[193, Oct 1810]

CHAPTER XIII

N landing, the battalion found Lisbon in the greatest confusion, and thronged with country people fleeing with their goods from the horrors of war.  Here it had ammunition served out and camp equipment, such as blankets, camp kettles, bill-hooks, spades, pick-axes and felling axes, medicine panniers, etc., with :fifteen mules for the battalion with a Portuguese muleteer.  The officers had also thirteen private mules.  They marched from Lisbon on the loth October, halting on the 12th at Sobral, where they met that part of the army under the immediate command of Lord Wellington, who arrived at this time, and fixed his headquarters at Peronegro, a short distance in rear of Sobral, a telegraph being erected on a high rock, so that he could communicate with every part of the lines.

Several skirmishes took place, especiaIIy near Sobral on the 14th, when, on attempting to dislodge the 71st[1] from a fieldwork, the French troops were repulsed and pursued to their entrenchments.  In these affairs the Allies lost about 1 So killed and wounded, among them General Harvey; but it does not appear that any of them belonged to the 92nd.  The loss of the enemy was greater.

The weather was wet and they had no tents, and several men suffered from a return of the Walcheren ague; for the first few days, also, they had cause to curse the commissariat, but afterwards the rations were good and regular, and quantities of luscious grapes in the deserted vineyards were to be had for the picking.  On the 15th October they were quartered in some dilapidated houses at Crozendera, and were brigaded with the 50th and 71st Regiments and a company of the 5th Battalion 60th Rifles, under MajorGeneral Howard, whose brigade was attached to the First Division of the army, which, with the Fourth and Sixth Divisions, was composed of troops just arrived from England and Cadiz.  These were posted in a position seven miles long from Zibreira to Torres Vedras, under the immediate command of Lord Wellington himself.[2]  There were about 30,000 British troops in the front line, besides 25,000 Portuguese and 5000 Spaniards.  In the rear was a reserve, consisting of a superb body of British Marines, also Portuguese artillery and Militia, while the navy manned the gunboats on the river Tagus.  Such were the resources provided by the British Government, that not only did 130,000 fighting men receive rations within the lines, but the multitude who had taken refuge from the surrounding country occupied by the French, amounting, with the population of Lisbon, to at least 400,000 more, were [194, Oct 1810] provided with subsistence,[3] and the troops of every were never so healthy nor in such high spirits.[4]

For a month the battalion was employed with the other troops in outpost duty and in strengthening the fortifications.  Meanwhile Massena, whose advance had been delayed by the battle of Busaco, arrived in the middle of October in sight of the formidable barriers, the existence of which he had only learned shortly before.  Astonished at the strength and extent of the works, he devoted some days to reconnoitring the lines; when, finding them to be impracticable, he disposed his army along their front, when the above-mentioned fighting took place at Sobral, in which town the whole of his Eighth Army Corps eventually established its position.  General Foy was sent to report the circumstances to the Emperor, and ask for instructions.

The French at once set to work to raise entrenchments and redoubts, and the war was reduced to a species of blockade.  Massena hoped that the British Government and the Portuguese Regency would be intimidated and abandon the contest,[5] or that he could feed his army on the country, by spreading movable columns to the rear to seek provisions, and forming magazines at Santarem till reinforcements arrived to his assistance.  Lord Wellington, on the other hand, hoped to starve him out before his succour could arrive.  Between the two armies there were a number of deserted farms and houses unoccupied by either party; and in this neutral ground the British and French soldiers constantly met when looking for potatoes and other vegetables, without molesting each other-those who knew a little Portuguese or Spanish_ using these languages in their intercourse; and they were to be seen shaking hands and drinking from each other’s canteens “Drink with you to-day; fight with you to-morrow,” they would say laughing; for the French, though brutal and cruel in their treatment of the country people, respected the red-coats, and when not actually fighting with them, were generally friendly and civil.[6]

The increasing strength of the works, reported by British deserters (unhappily “;ery numerous at this period),[7] added to his [195, Oct 1810] own observation, convinced Massena that it was impossible to force the lines with the troops at his command.  His army suffered from sickness and from the vengeance of the Portuguese, excited by the wanton excesses of his foraging parties, who had reduced the country far behind him to a desert; and yielding to necessity, he at length resolved to fall back upon the strong position of Santarem, where a fertile country would afford supplies to his army.

His dispositions were made with ability.  The morning of the 15th of November was foggy, and it was only some hours after daybreak that the British outposts discovered that the French army was retiring.  All was joy and excitement in the British lines.  Wellington immediately directed the Second and Light Divisions to follow the enemy, whose intention was not clearly developed; it might have been to attack the lines at Torres Vedras; so he kept the principal part of his army stationary at first, but on the 16th, it being clear that no attack was intended, the First Division was brought on to Alemquer, being followed by the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth, while Hill with the Second Division was ordered to cross the Tagus to head the French from passing that river.

The 92nd had marched on the evening of the 15th into the town of Sobral, which the French had occupied till the previous night.  Close to the town they saw a soldier hanging on a tree and another apparently flogged to death-signs of the revenge which the French had brought on themselves by their treatment of the inhabitants.  They also noticed the cleverness of these old campaigners, who had made the enormous wine casks of the country into sleeping places for their outposts.  Continuing the pursuit, they marched three days, following the Light Division by Alemquer to Cartaxo, where they came up with the French rear guard.  During this advance many prisoners were made, principally stragglers or marauders, and a remarkable exploit is recorded by Napier, performed by Sergeant Baxter of the 16th Light Dragoons, who, with only five troopers, came suddenly upon a picket of fifty men who were cooking.  The Frenchmen ran to their arms and killed one of the dragoons, but the rest broke in amongst them so strongly that Baxter, with the assistance of some countrymen, made forty-two captives.

On the 19th, Wellington, supposing Massena to be in full retreat, made dispositions for assaulting Santarem with a small force, thinking he had only to do with a rear guard.  The Light Division advanced between the Rio Mayor and the Tagus, Pack’s Portuguese Brigade and the cavalry were to turn the French right, while the First Division (in which was the 92nd) was to attack the causeway which ran through a marsh from the Rio Mayor to the heights on which the enemy had placed artillery.  The columns [196, Nov 1810] were formed for the attack, the skirmishers were exchanging shots with the enemy, when it was found that the guns had not arrived; and Lord Wellington, not quite satisfied with the appearance of his adversary’s force, cautiously manœuvred till evening, when he ordered the troops to retire to their former ground.  During the day our men could see the French occupying every advantageous spot, their advanced sentries returning the fire of our skirmishers; while large bodies of troops could be seen, some under arms, some cooking, while others were felling trees and forming abattis and entrenchments on the opposite hillsides.  On the 20th the demonstrations were renewed, but as the enemy’s strength and intention to fight on his admirably chosen position was now evident, they soon ceased; and Massena having advanced his Second Corps under Clausel towards Rio Mayor, Wellington was obliged instantly to withdraw the First Division to Cartaxo to check it, the 92nd being quartered near that place at Almostal, where they remained some days.  On this march they found more evidence of the retaliation by the peasantry on the invaders, in the mangled bodies of French soldiers captured as they had fallen out of their ranks from fatigue or for plunder.

Massena, though he had retired about forty miles, had no intention of retreating further, so long as he could find food for his troops.  He posted a strong rear guard at Santarem, a walled city situated on a high hill near the Tagus, one of the strongest positions in Portugal, approachable from the west only by the narrow causeway through the marsh formed by the Rio Mayor, and flooded in winter; the main body of his army was cantoned behind in the rich valley of the Zezere, so disposed as to menace a variety of points, and at the same time to command two distinct lines of retreat.  There he determined to await additional troops from other parts of Spain.  He calculated also on the effect his maintaining his position at Santarem would have on the suffering inhabitants of Lisbon, and on the British Parliament, by rendering the final success of the British so doubtful in appearance.

Wellington on his side had many difficulties, both military and political, to consider.  A successful battle was desirable; it would relieve the horrible sufferings of the people of Portugal, and would silence opposition both in London and Lisbon; but the attack must be made in a difficult country, the rivers and even the roads rendered impassable by winter rains.  But the loss of a serious engagement might cause the opposition to triumph, and the troops to be withdrawn from Portugal.  If Massena lost even a third of his force, there were troops at hand to replace it; if Wellington failed, the Lines were gone, and with them the whole Peninsula.  He would not risk a battle except on advantageous terms, and these [197, Nov 1810] were at present not to be had.  He determined to remain on the defensive, and to strengthen his position, watching the roads and mining the bridges, so as to render impossible any sudden incursion of the enemy.  Torres Vedras was still occupied.  in force lest Massena might make an attack on that side.  Hill was with two divisions on the opposite bank of the Tagus, and by his activity prevented the French from adding to their resources by foraging on that side; the rest of the British army was cantoned along the front opposite the French.

In these dispositions the headquarters of the First Division were at Cartaxo, the 1st Battalion 92nd being stationed at the neat little village of Alcantrinho, where they arrived from Almostal on 28th November.  The place had been deserted by most of its inhabitants, who had fled from the French and taken refuge in Lisbon; but the Gordons made themselves very comfortable in these winter quarters, and parades, drill, etc., went on in the usual routine, varied, however, by picket duty; while their interest was kept up by the constant rumours of the movement of the French armies in Spain, and the engagements which took place between them and the Spanish commanders.

Lord Wellington, though he was himself fully occupied in improving the discipline and organisation of the Portuguese troops and militia, as well as in quieting the political troubles occasioned by certain disloyal Portuguese, thoroughly understood that “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” and that soldiers, like other people, are the better for a little amusement in their leisure hours.  He encouraged games and entertainments among the troops, and, recognising that the chase is the best training for war, he kept a pack of foxhounds, which hunted the country in rear of the army, but the followers were desired on no account to cross the line between the two armies.  The huntsman was a private in the Coldstream Guards, who had been in a hunting establishment before he enlisted.  One day, after a long run, the fox crossed the line of demarcation; the officers pulled up and called to the soldier huntsman to do the same.  “Where my hounds go I go,” said Crane as he galloped on.  Having killed his fox, he was about to return to the British outposts, when he was pounced upon by a picket of French dragoons and carried off to headquarters.  Massena, however, sent him and his pack back with a courteous note to Lord Wellington.[8] Thus the time passed merrily enough; even outpost duty was not without its interest.  The pickets could see at Almeyrim on the left bank of the Tagus the splendid residence of the Marquis [198, Nov 1810] de Alorna, once a general in the army of Portugal, who had espoused the cause of the French and now returned as their guide and counsellor.  This miserable man was one of those who fomented Wellington’s political troubles.  He was resident at Santarem, where, once respected by all, he was now treated with looks of contempt and indignation as a traitor to his country.  Some of the outposts were so near those of the enemy, divided only by a small river, that they could see the dragoons exercising, men cleaning their arms, and on a calm day hear what was said by the vigilant officers as they patrolled the opposite bank, with whom our officers often courteously conversed.  “One day some of them saluted us from the opposite bank—’ Bon jour, Messieurs’—asked after Lord Wellington, said he had done wonders with the Portuguese, and praised his conduct of the campaign.  Then they asked if our King was not dead,[9] and on our replying, , No,’ one said, pointing to another, ‘Le general dit que tout le monde aime votre roi George, qu’il a ete bon pete de famille et bon pete de son peuple’ (the general says that everyone loves your King George, that he has been a good father of his family and a good father of his people).

“We quizzed each other; they asked us how we liked bacallâo[10] and azete for dinner instead of English roast beef; and we, what they did at Santarem without the cafes and Salles de Spectacle of Paris.  They replied, laughing, that they had a theatre, and asked us to come and see the play of that evening, ‘L’entree des Français dans Lisbon’ (the entry of the French into Lisbon).  One of our party quickly answered that he recommended to them, ‘La repetition d’une nouvelle piece—La fuite des Français!’ (the rehearsal of a new play-the flight of the French).  They burst into a loud, long and general laugh, the joke was too good—too home.  Their general then pulled off his hat, and wishing us good day with perfect good humour, they went up the hill”[11] On another occasion our men were astonished by a French soldier calling over the stream, “How are the jolly old ‘Buffs getting on?” —evidently a deserter.  One day some French troops were about to kill a bullock, when it broke loose and galloped towards the 92nd, one of whom shot it, and they proceeded to cut up their prize in view of their hungry and disappointed foes.  Two French soldiers, waving a white handkerchief by way of flag of truce, came over with a message from their officer that he was sure the Scottish soldiers were too generous to deprive his men of their only provisions; [199, Nov 1810] on which half the beef, with some bread and a bottle of rum, was sent back.

Although the French were ready to chaff and laugh with the British, their conduct towards the natives of the country was very different.  Foraging parties of great strength scoured the districts within their reach, driving off herds of cattle, flocks of sheep, and spoil of every description.  These excursions gave rise to horrible cruelty and excess, which broke down the discipline of the French army, nor were they always executed with impunity.  Often they were interrupted by the British cavalry, who, concealing their movements, would watch for a favourable opportunity, and when they saw a party of the enemy busy with the plunder of a village, would swoop down on them, redeeming the cattle, and taking many officers and soldiers.  Our dragoons often made large sums of money by these adventures, as an horses captured from the enemy were sold for the benefit of the captors.  The French also felt the effects of their system in the relentless vengeance of the exasperated people, who lost no opportunity of killing, often with torture, any stragglers or small detachments they could master.[12]

Organised plunder, even in an enemy’s country, has never been the system of the British army.  It is prevented by stringent rules, and though these may occasionally have been broken under circumstances of privation and temptation, there is a general confidence in our honesty, resulting in more regular supplies than can be obtained by desultory plunder.  Still there are black sheep in all flocks, and even in the Gordon Highlanders there were men who, like Donald Caird, sometimes “Found orra things where Allan Gregor fand the tings.”[13]  While at Alcantrinho, four of the 92nd went into the country to see ‘what they could pick up in the houses which they believed to be deserted, when to their surprise they found the inhabitants had returned to their homes since the British had occupied the district.  Having gone thus far on the downward path, and loath to return empty handed, they flung aside restraint and proceeded to plunder.  One of the inhabitants immediately ran off and informed the officer commanding.  The roll was called, the men were found absent and confined on their return; were tried by court-martial, and sentenced to be shot.  Colonel Cameron, however, sorry for the untimely fate which he feared awaited these young men, and believing from his knowledge of them that they might still become trustworthy and good soldiers, before the sentence was promulgated made a strong representation, with any [200, Dec 1810] extenuating circumstances, in their favour.  I find among his correspondence the following letter:—

Cartaxo, December 25th, 1810.

DEAR SIR,—Sir Brent Spencer has directed me to inform you that he has spoken to Lord Wellington respecting the four men of the 92nd Regiment, and that he has every reason to believe that should the result of the Court-martial be serious, Lord Wellington will give it his lenient consideration.  The Lieut.-General has thus taken the earliest opportunity of communicating to you the result of his application, which he trusts will prove satisfactory.

(Signed) T.  DRAKE, Captain and A.D.C,

To Lieut.-Colonel Cameron,
92nd Regiment.

 

The result was that the men, after being sentenced to death, were pardoned.[14]

While his troops were enjoying comparative rest throughout the winter, their general was far from being idle.  He had, indeed, besides the care and discipline of the allied army under his immediate control, many and great responsibilities on his shoulders.  On the 1st of January, Napoleon had caused an army of 70,000, including the young guard, to enter the north of Spain.  The army of the centre, under King Joseph Bonaparte, numbered 27,000; Marshal Soult, Duke of Dalmatia, was in the direction of Cadiz with another large body of all arms, with which he was ordered by the Emperor to march upon Badajos, and, if possible, to assist Massena; but such were the precautions of Wellington and the activity of the Spanish guerillas, that no communication could be effected between the two Marshals, and each remained in ignorance of the situation of the other.  Lord Wellington corresponded with and advised the Spanish generals as to their operations; they neglected his advice and were defeated.  Sault besieged Badajos, and Wellington sent two Spanish divisions to help their countrymen who composed the garrison, but the incapacity of their commander brought destruction on his own force, and finally resulted in the fall of the fortress.

Meanwhile the British Government, roused by the wise and statesmanlike representations of their indomitable general to the far-reaching importance of the war, acceded to his request for more troops, without which it was impossible to carry the struggle to a [201, Jan 1811] successful issue.  General Hill with his two divisions was still in the Alemtejo, on the left bank of the Tagus, where not only did he prevent Massena from crossing to forage in that district, but was ready to render assistance to the Spaniards, who were hard pressed by Soult in the neighbouring province of Estremadura.  Wellington’s army was still cantoned between Santarem and Torres Vedras, watching Massena.

That general had during the last three months entirely exhausted the resources of the country he occupied, and when he heard that British reinforcements had landed at Lisbon on the 2nd March he at once resolved to retreat, and he carried out his resolution in a manner worthy of a great commander.  Of the various lines open to him he chose that which led to the river Mondego and Almeida.  First he destroyed the munitions of war and all the guns which could not be horsed; he sent on his sick and baggage, keeping only his fighting men (reduced by sickness to 40,000) in front.  When his impedimenta had gained two days’ march to the rear, he commenced his retrograde movement with the main body of his troops on the night of the 5th March, but he had previously caused an army corps, and his cavalry under Marshal Ney, to assemble near Leiria, threatening Torres Vedras, thus preventing Lord Wellington from taking a decided step lest he should open the lines to his adversary.

The British general was aware that a retreat was imminent, but it was only at daylight on the 6th that the empty camps at Santarem showed that it had begun.  Wellington immediately followed the enemy with his own army, and the Gordon Highlanders marched from their comfortable quarters at Alcantrinho to the appropriate air of “Gabhaidh sinn an rathad mòr, olc air mhaith le càch e,”[15] and with the First Division moved by Golegao to Assentisse, near Thomar.  The British advanced guard soon came up with the rear guard of the enemy under Ney, and were constantly in contact with them.

Napier, who was with the Light Division, and from whose history the account of these operations is principally taken, gives a horrible instance of the calamities which war may bring upon a country.  Near Thomar they discovered a large house in an obscure part of the country filled with starving people.  Above thirty women and children had sunk, and sitting by the bodies were fifteen or sixteen survivors, of whom only one was a man, but all so enfeebled as to be unable to eat the little food the British soldiers had to offer them.  The youngest had fallen first—all the children were dead; the man seemed most eager for life, the women appeared [202, March 1811] patient and resigned, and, even in this distress, had arranged the bodies of those that died first with decency and care.

That part of the army to which the 92nd belonged continued the close pursuit of the French, in moderate weather, through a country where the hollow roads were confined by wooded mountains on either hand, with villages here and there offering strong positions to the enemy in which to make a stand.  He did so on the morning of the 9th, on a table-land in front of Pombal, where skirmishing took place at the advanced posts, and the cavalry of the King’s German Legion took some prisoners.  Lord Wellington had detached part of his army to relieve Badajos, and they were already on the march, when intelligence being received that morning that Badajos was capable of holding out longer, he recalled them.  That night the Gordons lay at Peyalvo.  Their division (the First) with the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Light Divisions, and the Portuguese which were attached to each British division, were assembling in front of the enemy on the 10th, when Massena suddenly retired through the town of Pombal.  He was so closely followed by the British that, the streets being still encumbered, Ney drew up a rear guard on a height behind the town and threw a detachment into the old castle.  He had waited too long.  The French army was moving in some confusion in a narrow defile between the mountains and the river Soure, which was fordable, and the British divisions were in rapid motion along the left bank with the intention of crossing lower down and cutting off Massena’s retreat; but night came on, and the operation terminated with a sharp skirmish, in which, after some changes of fortune, the French were driven from the castle and town with such vigour that they had not time to destroy the bridge, though it was mined.  About forty of the Allies were wounded, and the French loss was somewhat greater.

Daybreak on the 12th saw both armies in movement, and eight miles of marching and skirmishing brought the head of the British into a hollow way leading to a high table-land on which Ney had disposed 5000 infantry, a few squadrons of cavalry, and some light guns; behind him was the village of Redinha, situated in a hollow; it covered a bridge over the Soure, and a long and dangerous defile.  Beyond the stream some rugged heights commanding a view of the position in front of the village were occupied by a division of infantry, a regiment or cavalry, and a battery of heavy guns, all so disposed as to give the appearance of still greater force.  An open plain extended between the French and the position of the British.

Lord Wellington, after examining the enemy’s position, directed the Light Division to attack the wooded slopes covering Ney’s right.  They cleared the woods, and their skirmishers advanced into the plain; but the French opened a heavy fire, and their [203, March 1811] 3rd Hussars charged and took fourteen prisoners.  The British had meanwhile seized the wooded heights protecting the French left, but Ney, though he saw that Lord Wellington was bringing the masses of his troops into line, continued to hold his ground with astonishing confidence, and even charged the skirmishers, though there were already cavalry and guns on the plain enough to overwhelm him.  In this position both sides remained for an hour, when three shots were fired from the British centre as a signal to advance, and a most splendid spectacle of war was exhibited.  The woods seemed alive with troops, and in a few moments 30,000 men, forming three gorgeous lines of battle, were stretched across the plain; while horsemen and guns springing forward simultaneously from the centre and from the left wing, charged under a general volley from the French battalions; these were instantly hidden by the smoke, and when that had cleared away, no enemy was to be seen.

Ney had opposed Picton’s skirmishers on his left, and at the same moment withdrew the rest of his troops so rapidly that he gained the village ere the British cavalry could reach him; he personally superintended the carrying off of a dismounted howitzer, which he effected with great danger and considerable loss.  The British Horse Artillery thundering on his rear, and their infantry “chasing like heated bloodhounds, passed the [204, March 1811] river almost at the same time as the French,”[16] and they fell back on the main body at Condeixa.  The British had 12 officers and 200 men killed and wounded in this combat, and the enemy lost as many, and might have been destroyed had Lord Wellington not been deceived as to his strength by his skilful arrangements, and so acted with more caution than afterwards appeared to have been necessary.  Yet the extraordinary facility and precision with which the British general handled so large a force was a warning to the French commander, and produced a palpable effect upon the after operations.[17]

On the 13th the pursuit was renewed.  The French had obstructed the road by felling trees and constructing palisades, which impeded the advance of the Allies.  They burned the town of Condeixa, and lighted a number of fires, which covered the retreating troops with their smoke; but the British skirmishers and cavalry closed with their rear, and Massena himself only escaped by taking the feathers out of his hat and riding through the skirmishers.  At dark the pickets were posted close to the enemy.  On the morning of the 14th the mist was so thick that nothing could be seen, but from the sounds on the hill in front, it was evident that the French were there in force, and General Erskine rashly sent the 52nd Regiment forward; they unconsciously passed the enemy’s outposts and nearly captured Marshal Ney, whose bivouac was close to his pickets.  The rattle of musketry and the booming of round shot were heard, and the mist slowly rising, discovered the 52nd engaged without support in the midst of the enemy’s army.

At this moment Wellington arrived, and sent the Light Division to repair Erskine’s error and aid the isolated 52nd.  The First Division, including the 92nd, the rest of the infantry, the heavy cavalry and artillery came up, and Ney retreated, covering his rear with guns and light troops, retiring from ridge to ridge at first with admirable precision, till as the British got within range, the retreat became less orderly; but he gained the strong pass of Miranda de Corvo, which had been secured by the main body of Massena’s army.  The British loss was 11 officers and 150 men killed and wounded; the French loss was greater, and 100 prisoners were taken by the British.  The French army was now compressed between the higher mountains and the Mondego River, and Massena destroyed great quantities of ammunition and baggage, while Marshal Ney still covered the retreat.

The “morning state” of the 92nd on the 15th is dated “Camp, near Condeixa.” Massena had burned the town of Miranda and crossed the Ceira the preceding night, but the fog was so dense on the morning of the 15th, that the pursuers could not reach that river till late in the afternoon, when they lit their fires, thinking nothing more would be done; but Lord Wellington, seeing his opportunity, attacked Marshal Ney, who occupied a strong position on the hither side of the river.  The Horse Artillery galloped to a rising ground and opened with great effect; the Third Division charged and overthrew the left of Ney’s troops, while his right was engaged with the Light Division and other troops.  Darkness coming on, the French in their panic began to fire on each other, and finally fled in confusion to the river, in which many were drowned, some were crushed to death on the bridge, and in all their loss was about 500 men.  An eagle was afterwards found in the bed of the river.  Four officers and sixty men fell on the side of the British.

Sergeant Robertson of the 92nd mentions that at the place where Massena had destroyed his baggage, he had ordered a number of asses to be destroyed, and the person charged with the execution had, instead of killing them outright, cruelly ham-stringed 500 and left them to starve in agony.  Napier also mentions this circumstance.  “The mute but deep expression of pain and grief visible in these poor creatures’ looks wonderfully roused the fury of the soldiers.” British soldiers are notoriously kind to dumb animals, and at that moment no quarter would have been given to a Frenchman.  Indeed, Massena’s retreat was marked by unlimited [205, March 1811] vengeance on the part of the Portuguese peasantry.  Towns, villages, and corn stacks were burned; wine which could not be consumed was left running in the gutters; the people were murdered if they remained, and their property destroyed if they fled from their homes.  They formed themselves into bands sworn to vengeance, who hung on the rear of the French, revenging themselves on any stragglers from the ranks.  The Gordons saw not only the dead, but the wounded, stripped naked by them, and Napier mentions a peasant whom he saw hounding on his dog to devour the dead and dying.

On the 16th the Allies halted; they had in some respects suffered greater privations than the enemy, who had cleared the country of all supplies, and had also carried fifteen days’ bread with them, while the Allies depended on a commissariat which broke down under the difficulties.  The men of the 92nd had no bread, only beef killed as required, and eaten without salt; and one day a little rice was served out as a great treat.  The soldiers grumbled to each other as they stumbled along in the darkness of a foggy morning.  “The Parliament and people at home hear all about the grand Lord and the movements of the army, but they don’t know anything about us individuals; they don’t know, for instance, that you are d—d tired and that I have no pao “[18] (Portuguese for bread), and they blamed the Commissary-General, but he was not really in fault.  The Portuguese Government, notwithstanding the representations of Wellington, would neither feed the Portuguese troops regularly even at Santarem, nor collect the means of transport for the march; after passing Pombal, many of the Portuguese soldiers were actually without food for four days;[19] many died, and to save the whole from destruction, the British supplies were shared with them; thus the Commissary-General’s means were overtaxed, the whole army suffered, and their general was obliged to call a halt.

On the 17th of March the 92nd were in “camp near Lasisoa.” The French had again taken up a strong position behind the river Alva and on the Sierra de Moita, having destroyed the bridges behind them; and Massena sent out foraging parties, intending to halt for several days; but on the 18th the First, Third, and Fifth Divisions were ordered to advance over the mountains to menace the French left, and they carried out these instructions with wonderful perseverance and strength, while the other divisions cannonaded the enemy on the Lower Alva.  The Gordons had hard work during this movement, and the women of the regiment suffered a good deal of hardship.  The Staff Corps made a raft [206, March 1811] bridge over the Alva, and the pursuit continued.  Massena recommenced his retreat with great rapidity; again destroyed baggage and ammunition, and abandoned his more distant foraging parties, of whom 800 were taken.  Wellington assembled the whole army at Moita on the 19th; and on the 20th the pursuit was continued by the cavalry and Light Division, while the 92nd, with the greater part of the troops, halted at Moita till provisions, which had been sent by sea from Lisbon to the Mondego, could come up to them.  The French reached Celerico on the 21st, where they were reinforced by a division 9000 strong; and Massena proposed to send his sick to the fortress of Almeida, then to pass the river Estrella at Guarda, make a countermarch through Sabugal to the Elga, and establish communications across the Tagus with Marshal Sault and with King Joseph Bonaparte, with a view to mutual co-operation.  But he could no longer command the obedience of his generals, who were at variance with each other and with him.  To such a height did the discord rise between Massena and Ney, that the latter was superseded in his command by General Loison.

By the 28th the troops (including the 92nd) had come up from Moita, and with them the reinforcements, which were formed into a Seventh Division.  At Guarda a battle was expected on the 29th, and Wellington disposed his army for the attack of that nearly impregnable position—the 92nd, in the First Division, being placed in the centre.  The absence of Marshal Ney, who had so ably commanded the rear guard of the enemy, was at once felt by both armies.  On the appearance of the allied troops, the position was abandoned without firing a shot; and the French retired in confusion to the Coa, a considerable river running northwards through ravines and rugged banks to join the Douro.

On the 1st of April the allied army descended the mountains and reached the Coa—the 92nd starting from Alviria, about twenty miles distant.  The enemy’s troops were disposed on the right bank of the river, and the position occupied by General Reynier’s Army Corps at Sabugal suggested to Wellington the possibility of cutting it off and compelling it to surrender.  The enterprise failed of complete success, owing to the attack being prematurely delivered by the British advanced troops before the other columns, who were confused by thick mist and rain, had reached their posts.  A fierce encounter took place, in which the 43rd and two battalions of the 52nd distinguished themselves by the presence of mind of the officers and the furious bravery of the soldiers.  They sustained and repulsed repeated attacks of cavalry and infantry, and by the steadiness of their musketry fire silenced two French guns, which opened with grape at 100 yards distance.  Reynier had put 6000 infantry, with cavalry and artillery, in motion to storm [207, April 1811] the contested height, when at the critical moment the five British divisions passed the bridge of Sabugal, the British cavalry appeared on the hills beyond the enemy’s left, and the Third Division, issuing from the woods, opened fire on Reynier’s right, which decided the fate of the day.  The French general retreated on Rendo, where he met the Sixth Corps coming to his assistance, but they fell back together, pursued by the British cavalry.

The First and Seventh Divisions being in reserve, the 92nd did not take part in this bloody encounter, which, though it lasted less than an hour, cost the Allies nearly 200 killed and wounded; 300 dead Frenchmen lay heaped together on the hill, and more than 1200 were wounded, so true and constant was the British fire.[20]

Massena sought rest for his army behind the cannon of Ciudad Rodrigo, and retreated across the frontier with the bulk of his army to that fortress and to Salamanca, at the same time throwing a garrison into Almeida.  One more affair, very creditable to the French, occurred as a French brigade was marching from Almeida to Ciudad Rodrigo.  Suddenly two cannon shots were heard, and six squadrons of British cavalry, with Bull’s troop of Horse Artillery, came sweeping over the plain.  The French immediately formed squares and retreated, their cavalry on the flanks; and though the cannon shots ploughed through them, they retained their military order and coolness; and, gaining rough ground, escaped over the river Agueda, but with the loss of 300 men in killed, wounded, and prisoners.  Massena entered Portugal with 70,000 men; 10,000 joined him at Santarem, and 9000 on the retreat.  He brought only 45,000 of all arms out of the country.  He lost, therefore, the enormous number of 45,000 men during the invasion and retreat by want, sickness, and the sword.  The British were not weakened to the extent of a fourth of that number;[21] and Wellington stood victorious on the confines of Portugal, having executed what, to others, appeared incredibly rash and vain to attempt.[22]

During these operations the 92nd had neither officer nor soldier killed in action.

The army was now cantoned in villages on both sides of the Coa, the headquarters of the Gordon Highlanders being at Aldea Ponte, on the frontier of Portugal, about ten miles from Sabugal on the road to Ciudad Rodrigo.  On the 9th of April the battalion entered Spain and was quartered at Albergaria, where they were joined by a draft of one lieutenant and forty-four rank and file from the 2nd Battalion.[23]

[208, April 1811] In these places there were good markets, and they enjoyed rest and abundance of good things.  Lord Wellington’s headquarters were at Villa Formosa on the frontier not far from Almeida, which fortress he closely invested.  The remarkable escape at this time of one of Lord Wellington’s staff is recorded by Napier.  Colonel Waters had been taken prisoner during the retreat; he had refused to give his parole, and was consequently kept in the custody of gens d’armes.  When the French army was near Salamanca, he waited till the chief gens d’armes, who rode the only good horse in the party, had alighted, when, giving the spur to his own mount, he galloped off, an act of incredible resolution and hardihood, for he was on a large plain covered for miles around him with the French columns.  His hat fell off, and, thus distinguished, he rode along the flank of the troops, some encouraging him, others firing at him, and the gens d’armes, sword in hand, close at his heels; suddenly breaking at full speed between two columns he gained a wooded hollow, and, having thus baffled his pursuers, reached headquarters on the third day, where Lord Wellington had caused his baggage to be brought, observing that he would not be long absent.