Soon after the capture of Badajos the command of the Light Division was given to Baron Charles Alten, and the two Brigades of which it consisted were commanded, one by Barnard, and afterwards by Sir James Kempt, and the other by General Vandeleur. On Craufurd’s death and Vandeleur’s wound at Ciudad Rodrigo, the command of the Division had devolved on Barnard. How well he handled it, and how gallantly he led it at Badajos, has already been recorded.
I may here note that Barnard, who had hitherto commanded the 3rd Battalion, soon after this period was transferred to the command of the 1st Battalion, in Beckwith’s place, who had, as already noted, gone home on account of his health, and did not again return to the Peninsula. He was one of the original officers of the Regiment, and a most excellent Rifleman. In here parting from him as a regimental officer, I may add Kincaid’s testimony to his merits. ‘He was,’ he says, ‘one of the ablest of outpost generals. Few officers knew so well how to make the most of a small force. His courage, coupled with his thorough knowledge of the soldier’s character, was of that cool, intrepid kind, that would at any time convert a routed rabble into an orderly, effective force. A better officer probably never led a brigade into the field.’[117]
On April 11, the Regiment broke up from the camp before Badajos and marched to the north. Before doing so the men were ordered to give up the articles which they had plundered in Badajos; and to prevent their secreting any of them, their packs were examined. Whatever was found was collected in heaps and burned. But for two or three days before, the men had been selling what they had taken; crowds of country people thronged the camp to purchase; and it presented almost the appearance of a fair. On the 11th, however, the Regiment marched to Campo Major. On the next day they proceeded to Arronches and bivouacked in a wood. The 13th they marched to Portalegre, and on the 14th to Niza. On the next day they crossed the Tagus at Villa Velha, the 1st Battalion being in Monte de Senhora and the 3rd Battalion at Sernadas. On the 16th the Regiment marched to Castello Branco. Here they halted one day to allow the supplies to come up and to rest the troops, and the day following moved to As Caldas de Cima and Loisa. Here they came very close to the rear-guard of the French; and as they were informed by the peasants at S. Miguel d’Arch, which they reached on the 20th, that the enemy were in force, they moved with great caution to Penamacor on the 21st, San Bartolomeo on the 22nd, and passing through Sabugal on the 23rd, bivouacked near Alfayate. The British force on the north of the Tagus being as yet small, and the enemy falling back in force, their march had to be conducted with great caution.
On the 24th they proceeded to Ituera, where they halted for two days, and from thence the Regiment occupied cantonments on the Agueda; the 1st Battalion being between Ituera and Castellejo de Azarva; and the 3rd Battalion at La Encina. Here every exertion was made to get the Regiment equipped for taking the field; the clothing was repaired, and shoes provided; and everything was done that could be done to turn the men out in good order for a summer campaign. Nevertheless, when the Regiment was reviewed by Lord Wellington on May 27 between Guinaldo and El Bodon, the clothing of the Riflemen was patched with pieces of many colours, and the dress of many of the officers was little better. But Lord Wellington, whose soldier’s eye measured not the spic-and-span appearance, but the endurance and daring of the men, told them that they ‘looked well and in good fighting order.’
On June 6 the 1st Battalion moved to El Bodon, and on the 11th the whole Regiment left their cantonments on the Agueda, and bivouacked in a wood near Ciudad Rodrigo; on the 13th, moving on Salamanca, they advanced to Alba de Yeltes; on the 14th to Sancho Bueno; and on the 15th to Matilla. On the next day they marched to within about five miles of Salamanca; and having crossed the Rio Valmusa, bivouacked near some low hills extending from that stream to the city. On the 17th they moved towards Salamanca; but the enemy having constructed forts which commanded the bridge over the Tormes, they were obliged to cross by a deepish ford about a mile further up the river, and bivouacked in a wood on the plain a little way from the ford.
On the 18th the Regiment moved from this bivouac to Aldea Seca, about a league and a half from Salamanca; and the enemy fell back after skirmishing with our cavalry.
On the following day the Regiment was suddenly called to arms, the enemy having appeared in force in front of the position; but no fighting took place, and the Regiment moved from the plain and occupied Monte Rubio.
Here they remained some days. And one evening about this time stormers were called for from the Light Division to lead the assault on San Vincente, the strongest of the three forts constructed by the French near Salamanca. Two men per company, the first for duty, were selected for this service; but after being marched down to the fort, they were countermanded. An assault had been attempted, and had failed on the 23rd, and on the 27th the forts surrendered. On the fall of the forts, the enemy fell back; and the Regiment made a forward movement, and marched to Castillonos. On the 29th they bivouacked at Prada de Rubiales; on the next day at Castrillo d’Aquarino; and on July 1, marching through Alejos, they were billeted in the town of Nava del Rey, where the beds in their billets were the first they had occupied for a very long time. On the 2nd they moved forward to Rueda. A pretty strong force of the enemy, of all arms, was evacuating Rueda as the Regiment entered it. This was in fact the rear-guard, which was to hold us in check till his column could file over the bridge, across the Douro, at Tordesillas. But our cavalry and Horse Artillery coming up, the latter fired some shrapnells, which did much execution, and the cavalry had a slight affair with them. Our Regiment also sent out some skirmishers, who made a few prisoners, amongst them a Sergeant-Major of hussars, whose abject terror, even to tears, excited the surprise of those who saw him. Yet this man must have been a good and probably a brave soldier; for his exchange for one of our sergeants in their hands, was asked for by a flag of truce, on the ground that he was about to become adjutant of his corps. He was accordingly exchanged a few days afterwards.
All the march hitherto from the frontier of Portugal to this place had been through an open country, devoid of trees, abounding indeed with corn, and near the rivers with vines; but with little water except in the great rivers, which were far apart. The men had therefore suffered much, marching under the full blaze of a Peninsular mid-summer sun. Their occupation of the town of Rueda, and the delicious coolness of its great wine-vaults, excavated in the sides of the hills, were a great refreshment. Unhappily the wine these vaults contained was as great a temptation, to which many yielded. So had their enemies, who had preceded them; for many of their bodies were found in the cellars: some hideously mutilated by the Spaniards.
The Regiment remained here for a fortnight; the only movement in that time being that they were on July 3 moved opposite to Tordesillas, on the left bank of the Douro, the enemy being massed in large force on the opposite bank. This movement was probably a feint, and they returned to their cantonments at Rueda.
On July 16 the Regiment marched from Rueda about nine in the evening and halted next day near Castrejon. On the evening of the 17th Kincaid had a picquet in front of the Division. Soon after sunrise a smart cannonade began behind a hill to the right of the picquet. In fact Marmont had recrossed the Douro at Tordesillas, and was making an attack on our position at Castrejon. While the picquet, alert at the sound of cannon, were earnestly watching the ground in front of them, no enemy being visible, a terrific turmoil suddenly arose behind some rising ground on their left. Uncertain whence this noise might proceed, Kincaid at once placed his picquet behind a deep ditch about a hundred yards in his rear. He had scarcely done so when a confused mêlée of horsemen dashed over the hill: two squadrons of our cavalry, two guns of Horse Artillery, and a strong body of the enemy’s cavalry, all cutting at each other; and among the rush Lord Wellington, Lord Beresford, General Bock, and their Staffs. These and the two guns took shelter behind our picquet, who could not fire, for friends and foes were mixed up in an inextricable tangle. The cavalry swept past the front of the picquet; but finding a reserve squadron of heavy dragoons, they returned again at a gallop, the French now flying before those they had lately pursued.
Some companies of the Regiment were thrown out as skirmishers to support the 14th Light Dragoons. One of these brought in a French prisoner, badly wounded, who in conversation with Lieutenant Gardiner, who was a proficient in French, was vehement in asserting that he would not have been taken, had he had a better horse. On this being repeated to his captor, he said to Gardiner: ‘Then, sir, tell him if he had the best horse in France I would bring him prisoner if he stood to fight me.’ The prisoner assured Gardiner that his horse had not been unsaddled for a week; and the state of his back, when the saddle was removed, too surely corroborated his assertion.
The army was now ordered to retire; and the country being an open plain was very favourable for cavalry. The British troops therefore were formed in quarter-distance column ready to form square at any moment. The Regiment marched in this way for upwards of ten miles, with all the regularity and steadiness of a field-day; taking up distant points to march on; and avoiding the villages in order not to lose time in passing through them. For it was a race between the two armies to gain some high land beyond the Guareña. And the French moved on our right during the whole day; often coming within 500 yards of our flank. Occasionally the enemy opened a cannonade; but on the whole this day’s march was effected without fighting. The men, oppressed by the heat, and suffocated by the clouds of dust which arose from the sandy plain, were tormented with thirst. But there was no time to halt, nor water at hand to quench it. At last, arriving at the edge of this table-land, they looked down into the vale of the Guareña, and the Riflemen hurried their pace to reach the water. The French instantly unlimbered their guns on the height above and sent some round shot among them. But our men drank of the muddy stream as they passed through it, and suffered little from the cannonade; and they bivouacked on the high ground beyond the river.
During the early part of the 19th the Regiment continued at rest on the ground of their bivouack; but in the afternoon (with the rest of the Division) they were suddenly called to arms, and commenced a movement to the right, in order to defeat Marmont’s plan of interrupting our communications with Salamanca. During this march the enemy cannonaded sharply, and one shot knocked off the head of a Rifleman, who had but just joined. When night put a stop to the march and the firing, the Regiment lay by their arms, close to the enemy’s columns. On the morning of the 20th no enemy was to be seen; as Marmont had moved forward to turn Lord Wellington’s right flank; and some intervening ground hid his troops from the Riflemen; they were put in motion and soon came in sight and in close proximity to them. Thus they marched as they had done on the two preceding days with all the regularity of a barrack-square drill, parallel to the enemy, and close to him. There was a short halt in the afternoon to refresh the men: for the heat was sultry, and the dust suffocating. With this exception they continued to march till a late hour in the evening.
On the 21st they again started at dawn, and continued to march as before till about two o’clock, when they halted near the village of Villa Moresco. A little before dark they were again in motion; and they forded the Tormes about two miles above Salamanca. The river here was very deep, and the men were nearly up to their shoulders. Hardly had they got across when rain began to fall in torrents; the night grew suddenly dark; the lightning flashed with unusual vividness, and played on the men’s arms; and the thunder crashed so close and so loud, that scared horses broke from their picquet-ropes, and rushed into the ranks of the enemy. In this turmoil the Riflemen groped their way through the murky night, up to their knees in mud, to their bivouack in a field not far from the Tormes; where they lay by their arms, without any shelter from the rain which fell heavily and incessantly during the whole night.
On the 22nd occurred the Battle of Salamanca, the only one of Wellington’s great victories in which the Regiment did not bear a prominent part. They were under arms at daylight and occupied a position on the extreme left of the British position; and during the greater part of the day the only duty they were called upon to perform was to keep the French right in check. But about five o’clock, after Lord Wellington had taken advantage of his enemy’s blunder and driven him from the field, the Regiment was ordered to advance in pursuit. They did so, and continued to press on the rear of the retreating foe till about eleven at night, when they halted near the village of Huerta. Had there been a few hours more daylight, or had the Spaniards held, as Don Carlos de España was directed to do, Alba de Tormes, Marmont’s whole army must have fallen into our hands. In this action the losses of the Regiment were inconsiderable; being 2 men of the 1st Battalion wounded, and 2 missing; and a sergeant and 4 men of the 2nd Battalion wounded.
During the pursuit on this evening a partridge was started, and ran between the line of the retreating and pursuing forces. George Simmons caught it, and committing it to his havresack, found it an agreeable addition to his supper at Huerta.
On the first streak of daylight on the 23rd the Regiment was again in pursuit; and fording the Tormes, came up with the French rear-guard of cavalry and infantry, commanded by General Foy. The infantry immediately formed three squares, which their cavalry covered; but these flying on the advance of General Bock’s German cavalry, and leaving the squares unprotected and unprepared, the Germans dashed into two of them, and, not without terrible loss, broke them and cut them up. The third square being at an elbow of roads leading to high ground, retired in good order. The Regiment was ordered to advance; but the enemy’s rear-guard having been thus disposed of by Bock’s Germans, their only office was to follow in pursuit; and soon after they found the rear-guard, consisting of the three arms, posted on some high ground near a village. Lord Wellington, who then happened to be with the Regiment, gave immediate orders for an attack; but on their advance the French broke up and melted away before they reached them.
On the 24th the Regiment moved to Flores d’Avila, passing on the way through Penaranda. After halting during the 25th to refresh the men, as this march had been extremely hot and fatiguing, they proceeded on the 26th to Aldea Seca; on the 27th to Montejo Viejo; on the 28th to Pedrajo de Portellio; and on the 29th to Olmedo. A little beyond this place was buried the body of General Ferey, who had died at Olmedo on this retreat, of wounds received at Salamanca. This was the same man who had attacked the 1st Battalion at Barba del Puerco in March 1810. He had been interred apparently with honour, and a canopy of laurel had been erected over his grave. But the Spaniards, as soon as the French were gone, had dug up his body, and mutilated it, severing his head—noble and soldierlike even in death—from it. But his old foes of Barba del Puerco were more generous. They re-interred his remains, replaced the canopy of laurel which had covered his grave, and exacted a promise from the people of the place that they would respect the remains and the tomb of the fallen warrior.
On the 30th the Regiment forded the Douro and halted on its right bank about six miles from Valladolid until August 1. This halt on the bank of a large river where they could bathe and have their clothes washed, was a great boon to men and officers; for from July 16 they had been almost daily on the march or in action.
On August 1 they proceeded to Tudela del Douro; and passing through Aldea Major, where they recrossed the Douro, and Matta de Qualiaz, bivouacked on the 7th on the right bank of the Penrone.
Marching at daylight on the 8th and passing through Carbonero, they bivouacked on the Eresma not far from Yangues. On the 9th they marched by Madrona and bivouacked at or near a hunting place of the kings of Spain, El Palacio del Rio Frio. On the next day they marched to near Otiro and Madrona-Segovia, not far from the city of the latter name.
On the 11th they crossed the Guadarrama mountains, by the Puerto de Guadarrama, and by an excellent winding road leading over the Sierra and descending the southern slope, and bivouacked in the Park of the Escurial.
Scarcely had the Riflemen taken off their knapsacks when two wild boars made their appearance; and scared at the number and the noise of the men, dashed in among them and knocked over several. But in a moment they had received stabs or cuts from a hundred swords, and in a very few minutes their carcases were cut up and distributed.
On the 12th they halted; and on the 13th Lord Wellington made his entry into Madrid, amidst the congratulations and acclamations of its inhabitants of all ranks. On that day the 1st Battalion marched to Rosas; and a day or two after to Gatafe, about eight miles from the capital. Here, in or about Madrid, the Regiment remained for more than two months.
I have now to resume the account of the two companies (Cadoux’s and Jenkins’) of the 2nd Battalion, which we left at Cadiz. These embarked there and landed with Colonel Skerrett at Huelvas. Thence advancing to San Lucar la Major on August 24, and having driven the French corps of observation from that place, they took post there. On the 26th they marched to the heights of Castileja de la Cuesta, near Seville, where they arrived on the morning of the 27th, about six o’clock. They advanced to the bridge of Seville under a heavy fire of grape and musketry, the two companies of the 2nd Battalion forming the advanced guard. Captain Cadoux, who commanded the Riflemen, with great judgment made a flank movement to the left; and the result was that the enemy fled through the streets of Seville, which were strewn with their dead and wounded. The conduct of this Detachment of the Regiment is mentioned with praise by Colonel Skerrett in his despatch.[118]
These companies subsequently effected a junction with the force under General Hill, near Toledo, in October; and were engaged in repelling the attack made by a large body of troops under Soult on Sir Lowry Cole’s Division at the Puente Larga, near Aranjuez, on October 29. This gallant defence of the bridge fell entirely on the 47th Regiment and our two companies; and their loss in it was 1 sergeant and 2 rank and file killed; and Lieutenant Budgen and 8 rank and file wounded.
After these companies joined the army under Lord Wellington, the 2nd Battalion in the Peninsula consisted of six companies.
On October 21 the 1st Battalion marched to Rivas, and on the 22nd to Villa Coaxa. And as a large force of the enemy was approaching, at four o’clock on the morning of the 23rd, the Regiment was ordered to form on its alarm post, and marched to the city of Alcalá de Henares. On the 27th it proceeded to Arganda; but assembling at dark, marched back during the night to Alcalá, which it reached at daylight; and after resting in the streets made another march; and on the 30th again moved to near Madrid and halted near the Segovia gate. It was now determined to evacuate Madrid and to retreat on Salamanca, as Soult’s army was approaching in force. On the 31st, therefore, they left the neighbourhood of Madrid to the great regret of its inhabitants; the men showing by gloomy sullenness, and the women by contemptuous sneers, their opinion of our leaving them to the tender mercies of the French. The regret was shared by officers and men of the Regiment, to whom the sojourn in the capital was long one of the most pleasing recollections of their Peninsular service. They halted, on November 2, in the park of the Escurial, and on the 3rd recrossed the Sierra de Guadarrama and bivouacked near Villa Castin. Here General Hill took the command of the retreating army, Lord Wellington being engaged on the siege of Burgos. On the 4th they bivouacked near Lanza, and on the 5th marched to near Fuente de Baños. The next day they fell back to the heights between Flores de Avila and Penaranda. On the 7th the Regiment bivouacked about a league from Alba de Tormes, and next day crossing the river at the bridge of Alba, bivouacked in a wood. During this portion of the retreat their march had been without any circumstances of note; and the advanced guard of the French had not come up with them. The weather however broke up, and rain set in, and continued during the remainder of the retreat, with great violence.
At this time the portion of the army which had retreated from Burgos on the unsuccessful attempts to storm it, effected a junction with the troops falling back from Madrid, and Lord Wellington resumed the command.
On November 10 the Regiment moved into the city of Salamanca, and was quartered in the Irish College. While they remained here, on the evening of the 13th, about eight o’clock, George Simmons, being orderly officer, was ascending the stairs in order to see the men’s lights out. He met Lieutenant Firman, of the 3rd Battalion, who was on the same duty. As the stairs were extremely slippery, and the men had torn out portions of the balustrade for fuel, he advised Firman not to move further until he returned with a light. He fetched one, and as he was ascending the stairs, he was horrified at hearing a slip, and a crash below. Firman had fallen a great depth, and Simmons found him with his skull frightfully fractured and several ribs broken. He was immediately removed to his billet, where, after continuing insensible for two days, he died.
On the 14th the Regiment left Salamanca, and crossing the Tormes, took post on the heights near the Arapiles, and occupied the ground of the great victory of July 22. It was thought indeed that a second battle would be fought on the same spot; but the enemy’s forces being greatly superior to ours, Lord Wellington resolved to continue the retreat. And on the 15th, about three o’clock, the Regiment resumed its march and bivouacked that night in a wood about four miles from Salamanca. The weather still was dreadful; the rain had made the roads ankle-deep with mud; and streams, which in better weather might have been stepped over, had swollen to torrents which the men had to pass through knee-deep. They were also without provisions; and ravenous with hunger, they searched for something to eat. They found some bullocks, dead or half dead, which had fallen on the road, unable to drag the carts any further. These were immediately cut up with their swords and eaten half-toasted at the camp fires. For the soldiers were famished, and the wet wood kindled too slowly for them to wait. Some, too, groped about the wood on their hands and knees, searching for the acorns which had fallen from the oaks and cork trees, and devoured them voraciously; and though bitter and unpalatable, they stayed the pangs of hunger. Nor were these wants confined to the men; few of the officers had even a biscuit; and Costello relates how he saw Lord Charles Spencer, then a Second-Lieutenant in the Regiment, standing on some branches to keep him out of the wet, and earnestly watching a few acorns which he was trying to roast in the embers. As the only means of keeping themselves dry, the men cut down the branches of the trees and lay on them. And as the Regiment formed part of the rear-guard on this retreat, it was of course among the first under arms in the morning and the last at night, often not reaching the bivouack till some hours after the other regiments were in theirs.
On this and the preceding day, the French appeared in force on their right flank, threatening the communication of the army with Ciudad Rodrigo.
On the 16th the retreat was resumed in the same weather and under the same privations. Many of the men lost their shoes in the sticky slime of the roads, and had to march barefoot. The French cavalry hovered close behind the Regiment, but did not attack; and after dark the Riflemen bivouacked, again glad that in a wood they had at least acorns to assuage their hunger.
On the 17th they fell in before dawn. The rain still fell in torrents. Early in the day the French cavalry pressed the rear-guard, and the 1st Battalion took possession of some high and broken ground on each side of the road, and one or two companies were thrown out as skirmishers to check their advance. But as the enemy continued to press on, and were very numerous, the skirmishers were called in. When running in on the Battalion they passed Lord Wellington; he called out to them: ‘Be cool, my lads; don’t be in a hurry.’ But the French were close upon them; and they, as well as the Commander-in-Chief, were obliged to retire.
While this was happening the Riflemen were surprised to hear the sharp crack of rifles in their rear. The occasion of this was that some of the French dragoons crept, under shelter of a wood, near the baggage and made a dash across the road at it, took some, and made prisoner Lieutenant Cameron, who was on the baggage-guard. But as the head of the Division appeared almost immediately, they let him go. Riflemen were immediately sent into the wood on each side of the road, and a few shots from them soon drove off the dragoons. This was the same party which afterwards made a similar dash at Sir Edward Paget as he was riding alone in an interval between the 5th and 7th Divisions, and took him prisoner.
In the afternoon the Regiment reached the edge of the table-land, whence the ground fell with a long open slope to the Huebra. As soon as they began to descend it, the enemy, who had assembled a large force of infantry and artillery under cover of the wood, opened a severe fire of cannon and musketry, while their cavalry hovered on the flank, watching for an opportunity of dashing at them, if any confusion had occurred. Nevertheless the Light Division went down that hill with all the deliberation and all the steadiness of a field-day. They forded the Huebra, which was rapid and breast-high, near San Munoz, under this fire; followed down the slope by the French skirmishers, whom one company of the 1st Battalion, extended, kept in check; and these were the last men who passed the Huebra on that day. On reaching the other side the Division formed column of battalions, and showed such a front that the enemy evinced no disposition to venture further. The loss of the Regiment was considerable, and would no doubt have been larger, but the ground was so soft from the continued rain that many of the shells buried themselves in the mud and were harmless.
This day’s march was even more harassing than the preceding ones. The constant marching in slushy mud, and continuance in wet shoes, had made the men’s feet very sore; and they often struck them against the stumps of small trees, which had been felled, but, being covered with mud, were not seen. This added much to their sufferings: many men fell out from sheer inability to march, and were made prisoners; and some died.
When the Regiment had passed over, it was discovered that Lieutenant Joseph Simmons, who was sick, was absent; and he was seen sitting on the ground on the other side of the Huebra, too weak to walk or to mount the mule which was beside him. His brother George at once dashed into the ford; lifted him on the mule, and led him over, under the fire of shot and shell which still continued from the height.
In a forest near the steep bank of the Huebra the Regiment bivouacked that night; the picquets being only divided by the river from those of the enemy. The rain and the discomforts of the preceding nights still continued. But at last the commissaries brought in a few half-starved bullocks, and the Riflemen looked forward to a meal, albeit a scanty one. The animals were very soon slaughtered and divided; fires were lighted, and, with much persuasion, even the damp wood began to burn. Then men and officers gathered round their fires, and endeavoured to toast the meat on the points of their swords; but, just then, the wind rose; the gusts shook the heavy drops from the loaded leaves, and most of the fires were extinguished; and they were obliged to resort to the now familiar food of acorns.
The other divisions were to have marched in the night, and the Regiment being part of the rear-guard could not move till they were on the road. But such was the state of the roads and such the fatigue of the men, that these troops had made scarce any way when the Riflemen stood to their arms at dawn. A thick haze hung over the river and the high ground beyond; and they were momentarily expecting an attack which they must have resisted at all hazards to enable the army to make good its retreat. But none took place; and it was not till they had retired some distance, and found no foe in pursuit, that they ascertained that the French, overcome by the fatigue and want which they had borne, had fallen back from the Huebra to Salamanca.
However, though they had no material enemy to contend with, their fatiguing march through slimy roads, and their want of food continued; only the weather improved. The rain ceased; and the sun, which they had not seen for many days, shone out. After a long march they bivouacked on the side of a hill near Santi Spiritus.
During this retreat the casualties of the Regiment were: in the 1st Battalion, 1 sergeant and 1 private killed, and 5 rank and file wounded; in the 2nd Battalion, 1 private killed, and 5 wounded, 1 bugler and 8 rank and file missing; in the 3rd Battalion, 1 private wounded and 9 missing.
On the 19th they marched to near Ciudad Rodrigo, and bivouacked on the banks of the Agueda. And this put a period to their sufferings. For bags of biscuit and other provisions were brought out to them. Yet such was the ravenous hunger of the starved soldiers, that sentries with swords fixed had to be posted over the provisions during their distribution.
Great was the relief officers and men experienced by rest, and by being able to change their clothes, which they had not done since they left Salamanca, a week before. So swollen were the feet, and so hard the boots from constant moisture, that some officers and men had to cut them from their feet.
On the 25th the 1st Battalion moved to Villa de Puerco, and on the next day to Alameda, while the 3rd Battalion were cantoned at Espeja. These villages on the Agueda, so often occupied by them, had come to be looked upon as a home by the Riflemen (at least by those of the 1st Battalion); and in these cantonments they continued during the winter.
Thus closed the campaign of 1812, in which the Regiment had taken part in the storm of two fortresses; in one general action; in three combats, and in many skirmishes and affairs of outposts.
A good deal of sickness, the unfailing consequence of exposure, want and fatigue, prevailed among the Riflemen on their going into winter quarters. And the Record of the 1st Battalion makes special mention of ‘the indefatigable exertions of Surgeon Burke’ during this time. Many of the men, and some of the officers, suffered from a numbness in the limbs and extremities, which was said to result from the change from exposure to comfort, and from want to plenty.
Soon after their entering their cantonments a circular was issued by Lord Wellington to Officers Commanding Divisions and Brigades[119] commenting in very strong terms on the bad conduct of the men, and the neglect of duty of the officers, during the late retreat. This caused great dissatisfaction and regret in the Regiment, for it was felt to be undeserved. That many irregularities took place, and much duty was neglected in some divisions and corps, may be as freely admitted, as that armies become disorganised in retreats. But in the Light Division Craufurd’s strict orders were still observed. ‘Being dead he yet spoke:’ and in the Regiment, Manningham and Stewart’s standing orders so strictly defining the duties of company officers were still observed; and Beckwith’s and Barnard’s admirable system prevailed; and among them no such irregularities took place. The circular also stated that the army had ‘suffered no privations which but trifling attention on the part of the officers could not have prevented,’ and had ‘not suffered any hardships but those resulting from the inclemencies of the weather.’ Yet anyone who reads the last few pages, compiled from Journals of Riflemen who were present, may think the sufferings of the troops are under-estimated by their great Leader. Still less did the sweeping accusations of want of discipline and neglect of duty seem deserved. Both Leach and Kincaid state that not a man of the Regiment (nor, as they believe, of the Division) was left behind, except those too badly wounded at San Munoz, or too utterly exhausted and moribund from hunger or fatigue, to be brought over the Huebra. Had the great Commander, like Moore, exempted from censure those who deserved praise, he would not have wounded the feelings and the esprit de corps of men who had so bravely fought and suffered, and were yet to fight and suffer, under his eye and at his side.
While on the subject of discipline I may perhaps mention an incident which occurred while the Regiment was in these cantonments, as well because it shows the confidence of the officer in the right judgment of the men, as because it evinces the opinion of the soldier concerning deserved punishment.
A man of the 1st Battalion, a vaurien, had robbed his comrades and deserted. He was intercepted and brought back by some guerillas; and having been tried by a regimental Court-Martial was sentenced to receive 150 lashes. As soon as the Adjutant had read the proceedings of the court, Colonel Cameron, who then commanded the Battalion, observing on the infrequency of corporal punishment in it (Costello says that not more than six men were punished in the six years they were in the Peninsula), said that he would forgive the culprit if the Battalion would be answerable for his good behaviour. After a pause, during which not a man spoke or made a sign, Cameron ordered him to strip, and he received twenty-five lashes. Before the next bugler began, Cameron again addressed the men: ‘If,’ said he, ‘this man’s company will speak for him, he shall be no further punished.’ Still not a word was said, nor a man moved; and twenty-five more lashes were inflicted. A third bugler was about to begin, when Cameron again spoke, and said that if one man of the Battalion would come forward in his behalf he would forgive him. No one answered, and the bugler laid on three or four strokes, when a man called out: ‘Forgive him, sir;’ and, being ordered, stepped out of the ranks. ‘Is it you, Robinson?’ said Cameron; ‘I thought as much; a man no better than himself. But I will keep my word. Take him down.’ When the prisoner had been released, Cameron spoke again: ‘Your bravery in the field, men,’ he said, ‘is known to me and to the army. Your moral worth I know now. I am glad that not a man of the Battalion would come forward for that prisoner, except one; and what he is you know as well as I do.’
At Alameda the officers of the 1st Battalion, for the first time for some years, resumed their Battalion mess. A large barn formed the mess-room, in which they constructed two fire-places and chimneys; and dishes, plates, platters, and cups, which had been used by the different company messes in the field, brought into common stock, formed a sufficient if not a very magnificent service.
About this time a number of Spaniards joined the Regiment as recruits. An order had been issued in the May preceding[120] to enlist 100 Spaniards in each Battalion, and Surtees had been sent into the country about to endeavour to obtain these recruits. But unsuccessfully; for though many gave their names, and promised to come in and be attested, yet none appeared. But now it seems they were obtained. They told Costello that they were compelled by their government to serve, and that they preferred enlisting with us. They were divided among the different companies, furnishing about ten or twelve to each company. They made excellent Riflemen, and were distinguished for their bravery, degenerating often into ferocity, prompted by revenge for the injuries they and their families had suffered from the French. Some of them were made corporals; and all these men, according to the terms of their enlistment, were discharged when the Regiment passed the Spanish frontier in 1813.
Great exertions were made to equip the Regiment for the ensuing campaign. The clothing was got up from Abrantes; not before needed; for the Regiment had become, during the campaign and after the retreat, ‘a thing of shreds and patches.’
For the first time, too, in this war tents were provided for the Regiment, three per company for non-commissioned officers and privates, and one for the officers of the company. In the last campaign indeed a sort of ‘tente d’abri’ had been extemporised by making the men sew loops on the corners of their blankets. Two blankets being looped together, and the ends fixed to stands of arms, four men could creep under them. But with this disadvantage, that as two blankets were used for the covering, the four men had only two blankets to wrap themselves in. Yet they were ordered to pitch these new company tents always behind rising ground and out of sight of the enemy.
The Light Division was divided into two brigades. The 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 95th, consisting respectively of six and five companies, with the 43rd and some Portuguese, formed the 1st brigade under the command of Major-General Kempt.
The 2nd Battalion, consisting of six companies, were with the 52nd, and some Portuguese regiments in the 2nd brigade, commanded by Major-General Vandeleur.
On May 21 the Regiment broke up from its cantonments, and marching to Molina des Flores and fording the Agueda near the mill, encamped that night near San Felices el Chico. Marching at daylight next morning, they passed S. Espiritus and Martin del Rey, and encamped near it on the banks of the Yeltes. On the 23rd, after a long march, they encamped on the left bank of the Huebra at San Munoz, which they repassed by the very ford where they had their hard fight with the French six months before. But the face of nature and their own feelings were indeed different. The slushy swamps were now green meadows; the then sullen, swollen river now glistened under a bright sun; the constant, chilling rain was replaced by warm spring sunshine. And they, then fatigued and faint, now rested and restored; then famishing with want, now amply supplied; then depressed by the pursuit of an enemy, now gallantly going to seek that enemy, and exulting at the prospect of driving him before them. Here they halted during the 24th; and on the 25th, passing through Aldea Quella de Penida and Castro, and crossing the Matillo, encamped near Robleza. On the next morning they marched to the banks of the Valmusa, where about mid-day they halted and cooked. And then resuming their march, arrived in the evening at the ford of El Canto on the Tormes, about two leagues below Salamanca, where they encamped that night and remained during the following day. On the 28th they moved, and having forded the Tormes, passed through Monte Rubio, and after a march of twenty-four miles encamped at Aldea Nueva de Figueira, where they remained until June 2. On that day marching early they arrived at Villa Buena, where they cooked and rested; and in the afternoon proceeded to Toro; where finding that the enemy had blown up the principal arch of the bridge, they encamped in some fields on the left bank. Marshal Jourdan now abandoned the line of the Douro, and fell back on Palencia. And in order to follow the line of retreat of the enemy, the Regiment on June 3 crossing the Douro by the bridge of Toro, which had been hastily made passable by planks laid across the broken arch, advanced to Terra Buena, where they encamped. On the next day they moved by Casa Sola and La Mota de Toro, and after a march of about eighteen miles encamped at night on some high ground overhanging the Convent of Espinaz.
On the 5th, passing through Castromonte, where they halted an hour, they encamped at Muderra; and on the next day they marched through Villa Alba to Ampudia, their camping place. On the 7th, marching early, they reached the city of Palencia, and passing through it amidst the acclamations and rejoicing of its inhabitants, encamped close under the walls on the banks of the river Carrion. On the 8th, advancing through Valdepero and Mongen, they encamped at Tamara. The weather now broke up, and from having been hot and fine, now became chilly with much rain. The next day they moved to La Peña de Campos, and encamped near the Rio Cieza. On the 10th they crossed the river by a stone bridge, and passing by the villages of La Peña and Francoen, and across the canal of Castile, encamped near Lantadilla on the right bank of the Pisuerga. During the last few marches the weather had been unfavourable, and the supply of food scanty. The country was devoid of wood, and fuel was with difficulty procured for cooking. The peasantry, too, seemed poor, and their dwellings inferior to those in other parts of Spain. Yet the villagers everywhere welcomed our men with shouts of joy, and the women danced before them, in their national manner doubtless, but it seemed absurd and ridiculous to our people. Yet this amused the tired soldiers, whose heavy load and rapidity of march were lightened by the antics of the rejoicing peasantry.
On the 11th they crossed the Pisuerga by a stone bridge, and passing by Pallacio encamped near Villa Sandino on the river Brullo.
Since leaving Toro in pursuit of the enemy they had never seen a French soldier; but on the 12th, after marching a few miles, and when near the village of Isar, they came upon a rear-guard, composed of a pretty large body of cavalry drawn up on some high ground, and a division of infantry formed in squares. On the cavalry attached to the Light Division advancing, the enemy’s cavalry at once withdrew. The Regiment was drawn up on some high ground over the river Hormaza, and when the squares of the infantry were cannonaded by our guns, though without much effect, they retired towards Burgos. But when passing under the height our men were on, they halted and gave them a volley. This they could do, being in square, and the 95th so much above them. Yet their fire was ineffectual by reason of distance. They moved across the plain, and as soon as they were clear of their guns, these opened a smart cannonade, without, however, doing any harm. The Regiment then continued its route, and encamped at Hornilla de Camino, near the river. On the 13th, as the Regiment was starting early on the march, a tremendous explosion, which seemed to shake the ground on which they stood, and which the soldiers fancied was an earthquake, was heard. This was, as they subsequently found, caused by the enemy blowing up the castle of Burgos, on their evacuating that place. Continuing their march through Villa Nueva, Organda and Villa Rejo, they encamped that night at Tovar.
On the next day, passing through Guermathes, Quintanaleia sobre la Sierra, to Quintanajuar and Poza, they encamped in a wood near these two villages.
On the 15th, after a long and wearisome march through Villa Alta, Pesados and El Almune, and over a most uninteresting country, they came to the edge of the heights overlooking the vale of the Ebro. And the sight of that noble river, fringed with verdant meadows and fruitful orchards, and dotted with farms and country-houses, inspirited them. For from the day they had left the neighbourhood of Salamanca till now, their route had lain through an unwooded, arid country, sometimes indeed bearing great crops of corn, but always uninteresting. Wood for firing could scarcely be found; provisions ran short, and when they were issued, consisted only of tough ration beef and hard biscuit. But now they were descending into a fruitful valley, teeming with everything which could supply their wants. The spirits of the men were elated, and coming to the village of Puente Arenas, they crossed its long stone bridge, the band of the 1st Battalion playing ‘The Downfall of Paris,’ and encamped close to the village.
At dawn of the 16th they started again, and winding along the left bank of the river for about a league, and then ascending the heights which shut it in, marched through a mountainous country, the rugged hills clothed with wood to their summits, and passing the villages of Encinillas and Bisquesas, and crossing the river Nela, encamped a little beyond Medina de Pomar, on the Trueba river.
On the 17th their march was through mountain tracks impassable for artillery. They were in fact striking across the country to the great road from Burgos to Vittoria, in order to intercept the enemy who were proceeding by that road; and after a fatiguing march encamped in a woody height near the river Loza. Picquets were thrown out, as the enemy was supposed to be not far distant, and the Regiment was placed in thick wood, where there was hardly room to pitch the tents.
On the 18th they moved very early. A troop of German hussars led, and then came the 1st Battalion, one company being in advance. After marching about two leagues they arrived at the point where the road by which they were moving struck into the great road, which by a steep descent between high banks, enters the village of San Millan. Here they came upon a strong rear-guard of the enemy who were coming down the hill towards San Millan. The German cavalry first attacked a force of cavalry which was with the rear-guard, and which made a stand; but they soon routed them, and brought in many prisoners. Then Barnard extending the 1st Battalion came down upon the infantry, through the wooded height which overhung the road, and with a sharp and destructive fire put them into confusion. The 3rd Battalion also became actively engaged; and the enemy being broken, retired rapidly, through San Millan and up the hill beyond it, closely pursued by our people. When the Riflemen were beginning the attack Lord Wellington rode up, and directed their movements. As he had another division ready to intercept the French, at Espejo, some distance in advance towards Vittoria, he desired Quartermaster Surtees to go and fetch a peasant who was supposed to be with the 1st Battalion, to guide him to Espejo. But the guide not liking the fire, was nowhere to be found; and on Surtees reporting this to him, Lord Wellington galloped off towards Espejo, without a guide. The Riflemen continued the pursuit of the enemy; who on getting on the height above San Millan, again showed front, and formed up some battalions. But the inexorable Riflemen again pressed them so hard, that they fled through Villa Nueva and Villa Naña; and the country being admirably suited for Riflemen, they inflicted on them great loss.
During this fight an officer of the 3rd Battalion was chased round and round a tree by a French hussar, who cut at him repeatedly, and would undoubtedly have cut him down had he not spied the rifle of a man who had been killed; and as it was fortunately loaded, he shot his antagonist. 1 sergeant and 2 privates of the 1st Battalion were killed; Lieutenant Haggup was desperately, and it was thought mortally wounded, being shot through the belly; yet he recovered; and 10 privates of the 1st and 2 of the 3rd Battalion were wounded.
While the 1st and 3rd Battalions were pursuing the enemy, the second brigade of the Light Division came up to San Millan; and as the rear brigade of the French rear-guard, following their companions, arrived there at the same time, they were attacked by the 2nd Battalion, and handled much as their first brigade had been by the 1st and 3rd. They broke and fled at once, abandoning their baggage, and took to the mountains, where they were pursued and many of them taken by the Spaniards. The 2nd Battalion had 1 sergeant killed and 1 private wounded, in this affair. This was the first time the Regiment had been actually engaged in this campaign.
The 1st and 3rd Battalions having returned from their pursuit, the Regiment encamped on the Jumillo, between San Millan and Villa Nueva.
On the 19th they proceeded by the same road by which their opponents on the preceding day had fled; and halted at the village of Salinas. The day was hot; the march ascending the hill fatiguing; and the clear sparkling rills at Salinas were eagerly resorted to. Every man dipped his mess-tin; every man, when he had tasted it, made a wry face. The water was salt. The earth all around is strongly impregnated with saline matter. And one of the men observed: ‘We must be near the sea now; for we have got to the salt water.’
Continuing their march they encamped that night, after crossing the river Bayas by a moveable bridge, at Pobes, on the bank of that river.
On the 20th the Regiment did not move, but continued in the same encampment.