Letters from the peninsula, 1808-1812

16 January 1809

Battle of Corunna

CHAPTER VI

Captain Warre took part in Sir John Moore’s retreat and, with General Beresford, was the last to embark after the Battle of Corunna, 16th January 1809.

CHAPTER III

The letter of William Warre dated 23rd December, 5.30 P.M., is singular in noting the exact time at which the orders were given to march against Soult at Saldaña. Among the letters it is unique in its tone, as if the writer was oppressed with a presentiment that he was marching to his death. It reflects in some measure the feeling which had been current in the army owing to the period of uncertainty and disappointment through which it had been passing. Within half an hour of the time at which the letter was written, Moore had received the news of Napoleon’s advance. The columns which had marched to attack Soult were ordered to return to Sahagun, and within twelve hours the celebrated retreat on Corunna had begun. The next letter belongs to 1809.

CHAPTER III

Then came the battle of Corunna, and the tragic death of the Commander of the army in the moment of victory. General Beresford’s Brigade covered the embarkation. The General and his A.D.C. were the last men to get into the boats.

CHAPTER VI

Baird, Sir David, at Corunna, 43; at Mayorga, 43; loss of his arm at the battle of Corunna, 50

27–28 July 1809

Battle of Talavera

CHAPTER III

There followed, after an interval, the summer campaign, which ended with the battle of Talavera. After this, owing to the behaviour of the Spaniards, the British army retired on Badajos, and went into cantonments.

CHAPTER III

The Portuguese army, which had not taken any part in the Talavera campaign, was meantime growing steadily in numbers and discipline.

CHAPTER III

You will long before this have heard of the battle of Talavera perhaps the most glorious ever gained, if we consider the disproportion of numbers. Not having had the good fortune to be present I can give no further particulars than you will have seen by Sir Arthur’s despatch. The attacks were most vigorous and repeated by upwards of 40,000 men in heavy columns, first against the left, then the right, and afterwards along the whole British line which was occupied by about 19,000 men. Nothing however could overcome the steadiness and gallantry of our troops. After having been engaged the 26th and 27th, the greatest part of the night between the 27th and 28th, and from daybreak till night that day, the enemy was completely repulsed, leaving 11,000 killed and wounded on the field, and the next morning retired 4 leagues to Sebola. Our loss was also very considerable, about 4500 killed and wounded. You will be sorry to hear that the 23rd lost half their men in a charge, and among a great many officers wounded are Capt. Howard badly, Drake ditto. He was taken and afterwards released by the enemy, Allen wounded and taken, D. W. Russell slightly, Frankland slightly, Lieut. Anderson badly, and 226 men killed and wounded. I saw Col. Seymour and Dance, who are quite well. The Regt. was ordered to charge two columns of the enemy, who were deploying, but who unfortunately had time to form square without there being time for the order being revoked, and they unfortunately persevered in attempting an attack which it was impossible should succeed.

CHAPTER III

The British army as usual has been deprived of the fruits of their glorious victory; for Soult, Ney, and Mortier, having penetrated from Castille to Placencia with 34,000 men, added to the impossibility of placing any dependance upon the Spaniards, who during and after the battle of Talavera had remained, except their Artillery, entirely spectators, with 20,000 men, exposing the British army to finding itself between two fires, besides entirely cutting off its retreat and communications with Portugal, obliged Sir Arthur to retire by the bridge of Arçobispo to the other side of the Tagus; that of Almaraz was already occupied by the enemy. Cuesta, who was left at Talavera to keep the army of Victor in check, I suppose not feeling very confident in his troops, set off after Sir Arthur, thus abandoning all such of our wounded, who could not crawl along the road, to the enemy, who however, it must be confessed, on all occasions have treated the English prisoners with great humanity.

27 September 1810

Battle of Bussaco

CHAPTER VI

1810. Jan. Lord Wellington retires into Portugal. Jan. and Feb. The French invade Andalusia. Feb. 1. King Joseph enters Seville. Siege of Cadiz. ” 12. Badajos summoned by Mortier. March to April 22. Siege of Astorga. May to July 9. Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo. July 24. Combat of the Coa. July to Aug. 27. Siege of Almeida. Sept. 16. Masséna advances into Portugal. ” 27. Battle of Bussaco. Oct. 1-9. Wellington retires within the lines of Torres Vedras. Oct. to Nov. Masséna before the lines. Nov. 14. Masséna retreats to Santarem. Dec. 21. Soult moves northward to support Masséna.

CHAPTER VI

After the passage of the Douro, May 1809, Major Warre was sent forward by Beresford to raise the armed peasantry in the province of Minho, with a view to harassing the French forces under Marshal Soult, which were then in full retreat. He succeeded in getting the peasantry to dismantle the bridges of Ponte Nova and the Saltador, but could not get them to destroy their own means of communication. Had this been done the French army was lost. The delay, however, caused by the necessity of forcing and repairing the bridges, cost the French the loss of many men and horses,[1] and of most of the spoil they were carrying off from Oporto. Unfortunately the letters in which these operations were described are wanting. But for the rest of the long campaign up to the battle of Salamanca, with the exception of Talavera, when he was with Beresford in Portugal, and of Albuera, and Bussaco, from which he was absent through illness, his letters are fairly consecutive comments of an actor in the events which occurred during that period of heroic struggle.

CHAPTER IV

Major Warre, after a very busy time in August, seems to have been attacked by his old malady and to have been sent to Lisbon. He thus, much to his chagrin, missed Bussaco and the retreat to the lines of Torres Vedras. Early in October he had recovered sufficiently to rejoin the Marshal at his Headquarters within the lines. But the hard life and exposure resulted in a very serious relapse, which brought him to death’s door, and the Medical Board determined that he must be sent home. He arrived at Falmouth, after a bad voyage of ten days, early in November, and the last two letters of this year’s series, from Falmouth and Honiton respectively, indicate a very tedious journey and a precarious state of health.

16 May 1811

Battle of Albuera

CHAPTER VI

After the passage of the Douro, May 1809, Major Warre was sent forward by Beresford to raise the armed peasantry in the province of Minho, with a view to harassing the French forces under Marshal Soult, which were then in full retreat. He succeeded in getting the peasantry to dismantle the bridges of Ponte Nova and the Saltador, but could not get them to destroy their own means of communication. Had this been done the French army was lost. The delay, however, caused by the necessity of forcing and repairing the bridges, cost the French the loss of many men and horses,[1] and of most of the spoil they were carrying off from Oporto. Unfortunately the letters in which these operations were described are wanting. But for the rest of the long campaign up to the battle of Salamanca, with the exception of Talavera, when he was with Beresford in Portugal, and of Albuera, and Bussaco, from which he was absent through illness, his letters are fairly consecutive comments of an actor in the events which occurred during that period of heroic struggle.

CHAPTER V

Masséna had early in March retired from Santarem, but still held on tenaciously to Portuguese soil, from which he was not driven till after the combat of Sabugal on 3rd April. In the interval Beresford had recaptured Campo Mayor and Olivença. He had now 22,000 men under his command. With these he proceeded to lay siege to Badajos. Wellington, who on 20th April had come to Elvas, was soon summoned back to his army, which was investing Almeida, by the news of a forward movement on the part of Masséna. Reinforced by detachments from Bessières, he had now a force of full 40,000 men at his disposal, and was strong in cavalry, in which the allies were weak. Followed on 5th May the battle of Fuentes d’Onoro, which was fought to cover the blockade of Almeida, and was almost not a victory for Wellington. On the 8th the French retreated. On the 10th the French garrison of Almeida, under General Brennier, made their escape. Meantime Soult from the south again advanced to relieve Badajos, which Beresford was besieging with no adequate battering train. The latter took up a position at Albuera, a few miles to the south-east of Badajos, where, on the 16th of May, was fought the fiercest battle of the war, the memories of which have been enshrined in immortal prose by Napier. Towards the middle of May, Marmont succeeded Masséna in the command of the army of Portugal. Poor King Joseph about the same time attempted, but in vain, to divest his head of the crown, which caused it so much uneasiness, and to retire into private life. On 25th May Badajos was for a second time surrounded, but not for long. The siege was raised again early in June. At the end of May, Wellington was blockading Ciudad Rodrigo.

CHAPTER V

Major Warre, who reached Beresford’s headquarters towards the end of May, found the Marshal rather failing in health after the stress of Badajos and two unsuccessful sieges, and the tremendous anxiety of Albuera. His first letter after his arrival is written on 20th June from St Olaia, about eight miles from Campo Mayor. With the exception of a reconnaissance in force by Soult, which had no important result, nothing of moment occurred, and during the hot months the armies on either side were comparatively quiescent. The Marshal, whose health was much impaired, spent the rest of the year at Lisbon and Cintra. Meanwhile, the organisation and improvement of the Portuguese army continued, notwithstanding the difficulties arising from the impecuniosity and incapacity of the Portuguese Government, of which frequent complaints recur in the letters.

CHAPTER V

We dined yesterday with Ld. Wellington at St Vincente, about ½-way (5 miles) between this and Elvas, where he has a very pretty Quinta, and after dinner we rode to the Camp (4 miles) and Torre de Mouro, and nearly to Campo Mayor, to look over the positions (4 more), and we had then 8 to ride back to this, which is not a bad afternoon’s ride, and it was very late when we got here. This is a little town, and we are pretty well off, notwithstanding its being a good deal crowded with 13th Lt. Dns. and General Castanhos’ Hd. Qrs., who has now no army. He is a good-natured well-meaning man, but not remarkable either for talent or judgement. I do not think the enemy will advance immediately, though greatly superior to us in number. They must be as anxious as we can be to rest and refit, and can hardly have recovered their defeat at Albuera, though in numbers increased by the junction of Marmont and Drouet with their Corps, and he must first besiege and take Elvas, which, (though I have no very high opinion of either its Governor, or the principal part of its garrison, and know it to have very weak points,) would I hope at all events delay him some weeks....

22 July 1812

Battle of Salamanca

CHAPTER VI

1812. Jan. 8. Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo. ” 19. Taking of Ciudad Rodrigo by storm. March 16. Siege of Badajos. April 6-7. Taking of Badajos. May 18. Hill destroys bridge at Almaraz. June. Wellington advances into Castille. June 17. Allies enter Salamanca. ” 27. Forts at Salamanca taken. July 22. Battle of Salamanca—Beresford severely wounded. Aug. 12. Allies enter Madrid. Sept. Siege of Burgos. Oct. Retreat from Burgos. Nov. Winter quarters near Ciudad Rodrigo.

CHAPTER VI

After the passage of the Douro, May 1809, Major Warre was sent forward by Beresford to raise the armed peasantry in the province of Minho, with a view to harassing the French forces under Marshal Soult, which were then in full retreat. He succeeded in getting the peasantry to dismantle the bridges of Ponte Nova and the Saltador, but could not get them to destroy their own means of communication. Had this been done the French army was lost. The delay, however, caused by the necessity of forcing and repairing the bridges, cost the French the loss of many men and horses,[1] and of most of the spoil they were carrying off from Oporto. Unfortunately the letters in which these operations were described are wanting. But for the rest of the long campaign up to the battle of Salamanca, with the exception of Talavera, when he was with Beresford in Portugal, and of Albuera, and Bussaco, from which he was absent through illness, his letters are fairly consecutive comments of an actor in the events which occurred during that period of heroic struggle.

CHAPTER VI

In the battle of Salamanca, 1812, he was with his chief, Marshal Beresford, when the latter was severely wounded, and, as narrated in the letters, carried him into the town, nursed him through his illness, and went with him to Lisbon.

CHAPTER VI

After this Marmont retired behind the Douro, across which he desired to draw Wellington. The manœuvres which followed are difficult to describe, or indeed to understand. The armies marched and countermarched, till at last by a skilful manœuvre Marmont was able to throw his force across the Tormes and to threaten Wellington’s line of retreat upon Ciudad Rodrigo. This attempt culminated on the afternoon of 22nd July in the battle of Salamanca. At the moment when Marmont pushed forward his left under Thomières to gain the high ground, which would enable him to command the road leading to the south-west through Miranda, Wellington, detecting his mistake, launched his attack on the French army. The battle, which is graphically described in the letters, resulted in the total defeat of the French, with the loss of guns and Eagles, and Colours, and many Generals. Marmont himself was badly wounded, and lost 6000 men killed and wounded, besides 7000 prisoners.