The shock I felt from the idea that I had been 
 on the point of destroying a brother officer instead 
 of an enemy deprived me of all inclination to use 
 my sword except in defence of my own life ; and 
 the hostility I had cherished against the French 
 only a few minutes before was converted into 
 pity for them. When I met with Hancox after 
 the action, 1 found that he wore an oilskin cover 
 
106 
 
 INCIDENTS 
 
 on his cap, and was not the person I had followed, 
 who, I conclude, was an officer of the grenadiers 
 d cheval or coinpagnie d'elite, which is attached 
 to each regiment of dragoons in the French 
 service, and doubtless was much astonished at 
 my sudden appearance and abrupt departure. 
 For my own part, X shall always consider it a 
 most fortunate circumstance that X was thus 
 deceived, since X have escaped the feeling of 
 remorse to which X should have been exposed 
 had I taken that man’s life. 
 
 Many mistakes of the same kind must have 
 occurred in the confusion after the charge. One 
 of our men told me that X had a narrow escape 
 myself, for that during the melee he had his 
 sword raised to cut me down, but luckily recog¬ 
 nized his officer in time to withhold the stroke. 
 
 At this time I witnessed an occurrence which 
 afforded a good deal of amusement to those who 
 were near the place. Hearing the report of a 
 pistol close behind me, X looked round and saw 
 one of the Fifteenth fall. X concluded the man 
 was killed, but was quickly undeceived by a burst 
 of laughter from his comrades, who exclaimed 
 that the awkward fellow had shot his own horse, 
 and many good jokes passed at his expense. 
 
THE PURSUIT 
 
 107 
 
 The melee lasted about ten minutes, the 
 enemy always endeavouring to gain the Carrion 
 road. The appearance of their heavy dragoons 
 was extremely martial and imposing ; they wore 
 brass helmets of the ancient Roman form, and 
 the long black horsehair streaming from their 
 crests as they galloped had a very fine effect. 
 
 Having rode together nearly a mile, pell-mell, 
 cutting and slashing each other, it appeared to 
 me indispensable that order should be re¬ 
 established, as the men were quite wild and 
 the horses almost blown ; therefore, seeing no 
 superior officer near, I pressed through the 
 throng until I overtook and halted those who 
 were farthest advanced in pursuit. As soon as I 
 had accomplished this object, the bugles sounded 
 the “ rally.” Whilst we were re-forming our 
 squadrons, the enemy also rallied and continued 
 their flight by different routes. Our left and 
 left centre squadrons were detached in pursuit of 
 the chasseurs a cheval, who took the road to 
 Carrion; the other two squadrons followed the 
 dragoons, who retired in the direction of Saldana. 
 
 Lord Paget accompanied the left centre 
 squadron, and allowed the body he pursued to 
 escape by sending an officer, with a white hand- 
 
108 
 
 THE PRISONERS 
 
 kerchief as a flag of truce, to propose to them to 
 surrender. The French took advantage of the 
 delay this occasioned, and gained so great a start 
 as to render further pursuit hopeless. The left 
 squadron was more successful, and made about 
 seventy prisoners, amongst whom were a Lieu¬ 
 tenant-Colonel and three other officers ; but we 
 could not prevent the escape of the main body, 
 which, although more than double our number, 
 never attempted to face us. Soon after our left 
 squadron was put in motion in pursuit of the 
 chasseurs a cheval, Baron Tripp came up to us 
 and said that Lord Paget had sent him to desire 
 the commanding officer to ride forward with 
 a flag of truce and propose to them to surrender. 
 Major Leitch made no answer, but, as if he had 
 misunderstood" the order, immediately gave the 
 word of command to “ Gallop !” upon which the 
 squadron rushed on, leaving the Aide-de-Camp 
 petrified with astonishment. It was entirely 
 owing to Major Leitch’s judicious conduct, in 
 declining to act upon the flag of truce system, 
 that his squadron was enabled to secure so many 
 prisoners. 
 
 Whilst we were engaged in the pursuit of this 
 division, my mare fell with me in leaping a very 
 
A REGRETTABLE AFFAIR 
 
 109 
 
 wide ditch, and floundered in a snow-wreath on 
 the farther side ; my foot hung in the stirrup, 
 and, being encumbered with my cloak, it was 
 some time before I could extricate myself. The 
 mare in the meantime ran away, leaving me in 
 no very enviable situation. 
 
 Whilst I was following the squadron on foot, 
 after having been dismounted by the fall of my 
 horse, I was greatly shocked at witnessing an act 
 of wanton cruelty which it was not in my power 
 to prevent. A man of Griffith’s troop rode up 
 to a French dragoon who was lying wounded on 
 the ground, and at his approach raised himself 
 with difficulty to beg for mercy, stripping off his 
 cross-belts at the same time to show that he 
 surrendered. I hallooed to the fellow to spare 
 him, but before I could reach the spot the villain 
 had split the Frenchman’s skull with a blow of 
 his sabre, and galloped away. It was fortunate 
 for him that he got out of my reach, for, in 
 the indignation I felt at his conduct, I should 
 certainly have treated him in the same manner. 
 I heard afterwards that the excuse he offered 
 for this dastardly conduct, when twitted by his 
 comrades, was that he did not like “ to let the 
 day pass without cutting down a Frenchman, 
 
110 
 
 A FRENCH MOUNT 
 
 and could not suffer such a favourable oppor¬ 
 tunity to slip !” 
 
 It was also reported that several of the French 
 who were wounded and had received quarter, 
 fired at our men as soon as their backs were 
 turned, and of course paid the forfeit of this 
 treachery with their lives. 
 
 After running three or four hundred yards, 
 I met some men of my troop leading captured 
 French horses, from which I selected one to 
 replace my lost charger. Several straggling 
 Frenchmen passed close beside me, whilst I 
 was on foot, without offering me the slightest 
 molestation; they probably took me for one of 
 their own people, or were too intent on providing 
 for their own safety to think of any other object. 
 The animal I selected was a bad goer and very 
 ill-broke ; it had belonged to a quartermaster or 
 subaltern officer, and was handsomely caparisoned, 
 but the saddle was far from comfortable, and the 
 stirrups so long that I could scarcely reach them 
 with the point of my toe. This horse was such 
 a headstrong beast that he was near placing 
 me in an awkward predicament. In the act of 
 leading the men I had collected against the 
 squadron of Chasseurs which had escaped from 
 
PRISONERS 
 
 111 
 
 Lord Paget, I leaped over a ditch which lay 
 between the two bodies; and when the attack 
 was countermanded, 1 suppose my steed recog¬ 
 nized his old companions, as the enemy was then 
 passing at the distance of little more than a 
 hundred yards, and I had the greatest difficulty 
 in forcing him to recross the ditch, and for some 
 time expected to be carried into the midst of the 
 French squadron in spite of all my exertions to 
 the contrary. 
 
 When I was remounted, I saw that the squad¬ 
 ron was so far advanced I had no chance of 
 overtaking it. I therefore employed myself in 
 collecting the prisoners we had taken, whom I 
 sent to the rear under an escort. They seemed 
 very much terrified, having, as I understood, 
 been taught to expect no quarter would be given 
 them; and when I assured them they had no 
 cause for apprehension of that sort, they kissed 
 my hands, embraced my knees, and committed 
 all manner of extravagancies. Many of these 
 men were Germans and remarkably fine-looking 
 fellows. 
 
 I had now collected about thirty hussars— 
 including those who had been sent back with the 
 prisoners, and whose horses had been unable to 
 
112 
 
 THE RALLY 
 
 keep up with the rest—when the Tenth appeared 
 on an eminence near the scene of action, and 
 were supposed to belong to the enemy. As soon 
 as I noticed this fresh body of cavalry, I looked 
 anxiously round the plain in hopes of discovering 
 a rallying point; but the regiment was so com¬ 
 pletely scattered in pursuit that I could not per¬ 
 ceive a single squadron formed on the field, and 
 our situation appeared so desperate that I con¬ 
 sidered the only thing that remained for us to do 
 was to sell our lives as dearly as possible. I 
 therefore determined to lead my small division 
 against the body of Chasseurs which had escaped 
 from Lord Paget; but I had scarcely given the 
 word to advance, when his lordship, who as well 
 as every other officer had been deceived by the 
 appearance of the Tenth in a quarter where they 
 were not expected, ordered the “ rally ” to be 
 sounded, and Colonel Grant, who had just arrived 
 at the spot and approved of my design, said the 
 signal must be immediately obeyed. I was thus 
 reluctantly obliged to abandon the meditated 
 attack, which, from our relative positions, would 
 in all probability have been attended with com¬ 
 plete success, as we had an opportunity of charg¬ 
 ing on the enemy’s flank. 
 
CASUALTIES 
 
 115 
 
 I was happy to exchange the French horse for 
 my own mare, which was brought to me soon 
 after the regiment had reassembled, having 
 been found in the custody of some men ot 
 the Tenth, but I was not so fortunate as to 
 recover the valise with my baggage, which 
 was strapped to the saddle at the time I lost 
 her. 
 
 We learned from the prisoners that their force 
 consisted of the 8th Regiment of Dragoons and 
 a provisional regiment of chasseurs a cheval, com¬ 
 manded by the General of Brigade, Debelle, whose 
 horses and baggage fell into our hands. It appeared 
 by the returns found in his portfolio that the 
 French had about eight hundred men mounted in 
 the field, whilst we only mustered betwixt three 
 and four hundred, as, independent of various small 
 detachments, above a hundred men and horses 
 were left at Melgar de Abaxo. Although but 
 few of the enemy were killed on the spot, a 
 great proportion of the prisoners were severely 
 wounded, chiefly by the sabre ; their total loss 
 exceeded 300 men, for a number of their wounded 
 who, after escaping from the field had been left 
 on the road from inability to proceed, were 
 secured and brought to headquarters by our 
 
 15 
 
114 THE FRENCH DRAGOONS 
 
 infantry, who afterwards occupied the villages 
 where they had taken shelter. 
 
 Colonel Dud’huit and twelve officers of the 
 8th Dragoons were taken. This regiment, which 
 was in the front, bore the brunt of the attack, and 
 suffered most severely. Colonel Dugens, three 
 officers, and about a hundred of the Chasseurs, 
 were made prisoners. We understood that the 
 Eighth was a favourite corps ; it had served in 
 all the late campaigns, and gained great credit at 
 Marengo, Austerlitz, Jena, Eylau, and Fried- 
 land ; several of the officers wore the Cross of 
 the Legion of Honour; and several of the 
 sergeants and privates bore honorary badges. 
 The clothing and appointments, both of men and 
 horses, were strong and serviceable; and the 
 brass helmets, in point of utility and martial 
 appearance, might be substituted with advantage 
 in our Service for the cocked hat of the heavy 
 dragoon. The French officers expressed surprise 
 at our temerity in attacking them, and at their 
 own defeat. At first they took us for Spaniards, 
 and expected an easy victory. It is but doing 
 them justice to remark that they received our 
 charge with the most determined firmness, but 
 after their ranks were once broken they made no 
 
THEIR MOUNTS 
 
 115 
 
 effort to retrieve the day, but appeared panic- 
 struck, and only intent on making their escape. 
 
 Colonel Tascher, nephew to the Empress 
 Josephine, commanded the Chasseurs, but we 
 could not ascertain whether he was present in 
 the action. The French were better mounted 
 than we had been led to expect from the report 
 of some of our officers who had been on service 
 with the regiment in the campaigns of 1794 and 
 1799. None of their horses were under fourteen 
 hands and a half, and several were taken into our 
 brigade to replace such as had become unfit for 
 service. They were in pretty good condition, 
 but most of their backs were galled ; this was 
 not surprising, as they had only arrived at 
 Sahagun a few days before, having made 
 almost daily marches since the beginning of 
 October, when they left Hanover; and the 
 French dragoons take very little care of their 
 horses. 
 
 There was not a single man of the Fifteenth 
 killed in the field ; * we had about thirty wounded, 
 five or six severely, two of whom died the next 
 
 * The actual losses were, four men died of wounds, two 
 officers and nineteen other ranks wounded ; four horses killed, 
 four wounded, and ten missing.—E d, 
 
116 
 
 SPOILS OF WAR 
 
 day; most of the others were so slightly hurt 
 that they returned to their duty within a week. 
 I expected the French would have displayed 
 more skill in the use of the sabre than our men, 
 but the fact proved quite the reverse, for not¬ 
 withstanding their swords were considerably 
 longer, they had no chance with us. Our hussars 
 obtained a good deal of plunder, as the prisoners 
 were well supplied with many trinkets and ingots 
 of silver, the produce of plate stolen from the 
 churches and houses of the Spaniards, and melted 
 to render it more portable. Many of their valises 
 contained fans and parasols—rather extraordinary 
 articles of equipment for a winter campaign. 
 General Debelle lost his baggage and horses; we 
 also got possession of the papers belonging to 
 the staff of the brigade, and the seals of the 
 8th Regiment, besides a great number of private 
 letters which were scattered about the fields 
 of the captors without any regard to the tender 
 nature of the contents. 
 
 Although the success of the action was rendered 
 incomplete, owing to the very extraordinary con¬ 
 duct of General Slade and some mistakes of Lord 
 Paget, it nevertheless impressed such an idea of 
 the superiority of our cavalry on the mind of the 
 
AFTER THE ACTION 
 
 117 
 
 enemy as induced them to avoid as much as 
 possible coming in contact with us. Indeed, I 
 can only attribute the want of enterprise dis¬ 
 played by them on many subsequent occasions, 
 when, owing to their immense superiority in 
 point of numbers and the inefficient state of our 
 horses, they had favourable opportunities of 
 destroying the regiment, to the lessons they had 
 received at Sahagun, Rueda, Valencia, etc. 
 
 If General Slade had sent forward an officer 
 to announce his approach, or if he had joined in 
 the pursuit, in all probability not a single French¬ 
 man would have escaped. The whole affair did 
 not occupy an hour, and the regiment remained 
 drawn up under the walls of the town, without 
 any refreshment, from seven in the morning till 
 five in the afternoon; whilst the Tenth, who had 
 no share in the dangers of the day, were sent into 
 quarters before us. 
 
 About three o’clock an alarm was caused by 
 the appearance of a considerable body of troops 
 on the Mayorga road ; the regiment was imme¬ 
 diately mounted and formed in line, and the 
 Tenth were ordered to turn out. But on the 
 return of the aide-de-camp who was sent to 
 reconnoitre, this supposed enemy proved to be 
 
 16 
 
118 
 
 ORDERED ON PICQUET 
 
 a division of our own infantry, which entered the 
 town soon after. 
 
 We were all sufficiently tired of our situation 
 and the view of the walls of Sahagun, and when 
 we were at length permitted to take up our 
 quarters our first care was to make the best 
 preparations for dinner that circumstances would 
 allow. After enjoying the luxury of devoting an 
 hour to the duties of the toilet, which had been 
 but irregularly performed of late, I was preparing 
 to make a vigorous attack upon some beef broth 
 and a Spanish olla, when I was interrupted by 
 the appearance of an orderly sergeant with the 
 unwelcome intelligence that I was ordered on 
 duty, and that the picquets were already as¬ 
 sembled and waiting for me. It was extremely 
 mortifying to be obliged to leave my dinner 
 untasted, but as there was no remedy, I was 
 forced to comfort myself with the hope of being 
 attached to the inlying picquet; in this, however, 
 I was disappointed, being sent with an officer 
 and eighty men to occupy Nuestra Senora de la 
 Puente, at the distance of half a league from 
 Sahagun, on the road to Carrion de los Condes. 
 It was quite dark before we reached our destina¬ 
 tion, which rendered it impossible to make any 
 
NO RATIONS 
 
 119 
 
 observations on the directions of the roads or 
 nature of the ground in the vicinity of our 
 position; therefore, after posting vedettes and 
 despatching the necessary patrols, Lieutenant 
 Jebb and myself took possession of the apart¬ 
 ment assigned for our use. It was a large room 
 without furniture, excepting a wooden bench; 
 there was a scanty fire on the hearth; and the 
 wintry blast had unrestrained entrance from 
 every quarter. Our endeavours to procure any 
 sort of provisions in this miserable place were 
 fruitless, the inhabitants assuring us that they 
 had not even a supper for themselves. I had 
 already fasted twenty-four hours, and the prospect 
 of remaining several hours longer without food 
 was by no means exhilarating. The officer of 
 the Tenth who was with me seemed to have 
 fared almost as ill as myself, and a small quantity 
 of chocolate which I found in a corner of my 
 haversack proved very acceptable, in the absence 
 of all other nourishment, previous to composing 
 ourselves on the wooden bench, which was the 
 substitute for a bed. 
 
 I passed a very anxious night, for I was aware 
 that the enemy was in considerable force at 
 Saldana and Carrion, and, owing to the circum- 
 
120 
 
 AN AWKWARD POSITION 
 
 stances already mentioned, we were necessarily 
 ignorant of the carte du pays, with which the 
 French, on the other hand, were perfectly ac¬ 
 quainted, from having occupied this part of the 
 province for some days. These considerations, 
 which received additional force from the darkness 
 of the night, and a heavy drifting snow, made 
 me apprehensive of being surprised, which, in our 
 situation, might have compromised the safety of 
 the army. To add to the difficulties of our posi¬ 
 tion, above fifty of the horses were crowded into 
 a long narrow hall, which served for a stable ; 
 the entrance and passage were barely wide enough 
 to admit the animals singly; a long time was 
 therefore required to get them out again, and in 
 the event of any confusion arising in the attempt 
 to turn out in a hurry, all egress would have 
 become impossible. The remaining horses, which 
 could not be accommodated in this hall, were 
 sheltered under a piazza that supported the front 
 of the building, and were subjected to the same 
 disadvantages in a less degree. If the weather 
 had been moderate, I should have preferred 
 bivouacking to the risk of suffering the men and 
 horses to be cooped up in such an inconvenient 
 place ; but the intense cold and heavy snow made 
 
AN ALARM 
 
 121 
 
 me unwilling to expose the troops, unless there 
 had existed an absolute necessity for such a 
 measure. 
 
 About midnight I rode out to visit the different 
 patrols, and with difficulty found my way back 
 to our post. Soon after my return we were 
 alarmed by the report of a carbine, followed by 
 the clattering of hoofs on the pavement under 
 the windows of our chamber. This noise was 
 occasioned by one of our vedettes who had 
 galloped in to give notice of the approach of a 
 body of cavalry, whom he concluded to be 
 enemies as they did not answer his challenge. 
 I ordered the picquet to turn out as fast as pos¬ 
 sible, but I had scarcely collected a dozen mounted 
 men, with whom I hastened to occupy the ap¬ 
 proach to the bridge, when the party which had 
 caused the alarm appeared in sight, and proved 
 to be a patrol of the 7th Hussars, who had 
 missed their way owing to the darkness of the 
 night. 
 
 ! 2'2nd .—At length the morning dawned, to my 
 great joy, although it was ushered in by a thick 
 fog and a heavy fall of snow. As the day ad¬ 
 vanced I began to think we were forgotten by 
 our friends at headquarters, and therefore sent 
 
122 
 
 THE SHRINE 
 
 a quartermaster to Sahagun to inquire when we 
 might expect to be relieved, and to procure 
 rations for the men and forage for the horses. 
 I then rode out to reconnoitre the adjacent 
 country, and afterwards took a survey of our 
 comfortless quarters. 
 
 The place where we were stationed was a 
 farmhouse, adjoining a Romerio, a place to which 
 pilgrimages are made, which abuts upon a bridge 
 across the Cea. It contains a miraculous image 
 of the Virgin, called “ Our Lady of the Bridge ” 
 and highly celebrated in the neighbouring dis¬ 
 tricts, but whose efforts in the defence of Sahagun 
 have not proved so efficacious as the interposition 
 of “ Our Lady of the Pillar ” at Zaragoza. The 
 shrine, however, was shown to me by a woman, 
 who seemed to have the care of the chapel, with 
 many high eulogiums of Nuestra Senora de la 
 Puente, and earnest assurances of the blessings 
 experienced by the neighbourhood from her 
 presence. 
 
 The house is tenanted by a shepherd’s family, 
 with his assistants; it is spacious, and contains 
 a suite of large rooms, fitted up in a superior 
 style to the rest of the building. These apart¬ 
 ments are embellished with allegorical paintings 
 
SHEPHERDS 
 
 123 
 
 and representations of portions of sacred history, 
 and I understood from my cicerone that the 
 ecclesiastics of the province assembled here at 
 certain periods, but I could not make out for 
 what purpose, except to eat a good dinner in the 
 hall which served as a stable for our horses. In 
 exploring the premises I opened a door which 
 led into a garret where the family slept, and 
 discovered the uniform and part of the accoutre¬ 
 ments of one of the French dragoons, still wet 
 with blood. Adjoining the house are extensive 
 courtyards, surrounded by low sheds capable of 
 containing several hundred sheep. The shep¬ 
 herds, who are obliged to brave the elements in 
 the most severe weather, wear dresses of sheep¬ 
 skins with the wool outwards, which gives them 
 a most savage and uncouth appearance. They 
 are attended by large dogs of great strength and 
 courage to protect the flocks from wolves, which 
 come down from the mountains in great numbers. 
 One of these dogs attached himself to the regi¬ 
 ment whilst we were in their district, and followed 
 us to England. 
 
 AVhen the quartermaster returned, he informed 
 me that the Fifteenth had moved to a village 
 one league in advance; that we were to remain 
 
124 
 
 RELIEVED 
 
 at our post until further orders; and that forage 
 and provisions would be sent to us in the after¬ 
 noon. This intelligence was far from agreeable, 
 as it held out the prospect of passing another 
 night in our present quarters ; but at five o’clock 
 I received orders to return to Sahagun with the 
 picquet, and then to join my regiment at Villa 
 Peschenel, where we arrived at seven o’clock in a 
 violent storm of wind and rain. I went imme¬ 
 diately to Colonel Grant’s quarters to report our 
 arrival, and found a number of officers at dinner 
 with him. As I had been almost fifty hours 
 without food, the sight of a well-furnished table 
 could not fail to give me satisfaction, and I did 
 not require twice bidding to join the party. 
 When I retired to my own quarters I had the 
 pleasure of meeting my friend Baron During, 
 who had rejoined the regiment the day before. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 [Moore’s infantry occupied Sahagun on tlic day of 
 the cavalry action, and here a halt teas called, the 
 British commander proposing to move forward on 
 the night of the 23rd to Carrion, for the purpose of 
 attacking Soult at daybreak on the 25th at Saldana. 
 Romana was to have co-operated by moving 10,000 
 of his Spaniards to Mansilla. The British troops 
 were actually on parade on the evening of the 23rd, 
 preparing, in high spirits, for the advance, when 
 they were directed to stand fast, Sir John Moore 
 having heard that the French were on the march 
 northward from. Madrid, and that Napoleon himself 
 was well on his ivay to Benevente. The orders 
 already given for the forward movement were now at 
 once countermanded, and the arrangements for the 
 retreat were made, Moore meaning to fall back upon 
 Astorga in the hope of being able there to make a 
 stand with the assistance of Romana's troops. The 
 British cavalry demonstrated towards Carrion and 
 Saldana, while the infantry divisions fell back by 
 
 125 
 
126 
 
 CHANGE OF WEATHER 
 
 Valencia and Voider as , the retreat commencing on 
 December 24. 
 
 On the 2 6th the main body of the British was at 
 Benevente, and already many scenes of disorder had 
 been witnessed; on the night of the 28 th the Ezla 
 was crossed, and on the 29 th the British divisions 
 were at Astorga, La Baneza , and at Acebes, while 
 on the 30 th the main body was concentrated at 
 Astorga. Here Moore had no more than two days’ 
 supplies to carry him the fifty miles to Villafranca ; 
 he teas clear of Astorga on the last day of the year, 
 and on January 1 Napoleon entered the town, to find 
 the British cavalry had only left that morning, and 
 that Moore had escaped him. Here he handed over 
 further pursuit to Soult, Bessieres, and Ney, return¬ 
 ing himself to France. 
 
 From Astorga two brigades, those of Craufurd and 
 Alten, marched by Orense on Vigo, covering Moore's 
 left flank, the rest of the army falling back on 
 Corunna. The main body under Moore reached 
 Bembibere on December 31, Villafranca on January 1, 
 halted the 2nd, and was at Herrerias on the 3rd. 
 
 The work of the cavalry during these memorable , 
 and, for that arm, “ golden ” days, is fully described 
 by Captain Gordon .] 
 
 December 23rd .—There having been a com¬ 
 plete thaw yesterday, and heavy rain from five 
 
THE LAST ADVANCE 
 
 127 
 
 o’clock in the evening until ten, after which the 
 frost returned with increased severity, the roads 
 were in consequence covered with ice, which 
 made riding dangerous, as it was scarcely possible 
 to keep the horses on their legs. 
 
 Sir John Moore had received information* 
 that Marshal Soult was posted with eighteen 
 thousand men at Saldana, a small town six 
 leagues from Sahagun, and determined to attack 
 his position, the Marquis de la Romana having 
 engaged to support him with ten or twelve 
 thousand Spaniards. The army was accordingly 
 ordered to move in two columns upon Carrion; 
 the Fifteenth turned out at five o’clock in the 
 evening, and marched with the left column to 
 St. Nicholas,f three leagues from our quarters at 
 Villa Peschenel. We arrived there at eight 
 o’clock, and after passing through the village the 
 cavalry and horse artillery were formed and dis- 
 
 * See Appendix IV. 
 
 t In De la Borde’s map of the roads in Leon, Cisueros is 
 marked about halfway betwixt Sahagun and Carrion, and I 
 think it most probable that this is the proper name of the 
 village to which we marched on the evening of December 23 , 
 when the army moved forward to attack Marshal Soult, and 
 which is called St. Nicholas in our orderly books, where the 
 Spanish names of places were often strangely metamorphosed. 
 
128 
 
 RUMOURS OF RETREAT 
 
 mounted on a ridge of land, where we remained 
 until midnight. The cold was most intense, and 
 the ground covered with snow, circumstances 
 which did not tend to reconcile us to the delay 
 at this place, especially when whispers began to 
 circulate a report—which proved too well 
 founded—that the intention of advancing was 
 abandoned. During this interval many of the 
 hussars, who had been much harassed of late by 
 incessant duty, laid down beside their horses to 
 gain a little repose. I made myself a very com¬ 
 fortable bed by spreading a truss of hay on the 
 frozen snow, from which I was roused by the 
 order for the regiment to mount and return 
 to our former quarters; but the left squadron 
 halted at Villa Lebrin, halfway betwixt St. 
 Nicholas and Sahagun. 
 
 It had been Sir John Moore’s intention to 
 make a night march to Carrion, force the bridge 
 there, and attack the enemy at Saldana the next 
 day; but this plan was relinquished in conse¬ 
 quence of most unwelcome intelligence received 
 at headquarters after the columns were put in 
 motion. The despatches stated that all the corps 
 of the French army in the Peninsula had been 
 ordered to move on Leon; that Bonaparte was 
 
NAPOLEON AND SOULT 
 
 129 
 
 advancing from Madrid by forced marches at the 
 head of 80,000 men in order to cut off our com¬ 
 munications with Galicia; and it was reported 
 that Soult, having received considerable reinforce¬ 
 ments, had advanced from Saldana to Carrion, 
 where he had taken up a strong position. The 
 Commander of the Forces was also disappointed 
 of the assistance promised him by the Marquis 
 de la Romana, who, instead of co-operating with 
 10,000 men, could only bring 7,000 into the 
 field, with whom he arrived at Mansilla de las 
 Mulas, six leagues from Sahagun, on the after¬ 
 noon of the 23rd ; and little or no dependence 
 could be placed on these troops, as they were in a 
 very inefficient state of discipline and equipment. 
 
 In this situation of affairs a speedy retreat 
 appeared to be the only measure that offered 
 a probable chance of preserving the army from 
 destruction ; but the mode in which this retreat 
 was conducted makes it questionable whether 
 we could have suffered greater losses if the attack 
 on Soult had been persisted in, and followed up 
 by a dash on Madrid, or an attempt made to join 
 the Aragonese and Catalonians, amongst whom 
 the spirit of resistance to the invaders was still / 
 active. 
 
 17 
 
130 
 
 THE RETREAT BEGINS 
 
 Sir John Moore having determined to fall 
 back on Galicia, the retreat commenced on the 
 24th, and, had it been delayed forty-eight hours, 
 the enemy would have reached the Ezla before 
 us, in which case we could have had no choice 
 but death or surrender. 
 
 24 th .—The Squadron remained at Villa Lebrin, 
 keeping a strong picquet in advance and patrolling 
 some miles on the road to Carrion. The owner 
 of the house we occupied was an old man whom 
 they called Don Pedro ; his establishment was 
 composed of an old woman, a cow, and an ass— 
 at least these were the only animals we discovered 
 on the premises. When our host was questioned 
 as to his profession and employment, he answered 
 that he was a philosopher and passed his time in 
 study. As it seemed rather an extraordinary 
 circumstance to meet with a philosopher by pro¬ 
 fession in such an obscure situation, I inquired 
 minutely into the nature of his studies, when he 
 declared himself to be conversant with all the 
 sciences, but particularly attached to astronomy. 
 He boasted much of his library, which he kept 
 carefully locked up, although I found it only 
 contained from twenty to thirty small volumes, 
 chiefly treatises on divinity and the legends of 
 
GENERAL GLOOM 
 
 131 
 
 the Roman Catholic Church. I must, however, 
 do Don Pedro the justice to allow that the 
 apathy with which he contemplated the miseries 
 that threatened his native country might be con¬ 
 sidered a sufficient proof of his claim to the title 
 of philosopher in one sense of the term. 
 
 The atmosphere was as gloomy as our pros¬ 
 pects, and we passed the day without any com¬ 
 munication with the rest of the army. All 
 remained quiet in our front, and we could get no 
 information of the enemy’s movements or in¬ 
 tentions. 
 
 In the houses of the peasants in this district 
 a sort of shelf is built over the hearth in the 
 kitchens, similar to the flue in a hothouse, but 
 broader. It is customary for the servants to 
 sleep on this shelf in winter on account of the 
 warmth. I made a trial of it, and found it an 
 exceeding hot berth. 
 
 2 5th .—In the course of the morning a number 
 of suspicious-looking people, who could not give 
 satisfactory accounts of themselves, were seized 
 at our advanced posts, and forwarded to the 
 headquarters. They represented themselves to 
 be Portuguese, who had followed the army 
 from Portugal; but we did not understand their 
 
132 
 
 SAHAGUN AGAIN 
 
 language sufficiently to discover whether they 
 spoke the truth or not. About four o’clock in 
 the afternoon orders were received for the 
 squadron to repair to Sahagun, and we turned 
 out immediately, leaving a fine turkey and a 
 piece of beef which had been provided for our 
 Christmas dinner. A picquet was left in the 
 village under the command of Baron During, 
 who remained there until nine o’clock the next 
 morning, when the different picquets were united 
 to form the rear-guard of the cavalry. On our 
 road to Sahagun we passed over the ground 
 where the action of the 21st took place, and I 
 observed several corpses unburied, “ a prey to 
 dogs and birds.” The peasants had stripped 
 them, and it was reported that the body of a 
 female was found amongst the number. The 
 French entered the town on the 26th, and 
 doubtless took ample revenge on the inhabitants 
 for the indignities offered to the remains of their 
 fallen comrades. 
 
 We arrived at Sahagun just in time to join 
 the mess, where all the officers of the regiment, 
 except those absent on duty, were assembled to 
 celebrate the day; but the mirth and jollity 
 usually prevalent at this season were considerably 
 
ARRIVE AT MAYORGA 
 
 133 
 
 damped by reflection on the critical situation in 
 which we were placed. 
 
 Lieutenant Penrice was dangerously ill of 
 typhus fever, and as there was no proper mode 
 of conveyance for him, even if it had been judged 
 advisable to remove him, he was committed to 
 the care of a Spanish physician, with whom 
 Lord Paget left a letter addressed to the com¬ 
 manding officer of any French troops which 
 might enter the town, requesting kind treatment 
 for Penrice, and offering, in the event of his 
 recovery, to give any officer of the same rank 
 taken prisoner on the 21st in exchange for him.* 
 
 2 6th .—The brigade assembled at six o’clock, 
 and was ordered to proceed to Valderas, nine 
 leagues from Sahagun. On approaching Mayorga 
 we found that town occupied by the enemy, and 
 learned that the baggage of the cavalry, which 
 had been sent forward the day before, was cap¬ 
 tured by them. Lord Paget immediately pushed 
 on with the Tenth, followed by the Fifteenth. 
 Our left squadron was ordered to support the 
 troop of horse artillery attached to the brigade, 
 and the rattling of the guns as we galloped 
 through the streets completed the panic of the 
 
 * This officer recovered and returned to England.—E d. 
 
 18 
 
134 
 
 THE TENTH ENGAGED 
 
 inhabitants, who were making the most doleful 
 lamentations. When we had got clear of the 
 town, two squadrons of chasseurs a cheval were 
 discovered, formed on a rising ground about a 
 mile distant. Lord Paget directed General 
 Slade to attack them with a squadron of the 
 Tenth, supported by the remainder of the regi¬ 
 ment. The General moved off at a trot, but 
 had not advanced far when he halted to have 
 some alteration made in the length of his 
 stirrups. An aide-de-camp was sent to inquire 
 the cause of this delay, and the squadron was 
 again put in motion ; but the General’s stirrups 
 were not yet adjusted to his mind, and he halted 
 again before they had advanced a hundred yards. 
 
 Lord Paget, whose patience was by this time 
 quite exhausted, then ordered Colonel Leigh to 
 take the lead. The Tenth charged gallantly, 
 routed the enemy, and took between forty and 
 fifty prisoners, with little loss on their part. 
 
 It is extraordinary that the French should 
 have awaited this attack, as, from their com¬ 
 manding position, they must have been aware 
 of the disparity of numbers, which precluded 
 them from any chance of success; and if they 
 had been inclined to avoid an action, it would 
 
THE STAFF 
 
 135 
 
 have been impossible for us to have overtaken 
 them. Owing to the delay this rencontre occa¬ 
 sioned, it was almost dark when we reached 
 Valderas, and, as the place was full of troops, 
 we had great difficulty in finding quarters for 
 the men and horses. I was sent soon afterwards 
 to take command of a picquet posted on the 
 Mayorga road, about half a mile from the town. 
 
 On this occasion a circumstance came under 
 my observation which marked the very negligent 
 manner in which the duty of the general staff’ 
 was performed at a period when the army was 
 certainly in great jeopardy, as strong corps of 
 the enemy were closing round us on every side, 
 and a night attack on our quarters was by no 
 means an impossible event. I had received in¬ 
 structions to be particularly vigilant, to keep up 
 a constant communication with the other pic- 
 quets, and to patrol the roads leading to Mayorga 
 and Sahagun; and I was assured that a party 
 of artillery, with a howitzer, would be attached 
 to my picquet to protect the bridge across the 
 Cea. 
 
 This party, however, did not make its appear¬ 
 ance, and it was near midnight before I received 
 the countersign. The night passed away without 
 
136 
 
 DESTROYING THE HORSES 
 
 any serious alarm, although from the reports 
 brought in hourly by the patrols we had reason 
 to suppose the enemy could not be very far 
 distant. 
 
 27th .—A very thick fog came on at daybreak, 
 which made it impossible to discern objects at 
 the distance of a horse’s length. The church 
 bells sounded for a long time to give notice of 
 a fire which had broken out in the town ; it 
 burned with great fury, and caused considerable 
 damage before it was extinguished. 
 
 Here we began to shoot the horses and mules 
 which were lame, or in other respects unfit for 
 hard work. I counted about forty lying dead in 
 the streets of this place; and, at a subsequent 
 period of the retreat, ten of these animals were 
 destroyed, on a moderate computation, for every 
 mile we marched. 
 
 The troops — cavalry and horse artillery — 
 quitted Valderas at nine o’clock ; the picquets 
 were called in soon after, and formed the rear¬ 
 guard. Colonel Grant was detached early in 
 the morning with a squadron of the Fifteenth 
 to make a reconnaissance in the direction of 
 Villalpando ; he rejoined our column in the 
 afternoon without having gained any intelligence 
 
RECROSS THE EZLA 
 
 137 
 
 of the enemy. Owing to a thaw which had 
 come on since the 24th, and the number of 
 troops and heavy carriages that had already 
 passed, the roads were extremely heavy, and in 
 some places the artillery horses were scarcely 
 able to drag the guns through the sloughs. Our 
 route lay through several villages, which ex¬ 
 hibited melancholy proofs of the shameful de¬ 
 vastation committed by the infantry which had 
 preceded us; we observed one in flames whilst 
 we were at a considerable distance, and it was 
 still burning when we passed through it. The 
 inhabitants shouted, “Vivan los Franceses,” and 
 we overtook some stragglers who had been 
 stripped and maltreated by the Spaniards. 
 
 We crossed the Ezla about five o’clock, leaving 
 a picquet on the right bank of the river near the 
 bridge, and the Seventh, Tenth, and Eighteenth, 
 with the horse artillery, proceeded to Benevente. 
 The Hussars of the German Legion, I believe, 
 remained with the picquet. The Fifteenth was 
 detached to San Christoval, a small village on 
 the right bank of the Ezla, where we found good 
 quarters and plenty of forage. Our day’s march 
 was seven leagues. 
 
 28th . — At ten o’clock in the morning, whilst 
 
J38 
 
 A FALSE ALARM 
 
 the men were busily employed in foraging, the 
 bugles sounded “ To horse 1” and we turned out 
 in a great hurry, in consequence of a report that 
 the French had forced the bridge ; this, however, 
 proved a false alarm, and the regiment was sent 
 back to quarters, with the exception of the left 
 squadron, which was detached to destroy the 
 ferry-boats on the river between San Christoval 
 and Valencia. The ferry at Villalfer, two leagues 
 from the former village, is on the left bank of 
 the river; the boat happening to be on our 
 side taking in passengers, a party was immedi¬ 
 ately set to work upon it, but, being unprovided 
 with proper tools for the purpose, it cost a great 
 deal of time and labour to render it unservice¬ 
 able. Detachments were sent to destroy the 
 boats at the other ferries, and, after posting 
 vedettes to watch the village, we marched about 
 a league farther, to Villa Guexida, where we 
 considered ourselves in perfect security, as the 
 Spaniards had assured us that the river was not 
 fordable. 
 
 We had a false alarm at four o’clock, occa¬ 
 sioned by a drove of oxen, which, owing to the 
 hazy state of the weather, was mistaken for a 
 troop of cavalry until we were undeceived by 
 
THE FRENCH ON THE EZLA 
 
 139 
 
 a nearer vieAV; and at six o’clock the vedettes, 
 stationed at the ferry, sent us information that 
 a strong division of the enemy’s troops had 
 entered the village, broke open the houses, and 
 commenced a general massacre of the pigs and 
 poultry, without paying the slightest attention 
 to the remonstrances and lamentations of the 
 owners. They rode into the Ezla to water their 
 horses, and abused our men in broken English. 
 Soon after their arrival a number of loaded 
 mules, driven by Spaniards, forded the river a 
 short distance below the ferry. 
 
 In consequence of this disagreeable intelli¬ 
 gence, we moved from Villa Guexida at eight 
 o’clock and occupied Simones, a small village 
 about a mile below Villalfer. A picquet was 
 stationed to watch the ford ; the remainder of 
 the squadron, after two hours’ repose, was drawn 
 up in the plain until daylight, when we with¬ 
 drew into the village, and remained mounted 
 until eight o’clock. The men were then sent 
 into quarters. 
 
 29th .—After breakfast Major Leitch and my¬ 
 self ascended the tower of the church, from 
 whence we could plainly distinguish the enemy 
 without a glass. Their force, composed of 
 
140 
 
 THE CAVALRY ENGAGED 
 
 cavalry, infantry, and artillery, amounted — as 
 we learnt afterwards—to nearly three thousand 
 men. At ten o’clock they pointed two guns at 
 our advanced piequet, which was in consequence 
 withdrawn into the village; and shortly after 
 this we received orders to follow the regiment, 
 which had marched to the bridge at Castro 
 Gonzalo, to support the rest of our cavalry, who 
 were engaged with the French. 
 
 We turned out in a few minutes, and pro¬ 
 ceeded towards the scene of action as fast as the 
 horses could trot; but before we reached San 
 Christoval we received directions to halt and 
 wait for the regiment, which soon came up to 
 us, and the whole body marched to the Villa 
 Guexida, where we halted three hours, and at 
 five o’clock continued our route to Puente de la 
 Bisana. Lieutenant Hancox was left behind in 
 command of a small piequet, with instructions to 
 watch the enemy’s motions during the night, and 
 to follow the regiment at break of day. The 
 division of the French army at Villalfer crossed 
 the river before this party withdrew from Villa 
 Guexida. Major Leitch was detached with a 
 strong piequet to patrol the bank of the river as 
 far as Villa Manana, with orders to occupy that 
 
THE FIGHT AT BENEVENTE 
 
 141 
 
 village during the night, and to rejoin the brigade 
 at La Baneza. It is surprising this detachment 
 was not intercepted by one of the numerous 
 corps which crossed the Ezla at different points, 
 and overspread the whole district within a 
 few hours after Lord Paget’s division quitted 
 Benevente. It was fortunate for us that the 
 enemy contented themselves with occupying 
 Villalfer on the 28th and 29th, as they were in 
 sufficient force to have destroyed the Fifteenth, 
 which was entirely unsupported on both those 
 days. 
 
 I had an opportunity of conversing with 
 several officers and men who had been engaged 
 in the action near Benevente, and the account 
 which follows is the substance of the information 
 thus collected. 
 
 It having been determined to destroy the 
 bridge over the Ezla in order to impede the 
 enemy’s progress, a party of Engineers was em¬ 
 ployed in mining it when we crossed on the 
 27th, and it was blown up the next night. 
 General Lefebvre arrived at Castro Gonzalo on 
 the morning of the 29th with seven squadrons 
 of the Hussars of the Imperial Guard, and found 
 the bridge impassable; but observing only a 
 
142 
 
 GALLANTRY OF OUR TROOPS 
 
 small picquet in the plain he conceived it would 
 be an easy conquest, as he concluded our army 
 had evacuated Benevente. A ford was soon 
 discovered, by which he crossed the river, and 
 attacked the picquet, composed of about a 
 hundred men of the Eighteenth and Third 
 German Hussars; these were, however, quickly 
 joined by the inlying picquet, and succeeded in 
 keeping the French at bay until the whole of 
 the cavalry and horse artillery were assembled, 
 and hurrying to the scene of action. On the 
 approach of this strong reinforcement the enemy 
 recrossed the Ezla, and formed in good order on 
 the opposite bank, where they remained until 
 the arrival of our artillery, a few rounds from 
 which drove them over the hill in confusion. 
 
 The gallantry of our troops was most con¬ 
 spicuous in this affair, as there were not above 
 two hundred and fifty British, actually, opposed 
 to six or seven hundred French; but our loss 
 was proportionately severe. The Eighteenth 
 and German Hussars, who bore the brunt of 
 the engagement, had sixty or seventy killed and 
 wounded ; the loss of the enemy was about 
 thirty killed and seventy made prisoners. Only 
 three privates of the Fifteenth were present, one 
 
THE EIGHTEENTH 
 
 143 
 
 of whom was shot through the heart. General 
 Lefebvre was amongst the prisoners. Upon the 
 repulse of his troops he attempted to ford the 
 river, but his horse being unable to stem the 
 current, he was obliged to return to the shore, 
 when he was attacked by a private of the Tenth, 
 to whom he surrendered after receiving a slight 
 wound. 
 
 It was known that Bonaparte slept at Villal- 
 pando, which is only five leagues from Benevente, 
 on December 28 , and it may be presumed that 
 he suffered a severe mortification at the defeat 
 sustained by the Hussars of his Guard almost 
 within his own view. 
 
 The Eighteenth have been uniformly successful 
 in their rencontres with the enemy. During 
 the advance of the army—on their route from 
 Valderas to Sahagun—thirty men of that regi¬ 
 ment fell in at Valencia de Don Juan with a 
 hundred French dragoons, whom they attacked 
 without hesitation, and put to flight, with a 
 loss of twenty killed and taken prisoners. But 
 the Hussars of the Guard were superior in every 
 respect to any of the troops with whom we had 
 been engaged hitherto. Their dress and ap¬ 
 pointments were showy and at the same time 
 
144 
 
 BURNING THE MAGAZINES 
 
 serviceable, and they displayed the most perfect 
 discipline and determined valour. 
 
 The Seventh, Tenth, Eighteenth, and German 
 Hussars marched from Benevente in the after¬ 
 noon, and the Fifteenth joined them at the 
 Puente de la Bisana, three leagues from La 
 Baneza. Before the army left Benevente im¬ 
 mense magazines of stores of every description 
 were burned, and several thousand pairs of shoes 
 were destroyed or given to the Spaniards, at the 
 very time when a great proportion of our infantry 
 was but ill-provided with that important article 
 of equipment. 
 
 30 th .—We reached La Baneza at eight o’clock 
 after a very cold and uncomfortable night march, 
 in the course of which we halted for three hours 
 at Puente de la Bisana, where the Engineers 
 were making preparations to blow up the bridge ; 
 but the attempt proved abortive. 
 
 As soon as the dawn enabled us to distinguish 
 the objects by which we were surrounded, I 
 observed that the road was strewed with the 
 empty canisters, cartridge paper, wadding, etc., 
 of ammunition, that had been destroyed to pre¬ 
 vent it from falling into the enemy’s hands. 
 Several horses and mules were shot during this 
 
SHOELESS HORSES 
 
 145 
 
 march, and the road was often obstructed by 
 their carcasses; interruptions were also occasioned 
 at intervals by the smoking remains of caissons 
 and carriages, which had been burned when the 
 means of transport failed. 
 
 For some days past our horses had begun to 
 knock up, owing to the harassing duty on which 
 they had been employed without intermission, 
 the deficiencies of proper forage, and, above all, 
 to the want of shoes. The forge-carts, with the 
 tools and iron, were burned or left behind on the 
 27th by order of the Commander of the Forces, 
 because they could not keep up with the rest 
 of the baggage; but if the farriers had been 
 furnished with everything they required, the 
 regiment never had a sufficient respite from 
 duty to allow time to get the horses properly 
 shod. 
 
 31sL—The brigade assembled soon after mid¬ 
 night, and marched from La Baneza at one 
 o’clock, leaving several houses on fire. Within 
 half a league of Astorga we found a picquet 
 of the Light Battalion of the German Legion, 
 stationed in a village that was nearly reduced 
 to ashes. The officers told us that the Spanish 
 army, estimated at 120,000 men, was in can- 
 
 19 
 
146 
 
 “MEN IN BUCKRAM 
 
 tonments in the town and adjacent villages, 
 and that it was determined our combined 
 forces should await the arrival of the French 
 army, and give it battle in the plain. It is 
 difficult to conjecture how such an absurd re¬ 
 port could have originated or obtained credit; 
 the town was, in fact, occupied by the Marquis 
 de la Romana’s corps, in consequence of which 
 we found it difficult to get quarters. This 
 Spanish force amounted to about 6,000 men 
 in the most deplorable condition. They were 
 all ill-clothed ; many were without shoes, and 
 even without arms; a pestilential fever raged 
 amongst them ; they had been without bread for 
 several days, and were quite destitute of money. 
 In short, their state could not be more justly 
 described than in that French bulletin which, 
 alluding to Romana’s army, says : “ These miser¬ 
 able wretches fill every hospital,” Miserable 
 indeed they were, and almost every house in 
 Astorga contained some of their dead or dying. 
 
 We had been very irregularly furnished with 
 provisions for some days ; the troops received 
 meat here and flour instead of bread, but neither 
 wine nor spirits. During the retreat the army 
 was seldom supplied with rations above once in 
 
SPANISH SOLDIERS 
 
 147 
 
 three days, and the cavalry were sometimes four 
 or five days together without getting any. The 
 officers were frequently as ill-provided for as the 
 men, but Baron During, who messed with me, 
 was an excellent forager, and we were generally 
 able to supply some of our less provident 
 comrades. 
 
 There was a false alarm at two o’clock, when 
 the Spanish troops assembled in the plaza, and 
 in the evening one of their picquets came into 
 the courtyard of the house we occupied, to warm 
 themselves at a large fire which our hussars had 
 made. I spoke to some of the men, who were 
 evidently suffering from famine and disease ; they 
 declared they had eaten nothing for three days, 
 and when we gave them the remains of our 
 dinner, and money to buy wine, their expressions 
 of gratitude were unbounded. 
 
 There was another false alarm at eight o’clock, 
 when the whole of the cavalry turned out and 
 remained at the alarm-post until eleven, at which 
 hour we followed the Reserve under General 
 Paget. The ground was still covered with 
 snow, and the frost was most intense. In the 
 course of the night we passed Romana’s army, 
 which we now saw for the last time; their march 
 
148 
 
 NEW YEAR’S DAY 
 
 was directed on Orense by Ponteferrado, but the 
 train of artillery, consisting of forty fine pieces, 
 kept the great road to Corunna. 
 
 Astorga was the point at which the different 
 corps of the French army met, and the force 
 assembled there amounted to sixty or seventy 
 thousand men. Bonaparte arrived on New 
 Year’s Day ; and having failed in the attempt 
 to intercept the British before they reached the 
 mountain passes of Galicia, after reviewing his 
 troops, he committed the charge of the pursuit 
 to Marshals Soult and Ney with three divisions, 
 and returned himself to Madrid. 
 
 January 1st, 1809. — If our Christmas was 
 gloomy, the New Year did not afford us brighter 
 prospects. On the contrary, our situation was 
 become even more critical, and it was difficult to 
 controvert the reasoning of those amongst us 
 who predicted that this month would witness 
 the capture or destruction of one of the finest 
 armies that ever left the shores of Britain. Our 
 difficulties and distresses increased at every 
 league we marched, and the disorganization of 
 the troops became more apparent every day. 
 
 Early in the morning we overtook a number 
 of waggons loaded with the cotton which was 
 
STATE OF THE ROADS 149 
 
 taken at Rueda by the Eighteenth; we also 
 passed several cars filled with the sick and 
 wounded belonging to our army. Owing to the 
 deep snow and the dreadful state of the roads, 
 these carriages made very little progress, and 
 were all taken by the enemy before night. The 
 road was occasionally crowded with coaches, 
 calashes, and litters, containing Spanish families, 
 who were endeavouring to reach Corunna and 
 Ferrol, where they expected to be in safety from 
 the hostile army. In the afternoon we passed 
 through a large village of the Mauregatos, which 
 had been completely destroyed by fire. The 
 wretched inhabitants were sitting amidst the 
 trifling articles of property they had been able 
 to save from the flames, contemplating the ruins 
 of their houses in silent despair. The bodies of 
 several Spaniards who had died of hunger or 
 disease, or perished from the inclemency of the 
 weather, were lying scattered around, and height¬ 
 ened the horrors of the scene. The village had 
 been burned by some of our infantry, and scarcely 
 an hour passed in which we did not witness the 
 most pitiable misery, occasioned by the excesses 
 of our troops, which it was impossible to pre¬ 
 vent. Numbers continually straggled to the 
 
 20 
 
150 
 
 BRITISH AND SPANIARDS 
 
 villages near the road, which, after pillaging, 
 they generally set on fire ; and whenever they 
 discovered the places where wine was concealed, 
 they drank until they incapacitated themselves 
 from rejoining the line of march, or perished in 
 the flames they had kindled. It is not surprising 
 that this conduct excited in the breasts of the 
 natives a detestation of the British, which in¬ 
 duced them to retaliate, as often as they had 
 the opportunity, by murdering or ill-treating the 
 stragglers. 
 
 The only apology to be offered for the soldiers 
 is that they were certainly not treated like friends 
 by the Spaniards, who, although they saw us 
 fainting for want of food, secreted their pro¬ 
 visions, and pretended to be unable to supply 
 our necessities, even when the most ample pay¬ 
 ment was tendered. Whilst 1 am upon this 
 subject, I must do the dragoons the justice to 
 declare that it was but seldom they committed 
 any depredations on the property of the inhabi¬ 
 tants, neither were they guilty of the wanton 
 excesses in which the foot-soldiers appeared to 
 take delight. In fact, discipline and subordina¬ 
 tion were preserved in the cavalry regiments, 
 when no remains of either could be traced in the 
 
DISCIPLINED CORPS 
 
 151 
 
 conduct of the rest of the army. This censure, 
 however, does not apply to the Artillery, the 
 brigade of Guards, and the Twentieth, Forty- 
 third, Fifty-second, Ninety-fifth, and Light 
 Battalions of the German Legion, which formed 
 the reserve; the behaviour of these corps was on 
 all occasions praiseworthy. 
 
 We reached Bembibere about four o’clock, 
 and found the town occupied by some regiments 
 of infantry and cavalry. The Fifteenth was 
 therefore detached to Mansanassa, a small village 
 half a league distant on the road to Ponteferrado, 
 where we enjoyed a few hours’ rest after three 
 successive night marches. Our left squadron 
 had been constantly on duty since the morning 
 of the ‘28th, and the horses had not been un¬ 
 saddled during that period. 
 
 It was near five o’clock before we got into 
 quarters, and soon after midnight the “ rouse ” 
 was sounded. On repairing to the alarm-post 
 we learned that the picquets of the Seventh and 
 Tenth had been driven into Bembibere, but as 
 the enemy had retired we were sent back to our 
 quarters. Several of our officers were billeted 
 in the house of the priest of the parish, where I 
 observed a method of keeping fruit for winter 
 
152 
 
 A RECONNAISSANCE 
 
 use which was new to me. The padre’s family 
 occupied a large room which served both for 
 parlour and dormitory, as there were four or five 
 beds in it; and from the ceiling of this chamber 
 many bunches of grapes and a great number of 
 apples were suspended singly by threads. The 
 reverend gentleman was very niggardly, and 
 positively refused to let us taste his fruit; we 
 therefore took the liberty of helping ourselves in 
 defiance of his threats, and found the flavour un¬ 
 commonly fine. The grapes were particularly 
 luscious. 
 
 2nd, — The regiment reassembled at four 
 o’clock, and joined the division at Bembibere, 
 where a party was employed in burning a quan¬ 
 tity of officers’ baggage and regimental stores. 
 We remained there above two hours waiting for 
 orders, and in that interval Captain Cochrane 
 was detached with the old picquet to make a 
 reconnaissance on the Astorga road, for the pur¬ 
 pose of ascertaining the strength and position of 
 the troops which had disturbed us during the 
 night. This party rejoined us shortly after we 
 commenced our march, having been forced to 
 retire before a regiment of chasseurs d chcvcd, 
 which they fell in with about a league from 
 
ITS RESULT 
 
 153 
 
 Bembibere. Captain Cochrane, upon making 
 this report of his proceedings, was sharply repre¬ 
 hended by the Adjutant - General, Brigadier- 
 General Clinton, for neglect of duty, and accused 
 of giving false intelligence, as the General in¬ 
 sisted that the picquet had been skirmishing with 
 a body of Spanish cavalry belonging to Romana’s 
 army.* Whatever the true state of this affair 
 
 * Captain Cochrane felt the remarks made by General 
 Clinton upon his conduct, when commanding the picquet near 
 Bembibere on January 2, to be so injurious to his character 
 as an officer, that he applied to the General through Colonel 
 Grant, in the hope of prevailing upon him to retract the 
 offensive expressions, and to acknowledge that the censure 
 was unmerited and had arisen from misconception. General 
 Clinton, however, persisted in his former opinion, and repeated 
 his conviction that Captain Cochrane had behaved in a manner 
 unbecoming an officer. The latter in consequence demanded 
 a court-martial on our return to England, and was tried at 
 Chelsea in the summer of 180,0 on charges preferred against 
 him by General Clinton. 
 
 Captain Cochrane was honourably acquitted by the sentence 
 of the court, but circumstances have since transpired which 
 are conclusive in establishing the fact that the troops from 
 whom Captain Cochrane’s picquet retreated were really Spanish 
 light cavalry, whose uniform bears a strong resemblance to 
 that of the French chasseurs ct cheval, and that officer’s conduct 
 was certainly extremely blameable in retiring before he had 
 fully ascertained that the force in his front was an enemy. 
 It was said in his defence that the skirmishers of the two 
 bodies fired upon each other; but this statement, if correct, 
 
154 
 
 THE STAFF 
 
 may be, it is certain that the chief officers of the 
 staff had adopted an opinion, which amounted to 
 conviction, that the enemy would give over the 
 pursuit as soon as our army entered the defiles 
 of the hilly country beyond Astorga. Any in¬ 
 formation, therefore, that militated against this 
 favourite tenet was most ungraciously received. 
 The events of this day must have convinced 
 them of their error, although they persisted in 
 maintaining that we were only followed by a few 
 squadrons of Napoleon’s cavalry. 
 
 Our regiment still formed the rear-guard, and 
 during the march we had a great deal of trouble 
 with the stragglers, numbers of whom were so 
 drunk that all our efforts to drive them on were 
 fruitless, and we were obliged to abandon them 
 to their fate. They were soon overtaken by the 
 French chasseurs, who treated them most un¬ 
 mercifully, cutting to their right and left, and 
 sparing none who came within reach of their 
 swords. They were even accused of wounding 
 the sick men whom they overtook in the hospital 
 waggons. 
 
 proves the negligent manner in which the reconnaissance was 
 conducted, for if the Spanish patrols had been properly 
 challenged they could not have been mistaken for Frenchmen. 
 
CONTINUED SKIRMISHING 
 
 155 
 
 Thomas Smith, an old soldier of my troop, 
 was amongst the number of those left at 
 Bembibere, being too drunk to march with the 
 baggage and dismounted men. He was one of 
 the few Villars-en-Couche men still remaining in 
 the regiment, and did good service at Sahagun, 
 where I saw his sword covered with blood from 
 hilt to point. The plunder he obtained from 
 the men he killed amounted to thirty or forty 
 doubloons, and from that day he was scarcely 
 ever sober. As he was in general a good soldier, 
 I was much vexed at losing him.* 
 
 We had some skirmishing with the enemy’s 
 advanced guard in the early part of the day, but 
 in the afternoon they pressed us so hard that the 
 regiment was halted, and formed in column of 
 divisions on a small eminence, masking the guns 
 of the horse brigade which were brought up to 
 support us. On observing our position, the 
 enemy retired, and we were ordered to occupy 
 
 * However, he contrived to escape from the French, and 
 joined one of the bands of Spaniards who kept up a desultory 
 warfare after the British army quitted the country. Having 
 been wounded in one of these skirmishes, he was at length 
 received on board one of our cruisers, and we were surprised 
 by his appearance at Guildford Barracks about the end of 
 October, 
 
156 
 
 OUTPOSTS AGAIN 
 
 Cubilos, a small village at no great distance, 
 where we found a company of the Ninety-fifth. 
 So many horses had been sent forward, having 
 become unserviceable for want of shoes, that the 
 regiment at this period could scarcely muster 
 four hundred in the field, many of which were 
 lame or quite worn out with fatigue, and the 
 remainder unable to trot. Considering the jaded 
 state of our horses, and the fact that almost the 
 whole of the outpost duty ever since the com¬ 
 mencement of the retreat had fallen upon the 
 Fifteenth, it might reasonably have been ex¬ 
 pected that one of the other regiments should 
 have been appointed to this service; but it 
 seemed to be a settled system of our leaders to 
 save the Tenth and Seventh as much as possible, 
 out of compliment to the Prince of Wales and 
 Lord Paget. 
 
 It was almost dark when we arrived at Cubilos, 
 and whilst the quartermasters were making 
 arrangements for getting the troops under cover, 
 the regiment was drawn up in close column on 
 an open space of ground in the centre of the 
 place. We had not remained long in this posi¬ 
 tion, when we were surprised by a quick and 
 irregular discharge of small arms ; the bullets 
 
AN ATTACK 
 
 157 
 
 rattled against the walls and lodged in the roofs 
 of the houses behind which we were sheltered. 
 
 This unexpected attack created a considerable 
 degree of uneasiness, for the horses were so 
 wedged together it was with difficulty they could 
 break into file ; and the communication betwixt 
 the village and the highroad was through a 
 narrow hollow-way, where, if a single horse had 
 fallen, it would have occasioned a scene of con¬ 
 fusion which must have led to the most dis¬ 
 astrous consequences. Having been ordered for 
 duty, I was engaged in telling off the picquet at 
 a little distance from the column when the firing 
 commenced; and strong patrols being immedi¬ 
 ately despatched to the assistance of the riflemen, 
 who were skirmishing with our visitors, the in¬ 
 truders were soon put to flight. After the 
 regiment was withdrawn from the village, it 
 was determined by the commanding officer to 
 bivouac ; it is only extraordinary that under the 
 circumstances he should for a moment have 
 entertained the intention of passing the night 
 in quarters. Three squadrons took up a position 
 near Cubilos ; the left squadron was detached 
 half a mile to the rear, where a road struck off 
 to Ponteferrado. Our advanced picquets and 
 
158 A DESERTED VILLAGE 
 
 patrols were pushed close to the French out¬ 
 posts, and shots were exchanged occasionally 
 when either party encroached too much on the 
 other’s ground. The weather was cold and 
 frosty, but we collected fuel enough to supply 
 several large fires; and, as the inhabitants had 
 deserted their dwellings, we were forced to 
 plunder the village in order to procure pro¬ 
 visions and forage. But this was a necessary 
 measure, and executed without any breach of 
 discipline. Working parties were sent under 
 the orderly officer and quartermasters to break 
 open the houses, and abundant supplies of bread, 
 meat, wine, corn, and hay, were found, which 
 proved highly acceptable both to men and horses, 
 who had been but scantily provided with sub¬ 
 sistence since we left San Christoval. 
 
 Of course great havoc was committed on the 
 property of these poor villagers, for much of 
 what we could not consume was destroyed, to 
 prevent our pursuers from having the benefit 
 of it. 
 
 In the middle of the night we were alarmed 
 by the cracking of whips, the noise of wheels, 
 and the plashing of horses and carriages in the 
 River Sil, which flowed at some distance below 
 
A STRAGGLER 
 
 159 
 
 Cubilos, on our right. We at first imagined that 
 the enemy’s artillery and infantry had arrived, 
 and were endeavouring to get in our rear; but 
 upon sending out a patrol to ascertain the facts, 
 the disturbance proved to be caused by part of 
 Romana’s baggage and cannon. One of the 
 mule-drivers, who was brought to Colonel Grant, 
 afforded us a great deal of amusement. Believing 
 that he had fallen into the hands of the French, 
 he exhibited signs of the greatest terror. He fell 
 on his knees, wept, and implored our mercy for 
 the sake of his wife and three infants; then 
 kissed the earth, and shouted, “ Viva el Sehor 
 Napoleon 1” When we had sufficiently diverted 
 ourselves with his apprehensions, he was set at 
 liberty without having his mistake rectified. 
 
 The next scene we witnessed called forth very 
 different sensations. A poor wretch was con¬ 
 ducted to the officers’ fire by a patrol who per¬ 
 ceived a figure, which he at first took for a wild 
 hog, creeping amongst some stunted copse-wood 
 that bordered the road near our advanced post. 
 He turned out to be one of the numerous band 
 of stragglers who had been overtaken and sabred 
 by the French. He had drawn his shirt over his 
 head to keep the frosty air from his wounds, and 
 
160 
 
 A SHOCKING SPECTACLE 
 
 when the covering was removed from his face, 
 it presented the most shocking spectacle I ever 
 beheld. It was impossible to distinguish a single 
 feature. The flesh of his cheeks and lips was 
 hanging in collops; his nose was slit, and his 
 ears, I think, were cut off. Besides the wounds 
 on his head, he had received many in different 
 parts of the body, and it is surprising that he 
 should have been able to make his escape in the 
 feeble state to which he was reduced by loss of 
 blood. 
 
 The unfortunate man was unable to swallow 
 solid food, but we gave him some warm wine, 
 and when he was a little revived by the heat 
 of the fire he was sent to the hospital at Villa- 
 franca; but I imagine he had little chance 
 of recovering. In addition to his wounds, it is 
 probable that his limbs were frost-bitten; for it 
 was quite horrible to see the manner in which he 
 cowered near the fire, and raked the glowing 
 embers towards him with his fingers. It was 
 with difficulty he could make himself understood, 
 but we learnt from him that the loiterers had 
 been most barbarously treated by the enemy. 
 
 3rd .—Betwixt nine and ten o’clock in the 
 morning we observed the French, formed in 
 
A CHALLENGE 161 
 
 three lines, on a rising ground about a mile from 
 the spot we occupied. Our advanced picquet 
 and riflemen had frequent skirmishes with them, 
 but we only wounded three or four men, and 
 they killed one of our horses at the distance of 
 nearly 500 yards, although they had often fired 
 at us within a quarter of the distance and failed. 
 Their guns were longer in the barrel than the 
 firelocks used by our infantry, and appeared to 
 be very good pieces. 
 
 An officer of the chasseurs, mounted on a fine 
 grey charger, made himself conspicuous by riding 
 along the front to encourage his men, and occa¬ 
 sionally galloping forward, as if for the purpose 
 of inviting one of us to meet him in single 
 combat. In our situation it was not judged 
 expedient to allow any officer to answer this 
 challenge; but the sharpshooters endeavoured to 
 pick him off, and at length succeeded in killing 
 his horse, which probably moderated the ardour 
 of the rider, for we saw no more of him. 
 About noon a fourrier of the ‘22nd Chasseurs, 
 who had been wounded in the thigh by a rifle- 
 ball, was brought into our lines. We learned 
 from him that the force opposed to us was a 
 division of cavalry, commanded by General 
 
 21 
 
162 
 
 THE BRIGADIER 
 
 Colbert, and that Marshal Soult was hourly 
 expected to come up with two divisions of 
 infantry. He entreated us to use him well, 
 adding that his countrymen showed the greatest 
 kindness to our people who fell into their hands. 
 Little did he imagine what a specimen we had 
 seen of their tenderness to our stragglers. 
 
 As the morning was nearly spent without any 
 communication from headquarters, an officer was 
 despatched to make a report of the hazardous 
 situation in which we were placed, and to bring 
 back orders how we were to act in the case of 
 being attacked ; and whilst we were in expecta¬ 
 tion of his return General Slade visited the 
 position. I was conversing with Colonel Grant 
 at the time, and in a few minutes Captain 
 Thackwell joined us, with the intelligence that 
 the French were in motion, and that twenty 
 squadrons could be distinctly counted in their 
 lines. Colonel Grant upon this invited the 
 General to ride forward with us and reconnoitre 
 them, which he declined, saying he must go and 
 report the circumstance to the Commander of 
 the Forces. He then clapped spurs to his horse, 
 and was quickly out of sight. We learned that 
 he did not slacken his pace until he met Sir John 
 
NEAR CACABELOS 
 
 163 
 
 Moore, to whom he repeated what he had heard, 
 saying that he was desired by Colonel Grant to 
 report it. Sir John Moore asked the Brigadier 
 how long he had been Colonel Grant’s aide-de- 
 camp, and told him that the proper post of a 
 general officer was at the head of his brigade 
 or division when in presence of the enemy. 
 The General, however, considered the Tenth as 
 the head of his brigade, for we saw no more 
 of him. 
 
 The French continued to threaten us by 
 various manoeuvres until near two o’clock, when 
 orders were received for the regiment to fall back 
 and join the main body of the army at Villa- 
 franca. We retired very slowly, to allow the 
 Reserve time to break up their encampment, and 
 the enemy followed at the same pace along the 
 highroad, with a band of music playing at the 
 head of their column. Our rear-guard kept 
 them at bay until, on approaching Cacabelos, 
 the leading squadrons gained a rise in the road, 
 which enabled them to discover the mere handful 
 of troops opposed to them ; upon which they im¬ 
 mediately charged, and drove us a few hundred 
 yards, but at the entrance of the town we fronted 
 them, and fought hand to hand, disputing every 
 
164 
 
 STREET FIGHTING 
 
 inch of ground. For some minutes we were so 
 jammed together in a narrow street that it Avas 
 impossible for either party to advance or retire. 
 At this period of the conflict one of our men 
 decapitated a French chasseur at a single blow; 
 the head was not entirely separated, but remained 
 attached by a muscle or part of the skin of the 
 neck. General Colbert was also killed by a 
 carbine or rifle shot. Sir John Moore, Sir David 
 Baird, Lord Paget, and a number of Generals 
 and staff officers, were in the plaza when the 
 Fifteenth entered the town, and only owed their 
 safety to the determined bravery of the rear¬ 
 guard, which checked the advance of the enemy, 
 and thus afforded time for them to quit the 
 place. General Paget’s troops were cooking 
 when they received the order to turn out, and, 
 notwithstanding we retired at a slow walk, to 
 allow them as much time as possible, we reached 
 Cacabelos before they had completely taken up 
 their position. The Ninety-fifth should have 
 lined a wood on the right of the road leading 
 to Bembibere, but they were not posted when 
 the enemy came up, and the chasseurs dashed in 
 upon them and threw them into confusion. Many 
 of the riflemen, on their discomfiture, instead of 
 
I’LAN OK THE ACTION AT CACABELOS. 
 
DREADFUL SCENES 
 
 165 
 
 saving themselves by passing through the gardens 
 and enclosures, ran into the streets, where a 
 number of them were sabred and trampled down 
 by the horses. 
 
 As soon as the streets were cleared we crossed 
 the river; two guns of the horse brigade were 
 planted on a height which commanded the 
 bridge, and opened on the French when they 
 attempted to follow us. After sustaining some 
 loss they retired into the town. On this, as well 
 as on many other occasions, we were certainly 
 much indebted to the forbearance of the enemy ; 
 for if they had attacked us with spirit, it would 
 have been scarcely possible for the regiment to 
 have escaped annihilation. 
 
 We passed through Villafranca without halt¬ 
 ing ; the infantry had evacuated the place, and 
 were in position on the neighbouring heights, 
 which appeared to be impregnable. The town 
 presented the most dreadful scenes of riot and 
 distress. Parties of drunken soldiers were com¬ 
 mitting all kinds of enormities; several houses 
 were in flames ; and a quantity of baggage and 
 military stores, for which there was no means 
 of conveyance, were burning in the plaza. The 
 kennels were flowing with rum, a number of 
 
 22 
 
166 
 
 REARGUARD AGAIN 
 
 puncheons having been staved in the streets, 
 and a promiscuous rabble were drinking and 
 filling bottles and canteens from the stream. 
 Every avenue was crowded with b&t-horses, 
 mules, and bullock-cars. 
 
 We now confidently anticipated a respite, for 
 some days at least, from the harassing outpost 
 duty, by which both our men and horses were 
 almost worn out, as it was reckoned a matter of 
 course that the infantry would form the rear¬ 
 guard through the mountains. We here entered 
 the province of Galicia, and the road for a dis¬ 
 tance of sixteen leagues presents a constant 
 succession of defiles and strong passes—a descrip¬ 
 tion of country by no means adapted for cavalry 
 to act in with advantage. We arrived at Las 
 Herrerias at eight o’clock; this place is two 
 leagues from Villafranca, and takes its name from 
 the iron-foundries established in the vicinity. 
 We congratulated ourselves on the prospect of 
 passing the night undisturbed, but at ten o’clock 
 the “ rouse ” was sounded, and we learned, with 
 surprise and indignation, that the whole army, 
 except the 20th and 95th Regiments, had passed 
 through the village in full retreat. 
 
 I had suffered all day from rheumatism in the 
 
FROST-BITE 
 
 167 
 
 head ; my feet and legs were slightly frost-bitten, 
 and so much swelled that I was forced to have 
 my boots cut open as soon as I got into quarters. 
 Being greatly in need of repose, I went to bed 
 as soon as possible, but had not laid down five 
 minutes before the bugles sounded. My first 
 impulse was to lie still and be taken by the 
 French, rather than encounter a renewal of the 
 fatigues and anxiety we had so lately under¬ 
 gone. This idea, however, was but momentary; 
 I dressed myself without delay, and hastened 
 to the alarm-post. 
 
 It was now apparent, notwithstanding the 
 assurances to the contrary with which we had 
 been amused, that there was no intention of 
 making a stand anywhere, but that the only 
 object of our leaders was to gain the coast, and 
 embark the army with as little delay as possible. 
 Surmises of this nature had existed amongst the 
 troops for some days, but the confirmation these 
 suspicions received from the events of the last 
 few hours destroyed the small portion of dis¬ 
 cipline that still remained, and left them soldiers 
 but in name. 
 
 Sir John Moore’s conduct in not defending the 
 heights near Villafranca appears to me to admit 
 
168 
 
 SIR JOHN MOORE 
 
 of no valid excuse ; that position might have 
 been maintained for two or three days at least 
 by the Reserve and a proportion of artillery, 
 whilst the cavalry and main body of infantry 
 were retiring by easy marches to Lugo. In this 
 manner time would have been allowed for the 
 men to recover from their fatigue, and oppor¬ 
 tunities afforded of restoring a sufficient degree 
 of discipline to enable them to continue the 
 retreat with regularity, or to give battle with 
 confidence. Even after quitting Villafranca, 
 every step of the road offered points where a 
 single company of grenadiers, with one or two 
 field-pieces, might have kept an army in check 
 for some hours, and would have given more 
 serious interruption, of course, to a corps of 
 cavalry, unsupported by infantry or artillery. 
 The road for a distance of several leagues wound 
 along the side of steep mountains, and at almost 
 every turn a well-served battery would have 
 caused a heavy loss to an advancing column ; 
 and considerable delay might have been occa¬ 
 sioned in many places by merely breaking up 
 a few yards of the road. I think it can scarcely 
 admit of a doubt that, if either of these plans 
 had been acted upon, the retreat would have 
 
GENERAL DEPRESSION 
 
 169 
 
 been effected with inconsiderable loss in com¬ 
 parison with that which was actually sustained. 
 
 But Sir John Moore, although an officer of 
 eminent bravery and of tried ability in subor¬ 
 dinate commands, now that he was called upon 
 to conduct a considerable force in circumstances 
 of peculiar difficulty, proved lamentably deficient 
 in those qualities of decision and firmness which 
 he had so often displayed oil former occasions, 
 and which alone could have enabled him to 
 extricate the army by some brilliant achievement, 
 from the perilous situation in which it had been 
 placed by his own ill-advised measures and the 
 disasters of our Spanish allies. At this juncture, 
 however, he appeared to labour under a de¬ 
 pression of spirits, so different from his usual 
 serene and cheerful disposition as to give a 
 mournful expression to his countenance, indica¬ 
 tive of the greatest anxiety of mind; and it 
 seemed either that his judgment was completely 
 clouded, or that he was under the influence of 
 a spell, which forced him to commit the most 
 glaring errors. The strong position at Villa- 
 franca was scarcely occupied before it was deter¬ 
 mined to abandon it, and no obstacle was op¬ 
 posed to the enemy’s movements in a long march 
 
170 
 
 THE HILL OF NOGALES 
 
 through a mountainous district, where the nature 
 of the ground afforded unusual facilities for 
 obstructing the advance of an army. It was 
 generally supposed that the Commander of the 
 Forces was induced to hurry towards Corunna 
 by the apprehension that, in case of delay, the 
 division which occupied the province of Leon 
 might advance through the Asturias, cut off* his 
 communications with the coast, and place him 
 betwixt two fires. But he ought not to have 
 been ignorant of the fact that—besides being 
 more than double the distance and passing 
 through a barren and difficult country—the road 
 in question is, after leaving Oviedo, merely a 
 mule-track, passable in the summer season, but 
 quite impracticable for the passage of an army 
 with cavalry and artillery, especially in the depth 
 of winter. 
 
 A considerable portion of the night was spent 
 in ascending the long hill of Nogales, which was 
 covered with snow. The cold was most intense, 
 and the wind absolutely piercing. The objects 
 which met the view at almost every step were 
 of a description calculated to shock the firmest 
 mind, and had we been differently circumstanced 
 must have excited the most active sympathy ; 
 
THE WOMEN 
 
 171 
 
 but the frequent recurrence of scenes of misery, 
 and our own individual privations and sufferings, 
 had so far deadened the kindly feelings of our 
 nature that we witnessed without emotion the 
 wretchedness by which we were surrounded. 
 
 We passed a number of cars filled with sick 
 and wounded soldiers stuck fast in the drifted 
 snow ; many of these unfortunate men perished 
 from the severity of the weather. Several of 
 Romana’s cannon were left on this mountain, 
 the animals which dragged them having perished 
 or become unserviceable. One of the pieces had 
 been overturned, and an artilleryman was lying 
 under it, crushed to death. Some cars laden 
 with specie, and a great quantity of stores and 
 baggage, were also abandoned to the enemy. 
 
 During this distressful night-march I repeat¬ 
 edly observed soldiers, spent with fatigue or 
 insensible from the effects of intoxication, lying 
 on the snow, whence they were fated never to 
 rise; and the road was often obstructed by the 
 mangled carcasses of horses and mules. The 
 women who followed the army displayed aston¬ 
 ishing energy, but the sufferings they endured 
 beggar all description. This night proved fatal 
 to many of these unfortunate creatures. One of 
 
172 
 
 THE CHILDREN 
 
 them, who had been delivered of twins only 
 three days before, and another with an infant 
 at her breast, were amongst the victims. The 
 children in both instances were alive when dis¬ 
 covered, and owed their preservation to the 
 humanity of some infantry soldiers. 
 
 During a temporary halt shortly after day¬ 
 break, I had some conversation with an officer 
 who commanded a small party stationed near the 
 road ; he told me that his regiment—I do not 
 recollect the number—which had been two days 
 without provisions, was in bivouac on the moun¬ 
 tain, and that two officers and a number of 
 privates had perished during the night from the 
 combined effects of cold, hunger, and fatigue. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 [From the 6th to the 8th the army remained halted 
 at Lugo, where Moore offered battle to Soidt , and 
 the British regiments recovered something of their 
 discipline and collected many of their stragglers. 
 The French Marshal hesitated to attack, and, on the 
 night of the 8tli, Moore, who had no more than one 
 day’s supplies in Lugo , resumed the retreat. The 
 army reached Betanzos on the 9th, and on the night 
 of the 11 th the main body marched into Corunna, 
 where the transports had not yet arrived from Vigo. 
 The fleet of transports came in on the 14 th, and the 
 work of embarkation was commenced as early as 
 practicable. On this day the French appeared before 
 the town, attacked our advanced positions on the 15 th, 
 and delivered battle on the day following—a battle 
 which was so far successful that it secured for the 
 British an unmolested embarkation , but which cost 
 the life of Sir John Moore, and which, though its 
 success redeemed the honour of the British arms , 
 could not altogether atone for the failure of the 
 expedition and the humiliations and disgrace of the 
 retreat. ] 
 
 173 
 
174 
 
 MULE GUNS 
 
 January 4 th .—We entered Las Nogales about 
 nine o’clock, and, after halting there for two hours 
 to feed the horses, continued our route to Con¬ 
 stantino, where we arrived betwixt three and 
 four, having marched sixty-four miles in twenty- 
 five hours, twenty-two of which we were actually 
 on horseback. Taking all the circumstances into 
 consideration, this may be looked upon as an 
 extraordinary performance both for men and 
 horses, particularly as the pace never exceeded a 
 walk. The Fifteenth halted at Constantino, but 
 the remainder of the cavalry and the infantry 
 proceeded to Lugo. An unsuccessful attempt 
 was made to blow up the fine bridge betwixt 
 Nogales and Constantino, and the failure in this 
 instance cannot be a subject of regret, as it would 
 have been a thousand pities to have destroyed so 
 beautiful an object, particularly as the progress 
 of the enemy could not have been materially 
 checked by its demolition. 
 
 Near this spot the guns of the mule brigade, 
 as it was called, which had never been fired, 
 were spiked and thrown down a precipice. These 
 pieces, three-pounders, were remarkably light, 
 and constructed so as to be conveyed on the 
 backs of mules, through roads and into positions 
 
OPHTHALMIA 
 
 175 
 
 inaccessible to ordinary artillery. Three mules 
 were attached to each gun; one carried the 
 barrel, another the carriage, and the third was 
 loaded with ammunition. Several casks of 
 dollars and doubloons were also rolled down the 
 steep side of the road into the valley beneath, 
 just in time to prevent their capture. 
 
 Lord Paget and Brigadier-General Stewart, 
 both disabled by ophthalmia, which was very 
 prevalent amongst the troops, passed us on the 
 march. The former looked very interesting ; he 
 had a white handkerchief bound over his eyes, 
 and Colonel Elley, the Adjutant-General to the 
 cavalry, led his horse. 
 
 A squadron of the Fifteenth was left at 
 Nogales, and, with some companies of the 
 Ninety-fifth, formed the rear-guard of the army 
 from that place. They were directed to retire if 
 pressed, but to seize every opportunity of im¬ 
 peding the enemy’s advance, in order to allow as 
 much time as possible for the repose and refresh¬ 
 ment of the preceding divisions. 
 
 Our quarters at Constantino were wretched 
 in the extreme, and our fare was of the same 
 description ; but any kind of food or shelter was 
 acceptable to men worn out with fatigue and 
 
176 
 
 ARRIVAL AT LUGO 
 
 almost starved. It had rained without inter¬ 
 mission the greatest part of the day, but at two 
 o’clock it came down with a degree of violence 
 that our horses could scarcely face. 
 
 I had suffered such agony for many hours 
 from an attack of rheumatism in the head that 
 my strength and spirits were entirely exhausted, 
 and I felt thankful at being able to obtain a 
 share of some wet straw in the narrow loft of 
 a miserable hovel, which was occupied by at 
 least a dozen persons—officers, soldiers, and 
 servants—all distinction of ranks being levelled 
 by the distress and danger to which all were 
 equally exposed. 
 
 5th .—The regiment marched from Constantino 
 at eight o’clock, and reached Lugo at two in the 
 afternoon. The town was crowded with troops, 
 and, as every house and stable were occupied by 
 the divisions which had arrived the night before, 
 we, who had performed almost the whole of the 
 duty allotted to the cavalry in covering the 
 retreat since the army marched from Astorga, 
 found it impossible to procure quarters, either 
 for men or horses. We were therefore obliged 
 to be contented with the shelter afforded by the 
 piazzas in the plaza during our halt at this p lace. 
 
MEN LOSE CONFIDENCE 
 
 177 
 
 All the straggling and irregularities that had 
 occurred on any former occasion might be con¬ 
 sidered as the perfection of discipline if com¬ 
 pared with the retreat from Villafranca, which 
 resembled the flight of an indisciplined rabble 
 rather than the march of regular troops ; and 
 a comparison drawn at this period betwixt the 
 British army and Romana’s mob would not have 
 been much in favour of the former. The loss on 
 this single march probably fell but little short 
 of 2,000 men. This increased disorganiza¬ 
 tion may be in part accounted for by the in¬ 
 dignation of the troops at what they considered 
 a breach of faith on the part of the Commander 
 of the Forces, who had given repeated assurances 
 that he had no intention of withdrawing the 
 army from Spain, but that his object in retreat¬ 
 ing was to approach his supplies, and take up 
 a position which should enable him to oppose the 
 superior numbers brought against him, with a 
 reasonable prospect of success. When, however, 
 they saw the most favourable ground for defen¬ 
 sive operations abandoned without even a show 
 of resistance, the men lost all confidence in a 
 General who neglected to seize and improve 
 opportunities which every private soldier was 
 
 23 
 
178 
 
 THE STAND AT LUGO 
 
 capable of appreciating. The general orders 
 issued during the retreat sufficiently mark Sir 
 John Moore’s sense of the insubordination of the 
 troops; but I must consider his own vacillating 
 conduct as the primary cause of the evil, which 
 was increased by a culpable lenity towards 
 flagrant offenders, the effect of which was to 
 encourage breaches of discipline. At length, 
 when the army was considerably reduced in 
 numbers, broken in spirit, and weakened in 
 physical power by excessive fatigue and the 
 want of provisions, it was determined to make 
 a stand at Lugo ; the Commander of the Forces 
 being now convinced that, in the exhausted con¬ 
 dition of the men and horses, it was impossible to 
 continue the retreat without exposing his whole 
 force to certain destruction. General Fraser’s 
 division, which had proceeded a day’s march on 
 the road to Vigo, was therefore recalled, and 
 the whole of the baggage was sent forward to 
 Corunna, with the sick and all those who were 
 unfit for duty. 
 
 One of the most absurd orders that ever was 
 issued in our service—and that is saying a great 
 deal—directed all dismounted dragoons to join 
 the Ninety-fifth and act as sharpshooters ! 
 
REORGANIZATION 
 
 179 
 
 6th .—The rear-guard, which had been repeat¬ 
 edly engaged with the head of the French column 
 since they left Nogales, joined us about ten 
 o’clock, and the enemy made their appearance 
 in the afternoon, but nothing of importance 
 occurred. 
 
 This day was employed in reorganizing the 
 several corps, and replacing the various articles 
 of equipment which had been lost or become 
 unserviceable during the retreat. Many of the 
 inhabitants had deserted their houses, and those 
 who remained did not appear to bear us much 
 good-will. Most of the shops were shut up, and 
 business of all kind was at a standstill; provisions 
 were scarce, but the troops received biscuit, rum, 
 and salt beef, from the sea-stores, which had been 
 ordered to meet us here. A great number of 
 horses and mules that were lame, or in other 
 respects unfit for service, were shot, and the 
 streets and roads near the city were much ob¬ 
 structed by their carcasses. 
 
 The general orders reflected most severely on 
 the conduct of regimental officers, to whose in¬ 
 attention and neglect of their duties the Com¬ 
 mander of the Forces chiefly attributed the 
 irregularities of the troops. This censure, which 
 
180 
 
 INCRIMINATORY ORDERS 
 
 gave great offence to a considerable portion of 
 the army, was equally ill-judged and unjust. 
 The officers of every rank exerted themselves to 
 the utmost of their ability to preserve order and 
 secure the comfort of the soldiers; but when all 
 the circumstances of our situation are taken into 
 consideration—the length and rapidity of the 
 marches, the want of rest and scanty supply 
 of provisions, the severity of the weather and 
 dreadful state of the roads—it must be allowed 
 that it was not possible for the officers, who 
 encountered the same hardships and privations, 
 to superintend the conduct of their men in the 
 manner they are accustomed to do in barracks 
 or quarters in England. 
 
 Itli .—A strong corps of the French army, 
 having arrived in the night, took up a position 
 on the hills near Lugo, and about eleven o’clock 
 commenced a cannonade, which was soon silenced 
 by our artillery. In the afternoon they made a 
 vigorous attack on our position, but were repulsed 
 with considerable loss. The cavalry was ordered 
 out, and the Fifteenth was posted on a rising 
 ground separated from the enemy by a narrow 
 valley. As we marched along the front of the 
 line to gain our station, we passed Sir John 
 
PRESENTIMENTS 
 
 181 
 
 Moore and his stall engaged in reconnoitring • 
 they were accompanied by a lady mounted on 
 a white charger, who I understood was the wife 
 of Colonel Mackenzie, of the 5th Regiment. 
 She betrayed no signs of uneasiness, although 
 the enemy sent a few balls at the party. 
 
 Whilst we were on the march to our station 
 in the line, I felt an unusual depression of spirits, 
 which it was quite out of my power to overcome. 
 This despondency of mind was probably occa¬ 
 sioned by fatigue and bodily suffering, but it 
 produced such strong conviction of impending 
 evil that I desired Baron During to remain near 
 me, and entreated him, in case I should fall, not 
 to suffer me to be left on the field disabled. 
 These melancholy forebodings, however, proved 
 groundless; not even a skirmish took place, and 
 we returned to our quarters early in the evening. 
 
 8th .—At six o’clock the cavalry assembled, 
 and marched from Lugo to take up the same 
 position we had occupied the evening before; 
 and although the pain in my head was even 
 more excruciating, I experienced none of those 
 gloomy presages. 
 
 A great portion of the infantry had bivouacked 
 on the ground, and in proceeding to our station 
 
 24 
 
182 
 
 ARDOUR OF THE MEN 
 
 we passed along the front of the line, which 
 afforded us an opportunity of observing the dis¬ 
 position of the men. Nothing could be more 
 gratifying than to remark the total change in 
 their conduct. It appeared that, with the pros¬ 
 pect of being led against the foe, they had at 
 once recovered all those qualities for which 
 British soldiers are peculiarly estimable; every 
 order was obeyed with alacrity, and not a trace 
 remained of the discontent and insubordination 
 which had been so general for the past few days. 
 Both officers and men expressed the most ardent 
 desire to bring the contest to an issue, and, not¬ 
 withstanding the inferiority of our numbers, a 
 confident anticipation of victory filled every 
 breast. The French, however, did not think 
 fit to accept the battle we offered, but remained 
 under arms in their position, which was too 
 strong to be attacked without great loss. Be¬ 
 sides, Marshal Soult had it in his power to 
 decline a general action, even if we had suc¬ 
 ceeded in carrying the heights ; and it is most 
 probable he would have fallen back, and en¬ 
 deavoured to amuse us until the arrival of the 
 divisions in his rear, which would have placed 
 him at the head of an overwhelming force. His 
 
WAITING THE ATTACK 
 
 183 
 
 best policy was, undoubtedly, to avoid fighting, 
 since by continuing to harass our retreat he 
 might expect to reap all the advantages of a 
 decisive victory without the hazard of a battle. 
 
 We passed the day in a state of anxious 
 suspense, impatiently listening for the roar of 
 artillery, which we expected to mark the com¬ 
 mencement of the action; and, as hour after 
 hour elapsed without any demonstration on 
 either side, a universal feeling of the most bitter 
 disappointment spread through the ranks. 
 
 The Fifteenth did not muster above 200 men, 
 and was posted on the extreme left of the 
 line, nearly two miles distant from any sup¬ 
 port ; our horses were quite knocked up, and 
 we probably had cause to be thankful that 
 we were not attacked by a strong body of the 
 enemy’s cavalry to which we were opposed, 
 although we did not think so at the time. 
 
 In the course of the day the men’s valises and 
 haversacks were searched, but, highly to the 
 credit of the regiment, not a single article of 
 plunder was discovered. 
 
 Sir John Moore, finding that he could not 
 entice Marshal Soult from his vantage-ground, 
 and not judging it advisable to attack his posi 
 
184- 
 
 RETREAT AGAIN 
 
 tion, had no other alternative but to continue 
 the retreat, as the provisions which had been 
 collected at Lugo were nearly exhausted, and we 
 could only obtain supplies from Corunna. 
 
 Orders were accordingly given to withdraw 
 the guns as soon as the evening closed in suffi¬ 
 ciently to mask the movement, and the troops 
 began their march about nine o’clock. Watch- 
 fires were left burning on the ground we had 
 occupied, which were kept up during the night 
 by the picquets, who remained to observe the 
 enemy’s motions. The different columns retired 
 with the utmost regularity, and in such perfect 
 silence that the French did not discover our 
 evasion until after daylight. The night was 
 extremely dark, which favoured this manoeuvre. 
 Our route to the town lay over broken ground 
 and through intricate lanes; the country was 
 also much intersected by dry stone walls, en¬ 
 closing the fields and vineyards, which made it 
 difficult to keep the squadrons together, as no 
 man could see his own horse’s head, much less 
 his file leader. 
 
 Our regiment was destined to form the rear¬ 
 guard as usual, and halted under the walls of 
 Lugo, near the Corunna Gate, at eleven o’clock, 
 
SAVING THE TREASURE 
 
 185 
 
 to allow time for the infantry, who had not yet 
 come up, to join the line of march. During this 
 interval the left squadron was ordered to the 
 town-house to take charge of 35,000 dollars, 
 which must otherwise have been left as a 
 prize for the enemy. Sealed bags, each con¬ 
 taining 500 dollars, were distributed to the 
 troopers, and in this manner about £8,000 was 
 saved to the nation; but our poor horses 
 were much oppressed by the addition of nearly 
 two stone to the weight they already carried. 
 
 9 th .—Some of the columns lost their way, 
 owing to the darkness of the night and the mis¬ 
 takes of the guides, so that it was near two 
 o’clock before they all got clear of the town. 
 We followed soon afterwards, and on crossing 
 the Mino found the Engineers employed in 
 mining the bridge. It was natural to suppose 
 that, after so many failures, they had acquired 
 sufficient experience to enable them to accom¬ 
 plish their object, and in this instance success 
 was particularly desirable, as the river was not 
 fordable. The stream is broad and rapid, the 
 bank rotten, and the neighbourhood does not 
 furnish material for making even a temporary 
 repair. The destruction of this bridge was there 
 
186 
 
 OUR ENGINEERS 
 
 fore expected to throw considerable impediments 
 in the way of the enemy’s advance; but our 
 hopes were again disappointed. The powder 
 exploded, the bridge remained uninjured, and 
 the French crossed the river within a few hours 
 after us. It is an extraordinary circumstance 
 that our Engineers, who bear such a high 
 character, should have failed so frequently in 
 one of the most simple operations of the 
 science.* 
 
 Colonel Dud’huit, of the 8th Dragoons, was 
 at Lugo when we arrived there, and, being un¬ 
 well, obtained permission to remain with the 
 army on his parole, instead of accompanying the 
 escort with the rest of the prisoners to Corunna. 
 Major Leitch, who had been the means of pro¬ 
 curing him this indulgence, considering himself 
 in some measure responsible for the captive’s 
 fidelity, went to his quarters to see if he was 
 preparing to follow us, and found him in bed. 
 The Colonel complained of indisposition, and 
 endeavoured to prevail upon Leitch to consent 
 to his remaining at Lugo, promising solemnly 
 
 * The failures here adverted to are stated to have been 
 caused by the deficiency of the necessary implements and the 
 want of sappers. 
 
THE FRENCH COLONEL 
 
 187 
 
 not to give his countrymen the slightest in¬ 
 formation relative to the state of our army. 
 Such a proposal could not be acceded to, and the 
 Major was obliged to insist upon his joining our 
 column ; but, as he was not confined to any par¬ 
 ticular station in the line of march, he might 
 have quitted the road and concealed himself, 
 until he had an opportunity of escaping to the 
 French cavalry who led the pursuit. Either his 
 sense of honour was too strong to allow him to 
 break his parole, or he was deterred by the 
 fear of being discovered and murdered by the 
 Spaniards, of whose resentment he always ex¬ 
 pressed the liveliest apprehensions. 
 
 Whilst the regiment was waiting under the 
 walls of Lugo, Baron During rode into the town 
 to endeavour to procure some bread, and, as he 
 did not return before we moved, I began to fear 
 he had been intercepted by a French patrol, or 
 that some other misfortune had happened to 
 him ; but, to my great satisfaction, he rejoined us 
 on the march, although in a very unsavoury 
 condition, owing to a fall over some dead horses 
 in the streets of Lugo. 
 
 This night-march was productive of a repe¬ 
 tition of the hardships we had before experienced, 
 
188 
 
 CLOSE QUARTERS 
 
 and the straggling and disorderly conduct of the 
 troops was carried to an alarming extent. We 
 passed through Bamonde without stopping, and 
 reached Gutoriez at one o’clock in the afternoon, 
 in the midst of the most violent storm of hail 
 and rain I ever witnessed. 
 
 About 200 of our horses found shelter in 
 a large stable at the posada ; the house was 
 crowded with officers and soldiers. Sir David 
 Baird and his staff occupied all the apart¬ 
 ments, so that we were obliged to be con¬ 
 tented with the accommodation afforded by the 
 kitchen and passages. I had been so fortunate 
 as to obtain a place near the fire, round which 
 a number of officers and men of different corps 
 were assembled to dry their clothes and thaw 
 their half-frozen limbs; but we were soon dis¬ 
 turbed by Sir David Baird’s cook, who insisted 
 upon having the fire entirely to herself, that she 
 might boil his tea-kettle. She was so violently 
 enraged at our non - compliance with this un¬ 
 reasonable demand that, after scolding herself 
 out of breath, she retired in great dudgeon. 
 
 In a few minutes an aide-de-camp appeared, 
 who informed us that Sir David Baird desired 
 we would all quit the house, which had been 
 
SEVERE WEATHER 
 
 189 
 
 allotted for his quarters. However excusable 
 such a stretch of authority might have been in 
 ordinary circumstances, we felt that in our situa¬ 
 tion it was carrying the privileges of military 
 rank too far, and no one seemed inclined to 
 exchange the comparative comfort of the place 
 we occupied for a bivouac in the open street, 
 exposed to the pelting of the storm, merely to 
 gratify the spleen of Sir David’s cook. Brigadier- 
 General Fane, who was one of the party, remon¬ 
 strated with the aide-de-camp* on the harshness 
 and indelicacy of sending such a message to a 
 number of officers, and Ilc, who seemed uncom¬ 
 fortable at being obliged to deliver it, quitted 
 the room without insisting on our departure. 
 
 At eleven o’clock the bugles sounded, when 
 the cavalry turned out, and remained mounted 
 whilst the infantry filed past us, which was a 
 very tedious business. Several men perished 
 from the effects of intoxication and the severity 
 of the weather during the few hours the army 
 occupied the village of Gutoriez and adjacent 
 fields; two private hussars of the Fifteenth were 
 amongst the number. 
 
 * The aide-de-camp was Captain Hon. Alexander Gordon, 
 3rd Guards (afterwards mortally wounded at Waterloo).—En. 
 
190 
 
 MISERIES OF THE MARCH 
 
 10 th .—After another dreadful night-march, we 
 reached Betanzos about three o’clock p.m., having 
 been nearly sixteen hours in accomplishing a dis¬ 
 tance of five leagues. The miseries to which the 
 troops were exposed increased at every step. The 
 road, which had excited my admiration a few 
 weeks before, was now so completely broken up 
 by the frequent changes of the weather from 
 frost to thaw, and the continual passing of heavy 
 carriages, that the soldiers were often obliged 
 to wade through mud more than a foot in depth. 
 Many of the officers were destitute of shoes or 
 stockings, with their clothes in rags ; it may 
 therefore be imagined that the privates were in 
 a most deplorable condition. Straggling had 
 increased to such a degree that, if the retreat 
 had continued three days longer, the army must 
 have been totally annihilated. The men were so 
 much exhausted by incessant fatigue and want of 
 food, added to the effects of a violent dysentery 
 which raged amongst them, that many who lay 
 down to rest themselves at a little distance from 
 the roadside had not sufficient strength to rejoin 
 the line of march, and fell into the hands of the 
 enemy. Soldiers of different corps were mixed 
 promiscuously together, and the Colours of one 
 
STAFF AND COMMISSARIAT 
 
 191 
 
 regiment—the Fiftieth, I think—entered Be- 
 tanzos without a single man to form to them. 
 Contrary to my expectations, the men of the 
 Highland Brigade lagged as much as those of 
 other regiments. 
 
 The Guards bore up against all these hardships 
 far better than the rest of the army. Their 
 ranks were always well closed, and the battalions 
 mustered strong; they lost comparatively few of 
 their number by straggling. The same may be 
 said of the Light Brigade and of all the regiments 
 which formed the Reserve. 
 
 The Engineers at length succeeded in blowing 
 up a bridge near Betanzos; but this success cost 
 more than it was worth, since an officer and two 
 or three men were killed by the explosion, and 
 a picquet of our regiment which came up soon 
 afterwards forded the stream without difficulty. 
 
 The ignorance displayed by the general staff 
 with respect to the resources of the country and 
 the state of the roads and rivers, etc., was quite 
 inexcusable, and was one of the chief causes of 
 the miseries suffered by the army during the 
 retreat. The incapacity of this branch of our 
 service and of our commissariat appeared more 
 manifestly from the different manner in which 
 
192 
 
 DIFFICULTY OF BILLETS 
 
 the duties of these departments are conducted in 
 the French army. 
 
 On approaching Betanzos we found several 
 regiments of infantry en bivouac ; the remainder 
 of the army occupied the town and filled almost 
 every house. We had therefore great difficulty in 
 getting quarters for our men and horses, and when 
 that object was accomplished, Baron During and 
 myself, after many unsuccessful trials, began to 
 despair of finding accommodation for ourselves, 
 when, happening to meet Captain Dalrymple, he 
 proposed to us to accompany him to a house 
 where he had been billeted when the regiment 
 halted in the place on the advance of the army. 
 As this house stood in the outskirts of the town, 
 there was some chance that it might still remain 
 unoccupied. We therefore hastened thither, and 
 only found a few non-commissioned officers 
 and privates of the 10th and 18th Hussars, 
 who were established in the lower apartments. 
 Having ascertained that there was good stabling 
 for our horses, we made our way upstairs to a 
 room where five or six ecclesiastics were sitting 
 round a table, covered with the fragments of a 
 very substantial repast; our appetites were too 
 keen to allow us to stand upon ceremony, and 
 
FORMER QUARTERS 193 
 
 we scarcely waited for an invitation to join the 
 party. 
 
 Our hosts displayed extreme uneasiness at the 
 rapid approach of the enemy, and soon took leave 
 of us to prepare for their departure to Ferrol. 
 The greater part of the furniture had been 
 already removed, so that in most of the apart¬ 
 ments nothing was to be seen except the bare 
 walls. I soon discovered that we were in the 
 very house where I had passed the evening at 
 a tertulla on November 23, the day on which 
 I left Corunna, with expectations and feelings 
 very different from those I now entertained. 
 
 Although I suffered severely from rheumatism 
 in the head, and was still very lame from my legs 
 having been frost-bitten, my spirits never flagged, 
 except when I was almost distracted by the 
 violence of the pain; nay, so unaccountable is 
 the economy of the human mind, that I may say 
 I never felt more free from care and anxiety than 
 during this retreat, when exposed to hardships 
 and privations of every sort, and sensible that 
 each hour was likely to produce some additional 
 evil. 
 
 Notwithstanding the need we had of repose 
 after the fatigues of the three preceding days, 
 
 25 
 
194 
 
 GENERAL AND BRIGADIER 
 
 we were so much disturbed by repeated false 
 alarms that I obtained very little rest, and was 
 glad when the sound of the bugles summoned us 
 to horse. 
 
 11th .—The troops assembled for the march 
 before daylight, and reached Corunna about two 
 o’clock p.m. Our poor Brigadier looked very 
 disconsolate, in consequence, as I understood, of 
 the harsh and unjustifiable manner in which he 
 had been treated by Lord Paget under the 
 following circumstances : on our arrival at 
 Betanzos, General Slade, on the plea of indis¬ 
 position, obtained leave from Sir John Moore 
 to proceed to Corunna, and having established 
 himself in comfortable quarters, took a dose of 
 calomel, and retired to bed. When Lord Paget 
 —who had quitted the army some days before 
 in consequence of an attack of ophthalmia—was 
 informed of the General’s arrival, he sent him 
 a peremptory order to return to his brigade 
 without a moment’s delay ; and forced him to 
 set out at night, in a soaking rain, regardless of 
 his pathetic remonstrances and intestinal com¬ 
 motions ! 
 
 The bridge over the Burgo, a small river about 
 two leagues from Betanzos, was blown up after 
 
SIGHT OF THE SEA 
 
 195 
 
 the army crossed it; by this obstacle the enemy’s 
 progress was delayed for several hours, which 
 afforded a very seasonable respite to our harassed 
 soldiers. In the early part of the day the French 
 chasseurs came so near the rear of our column, 
 that Sir David Baird’s travelling carriage and 
 baggage, which had fallen a little behind, were 
 taken by them. 
 
 New vigour appeared to be suddenly infused 
 into our ranks, and a lengthened shout of exul¬ 
 tation burst from the troops when, upon reach¬ 
 ing the summit of a hill about a league from 
 Corunna, we descried that element upon which 
 the British flag reigns unrivalled, and dis¬ 
 tinguished its colours on the vessels in the bay. 
 But our joy was soon damped, for on approach¬ 
 ing the harbour we found there only twenty or 
 thirty sail of transports ; and we had the mortifi¬ 
 cation of hearing from naval officers that there 
 was little probability of the fleet we expected 
 arriving for several days, as the voyage from 
 Vigo to Corunna often proves tedious. 
 
 The Fifteenth embarked five hundred and 
 sixty troop horses at Portsmouth, and up to this 
 period we had not lost above one hundred; but 
 as more than half the remainder were considered 
 
196 
 
 SPANISH DETERMINATION 
 
 unfit for service, chiefly from want of shoes, we 
 scarcely mustered two hundred mounted in the 
 field. Lieutenant-Colonel Grant, Major Leitch, 
 Captains Balrymple and Gordon, Lieutenants 
 Hancox, During, L. P. Jones, and Carpenter, 
 were the only officers who did duty throughout 
 the campaign, and marched into Corunna with 
 the Regiment. 
 
 The same spirit of patriotism and hatred 
 towards the invaders still predominated in the 
 breasts of the inhabitants, who were actively 
 employed in putting the fortifications into the 
 best state of defence that time and circumstances 
 would admit. They expressed a fixed deter¬ 
 mination to be buried under the ruins of their 
 ramparts rather than submit to the enemy. 
 
 12th .—The first division of the French army 
 showed itself in the morning on the right bank 
 of the Burgo, in consequence of which the 
 greatest part of the infantry was ordered out 
 of the town, and took up a position on some hills, 
 about two miles in advance, in order to cover 
 the place. The enemy’s force was hourly aug¬ 
 menting, and frequent skirmishes took place at 
 the outposts, but nothing of importance occurred. 
 In the meantime we were anxiously expecting 
 
AN EXPLOSION 
 
 197 
 
 the arrival of the fleet from Vigo, as our situation 
 became more critical every day, cooped up as we 
 were in a narrow nook of land, nearly surrounded 
 by the ocean, and pressed by a superior force, 
 which we could not attack except at a manifest 
 disadvantage. Provisions of all kinds were ex¬ 
 tremely scarce, and the small district from which 
 our supplies were drawn was completely ex¬ 
 hausted. Bread could hardly be obtained at 
 any price, and fuel began to fail, so that we had 
 the agreeable prospect of starving from the effects 
 both of cold and hunger. 
 
 1 3th .—The whole town was thrown into con¬ 
 siderable alarm about nine o’clock this morning 
 by a tremendous explosion, which shook the 
 buildings like an earthquake ; a number of 
 windows were broken by the concussion, and 
 the inhabitants of both sexes rushed into the 
 streets—many of them only half-dressed and 
 with terror in their countenances—and falling 
 on their knees, began to repeat their “ Aves ” 
 with an energy proportioned to their fright. 
 1 was at breakfast at the time this happened, 
 and the idea which first suggested itself to my 
 mind was that the enemy was bombarding the 
 town, and that a shell had fallen upon the house ; 
 
 26 
 
198 
 
 POWDER MAGAZINES 
 
 but as the crash was not repeated, I attributed it 
 to the real cause, and on reaching a point which 
 commanded a view of the country towards our 
 lines, an immense column of black smoke, which 
 marked the site of the explosion, was slowly 
 rolling away. As the sky was bright and the 
 air quite calm, the cloud it formed rose to an 
 immense height, and did not disperse for a con¬ 
 siderable time. 
 
 The account I heard of the cause of this ex¬ 
 plosion, which had thrown all Corunna into a 
 state of alarm, was that Sir John Moore had 
 ordered a magazine to be destroyed which stood 
 in advance of our position, as there was not time 
 to remove the powder it contained, amounting 
 to 1,500 barrels. It was said, however, that 
 there was another depot of nearly 5,000 barrels 
 in an adjoining building, but that this circum¬ 
 stance was concealed from our artillery, who were 
 charged with the execution of the order by the 
 Spanish officer who had charge of the magazine. 
 The consequence was that the fire communi¬ 
 cated to this immense quantity of powder, which 
 caused an explosion infinitely more violent in its 
 effects than had been calculated. Some of the 
 men who were employed on this occasion were 
 
THE TRANSPORTS ARRIVE 
 
 199 
 
 blown up. The inhabitants of the village in 
 which the magazines were situated had been 
 sufficiently warned of their danger, and desired 
 to remove ; but they paid little attention to the 
 cautions they received, and it is probable many 
 of them perished owing to their obstinacy, as the 
 place was reduced to a heap of ruins. 
 
 14 th .—The enemy, having repaired the bridge, 
 crossed the Burgo, and took up a strong position 
 on a range of hills which commanded the heights 
 occupied by our army. The fleet which had 
 been so anxiously expected entered the harbour 
 in the afternoon, and the embarkation of the 
 sick commenced immediately ; part of the guns 
 and horses were also got on board before night. 
 A pretty sharp affair of posts took place, in 
 which the French suffered severely. 
 
 1 5th .—The remainder of the artillery and 
 cavalry were embarked. The horse artillery 
 and waggon-train shipped all their horses which 
 were worth bringing away. The officers of the 
 cavalry were allowed to take all their horses, but 
 the number of troop-horses was limited. The 
 Seventh and Tenth embarked ninety, the Fif¬ 
 teenth thirty, the Eighteenth and Third Germans 
 not one. Many hundred fine animals were shot 
 
200 
 
 SLAUGHTER OF HORSES 
 
 to prevent the French from benefiting by their 
 services; and in executing the order for the 
 destruction of these irrational companions of 
 their toils, the hearts of the soldiers were more 
 affected with feelings of pity and grief than by 
 all the calamities and misery they had witnessed 
 during the retreat. On this occasion the town 
 exhibited the appearance of a vast slaughter¬ 
 house. Wounded horses, mad with pain, were to 
 be seen running through the streets, and the 
 ground was covered with mangled carcasses of 
 these noble animals ; for, in consequence of their 
 uncertain aim with the pistol, the men were 
 latterly directed to cut the throats of the horses 
 instead of attempting to shoot them. 
 
 In the evening an unsuccessful attack was 
 directed against the French advanced posts, in 
 which Colonel Mackenzie, of the 5th Regiment, 
 was killed, and his loss, I believe, was greatly 
 lamented. 
 
 1 6th .—My regiment embarked on the 15th, 
 and peremptory orders were issued directing all 
 officers to repair on board the transports to join 
 their respective troops. I wished to remain on 
 shore until the embarkation of the infantry was 
 effected, as I was anxious to be on the spot in 
 
THE ACTION BEGINS 
 
 201 
 
 case there should be an engagement, although 
 there seemed little probability of such an event; 
 but I was obliged reluctantly to bid adieu to 
 Corunna early in the afternoon, and to proceed 
 to my floating dungeon, where I was speedily 
 driven below by violent attacks of sea-sickness. 
 
 Our expectations of being allowed to leave the 
 country without fighting proved fallacious ; for 
 the enemy, having received considerable rein¬ 
 forcements, advanced in four columns, and 
 Marshal Soult commenced the action about 
 three o’clock p.m. by an attempt to gain the 
 village of Elvina, on which the right of our army 
 rested. Being completely baffled in that quarter 
 by Lord William Bentinck’s brigade, the Guards, 
 and the Reserve, he next attacked the centre, 
 where he was also repulsed ; and after making 
 a desperate effort against the left, with no better 
 success, he retreated, leaving the British in pos¬ 
 session of the field of battle. The darkness of 
 the night secured the French from pursuit, but 
 their loss was very severe ; and considering their 
 superiority in number and the disadvantages of 
 our position, the action reflected the highest 
 credit on the troops which were engaged. Sir 
 David Baird was wounded at an early period 
 
*02 
 
 MOORE’S MORTAL WOUND 
 
 of the engagement. Shortly afterwards Sir John 
 Moore received a mortal wound ; but Sir John 
 Hope, who succeeded to the command, was fully 
 equal to the arduous post, and not only brought 
 the action to a glorious termination, but con¬ 
 ducted the subsequent embarkation of the army 
 with such ability, that no operation of the same 
 kind was ever performed in the presence of a 
 superior enemy with more complete success. 
 To this, however, the exertions of the navy con¬ 
 tributed most essentially. 
 
 About ten o’clock the troops began their 
 march to the beach, leaving strong picquets to 
 observe the enemy; and in the course of the 
 night the whole of the wounded who were in 
 a state to be removed were got on board the 
 fleet. All the ships’ boats were employed upon 
 this service, and the master of our vessel, on 
 his return, brought us the first account of the 
 engagement. During the night the greatest part 
 of the army was embarked, and before morning 
 on the 18th the rear-guard stepped into the 
 boats without having experienced the slightest 
 molestation from the enemy. 
 
 17 th .—The French did not show themselves 
 until the morning was pretty well advanced, 
 
CONDUCT OF THE SHIP-MASTERS 203 
 
 when, finding that all our posts were called in, 
 they pushed forward some troops and artillery 
 to the heights above St. Lucia, and opened a 
 cannonade upon the shipping in the harbour, 
 which caused great confusion amongst the trans¬ 
 ports. Many were obliged to cut their cables, 
 some suffered damage by running foul of each 
 other, and five or six were abandoned by their 
 crews and drifted on shore. The whole of this 
 disorder was occasioned by the bad conduct of 
 the masters of the vessels, who paid no attention 
 to the signals to “ weigh anchor and stand into 
 the bay,” which had been made repeatedly since 
 break of day. Baron During, who had been left 
 with a small cavalry picquet on the extreme right 
 of the position our army had occupied, did not 
 quit his post until after daylight, and had the 
 bad luck to get on board one of the ships within 
 range of shot from the French battery. The 
 master and part of his crew took to their boat 
 as soon as the firing commenced, leaving the 
 soldiers to get out of the scrape as well as they 
 could by their own exertions. It was at length 
 resolved to cut the cable, when the vessel drifted 
 on the rocks under the castle of St. Antonio, 
 where the Baron and his party remained until 
 
204 
 
 STATE OF THE TRANSPORTS 
 
 relieved from their perilous situation by the long¬ 
 boat of a man-of-war, which placed them in safety 
 on another transport. 
 
 Owing to the circumstances under which the 
 embarkation took place, the troops were neces¬ 
 sarily much intermixed and unequally distributed 
 amongst the shipping. It was intended to have 
 rectified these irregularities in the offing; but it 
 came on to blow a hard gale, and any alteration 
 of the arrangements was rendered impracticable. 
 It thus happened that some of the transports 
 came home empty, whilst others carried more 
 than double the number of men for which they 
 were intended; those on board were, in conse¬ 
 quence, very uncomfortably situated, particularly 
 the sick and wounded, many of whom suffered 
 materially from the crowded state of the ships. 
 Had the voyage been protracted by any unfavour¬ 
 able occurrence, the troops would have been 
 reduced to a short allowance of provisions, in 
 addition to the other hardships they had to 
 encounter. The fleet was so scantily provided 
 with sea-stores, that the vessel in which I came 
 home had not above a week’s supply remaining 
 when we arrived at Portsmouth, although she had 
 but a few more than her complement on board. 
 
ARRIVAL HOME 
 
 205 
 
 Captain Murray and myself, with about forty 
 of our hussars, were in the Martha, a small brig 
 betwixt seventy and eighty tons burthen. The 
 fleet was ordered to lay to at the mouth of the 
 harbour, but as the gale increased we made sail 
 from the convoy in the night, and anchored in 
 Stokes Bay about three o’clock p.m. on the 24th, 
 after a favourable passage, during which nothing 
 worthy of notice occurred. Only two or three 
 hospital ships had come into port before us; we 
 had, therefore, no superior officer to control us, 
 and as neither Murray nor myself had been able 
 to sit up since we left Corunna, we lost no time 
 in getting on shore, and felt extraordinary delight 
 at finding ourselves once more on British ground. 
 
 On the 25th a great number of transports 
 came into the bay. On the 26th there was a 
 violent storm; many of the ships parted their 
 cables, and were stranded on the beach. The 
 swell was so great that a 74-gun ship broke 
 from the mooring-chains in the harbour, and 
 drifted nearly up to the dockyard. The gale 
 continued some days ; several of the fleet were 
 wrecked, and others incurred imminent danger. 
 One of our transports was carried through the 
 Race of Portland, and narrowly escaped ship- 
 
206 
 
 SHIPWRECKS 
 
 wreck. The vessel with the staff of the regi¬ 
 ment on board, would have been driven ashore 
 on the Isle of Wight but for the vigilance of 
 Paymaster Henslow, who pointed out the light 
 at the Needles, which the master had mistaken 
 for a star; nor could he be fully persuaded of 
 his error until the ship was close upon the rocks 
 and in great danger. The ignorance of the ship¬ 
 masters in general was so gross that it is sur¬ 
 prising so few of the vessels were lost, especially 
 when it is considered that they were ill-manned, 
 their sails and rigging in the worst state, and 
 many of them scarcely seaworthy. A transport 
 with a detachment of the 7th Hussars on board 
 struck on the Ram-head, near Plymouth; very 
 few of the crew were saved, and Major Caven¬ 
 dish, Captain Dukenfield, and Lieutenant 
 Waldegrave were unfortunately drowned. It 
 was at first intended that the fleet should pro¬ 
 ceed to the Downs before the troops were 
 landed ; but in consequence of the sickly state 
 of the men and the boisterous weather, that plan 
 was abandoned, and they were ordered to dis¬ 
 embark at the first port the vessels put in to. 
 A route was received for the Fifteenth to proceed 
 to Romford, and the men of the regiment who 
 
STATE OF THE FIFTEENTH 
 
 207 
 
 were on board the ships already arrived at Ports¬ 
 mouth were landed on the 31st. 
 
 On February 1 we commenced the march to 
 reoccupy our old quarters, but in a very different 
 state from that we appeared in when we traversed 
 the same road three months before. Then , well 
 mounted, completely equipped, and filled with 
 anticipations of future glory, we moved in all 
 the “pride, pomp, and circumstance of war.” 
 Now — quantum mutati ab illis — reduced in 
 numbers, weakened by sickness, baffled in our 
 hopes of fame, ragged, and on foot, we bore no 
 resemblance to our former state. Yet the 
 Fifteenth probably suffered as little as, or less 
 than, any corps employed in this ill-fated ex¬ 
 pedition, and, but for the destruction of our 
 horses, might have been again fit for service in 
 a very short period. In fact, it was proposed 
 to dismount the 11th, 12th, and 13th Light 
 Dragoons, in order that their horses might be 
 given to the Hussar brigade, which was then to 
 have been sent out to join the troops in Portugal; 
 but the idea was dropped in consequence of the 
 discontent to which it was likely to give rise. 
 
 The loss of the army during the retreat ap¬ 
 pears, from the returns made to the Adjutant- 
 
208 
 
 ACTUAL LOSSES IN THE FORCE 
 
 General’s office on our arrival at Corunna, to 
 have exceeded 5,000 men; and General Crau- 
 furd's Division, which sailed from Vigo, is said 
 to have lost above 500 betwixt Ponteferrado and 
 their place of embarkation. Our loss on the 16th 
 is stated at 800 in Sir John Hope’s official letter ; 
 but I imagine it is understated, and that, in¬ 
 cluding those left at Corunna, our actual loss in 
 killed and wounded exceeded 1,000 men. The 
 public will probably never be accurately in¬ 
 formed of the number lost by shipwreck and 
 disease; but I was informed by Dr. Plender- 
 leath, a physician to the forces, that at one 
 period of his attendance at Haslar Hospital the 
 average number of deaths was fifteen daily. The 
 loss of baggage, arms, ammunition, specie, and 
 stores of every description was immense, and 
 above 5,000 horses and mules were destroyed 
 or died of fatigue. 
 
 I have frequently heard it asserted by the 
 advocates of Sir John Moore that the plan 
 traced out for him was so ill-conceived, and 
 the points of debarkation and of action so in¬ 
 judiciously selected, that success was altogether 
 unattainable, especially after the defeat and dis- 
 
MOORE’S LEADERSHIP 
 
 209 
 
 persion of all the patriot forces. But even if this 
 be admitted, I am fully persuaded that the dis¬ 
 tresses the army encountered are chiefly to be 
 attributed to the misconduct of its leader. It 
 may appear invidious to reflect upon the character 
 of an amiable and gallant officer, whose death in 
 the moment of victory has cast a veil of glory 
 over the errors of his judgment; but it is only 
 an act of justice towards the brave men he 
 commanded to point out the causes of the mis¬ 
 behaviour which, unhappily, tarnished their 
 fame. The facts that fell under my own ob¬ 
 servation are amply sufficient to convict the 
 general staff of incapacity or most culpable 
 neglect of their duties; and owing to the 
 ignorance and inactivity of the commissariat 
 department the troops were frequently in want 
 of food, even when supplies might have been 
 procured without difficulty. 
 
 So fine and well appointed an army as that 
 under the command of Sir John Moore was 
 probably never sent into the field either by this 
 or any other nation ; but in the short space of 
 four weeks—from the day on which the several 
 corps were united—this force, which both for its 
 appearance and behaviour had been the admira- 
 
 27 
 
&L0 SEVERE STRICTURES 
 
 tion of all who saw it, after a race of 260 miles, 
 without having been engaged and almost without 
 having seen an enemy, embarked with the loss of 
 the greater part of its baggage and stores, nearly 
 a fourth of its numbers, and the remainder en¬ 
 feebled by famine and disease. Yet this army, 
 at the point of embarkation, in a disadvantageous 
 position, and almost without artillery, defeated 
 the very enemy from whom it had so disgrace¬ 
 fully retreated. Such a complete disorganiza¬ 
 tion of a well-disciplined army in so short a 
 space of time, such a lamentable change in the 
 character of the soldiers, can only be ascribed 
 to the ill-judged precipitancy of the retreat, 
 and the undecided measures of the commander, 
 by which he forfeited the confidence of his 
 troops. 
 
 If the campaign was but of short duration, 
 the service during the time it lasted was uncom¬ 
 monly severe. The French dragoons who fell 
 into our hands declared that they scarcely 
 suffered more from cold amidst the snows of 
 Poland in 1806-07. Notwithstanding, our troops 
 evinced the greatest gallantry whenever they 
 were allowed an opportunity; and although the 
 Battle of Corunna was gained under circum- 
 
“MONITEUR” AND “LONDON GAZETTE” 211 
 
 stances which eminently proved the superiority 
 of the British soldier, still, I fear the result of 
 this expedition will not increase our military 
 reputation on the Continent. The French have 
 such facilities for circulating their own account 
 of the events in Spain, and their ruler is so little 
 scrupulous of misrepresenting facts to serve his 
 own purposes, that we may expect foreigners will 
 receive impressions on the subject very different 
 from the truth. And, unfortunately, the state 
 of the army not only precluded all thought of 
 improving our success, but afforded some ground 
 for the remark in the Moniteur on the London 
 Gazette account of the action, that “ This victory 
 had all the consequences of the most signal 
 defeat.” 
 
 The attempt on the part of our Government 
 to assist the Spaniards in their efforts to drive 
 the Gallic invader from their soil has occasioned 
 the loss of immense treasure and thousands of 
 valuable lives, without obtaining the slightest 
 advantage for this country in return, or bene¬ 
 fiting the cause we intended to serve. We 
 have also the mortification of feeling that the 
 rapidity of our retreat and subsequent embarka¬ 
 tion, added to the excesses committed by our 
 
212 
 
 OUR ALLIES 
 
 troops on many occasions, have drawn upon us 
 the suspicion and dislike of the very people in 
 whose behalf we have sacrificed so much, and 
 whose gratitude at least we were entitled to 
 expect. 
 
APPENDICES 
 
 A. Translation of an Intercepted Letter from Berthier to 
 
 Soult, dated Chamartin, December 10, 1808. 
 
 B. General Orders, dated Sahagun, December 22, 1808. 
 
 C. General Orders, dated Sahagun, December 23, 1808. 
 
 D. General Orders, dated Benevente, December 27, 1808. 
 
 E. General Orders, dated Astorga, December 30, 1808. 
 
 F. General Orders, dated Lugo, January 6, 1809. 
 
 G. General Orders, dated Lugo, January 7, 1809. 
 
 H. General Orders, dated Lugo, January 8, 1809. 
 
 I. General Orders, dated Betanzos, January 10, 1809. 
 
 J. General Orders, dated Corunna, January 16’, 1809. 
 
 K. Letter from Sir John Moore to Lord Castlereagh, dated 
 
 Corunna, January 13, 1809. 
 
 L. Route of the British Cavalry, under the Command of 
 
 Lord Paget, during the Campaign in Spain, 1808-09. 
 
 M. List of the Officers of the 15th (or King’s) Hussars who 
 
 served in the Campaign of 1808-09. 
 

 
 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 Intercepted Letter from the Vice-Constable, Major- 
 
 General, to the Marshal Duke of Dalmatia, 
 
 COMMANDING THE SECOND CORPS OF THE ARMY AT 
 
 Saldana. 
 
 ( Translation.) 
 
 Chamartin, 
 December 10, 1808. 
 
 Marshal Duke of Dalmatia, 
 
 I read to the Emperor your letter of the 4th December, 
 which was brought by one of your officers. His Majesty 
 approves of all you have done. The 8th Regiment of 
 Dragoons, the 22nd Chasseurs, the Regiment of Colonel 
 Tascher, and the Hanoverian Regiment, form two brigades, 
 commanded by the Generals Debelle and Franceschi. 
 These two brigades are under your orders, and you can 
 manoeuvre them as you think proper. The Emperor is of 
 opinion that with the Division of Merle and the Division 
 of Mouton, together with the four regiments of cavalry, 
 nothing can resist you. 
 
 What have you to do? Take possession of Leon, 
 drive back the enemy into Galicia, make yourself master 
 of Benevente and Zamora. 
 
 You can have no English in your front, for some of 
 215 
 
216 
 
 APPENDIX A 
 
 their regiments came to the Escurial and Salamanca, and 
 everything evinces they are in full retreat. 
 
 Our advanced guard is this day at Talavera de la Reyna, 
 upon the road to Badajos, which it will reach soon. You 
 clearly perceive that this movement must compel the 
 English to hasten immediately to Lisbon, if they are not 
 gone there already. The moment, Marshal, you are sure 
 that the English have retreated, of which there is every 
 presumption, move forward with rapidity. There are no 
 Spaniards who can resist your two divisions. Order shoes 
 and greatcoats to be made at Leon, St. Andero, and 
 Palencia. His Majesty grants every demand for improv¬ 
 ing your equipment. You may also require mules for 
 your artillery, and horses to remount your cavalry; but 
 let it be all done according to the regular forms of ad¬ 
 ministration. 
 
 It is possible that, as soon as the dragoons of General 
 Millar shall arrive in Spain, the Emperor will send them 
 to you; but this cannot happen these fifteen days. At 
 the distance you are, Marshal Duke, you must direct 
 yourself, and look upon all I write as only general in¬ 
 structions. His Majesty imagines that you will take 
 every measure to reduce the country between the Duero, 
 Galicia, and the Asturias, always preserving most atten¬ 
 tively St. Andero. 
 
 The 5th Corps, commanded by the Marshal Duke of 
 Treviso, has received an order to direct its march to 
 Saragossa. The 8th Corps, under the Duke of Abrantes, 
 whose 1st Division arrived at Vittoria on the 12th, will 
 probably receive orders to unite at Burgos. Gunboats 
 and armed vessels of every kind have orders to sail to 
 St. Andero. Load them with confiscated English mer- 
 
APPENDIX A 
 
 217 
 
 chandise — cotton, wool, artillery (sic) — and send all to 
 France. 
 
 In short, hold Valladolid and Zamora in subjection. 
 Valladolid is a good town, which has behaved well. It is 
 thought to be very important to occupy Zamora. To 
 conclude, the Emperor thinks that you can do what you 
 please as soon as the English retire to Lisbon. 
 
 Five divisions of Castanos’ best troops have been routed 
 with even less difficulty than you found in beating the 
 Andalusian* army at Burgos. 
 
 The wreck of Castahos’ army is pursued by Marshal 
 Bessieres, who has cut them off from the road to Estre- 
 madura, and is pursuing them towards Valentia, several 
 marches beyond the Tagus. The Emperor’s headquarters 
 are at Chamartin, a little country seat a league and a 
 half from Madrid. His Majesty enjoys an excellent state 
 of health. 
 
 The city of Madrid is quite tranquil; the shops are 
 all open, the public amusements are resumed, and there is 
 not the least appearance of the first proposals having been 
 strengthened by 4,000 cannon-balls. 
 
 The Prince of Neufchatel, M.G. 
 
 I will send you to-morrow a Proclamation and some 
 Decrees of the Emperor, in which you will recognize the 
 style of him who was born to command the world. 
 
 * Note by the writer of the Journal: “ Mistaken for the 
 Estremaduran army.” 
 
218 
 
 APPENDIX B 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 General Orders. 
 
 Headquarters, 
 
 Sahagun, 
 
 December 22, 1808. 
 
 The different attacks made by the cavalry upon those 
 of the enemy during the march have given them the 
 opportunity to display their address and spirit, and to 
 assume a superiority which does them credit, and which 
 the Commander of the Forces trusts will be supported 
 upon more important occasions. 
 
 The attacks conducted by Brigadier * General the 
 Honourable Charles Stewart and the 18th Light Dragoons, 
 when upon the Duero; and that by Lieutenant-General 
 Lord Paget, upon the enemy’s cavalry at this place, are 
 honourable to the British cavalry. 
 
 The Commander of the Forces begs that the Lieutenant- 
 General and Brigadier-General will accept his thanks for 
 these services; and that they will convey them to Brigadier- 
 General Slade, and the officers, non-commissioned officers, 
 and men of the cavalry, under their command, for their 
 conduct in the different affairs which have taken place. 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 General Orders. 
 
 Headquarters, 
 
 Sahagun, 
 
 December 23, 1808. 
 
 The army will march in two columns by the right this 
 evening, and is to be formed in close column of sections 
 
APPENDIX C 
 
 219 
 
 of five or six files; the cavalry by twos, clear of the can¬ 
 tonments, upon the road which will be pointed out by the 
 Assistant-Quartermaster-Generals of Divisions, at eight 
 o’clock, in the following order : 
 
 Right Column. 
 
 One Squadron of 3rd Light Dragoons, K.G.L.' 
 
 Second Flank Brigade 
 Half-Troop of Horse Artillery 
 3rd Light Dragoons, K.G.L. 
 
 Half-Troop of Horse Artillery 
 
 Lieutenant-General the Honoux-able John Hope’s Division, 
 with its Brigade of Artillery. 
 
 Left Column. 
 
 One Squadron of 7th Light Dragoons 
 First Flank Brigade 
 Half-Troop of Horse Artillery 
 7th Light Dragoons 
 Half-Troop of Horse Artillery 
 
 Reserve, with its Brigade of Artillery. 
 
 Brigadier-General Slade’s Brigade. 
 
 Lieutenant-General Sir David Baird’s Division, with its 
 Brigade of Artillery. 
 
 The spare ammunition waggons will follow their 
 columns in the order of their respective brigades. The 
 carts with regimental medical stores; the mules with 
 camp-kettles (such only as are required for carrying pro¬ 
 visions for officers) in the order of their respective 
 regiments. The entrenching tools attached to divisions 
 will march with the brigades of artillery. The staff 
 surgeons attached to divisions, with their equipment, will 
 
 I Advance 
 Guard. 
 
 Advance 
 
 Guard. 
 
220 
 
 APPENDIX C 
 
 march in the rear of their divisions. The mules with 
 regimental entrenching tools and surgeons 1 field-chests 
 only are to march with the regiments. The rear-guard 
 of each column will consist of a battalion and a squadron 
 of cavalry. The army is to receive provisions for to¬ 
 morrow, to be cooked this afternoon. 
 
 Those regiments which have been supplied with skins 
 for carrying their wine will receive one day’s allowance, 
 and the Commissary is, if possible, to carry a day’s allow¬ 
 ance for the remainder. 
 
 The sick will be left in the cantonments of Sahagun, 
 Grahal, and Villada, and be sent to-morrow morning to 
 Sahagun, when the Inspector of Hospitals will make 
 provision for their reception and will direct what medical 
 aid will be left. A return of the sick of each division 
 is to be sent to the Inspector of Hospitals as soon as 
 possible. The baggage is also to be left in the present 
 cantonments under a small guai’d, and be in readiness to 
 follow to-morrow, on the order being sent. Lieutenant- 
 Generals will be pleased to desire general officers com¬ 
 manding brigades, and officers commanding regiments, 
 to direct the necessary precautions to be taken for pre¬ 
 venting any confusion, or the possibility of any separation 
 of the columns during the night march. 
 
 Major-General Manningham will direct one battalion 
 of his brigade to remain at Sahagun, until further orders. 
 
 The extra reserve ammunition, over and above the ten 
 rounds per man, in the possession of those regiments 
 which joined the army with Lieutenant-General Sir David 
 Baird, is to be delivered to the brigade of artillery, at 
 two o’clock this day, in the Square of Sahagun. The 
 mules which are allowed to march in the rear of the 
 
APPENDIX D 
 
 221 
 
 columns are solely for the purpose of carrying provisions 
 for officers; and the Commander of the Forces desires that 
 as few as possible may be so employed. 
 
 APPENDIX D. 
 
 General Orders. 
 
 Headquarters, 
 
 Benevente, 
 
 December 27, 1808. 
 
 The Commander of the Forces has observed with concern 
 the extreme bad conduct of the troops of late—at a 
 moment when they are about to come in contact with the 
 enemy, and when the greatest regularity and the best 
 conduct are the most requisite. He is the more con¬ 
 cerned at it, as till lately the behaviour of that part of 
 the army, at least, which was under his own immediate 
 command was so exemplary and did themselves so much 
 honour. 
 
 The misbehaviour of the troops in the column which 
 marched by Valderas to this place exceeds what he could 
 have believed of British soldiers. It is disgraceful to the 
 officers, as it strongly marks their negligence and in¬ 
 attention. 
 
 The Commander of the Forces refers to the General 
 Orders of the 15th October and of the 11th November. 
 He desires that they may be again read at the head of 
 every company of the army: he can add nothing but his 
 determination to execute them to the fullest extent. He 
 can feel no mercy towards officers who neglect, in times 
 
222 
 
 APPENDIX D 
 
 like these, essential duties, or towards soldiers who dis¬ 
 grace their nation, by acts of villainy towards the country 
 they are sent to protect. The Spanish forces have been 
 overpowered; and until such time as they are reassembled, 
 and ready again to come forward, the situation of this 
 army must be arduous, and such as to call for the exer¬ 
 tion of qualities the most rare and valuable in a military 
 body. These are not bravery alone, but patience and 
 constancy under fatigue and hardship, obedience to com¬ 
 mand, sober and orderly conduct, firmness and resolution 
 in every different situation in which they may be placed. 
 It is by the display of such qualities alone that the army 
 can expect to deserve the name of soldiers; that they can 
 be able to withstand the forces opposed to them, or to 
 fulfil the expectations of their country. 
 
 It is impossible for the General to explain to his army 
 the motives for the movements he directs. The Com¬ 
 mander of the Forces can, however, assure the army that 
 he has made none since he left Salamanca which he did 
 not foresee, and was not prepared for; and, as far as he is 
 a judge, they have answered the purposes for which they 
 were intended. 
 
 When it is proper to fight a battle he will do it, and 
 he will choose the time and place he thinks most fit: in 
 the meantime he begs the officers and soldiers of the 
 army to attend diligently to discharge tlieir parts, and to 
 leave to him and to the general officers the decision of 
 measures which belong to them alone. The army may 
 rest assured that he has nothing more at heart than their 
 honour and that of his country. 
 
APPENDIX E 
 
 223 
 
 APPENDIX E. 
 
 General Orders. 
 
 Headquarters, 
 
 Astorga, 
 
 December 30, 1808. 
 
 The present is a moment when the army is necessarily 
 called upon to make great efforts and to submit to priva¬ 
 tions, the bearing cheerfully with which is a quality not 
 less estimable than valour. 
 
 The good-will of the inhabitants will be particularly 
 useful to the army, and can only be obtained by good 
 conduct on the part of the troops. 
 
 The Commander of theForces cannot impress too strongly 
 on the whole army the necessity of this; and he trusts 
 that the Generals and commanding officers will adopt 
 such measures both on the march and in the cantonments 
 as will insure it. 
 
 It is very probable that the army will shortly have to 
 meet the enemy; and the Commander of the Forces has 
 no doubt that they will eagerly imitate the worthy ex¬ 
 ample which has been set them by the cavalry on several 
 recent occasions, and particularly in the affair of yester¬ 
 day, in which Brigadier-General Stewart, with an inferior 
 force, chaiged and overthrew one of the best corps of 
 cavalry in the French army. 
 
 The Generals will immediately inspect the baggage of 
 the brigades and divisions. They are held responsible that 
 it does not exceed the proportion fixed by the General 
 Orders. In the future marches, the baggage and women 
 belonging to each division are to precede the troops two 
 
224 
 
 APPENDIX F 
 
 hours; and Generals and commanding officers are held 
 responsible that no articles of baggage whatever, except 
 the surgeons 1 field-chests and entrenching tools, march 
 with the troops. If any cart or mule carrying baggage 
 shall be unable to keep pace with the column, the soldier 
 in charge of it is to join his battalion immediately. 
 
 General officers commanding divisions will specify the 
 strength of the baggage-guard, which is to be as limited 
 as possible. The officer commanding the baggage-guard 
 of the division will appoint a rear-guard, the officer of 
 which is responsible that no soldier remains behind with 
 baggage. 
 
 Commanding officers will direct that officers are quar¬ 
 tered in the same houses with the soldiers. 
 
 APPENDIX F. 
 
 General Orders. 
 
 Headquarters, 
 
 Lugo, 
 
 January 6, 1809. 
 
 Generals and commanding officers of corps must be as 
 sensible as the Commander of the Forces of the com¬ 
 plete disorganization of the army. 
 
 The advanced guard of the French is already close to 
 us, and it is to be presumed that the main body is not far 
 distant: an action may therefore be hourly expected. 
 If the Generals and commanding officers of regiments 
 (feeling for the honour of their country and of the British 
 arms) wish to give the army a fair chance of success, they 
 will exert themselves to restore order and discipline in the 
 regiments, brigades, and divisions, which they command. 
 
APPENDIX G 
 
 225 
 
 The Commander of the Forces is tired of giving orders 
 which are never attended to : he therefore appeals to the 
 honour and feelings of the army he commands ; and if those 
 are not sufficient to induce them to do their duty, he must 
 despair of succeeding by any other means. 
 
 He was forced to order one soldier to be shot at Villa- 
 franca, and he will order all others to be executed who 
 are guilty of similar enormities: but he considers that 
 there would be no occasion to proceed to such extremities 
 if the officers did their duty; as it is chiefly from their 
 negligence, and from the want of proper regulations in the 
 regiments, that crimes and irregularities are committed 
 in quarters and upon the march. 
 
 Commanding officers will make a minute investigation 
 of the state of their arms, accoutrements, and ammunition, 
 and give directions for their being put into the best pos¬ 
 sible state for service which circumstances will allow. 
 
 Regiments are directed to send a sergeant to the main- 
 guard, to receive stragglers who have been confined this day. 
 
 A return of the spare ammunition in possession of each 
 battalion, over and above sixty rounds per man, to be 
 immediately sent to the Adjutant-General’s office, in the 
 Cathedral Square. 
 
 APPENDIX G. 
 
 General Orders. 
 
 Near Lugo, 
 
 January 7, 1809. 
 
 The army must see that the moment is now come when, 
 after the hardships and fatiguing marches they have 
 
 29 
 
226 
 
 APPENDIX H 
 
 undergone, they will have the opportunity of bringing 
 the enemy to action. The Commander of the Forces has 
 the most perfect confidence in their valour, and that it is 
 only necessary to bring them to close contact with the 
 enemy in order to defeat them ; and a defeat, if it be 
 complete, as he trusts it will be, will in a great measure 
 end their labours. 
 
 The General has no other caution to give them, than 
 not to throw away their fire at the enemy’s skirmishers 
 merely because they fire at them, but to reserve it till 
 they can give it with effect. 
 
 APPENDIX H. 
 
 General Orders. 
 
 Headquarters, 
 
 Lugo, 
 
 January 8, 1809. 
 
 It is evident that the enemy will not fight this army, 
 notwithstanding the superiority of his numbers, but will 
 endeavour to harass and tease it upon its march. 
 
 The Commander of the Forces requests that it may be 
 carefully explained to the soldiers that their safety de¬ 
 pends solely upon their keeping their divisions and 
 marching with their regiments; that those who stop in 
 villages or straggle on the march will inevitably be cut off 
 by the French cavalry, who have hitherto shown little 
 mercy even to the feeble and infirm who have fallen into 
 their hands. 
 
APPENDIX I 
 
 m 
 
 The army has still eleven leagues to march : the soldiers 
 must make an exertion to accomplish them; the rear¬ 
 guard cannot stop, and those who fall behind must take 
 their fate. 
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 General Orders. 
 
 Headquarters, 
 
 Betanzos, 
 
 January 10, 180*1. 
 
 A great deal of irregularity has arisen from the 
 practice of some commanding officers allowing soldiers, 
 who pretend to be bad marchers, to precede their corps. 
 Men of this description whom commanding officers may 
 think it expedient to send forward must be placed under 
 an officer, who is held responsible for their conduct. 
 
 Memorandum for General Officers. 
 
 To prevent the renewal of the same scene which the 
 march of last night presented, the Commander of the 
 Forces directs that, previously to the march to-morrow 
 morning, the general officers will see their divisions and 
 brigades properly formed; that they wheel them by 
 sections, and that during the march they pay constant 
 attention to the preservation of that order. 
 
m 
 
 APPENDIX J 
 
 APPENDIX J. 
 
 General Orders. 
 
 Headquarters, 
 
 Corunna, 
 
 January 16 , 1809. 
 
 The Commander of the Forces directs that commanding 
 officers of regiments will, as soon as possible after they 
 embark, make themselves acquainted with the names of the 
 ships in which the men of their regiments are embarked, 
 both sick and convalescent; that they will state the 
 number of sick present, also those left at different places ; 
 and mention at the back of the return where the men 
 returned on command are employed. 
 
 APPENDIX K. 
 
 Letter from Sir John Moore to Lord Castlereagh. 
 
 Corunna, 
 
 January 13, 1809. 
 
 My Lord, 
 
 Situated as this army is at present, it is impossible 
 for me to detail to your Lordship the events which have 
 taken place since I had the honour to address you from 
 Astorga on the 31st December. I have therefore deter¬ 
 mined to send to England Brigadier - General Charles 
 Stewai't, as the officer best qualified to give you every 
 information you can want, both with respect to our actual 
 situation and the events which have led to it. From his 
 connection with your Lordship and with His Majesty’s 
 
APPENDIX K 
 
 229 
 
 Ministers, whatever he relates is most likely to he believed. 
 He is a man in whose honour I have the most perfect 
 reliance; he is incapable of stating anything but the 
 truth, and it is the truth which at all times I wish to 
 convey to your Lordship and to the King’s Government. 
 
 Your Lordship knows that, had I followed my own 
 opinion as a military man, I should have retired with the 
 army from Salamanca. The Spanish armies were then 
 beaten; there was no Spanish force to which we could 
 unite, and, from the character of the Government and the 
 disposition of the inhabitants, I was satisfied that no 
 efforts would be made to aid us or favour the cause in 
 which they were engaged. I was sensible, however, that 
 the apathy and indifference of the Spaniards would never 
 have been believed; that had the British been withdrawn 
 the loss of the cause would have been imputed to their 
 retreat; and it was necessary to risk this army to 
 convince the people of England, as well as the rest of 
 Europe, that the Spaniards had neither the power nor 
 the inclination to make any effort for themselves. 
 
 It was for this reason that I made the march to 
 Sahagun. As a diversion it succeeded. I brought the 
 whole of the disposable force of the French against this 
 army, and it has been allowed to follow it without a 
 single movement being made, by any of what the Spaniards 
 call armies, to favour my retreat. 
 
 The Marquis de la Romana was of no other use to me 
 but to embarrass me by filling the roads by which I 
 marched, with his cannon, his baggage, and his fugitives. 
 The people of the Galicias, though armed, made no 
 attempt to stop the passage of the French through 
 their mountains. They abandoned their dwellings at 
 
 30 
 
230 
 
 APPENDIX K 
 
 our approach, and drove away their carts, oxen, and 
 everything that could be of the smallest aid to the 
 army. The consequence has been that our sick have 
 been left behind, and when our horses and mules failed 
 —which on such marches, and through such a country, 
 was the case to a great extent—baggage, ammunition, 
 stores, and even money, were necessarily destroyed or 
 abandoned. 
 
 I am sorry to say that the army, whose conduct I had 
 such reason to extol on its march through Portugal and 
 on its arrival in Spain, has totally changed its character 
 since it began to retreat. I could not have believed, had 
 I not witnessed it, that a British army could in so short a 
 time have been so completely disorganized. Its conduct 
 during the late marches has been infamous beyond belief. 
 I can say nothing in its favour but that, when there was a 
 prospect of fighting the enemy, the men were then orderly, 
 and seemed pleased and determined to do their duty. In 
 front of Villafranca the French came up with the Reserve, 
 with which I was covering the retreat of the army. 
 They attacked it at Cacabelos. I retired covered by the 
 95th Regiment, and marched that night to Herrerias, and 
 thence to Nogales and Lugo, where I had ordered the 
 different divisions which preceded to halt and collect. At 
 Lugo the French again came up with us; they attacked 
 our advanced posts on the 6th and 7th, and were repulsed 
 in both attempts, with little loss on our side. 
 
 I heard from the prisoners taken that three divisions of 
 the French army were come up, commanded by Marshal 
 Soult. I therefore expected to be attacked on the morning 
 of the 8th. It was my wish to come to that issue. I had 
 perfect confidence in the valour of the troops, and it was 
 
APPENDIX K 
 
 231 
 
 only by crippling the enemy that we could hope either to 
 retreat or to embark unmolested. I made every prepara¬ 
 tion to receive the attack, and drew out the army in the 
 morning to offer battle. This was not Marshal Soult’s 
 object. He either did not think himself sufficiently strong, 
 or he wished to play a surer game by attacking us on our 
 march or during our embarkation. The country was 
 intersected, and his position too strong for me to attack 
 with an inferior force. 
 
 The want of provisions would not enable me to wait 
 longer. I marched that night, and in two forced marches, 
 bivouacking for six or eight hours in the rain, I reached 
 Betanzos on the 10th instant. The stragglers of the army 
 amounted to many thousands, occasioned partly by the 
 length of the marches, which in had weather many men 
 were unable to support; the want of shoes, hundreds being 
 barefoot; and many left their ranks who had not so good 
 an excuse, but from a desire to plunder. As the army 
 was followed by the French cavalry, a great number of 
 the above descriptions fell into their hands. 
 
 At Lugo I was sensible of the impossibility of reaching 
 Vigo, which was at too great a distance, and offered no 
 advantages to embark in the face of an enemy. My in¬ 
 tention then was to have retreated to the peninsula of 
 Betanzos, where I hoped to find a position to cover the 
 embarkation of the enemy in Ares or Rodes Bays ; but 
 having sent an officer to reconnoitre it, by his report I 
 was determined to prefer this place. I gave notice to the 
 Admiral of my intention, and begged that the transports 
 might be brought to Corunna. Had I found them here 
 on my arrival on the 11th, the embarkation would easily 
 have been effected, for I had gained several marches on 
 
APPENDIX K 
 
 the French. They have now come up with us ; the trans¬ 
 ports are not arrived ; my position in front of this place 
 is a very bad one, and this place, if I am forced to retire 
 into it, is commanded within musket-shot, and the harbour 
 will be so commanded by cannon on the coast that no ship 
 will be able to lie in it. In short, my Lord, General Stewart 
 will inform you how critical our situation is. It has been 
 recommended to me to make a proposal to the enemy to 
 induce him to allow us to embark quietly ; in which case 
 he gets us out of the country soon, and this place with its 
 stores, etc., complete, that otherwise we have the power 
 to make a long defence, which must insure the destruction 
 of the town. I am averse to make any such proposal, 
 and am exceedingly doubtful if it would be attended with 
 any good effect; but whatever I resolve on this head, I 
 hope your Lordship will rest assured that I shall accept 
 no terms that are in the least dishonourable to the army 
 or to the country. 
 
 I find I have been led into greater length and more 
 detail than I thought I should have had time for : I have 
 written under interruptions, and with my mind much 
 occupied with other matter. My letter written so care¬ 
 lessly can only be considered as private; when I have 
 more leisure I shall write more correctly. In the mean¬ 
 time I rely on General Stewart for giving your Lordship 
 the information and detail which I have omitted. 
 
 I should regret his absence, for his services have been 
 very distinguished ; but the state of his eyes makes it im¬ 
 possible for him to serve, and this country is not one in 
 which cavalry can be of much use. 
 
 If I succeed in embarking the armv. I shall send it to 
 England—it is quite untit for further service until it has 
 
APPENDIX L 
 
 233 
 
 been refitted, which can best be done there ; and I cannot 
 think, after what has happened, that there can be any 
 intention of sending a British force again into Spain. 
 
 I have the honour to be, etc., 
 
 (Signed) John Moore. 
 
 APPENDIX L. 
 
 Route of the British Cavalry, under the Command of 
 Lord Paget, during the Campaign in Spain, 1808-09. 
 
 Spanish 
 
 Leagues. 
 
 Corunna to Betanzos ... ... ... 3 
 
 Betanzos to Monte Salguero ... ... 3 
 
 Monte Salguero to Gutoriez ... ... 2 
 
 Gutoriez to Bamonde ... ... ... 2 
 
 Bamonde to Lugo ... ... ... ... 4 
 
 Lugo to Constantino ... ... ... 4 
 
 Constantino to Las Nogales ... ... ... 4 
 
 Las Nogales to Trabadelos ... ... ... 7 
 
 Trabadelos to Cacabelos ... ... ... 4 
 
 Cacabelos to Bembibere ... ... ... 5 
 
 Bembibere to Astorga ... ... ... 8 
 
 Astorga to La Baneza ... ... ... 4 
 
 La Baneza to Benevente ... ... ... 6 
 
 Benevente to Zamora ... ... ... 12 
 
 Zamora to Toro ... ... ... ... 6 
 
 Toro to Morales ... ... ... ... 1 
 
 Morales to Tordesillas ... ... ... 5 
 
 Tordesillas to La Motta ... ... ... 4 
 
 La Motta to Villalpando ... ... ... 11 
 
234 
 
 APPENDIX M 
 
 Spanish 
 
 Leagues. 
 
 Villalpando to Mayorga ... ... ... 8 
 
 Mayorga to Sahagun ... ... ... 8 
 
 Sahagun to St. Nicolas ... ... ... 4 
 
 St. Nicolas to Sahagun ... ... ... 4 
 
 Sahagun to Valderas ... ... ... ... 9 
 
 Valderas to Villa Guexida ... ... ... 10 
 
 Villa Guexida to La Baheza ... ... ... 6 
 
 La Baneza to Astorga ... ... ... 4 
 
 Astorga to Mansanassa ... ... ... 8 
 
 Mansanassa to Villafranca ... ... ... 7 
 
 Villafranca to Lugo ... ... ... ... 17 
 
 Lugo to Gutoriez ... ... ... ... 6 
 
 Gutoriez to Betanzos ... ... ... 5 
 
 Betanzos to Corunna ... ... ... 3 
 
 Total . 194 
 
 APPENDIX M. 
 
 List of the Officers of the 15th (or King’s) Hussars 
 WHO SERVED IN THE CAMPAIGN OF 1808-09. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Colquhoun Grant. 
 
 Major Francis Forrester. 
 
 Major W. N. Leitch. 
 
 Captain J. Broadhurst. 
 
 Captain E. McGregor Murray. 
 
 Captain L. C. Dalryraple. 
 
 Captain Edwin Griffith. 
 
 Captain Hon. W. E. Cochrane. 
 
APPENDIX M 
 
 235 
 
 Captain Josephus Seelinger. 
 
 Captain Joseph Thackwell. 
 
 Captain Alexander Gordon. 
 Lieutenant John Buckley. 
 
 Lieutenant Skinner Hancox. 
 Lieutenant Baron L. During. 
 Lieutenant John Whiteford. 
 Lieutenant Edward Knight. 
 Lieutenant John Penrice. 
 
 Lieutenant Lewis Jones. 
 
 Lieutenant Charles Jones (Adjutant). 
 Lieutenant Charles Carpenter. 
 
 Cornet S. Jenkins. 
 
 Cornet James Laroche. 
 
 Cornet Frederick Phillips. 
 
 Paymaster 
 
 Surgeon 
 
 Assistant Surgeon 
 Veterinary Surgeon 
 Adj utant 
 
 Staff. 
 
 ... Richard Henslow. 
 
 ... W. Lidderdale. 
 
 ... John Forbes. 
 
 ... James Castley. 
 
 ... Charles Jones (Lieutenant). 
 
 Right Squadron. 
 
 Squadron Leader ... Major Forrester. 
 
 Right Troop ... ... Captain Seelinger’s. 
 
 Left Troop ... ... Captain Thackwell’s. 
 
 Right Centre Squadron. 
 
 Squadron Leader ... Captain Broadhurst. 
 
 Right Troop ... ... Captain Broadhurst’s. 
 
 Left Troop ... ... Captain Dalrymple’s. 
 
236 
 
 APPENDIX M 
 
 Left Centre Squadron. 
 
 Squadron Leader ... Captain Murray. 
 
 Right Troop ... ... Captain Murray’s. 
 
 Left Troop ... ... Captain Cochrane’s. 
 
 Left Squadron. 
 
 Squadron Leader ... Major Leitch. 
 
 Right Troop ... ... Captain Griffith’s. 
 
 Left Troop ... ... Captain Gordon’s. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Astorga : reached, 58 ; on re¬ 
 treat, 145 ; General Orders, 
 Appendix E 
 
 Baird, Sir David, 8, 39, 188 
 Baylen, Battle of, 2 
 Bembibere : reached, 56; on re¬ 
 treat, 151; Captain Cochrane’s 
 skirmish, 152 
 
 Benevente, action near, 141; 
 
 General Orders, Appendix D 
 Berthier, his intercepted des¬ 
 patch to Soult, 82, 86, Ap¬ 
 pendix A 
 
 Betanzos : reached, 41; bridge 
 blown up near, 191; on re¬ 
 treat, 192; General Orders, 
 Appendix I 
 Burrard, Sir Harry, 1 
 
 Cacabelos, skirmish at, 163 
 Carrion, 128 
 Cintra, Convention of, 1 
 Clinton, General, reprimands 
 Captain Cochrane, 153 
 Cochrane, Captain, commands 
 picquet at Bembibere, 153 
 Corunna : departure of troops 
 from, 19; theatre at, 34-36; 
 return to, 195; the battle, 
 
 201 
 
 Dalrymple, Sir Hew, 1 
 Debelle, General, 113 
 
 237 
 
 Dud’huit, Colonel, French 
 prisoner, 114, 186 
 
 During, Baron, 50,124, 132, 147, 
 181, 187, 192, 203 
 
 Eighteenth Hussars: surprise a 
 detachment of French cavalry 
 at Rueda, 86; loss at Bene¬ 
 vente, 142 
 
 Explosion at Corunna, 197 
 
 Fifteenth Hussars: embarkation, 
 8, 9; landing at Corunna, 13; 
 arrival at Betanzos, 41—at 
 Lugo, 47—at Astorga, 58—at 
 Benevente, 63—at Zamora, 67 
 —at Toro, 72—at La Motta, 
 87—at Villa Graxima, 90—at 
 Villalpando, 94—at Melgar de 
 Abaxo, 96 ; take part in action 
 of Sahagun, 101 ; defend 
 Cacabelos, 163; strength on 
 return to Corunna, 195 ; losses 
 in the Peninsula, 208; list of 
 officers, Appendix M 
 
 Gordon, Captain Hon. Alexander, 
 189 
 
 Hope, Sir John, 6, 40, 208 
 
 Lugo : reached, 47; on retreat, 
 174 ; General Orders, Appen¬ 
 dices F, G, H 
 
 ✓ 
 
238 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Moore, Sir John : lands in Por¬ 
 tugal, 1; proposes to attack 
 Saldana, 127,128; his conduct 
 censured, 167, 170, 177-178 
 208-210; letter to Lord Castle- 
 reagh, Appendix K 
 
 Paget, Lord, 66, 97, 101, 107, 
 116, 134, 175 
 
 Pay of a captain of cavalry, 81 
 
 Rio Seco, combat of, 93 
 
 Eomana, Marquis do la, his force 
 of 6,000 men, 146 
 
 Routes taken by Sir John Moore’s 
 army on the march from 
 Lisbon, 5 ; by the cavalry 
 under Lord Paget, Appendix L 
 
 Sahagun : preparations for the 
 action, 97 et seg.; the action, 
 101 et seq.; General Orders, 
 Appendices B and C 
 
 Saldana, the proposed attack on, 
 128 
 
 Slade, General, 66, 87, 90, 92, 
 96, 99, 116, 117, 134, 162, 194 
 
 Spirits of wine punch, 57 
 
 Toro, 72 
 
 Yeragua, Duke of, 26, 27 
 
 Wellesley, Sir Arthur, signatory 
 to the Convention of Cintra, 1 
 
 Zamora, arrival at, 67 
 
 THE END 
 
 BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD 
 
Map of the 
 
 CORUNNA CAMPAIGN 
 
 Scale 
 
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