Chapter VII

The country near Campo Maior, and the climate of Alemtejo. The army
becomes very sickly. Fate of General Cuesta’s army after we parted
company with it at Talavera. Various descriptions of field-sports
near Campo Maior. How to keep off fevers, agues, &c. Shooting
excursions in the forest of Albuquerque. Wild boars, wolves, and red
deer. Bathing excursions of our battalion, and its march to and from
the Caya. Destruction of hares, rabbits, and partridges. Riding down
red-legged partridges. Lieut.-Colonel Sidney Beckwith’s system
contrasted with that of many commanding officers of regiments.
Rumours of the army being about to return to England. The army
continues sickly. The army leaves its cantonments on the Guadiana,
and proceeds to the northern frontier of Portugal. Our march to that
point. Students and young padres at the University of Coimbra
uselessly employed. Sketch of the country between Coimbra and
Pinhel, and our march through it. The 95th Rifle Corps and 1st
German Hussars cross the Coa, and take up the outposts. The manner
in which we passed our time in the outlandish regions between the
Coa and Agueda, until the campaign of 1810 opened. Various
amusements for the soldiers encouraged by Lieut.-Colonel Beckwith.

As the army remained stationary in this position three months, I shall touch slightly on what occurred under my own observation in General Crawford’s division.

Campo Maior is a walled town, commanded by higher ground, and consequently incapable of standing a siege of any length. It is three leagues from Badajoz, and about the same distance from Elvas. The country in its vicinity abounds with olives, vines, corn, figs, pomegranates, and other fruits; and there are many _quintas_, or country-houses, near it, which have excellent gardens well supplied with water. Indeed, the Portuguese evince much industry and ingenuity in conducting water to their gardens from a long distance, and irrigating them. Without this precaution, all vegetation must cease in the summer months, the heat being so intense in this province of Alemtejo as to burn every plant to a cinder. The whole of Alemtejo, and more particularly that part which approaches the sluggish and muddy waters of the Guadiana, is proverbially unhealthy, especially in summer and autumn. The natives of the northern provinces dread it as a West Indies or Sierra Leone; and they have a proverb to this effect, “Once in Alemtejo, never out of it again alive.” There proved to be too much truth in the adage; for during the three months our army was cantoned there, the mortality was frightful; and I am confident that I speak within bounds when I say, that one-third of the army was in hospital, from fevers, agues, and dysenteries.

The natives of Alemtejo may be distinguished at once from those of the north of Portugal, fever and ague being legibly imprinted on their cadaverous faces and emaciated figures. It is not, then, a matter of surprise, that the British army, which for months before its arrival on the Guadiana had been unavoidably subjected to long and harassing marches, constantly exposed to the heavy dews at night without tents, and subsisting on a very scanty allowance of food of the worst kind, should feel severely the effects of this unhealthy province.

A word or two now respecting the Spanish army of General Cuesta since our parting company with it at Talavera on the 3d of August. It reached the left bank of the Tagus, I believe, in safety; but was shortly afterwards attacked by Marshal Victor or General Sebastiani, or by both, and completely defeated and dispersed, with the loss of a great part of its artillery, and many men. Where and when this discomfited army rallied, and what benefit Spain in after-days reaped from its services, I leave to the historian to relate. As a mere keeper of a daily log-book, it is unnecessary that I should dive into these matters.

Such amongst us as were addicted to field-sports, had an excellent opportunity of gratifying our propensities in that way during our sojourn at Campo Maior, although the heat was so great until the end of October as to prove a damper to those who were not keen sportsmen. Except when a field-day occurred to prevent it, I was amongst the number of those who lived in the open air with gun or greyhound; and to the constant exercise I attribute having enjoyed good health, at a time when hundreds of our division were suffering from agues and fevers, and very many taken to their long homes. Doctors differed as to the mode of living most likely to retain health and to prevent sickness.

The water-beverage system found but very few supporters in our corps; and, as far as my own experience enables me to speak, I should recommend, _per diem_, under similar circumstances, and on the same spot, a fair allowance of generous wine, several cigars (to prevent infectious disease), the persecution of red-legged partridges, quails, &c. &c., or a gallop with the wire-haired greyhounds of the country across the plains after the hares, which occasionally give rare sport. To put in practice the latter part of the prescription was found exceedingly difficult, in consequence of the starved state of our Rosinantes rendering even a canter next to impossible. With some good English pointers and greyhounds, in few countries could better sport be had than in this neighbourhood. There are abundance of partridges, quails, hares, rabbits, (woodcocks and snipes in winter,) bustards on the plains, and florikins also in large flocks, plovers of various sorts; also a bird of the grouse kind, which the natives call _tarambola_; ducks, teal, and other wild fowl in the Guadiana and the Caya.

In the forest of Albuquerque, a few leagues distant, are red deer, wild boars, wolves, and foxes. To that forest we made several excursions, taking with us some of our best marksmen, and sleeping the night before in the small walled town of Ouguila, which is on the borders of the forest. Several fine red deer were killed, one of which, a very large stag, I was so fortunate as to bring down with a ball. Although neither wolves nor wild boars were brought to bag, we nevertheless had some shots at them. I look back on those excursions as amongst the happiest days of my life.

General Crawford directed that the regiments of his division should frequently be marched to the river Caya, about four miles distant, to bathe. This was done independently by battalions. Trifling occurrences sometimes make lasting impressions; and the animated scene which our visit to the river produced I have never forgotten. Not only do I cherish the recollection of days long gone by, which were full of excitement, but I derive indescribable pleasure from placing before me, in battle array, some of those “trifles light as air;” one of which, relative to our bathing excursions in the Caya, shall be detailed in as small a compass as possible.

Whether the intention of General Crawford was, that the regiments should march to the river to bathe as fully armed and accoutred as if they were about to mount guard in some stiff-starched garrison, I cannot say; but I know that every corps did harness and march forth to the river in that form, except our own. Colonel Beckwith, on the contrary, always ordered our men, on these occasions, to take with them neither arms, accoutrements, knapsacks, nor any one thing except their light fatigue dress, foraging-caps, and a stick, for a purpose which shall immediately be explained. The officers were desired to take with them their fowling-pieces and greyhounds; and, in this light, easy attire, we marched to the river. As soon as we were clear of the walls of Campo Maior, the whole battalion was extended in one long line in skirmishing order, bringing rather forward the wings, and proceeding in this manner straight across the great plain to the river. Hares, rabbits, and partridges were soon started at all points; when such shooting, coursing, and knocking down with sticks and stones, and such _mobbing_ of quadrupeds and birds commenced, that a game-preserving John Bull would undoubtedly have stigmatised us as a most nefarious corps of poachers. The process of bathing having been duly performed, the same scene took place on our return to the town; and the spirit and glee with which all hands entered into the sport may easily be conceived.

Those who know nothing of the habits of the red-legged partridge, would be surprised to be told that we frequently made parties to _ride them down_. I can fancy the incredulous stare of some of my countrymen, if they heard any person bold enough to make such an assertion. But that it is not more strange than true, there are many living witnesses to prove. If a red-legged partridge be pursued by a person on horseback whilst on the wing, and a great noise and shouting is made, he will not rise a second time, but will continue running, and at last crouch, and allow himself to be taken up. I have but rarely known them to rise and take a second flight.

As I am inclined to believe my most bitter enemies will acknowledge that adulation and flattery are not amongst my besetting sins, I may declare, without any apprehension of being taxed with the appellation of _toad-eater_, that I have ever considered Lieutenant-Colonel Sidney Beckwith to have been better calculated for the command of a regiment of light troops than most men who are to be found. In the common acceptation of the word, “_a capital commanding officer of a regiment_,” too often implies a good barrack-square drill—a man whose military ideas soar but little beyond the orderly room, the exact fit of the soldier’s coat, and the proper allowance of pipe-clay wherewith to plaster his belts twice every twenty-four hours. Such a man does not discover, until the moment he actually finds himself in the field in good earnest, with his regiment placed in the teeth of an enterprising and experienced enemy at the out-posts, and constantly liable to be attacked, that he is little better than a novice in his profession (the practical part of it at least), and that commanding a battalion at Dublin or Portsmouth is one thing, and in the field another. It is also no less true, that the sentiments which I have ventured to express on this subject, many men of a certain school would be perfectly horror-struck at, as sapping the foundation of what they deem the essentials of the service. Be it so: Doctors differ. I speak not at hap-hazard, but from some little experience in those matters; and I must confess that the marching and counter-marching in a barrack-yard have but few charms for me.

Colonel Beckwith was, indeed, the very reverse of such commanding-officers as I have just described; and I may safely say, that he held those matters very cheap when compared with other things of so much greater importance, which daily presented themselves. Far be it from me to insinuate that Colonel Beckwith did not feel the vast and imperious necessity of discipline, or that any one iota of regimental detail was not performed to the letter; but he was always averse to tease and torment the old soldier with more than a certain _quantum_ of drill, particularly at a time like that in question, when the army was reposing from its late fatigues and starvation. Whether the general system adopted by him rendered his battalion efficient in the field, and able to perform its duties at the out-posts of the army, to the satisfaction of the different general officers under whom it served many years in succession, I leave impartial judges to determine.

Rumours and reports of all kinds were circulated during our stay at Campo Maior. Amongst others, it was declared that transports had arrived at Lisbon to take the army to England, the cause of the Peninsula being considered hopeless. The sickness continued even after the cool weather in November appeared; and our loss of men was very severe. Many of our officers went to England for the recovery of their health, which some of them never succeeded in thoroughly regaining.

A strong corps of the French army having concentrated at or near Salamanca in the end of the autumn, by which the fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo and the north of Portugal were menaced, the British army broke up from the Guadiana early in December, on the 12th of which month the head of General Crawford’s division, consisting of our own regiment, marched to Aronches, on its route to the north of Portugal. General Hill was left with his division and some cavalry in Alemtejo.

At this time, Marshal Beresford, ably seconded by other British officers attached to the Portuguese service, was actively employed in organising the new Portuguese levies; and in some few months after this date, enabled them to contend successfully with the veterans of France, as will be seen by and by.

Passing through Portalegre, Crato, Ponte de Sor, and Abrantes, without meeting any adventure worth relating, we reached Punheite on the 22d; which town I mentioned in our march from Lisbon to Talavera in July. We patronised in the evening what was dignified with the name of an opera; a very indifferent exhibition of bolero and fandango dancing.

Thomar, a good town, in which we found Marshal Beresford’s head-quarters, and many of the new levies, brought us up for the night on the 23d. The light brigade was put into a large, cold, cheerless convent; and as the weather was frosty, we had some trouble to counteract the effects of the easterly wind rushing through the long galleries, by a liberal allowance of mulled wine, brought up in camp-kettles, and drank out of half-pint tin cups, vulgarly denominated _black jacks_.

Two days’ march more through a country not particularly enchanting, brought us to Lyria, a large town situated in a fertile valley. On a hill above it is an old castle, in all probability Moorish. I slightly mentioned Lyria last year, on the march of the army towards Roleia and Vimeira.

On the 27th we reached Pombal, by an excellent road. It is a town of no great size, with the usual accompaniment of a Moorish castle overlooking it. The one in question is a fine bold object, and imparts an air of some consequence to Pombal.

We arrived on the day following at Condeixa, one of the cleanest and neatest towns in Portugal. Our battalion was packed up for the night in one large house, the property of a man who had taken flight with his family to the Brazils, in the fear of a third invasion from the French. It is probable that this mansion never contained so much company before, nor of so noisy a kind.

The road from Condeixa to Coimbra is capital; which latter place we entered on the 29th, and halted in on the 30th. Coimbra is considered the third city in Portugal, Lisbon and Oporto ranking before it. Possibly no city in Europe is more beautifully situated. It stands on high ground overlooking the Mondego, as it winds its course through a beautiful valley, cultivated with Indian corn, vines, &c. &c., and whose banks are not deficient in boldness. Across the river is a handsome bridge leading to the city, in which are many churches, convents, good shops, and the largest university (I believe) in the kingdom.

We could not but observe, that the crowds of students with which the streets swarmed, and the legions of idle young vagabonds coming under the head of _clericos_, with the crowns of their heads shaved, running all over the city after the host, might have been better employed at that moment in training themselves to the use of arms, to resist the numerous legions of France, which threatened for the third time to invade their country. Leaving our benedictions with these worthies, we prosecuted our march on the 31st over a mountainous tract of country, and by infamously bad roads, to Ponte de Marcella, a miserable village on the river Alva. I was one of eight officers for whose _particular_ accommodation on that night was appropriated a little, dirty, dark den of a room, with an earthen floor. Having masticated some lean, tough, ration beef, and swallowed some sour wine, we contrived to whiff away care and sorrow with our cigars, and reposed in our cloaks on some Indian corn straw.

_1st January, 1810._—Crawling out of our hovel as soon as daylight appeared, and having wished each other “a happy new year,” our best legs were put foremost, and we quartered for the night at Venda and Gallices, two villages on the road leading towards Celerico, at the foot of the Sierra d’Estrella, a lofty and extensive chain of mountains, the tops of which were covered with snow.

Every yard of this road must afford pleasure to those who take the slightest interest in fine scenery; for here you have the boldest mountains on the right, from the sides of which may be seen villages and convents jutting out amongst the woods of pine in the most picturesque manner imaginable; whilst on the left of the road the country assumes a softer aspect, being diversified with valleys cultivated with the vine and Indian corn, and not wanting in villages, although of a poor description.

This sketch of the country which we marched through on new year’s day, 1810, must suffice for the general features of the line of march to Celerico, where we arrived on the evening of the 3d of January. It is an ancient town, with the old story of the Moorish castle, by way of citadel, overhanging it, and is perched in some rough rocky ground not far from the Mondego.

In passing through a village on the 3d, where there was a convent, we were welcomed by the nuns with reiterated _vivas_, and wavings of white handkerchiefs from the windows, coupled with curses and execrations on the French, who were hovering on the frontiers of their country, and would soon probably oblige them to decamp from their prison. I have already alluded to the pallid sickly appearance of the natives of Alemtejo, when contrasted with those of the north. The Portuguese are an ugly race at best; but those of the northern provinces are perfect angels of light compared with the southern.

Colonel Donkins’ brigade, consisting of the 45th, fifth battalion of the 60th, and the 88th, which had been placed under General Crawford’s orders, on the retreat from Talavera last summer, was now removed from his command, and he retained only his original light brigade, viz. the 43d, 52d, and our own 1st battalion. In the course of a few months from this period, two Portuguese Cacadore regiments (light infantry), Nos. 1 and 3, were sent to General Crawford, which, together with the three British corps just mentioned, formed the light division, by which name it was known during the remainder of the Peninsular campaigns. The 45th, 88th, and part of the 60th, were subsequently in the division commanded by Major-general Picton, who first arrived from England to join this army in the spring of 1810.

The 4th of January brought us to Pinhel, an old Moorish town, similar to Celerico, standing amongst rugged rocks, and having in it a palace belonging to the Bishop of Pinhel. In the castle are some curious and very ancient pieces of artillery, composed of a number of broad iron hoops bound together, thus forming a tube. The whole British army, except General Hill’s division, which remained in Alemtejo, reached the north of Portugal about this period. Head-quarters with the Guards were at Vizeu; other brigades and divisions at Pinhel, Tranquosa, Celerico, and various towns on the left bank of the river Coa; General Crawford, with the 43d and 52d regiments, remained at Pinhel; and our battalion, with some of the 1st German Hussars, were the only troops pushed across the Coa to observe the enemy’s outposts on the Agueda, the most advanced of which were at St. Felices, a Spanish town opposite the formidable pass of Barba del Puerco.

Crossing the Coa on the 6th of January, 1810, our regiment marched to Villar Torpim, Regada, and Cinco Villas, three poor villages; and we were frequently moved during the months of January, February, and March, (in consequence of various rumours and reports of intended attempts on the part of the French to surprise the outposts,) to other villages lying between the two rivers, well known to old light division men of that day, viz. Figuera, Mata de Lobos, Escallion, Escarigo, &c. &c. Deep snow fell soon after we had taken up our new quarters, which rendered the otherwise miserable desolate villages still more forlorn. Coursing and shooting were our chief employments by day, and at night we either whiffed away cigars over some Douro wine, and speculated on the campaign which was soon expected to commence, or danced boleros, fandangos, and waltzes, with the good-looking daughters of an Israelite, in whose house I was billeted, in Villar Torpim.

To detail the manner in which we killed time every day during the dreary winter months, some weeks of which we were nearly snowed up in our hovels, and in the poorest villages in the Peninsula, would be nearly a repetition of what I have just stated. Until, therefore, we began to feel for the enemy in the month of March, towards Barba del Puerco, my tale is quickly told.

It is not my intention to enter minutely into the history of Padre Joan’s pigeon-house near Mata de Lobos! There are but few, very few, of the good fellows now living who understand this innuendo. Stewed pigeons and pigeon-pies were esteemed great delicacies, and a most useful accompaniment to tough, lean, ration beef, at the outposts; but the less said the better as to the mode by which we procured them.

In the said village of Mata de Lobos I passed many happy but bandit-like days in February, sitting at night over a brass pan of charcoal, and, with my three jolly subalterns, reposing in the same diminutive den, rolled up in our cloaks, on some straw. Amongst our other amusements, whilst thus detached far in front of the army, we frequently got up foot-races (our horses being in but poor trim for such feats), played matches at foot-ball, and rackets against the tower of the church, had duck-hunting with dogs in a piece of water, and sometimes turned a pig loose, with his tail greased, when he was pursued by the soldiers, and became the lawful prize of the man who could catch and hold him, which was no easy matter. Our gallant commander, Colonel Beckwith, was ever amongst the first to encourage those meetings, considering, no doubt, and very justly, that to divert and to amuse his men, and to allow them every possible indulgence compatible with the discipline of the battalion, whilst an interval of quiet permitted it, was the surest way to make the soldiers follow him cheerfully through fire and water, when the day of trial came; for they well knew that he was the last man on earth who would give them unnecessary trouble, or, on the other hand, would spare either man or officer, when the good of the service demanded their utmost exertions. I venture further to assert, without fear of contradiction, that he was never deceived or disappointed in the liberal view which he took of those matters.

If any are inclined to accuse us, whilst thus isolated in those wild regions, in the depth of a dreary winter, of having passed our time in irrational and fruitless pursuits, let me remind them at once, and without beating about the bush, that although Malta, Gibraltar, Halifax, Quebec, Portsmouth, Plymouth, and various other garrisons, at home and abroad, can boast of excellent libraries, billiard-tables, whist clubs, and dinner clubs, independent of garrison balls and garrison concerts, &c. &c., the rascally villages between the Coa and Agueda, growing out, as it were, from amongst the huge blocks of granite, and peopled by the most wretched, dirty, idle, ignorant, priest-ridden peasantry any where to be found, afforded none of these resources.

Such brigades of the army as were in Alemtejo with General Hill, or behind the Coa, in Vizeu, Tranquosa, and other towns, where one, two, or more regiments were quartered together, had resources by no possibility attainable by his Majesty’s first battalion 95th Rifle Corps at that moment. In spite of which, however, I believe that few, if any members of the battalion, would have exchanged, on any terms, their situation with those rearward.

In the first place, we were neither pestered nor tormented with the formal process of mounting guard every morning, with band, bugles, drums, or trumpets; but in each village of our cantonments a small guard of a corporal and three or four men was mounted quietly, to ensure regularity. In the next place, we ranged free and unrestrained, with horse, gun, or greyhound, when and where we thought proper.

When the month of March arrived, matters of far greater moment claimed our attention than such pastimes as I have recently described. The sooner, therefore, I jump to the period when, for the first time during the campaign of 1810, we came in contact with the French, the better.