Chapter IV

The army under Sir John Moore leaves Lisbon. Marches to Salamanca. Sir
John Hope joins Sir John Moore near Salamanca. Sir David Baird lands
at Corunna. The whole army is concentrated. Affairs of cavalry. The
army moves to attack Marshal Soult. Suddenly countermanded.
Distribution of our first and second battalions. Gallant affair of
cavalry near Mayorca. General Crawford’s light brigade destroys a
bridge. The French endeavour to interrupt them in their work.
General Crawford marches to Benavente. Brilliant action of cavalry
near Benavente. Two light brigades under General Crawford sent to
Vigo. Their march thither, and embarkation. Cursory view of Sir John
Moore’s retreat to Corunna, and his death. The army returns to
England. Our third battalion is formed.

The British army under Sir John Moore marched from Lisbon in the direction of Salamanca, towards the end of October. The roads northward of the Tagus having been reported impracticable for artillery, Sir John Hope proceeded with the cavalry, artillery, and several regiments of infantry, through Alemtejo to Talavera de la Reina, and from thence to the Escurial. The other brigades of the army marched by Abrantes and Coimbra to Almeida, a fortress on the northern frontier of Portugal, and from thence by Ciudad Rodrigo to Salamanca, where they arrived about the middle of November.

Sir John Hope having passed the Guadaramma mountains, which divide New from Old Castile, joined Sir John Moore early in December, in the neighbourhood of Salamanca, and shortly afterwards the army advanced towards the Douro. The cavalry, under the command of Lord Paget, occupied some towns and villages on that river. Sir David Baird had arrived from England at Corunna, and landed there with several thousand troops; and having formed a junction with Sir John Moore, the whole army was concentrated near Mayorca about the third week in December.

The weather was exceedingly severe, and deep snow was on the ground. The cavalry under Lord Paget and Brigadier-general Stewart surprised several of the enemy’s out-posts in the open country, near Valladolid. Our hussars had a brilliant affair near Sahagun, which ended in the defeat and dispersion of a superior force of the enemy’s cavalry, and in our taking a number of prisoners.

Marshal Soult being in position behind the river Carrion, Sir John Moore made every arrangement to attack him. The army was put in motion for that purpose on the night of the 23d of December, which had a most exhilarating effect on the spirits of the soldiers, who had become impatient to meet their antagonists; but Sir John Moore having received positive intelligence that numerous French columns were in full march against him, from various points, with a view of cutting off his retreat from the coast, the attack was immediately countermanded, and not a moment was lost in withdrawing the army across the Esla.

The four companies of our 2d battalion, which sailed from Cork the preceding summer with Sir Arthur Wellesley, and were with him at the battles of Roleia and Vimeira, were joined by the remainder of the battalion, which came out with Sir D. Baird to Corunna; and the whole were placed in Brigadier-general Robert Crawford’s light brigade. Our first battalion was in the reserve, commanded by Sir E. Paget. General Crawford’s light brigade was left in a position on the left bank of the Esla, to protect the passage of the bridge of Castro Gonzalo. Some troops of our hussars, near Mayorca, attacked a superior body of French cavalry, which were advantageously posted, and beat them in gallant style, taking many prisoners.

The light cavalry of the enemy hovered about General Crawford’s brigade, and used every endeavour to interrupt it whilst employed in the destruction of the bridge of Castro Gonzalo. It was not an idle moment; for whilst a certain portion of the brigade was busied in demolishing the arches of the bridge, in a tempestuous night of snow and rain, the remainder kept watch, and covered the working parties, which, as already stated, were close to the enemy’s advanced pickets, who were in force, and by whom repeated attempts were made to interrupt them in a work so important to the whole army. Planks having been laid across some arches of the bridge which had been broken, General Crawford’s brigade retired over them, on the night of the 28th, to the opposite bank, unperceived by the French; and then, springing a mine, dismantled the bridge. The brigade then marched to Benavente, a good town situated on the Esla, where the cavalry and the reserve were stationed.

On the following day, the reserve and General Crawford’s brigade retired from Benavente, following the march of the army, and leaving Lord Paget with the cavalry to guard the passage of the Esla, which was fordable at different points. A most brilliant action took place in the plain near Benavente, between our hussars and several hundred cavalry of the Imperial Guard, under the command of General Lefebre, and (it has been asserted) within view of Napoleon himself, who, from the heights opposite, directed that general “to cross the Esla, and to bring him those English cavalry prisoners.” General Lefebre passed the river at a ford, and obliged the pickets of the British cavalry to fall back; but being reinforced, they became the assailants in turn, and in a short space of time sent back the enemy across the Esla, at a much more rapid pace than they had advanced.

General Lefebre was wounded and made prisoner, with many other officers and soldiers; in addition to which, the French suffered considerably in killed and wounded. This gallant action was not gained without the loss of about fifty of our own cavalry. It was a salutary lesson to the imperial gentry; and if their emperor witnessed their defeat, so much the better. The artillery, which was attached to the cavalry, cannonaded the French as they re-formed on the opposite bank of the Esla, and obliged them to retire. General Crawford’s light brigade, and that likewise which was composed of the light battalions of the German Legion, under Brigadier-general Alten (which was also placed under Crawford’s command), were ordered to separate from the main body of the army, and to proceed, on the 31st of December, by cross roads to Vigo; whilst the remainder continued their retreat towards Corunna.

The brigades under General Crawford were not harassed by the enemy, after their separation from the army, in their long and dreary retreat to Vigo; but they suffered, nevertheless, severely from constant marching, in snow and rain, through the worst of roads, from want of rest, and other privations and hardships inseparable from all retreats, and particularly when made during such an inclement season. Finally they reached Vigo, the men and officers mostly without shoes to their feet; and embarking on board transports, arrived in England in the latter end of January, 1809.

Volumes have already been written on the subject of the retreat to Corunna, which shew that the sufferings experienced by the British army were exceedingly great. Constant marching through snow and over miserable roads, by day and night; the uncertain and irregular supply of provisions; the enemy’s advanced guard constantly galling the rear guard of the British; and the feelings of irritation naturally produced in the soldier when retreating before an exulting foe, were causes sure to bring with them irregularities to a certain extent. That the retreat from the Esla to Corunna was rendered indispensably necessary for the preservation of the British army, and that it was most ably conducted, the prejudiced, and those ignorant of such matters, only will deny. In the various actions in which our cavalry and infantry were engaged during this long and arduous retreat, their superiority over their opponents was incontestably proved. I trust I shall be exculpated from the charge of trumpeting the fame of my own corps, if I observe that our first battalion, which was in the reserve under Sir E. Paget, always forming the rear guard of the infantry, and constantly engaged with the French advanced guard, acquitted itself much to the satisfaction of Sir John Moore, who was an eye-witness of its conduct in the various trying actions in which it was engaged, and who repeatedly eulogised it.

In spite of the hardships and sufferings which beset the British army in the retreat, its discipline, which in many instances had become exceedingly impaired, was in great measure suddenly restored when drawn up to offer battle to the enemy at Lugo, and subsequently at Corunna. In the hardly contested battle of Corunna, although fighting under manifold disadvantages, the army gained a glorious victory; and proved to the world that, in the day of trial, it was an overmatch for the veteran troops which had overrun and paralysed the whole continent of Europe. On this occasion the army lost its brightest ornament, by the fall of its gallant leader, Sir John Moore, who died in the arms of victory. He was buried on the ramparts of Corunna. Sir David Baird lost an arm in the battle; and the command of the army devolved on Sir John Hope.

The night after the battle the army was embarked; and towards the end of January 1809, the whole of the troops from Vigo and Corunna reached different ports in England. The two battalions of our corps went into barracks in Kent.

I have attempted to give merely the outline of the operations of our army, from the time of its departure from Lisbon to its embarkation at Corunna and Vigo.

Early in the spring of 1809, we received orders to form a third battalion to our corps, by volunteers from the militia. This was effected in a very short space of time; and had not the order from Sir David Dundas (at that time commander-in-chief) arrived for us to discontinue receiving more men from the militia, we could easily have raised a fourth battalion.

The formation of a 3d battalion causing some trifling promotion in the corps, I became effective in the 1st battalion, and joined it from the 2d.