' / 
 
 i * 
 
HAMILTON'S CAMPAIGN 
 
 WITH 
 
 MOORE AND WELLINGTON 
 
 DURING 
 
 THE PENINSULAR WAR. 
 
 ORIGINAL AND COMPILED. 
 
 Published for the author. 
 
 TROY, N, Y.: 
 
 PRESS OF PRESCOTT & WILSON, CCXXV RIVER-STREET. 
 
 1847. 
 

 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by 
 
 ANTHONY HAMILTON, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of toe District' Court for the Northern District of New- York. 
 
HAMILTON'S CAMPAIGN 
 
 WITH MOORE AND WELLINGTON. 
 
 .At the request of a large circle of acquaintan- 
 ces and friends, as well as from my own choice, 
 1 offer to my numerous readers (as I hope they may 
 be) a brief and unvarnished account of my hum- 
 ble life and adventures. 
 
 I was born on the 1st of January, 1779, in the 
 town and parish of Raphoe, County of Donegall, 
 in the North of Ireland. 
 
 My parents were much respected and were de- 
 scendants of some of the first and best families that 
 early settled in that part of the Island. 
 
 On my father's side I was a protestant, and on 
 the part of my mother a catholic ; suffice to say, 
 the whole family went with mother to the mass, 
 which left me a Roman Catholic. 
 
 My father had a good freehold property and was 
 well to live ; he died when I was quite young, 
 which deprived me of the means of an early edu- 
 
cation. I was bound out to a trade, but soon ran 
 away and went to Strabane in the county of Ty- 
 rone, where I enlisted in the 43d Light Infantry, 
 with Lieut. Pollock, who was afterwards wound- 
 ed in the siege of Badajos. 
 
 We sailed from Warren's Point, recruits and all, 
 to Liverpool and went by the way of London, to 
 Kent. 
 
 We next sailed with an expedition from Hive 
 Barracks in Kent, to Copenhagen, in order to pun- 
 ish Denmark for going into an alliance with 
 France. We bombarded Copenhagen the fleet 
 by water and the army by land. In this affair, I 
 was in the Light Brigade. We built sand-bank 
 batteries, drove in the advance piquet guards of 
 the Danish army, and captured the Danish fleet. 
 The consequence was, Denmark paid a heavy ran- 
 som to England to withdraw their armament. 
 
 Wc returned to England, and lay for a short 
 time in Barracks at Maiden, in E&sex. 
 
 Soon after the opening of the first campaign of 
 the British army destined for the Peninsula, we 
 sailed for Portugal and landed at Mondego Bay. 
 Previous to the landing of our division, Sir Ar- 
 thur Wellesley, now the Duke of Wellington, left 
 Cork, Ireland, July 12th, 1808, with an army of 
 12,000 men, and landed at Mondego Bay, on the 
 1st of August. I was not present in this first en- 
 gagement, but will give the details as received 
 from the most authentic and reliable sources. 
 
BATTLE OF ROLICA. 
 
 On the 9th of August, the advanced guard of the 
 army moved onward from the Mondego, by the 
 way of Leiria, and on the 14th entered Alcobaca, 
 from which the enemy had retired on the preced- 
 ing night, and on the following day moved forward 
 towards Caldas. At Brilos, a village in the neigh- 
 borhood the first blood was shed. The post was 
 attacked by some companies of riflemen of the 
 60th and 95th regiments, who carried it with tri- 
 fling resistance on the part of the enemy, whom 
 they incautiously pursued for several miles. The 
 detachment however was in turn attacked by a 
 superior force which endeavoured to cut oft" their 
 retreat ; and it was only by the prompt assistance 
 of General Spencer that this object was defeated. 
 The loss of the British was 26 killed. 
 
 On the same day the army reached Caldas, and 
 the advance, under Brigadier Gen. Fane, moved 
 on to Obidos, and drove the enemy's piquets from 
 the town. Gen. Delaborde, in the meantime, had 
 retired to a position in front of Rolica. The heights 
 on which this village is situated from the bounda- 
 ry of a valley commencing at Caldas and about 
 three leagues in extent. 
 
 Nearly in the centre stand the town and old 
 Moorish fort of Obidos ; and every favourable post 
 on the high ground, on either side of the valley 
 1* 
 
HAMILTON S CAMPAIGN, 
 
 was occupied by detachments of the French army. 
 The main body was posted on a plain, which over- 
 looked the valley as far as Obidos. 
 
 On the morning of the 17th August, Sir Arthur 
 Wellesley advanced to the attack. Columns were 
 sent out on either flank ; and on the approach of 
 these, Delaborde, without offering resistance, fell 
 back to the heights of Rolica, where he again 
 placed his army in position. 
 
 The ground thus occupied was strong ; and hav- 
 ing been closely reconnoitered by Sir Arthur Wel- 
 lesley, he made immediate preparation for attack. 
 His army with this view was formed into three 
 columns. 
 
 The right, consisting of twelve hundred Portu- 
 guese infanry, and fifty Portuguese cavalry, was 
 intended to turn the left flank of the position, 
 and penetrate into the mountains in the rear. 
 The left consisting of Major General Ferguson's 
 and Brigadier General Bowes' brigades of infan- 
 try, three companies of riflemen, and about forty 
 cavalry, British and Portuguese, was destined un- 
 der command of General Ferguson, to ascend the 
 hills at Obidos, in order to turn the posts which 
 the enemy still held on the left of the valley, as 
 well as the right of his position at Rolica. The 
 centre column, commanded by Sir Arthur in per- 
 son, and consisting of Major General Hill's, Briga- 
 dier General Nightingale's, Crawford's and Fane's 
 brigades, with four thousand Portuguese light in- 
 
fan try, and the main body of the British and Por- 
 tuguese cavalry, was ordered to assemble in the 
 plain, and attack the front of the position. 
 
 Such was the order of the attack. It was morn- 
 ing and a calm and quiet beauty seemed to linger 
 on the scene of the impending conflict. The heights 
 of Rolica, though steep and difficult of access pos- 
 sessed few of the sterner and more imposing fea- 
 tures of mountain scenery. The heat and droughts 
 of summer had deprived them of much of that 
 brightness of verdure which is common in a colder 
 and more variable climate. Here and there the 
 face of the heights was indented by deep ravines, 
 worn by the winter torrents, the precipitous banks 
 of which were occasionally covered with wood ; 
 and below, extended groves of the cork tree and 
 olive ; while Obidos, with its ancient walls and 
 fortress, and stupendous aqueduct, rose in the mid- 
 dle distance. To- the east the prospect was ter- 
 minated by the lofty summit of the Monte Junto, 
 and on the west by the Atlantic. 
 
 As the centre column commenced its advance 
 towards the steep acclivity in front, the enemy 
 gave no demonstration of hostility ; and all was 
 still and peaceful, as when the goat-herd tended 
 his flock on the hilly pastures, and the peasant 
 went forth to his labours, carolling his matin song 
 in the sunrise. Such was the scene about to be 
 consecrated in the eyes of posterity by the first 
 
8 
 
 considerable outpouring of British blood, in a cause 
 as pure, just, noble, and generous, as any of which 
 history bears record. 
 
 The position of the enemy could only be approach- 
 ed in front by narrow paths, winding through deep 
 and rocky ravines, and surrounded by masses of 
 brushwood, in which Delaborde had stationed his 
 light infantry. Till reaching the bottom of the 
 heights, the British troops were protected by the 
 cork and olive woods from the fire of the enemy's 
 artillery. But in their ascent, the troops had to 
 encounter a resistance, which became at every 
 stage of their progress more fierce and vehement. 
 A heavy fire was opened on the assailants from 
 the brush- wood on either flank, and at every point 
 at which they became exposed to the action of ar- 
 tillery, a shower of cannon-shot came sweeping 
 down the ravines with terrible effect. 
 
 Even in these difficult and disheartening cir- 
 cumstances, no symptoms of confusion were man- 
 ifested in the British columns. The advance of 
 General Nightingale's brigade was led by the 29th 
 regiment, with singular bravery and resolution. 
 They beheld themselves suffering from attacks 
 which it was impossible to repel ; but the high dis- 
 cipline of the regiment enabled it to surmount 
 every obstacle ; and, under every disadvantage, 
 they kept on their way steady and unbroken. The 
 Honorable Lieutenant-Colonel Lake, by whom 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 9 
 
 it was commanded fell, as the head of the column 
 reached the sumit of the hill, and became exposed 
 to a heavy and destructive fire from the vineyards 
 occupied by the enemy. The grenadier company 
 of the twenty-ninth were in the act of forming, 
 when a French battalion after pouring in a volley, 
 advanced to the charge, and succeeded in over- 
 powering the small but gallant body, which had 
 already crowned the heights. This success was 
 temporary. The remainder of the regiment, came 
 up, and supported by the ninth regiment, the col- 
 onel of which was also killed, they drove back the 
 enemy, and succeeded in maintaining their posi- 
 tion, against every effort to regain possession of 
 the heights.. 
 
 The success thus gallantly achieved was ren- 
 dered more decided by the brigade of General 
 Hill which had already formed on the heights, and 
 the appearance of the column of General Fergu- 
 son, which at first had taken a wrong direction, 
 but was now observed to be traversing the right 
 flank of the enemy's position. Delaborde's situa- 
 tion had now become one of extreme peril ; and 
 he was too skillful a general not at once to per- 
 ceive the necessity of immediate retreat. Precipi- 
 tately abandoning his position, he retired to the 
 village of Zambugeira, where he *again made de- 
 monstration of resistance. From this by a most 
 gaUant charge, he was driven by General Spencer,. 
 
10 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 The loss of the French, in this engagement, was 
 six hundred killed and wounded and among the 
 latter of which was their brave and skilful leader. 
 That on our side was somewhat less. 
 
 BATTLE OF VIMIERO. 
 
 The next battle in order is that of Vimiero fought 
 on the 2 1 st of August 1808. In this battle I was 
 actively engaged. 
 
 Delaborde driven from the village of Zambu- 
 geira, retired with his army, by the road to Torres 
 Vedras. It was the intention of Sir Arthur Welles- 
 ley to have lost no time in following the enemy ; 
 but having learned that our re-inforcement under 
 General Acland had arrived and was in the offing, 
 he changed his resolution, and moved onward by 
 the coast road in order to cover our landing and 
 receive supplies from the shipping. 
 
 Our division and the brigade under General 
 Anstruther now joined Wellington's troops and ex- 
 pected every hour to meet the enemy. 
 
 Early on the morning of the 21st August, Sir 
 Arthur Wellesley visited the advanced posts, but 
 could discern no sign of an approaching enemy. 
 About seven o'clock, however, a cloud of dust was 
 observed in the extremity of the horizon, slowly 
 moving in the direction of our army, and at eight 
 o'clock, a strong body of the enemy's cavalry was 
 observed on the heights to the southward. In a 
 
11 
 
 short time a strong column of infantry appeared 
 on the road from Torres Vedras to Lourinha ; and 
 it became evident that we must come to a general 
 engagement. 
 
 The village of Vimiero stands in a valley, wa- 
 tered by the little rivulet Maceira, at the eastern 
 extremity of a high mountainous range, which ex- 
 tends westward to the sea. In front of the village 
 is a hill of inferior altitude, terminating in a pla- 
 teau of considerable extent, and commanded from 
 several points. On the left is another strong ridge 
 of heights, stretching to the eastward, and termin- 
 ating on the right in a deep ravine. Over these 
 heights passes the road to Lourinha, through the 
 villages of Fontanel and Ventoso. 
 
 Such were the more prominent features of the 
 ground. It was thus occupied by Sir Arthur Wel- 
 lesley ; six brigades were stationed on the moun- 
 tain to the westward of the village. The advan- 
 ced guard, under General Fane, and the brigade of 
 General Anstruther, with six pieces of artillery, 
 occupied the plateau. The cavalry and reserve of 
 artillery were posted in the valley between the 
 heights, ready to support the troops on the plateau, 
 should that part of the position be attacked. The 
 Lourinha road was guarded by the Portuguese 
 troops and a small body of riflemen. The ground 
 having been taken up on the previous evening, 
 rather with a view to temporary convenience than 
 
12 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 military defence, a piquet only had been stationed 
 on the ridge to the westward. As it was obvious, 
 however, from the enemy's demonstrations, that 
 the left and centre were about to become the chief 
 theatres of conflict, the brigades of Generals Fer- 
 guson, Nightingale, Acland, and Bowes, were suc- 
 cessively moved from the mountain on the west 
 to the heights on the Lourinha road, in order to 
 strengthen what was evidently the most vulnera- 
 ble part of the position. 
 
 At nine o'clock the action commenced. Juniot 
 had formed his army in two divisions. The first 
 of these, consisting of about six thousand men, 
 was commanded by General Delaborde. The se- 
 cond, under Loison, was nearly equal in amount. 
 The reserve, composed of four battalions of grena- 
 diers, was commanded by General Kellerman, and 
 acted as a connecting link between the two prin- 
 cipal divisions. The cavalry under General Mar- 
 garon, was stationed partly in rear of the reserve, 
 and partly on-the right of Delaborde's division. 
 
 The two divisions continued their advance, 
 across the rough and wooded country in front of 
 the position towards the plateau in the centre. On 
 approaching the scene of action, however each 
 division, separated into several minor columns, 
 which commenced nearly simultaneous attacks on 
 different portions of the British line. The most 
 vehement was that headed by Delaborde in per- 
 
HAMILTON S CAMPAIGN. U 
 
 son, who first came in contact with the brigade of 
 General Anstruther, which occupied the left of 
 the plateau, and the village of Vimiero. During 
 its advance, this body was exposed to a destruc- 
 tive fire of artillery, which it bore with great 
 steadiness and gallantry, and rapidly forced back 
 the skirmishers who had been stationed in the 
 woods on either flank. A check, however, was 
 soon given to the progress of the assailants, who 
 having reached the summit of the plateau, were 
 met by a destructive volley from the fiftieth regi- 
 ment, which afterwards rushed on to the charge, 
 and drove them in confusion and with great 
 slaughter, down the face of the hill. The attack 
 on General Fane's brigade was no less decisively 
 repulsed ; and a regiment, which was advancing 
 on the village, by the church, was opportunely at- 
 tacked in flank by the brigade of General Acland, 
 then moving to its position on the heights. A 
 most gallant charge by the small body of cavalry 
 led by Colonel Taylor, completed the discomfiture 
 of the enemy in this quarter. They fled in utter 
 confusion, and were vigorously pursued by Col- 
 onel Taylor and his squadron, for nearly two 
 miles ; when General Margaron, who command- 
 ed the French cavalry, observing the small num- 
 ber of the assailants, advanced to the charge ; and 
 the remnant'of this brave band were compelled to 
 retreat, with the loss of their leader. General 
 2 
 
14 Hamilton's campaign* 
 
 Kellerman having rallied the fugitives, made a 
 last effort with the reserve to retrieve the fortunes 
 of the day. A column strongly supported by ar- 
 tillery, was again sent forward to gain possession 
 of the village of Vimerio. 
 
 Here our regiment, the 43d. was posted, close 
 by the road that entered the village. The enemy 
 advanced upon us with determination and valor, 
 but after a desperate struggle on our part, w r ere 
 driven back with great slaughter. It was not on- 
 ly a hot day but also a hot fight, and one of our 
 men by the name of McArthur, who stood by me, 
 having opened his mouth to catch a little fresh air, 
 a bullet from the enemy at that moment entered 
 his mouth obliquely, which he never perceived, 
 until I told him his neck was covered with blood. 
 He, however, kept the field until the battle was 
 over. No farther attempt was made by the enemy 
 on our position ; and they retired, leaving seven 
 pieces of artillery, and a great number of prison- 
 ers in our possession. 
 
 While these events were passing in the centre, 
 an attack, no less resolutely supported, was made 
 on the left of our army, which occupied the heights, 
 on the Lourinha road. In that quarter Gen. Fer- 
 guson, whose brigade had been moved from the 
 right to the left of the line, had scarcely taken up 
 his ground, when he found himself a'ssailed by a 
 strong body of cavalry and infantry. The engage- 
 
HAMILTON S CAMPAIGN. 15 
 
 ment was fierce, and resolutely maintained on 
 both sides. The troops of Ferguson remained im- 
 moveable under every effort to dislodge them ; 
 and, on the coming up of the eighty-second and 
 twenty-ninth regiments, the enemy were charged 
 with the bayonet, and driven back in confusion. 
 The French cavalry endeavoured to retrieve the 
 misfortune of the infantry by several charges, but 
 in vain. They were uniformly repulsed with un- 
 shaken steadiness, by the brigades of Ferguson 
 and Nightingale, and at length ceased from far- 
 ther attack. 
 
 The fruit of this achievement was the capture 
 of six guns ; and General Ferguson, leaving the 
 seventy-first and eighty-second regiments to guard 
 these honorable trophies, was in full pursuit of the 
 discomfited enemy, when the brigade of Brenier, 
 suddenly emerging from the ravine, attacked the 
 two battalions, and for a moment, succeeded -in re- 
 taking the captured artillery. But the regiments 
 instantly rallied ; and by a desperate charge with 
 the bayonet, at once drove back the brigade of 
 Brenier into the ravine, and remained masters of 
 the guns. In this charge, General Brenier was 
 made prisoner. 
 
 Affairs were in this situation on the left, when 
 General Ferguson received an unexpected order 
 to desist from the pursuit. In this crisis of the 
 battle, Sir Harry Burrard arrived on the field, who 
 from what motive I am unable to say ; declined 
 
16 
 
 the responsibility of command, till the enemy were 
 repulsed. As soon as the corps of Gen. Ferguson 
 halted, in compliance with the command of Sir 
 Harry Burrard, the enemy taking advantage, were 
 rallied by General Thiebault, and withdrawn, un- 
 der the protection of the cavalry, to a position in 
 rear of Toledo. 
 
 Sir Arthur Wellesley naturally anxious to reap 
 the full fruit of his victory, represented to his su- 
 perior in command, the importance of following 
 up with vigour, the advantages already gained, 
 and others likely to follow, but to this measure, 
 Sir Harry refused his compliance. It is reported, 
 that Sir Arthur Wellesley, having, in vain, used 
 used every argument and persuasion to change the 
 determination of his leader, was heard to say, on 
 retiring from the conference, " well then, we have 
 nothing to do but go and shoot red-legged par- 
 tridges," the game with which that country a- 
 bounds. 
 
 The results of this brilliant victory were the 
 capture of a general officer and several hundred 
 men, thirteen pieces of cannon, and twenty three 
 waggons loaded with ammunition. The total loss 
 of the enemy, in battle, has been estimated at three 
 thousand. The French fought with great brave- 
 ry, each man receiving a crown, and a pint of 
 brandy as a reward to drive us into the sea. 
 
 On the morning after the battle, Sir Hew Dal- 
 
M 
 
 rumple landed in Marceira Bay, and assumed the 
 command of the army, which still remained on the 
 field of Vimerio. In the course of the day a large 
 body of French cavalry was observed approaching 
 our outposts, and the whole line was immediately 
 ordered under arms. The object of the enemy, how- 
 ever, was pacific, and the cavalry was soon ascer- 
 tained to constitute the escort of General Keller- 
 man, who came with a flag of truce. After due 
 deliberation among the generals an arimistice was 
 concluded. 
 
 After the convention and arimistice of Cintra, 
 by which it was agreed, under certain regulations 
 that the French army should evacuate Portugal, 
 Sir John Moore was appointed Commander of the 
 Peninsular army. 
 
 The agreement of Cintra tarnished the glory 
 of the British arms and was disapproved of by the 
 English Cabinet. 
 
 The French, on leaving, plundered the churches, 
 public Libraries and Cabinets, and carried away 
 much private and public property. 
 
 On the liberation of Portugal, it was determin- 
 ed by the British government to despatch an ex- 
 pedition to the north of Spain. Preparations for 
 this purpose were immediately set on foot by Sir 
 Hugh Dalrymple and Sir Harry Burrard without 
 any considerable progress being made in the 
 equipment of the army for active service. 
 
18 
 
 On the Gth of October 1808. Sir John Moore 
 received official information of his being appoint- 
 ed to command the troops destined for the Penin- 
 sula. The officer commanding the forces in Por- 
 tugal was directed to detach a corps of twenty 
 thousand infantry, with two regiments of German 
 light cavalry, and a suitable body of artillery, to 
 be placed under his orders, and that this force 
 would be joined by a corps of ten thousand men 
 then assembling at Falmouth, under command of 
 Sir David Baird. 
 
 Sir John Moore was instructed to proceed with 
 the troops under his more immediate command 
 without any avoidable delay ; and was instructed 
 to fix on some place of rendezvous, for the whole 
 army either in Gallicia or on the borders of Leon. 
 The specific plan of future operations, he was to 
 concert with the commanders of the Spanish ar- 
 mies. Few effective preparations had been made 
 for the equipment of the troops by his predecessors 
 in command. Magazines were to be formed, and 
 means of transport to be provided, in an impover- 
 ished and exhausted country. The approach of 
 the rainy season, rendered it above all things de- 
 sirable, that the army should, as soon as possible 
 set forward on its march. These formidable diffi- 
 culties were, however overcome by Moore ; and 
 in less than a fortnight from the period of his as- 
 suming the command, the greater part of the army 
 was on its march to the frontier. 
 
19 
 
 It formed part of the instructions of the govern- 
 ment, that the cavalry should proceed by land ; 
 but a discretionary power was vested in the com- 
 mander to move the infantry by sea or land, as he 
 might judge most advisable. Sir John Moore pre- 
 ferred the latter, because, at that season of the 
 year, a coasting voyage was uncertain and preca- 
 rious ; and because he was informed that, at Cor- 
 unna, there were scarcely means of equipment for 
 the force under Sir David Baird, already destined 
 for that port. 
 
 Considerable difficulties occurred in ascertain- 
 ing the state of the roads ; and, deceived by er- 
 roneous information on that point, Sir John Moore 
 determined on dividing his army, a dangerous ar- 
 rangement, and one by which the period of con- 
 centration would of necessity be retarded. In 
 consequence of this decision, the troops were order- 
 ed to march in three columns. 
 
 A corps of six thousand men, composed of the 
 cavalry, four brigades of artillery, and four regi- 
 ments of infantry, under command of Lieutenant- 
 General Hope, were directed to pass through the 
 Alentejo, and proceed by the route of Badajos, 
 Merida, Truxillo, Talavera de La Reyna, and the 
 Escurial. 
 
 Three brigades, commanded by Major-General 
 Fraser, marched by Abrantes and Almeida. 
 
 Two brigades commanded by Major-General 
 
20 
 
 Beresford, were sent by Coimbra and Almeida. As 
 it was deemed imprudent, by Sir John Moore, that 
 the two latter columns should be without artillery, 
 a brigade of light six-pounders was likewise direct- 
 ed on Almeida. 
 
 The different cbrps of the army having com- 
 menced their march, Sir John Moore quitted Lis- 
 bon on the twenty-seventh of October. On the 
 eighth of November he was at Almeida. On the 
 thirteenth he arrived at Salamanca, where he re- 
 ceived intelligence of the defeat and dispersion of 
 Belvidere's army before Burgos. This event seems 
 to have inspired the British general with melan- 
 choly foreboding of the fate of the contest in which 
 he was about to engage. 
 
 On the second night after his arrival, he was 
 awakened by an express from General Pignatelli 
 conveying intelligence that the enemy had pushed 
 on a body of cavalry to Valladolid, a city not 
 above three marches from Salamanca. 
 
 The situation of Sir John Moore had thus sud- 
 denly become one of extreme peril. The enemy 
 were in his front ; and he had in Salamanca only- 
 three brigades of infantry, and not a single gun. 
 
 In these circumstances, he contemplated again 
 retiring on Portugal. He assembled the Junta of 
 Salamanca ; and laying before them the informa- 
 tion he had received, stated, that should the enemy 
 continue their advance on his front now wholly 
 
21 
 
 uncovered the British army had no option but 
 retreat. On the arrival of intelligence, however 
 that the French troops had been withdrawn to 
 Palencia, he determined on continuing his head 
 quarters at Salamanca ; and directed Generals 
 Baird and Hope to close on that city with their 
 divisions. 
 
 Eve^ry day brought with it intelligence of fresh 
 disasters, By the battle of Espinosa, Blake's army 
 had been dispersed. The whole left wing of the 
 Spanish army, which occupied a line reaching from 
 Bilboa to Burgos, had thus been annihilated ; and 
 the flank of the centre, under Castanos, was laid 
 open to the enemy. 
 
 The situation of Sir John Moore at Salamanca, 
 with respect to the Spanish armies, was very ex- 
 traordinary. He was at the vertex of a triangle, 
 the base of which, at the distance of between two 
 hundred and fifty, and three hundred miles, w T as 
 the French position, the points at the extremities 
 of the base, that is the French flanks, were the pos- 
 itions of the Spanish armies. 
 
 The army of Castanos was at this period posted 
 in the neighbourhood of Tudela, but on the oppos- 
 ite or north side of the Ebro, and about three hun- 
 dred miles to the north-east of Salamanca. The 
 French were thus completely interposed between 
 the Spanish and British armies ; and might, at 
 any moment, advance on the latter in overwhelm- 
 
22 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 ing force. For this state of things Sir John 
 Moore was unprepared. All his arrangements had 
 been framed on the assurance that the assembling 
 of his forces would be protected by the Spanish 
 armies. To effect the union of his isolated divis- 
 ions had now become an operation of danger and 
 difficulty. The position of these bodies was such 
 as to prevent the possibility of immediate action. 
 He was placed as a central point between the two 
 wings of his army, and found it impracticable to 
 approach the one, without hazarding the safety of 
 the other. 
 
 Thus compelled to remain inactive at Salaman- 
 ca. - Sir John Moore endeavoured to stimulate the 
 local authorities into the adoption of such mea- 
 sures of promptitude and vigour as were suited to 
 the exigence of the crisis. In this effort he failed. 
 The Spanish people, though still influenced by 
 fierce and unmitigated hatred of their invaders, 
 were no longer animated by that uncalculating and 
 convulsive energy which, in the commencement of 
 the struggle, had goaded them like madness into 
 furious resistance. The fierceness of the paroxism 
 had passed ; and though, in the cause of their 
 country, the hand of every Spaniard was prepared 
 to gripe the sword, the blows it dealt were direct- 
 ed with an erring aim and by a feeble arm. Their 
 detestation of a foreign yoke was undiminished ; 
 but it had become a fixed and inert sentiment, ra- 
 ther than a fierce, uncontrollable, and all-prevail- 
 ing impulse, 
 
23 
 
 Before entering Spain, every thing had contri- 
 buted to conceal the real state of the Peninsula 
 from the penetrating vision of Sir John Moore. 
 The British government, itself deceived, had be- 
 come, in its turn, the involuntary propagator of 
 deception. At the commencement of the struggle, 
 it had dispatched military agents to the head-quar- 
 ters of the different Spanish generals, to act as 
 organs of communication, and transmit authentic 
 intelligence of the progress of events in the seat of 
 war. The persons selected for this service were, 
 generally, officers undistinguished by talent or ex- 
 perience, and therefore little suited to discharge 
 with benefit, the duties of an office so delicate and 
 important. . They seem generally to have become 
 the dupes of the unwarranted confidence and in- 
 flated boasting of those by whom they were sur- 
 rounded ; and their reports were framed in a strain 
 of blind and sanguine anticipation, not deducible 
 from any enlarged or rational view of the prospects 
 or condition of the people. Instead of true repre- 
 sentations of the numbers, character, and state of 
 efficiency of the armies, they were deluded into 
 adopting the extravagant hyperboles of rash and 
 vain-glorious men, and contributed what in them 
 lay to propagate false and exaggerated notions of 
 the military power of the Spanish nation. They 
 did not venture to obtrude on the British Cabinet 
 the unpalatable truth that the national army was 
 in effect, nothing more than a congregation of 
 
24 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 separate and independent bands miserably armed, 
 possessing but a scanty and ill-served artillery, 
 and almost destitute of cavalry. Had they done 
 so ; and had they stated likewise, that this army 
 was without magazines of any kind, without gene- 
 rals of talent or experience, without officers suffi- 
 ciently versed in the details of war, to instruct 
 and discipline the raw levies which constituted 
 the greater part of its numerical strength, and, 
 further, that the different leaders were prevented 
 by frivolous jealousies, and discordance of opinion, 
 from cordially uniting in the execution of any great 
 operation, the calamitous events on the Ebro would 
 probably not have come like a thunderbolt to crush 
 and stultify the combinations of a government, 
 which was at least sincerely anxious to co-operate 
 in fche cause of freedom. 
 
 England had furnished Spain with supplies;, 
 she had poured arms and munitions into the coun- 
 try with a profuse hand ; but she had taken no ef- 
 ficacious measures for their judicious application. 
 She exercised little influence on the counsels of 
 the Spanish government ; and even while provid- 
 ing the very thews and sinews of the war her voice 
 was seldom listened to with obedience or respect. 
 Arms, placed at the disposal of men swayed by 
 petty views and local interests, were wasted and 
 misapplied ; and the ^supplies of money, clothing, 
 and ammunitions, so liberally afforded, became a 
 
25 
 
 bone of contention and of petty jealousy to the 
 rival authorities. In truth, the provincial govern- 
 ors were actuated by no liberal and enlarged 
 views of the public benefit. Supine in danger, 
 and vain-glorious in prosperity, at once untalent- 
 ed and unenlightened, no men could be more un- 
 fitted to direct the resources of a nation with vig- 
 our and effect. 
 
 In such men Sir John Moore could place no 
 trust. His expectations had been deceived. He 
 found supineness where he expected energy ; a 
 people not filled with an active spirit stirring en- 
 thusiasm, but reposing in a dull, immovable, and 
 lethargic confidence in their own prowess and 
 resources, even in the immediate neighbourhood 
 of a triumphant enemy. His mind became not 
 only perplexed but irritated by the disappointment 
 of his hopes. At Salamanca he knew himself to 
 be placed in a difficult and precarious position, un- 
 protected in front, separated from the wings of his 
 army, with nothing but a barren country to retire 
 upon. To the concentration of his forces, he was 
 aware, indeed, that no present obstacle existed ; 
 but how long such a state of things might con- 
 tinue, he had no data on which to form a judg- 
 ment. The enemy at any moment might inter- 
 pose a body which would prevent the possibility 
 of a junction, for there existed no Spanish force 
 from which he could anticipate protection. 
 3 
 
26 
 
 To the other embarrassments of Sir John Moore 
 must be added, the difficulty of receiving true and 
 faithful intelligence of the events passing around 
 him. On public and official reports no confidence 
 could be placed, and of more authentic sources of 
 intelligence he was in a great measure deprived. 
 He had been sent forward without a plan of oper- 
 ations, or any data on which to found one. Cas- 
 tanos was the person with whom he had been di- 
 rected to concert his measures ; but that officer 
 had been superseded by Romana ; and of the situ- 
 ation of the latter, Sir John Moore only knew that 
 he was engaged in rallying the remains of Blake's 
 army, at a distance of about two hundred miles. 
 Naturally distrustful of the apocryphal intelligence 
 transmitted by the British military residents, he 
 could rely only on the reports of Colonel Graham 
 and Captain Whittingham ; and these, in conjunc- 
 tion with the information which his own officers 
 were enabled to procure, contributed still further 
 to deepen the gloom by which his mind was over- 
 cast. 
 
 It was in such circumstances and under the in- 
 fluence of such feelings, that Sir John Moore wrote 
 to Mr. Frere, the new minister at Madrid, whose 
 opinions he had been instructed to receive with de- 
 ference and attention, proposing as a question 
 what course he should pursue, in case the army 
 of Castanos, which yet shewed front to the enemy, 
 
HAMILTON S CAMPAIGN. 27 
 
 should be defeated. Should that event occur, " I 
 must," said Sir John Moore, in a letter dated twen- 
 ty-seventh November, " either march upon Mad- 
 rid, and throw myself into the heart of Spain, and 
 thus run all risks, and share the fortunes of the 
 Spanish nation ; or I must fall back on Portugal. 
 In the latter case, I fall back upon my resources, 
 upon Lisbon ; cover a country where there is Brit- 
 ish interest ; act as a diversion in favor of Spain, 
 if the French detach a force against me ; and 
 am ready to return to the assistance of the Span- 
 iards, should circumstances again render it eligi- 
 ble." 
 
 On the day following the date of this communi- 
 cation, intelligence arrived for which Sir John 
 Moore was certainly not unprepared. Castanos 
 had been defeated at Tudela with great loss, and 
 the road to Madrid was now open to the French 
 armies. In this state of things, without waiting 
 for the answer of Mr. Frere, Sir John Moore de- 
 termined on immediate retreat. With this inten- 
 tion, he transmitted orders to Sir David Baird at 
 Astorga, and Sir John Hope at the Escurial. The 
 former of these officers was directed to retire on 
 Corunna, the latter to push forward if possible to 
 Salamanca. Sir David Baird was likewise direct- 
 ed to write immediately to England, that a supply 
 of transports might be sent to the Tagus. " They 
 will be wanted," said Sir John Moore ; " for when 
 
28 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 the French, have Spain, Portugal cannot he de- 
 fended" 
 
 Having thus formed his decision, the comman- 
 der-in-chief directed a council of General Officers 
 to assemble at head-quarters. He laid before them 
 a full statement of the intelligence he had receiv- 
 ed and made known the resolution which it had 
 induced him to adopt. His tone was manly and 
 decided. He informed the generals that he had 
 not called them together to request their counsel, 
 or to influence them to commit themselves by giv- 
 ing any opinion on the course he had determined 
 to pursue. He took the responsibility entirely up- 
 on himself, and he onl required that they would 
 immediately take measures for carrying the plan 
 into effect. 
 
 When the resolution of their General was made 
 known to the army, it was received by all ranks 
 with more than murmurs of dissatisfaction and 
 disgust. The British army had suffered no disas- 
 ter ; it had never been brought into contact with 
 the enemy ; and all felt that to retreat with untri- 
 ed prowess from the scene of contest would fix a 
 tarnish on our arms, and, by diminishing the con- 
 fidence of the Spanish nation in our zeal and devo- 
 tion to their cause, would proportionally contribute 
 to strengthen and consolidate the power of the usur- 
 per. All lamented the order for retreat all felt 
 that it must cast a blight on that cause which they 
 were prepared to defend by the outpouring of their 
 
HAMILTON^ CAMPAIGN. 9 
 
 blood. In his reply to the letter of Sir John Moore, 
 Mr. Frere protested strongly against the measure 
 of retiring on Portugal. He assured him it Was 
 one most deprecated by the Spanish government* 
 He urged the expediency of advancing to co-oper- 
 ate in the defence of Madrid by every argument in 
 his power. " Of the zeal and energy of the peo- 
 ple," said Mr. Frere, " I have no doubt." &c 
 
 The arguments of Mr. Frere did not succeed in 
 changing the opinions of Sir John Moore. He still 
 adhered to the resolution he had previously form- 
 ed and only awaited the arrival of Sir John Hope 
 to commence his retreat on Portugal. 
 
 Sir John Moore, however on receiving further 
 information from Mr. Frere decided on a change 
 of plan, and accordingly sent orders to Sir David 
 Baird to make arrangements for returning to Astor- 
 ga, and that combined efforts might be made for 
 the support of Madrid, as that city- had refused to 
 capitulate to the French. 
 
 On the 12th of December, Sir John Moore mov- 
 ed onward from Salamanca and fixed his head 
 quarters at Toro* He had now resolved, if possi- 
 ble to attack Marshal Soult at Saldanha, about 
 eighty miles to the northward of Toro. 
 
 On the 18th of December, our army moved for- 
 ward to Castro Nuevo, and on the twentieth, the 
 junction with Sir David Baird was formed at Ma- 
 yorga. The total effective amount of the combin- 
 
30 HAMILTON S CAMPAIGN.* 
 
 ed army is stated to have JDeen twenty three thous- 
 and infantry, and two thousand seven hundred 
 cavalry. 
 
 About one thousand seven hundred men were 
 on detachment, and four thousand in hospital. 
 
 While head-quarters were at Mayorga, several 
 skirmishes took place between the British cavalry 
 and that of the enemy. In Sahagun a detachment 
 of seven hundred French cavalry was reported to 
 be lodged, and Lord Paget deemed it practicable 
 to cut them off. The ground was covered with 
 deep snow and the weather intensely cold. Lord 
 Paget however set forward on his march, and de- 
 taching General Slade with the tenth hussars a- 
 long the sea to enter tho town, he wheeled off with 
 the fifteenth and the horse-artillery to approach it 
 by a different route. By day-dawn Lord Paget 
 had reached the town, in front of which he fell in 
 with a picquet of the enemy. It was instantly 
 charged, and all but one man cut down or made 
 prisoners. The escape of this individual however 
 gave the alarm ; and before the fifteenth could ad- 
 vance, the enemy were discerned drawn up to re- 
 ceive them in an open plain. 
 
 Lord, Paget immediately formed line and advan- 
 ced to the charge. But the success of this ma- 
 noeuvre was prevented by a broad ditch or ravine, 
 hitherto unobserved, which obstructed their pro- 
 gress. Some manoeuvring took place between the 
 Qorps, each endeavoring to gain the flank of the- 
 
31 
 
 other. By superior skill Lord Paget at length ef- 
 fected his object. The ravine was passed, and, 
 coming down at full speed on their opponents, the 
 fifteenth overthrew them in a moment. Many of 
 the French were killed and one hundred and fifty 
 seven prisoners including two lieutenant-colonels, 
 were brought back*to the British camp as trophies 
 of success. The loss of the fifteenth in this en- 
 gagement was trifling. 
 
 On the 21st of December, our army moved to 
 Sahagun, where Sir John Moore halted for a day 
 to afford refreshment to the troops. 
 
 There he received a despatch from Romana, da- 
 ted, Leon, December 19th. The Marquess express- 
 ed his approbation of the measures of Sir John 
 Moore, and his willingness to co-operate in his 
 proposed attack on Soult. But the most extraor- 
 dinary feature in the letter is, that the writer of it 
 appeared wholly ignorant of the surrender of Mad- 
 rid, nearly twenty days before ! Another letter re- 
 ceived on the day following stated that Soult, ap- 
 prehensive of attack, had applied for re-inforce- 
 ments ; and, in the meanwhile had collected the 
 nearest troops which had augmented his force to 
 about eighteen thousand men. These he had post- 
 ed behind the Carrion. In the proposed operation, 
 Romana offered to unite with nine or ten thousand 
 of his best men, and intimated his readiness to ad- 
 vance immediately on receiving the answer of Sir 
 John Moore. . This letter arrived late on the night 
 
32 Hamilton's campaign, 
 
 of the 22d December. Early on the following 
 morning Sir John Moore despatched a messenger 
 to Romana informing him that he would on the 
 same night, march to the town of Carrion, where 
 he had reason to believe that a body of the enemy 
 were collected. 
 
 " To-morrow" said the General ; " I shall march 
 on Saldanha. If your Excellency would march 
 from Mansilla, either direct on Saldanha, or pass 
 the river a little above it, whilst I march on from 
 Carrion, I think it would distract the attention of 
 the enemy and considerably aid my attack. My 
 march from Carrion will probably be in the night. 
 Any information of your movcmonts I shall thank 
 you to address me at Carrion where I shall be at 
 daylight to-morrow." In consequence of this de- 
 termination, orders for an immediate advance were 
 issued to the army. The march was to commence 
 at eight o'clock in the evening, in two columns* 
 One of these was destined to force the bridge at 
 Carrion, and so penetrate to Saldanha ; and thi* 
 body was already on the road, when a letter arriv- 
 ed from Romana, stating that the French, on the 
 side of Madrid, were in motion to the northward. 
 This intelligence co-incided with the information 
 received by Sir John Moore from other quarters. 
 The corps of the enemy, which was directing its 
 march to Badajos, had halted at Talavera. Large 
 supplies of forage and provisions had been order* 
 ed in the villages around Palencia. It was said 
 
that Napoleon himself had set out from Madrid, 
 with the avowed intention of proceeding to Bene- 
 vente, without a halt. Under these circumstances 
 Sir John Moore determined on retreat and the 
 march to Carrion w*as countermanded. He con- 
 sidered that the beneficial object of his movement 
 had already been obtained. The progress of the 
 enemy's armies had been arrested in the south, 
 and they were now advancing on all hands to sur- 
 round him. Sir John Moore, therefore, felt con- 
 vinced, that nothing but immediate retreat could 
 .extricate him from the difficulties of his situation. 
 His intentions were communicated to the Marques 
 de la Romana in the following words, " I shall 
 take immediate measures for retiring on Astorga. 
 There I shall stand ; as my retreat thence, if ne- 
 cessary, will be secure, I shall be in the way to re- 
 ceive the supplies and the re-inforcements which 
 I expect from England. At the worst, I can main- 
 tain myself, and, with your Excellency's aid de- 
 fend the Gallicias, and give time for the forma- 
 tion of the armies in the south, and that which 
 you command, to be prepared, when a joint effort 
 may be made, which can alone be efficacious.'* 
 As Sir John Moore had not yet resigned the inten- 
 tion of defending Gallicia, he determined on retir- 
 ing in such a direction as would facilitate the ex- 
 ecution of this measure, should it be found desira- 
 ble. To effect this, it was necessary in the first 
 
34 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 instance to cross the Eslar, which could be done 
 by three routes. The first is by Mansilla where 
 the river is crossed by a bridge. The second 
 by Valencia de San Juan at which point there 
 is a ferry. The third is by Castro Gonzalo where 
 there is likewise a bridge, and from whence a road 
 passes to Benevente. As Mansilla was alrea- 
 dy occupied by the Spanish troops? the two 
 latter routes were preferred, and Astorga was 
 indicated as the place of rendezvous, where it was 
 understood the army would make a stand. In the 
 meanwhile Komana was expected to keep posses- 
 sion of Mansilla, and defend the city of Leon to the 
 last extremity. The day following was employed 
 In preparations for retreat. In the evening Gen. 
 Hope, with his own division and that of Gen. Fra- 
 zer, fell back to Mayorga, and Sir David Baird re- 
 tired to Valencia de San Juan. To conceal this 
 movement strong patrols of cavalry were pushed 
 on to the advanced posts of the enemy. On the 
 25th the Commander-in-Chief followed Gen. Hope 
 with the reserve and two light brigades. Lord 
 Paget was ordered to remain with the cavalry un- 
 til evening, and then to follow the reserve. Much 
 difficulty was anticipated by Sir John Moore in 
 crossing the Eslar, from the melting of the moun- 
 tain snows ; but, on the 26th December, Sir David 
 Baird reached that river and crossed it with trifling 
 impediment. The other divisions of the army pro- 
 
35 
 
 ceecled, without molestation, to Castro Gonzalo. 
 At this moment our army had become almost gird- 
 led by the enemy. From the 22d to the 24th, 
 Soult had received strong reinforcements and his 
 army alone was already superior in numbers to the 
 British. Junot, with the army liberated by the 
 convention of Cintra had advanced from Burgos 
 to Palencia, and threatened their right flank. Na- 
 poleon in person had set out from Madrid with all 
 the disposable force in that quarter ; and on the 
 same day that the van of the British quitted Saha- 
 gun, the advanced guard of this army passed 
 through Tordesillas, a town about fifty miles dis- 
 tant from Bencvente. The corps of Lefebore had 
 changed the direction of its march, and was now 
 advancing on Salamanca. The retreat of the 
 British army on Portugal was thus cut oft'. The 
 whole disposable force of the enemy, forming an 
 irregular crescent were thus advancing in radii 
 on the British army as a common centre. To cut 
 off its retreat was now the chief object of Napo- 
 leon. On the 26th, an engagement took place be- 
 tween the British cavalry and that of the enemy. 
 Detachments from the army of Napoleon had been 
 pushed on to Villalpando and Mayorga ; and in 
 the neighborhood of the latter place, a considera- 
 ble force of the enemy was observed to be drawn 
 up on the acclivity of a hill, with the view appar- 
 ently of cutting off any stragglers who might wan- 
 
36 - HAMILTON S CAMPAIGN. 
 
 der from the line of march. Two squadrons of the 
 tenth Hussars were instantly ordered to dislodge 
 them. These under the command of Col. Leigh 
 rode gallantly up the hill, and by a successful 
 charge drove back the French cavalry in confu- 
 sion. In this affair many of the enemy were killed 
 and wounded, and above one hundred made prison- 
 ers. On the same day, the cavalry, the horse-ar- 
 tillery, and a brigade of light-infantry, halted at 
 Castro Gonzalo ; and the divisions under Generals 
 Hope and Frazer marched to Benevente. On the 
 27th the rear guard crossed the Eslar, and follow- 
 ed the same route, having blown up the bridge. 
 The hardships to which the army were now ex- 
 posed, tended greatly to increase the general feel- 
 ing of dissatisfaction at the measures of their lea- 
 der. The route lay over miserable roads, and 
 through an exhausted country. The weather was 
 more than usually severe ; heavy showers of rain 
 and sleet drenched the soldiers to the skin, and it 
 was not always even at night, that they could pro- 
 cure shelter from the elements. Turbulence and 
 insubordination broke forth in the ranks. The 
 soldiers indignant at the Spaniards, who generally 
 locked their doors on their approach, and conceal- 
 ed their little stock of provisions, were guilty of 
 violence and robbery. These criminal excesses in- 
 creased the evil. Hatred and disgust sprang up 
 on both sides, and frequent scenes of bloodshed 
 
HAMILTON S CAMPAIGN. 37 
 
 were the consequence. On the 27th December, 
 the army reached Benevente ; and Sir John Moore 
 issued a general order, characterising its excesses 
 in strong language. He expressed his deep regret, 
 that the army should have forfeited its former 
 praise for exemplary conduct and discipline. 
 
 From Benevente, Sir John Moore dispatched a 
 courier to Romana, informing him that the enemy 
 were in full advance, and, that on the preceding 
 day, their main body had reached Valladolid, one 
 three marches to the rear. While at Benevente, 
 where the army halted for two days, intelligence 
 was received that Napoleon was endeavoring by 
 forced marches to overtake the British. Under 
 these circumstances, Sir John Moore hastened to 
 continue his retreat. The stores of the army, for 
 which no transport could be procured were order- 
 ed to be destroyed, and among the rest, kegs con- 
 taining dollars were staved and rolled down a 
 steep into the snow. The wife of Corporal Riley 
 of the 42d Light-infantry, so loaded herself with 
 the money that was scattered about, that after- 
 wards, when embarking in Corunna harbor, in 
 trying to get up into the vessel, she had such a 
 weight around her person, that she fell between 
 the boat and ship, and was drowned. 
 
 From Benevente to Vigo, there are two roads, 
 one passing by Orense, the other by Astorga. The 
 former though the shortest, was impracticable for 
 4 
 
38 . HAMILTON S CAMPAIGN, 
 
 artillery, and the army were consequently com- 
 pelled to retire by the latter. Orders were sent 
 to Sir David Baird, who was still at Valencia, to 
 continue his march on Astorga. On the 28th, Gens. 
 Hope and Frazer proceeded with their divisions to 
 La Banessa. On the 29th, Sir John Moore follow- 
 ed with the reserve ; and Lord Paget was directed 
 to bring up the rear with the cavalry. The march 
 of the cavalry however had not yet commenced, 
 when a body of the enemy's horse was observed to 
 be attempting a ford near the ruins of the bridge* 
 which had been blown up ; and presently be- 
 tween five and six hundred of the Imperial Guard 
 plunged into the river and crossed over. They 
 were instantly opposed by the piquets under Col. 
 Otway, which had been appointed to act as a rear- 
 guard. Though this body mustered little more 
 than two hundred men, they boldly advanced 
 against the enemy, and continued bravely to dis- 
 pute every inch of his advance. Repeated charges 
 took place between the front squadrons ; and up- 
 on the arrival of a small party of the 3d dragoons, 
 the front squadron, by a furious charge, broke 
 through that of the enemy and were for a time 
 surrounded. By another charge however, they 
 soon extricated themselves, and reformed with the 
 rest of the detachments. Lord Paget soon reached 
 the field, and Brig. Gen. Stewart assuming the 
 command of the piquets, made repeated charges 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 39 
 
 on the enemy, who were soon repulsed and fled in 
 great disorder to the river, closely pursued, leav- 
 ing fifty-five killed and wounded on the field and 
 seventy prisoners, among whom was Gen. Lefeb- 
 vre, the commander of the Imperial guard. Our 
 loss in this affair amounted to about fifty, killed 
 and wounded. 
 
 On the day following, our head-quarters were at 
 Astorga, where Sir David Bairds' column, coming 
 from Valencia, succeeded in effecting a junction 
 with the main body of the army. At Astorga, an- 
 other disappointment awaited Sir John Moore. 
 He found the city occupied by five thousand of the 
 corps of Romana. This General had not destroy- 
 ed the bridge of Mansilla. The guard he left there 
 was driven back by a party of the enemy's caval- 
 ry. At Leon no defence had been attempted, and 
 the unexpected presence of the Spanish army at 
 Astorga, interfered materially with the arrange- 
 ments of Sir John Moore. It had been his opinion 
 that Romana would have most contributed to the 
 good of the common cause, by retiring on the As- 
 turias ; because when the enemy proceeded to 
 Gallicia, he might have intercepted their convoys, 
 or have compelled them to employ large detach- 
 ments for their protection. But the passes of the 
 Asturian mountains were blocked up by snow, 
 and Romana was consequently obliged, on the 
 approach of Soult, to push across the Astorga, 
 
40 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 The consequence was, that all the houses in As- 
 torga were filled with Spanish soldiers, and the 
 roads were literally obstructed with men, horses, 
 cars, and all the other accompaniments of an ar- 
 my which had foundered or broken down on the 
 march. It is scarcely possible to conceive any- 
 thing more wretched than the condition of Ro- 
 mana's army. They wanted clothing, accoutre- 
 ments, arms, ammunition, and even food. A ma- 
 lignant fever had broken out among them, and the 
 number of the sick was hourly augmenting. Never 
 did any congregation of human beings exhibit less 
 external semblance of a military body. The sol- 
 diers under arms little exceeded in number the 
 sick borne on cars and mules ; and, as they passed 
 slowly along, enfeebled and emaciated by disease, 
 the procession had more the appearance of an 
 ambulatory hospital, than of a force by which the 
 country was to be defended. Such was the con- 
 dition of the army of Romana. Let it also be re- 
 corded, that this brave and suffering band bore 
 their multiplied privations with unshrinking pa- 
 tience ; that they uniformly displayed, even in the 
 very depth of their misfortunes, a courage and de- 
 votion worthy of that cause, in behalf of which 
 they were alike prepared to bleed, or suffer. Be- 
 fore his arrival at Astorga, Sir John Moore, not- 
 withstanding his assurances to Romana, had re- 
 signed all thoughts of making a stand in the neigh- 
 
41 
 
 borhood of that city. From the prisoners taken 
 on the preceeding day, it was ascertained that the 
 head-quarters of Napoleon's army, had on the pre- 
 ceding evening, been at Villalpando, a village on- 
 ly sixteen miles distant. No defensive prepara- 
 tions had been attempted, and the General deter- 
 mined to continue the retreat on Villa Franca. 
 Of this measure Romana disapproved. He declar- 
 ed himself ready to join the English army in de- 
 fending the strong ground around Astorga, from 
 whence a secure retreat would, in any event, be 
 open to them, by the almost impregnable passes 
 of Manzanal and Foncebadon, which a small body 
 might successfully maintain against any numbers. 
 This project, however, did not meet the approba- 
 tion of Sir John Moore. Instant preparations were 
 made for retreat. The stores, of which Astorga 
 had been made the depot, were destroyed or dis- 
 tributed among the Spanish troops, and the sick 
 were abandoned to the enemy. In the miserable 
 condition of the Spanish army, it might have been 
 supposed, that this half-naked, half-armed, half- 
 famished, and diseased multitude would have 
 sought protection in their retreat from the English 
 columns. It was not so. With a spirit which 
 death alone could extinguish, this suffering, but 
 high-minded band, still confided in their own exer- 
 tions to keep the field ; and when Sir John Moore 
 
 proposed to Romana that he should retire by 
 
 4* 
 
42 HAMILTON S CAMPArGm 
 
 Orense, the proposal was instantly acceded to 
 Romana only requested that the British troops 
 might be restrained from the further perpetration 
 of those acts of disgraceful violence which had 
 hitherto marked their progress : a request which 
 must have imbittered the spirit of Sir John Moore, 
 to know that his power was inadequate to grant. 
 At Astorga the light brigades under Gen. Craw- 
 ford separated from the army and marched by 
 way of Orense to Vigo, where Sir John Moore had 
 directed transports to be sent for the embarkation 
 of the army. This detachment preceded Romana's 
 army in the line of march, and when the misera- 
 ble band of patriots, after a halt of only one night, 
 took their way to Orense, they found the country 
 through which they passed, already stripped of 
 supplies. This completed the wreck of this gal- 
 lant but unfortunate army. The infantry became 
 at length completely disorganized, and Romana 
 with the cavalry and guns, retired to the valley of 
 the Mincio. On the 1st of January, 1809, Napo- 
 leon entered Asterga and formed a junction with 
 Marshall Soult. Leaving Ney with eighteen thous- 
 and men to keep Leon in subjection, he directed 
 Soult by forced marches to continue the pursuit. 
 This was done with uncommon vigor. On the 
 night of the 1st, so closely did they already press 
 on our rear, that their patroles fell in with the 
 piquets of our rear-guard. In the meanwhile 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 43 
 
 Napoleon countermarched with the rest of his ar- 
 my, and in a few days returned to France. It is 
 melancholy to contemplate the condition to which 
 we had already been reduced. During the march 
 to Villa Franca, the rain came down in torrents ; 
 men and horses, sinking through fatigue, covered 
 the roads, and the soldiers whose strength still en- 
 abled them to proceed, maddened by the continued 
 suffering of cold and hunger, were no longer un- 
 der any subordination. In such circumstances, 
 pillage could not be prevented. Wherever we 
 came the inhabitants fled from their dwellings and 
 sought shelter among the mountains. Enormities 
 of all kinds were committed, houses and even vil- 
 lages were burning in all directions. The ravages 
 of the most ferocious enemy could not have ex- 
 ceeded in atrocity those perpetrated by a British 
 army on their allies. At Benevente an order had 
 heen issued by the General assuring the army that 
 the only object of the retiring movement was, not 
 to evacuate the country, but to secure a more favor- 
 able position. It had, therefore, been confidently 
 expected, that a stand would be made at the al- 
 most impregnable defiles through which the army 
 passed after quitting Villa Franca. The country 
 had been traversed by Sir David Baird on his ad- 
 vance ; and it was generally held incredible, that 
 the retreat should be continued beyond that point. 
 The sufferings which the army had already endur- 
 
44 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 ed, and the lamentable want of discipline, to which 
 the rapidity of the retreat had given rise, tended 
 to strengthen the conviction that the General would 
 gladly avail himself of the great defensive advan- 
 tages which the country afforded him. This hope 
 was disappointed. Sir John Moore saw no safety 
 but in embarkation ; and the retreat was continu- 
 ed with unrelenting speed. At every step of their 
 progress however, the misfortunes of our devoted 
 army seemed to accumulate. The mortality amongj 
 the horses was excessive, and no sooner did these 
 noble animals become unable to proceed, than 
 they were shot, in order to prevent their being ser- 
 viceable to the enemy. The ammunition wagons, 
 which had hitherto kept up, were falling one by 
 one to the rear, and the ammunition they contain- 
 ed was destroyed. In the towns, many of the sol- 
 diers, in the recklessness of despair, broke into the 
 cellars, and giving way to the most desperate ex- 
 cess, were found dead by the enemy. During the 
 marches the number of stragglers was enormous. 
 Under different pretexts, whole regiments strayed 
 from their colors ; and, as often as a store or wine 
 house was discovered, scenes of the most revolting 
 character insued. The enemy's cavalry was con- 
 tinually pressing on our rear, and, under such cir- 
 cumstances, no pause could be made to afford pro- 
 tection, to those, who, from intoxication or exhaus- 
 tion of strength were compelled to fall behind. I 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 45 
 
 might here mention an incident which occurred 
 near Benevente. While we were halting at a 
 Convent, in order to refresh and cover the retreat 
 of the army, the bugle sounded the alarm and we 
 hastily commenced our march. A soldier of our 
 company left his wife stupid with intoxication in 
 the third story of the Convent. Hardly had we 
 evacuated the place, when it was occupied by the 
 enemy, and the woman, by some of the soldiers, 
 was thrown from the window and most horribly 
 mangled. At Bembibre in particular, the town on 
 the departure of the reserve was filled with these 
 unfortunate wretches. Every effort was made to 
 save them from the miserable fate which they so 
 madly courted ; but in vain. The rear-guard was 
 at length compelled to march. A small detach- 
 ment of cavalry still remained, in hopes that some 
 at least of the victims might be rescued. But the 
 enemy came on in force, and the French dragoons, 
 charging onward, through a crowd of men, wo- 
 men and children, slashed to the right and left 
 with their sabres, sparing neither age nor sex. 
 Never did I gaze on a spectacle more appalling 
 than those who, escaping death, came up bleeding 
 and lacerated, and were, by order of the General, 
 paraded through the ranks, as a warning to their 
 comrades. It is well that these humiliating cir- 
 cumstances should be recorded. It is well that 
 war should be gazed on in all its aspects, and not 
 
46 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 unprofitable perhaps, that such episodes should be 
 commemorated in the emblazoned volume of our 
 victories. Since the affair of the 28th December, 
 no engagement had taken place. On the 3d of 
 January, the advanced guard of the enemy were 
 seen advancing on Cacabelos. The town is divid- 
 ed by a rivulet, along the banks of which, part of 
 the reserve was stationed. On a hill about half a 
 league in front, were posted the 95th Rifle corps, 
 and the piquet of cavalry. The General ordered 
 the 95th to retire through the town by a bridge. 
 While this order was executing, the French caval- 
 ry came on in force, driving the piquet before 
 them, and charging the rear companies, which had 
 not yet crossed the bridge, succeeded in making 
 some prisoners. The enemy supposing they had 
 thrown our rear-guard into confusion, immediate- 
 ly advanced a body of dismounted chasseurs, who, 
 dashing forward through the stream with great 
 spirit, attacked the 95th, who had barely gained 
 time to extend in skirmishing order. The regi- 
 ment received the attack with admirable steadi- 
 ness, and retreating up a hill, in rear of the town, 
 took post among some vineyards, from which they 
 continued to gall the enemy by a well-directed 
 fire. From this position the French cavalry at- 
 tempted to dislodge them, but without success. The 
 95th again repulsed them ; and they retreated 
 with the loss of a considerable number in killed 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 47 
 
 a,nd wounded. General Colbert, an officer of great 
 gallantry and distinction, was among the number 
 of the former. In a short time after, a strong body 
 of the enemy's infantry was observed on the op- 
 posite hills, in full march on our position. The 
 artillery was instantly ordered to open its fire, 
 which it did with such precision as to check the 
 advance of the French column, which retired with 
 considerable loss, and without firing a shot. From 
 Villa Franca, the country afforded no field for the 
 action of cavalry ; and it was therefore ordered to 
 precede the infantry by forced marches to Lugo, 
 where the leading division was directed to con- 
 centrate. Towards this point, also, the infantry 
 were pushed on with increased speed, and, if pos- 
 sible, with augmented suffering. The road was 
 bestrewed by the bodies of men dead and dying. 
 But the agonies of women were still more dread- 
 ful to behold. Of these, by some strange neglect, 
 or by some mistaken sentiment of humanity, an 
 unusually large proportion had been suffered to 
 accompany the army. Some of these unhappy 
 creatures were taken in labor on the road, and 
 amid the storms of sleet and snow, gave birth to 
 infants, which, with their mothers, perished as soon 
 as they had seen the light. The wife of Sergeant 
 Thomas, my pay Sergeant, of Capt. Dalziel's com- 
 pany, was among the unfortunate sufferers. Others, 
 in the unconquerable energy of maternal love. 
 
48 
 
 would toil on with one or two children on their 
 backs ; till on looking round, they perceived that 
 the hapless objects of their attachment were frozen 
 to death. But more frightful even than this, was the 
 depth of moral degradation to which these wretch- 
 ed followers of the camp were frequently reduced. 
 Nothing could be more appalling to the heart, than 
 to hear the dreadful curses and imprecations which 
 burst from the livid lips of intoxicated and de- 
 spairing women, as they laid them down to die. 
 I am well aware that the horrors of this retreat 
 have been, again and again, described in terms 
 calculated to freeze the blood of such as read them ; 
 but 1 have no hesitation in saying; that the most 
 harrowing accounts which have yet been laid be- 
 fore the public, fall short of the reality. The dis- 
 tance between Villa Franca and Lugo was ac- 
 complished by the reserve in forty-eight hours. 
 During this march, a quantity of valuable stores 
 was distroyed ; but the necessity of repose, to re- 
 cruit the exhausted soldiers, became at length ap- 
 parent to Sir John Moore. At Lugo the army 
 halted on the 6th, and the General took up a posi- 
 tion in front of the town, with the intention of of- 
 fering battle to the enemy. Never did any mea- 
 sure produce a more striking and instantaneous 
 revulsion of feeling in the troops. Insubordination 
 was at an end, stragglers hastened to join their 
 regiments, worn frames became reanimated with 
 
49 
 
 vigor, and the promiscuous assemblage of disor- 
 derly soldiers became again invested with all the 
 attributes of a disciplined army. It was at length 
 ascertained by the General, that Corunna was a 
 more eligible place for embarkation than Vigo ; 
 and as it besides possessed the advantage of being 
 considerably nearer, it was determined to direct 
 the march of the army to that point. Orders there- 
 fore had been dispatched to recall the light-bri- 
 gades and the division of Gen. Frazer, which had 
 been previously directed to proceed to Vigo. These 
 orders were transmitted to Sir David Baird by a 
 staff-officer, but the orderly-dragoon who was em- 
 ployed by Sir David Baird to convey the despatch 
 to its destination, unfortunately got drunk, and 
 lost it. This occurrence was productive of the 
 worst effects. Gen. Frazer's troops had proceed- 
 ed a full day on their march, before the order 
 reached them ; and, in consequence, without food 
 or rest, were compelled to retrace their steps, and 
 arrived at Lugo with the loss of four hundred of 
 their number. The ground on which Sir John 
 Moore proposed to receive the enemy's attack at 
 Lugo, was selected with skill. The right of the 
 position rested on the Tamboga. its front extend- 
 ed along the sides of a strong ravine ; and the left, 
 somewhat withdrawn was protected by precipi- 
 tous acclivities. About mid-day on the 6th, the 
 French columns were observed to be advancing 
 5 
 
50 
 
 on the English position. Preparation was imme- 
 diately made for their reception ; but no engage- 
 ment ensued. The French took possession of a 
 strong mountainous ridge in front of the British ; 
 and formed in order of battle seemed to challenge 
 attack. For several hours did the lines thus con- 
 tinue gazing on each other, without hostile move- 
 ment on either side. The hope of battle gradual- 
 ly faded ; at last evening closed, and the troops 
 returned to their quarters. On the following morn- 
 ing the enemy advanced four guns protected by a 
 few squadrons of cavalry, towards the centre, and 
 commenced a sharp cannonade. The fire was im- 
 mediately returned by us, with such effect that 
 one of their guns was dismounted, and the rest 
 silenced. For above an hour, no farther hostili- 
 ties took place. The enemy then made a feint on 
 our right in order to cover the advance of 
 five guns and a strong column of infantry on our 
 left. Sir John Moore immediately rode at full 
 speed to that part of our line. In the meanwhile 
 a warm skirmish had taken place with the piquets, 
 which were driven hastily back. The enemy's 
 column were already ascending the height occu- 
 ed by the 76th regiment, which gradually fell back, 
 until joined by the 51st, when, after a few dis- 
 charges of musketry, these regiments advanced to 
 the charge and drove back the French in confu- 
 sion. The setting in of night again disappointed 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 51 
 
 the hope of immediate engagement ; and our ar- 
 my retired to their quarters with the fervent wish 
 that the dawn of morning might light them to bat- 
 tle. Sir John Moore was impressed with the con- 
 viction that this wish would be realized. He 
 considered the preceding attack as made only, by 
 Marshall Soult, with the view of reconnoitering the 
 strength of the force opposed to him, and expect- 
 ed that the day following would produce a more 
 general engagement. In this he was disappoint- 
 ed. On the morning of the 8th, the French were 
 still observed in their position, yet hour after hour 
 passed, and they made no movement. At length 
 night fell, and with it fell all the fond hopes which 
 had been cherished by the army. In order to de- 
 ceive the enemy, large fires were lighted along the 
 line ; and at ten o'clock our army again commen- 
 ced their retreat. No sooner did Marshall Soult 
 become aware of the evasion of his enemy, than 
 the pursuit was immediately recommenced, and 
 followed up with unabated vigor ; but we had al- 
 ready gained so much ground, that it was not till 
 evening that the enemy's advanced guard came 
 up with our rear. 
 
 The horrors of this march were of the most ag- 
 gravated description. The night was dark and 
 stormy, the cold intense and the sleet fell heavily. 
 The troops already jaded and half-famished, and 
 many of them barefoot, marched along roads knee- 
 
52 
 
 deep in mud. Insubordination again spread among 
 the ranks and the number of stragglers was enor- 
 mous. About ten in the morning the army arriv- 
 ed at Valmeda. Here positive exhaustion compel- 
 led a halt, and the men lay on the open ground 
 for several hours, exposed to the continual action 
 of a heavy rain. But even this brief interval was 
 not granted to undisturbed repose. A cry arose 
 from time to time, that the enemy were advanc- 
 ing ; and, at each alarm, the troops were ordered 
 to fall in. Such an intermission was little calcu- 
 lated to refresh the worn strength of the soldiers, 
 and, towards evening, when they again resumed 
 their march, little benefit was found to have re- 
 sulted from the halt. 
 
 In the north of Spain, every village has a com- 
 mon oven for baking, where the whole village 
 bake their bread on a fixed day. About dark we 
 arrived at a village where, it being the day for 
 baking, the bread had just been put into the oven. 
 The quarter-master of each regiment was order- 
 ed to remain until the bread was baked, which 
 was then to be distributed to each regiment. 
 Whilst the quarter-masters and head-baker were 
 watching the oven, the soldiers took the advan- 
 tage of removing the bread by making a breach 
 with their bayonets upon the outside of the oven. 
 I got about a pound of bread and it was to me 
 a welcome morsel, though it was not quite baked. 
 
- 53 
 
 On the 10th, the army halted at Betanzos ; and 
 Gen. Paget, with the reserve, remained in position 
 a few miles in front of that town, for the protec- 
 tion of the stragglers. The conduct of this officer, 
 and the troops he commanded throughout the re- 
 treat was such as to command the admiration of 
 the army. The reserve marched better and bore 
 their sufferings with greater resolution than any 
 other portion of the troops ; and the skill, prompti- 
 tude and unwearied vigilance of Gen. Paget, were, 
 on every occasion remarkable. From Betanzos 
 the army accomplished its march to Corunna, with 
 little molestation from the enemy. A bridge near 
 the town was attempted to be destroyed, but with- 
 out success. At Astorga, the General had order- 
 ed the whole of the engineer's equipments to be 
 burned ; and the army were thus most imprudent- 
 ly deprived of the power of impeding the progress 
 of the enemy, which the destruction of the numer- 
 ous bridges, would have afforded. Near Corun- 
 na however, the bridge across the Mero was blown 
 up, the necessary tools for the purpose having 
 been brought from the town ; but owing to the 
 premature explosion of a mine, the superintending 
 officer of engineers was killed. The army had 
 now reached their destined point of embarkation, 
 but the transports had not yet arrived from Vigo. 
 Only a few ships lay in the harbor, on board of 
 which the sick who preceded the army were im- 
 
54 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 mediately embarked, and it became necessary that 
 the army should assume a position, and once more 
 show front to the enemy. That this necessity was 
 imposed on Sir John Moore, never to any English- 
 man can be a matter of regret. It saved the Brit- 
 ish army from the disgrace of having quitted Spain 
 like downcast and disheartened fugitives, of hav- 
 ing sought refuge in their ships from the hostility 
 of an enemy, with whom they had never measur- 
 ed strength in combat. 
 
 Sir John Moore preceded the army on its march 
 to Corunna, and surveyed the country in its neigh- 
 borhood. There were two ranges of heights in 
 front of the town. The higher and more distant 
 of these would, unquestionably, have afforded 
 a position of considerable strength, had the numer- 
 ical force of the army been sufficient for its occu- 
 pation. But, as this was not the case, it became 
 necessary to occupy the nearer range, though of 
 inferior altitude. Such, however, were the dis- 
 advantages of this position, that some of the gen- 
 eral officers recommended Sir John Moore to pro- 
 pose terms to Soult, in order to induce him to per- 
 mit the army to embark unmolested. Sir John 
 Moore, however, declared himself averse from 
 adopting this melancholy and disgraceful altera- 
 tive, and besides was exceedingly doubtful, whe- 
 ther any such proposal, if made, would be attend- 
 ed with success. Most fortunately, therefore, for 
 
HAMILTON S CAMPAIGN. 55 
 
 his own fame and for the honor of the army he 
 commanded, this degrading counsel was rejected, 
 and England was not destined to blush for her 
 sons. The enemy were now rapidly collecting on 
 the Mero, and it became necessary that arrange- 
 ments should be promptly made for the impending 
 battle. The division of General Hope, to which 
 I belonged, was directed to occupy a ridge on the 
 left, commanding the road to Betanzos, and slop- 
 ing with a gradual declivity towards Elvina. The 
 post of Sir David Baird's division was on the right, 
 extending from Elvina along the series of heights, 
 which bent in an oblique direction towards the 
 front, and terminated in a valley which divided 
 this range from another on the opposite side of the 
 Vigo road. The rifle-corps was ordered to form 
 a chain across the valley. The reserve under 
 General Paget was posted at Airis, a small village 
 in the rear of the centre. The left flank of this 
 position was well protected by the high banks of 
 the Mero, but the right was weak ; it rested on 
 the village of Elvina, situated low down, at the 
 extremity of the hills on which the front of the 
 army was formed. To remedy this defect, the divi- 
 sion of General Frazer was posted about half a 
 mile in rear of the right, on some high ground com- 
 manding the road to Vigo. The artillery was dis- 
 posed along the front of the line. During the whole 
 of the 13th, Sir John Moore was occupied in ma- 
 
56 
 
 king these dispositions. Having completed them, 
 he returned to his quarters, and, writing his last 
 dispatch, directed Brig. Gen. Stewart to proceed 
 with it to England. 
 
 On the 14th January, the enemy commenced a 
 cannonade on the left, which was returned by our 
 artillery, with such effect, that the French at last 
 drew off their guns. In the evening the transports 
 from Vigo hove in sight. On the heights, about a 
 league distant from the town, was a powder maga- 
 zine, which it was deemed advisable to destroy. 
 It contained about four thousand barrels of gun- 
 powder, which had been brought from England 
 some months before, and by an unpardonable ne- 
 gligence, had been suffered to remain in store, 
 while the Spanish armies were without ammuni- 
 tion. A few hundred barrels had, on the preced- 
 ing day been removd to Corunna, the remainder 
 was directed to be blown up. The explosion was 
 tremendous. Corunna shook, as if convulsed by 
 an earthquake. Huge masses of rock were cast 
 from their pedestals. The calm waters in the bay 
 became furiously agitated. A vast column of 
 smoke and dust arose perpendicularly and slowly 
 to a great height, and then bursting with a roar- 
 ing sound, a shower of stones and fragments of all 
 kinds reverted to the earth, killing several persons 
 who had incautiously remained too near the scene 
 of peril. A stillness, only interrupted by the lash- 
 
57 
 
 ing of the waves on the shore, succeeded, and 
 the business of war went on. 
 
 On the arrival of the transports, preparations 
 were immediately made for the embarkation of 
 the army. With the exception of eight British 
 and four Spanish guns, the artillery was sent on 
 board, the ground being considered unfavorable 
 for its use. The dismounted cavalry and a few 
 horses were likewise embarked, the remainder 
 were shot. 
 
 The bridge of El Burgo, having been repaired, 
 two divisions of infantry, and one of cavalry pass- 
 ed the Mero, and, driving back our outposts, 
 inarched into position. On the 15th, Delaborde's 
 division followed, and took post on the height of 
 Portoso, forming the right of the army. The 
 ground thus chosen by the enemy, was the ridge of 
 rocky and irregular heights by which our position 
 was nearly encompassed. Their right was placed 
 on the Betanzos and St. Jago roads, and their left 
 rested on a hill covered with wood, overlooking 
 our line, of which, after some resistance from the 
 light troops, they succeeded in gaining possession. 
 In the evening, Col. Mackenzie of the 5th perceiv- 
 ed two of the enemy's guns not far distant, and 
 imagined that by a sudden attack he might sur- 
 prise them. The attempt failed. Col. Mackenzie 
 was killed during the advance, and his party were 
 driven back with loss. During the night of the 
 
58 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 15th, Marshall Soult succeeded in establishing a 
 battery of eleven guns on the wooded hill, at the 
 extremity of his left. This was an operation of 
 great difficulty. The ground was rugged ; the 
 French were in possession of no road, and the 
 horses were weak and exhausted. By great ex- 
 ertion however, the object was accomplished ; 
 and the French thus acquired a decided superiori- 
 ty in point of artillery. 
 
 BATTLE OF CORUNNA. 
 
 The preparations for embarking were complet- 
 ed on the morning of the 16th, and Sir John 
 Moore gave notice, that, in case the enemy should 
 not move during the day, the embarkation of the 
 reserve should commence at four o'clock. The 
 tranquility of the armies remained undisturbed till 
 noon, when the General mounted his horse and 
 rode off to visit the outposts. He had not proceed- 
 ed far when he received a report from Gen. Hope, 
 stating that the enemy's line were getting under 
 arms ; and a deserter who came in at the same 
 moment, confirmed the intelligence. He spurred 
 forward. The piquets had already opened fire on 
 the enemy's light troops, which were pouring ra- 
 pidly down on the right wing A heavy fire was 
 shortly opened from the French battery on the 
 height ; the piquets were driven rapidly back ; 
 and four strong columns of the enemy, supported 
 by a reserve, were observed descending the hill. 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 59 
 
 Two of these, one emerging from the wood, the 
 other skirting its edge, threatened the right of the 
 position ; another directed its march on the cen- 
 tre ; and the fourth on the left. 
 
 The two first of these columns advanced with 
 rapidity, and by a bold attack at once carried the 
 village of Elvina. Thus far successful, they en- 
 deavored to turn the right of the position. It was 
 defended by Lord Wm. Bentinck's brigade, having 
 the brigade of Guards in their rear. In order to 
 prevent the success of this manoeuvre, Gen. Paget 
 was ordered to advance with the reserve, and take 
 post on the right of the line. Lord William Ben- 
 tinck's brigade received the attack with firmness 
 and the fourth regiment being thrown back en po- 
 tence, met the enemy with a well directed^ fire. 
 The order was at length given to charge ; and the 
 42d and 50th regiments advanced to regain the vil- 
 lage of Elvina. The ground around the village 
 was so intersected by walls and enclosures, as to 
 prevent any general collision. 
 
 A severe but irregular fight ensued, which ter- 
 minated in the French being driven back with 
 great loss. The 50th regiment led by Major Na- 
 pier, rushed into Elvina, and with great gallantry 
 drove out the enemy with the bayonet, and pur- 
 sued him for some distance beyond it. In the 
 meanwhile, from some misapprehension the 42d 
 had retired, and the enemy being reinforced took 
 
CO 
 
 advantage of that circumstance to renew the con- 
 flict. Elvina became again the scene of struggle; 
 the 42d after a brief but animating address from 
 the General, returned to the attack, and the Guards 
 being brought up to their support, the enemy gave 
 way. It was at this period of the action that Sir 
 John Moore received his death wound. He was 
 engaged in watching the result of the contest about 
 Elvina, when a cannon shot struck him on the 
 In-east and beat him to the ground. He raised 
 himself immediately to a sitting posture, and con- 
 tinued with a calm gaze to regard the regiments en- 
 gaged in front. Captain Hardinge threw himself 
 from his horse, and took him by the hand ; then 
 observing his anxiety, he told him the 42d were ad- 
 vancing, and on this intelligence, his countenance 
 was observed to brighten. His friend, Col. Gra- 
 ham now dismounted, and from the composure 
 of his features entertained hopes that he was not 
 even wounded, but observing the horrid laceration 
 and effusion of blood, he rode off for surgical as- 
 sistance. Sir John Moore was removed from the 
 field by a party of the 42d. As the soldiers placed 
 him in a blanket, his sword became entangled, 
 and the hilt entered the wound. Capt. Hardinge 
 attempted to take it off, but he stopped him, say- 
 ing, " it is as well as it is, I had rather it should go 
 out of the field with me." Sir David Baird had 
 previously been disabled by a severe wound ; and 
 
61 
 
 the command of the army now devolved on Gen. 
 Hope. In the meanwhile, all went prosperously 
 in the field. The reserve pushed on to the right, 
 and driving back the enemy, continued advancing 
 on their flank, overthrowing every thing before 
 them. The enemy perceiving their left wing to 
 be exposed, drew it entirely back. An attack 
 made on our centre, was successfully resisted by 
 the brigades -of Generals Manningham and Leith. 
 The ground in that quarter being more elevated 
 and favorable for artillery, the guns were of great 
 service. On the left, the enemy had taken posses- 
 sion of the village of Palario on the road to Be- 
 tanzos. From this a fire was still kept up by their 
 troops, till Col. Nichols, at the head of some com- 
 panies of the 14th attacked it and beat them out. 
 Day was now fast closing, and the enemy had 
 lost ground in all parts of the field. The firing 
 however still continued, and night alone brought 
 the contest to a close. Thus ended the battle of 
 Corunna, a glorious termination to an inglorious 
 retreat. 
 
 While Sir John Moore was removing from the 
 field, the expression of his countenance remained 
 unchanged, and he gave utterance to no expression 
 of pain. From this circumstance, Capt. Hardinge 
 gathered temporary hope, that the wound might 
 not be mortal, and expressed it to the dying Gen- 
 eral. Hearing this, he turned his head for a mo- 
 ment, and looking steadfastly at the wound, said, 
 
62 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 "No, Hardinge, I feel that to be impossible." Sev- 
 eral times he caused his attendants to stop and 
 turn him round, that he might gaze on the field of 
 battle, and when the firing indicated the advance 
 of the British, he signified his satisfaction and per- 
 mitted the bearers to proceed. On examination 
 by the surgeons, the wound of Sir John Moore was 
 at once pronounced to be mortal, and from in- 
 creasing pain, he could speak but with difficulty. 
 Observing his friend Colonel Anderson by his bed, 
 he asked if the French were beaten, and then said, 
 " You know, Anderson I have always wished to die 
 this way you will see my friends as soon as you 
 can. Tell them everything. Say to my mother " 
 Here his voice failed from agitation, and he did 
 not again venture to name her. When his strength 
 was fast waning, and little more than a glimmer- 
 ing of life remained, he said to Col. Anderson, " I 
 hope the people of England will be satisfied, I hope 
 my country will do me justice." After a while, he 
 pressed the hand of Col. Anderson to his body ; 
 and in a few minutes died without a struggle. 
 Thus fell Sir John Moore. Kind in feeling, gen- ' 
 erous in spirit, dauntless in heart, no man was 
 more beloved ; none more lamented. 
 
 The night succeeding the action was passed in 
 the embarkation of the troops. At ten o'clock 
 they moved off the field by brigades and marched 
 down to Corunna. Major General Beresford was 
 posted with the rear-guard, on the lines fronting 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 63 
 
 Corunna, to watch the motions of the enemy. 
 Major Gen. Hill, with his brigade, was stationed 
 on an eminence behind the town, ready to afford 
 support to Beresford, if necessary. The embarktion 
 proceeded rapidly during the night, and no attempt 
 was made to molest the covering brigades. 
 On the following morning however, the enemy 
 pushed forward a body of light troops to the 
 heights of St. Lucia, which commanded the har- 
 bor, and, planting a few cannon, fired at the tran- 
 sports. At three o'clock Gen. Hill's brigade was 
 withdrawn, and at night the rear-guard embarked 
 without molestation from the enemy. 
 
 At twelve o'clock on the night of the 16th, the 
 remains of Sir John Moore were removed to the 
 citadel of Corunna. He had often said, that, if 
 killed in battle, he wished to be buried where he 
 i'cll ; and it was determined that the body should 
 be interred on the rampart of the citadel. A grave 
 was dug by a party of the 9th regiment, the aides- 
 de-camp attending by turns. No coffin could be 
 procured ; and the body without being undressed, 
 was wrapt by the officers of his staff in a military 
 cloak and blankets. The interment was hastened, 
 for, about eight in the morning the sound of firing 
 was heard, and they feared that, in the event of a 
 serious attack, they might be prevented from paying 
 their last duties to their General. The officers of 
 lis family bore him to the grave ; the funeral ser- 
 vice was read by the Chaplain ; and the corpse 
 
01 Hamilton's campaign* 
 
 was covered with earth. The following is a beau- 
 tiful and touching description of his burial, writ- 
 ten by the Rev. Charles Wolfe, a graduate of the* 
 University of Dublin. 
 
 THE BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOOKE 
 
 " Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, 
 As his corse to the rampart;we hurried. 
 Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot, 
 O'er the grave where our hero we buried. 
 
 We buried him darkly, at dead of night, 
 The sods with our bayonets turning ; 
 By the struggling moonbeam's misty light, 
 And the lantern dimly burning. 
 
 No useless coffin enclosed his breast, 
 Not in sheet or in shroud we wound! him j 
 But he lay like a warrior taking his rest, 
 With his martial cloak around him. 
 
 Few and short were the prayers we said, 
 
 And we spoke not a word of sorrow ; 
 
 But we steadfastly gazed on the face that was dead, 
 
 And we bitterly thought of the morrow. 
 
 We thought, as we hollowed his narrow bed, 
 
 And smoothed down his lonely pillow, 
 
 That the foe, and the stranger would tread o'er his head, 
 
 And we far away on the billow I 
 
 Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that's gone, 
 And o'er his cld ashes upbraid him, 
 But little he'll redk, if they let him sleep on 
 In the grave where a Briton has laid him. 
 
 But half of our heavy task was done, 
 When the clock struck the hour for retiring ; 
 And we heard the distant and random gun 
 Of the enemy suddenly firing. 
 
 Slowly and sadly we laid him down, 
 
 From the field of his fame fresh and gory, 
 
 We carved not a line and we raised not a stone 
 
 But we left him alone with his glory ! 
 
65 
 
 During the retreat to Corunna, his country sus- 
 tained a severe loss in the death of Major General 
 Anstruther. No man had more honorably distin- 
 tinguished himself by zeal, gallantry and talent. 
 He died of inflammation of the lungs, brought on 
 by exposure to the extreme inclemency of the 
 weather. His devotion to the service induced him 
 to neglect the precautions and remedies his situa- 
 tion required ; and he continued to perform his 
 duty till approaching dissolution rendered farther 
 exertion impossible. When no longer able to 
 mount his horse, he was placed in a carriage and 
 conveyed to Corunna. There he expired amid the 
 universal regret of his fellow soldiers ; and his re- 
 mains were deposited in a grave on the ramparts, 
 near that of his commander. 
 
 On the 22d April, 1809, Sir Arthur Wellesley 
 returned to Lisbon, and was invested with the su- 
 preme command in Portugal. From the period of 
 that event, a new era commenced in the war. His 
 appointment gave unity of action and purpose to 
 the British and Portuguese forces, and at once put 
 a stop to those unfortunate jealousies and distrac- 
 tions, which had already occurred but too frequent- 
 ly between the leaders of the allied armies. The 
 French were gradually adding to their conquests, 
 nothing but the prompt and decisive measures 
 which Wellesley now commenced taking, could 
 have turned the unpromising aspect of affairs. 
 His first step was directed against Soult, in order, 
 G* 
 
66 
 
 if possible, to drive him at once out of .Portugal, 
 before he could effect a union with Victor, upon 
 whom, now at the head of thirty thousand men, he 
 meditated a subsequent attack. Quitting Lisbon 
 towards the end of April, Sir Arthur arrived at 
 Coimbra, on the 5th of May, and a few days after 
 set out for Oporto. In the meanwhile, the object 
 of these movements could not be supposed to es- 
 oape the penetration of Soult. He saw the danger 
 of being speedily enclosed in the north of Portu- 
 gal, and determined to extricate himself from the 
 increasing perils of his position, by evacuating the 
 country. Measures were accordingly adopted for 
 this purpose. Preparations were instantly set on 
 foot for removing the sick and the baggage ; and 
 having destroyed the pontoon-bridge across the 
 Douro, and given orders that all the boats should 
 be brought to the right bank of the river, he im- 
 agined himself secure from immediate attack. He 
 imagined too that Sir Arthur Wellesley would 
 avail himself of his maritime resources > and em- 
 barking his troops, endeavor to effect a landing 
 near the mouth of the Douro. This would have 
 allowed time for the leisurely retreat of the army ; 
 and orders were despatched to Loison requiring 
 him to maintain his ground at Mezamfrio and Pe- 
 za da Ragoa, in order to prevent the passage of 
 the river being effected at either of these points. 
 Had the calculations of Soult been realized, with 
 regard to his enemy's intentions, no obstruction 
 
67 
 
 would have existed to his retreat into Gallicia ; or 
 by advancing on Beresford with his whole force, 
 he might have crossed into Beira. But Sir Arthur 
 Wellesley had bolder measures in contemplation. 
 He determined at once to cross the river, and drive 
 the enemy from Oporto. 
 
 PASSAGE OF THE DOURO. 
 With this view, General Murray was detached 
 to Avintas, a ford about five miles higher up, where 
 he was directed to cross the river with his brigade, 
 and send down any boats which he might be able 
 to procure. The brigade of Guards, under General 
 Sherbrooke, received orders to cross the ferry be- 
 low the city at Villa Nuova. The main body un- 
 der his own immediate command, were to attempt 
 a passage at the Convent of St. Augustino da Serra, 
 which occupies a height nearly opposite to the 
 town. The Douro was at that spot nearly three 
 hundred yards broad, extremely rapid, with con- 
 siderable heights on the right bank, and a large 
 unfinished building designed for the Bishop's pal- 
 ace, which could be made serviceable as a post of 
 defence by those who first landed, till sufficient 
 numbers should: have crossed the river, to enable 
 them to advance on the town. To protect the 
 passage, several guns had been planted in the gar- 
 den of the convent. By aid of the inhabitants, 
 two boats had been procured from the opposite side 
 of the river, and in these, three companies of the 
 
68 HAMILTON S CAMPAIGN. 
 
 Buffs, immediately passed the river. Other boats 
 were speedily despatched by the zeal of the peo- 
 ple ; and the embarkation of the troops was rapid- 
 ly continued. General Paget was among the first 
 detachment ; he immediately took possession of 
 the unfinished building already mentioned, and 
 defended it with great gallantry, till the arrival of 
 the 48th, and 60th, and a Portuguese battalion, 
 when the contest was continued on more equal 
 terms. Early in the engagement, General Paget 
 lost an arm, and the command devolved on Gen. 
 Hill, who was still warmly contesting the ground, 
 when the brigade of Guards and the 29th ' regi- 
 ment appeared on the enemy's right ; and in the 
 opposite direction the troops were seen approach- 
 ing from Avintas. Under these circumstances the 
 enemy's column fell back in confusion. We charg- 
 ed up the streets of Oporto, making many prison- 
 ers, amid the most animated demonstrations of 
 joyful welcome from the inhabitants. Handker- 
 chiefs were waved to us from balconies and win- 
 dows, blessings were breathed on the brave de- 
 liverers of the city, mingled, on all hands, with 
 shouts of joyful and triumphant greeting. Confu- 
 sion and disorder had spread through the whole 
 French army. The panic seemed even to increase 
 when they gained the open country ; and Major 
 Harvey with a single squadron of the 14th dra- 
 goons, charged through three battalions of French 
 infantry, marching in a hollow road, and brought 
 
HAMILTON S CAMPAIGN. 69 
 
 off many prisoners, without sustaining any con- 
 siderable loss. Unfortunately, however, it was 
 found impossible to take fall advantage of the pan- 
 ic of the enemy, by continuing the pursuit. The 
 army were without supplies of any kind ; the 
 rapidity of the advance from Coimbra, having out- 
 stripped the most active exertions of the commis- 
 sariat. The fatigue the troops had undergone 
 rendered repose necessary ; and the pursuit was, 
 therefore, relinquished at the approach of the even- 
 ing. Had these obstacles not intervened, there 
 can be little doubt that the whole army of Mar- 
 shall Soult would have been destroyed. 
 
 As it was however, nothing could exceed the 
 boldness and the brilliance of the operations of 
 Sir Arthur Wellesley. The Douro had been pass- 
 ed in open day, in the very face of a powerful ene- 
 my. One of the ablest and most experienced of 
 the French marshalls, had been taken by surprise, 
 and his army driven from Oporto, with the loss of 
 its sick and wounded, of a great part of its bag- 
 gage and of a considerable number of guns. Our 
 head-quarters were established in the very house 
 which Marshall Soult had occupied, and a dinner 
 in preparation for him was served up at the table 
 of Sir Arthur. The loss of our army, amounted 
 to only twenty-three men killed and ninety-eight 
 wounded. 
 
 On the following day we made arrangements for 
 pursuing the enemy, but gave up the pursuit at 
 
70 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 Montalegre, whilst Soult crossed the frontier at 
 Alhariz and retreated to Orense. 
 
 Sir Arthur now prepared for operations against 
 Victor, and about the middle of June, arrived at 
 Abrantes, whence after being detained some days 
 by a want of supplies, and by the sickness of his 
 troops, he commenced his march into Spain at the 
 end of the month; and on the 12th of July he 
 reached Placentia, where a conference took place 
 with Cuesta, the Spanish General, by which it was 
 agreed, that the British and Spanish armies should 
 proceed to attack Victor on the eighteenth. No 
 action however occurred until the 27th. In the 
 meanwhile, Joseph accompanied by Marshall Jour- 
 dan, with all their disposable troops, had effected 
 an union with Victor. Immediate orders were 
 despatched to Soult to form a junction with Ney 
 and Mortier, and advance on Placentia, with the 
 view of intercepting the line of operations of the 
 allied armies and cutting off their retreat. 
 
 The situation of Sir Arthur had now become 
 critical in the extreme. The army in his front 
 amounted to about fifty thousand men ; that ad- 
 vancing in his rear was considerably stronger. In 
 such circumstances had the army under Joseph re- 
 mained on the defensive, as it was their obvious 
 policy to have done, no choice remained to the 
 British General, but to attack them under all ad- 
 vantages of position, or to retreat. In the former 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 71 
 
 case he could have derived little support from the 
 Spanish army, whose want of steadiness and dis- 
 cipline disqualified them from manoeuvring in pre- 
 sence of an enemy enjoying all the advantages of 
 ground. In the latter case, the only road open 
 was to the southward of the Tagus ; and, to effect 
 the passage of that river, when closely followed 
 by a powerful enemy, would necessarily have been 
 an operation of great difficulty and danger. Such 
 was the situation of Sir Arthur Wellesley before 
 the battle of Talavera. From much of its danger, 
 he was fortunately extricated by the blunder of 
 the enemy, who determined on attacking the allied 
 armies in their position. 
 
 BATTLE OF TALAVERA. 
 
 The ground occupied by the allies was about 
 two miles in extent. The Spanish army was on 
 the right, the British on the left of the line. The 
 position of the former was extremely strong, being 
 almost unapproachable, from the mud enclosures 
 of olive grounds, and vineyards in their front, and 
 they were so posted in the ravines which abound- 
 ed, as to be sheltered from the enemy's artillery. 
 Their right was appuyed by the Tagus ; their left 
 by the British. The ground on the centre and left 
 of the line was more open, but intersected with 
 roads leading to the town ; and the front of the 
 whole position was covered by a ravine formed 
 by the winter torrents, but then dry. The left 
 
72 
 
 flank of the British rested on an eminence of con- 
 siderable boldness, and their right on another 
 somewhat lower, on which a redoubt had been be- 
 gun, in order to secure the connection of the ar- 
 mies, but was not sufficiently advanced to add 
 much to the security of the troops stationed for de- 
 fence of the height. These consisted of two bri- 
 gades of infantry, under Brig. Gen. Campbell, sup- 
 ported by a battery of about ten guns, The Guards, 
 General Cameron's brigade, and the German legi- 
 on, formed the centre, under Lieut. Gen. Sher- 
 brooke. The division of General Hill was on the 
 left where two brigades of artillery were posted for 
 defence of the hill in which the position termina- 
 ted. The remainder of the guns were distributed 
 on the most favorable points along the line. The 
 cavalry was commanded by Lieut. Gen. Payne. 
 Major General Cotton's light brigade, to which I, 
 on this day, belonged, supported the right and cen- 
 tre. Brig. Gen. Anson's and the heavy brigade 
 under Gen. Fane were on the left. The Spanish 
 infantry was formed in two lines, and in rear of 
 the left the Duke del Albuquerque was stationed 
 with the main body of the Spanish cavalry. Sub- 
 sequently a detachment of about three thousand 
 light-infantry under Don Louis Bassecourt, was 
 moved to the valley below the British left, in order 
 to observe the movements of a body of the ene- 
 my which appeared in the mountains beyond, but 
 
HAMILTON S CAMPAIGN* 73 
 
 at too great a distance to exert any influence on 
 the contest. A division of infantry, and a brigade 
 of cavalry under Gen. Mackenzie had been sta- 
 tioned in the wood on the right of the Alberche, 
 which covered the left of the British army. About 
 noon this advanced force was suddenly attacked 
 by the enemy, who succeeded in penetrating be- 
 tween the two brigades of which it was composed- 
 Some confusion ensued, but order was speedily re- 
 stored by the exertions of the officers, and the re- 
 treat was finely covered by the brigade of Col. 
 Donkin which retired and took up its position 
 with perfect regularity and steadiness. The di- 
 vision of Gen. Mackenzie was then posted as a 
 second line in rear of the centre. In this affair. 
 Sir Arthur Wellesley narrowly escaped being made 
 prisoner. He had ascended a tower immediately 
 in rear of Mackenzie's division> to observe the mo- 
 tions of the enemy. Fortunately he observed the 
 troops to falter, and descended barely in time to 
 escape by throwing himself on his horse in the 
 midst of the affray. In the meantime the enemy 
 continued to push on his columns, and a partial 
 action ensued along the whole front of the line. 
 A division of cavalry advanced towards the right 
 of the allies, and threatened the town of Talav- 
 era. But the difficulties of the ground and the 
 fire of the Spanish batteries, soon obliged them to 
 retreat. A body of about five thousand Spaniards, 
 however, though posted in the strongest manner* 
 
74 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 threw down their arms and fled. So indignat 
 was Cuesta at this dastardly conduct, that, after 
 the action he ordered the division to be decimated ; 
 and it was only at the earnest entreaty of Sir 
 Arthur Wellesly,-that he consented to a second 
 decimation of those on whom the lot had fallen. 
 In consequence only six officers, and about thirty 
 men were executed. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the whole French 
 army, in number about about fifty thousand, as- 
 sembled in front of the position occupied by the 
 allies. Towards evening, a resolute attempt was 
 made to gain possession of a hill on the left, which 
 was regarded as the key of the position. The ene- 
 my advanced at double-quick time to the assault, 
 covered by a heavy cannonade. The attack being 
 unexpected, was for a moment successful, and the 
 French gained possession of the height ; but the 
 48th and 29th regiments, being brought up by 
 General Hill, poured in a volley ; and the 29th by 
 a most splendid charge, drove back the enemy in 
 confusion, and established themselves on the sum- 
 mit. In the course of the night another attempt 
 was made to carry this important post. This too 
 was unfortunate. Col. Donkin's brigade had been 
 moved up to support the troops on the hill ; and 
 the enemy were repulsed with little difficulty. The 
 loss on both sides during this attack was consider- 
 able. Gen. Hill was at one time surrounded by 
 the enemy, and received a wound in the shoulder. 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 75 
 
 The troops lay all night upon their arms in ex- 
 pectation of attack. At two in the morning the 
 Spanish line was alarmed by the approach of the 
 enemy's light-troops, who were received by a brisk 
 charge of musketry, which ceased in about ten 
 minutes, and the silence of night again prevailed 
 on the field of battle. At length day broke on the 
 contending armies, drawn up in battle array, in 
 the positions which they respectively occupied at 
 the commencement of the action on the preceding 
 evening. At five o'clock, two strong columns of the 
 French were formed in front of the height, which 
 they had already twice vainly attempted to carry. 
 Under cover of a tremendous fire from fifty pieces 
 of cannon, the columns advanced across a ravine 
 which ran along the front of the position, and as- 
 cended the acclivity on which were posted the 
 brigades of Gen. Tilson and Gen. Richard Stewart. 
 By the troops under these officers they were re- 
 ceived with the utmost gallantry and steadiness. 
 A heavy fire of musquetry on both sides was fol- 
 lowed by a charge from the British ; and the as- 
 sailants were driven back at the bayonet's point 
 with great slaughter. The British cavalry were 
 ordered up to charge the right flank of the retiring 
 column, but unfortunately it was at too great a 
 distance. The object, however, was too impor- 
 tant to be lightly given up by the enemy. The 
 attempt on the height was repeatedly made, and 
 repeatedly terminated in a similar result, till, dis- 
 
76 
 
 heartened by the uniform failure of their efforts-, 
 they retired from the scene of contest, leaving the 
 ground covered with their dead. About eleven 
 o'clock the firing ceased. A period of truce was 
 taeitly recognised by both armies, which the 
 French employed in cooking their dinners, while 
 our troops reposed on the ground, apparently re- 
 gardless of the presence of their enemy. During 
 this interval likewise, the wounded on both sides 
 were conveyed to the rear. From the closeness 
 of the engagement, they lay intermingled on the 
 field ; and while engaged in this humane and 
 peaceful duty, a friendly intercourse took place 
 between the French and English soldiers ; and, 
 shaking hands, they mutually expressed admira- 
 tion of the gallantry displayed by their opponents. 
 About one o'clock, it became evident from several 
 heavy clouds of dust* that the enemy's columns 
 were again advancing. At two the work of havoc 
 re-commenced with a heavy cannonade, followed 
 by a general attack on the whole front of our line. 
 The enemy's infantry came on in four distinct 
 columns, covered by their light-troops, while their 
 cavalry, drawn up in rear, waited only for the 
 first appearance of confusion to complete the vic- 
 tory by an overwhelming charge. Notwithstand- 
 ing the destruction which the French artillery oc- 
 casioned in the ranks, our troops did not open fire 
 till the close approach of the columns enabled 
 them to do so with effect. That on the right un- 
 
77 
 
 der Gen. Sebastiani, was suffered nearly to reach 
 the summit of the hill crowned by the redoubt, be- 
 fore any obstruction was made to their progress. 
 A heavy fire was at length opened by Gen. Camp- 
 bell's brigade, and two Spanish battalions, posted 
 on the height. Our troops then charged, and in 
 gallant style drove the enemy before them ; and 
 carrying a battery, took thirteen pieces of cannon. 
 The broken column, however, having rallied, was 
 again advancing, when it was charged in flank by 
 a Spanish regiment of cavalry, and compelled 
 once more to retreat in confusion. In the mean- 
 time, two columns on the enemy's right, consist- 
 ing of Ruffin's and Villatte's divisions, supported 
 by cavalry again endeavored to gain possession of 
 the hill on the left. They were directed to sup- 
 port the attack on the front, by marching along 
 the bottom of the ravine, and turning the flank of 
 the position ; while a body of light-troops, by a 
 wide movement across the mountains, were to 
 threaten an advance on the rear. To watch the 
 movements of the latter, a body of Spanish light- 
 infantry were moved into the valley in rear of the 
 left of the position. These formidable prepara- 
 tions for the attack of what was unquestionably 
 the most important point in the whole position, 
 naturally excited apprehensions for its safety. 
 The conical shape of the hill did not admit of its 
 being occupied by any considerable body of troops, 
 
 and Sir Arthur Wellesley determined to derange, 
 
 7* 
 
78 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 if possible, the combinations of the enemy by a 
 charge of cavalry. Gen. Anson's brigade, con- 
 sisting of the 23d light-dragoons and the first re- 
 giment of German hussars, supported by the hea- 
 vy cavalry under Gen. Fane, were accordingly or- 
 dered to charge the enemy's column,, at the mo- 
 ment when emerging from the valley, they should 
 attempt to deploy. These regiments advanced 
 with great gallantry, regardless of the fire of se- 
 veral battalions of infantry. Unfortunately, the 
 front of the enemy was protected by a deep ra- 
 vine which had not been perceived, and which 
 was found impassable for many of the horses. 
 Confusion ensued in consequence. A considerable 
 body of the 23d, however, led by Major Ponsonby, 
 succeeded in crossing it, and passing between the 
 divisions of Ruffin and Villatte, fell with irresisti- 
 ble impetuosity on two regiments of mounted 
 chasseurs, which at once gave way. The 23d was 
 then charged by some regiments in reserve, sur- 
 rounded, broken and almost destroyed. A few 
 only escaped, (among whom was Lord William 
 Russel.) by passing at full speed through the inter- 
 vals of the French columns. This charge was the 
 only unfortunate occurrence of the day. It was 
 ill-timed and injudicious. The ground had not 
 been reconnoitered. Sir Arthur Wellesley's inten- 
 tion was that the cavalry should charge when the 
 enemy by deploying, had extended and exposed 
 their flank. Wllen the charge was actually made. 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 79 
 
 the enemy were still in column, and too strongly 
 posted to afford any prospect of success. Yet not- 
 withstanding its failure, the French were so as- 
 tonished at the boldness and gallantry of the at- 
 tempt, as to desist from all farther efforts to gain 
 possession of the hill ; and this imposing move- 
 ment, which at first threatened the safety of the 
 whole army, was in effect attended by no impor- 
 tant result. In the meanwhile the whole corps of 
 Marshal Victor advanced against the centre. One 
 column, composed chiefly of Germans, deployed on 
 the level ground before they attempted to assail 
 the position. The point selected for attack was 
 immediately on the right of the ground occupied 
 by General Hill's position, which formed the ex- 
 treme left of the line. On the first indication of 
 the enemy's intention, Gen. Sherbrooke gave or- 
 ders that his division should prepare for the charge. 
 The assailants came on, over the rough and bro- 
 ken ground in the valley, with great resolution, 
 and in the most imposing regularity, and were 
 encountered by our troops with their usual firm- 
 ness. The whole division, as if moved by one 
 powerful and undivided impulse, advanced to meet 
 them ; and pouring in a most galling and destruc- 
 tive fire, their ranks were speedily broken, and 
 they gave way. The impetuosity of the troops, 
 however, was not to be restrained ; and the Guards, 
 having advanced too far in the ardor of pursuit, 
 were powerfully attacked in flank- by the enemy's 
 
80 
 
 reserve. The period was critical. In a few min- 
 utes the Guards had lost above five hundred of 
 their number ; their ranks were mowed down by 
 the enemy's artillery ; and the distraction of the 
 whole brigade appeared inevitable. But the pre- 
 science of Sir Arthur Wellesley retrieved the ar- 
 my from the consequences of this misfortune. He 
 had foreseen the danger to which the impetuosity 
 of the Guards was likely to expose them, and or- 
 dered the 48th regiment and the cavalry under 
 Gen. Cotton, to advance to their support. Under 
 the cover thus afforded, the Guards, entirely bro- 
 ken, were able to effect their retreat. The enemy 
 then directed their efforts against the 48th; but that 
 regiment bravely stood its ground, till the Guards, 
 again rallying, advanced with cheers to its sup- 
 port. The French then gave way, and were pur- 
 sued for a considerable distance, though covered 
 in their retreat, by a strong body of cavalry and 
 artillery. Thus foiled at all points, the enemy 
 withdrew their columns, and again concentrated 
 on their position. But the fire of their artillery 
 did not cease till dark. A dim and cheerless moon 
 then rose, and threw a pallid lustre on the field, 
 covered by the dying and the dead. Parties were 
 sent out to bring in the wounded. The enemy 
 were simililarly employed, and large fires were 
 lighted along the whole front of his line. The 
 loss of our army in this battle was severe ; it 
 amounted in killed, wounded and missing, to five 
 
81 
 
 thousand, three hundred and sixty-seven, and was 
 occasioned chiefly by the close and well directed 
 fire of the French artillery, which was kept up 
 with little intermission throughout the day. Great 
 as this amount of casualties unquestionably was, 
 in an army whose numerical force did not exceed 
 nineteen thousand men, it would have been incal- 
 culably greater, had not Sir Arthur Wellesley di- 
 rected the different brigades to lie extended on the 
 ground, behind the crest of the ridge, and only ex- 
 posed them to the full action of the guns on the ap- 
 proach of the attacking columns. In this action, 
 Major General Mackenzie, and Brig. Gen. Lang- 
 worth, fell ; Major General Hill and Major Gen. 
 R. Campbell, were wounded. 
 
 The loss of the French, however, was much 
 greater than that of the allies. It amounted to 
 about ten thousand men. The loss of the Span- 
 iards did not exceed twelve hundred and fifty in 
 killed and wounded. The latter were only parti- 
 ally engaged ; but the little which devolved on 
 them to perform, was performed well. Their pres- 
 ence in position prevented a considerable body of 
 the enemy from becoming disposable for attack on 
 our troops. A body of Spanish artillery on the 
 left was excellently served ; and their cavalry 
 made a gallant charge, which was entirely suc- 
 cessful. In this battle I was severely wounded by 
 the explosion of a bomb-shell, and was left as dead 
 on the field, till the engagement was over. My 
 
82 
 
 skull was factured, in consequence of which, I 
 have since suffered severely from the wound. 
 About six o'clock in the evening a dreadful occur- 
 rence took place. The long dry grass took fire, 
 and the flames spreading rapidly over the field of 
 action, a great number of the wounded were 
 scorched to death. For those who escaped, among 
 which I was happily numbered, a large hospital 
 was established in the town of Talavera. During 
 the night, the soldies lay upon their arms, without 
 provisions of any kind. It was expected that the 
 French would remain in their position, and renew 
 the battle in themorning. But this anticipation 
 was not realized. Under cover of the night they 
 retired, leaving in our hands twenty pieces of ar- 
 tillery. One standard was taken, and one destroy- 
 ed by the 29th regiment. At daybreak, the rear 
 guard, consisting of cavalry was alone visible. 
 In the course of the 29th the army was reinforced 
 by the arrival of a troop of horse-artillery, and a 
 brigade of light-troops from Lisbon, under Gen. 
 Crawford. Under the circumstances of his situ- 
 ation, however, it was impossible for Sir Auther 
 Wellesly to follow up his victory. The position 
 he occupied was still one of extreme peril. A 
 powerful enemy was advancing on his rear, and 
 no reliance could be placed for the supply of his 
 army, on the promises of the Spanish General, or 
 of the Junta. But I cannot dwell on the partic- 
 ulars of his retreat, it would swallow up this little 
 
Hamilton's campaigns 83 
 
 work too soon, so I shall pass on to the next en- 
 gagement, in which I took part. 
 
 After the capture of Cindad Rodrigo by Mas- 
 senna, the enemy advanced against Almeida. Fort 
 Conception was blown up at their approach ; and 
 Gen. Crawford with the light division, to which my 
 regiment belonged, took post with his left flank 
 resting on the fortress, and his right on the high 
 ground above Val de Mula. Lord Wellington had 
 directed that officer to avoid any engagement with 
 the enemy, and on their approach, to fall back 
 across the Coa. Gen. Crawford, however deter- 
 mined to await the arrival of the French col- 
 umns, and not to retire till pressed by superior 
 numbers. On the morning of 24th of July, the 
 piquets were driven in by the French skirmishers 
 which covered the advance of their columns. A 
 vigorous attack was then made on our position, in 
 which the whole corps of Ney was engaged. Our 
 troops were compelled by superior numbers to 
 give ground, and retreated down the hill to the 
 Coa. From the rains the river was unfordable, 
 and some confusion took place in crossing the 
 bridge. The rear guard had to sustain a violent 
 attack, and the French endeavored to push a body 
 of cavalry across the stream ; but the opposite 
 bank of the Coa being precipitate, and occupied 
 both by infantry and artillery, the attempt, though 
 repeatedly made, was unsuccessful. Nor were the 
 enemy's attempts to gain possession of the bridge 
 
84 
 
 more fortunate in result. Our troops who were 
 posted behind walls, which formed a kind of na- 
 tural retrenchment for their defence, kept up so 
 warm a fire on the assailants, that they were 
 uniformly repulsed, notwithstanding their great 
 numerical superiority ; and General Crawford, 
 having maintained his new position till evening, 
 fell back under cover of the night. The loss of 
 our division in this honorable engagement amoun- 
 ted to thirty killed and two hundred and seven- 
 ty wounded. Among the former was my own 
 gallant Colonel Hull of the 43d, whose loss was 
 much lamented. In this engagement a mus- 
 ket ball struck my knapsack, went through my 
 great-coat and blanket, and through a piece of 
 bent leather that we carry for soles, and into my 
 shaving dish, and lodged there, breaking the glass. 
 It did not sound in the least like a shot, but on ex- 
 amination I found it was. 
 
 The next movement of the enemy was directed 
 against Almeida, a fortress garrisoned by four 
 thousand Portuguese, under the command of CoL 
 Cox ; which after a brave resistance surrendered 
 to Massena. The fall- of Almeida left no farther 
 obstacle to the enemy's advance, and on the 16th 
 September, having been joined bythe corps of 
 Gen. Regnier-Massena commenced his march in- 
 to Portugal. Wellington still kept retiring along 
 the left bank of the Mondego, strengthening both 
 his numbers and position, as the enemy gradually 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 85 
 
 advanced. Having ascertained the direction of 
 the enemy's march to be towards Portuguese Es- 
 tramadura, he immediately occupied the heights 
 of Busaco. The position thus occupied consisted 
 of one lofty ridge, extending from the Mondego 
 northward for a distance of about eight miles. It 
 attains an elevation of two hundred and fifty feet 
 above the ground immediately in front, and is co- 
 vered by gorges and defiles of extreme difficulty. 
 Its principal disadvantage as a position, lay in its 
 extent, which was manifestly too great to admit 
 of its being occupied at all points by an army 
 not above sixty thousand strong. Some skirmish- 
 ing had occurred on the twenty-third between our 
 division and the advanced guard <)f the French. 
 We distroyed the bridge across the Criz, on the 
 road to Coimbra ; but, on the following day the 
 river was passed by the leading divisions of the 
 enemy, and on the 26th, the whole French army 
 was concentrated in front of the British position. 
 Even at this period, Massena seems to have form- 
 ed no just appreciation of the skill and activity of 
 his opponent. He had calculated on deranging 
 his schemes, by the rapidity of his march, and im- 
 agined it impossible that the army should have 
 been joined by the corps of Gen. Hill On recon- 
 noitering the position, therefore, he considered its 
 extent too great to admit of successful defence, 
 and is said to have observed to one of the unwor- 
 thy Portuguese by whom he was surrounded. "I 
 8 
 
88 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 cannot persuade myself that Lord Wellington will 
 risk the loss o his reputation by giving battle ; 
 but if he does, I have him ! To-morrow, we shall 
 effect the conquest of Portugal, and in a few days, 
 I shall drown the Leopard !" 
 
 The head quarters of Lord Wellington were 
 fixed in the Convent of La Trappe, which crowns 
 the Serra. From that elevated position, indeed 
 from the whole summit of the height, the French 
 army were distinctly visible. No sight could be 
 more beautiful and striking. The eye rested on a 
 vast multitude of men, clad in the imposing pano- 
 ply of war their arms glittering in the sun stand- 
 ards waving in the air, while the distant sound of 
 the trumpet or bugle loaded the breeze. 
 
 BATTLE OF BUSACO. 
 
 On the evening of the 26th of September, the 
 line of battle was formed. The division of Gen. 
 Hill, with those of Leith and Picton on his left, oc- 
 cupied the right of the position. ; "' 
 
 The first division under Sir Brent Spencer was 
 in the centre, General Cole's on the left. Our divi- 
 sion' was advanced somewhat in front of the left 
 and centre. The main body of the cavalry under 
 Sir Stapleton Cotton formed in the plains in front 
 of Mcalhada, and across the Oporto road ; and the 
 brigade of Gen. Fane remained on the left bank 
 of the Mondego, to repel any reconnoisance 
 which the enemy might attempt in that direction. 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 87 
 
 Such was the distribution of the allied army. Day- 
 dawn on the 27th, showed the enemy drawn up 
 for immediate attack. The corps of Ney was form- 
 ed in close column opposite to the Convent of Bu- 
 saco. That of Regnier appeared in front of Pic- 
 ton's division, prepared to advance by the road 
 crossing the height St. Antonio de Cantara. Ju- 
 not's corps was in reserve, with the greater part 
 of the cavalry, and was posted on some rising 
 ground about a mile in rear of Marshal Ney. In 
 this order, covered by his light-troops, the enemy's 
 columns moved on to the attack. The abruptness 
 and inequalities of the ascent contributed to cover 
 their advance, and they reached the summit of the 
 ridge without more serious opposition, than the 
 occasional fire of guns posted on the flanking 
 points. It was with the corps of Regnier, that the 
 first hostile collision took place. The regiments 
 in the part of the line to which he penetrated, had 
 not reached the position assigned to them, and for 
 a moment the height was in possession of the en- 
 emy. Their leading battalions were in the act of 
 deploying into line, when Gen. Picton, at the head 
 of a few companies hastily collected, came up, 
 and with these, and the light troops, he kept the 
 enemy in play, until joined by the 8th Portuguese 
 regiment commanded by Major Birmingham, when 
 charging the enemy's column in flank, he drove 
 them in great confusion Jown the hill, and across 
 the ravine. About a mile on the right, the enemy 
 
OO HAMILTON S CAMPAIGN. 
 
 made strenuous efforts to gain possession of the 
 pass of St. Antonio. These however were defeat- 
 ed by the 74th regiment, and a brigade of Portu- 
 guese, directed by Colonel Mackinnon, who, with- 
 out assistance was enabled to maintain his post 
 in spite of every effort to dislodge him. Notwith- 
 standing the complete discomfiture of his first at- 
 tack by General Picton, on the left of the pass, 
 the enemy's column still continued to press for- 
 ward, and again reached the summit of the height. 
 From this the 88th regiment under Col. Wallace, 
 and four companies of the 45th, dislodged them 
 by a gallant charge ; and a brigade of General 
 Leith's division, coming up at the same moment, 
 the enemy were borne down the hill with irresist- 
 ible impetuosity, and desisted from all farther at- 
 tempt on this part of the position. The attack of 
 Ney was even less successful. With a division of 
 his corps found in column of mass, he advanced 
 against the height occupied by our (the light) di- 
 vision. General Pack's brigade of Portuguese 
 were also placed here, and we were ordered to 
 change coats with them in order to deceive the 
 enemy. During his advance, the enemy experi- 
 enced little opposition, and without difficulty 
 gained possession of a village situated on the 
 brow of the ascent ; but, no sooner did he crown 
 the height, then he found us drawn up to receive 
 him, and his column became exposed to a most 
 destructive fire, both of musketry and artillery. 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 89 
 
 This however was but of short duration, yet, so 
 long, that the leading regiments of the assailants 
 were almost totally annihilated., A charge of bay- 
 onets followed ; the whole column was routed, 
 and driven down the hill with prodigous slaughter. 
 We pursued them into the village, when we were 
 stopped by some artillery which they had there in 
 reserve. While endeavoring to regain the hill, I 
 ran into a house which was deserted, in order to 
 avoid their fire, for a moment, and while there, I 
 observed the end of a sword hanging from the 
 chimney just below the jamb. Thinking there 
 must be an owner to it, I looked up the chimney 
 and discovered a French officer, who had hid 
 there to escape pursuit. I immediately pulled him 
 down and told him that he was my prisoner, upon 
 which he took out a gold watch and gave it to 
 me if I would release him. I immediately took the 
 watch, and was leaving in a hurry, when unfortu- 
 nately for the Frenchman, I met another soldier 
 at the door, who however consented to let him go 
 upon his giving him his gold epaulets. 
 
 A very curious incident occurred before we 
 charged the enemy upon the ascent. While they 
 were advancing up the hill, a field-officer was ob- 
 served upon a very fine horse at a short distance 
 from the main body. A private of our regiment 
 by the name of Carroll, asked permission from his 
 Captain, to go out and take possession of the offi- 
 cer's horse. The Captain readily gave him per- 
 8* 
 
90 
 
 mission, though laughing at the idea, and the sol- 
 dier sprang out of the ranks towards the enemy, 
 waving his shako upon his bayonet. The enemy 
 surprised, and thinking that perhaps he was the 
 bearer of some message, or something of the kind, 
 did not fire upon him, and running up to the offi- 
 cer, as if about to communicate something, he 
 seized him by the leg, and being a very strong, 
 man, threw him instantly upon the ground. 
 Throwing himself quickly upon the horse he rode 
 back into our ranks, amid the cheers of his com- 
 rades. 
 
 At about eight o'clock in the morning, a fog 
 came on, which, for a time, particularly obscured 
 the positions of the two armies ; when the day 
 cleared, however, it was discovered that the French 
 had placed large bodies of light troops in the 
 woods which skirted the bottom of the Serra. In 
 eonsequence, a continued skirmishing took place 
 during the day. It was probably the intention of 
 Massena, by this manoeuvre, to draw Lord Wel- 
 lington into an engagement of some consequence, 
 in a situation where the advantage of position 
 should be less decidedly in his favor. But Lord 
 Wellington was immovable. He advanced the 
 brigade of Col. Pakenham to the support of the 
 light troops, but directed them to retire when 
 pressed, leaving his position again open to the ene- 
 my, should he think proper to attack it. Massena 
 however, was but little inclined to avail himself 
 
91 
 
 of the facility thus afforded. The day passed 
 without farther attack on our position, and on the 
 approach of night, the French retired from the 
 ground they had occupied during the day, and our 
 division again took possession of the village from 
 which they had been driven in the morning. The 
 loss of the French army in this engagement 
 amounted to between five and six thousand men, 
 including four General officers, one of whom, 
 (Graindorge) was killed ; another, (Simon) wound- 
 ed and made prisoner. Our loss and that of the 
 Portuguese did not amount to twelve hundred men. 
 After this victory, Lord Wellington evacuated the 
 position of Busaco, and retreated to the banks of 
 the Tagusand Torres Vedras, and suffered Massena 
 to take possession of Coimbra without a struggle. 
 The French General having removed to Santarem, 
 a city on a hill near the Tagus, the British com- 
 mander resolved to attack this post, which he 
 hoped to find only defended by a rear guard. In 
 this however he was mistaken ; the hostile troops 
 were numerous, and, from their situation every 
 way prepared to offer a successful resistance. He 
 accordingly withdrew his forces, and established 
 his head quarters at Artaxo, after which the 
 armies on both sides remained for a season inac- 
 tive. Such was the situation of affairs in Portu- 
 gal at the close of the year 1810, when, although 
 no decisive victory had been obtained over the 
 French, they had, nevertheless, fteen foiled in some 
 
92 
 
 of their principal movements, and had failed in 
 their boast of placing the eagles of Napoleon up- 
 on the tower of Lisbon. 
 
 On the 5th of March 1811, the French evacua- 
 ted Santarem, which was occupied by the allied 
 armies next day ; and a pursuit of the enemy was 
 shortly afterwards commenced. Massena however 
 managed his retreat in so masterly a manner, that 
 Wellington found it difficult to embarrass him. 
 At length the former made a halt at Pombal. but 
 left town in the night, and thus escaped the at- 
 tack of the latter, who had brought up his troops 
 with all possible expedition in front of his adver- 
 sary. In two days afterwards he came into action 
 with Ney, at Redinha, and forced him to retire by 
 the bridge and ford of that place. He then pushed 
 on for Condeixa, to prevent if possible the passage 
 of the Mondego, by Massena ; and such was the 
 rapidity of the British in effecting this movement, 
 that Massena was very nearly taken and had to 
 scramble over the mountains at night, to regain 
 his head quarters at Ponte Cobuta. At length 
 however he determined on a final effort to main- 
 tain himself within the frontier, by posting his 
 army in a strong position along the banks of the 
 Coa. Their right flank extended to Ruivina, 
 guarding the ford of Raponla de Coa, with a de- 
 tachment at the bridge of Ferrereas. The left 
 was at Subugal, and the eighth corps at Alfayates. 
 The right of the*allied army was opposite Subu- 
 
gal, the left at the bridge of Ferrereas ; and Trant 
 and Wilson crossed the Coa below Almeida, to 
 threaten the communication of that place with 
 Ciudad Rodrigo and the French army. The ene- 
 my was posted so strongly that his position was 
 only approachable by the left flank ; and on 
 themorning of the third of April, our division 
 was directed to cross the Coa at a ford sever- 
 al miles above Subugal, in rear of the corps of 
 Regnier, while the third and fifth divisions should 
 attack him in front, the latter crossing the river at 
 the bridge of Subugal, the former at a ford a short 
 distance above it. The sixth division remained 
 opposite to Ruivina, and a battalion of the seventh 
 observed their detachment at the bridge of Fer- 
 rereas. The day was dark and cloudy, and a deep 
 mist occasionaly overspread the horizon, accom- 
 panied by storms of rain, which narrowed the 
 scope of vision to the distance of a yard or two. 
 A part of our division had already crossed the 
 river, when one of these impervious fogs came on. 
 The enemy's piquets were driven in, and the troops 
 advancing in pursuit, came at unawares on the 
 left of the main body of Regnier's corps, which it 
 was intended they should turn. The consequence 
 was that the advance was driven back on my own, 
 the 43d regiment ; and Regnier by a partial dissi- 
 pation of the mist, having ascertained the small- 
 ness of the force opposed to Kim, directed on it 
 a strong column of infantry supported by artillery 
 and horse. 
 
94 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 This attack encountered a spirited repulse ; and 
 Colonel Beckwith's brigade advanced in turn 
 against the enemy's position, where they were at- 
 tacked by a fresh column of infantry on the left, 
 and by a regiment of cavalry on the right. In 
 this charge, twenty-seven men of my own compa- 
 ny were cut down, thirteen of whom were killed; 
 and the others, myself among the number, wound- 
 ed. Under these circumstances the leading bat- 
 talion would probably been sacrificed, had not 
 Colonel Beck with, with great promptitude, retreat- 
 ed behind some stone enclosures, which enabled 
 him to maintain his ground. The combat was 
 then waged with vigor and pertinacity on both 
 sides. Colonel Beckwith's brigade made another 
 charge, drove back the enemy, and had gained 
 possession of a howitzer, when the French caval- 
 ry advancing on our flank, again forced us to re- 
 tire to our post. There we w r ere joined by the 
 other brigade of the light division, and Colonel 
 Beckwith again advanced with his own brigade, 
 and the first battalion of the fifty-second. We 
 were once more charged in flank by a fresh col- 
 umn of infantry supported by cavalry, and Colonel 
 Beckwith took post in an enclosure on the top of 
 the height, which enabled him to protect the how r - 
 itzer, in the capture of which so much gallantry 
 had been displayed. In this state of things, when 
 Regnier was disposing his troops for another atr 
 tack, the head of Picton's division came up, and 
 
HAMILTON S CAMPAIGN. 
 
 95 
 
 immediately, opened fire. At the same moment the 
 fifth division under General Dunlop, having forced 
 the bridge, was seen ascending the heights to the 
 enemy's right, and the cavalry appeared on the 
 high ground in rear of the left. Regnier then ob- 
 serving himself to be nearly surrounded, retreated 
 with great precipitation to Alfayates, leaving the 
 howitzer and above three hundred men dead on 
 the field. About an equal number were made 
 prisoners. Our loss in killed, wounded and miss- 
 ing, amounted to one hundred and sixty-one. 
 
 Considering the great numerical disparity of the 
 parties, in this well-fought engagement, the con- 
 duct of our division was admirable. Under cir- 
 cumstances of disadvantage, impossible to be fore- 
 seen, they maintained a contest of the most une- 
 qual description, and executed their manoeuvers 
 in the presence of a superior enemy, with the most 
 imposing steadiness and precision, "Although the 
 operations of this day," says Lord Wellington, 
 " were by unavoidable accidents, not performed in 
 the manner I intended they should have been, I 
 consider the action that was fought by the light 
 division by Colonel Beckwith's brigade princi- 
 pally to be one of the most glorious that British 
 troops were ever engaged in." Had the retreat of 
 Regnier not been favored by the fog, the results of 
 the engagement would have been yet more brill- 
 iant and decisive. The cavalry continued the 
 pursuit as far as Alfayates, at which place the 
 
96 
 
 whole French army crossed the frontier and enter- 
 ed Spain. Massena hastened to concentrate be- 
 hind the Agueda, and on the eighth of April not a 
 Frenchman remained in Portugal, except the gar 
 rison of Almeida, for the blockade of which Lord 
 Wellington made immediate preparations. Our 
 army then took up a position on the Duas Casas, 
 with its advanced posts on Gallegos and the 
 Agueda. The militia under Trant and Wilson were 
 at Cine a Villas and Malpartido ; and the commu- 
 nication of Almeida, both with Ciudad Rodigo, 
 and with the French army, was cut off. 
 
 Thus terminated the invasion of Portugal ; that 
 invasion by which it was boastingly predicted that 
 the British would be driven into the sea, and the 
 conquest of Portugal be decisively achieved. 
 
 BATTLE OF ALBUERA, 
 May 16, 1811. 
 
 Regent Blake hearing that operations were suc- 
 cessful in Portugal, effected a junction with Cast- 
 anos, and having had an interview with Marshal 
 Beresford at Valverde, it was agreed to offer bat- 
 tle to the enemy. Our army accordingly took post 
 on the heights of Albuera. The ground we occu- 
 pied was a chain of eminences, along the front of 
 which flowed the river Albuera, a narrow stream 
 and fordable in many places above the position. 
 Towards the left, the great road from Serville, leads 
 over it by a bridge, and subsequently branches off 
 
HAMILTON S CAMPAIGN. 
 
 9? 
 
 to Badajos and Olivenca. On the left of this road, 
 and a short distance from the bridge, stands the 
 village of Albuera, containing a church and about 
 one hundred houses, which had been deserted bj r 
 their inhabitants. Below the bridge the Albuera 
 was unfordable. The western bank occupied by 
 the allies was of considerable altitude, and com- 
 manded all the ground to the eastward. The 
 right of the position, from its height, could not be 
 well occupied. 
 
 On the evening of the 1 5th, the leading division 
 of the French army took part on some wooded 
 ground, about a mile distant, which stretched in 
 a semicircular sweep downward to the river. 
 The remainder carne up during the night, and 
 Soult, with a force of eighteen thousand infantry, 
 four thousand cavalry, and forty pieces of cannon 
 found himself in the presence of his enemy. 
 
 The allied army was somewhat superior in num- 
 bers. It consisted of a corps of twelve thousand 
 Spaniards, which joined during the night ; of thir- 
 teen thousand British and Portuguese infantry, 
 two thousand cavalry, and thirty- two guns. 
 
 Beresford occupied his position in the following 
 manner : The Spaniards Were posted on the right 
 in two lines, their left terminating on the Valverde 
 road, where it joined the right of General Stew- 
 art's division which occupied the centre. Gen. 
 Hamilton's Portuguese division was on the left, 
 supported by a brigade of German light infantry. 
 9 
 
98 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 which held the village of Albuera. Gen. Cole's 
 division which only came up as the action com- 
 menced, and one brigade of Gen. Hamilton's di- 
 vision, formed a second line in rear of the left and 
 centre, A strong body of artillery was posted 'for 
 the protection of the bridge, and the cavalry un- 
 der General Lumley, lent support to the Spaniards 
 on the right. 
 
 On the morning of the 16th of May, about 8 
 o'clock, the French army were observed to be in 
 motion ; and shortly afterwards, a strong force of 
 cavalry, supported by two columns of infantry 
 and several guns, issued from the wooded ground 
 between the Ferdia, and the Albuera, and direct- 
 ed its march towards the bridge. The artillery 
 immediately opened fire, and a heavy cannonade 
 was kept up on both sides, with great effect on 
 the part of the British, from their advantages of 
 ground. In the mean time, Soult crossing the Al- 
 buera under cover of the wood, above the position, 
 advanced with the main body of his army, and 
 without opposition took possession of the heights 
 on the right flank of the Spaniards. The combat 
 then commenced. The Spanish troops, after a 
 short resistance, were driven from their ground, 
 and Soult then formed his army in a line, extend- 
 ing to the Velverde road, and raking that of the 
 allies. 
 
 It became instantly essential to the safety of 
 the army, that the enemy should be driven from 
 
59 
 
 the commanding station he had thus assumed. 
 Beresford gave new directions ; Gen. Cole's divis- 
 ion Was placed in an oblique line, with its right 
 flank thrown back, and an endeavor Was made to 
 bring up the Spanish troops to the charge. This 
 failed. A heavy fire was kept up by the French 
 artillery, and a charge of cavalry again forced 
 them to retire in great confusion. General Stew- 
 art's division, therefore was brought up, and pass- 
 ing through the Spaniards, advanced to gain pos- 
 session of the heights. At this period a storm of 
 rain came on, which completely darkened the at- 
 mosphere, and rendered it impossible to discern 
 the movements of the enemy at any distance* 
 The right brigade, under Col. Colburne, consisting 
 of the Buffs, the sixty-sixth, the second battalion, 
 forty-eighth, and the thirty-first, was in the act of 
 deploying, the two leading battalions alone having 
 completed the manoeuvre, when a regiment of 
 Polish lancers, which under shelter of the mist had 
 circled their flank, made furious charge from the 
 rear. The result was, that the whole brigade with 
 the exception of the thirty-first, which still remain- 
 ed in column, were driven forward into the ene- 
 my's line and made prisoners. 
 
 General Latour Maubourg, then took post be- 
 yond the right of the allies, waiting for the first 
 indication of retreat, to execute a grand and de- 
 cisive charge, and throw confusion into the move- 
 ment. Their motions were watched bv thp li^vv 
 
100 Hamilton's campaign, 
 
 brigade under General Lumley, and the horse ar- 
 tillery did considerable execution in their ranks; 
 
 It was under such circumstances that the brig- 
 ade of General Houghton was advanced to retrieve 
 if possible the- fortunes of the day. A contest o! 
 the most bloody and pertinacious character, ensu- 
 ed. The leading regiment, the twenty-ninth, no 
 sooner reached the summit of the heights, than it 
 was assailed by a fire of musquetry and 'artillery, 
 which spread havoc through the ranks, and in lead- 
 ing this regiment to the charge, General Houghton 
 fell pierced with wounds. Unfortunately the in- 
 tervention of a steep but narrow gully, rendered 
 it impossible to reach the enemy with the bayonet, 
 and the twenty-ninth was directed to halt and 
 open fire. The fifty-seventh and forty-eighth, then 
 came up, and assuming their position in line, the 
 struggle was maintained on both sides with despe- 
 rate courage. 
 
 In this state of things General Cole directed the 
 Fusileer brigade to advance on the enemy's left 
 and ascend the disputed heights from the valley. 
 In the execution of this movement, General Cole, 
 and almost every individual attached to his staff 
 were wounded. The Fusileer brigade, on crown- 
 ing the ascent, was received with a fire so tre- 
 mendous, that it at first recoiled, but instantly re- 
 covering its ground, displayed throughout the re- 
 mainder of this desperate conflict, a degree x>f 
 steadiness and intrepidity impossible to be sur- 
 
102 
 
 BATTLE OF FUENTES AND CAPTURE OF 
 ALMEIDA. 
 
 On the 28th of April, Lord Wellington estab- 
 lished his head quarters at Villa Formosa. The 
 numerical strength of the enemy amounted to for- 
 ty thousand infantry, and five thousand cavalry, 
 while Wellington could only muster an effective 
 force of thirty six thousand men, of which not more 
 than two thousand were cavalry. Notwithstand- 
 ing this disparity, he determined to oppose Mas- 
 sena in his attempt to relieve Almeida ; and ac- 
 cordingly concentrated his army to give battle. 
 
 Almeida stands on the right of the Coa, a river 
 of considerable magnitude, which from the steep- 
 ness of its banks, affords few points at which it 
 can be crossed by an army. The bridge immedi- 
 ately in rear of Almeida is within range of the 
 guns of the fortress, and at the period in question 
 was so dilapidated as to be nearly impassable. 
 There is another at Castello Bom, about two 
 leagues above Almeida ; but this also was a most 
 difficult communication. A little higher up there 
 is a ford but between that point and Sabugal, the 
 river cannot be crossed. At the latter place, the 
 road from Ciudad Rodrigo leads across a stone 
 bridge, affording the only safe and convenient 
 communication in case of retreat. 
 
 Lord Wellington, therefore, was naturally anxi- 
 ous to adopt a position which should enable him 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 103 
 
 at once to protect the approach to Almeida, and 
 cover this important line of communication. He 
 was fully aware, however, that the great exten- 
 sion of front thus rendered necessary, was highly 
 disadvantageous % and, from the first, he contem- 
 plated the probability of being forced by circum- 
 stances to relinquish the communication by Sabu- 
 gal, and concentrate his army in a more confined 
 position, for the protection of Almeida alone. 
 
 Between the Duas Casas and the Touron rivers, 
 both of which rim nearly parallel to the Coa, is a 
 range of easy heights, along which Lord Welling- 
 ton formed the centre of his army. In front of 
 these is the village of Fuentes d'Honore, which, 
 though not strictly speaking embraced in the pos- 
 ition, was held as an advanced post, and contribu- 
 ted materially to its strength. General Houston 
 with the seventh division, was posted on the ex- 
 treme right of the lines, and a body of Spanish 
 cavalry, under Don Julian Sanchez, was placed 
 in the village of Nava d'Avcr about two miles be- 
 yond it, to add to the security which that flank 
 derived from the extreme difficulty of the ground 
 in its rear of Fuentes d'Honore, their light infantry 
 occupying the village. The sixth and light divi- 
 sions were posted in rear of Almada, where the 
 Duas Casas is crossed by a bridge. The fifth di- 
 vision formed the extreme left of the Mne, and 
 guarded the great road to Almeida, with its flank 
 resting on Fort Conception. The Portuguese bri- 
 
104 
 
 gade of General Pack, supported by a British bat- 
 talion, was employed in blockading Almeida. On 
 the third of May, the enemy appeared in front of 
 the position, and took post on a ridge which over- 
 hangs the village of Fuentes d'Honore, nearly par- 
 allel to that occupied by the allies. A brisk skir- 
 mish took place between the light troops, follow- 
 ed by a heavy cannonade, and a desperate attack 
 on the village. Lieutenant-Colonel Williams, with 
 the light-infantry battalions of the first and third 
 divisions, maintained this post with great gallant- 
 ry and resolution ; but fresh numbers of the enemy, 
 pouring on to the attack, it was found necessary 
 to support him successively with the seventy-first, 
 the seventy-ninth, and the twenty-fourth regiments. 
 The contest was continued on both sides with great 
 obstinacy and perseverance, till the approach of 
 night, when the assailants repulsed in all their ef- 
 forts, took advantage of the darkness to retire. 
 
 On the morning of the 5th, the French army 
 were observed to have made a general movement ; 
 and the corps of Junot, with all the cavalry, ap- 
 peared in two columns, on the opposite side of the 
 valley of the Duas Casas, in front of Poco Velho. 
 Wellington, in consequence, sent the light division 
 and the cavalry to the support of Gen. Houston, 
 and the first and third divisions also made a move- 
 ment to their right. 
 
 About seven o'clock the enemy drove in the ad- 
 vanced guard of the British, and took possession 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 105 
 
 of the village of Poco Velho. The cavalry under 
 General Montbrun, having driven Don Julian 
 Sanchez from Nava d'Aver, now executed a gen- 
 eral charge, supported by infantry and guns, and 
 forced the British cavalry to retire in some confu- 
 sion. 
 
 Though this attack was repulsed, the numerous 
 cavalry of the enemy were observed to be collect- 
 ing on the right flank, while large masses of in- 
 fantry were forming in front. Under these cir- 
 cumstances, Lord Wellington decided on with- 
 drawing his army to a more concentrated position, 
 and giving up the communication by Sabugal. 
 The seventh and light divisions were directed to 
 retire, and a new alignment was taken up, ex- 
 tending from the Duas Casas to the Turon, nearly 
 at right angles with that in which the army had 
 hitherto been formed. The seventh division was 
 posted on a height beyond the Turon, which com- 
 manded the whole plain to Frenada ; and the ca- 
 valry and light division, to which I was attached, 
 were directed to form in reserve, in rear of the 
 left of the first division. 
 
 This retrogressive movement was executed with 
 the most perfect regularity, though pressed by the 
 enemy's cavalry, which strongly supported by ar- 
 tillery, made repeated charges on the retiring di- 
 visions. During this movement the Chasseurs 
 Brittanniques in particular, distinguished them- 
 selves. They repulsed a furious charge ; and by 
 
106 
 
 a well directed flanking fire, compelled the Frencli 
 to retire with considerable loss. The conduct of 
 the horse-artillery, under Captain Bull was also 
 admirable. Nothing could exceed the skill and 
 boldness with which it was manoeuvred ; and thus 
 supported, the infantry accomplished its retrogres- 
 sion in Unbroken order, and with a loss far inferior 
 to that of the enemy. 
 
 When the division reached their gound, the cav- 
 alry, in pushing through the intervals of the new 
 alignment, occasioned some confusion ; and taking 
 instant advantage of this circumstance, General 
 Montbrun ordered his whole cavalry to charge. 
 In order to protect the retiring division, the line of 
 march had been flanked by two brigades of guns, 
 which instantly opened fire on the approach of the 
 enemy. The infantry likewise poured in several 
 volleys ; and, thus severely handled, the French 
 cavalry retreated in confusion, and Montbrun de- 
 sisted from further effort. 
 
 In the meanwhile the sixth corps, which during 
 these events remained opposite to Fuentes d'Hon- 
 ore, had made strenuous efforts to gain possession 
 of that important post. About nine in the morn- 
 ing, several brigades of artillery were brought op- 
 posite to the village, and pointed in readiness to 
 fire. At length on a given signal, the whole of 
 their guns opened fire on the village, and several 
 columns of infantry moved forward to the attack. 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 1u7 
 
 A struggle of the fiercest and most obstinate char- 
 acter ensued. The seventy-first, seventy-ninth, 
 and twenty-fourth regiments defended the village 
 with the greatest gallantry, disputing every inch 
 of ground. In this state of things, Colonel Cam- 
 eron of the seventy-ninth, commanding the brig- 
 ade, was killed, and the enemy continuing to pour 
 in fresh columns, at length succeeded in overpow- 
 ing the defenders. No sooner however did the 
 assailants attempt to form beyond the houses, than 
 the eighty-eighth, seventy-fourth and eighty-third 
 regiments, advancing to the charge, drove them 
 back into the village with the bayonet, where 
 the contest re-commenced, and continued to be 
 kept up on both sides, with great vigour and ob- 
 stinacy, till the streets may be said literally to 
 have been covered with blood. 
 
 Towards evening the fire on both sides gradual- 
 ly slackened, and the village as if by mutual con- 
 sent, was divided by the combatants, the upper 
 part being occupied by our troops, the lower by 
 the enemy. The result of these repeated efforts 
 convinced Massena that he had nothing to hope 
 from continuing the contest. During the whole of 
 the sixth an unbroken tranquility reigned in both 
 armies, and on the morning of the seventh he with- 
 drew his troops from the front of our position. 
 The loss of our army in the actions of the third 
 and fifth, amounted to about seventeen hundred 
 men. That of the enemy, from their acting 
 
108 
 
 throughout as assailants, must have been consid- 
 erable greater. In the village of Fuentes, the 
 lanes, the church, the court-yards, and the gardens 
 were found literally piled with the dying and the 
 dead. We made likewise a considerable number 
 of prisoners. Wellington now marched to meet 
 Soult, who was in motion for Estramadura, and, 
 vshortly afterwards, had the gratification of hear- 
 ing that Massena had so far despaired of success, 
 as to resign the command of the army of Portu- 
 gal to Marshal Marmont. On the nineteenth of 
 May, he reached Elvas, where he received intell- 
 igence of the battle of Albuera. , He also learned 
 that the the investment of Badajos had been re- 
 newed on the same day, and that Soult was in full 
 retreat towards Seville, followed by the allied 
 cavalry, Lord Wellington then immediately as- 
 sumed the personal directions of the operations 
 against Badajos; but after loosing five hundred 
 men in the vain attempt to scale the walls, he 
 thought it prudent to raise the siege. He now 
 turned his attention to Ciudad Rodrigo ; and, hav- 
 ing established his head quarters at Fuente Guin- 
 aldo, he sent his battering train and stores from 
 the Tagus to the Douro, and watched for a favor- 
 able opportunity of advancing against Rodrigo. 
 
 On the sixth of January, 1812, in the following 
 year, Wellington prepared to commence his long 
 meditated attack on Ciudad Rodigo. 
 
109 
 
 SIEGE OF OIUDAD RODRIGO. 
 
 Accordingly head quarters were transferred from 
 Frenada to Gallegos ; but the [ground being cov- 
 ered with snow, and the weather inclement, the 
 army did not move till the eighth. Our division 
 alone crossed the Agueda, and formed the invest- 
 ment ; but the other divisions took part in all the 
 tlutics of the siege, and were prepared, if neces- 
 sary, to move to the support of the investing force. 
 Shortly after dark, on the same evening, parties 
 from the third, fourth, and light divisions broke 
 ground before the fortress, under a heavy fire ; 
 and a redoubt, situated on the great Teson, was 
 gallantly stormed by a party of the light division, 
 of which my own company formed a part, under 
 Lieut. Col. Golburne. The immediate direction of 
 the siege was entrusted to Sir Thomas Graham, 
 who had succeeded Sir Brent Spencer as second in 
 command. By the capture of the redoubt, a power- 
 ful preliminary obstacle to the operations of the 
 besiegers was removed. On the night following, 
 the first parallel was established, and the batter- 
 ies traced out. On the night of the thirteenth, a 
 fortified convent, situated on the right of the re- 
 doubt, was attacked and carried by a detachment 
 of light infantry companies supported by Lord 
 Blantyre's brigade. The assailants succeeded in 
 approaching the convent unobserved ; and, effect- 
 ing an entrance, took the garrison by surprise. As 
 10 
 
110 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 this post was of considerable importance, a lodg- 
 ment was formed in it, and the sap was carried 
 on to the line of the second parallel. On the four- 
 teenth, the garrison took advantage of a moment 
 when the trenches were unguarded, to make a 
 sortie. By a culpable negligence, the guard, quit- 
 ting the trenches, were accustomed to depart on 
 observing the approach of the relief. For a mo- 
 ment therefore, the enemy were successful ; the 
 workmen, armed only with spade and mattock, 
 hastily retired ; but the alarm was instantly given, 
 and the assailants were driven back, without ef- 
 fecting more injury than that of upsetting a few 
 gabions into the sap. In the meanwhile, intelli- 
 gence was received that Marmont, ignorant of the 
 operations of the allies, was approaching, with the 
 view of throwing supplies into the place. But as 
 this ignorance could be but of short duration, 
 Lord Wellington determined to push forward his 
 advances with the utmost rapidity, in the hope of 
 carrying the town, before Marmont and Dorsenne 
 should be enabled to collect their forces for its re- 
 lief. In case, however, he should be defeated in 
 this object, preparations were made for encoun- 
 tering the combined army in the field. The di- 
 visions in the more distant cantonments, were 
 moved up to the neighborhood of Ciudad Rodrigo ; 
 and General Hill was directed to throw two bri- 
 gades across the Tagus, to move as occasion might 
 require. 
 
Ill 
 
 It was considered of importance to gain posses- 
 sion of the Convent of St. Francisco, by which the 
 approaches were enfiladed on the left. Batteries 
 were accordingly erected against it, which speedily 
 destroyed^the defences, and on the night of the four- 
 teenth it was carried by assault. The second paral- 
 lel was then completed, and progress made by sap 
 towards the crest of the glacis. Advances were 
 likewise made from the left of the first parallel 
 down the slope of the hill, and fresh batteries es- 
 tablished, from which an incessant fire was kept 
 up on the fausse braie, and body of the place. On 
 the nineteenth two practicable breaches were com- 
 pleted, one in the fausse braie, the other in the 
 main wall, and preparations immediately made 
 for storming them, though the sap had not been 
 brought to the crest of the glacis, and the coun- 
 terscarp of the ditch was still entire. The attack 
 of the main breach was committed to the division 
 of General Picton, consisting of the brigade of 
 Major General Mackinnon and Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Campbell. The column was to be preceded by a 
 storming party, consisting of the light companies 
 of the division under Major Manners of the seven- 
 ty-fourth ; and, to divert the attention of the gar- 
 rison, a demonstration was to be made on the right, 
 by Lieutenant-Colonel O'Toole, with five compan- 
 ies of the ninety-fifth rifle corps, and the light com- 
 panies of the eighty-third and ninety-fourth. Our 
 division consistingof the brigades of Major-Gen- 
 
112 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 eral Vandeleur and Colonel Barnard, was direct- 
 ed to assault the smaller breach, headed by a 
 storming party or forlorn hope of three hundred 
 men, led by Major Napier of the fifty-second re- 
 giment. This party, to which I belonged were 
 volunteers. General. Pack was instructed to make 
 a false attack with his brigade on the outwork of 
 St. Iaga, and the Convent of La Caridada, with 
 instructions to convert it into a real one, should 
 circumstances prove favorable. Soon after dark, 
 on the nineteenth, the troops were under arms, 
 and at seven o'clock advanced to the assault. In 
 order to facilitate the advance of the main storm- 
 ing party under General Mackinnon, and remove 
 such impediments as the enemy might oppose to 
 their ascent of the main breach, Colonel Camp- 
 bell, with the ninety-fourth regiment, and second 
 battalion of the fifth which had been placed as 
 near* as possible to the town, descended the coun- 
 terscarp, by means of ropes, and moved silently to 
 the breach, which they succeeded in reaching 
 without discovery. Not meeting with any serious 
 obstacle to retard their progress, and aware of the 
 danger of delay at such a crisis, Colonel Camp- 
 bell, on his own responsibility, formed the daring 
 resolution of storming the town, though such an 
 attempt was not warranted by his orders. At this 
 moment he could only avail himself of the battal- 
 ion of the fifth and the right wing of the ninety- 
 fourth, but placing himself at their head, he in- 
 
113 
 
 staatiy commenced ascending the breach. The 
 enemy were now on the alert ; and Colonel Camp- 
 bell had nearly reached the summit of the breach, 
 when he distinctly heard the enemy's artillery 
 men receive orders to fire. With great prompti- 
 tude he instantly ordered the men to throw them- 
 selves flat on their faces. No sooner had this been 
 done than a shower of shot and shells swept over 
 them ; and the troops, springing to their feet, again 
 poured onward, and in a few moments the breach 
 was cleared. In endeavoring to reach the ram- 
 parts on the right, an unexpected obstacle occur- 
 red. The enemy had cut a wide ^itch between 
 the breach and the ramparts ; but here one of 
 those fortunate incidents occurred on which the 
 most important events frequently depend. Across 
 the ditch two planks had been placed by the ene* 
 my, and in the confusion of their retreat, they had 
 removed one of them, hut neglected the other. 
 Along this temporary bridge the troops passed to 
 the ramparts on the right, driving the artillery 
 men from the guns and carrying every thing be^ 
 fore them. New difficulties however soon pre* 
 sented themselves. The storming party, under 
 General Mackinnon, had not yet appeared ; and 
 the garrison, recovering from their panic, made a 
 powerful attack on their assailants. Under these 
 circumstances, Colonel Campbell ordered a volley, 
 and then charging at the head of his detachment, 
 the French immediately fled, throwing down their 
 
 no 
 
114 
 
 arms. Such had been the celerity of Col. Camp- 
 bell's movements, that when on the ramparts, his 
 men were fired at by the light-troops from with- 
 out the town, who were ignorant of its having 
 been already stormed. It was at this period that 
 the column of General Mackinnon commenced its 
 attack. It was received by a shower of grape 
 and musquetry, which did great execution ; but 
 the troops pressing* onward, succeeded in clearing 
 the breach. Unfortunately an expense magazine 
 on the ramparts accidently caught fire, and Gen. 
 Mackinnon and many of his followers were killed 
 by the explosion. Notwithstanding this misfor- 
 tune, and a destructive fire kept up by the garri- 
 son from behind an interior retrenchment, the as- 
 sailants maintained their ground, till the troops 
 which had already entered came to their assist- 
 ance, when the enemy gave way. In the mean- 
 while, General Vandeleur's brigade of the light 
 division, which had formed behind the Convent 
 in the suburb, nearly opposite to the lesser breach, 
 advanced at the appointed moment: to the assault. 
 General Crawford,- then whom the service boast- 
 ed; no more zealous and accomplished officer re- 
 ceived his death wound on the glacis, while lead- 
 ing on his division ; and General Vandeleur, Col. 
 Colburne, and Major George Napier who led the 
 storming party, were likewise wounded. The 
 courage of our soldiers, however was not daunted. 
 Notwithstanding the tremendous fire by which they 
 
115 
 
 Were assailed, the column continued its advance. 
 The breach was carried in spite of every obsta- 
 cle ; and having hastily formed, we swept round 
 the ramparts to the larger breach. 
 
 The column of General Pack had likewise been 
 successful in their escalade, and the town. was car- 
 ried at all points. The garrison fled in confu- 
 sion, throwing away their arms, and the whole of 
 the survivors were made prisoners. This success- 
 ful achievment was followed by the usual scenes of 
 riot and excess. The men, no longer amenable to 
 discipline, ransacked the houses in search of plun- 
 der. In a storehouse I got my haversack full of 
 silver plate, which the French had plundered from 
 the churches. The cellars were broken open and 
 emptied of their contents ; many houses were wan- 
 tonly set on fire, and the yells of brutal triumph, 
 uttered by the intoxicated soldiers, were heard in 
 wild dissonance with the screams of the wounded. 
 Thus passed the night. In the morning by the ex- 
 ertions of the officers,- discipline was partially re- 
 stored. The soldiers by degrees returned to their 
 duty, and the blind appetites of their brutal na- 
 ture became again subjected to moral restraint. 
 The loss of our army in the siege and storming of 
 Ciudad Rodrigo, was considerable, though not 
 more than might have been anticipated in such 
 an operation. It amounted to one thousand three 
 hundred and ten men, in killed and wounded. Of 
 the garrison, one thousand seven hundred were 
 
116 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 made prisoners, and their loss in killed and wound- 
 ed was estimated at a thousand. In the town were 
 found a battering train of forty-four pieces, an 
 immense quantity of ammunition, several thou- 
 sand stand of arms, and considerable stores of pro- 
 visions. jThe reduction of Ciudad Rodrigo was 
 was unquestionably an operation of great brilli- 
 ance. It was effected in the depth of winter, with 
 a rapidity for which Marmont was altogether un- 
 prepared. On the arrival of the news in England, 
 Lord Wellington was made an Earl, and receiv- 
 ed the thanks of Parliament, which voted him an 
 additional income of two thousand pounds a year ; 
 whilst in Spain his services were rewarded by the 
 title of Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo, with the rank of 
 a grandee of Spain of the first class. 
 
 SIEGE OP BADAJOS. 
 
 On the fall of Ciudad Rodrigo, Lord Wellington 
 determined on the bold project of throwing his 
 army with suddenness and secresy across the Ta- 
 gus, and reducing Badajos before Soult and Mar- 
 mont, should be able to take effective measures 
 for its relief. The success of the enterprise de- 
 pended on secresy and rapidity of movement, and 
 every means were adopted by Lord Wellington, to 
 conceal his intentions from the enemy, till the last 
 moment. At length, the arrangements being com- 
 pleted, the army on the sixth of March broke up 
 from its quarters, and moving rapidly to the south, 
 
HAMILTON S CAMPAIGN. 
 
 ir 
 
 reached Elvas on the eleventh. One division only 
 covered by a few cavalry posts, remained on the 
 Agueda. On the sixteenth of March, the army 
 crossed the Guadiana, and Badajos was immedi- 
 ately invested by the third, fourth, and light divis- 
 ions, under command of Marshal Beresford and 
 General Picton, Sir Thomas Graham, with the 
 first, sixth and seventh divisions of infantry, and 
 General Slade's and General Le Marchant's brig- 
 ades of cavalry, advanced to Los Santos, Zafra, 
 and Llerena ; and Sir Rowland Hill, with the sec- 
 ond division, and the Portuguese division of Gen- 
 Hamilton, and one brigade of cavalry, moved from 
 his cantonments near Albuquerque to Almandrele- 
 jo and Merida. General Dronet, part of whose 
 corps was stationed at Villa Franca, finding him- 
 self thus threatened in front and flank, immediate - 
 fell back to Hornachos. In the meantime the 
 siege went on. On the seventeenth, the weather, 
 which had hitherto been remarkably fine, became 
 cold and tempestuous. During the afternoon and 
 throughout the night the rain fell in torrents ; and 
 taking advantage of the obscurity, ground was 
 broken within one hundred and sixty yards of Fort 
 Picurina, undiscovered by the enemy. During 
 the eighteenth, in spite of the elements, the troops 
 persevered in their labors in the trenches. A 
 heavy cannonade was kept up from the town, but 
 with little effect. On the nineteenth the rain con- 
 tinued with increased violence. The troops were 
 
118 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 without shelter of any kind, and the duties of the 
 siege were uncommonly severe. In the evening 
 a spirited sortie was made by the garrison, in 
 which Colonel Fletcher the commanding engineer 
 was wounded. They were speedily charged back 
 into the town by the brigade of General Bowes ; 
 after which the troops resumed their labors, and 
 continued to persevere in spite of every obstacle. 
 The loss on this occasion amounted to one hund- 
 red and twenty men in killed and wounded. Du- 
 ring the night of the twenty-first, the bridge across 
 the Guadiana was carried away by a sudden swell 
 of the river. Owing to this misfortune, great dif- 
 ficulties occurred in bringing up the supplies ne- 
 cessary for the troops. The only communication 
 was by a flying bridge, which could only be work - 
 ed with great difficult}^ and the quantity of provi- 
 sions thus procured was found so utterly inade- 
 quate to the demand, that the most serious conse- 
 quences were apprehended. There were likewise, 
 other impediments to be overcome. The trenches 
 on the low ground were flooded, and the earth be- 
 came saturated with moisture. To palliate this 
 evil, double working parties were employed in the 
 trenches. Some with buckets, bailing out the 
 water, while others pushed forward the works. 
 
 By these extraordinary exertions, favored by a 
 change of weather, several batteries were com- 
 pleted on the twenty-fourth, and, on the follow- 
 ing day, opened fire on Fort Picurina, which Lord 
 
119 
 
 Wellington determined to carry by immediate as- 
 sault. The attack was made by five hundred men 
 of the third division, formed into three detachments. 
 The right under the command of Major Shaw, of 
 the the seventy-fourth ; the centre under the Hon. 
 Captain Powis of the eighty- third, and the left un- 
 der Major Rudd of the seventy-seventh. Two of 
 these columns advanced from the flanks of the 
 parallel, and attacked the work in its gorge, while 
 the third, consisting of one hundred men, under 
 Captain Powis, escaladed the front, at a point, 
 where the palisades had been much injured by 
 the fire of the batteries. The latter soon succeed- 
 ed in effecting an entrance, and a short but vio- 
 lent contest ensued. 
 
 The assailants and defenders were mingled in a 
 confused melee, and the issue was yet undecided, 
 when two columns, which had atttacked the work 
 by the gorge, having succeeded, though with great 
 difficulty, in effecting an entrance, appeared to 
 the assistance of their comrades. This at once 
 decided the issue of the attack. Of the garrison 
 consisting of two hundred and fifty men, one of- 
 ficer and thirty-three men, alone escaped. The 
 commander, three officers and eighty-six men were 
 made prisoners, and the rest were either killed in 
 the fort, or drowned in attempting to cross the in- 
 undation of the Rivillas. All the leading officers 
 of the attacking columns were killed or wounded 
 
120 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 and the total loss on the part of the besiegers ex- 
 ceeded two hundred men. 
 
 While the contest was going on in the fort, the 
 alarm bell was rung in the town, fire balls were 
 thrown up in all directions, and a random fire of 
 cannon and musketry was opened from every part 
 of the ramparts. At the same time, a battalion of 
 the . garrison made a sortie from the ravelin St. 
 Roque, but they were instantly driven back by the 
 detachment stationed to protect the attack. 
 Throughout the night a heavy fire was kept up 
 on the fort, which did little execution. By the 
 capture of Picurina, the besiegers were enabled 
 to establish their second parellel with little loss, 
 and, on the night of the twenty-sixth, two breach- 
 ing batteries opened fire, within three hundred 
 yards of the body of the place. On the thirtieth, 
 the fifth division under General Leith which Lord 
 Wellington had deemed it necessary to withdraw 
 from Beira, arrived at Elvas, and joined the camp 
 before Badajos. It was now known that Soult with 
 his whole disposable force, was advancing to the 
 relief of the place ; and that Generals Graham 
 and Hill, the former of whom had pushed on to 
 Llevena were retreating on Albuera. In the north, 
 Marmont having collected his forces took the ad- 
 vantage of the absence of our army, to cross the 
 frontier ; and masking Ciudad Rodrigo and Almei- 
 da, marched by Sabugal upon Guarda and Castel- 
 lo Branca, plundering the country as far as Covil- 
 
121 
 
 had in the Sierre de Estrella. Our cavalry, which 
 had been left to observe his motions, retreated to- 
 wards the Tagus ; and a considerable body of mil- 
 itia under Generals Trant and Wilson fell back on 
 Celorico. Under these circumstances, the opera- 
 tions of the siege were pushed on, if possible with 
 increased rapidity; and, on the sixth of April, 
 three extensive breaches having become practica- 
 ble, orders were immediately issued for the assault. 
 The plan of attack was as follows : General Pic- 
 ton, with the third division, was to make an at- 
 tempt on the castle by escalade. Our division and 
 the fourth, under Major General Colville and 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Barnard, were to storm the 
 breaches in the bastions of La Trinidada and 
 Santa Maria, and in the connecting curtain. Gen. 
 Leith with the fifth division was to escalade the 
 rampart near the western gate ; and the left brig- 
 ade, under Major-General Walker was to make 
 a false attack on Fort Pardaleras, which he was 
 to turn into a real one, should circumstances prove 
 favorable. Brigadier-General Power, with his 
 Portuguese brigade, was to threaten the tete du- 
 pont, and the other works on the right of the Gu- 
 diana. At ten o'clock on the night of the sixth, 
 our division and the fourth under General Colville 
 and Colonel Barnard, moved out of the trenches, 
 and advanced to the assault. From each compa- 
 ny ten men were taken to precede the divisions as 
 
 a forlorn hope. I volunteered as one of the ten 
 11 
 
122 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 from my own company. On reaching the glacis 
 we were discovered by the garrison, and instantly 
 a tremendous fire opened. Though the carnage 
 in our ranks was very great, we continued our 
 advance, and entered the covered way at the points 
 where the palisades had been destroyed by the 
 batteries. Owing to the darkness of the night and 
 our attention being fixed on the fire of the enemy 
 we came unexpectedly upon the counterscarp, and 
 nearly half our party, myself among the number, 
 were precipitated into the ditch below. Much 
 bruised by the fall I lay a few minutes insensible, 
 till on the arrival of the main body, the ladders 
 were fixed down the counterscarp, and the descent 
 into the ditch was quickly effected. 
 
 Though the formation of the troops was neces- 
 sarily broken in these operations, they immediate- 
 ly advanced against the breaches, and soon suc- 
 ceeded in gaining the ascent ; but such were the 
 obstacles prepared by the enemy that it was found 
 impossible to surmount them. Not only had the 
 summit of the breaches been obstructed by Chev- 
 aux de frise, but deep and wide trenches had been 
 dug, in the bottom of which were planted iron 
 spikes, and the whole of the surrounding buildings 
 were casemated, and occupied by light infantry. 
 To overcome these obstacles many gallant but 
 unsuccessful attempts were made by our troops ; 
 but after persevering with a courage impossible 
 to be surpassed, we were at length compelled to 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 123 
 
 retire. The attack was again renewed, but with- 
 out more favorable issue ; and nearly all the su- 
 perior officers being disabled, we were withdrawn 
 to prepare for fresh efforts when the day should 
 dawn. At the foot of the main breach leading on 
 his troops, fell Sir Charles McLeod the colonel of 
 our regiment, as brave a soldier as ever drew a 
 sword. Twenty-one officers of the regiment were 
 either killed or wounded, and of the ten men of 
 our company who volunteered for the forlorn hope, 
 only myself and a man by the name of Cumings 
 came back alive, both wounded. 
 
 In the meanwhile the third division led by Gen. 
 Kempt, and commanded by Gen. Picton, advanced 
 to escalade the castle ; and on approaching the 
 Rivillas, were received by a heavy fire from all 
 the works to the eastward of the town. They 
 speedily descended into the ditch and planted their 
 ladders. These unfortunately were found too short, 
 and did not reach within four feet the summit of the 
 rampart. This obstacle, though not insuperable, 
 materially diminished the rapidity of the ascent, 
 and kept the troops longer exposed to a destruc- 
 tive fire, than would otherwise have been neces- 
 sary. Showers of grenades, stones and rafters of 
 wood, were likewise poured down on them by the 
 enemy, and the slaughter was great. General 
 Picton and General Kempt were carried from the 
 field, severely wounded, and the command of the 
 division devolved on Col. Campbell of the ninety- 
 
124 Hamilton's campaign*. 
 
 fourth. Under this officer the attack lost nothing 
 of its energy. The troops, anxious to escape from 
 the dreadful fire to which they were exposed in 
 the ditch, eagerly mounted the ladders, and as they 
 reached the summit, formed on the rampart. A 
 short struggle then ensued, and in a few minutes 
 the division were in possession of the castle. Soon 
 afterwards the brigade of Gen. Walker, after forc- 
 ing the barrier on the road to Olivenca, succeed- 
 ed in entering the town by escalade. Before this 
 was effected, several of the ladders broke, and 
 General Walker was disabled by a severe wound. 
 The troops, however, persevered in the assault 
 with a spirit and gallantry which drew the ap- 
 plause of Lord Wellington, who witnessed their 
 efforts from a small eminence near the trenches, 
 from whence he directed the whole movements 
 of the attack. The brigade of General Walker 
 then advancing by the ramparts, attacked in the 
 rear the troops posted for the defence of the 
 breaches, and immediately dispersed them. No 
 sooner did Lord Wellington receive intelligence 
 of the success of the third and fifth divisions, than 
 he directed our division and the fourth again to ad- 
 vance on the breaches ; and fresh troops being 
 thrown into the town, all resistance ceased on the 
 part of the garrison. General Philippon and his 
 staff, and about four hundred men escaped across 
 the river to Fort St. Christovali, and shortly after- 
 wards surrendered. 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 125 
 
 The whole of the garrison, amounting nearly 
 to four thousand, were made prisoners. A con- 
 siderable number of arms and ammunition, one 
 hundred and seventy-two pieces of artillery, and 
 more than eighty thousand shot, were found in the 
 place. The expenditure of life, on our part, during 
 this extraordinary siege, was very great ; by the 
 returns the number of killed and wounded amount- 
 ed to nearly five thousand. Considering the bold- 
 ness of the effort, and the magnitnde of the obsta- 
 cles to be overcome, the capture of Badajos is one 
 of those events in their annals, of which Eng- 
 lishmen may well feel proud, " Never, probably," 
 says Colonel Jones, * since the discovery of gun- 
 powder, were men more exposed to its action, than 
 those assembled in the ditch to assault the breach- 
 es. Many thousand shells and hand-grenades, 
 numerous bags filled with powder, every kind of 
 burning composition and destructive missile, had 
 been prepared and placed along the parapet of 
 the whole front ; these, under an incessant roll of 
 musketry, were hurled into the ditch without in- 
 termission, for upwards of two hours, giving to its 
 surface an appearance of vomiting fire, and pro- 
 ducing sudden flashes of light more vivid than the 
 day, and the night was now light with the most 
 dazzling fires, and now black with utter dark- 
 ness." To complete the scene of horror, our troops 
 on entering the town, committed debaucheries and 
 excesses which required the greatest exertions of 
 11* 
 
126 Hamilton's campaign.- 
 
 our commander to restrain ; and it was not until 
 he had made some severe examples, that the wild 
 rapacity of his inflamed and elated troops began 
 to abate. The men of our regiment were so in- 
 toxicated and given up to excess, that it was diffi- 
 cult to find sober men to bury the dead. At the 
 request of our Major, I, with the assistance of an- 
 other soldier, dug our Colonel's grave. We buried 
 him on the top of the Powder-mill hill, outside the 
 town. ; 
 
 Lord Wellington nest advanced against Sala- 
 manca and directed his efforts against the fortifi- 
 ed Convents in the neighborhood of that place. He 
 had already With hot shot burned the Convent of 
 St. Vincente, and having opened a breach in the 
 gorge of the Forte Gajetano, the commandant 
 hoisted the white flag, but demanded three hours 
 delay before they surrendered. Our commander 
 would grant only five minutes, and no submission 
 being made at the expiration of that time, the bat- 
 teries were re-opened, and the fort was taken at 
 the bayonet's point.- In the forts thus captured 
 were found large quanties of clothing and milita- 
 ry stores, and the whole garrisons in number about 
 seven hundred men, Were made prisoners of war* 
 The forts had no sooner fallen than Marmont re- 
 tired upon the Douro ; and the hostile armies were 
 now encamped on each side of the river. No 
 movement was made by either for several days, 
 till at length Marmont having concentrated his- 
 
12? 
 
 whole force passed the river ; and by a forced 
 march of forty miles, was on the 18th of July, in 
 presence of our division and the fourth, who were 
 posted on the Tratancos and formed the right of 
 the army. Our situation was very critical. The 
 enemy attempted to cut off our communication 
 with the centre and left, and it was only by a re- 
 solute and successful charge of the cavalry, that 
 we were at length extricated from our difficulties* 
 On the twentieth, the two armies, amounting to- 
 gether to ninety thousand combatants, marched, 
 for several hours together within half cannon shot 
 of each other ; but no attack took place. Noth- 
 ing could be finer or more striking than the spec- 
 tacle they presented, as they moved in parallel 
 lines, in the most imposing order and regularity. 
 The French General now grew impatient for bat- 
 tle, and on the twenty-first made an attempt to 
 cut off our line of communication with Rodrigo. 
 Wellington, who received the intelligence of this 
 movement while at dinner, rose so hastily as to 
 overturn the table, and exclaiming that Marmont's 
 good genius had forsaken him, made immediate 
 dispositions for the attack. 
 
 BATTLE OF SALAMANCA. 
 
 Before daylight on the morning of the 22d, both 
 armies moved into position. That of our army 
 extended from the Tormes to two steep and rug- 
 ged heights, which, from their similarity, the na- 
 
128 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 lives generally distinguished by the name of the 
 Sister Arapiles. The position of the French was 
 covered by a thick wood, and embraced the heights 
 of La Pena, and the hamlets of Calvarasso de Ari- 
 ba, and Calvarasso de Abaxo. In the morning a 
 great deal of skirmishing took place. Detach- 
 ments from both armies endeavored to seize the 
 Arapiles heights, and the French succeeded in 
 gaining possession of the external and more dis- 
 tant one. The occupation of one of the Arapiles 
 by the enemy, occasioned some changes in the 
 position of our army. The right was extended en 
 potence to the heights behind the village of Ara- 
 piles, which was occupied by light infantry ; and 
 General Pakenham with the third division, and 
 Portuguese cavalry, was directed to cross the 
 Tormes, and take post at Aldea Tejada to lend 
 still farther support to the right flank. The morn- 
 ing passed in a series of manoeuvres on the part 
 of Marmont, from which no conclusion could be 
 drawn with regard to his ultimate intentions. 
 Lord Wellington therefore contented himself with 
 keeping an accurate observation on all the move- 
 ments of his adversary, ready at any moment to 
 assume the offensive, and equally so should sound 
 policy require it, to retreat. About two o'clock, 
 however, a sudden and decisive change took place 
 in the character of the enemy's demonstrations. 
 Under cover of a heavy cannonade, and a skir- 
 mish along the whole front of his line, Marmont 
 
129 
 
 advanced his centre, making at the same time a 
 movement to his left, as if intending to encircle 
 the position of our army, and cut us off from the 
 road to Ciudad Rodrigo. His line thus unduly ex- 
 tended, was necessarily weakened, and the favora- 
 ble opportunity of attack thus presented, was imme- 
 diately seized by Lord Wellington. The follow- 
 ing was the disposition of the army at the moment 
 of attack. Our division with the first, were on 
 the left of the Arapiles, and formed the extreme 
 left of the line. The fourth and fifth divisions 
 were posted in a double line, in rear of the village 
 of Arapiles, with the sixth and seventh divisions, 
 and the division of Don Carlos d'Espana in re- 
 serve. On the left of the fourth division was the 
 Portuguese brigade of General Pack ; on the right 
 of the fifth, was that of General Bradford. The 
 third division, with the main body of the cavalry 
 formed the extreme right. 
 
 While these arrangements were in progress, the 
 enemy made repeated attempts to gain possession 
 of the village of Arapiles, occupied by a detach- 
 ment of the Guards; but no important change took 
 place in their general dispositions. The third di- 
 vision was then ordered to advance obliquely to 
 its right, and turn the left of the position, while 
 General Cole's and General Leith's divisions 
 should attack it in front. The arrangments being 
 completed, the third division, led by General Pa- 
 kenham, moved on to the attack. 
 
130 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 The division advanced in column of battalions', 
 and was in the act of ascending the ridge occupied 
 by the enemy, when the skirmishers were driven in 
 by a large body of cavalry, who in a moment 
 came sweeping along the brow of the ascent, on 
 the right flank of the division. Fortunately the 
 retreat of the light troops had given intelligence 
 of their approach ; and Colonel Campbell of the 
 ninety-fourth, who commanded the brigade, had 
 time to throw back the fifth regiment, en potence, 
 which by a well directed volley, caused them to 
 retreat indisorder. 
 
 General Pakenham no sooner crowned the 
 heights on the extreme left of the French, than he 
 formed line across their flank, and supported by 
 General D'Urban's Portuguese cavalry, and some 
 squadrons of the fourteenth, advanced towards 
 the centre, carrying every thing before him. On 
 every favorable point where they attempted to 
 make a stand, they were charged with the bayon- 
 et ; and with such vigor did General Pakenham 
 follow up his success, that even the colours of our 
 regiments were often seen waving over battalions 
 of the enemy. Sir Stapleton Cotton with the cav- 
 alry charged the enemy in front, and cut to pieces 
 a brigade of French infantry, though not without 
 sustaining a severe loss in General Le Merchant, 
 who was killed at the head of his brigade. The 
 whole left wing of the enemy was now retreat- 
 ing in confusion, and above three thousand prison- 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 131 
 
 ers had been made by our troops. While the 
 events just narrated were passing on the right of 
 the army, the tide of success had not flowed with 
 equal rapidity in the centre. The repeated at- 
 tempts of General Pack to gain possession of the 
 Arapiles height occupied by the enemy, were un- 
 successful. On the retreat of the Portuguese, a 
 body advanced from the height and made a gal- 
 lant and very vehement attack on the flank of the 
 fourth division, while warmly engaged with the 
 enemy in its front. General Cole had been already 
 wounded, and his division, disconcerted by this 
 sudden attack, was compelled to retire in some 
 confusion. The misfortune, however, was imme- 
 diately repaired by the advance of a brigade of 
 the fifth division, which by a change of front, took 
 the enemy in flank, and subjecting them to a cross 
 fire, forced them instantly to retreat. The fourth 
 and fifth divisions then continued to advance, un- 
 interrupted by any further reverse, and gained 
 complete possession of the crest of the position. 
 In the meanwhile the Arapiles was carried by 
 General Clinton ; and the third division had ad- 
 vanced from the left, along the centre of the 
 French position, attacking and dispersing the en- 
 emy in every encounter. Marshal Marmont had 
 had been wounded, and the command of the army 
 devolved on General Clausel, who, with great 
 promptitude and skill, now endeavored to rally his 
 defeated troops in a new position, running nearly 
 
132 
 
 at right angles -with the original front. The 
 ground was admirably chosen. Either flank of 
 the position was supported by masses of cavalry ; 
 and the artillery was so posted as not only to 
 sweep the whole face of the height, but to com- 
 mand all the ground in the vicinity. The assump- 
 tion of so strong a position caused a pause in the 
 movement of the troops. Lord Wellington hav- 
 ing examined it, at length directed the fourth di- 
 vision to dislodge the enemy by a flank movement 
 on the left, while General Clinton's division, sup- 
 ported by the third and fifth, should attack it in 
 front. It was in this part of the action, that the 
 loss on our part was most severe. General Clin- 
 ton's division, during the whole of its advance, 
 was exposed to a most destructive fire of artille- 
 ry and musketry, which it sustained with the 
 greatest steadiness, till reaching the summit of 
 the height, it at once charged with the bayonet, 
 and the fourth division coming up, the enemy 
 abandoned the position in great confusion, and fled 
 towards Alba, where he crossed the Tormes. Our 
 troops continued the pursuit with great vigor, till 
 the approach of night, when the darkness and ex- 
 treme fatigue of the troops, rendered it necessary 
 to halt. But for an unforseen circumstance, the 
 victory of Salamanca must have been attended 
 with even greater results. When the enemy took 
 up his second position, our division was directed 
 to march to Huerta, and the first division to Alba 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 133 
 
 de Tormes to cut off their retreat. On the part 
 of the first division these orders were not execut- 
 ed, and the Spaniards having abandoned the cas- 
 tle of Alba on the approach of the French, the 
 latter were enabled to effect their retreat across 
 the Tormes without impediment. 
 
 The immediate results of this most splendid vic- 
 tory were the capture of eleven pieces of artillery, 
 two eagles, and seven thousand prisoners. Three 
 French Generals (Ferey, Thomieres and Desgra- 
 viers,) were killed ; Marshal Marmont, Generals 
 Bonnet, Clausel and Menne, were wounded. The 
 total loss of the enemy cannot be calculated at 
 less than fourteen thousand men. The number of 
 killed and wounded on our part, was about five 
 thousand two hundred, including six General offi- 
 cers, one of whom (Le Marchant) was killed, the 
 others (Beresford, Leith, Cotton, Cole and Alten,) 
 were wounded. The enemy taking advantage of 
 the darkness, continued his flight during the night ; 
 and at day-dawn the pursuit was renewed on our 
 part. The advanced guard, consisting of Major- 
 General Baron Bock's and General Anson's bri- 
 gades of cavalry, which joined during the night, 
 succeeded in coming up with the enemy's rear 
 division, strongly posted behind the village of La 
 Serna. The two brigades instantly charged ; and 
 the French cavalry, panic-stricken by their recent 
 defeat, fled in great confusion, leaving the infantry 
 to their fate. The whole of the latter, consisting 
 12 
 
134 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 of three battalions, were made prisoners. After 
 this disaster Clausel continued his retreat, by for- 
 ced marches and in great disorder, towards Valla- 
 dolid ; but evacuated this place at the approach 
 of Wellington, who pushed on to Madrid, and hav- 
 ing forced the garrison to surrender, entered the 
 Spanish capital on the 13th of August, amid the 
 loud vivas of exulting crowds. The situation of 
 Lord Wellington now at Madrid, though brilliant 
 was full of peril. The defeated army of Mar- 
 mont was still numerous, and had been largely 
 reinforced ; and a corps of observation often thou- 
 sand men had been sent into Alava. The armies 
 of the south and centre, by forming a junction with 
 that of Suchet, might speedily advance against 
 the Capital, with a force at least treble in amount, 
 to that of our army. To remain in Madrid there- 
 fore was impossible, he therefore resolved to trans- 
 fer his operations to the north, and attempt the re- 
 duction of Burgos. On the 19th of September; 
 our army entered Burgos ; and the French* under 
 General Souham, who, with a reinforcement of 
 nine thousand men, had arrived on the day pre- 
 vious, to assume the command, fell back to Brivi- 
 esca, leaving in the castle a garrison of two thou- 
 sand men, under General Dubreton. On the even- 
 ing of the nineteenth, a large horn- work, on a hill 
 called St. Michael was stormed and taken by our 
 troops. On the 22d at midnight, an unsuccessful 
 attempt was made to carry the outer, or escarp wall, 
 
HAMILTON S CAMPAIGN. * 135 
 
 by escalade ; but on the 29th, a breach having been 
 made by the explosion of a mine, a party of the first 
 division attempted to storm it. They were, how- 
 ever, repulsed ; the lodgment was recovered and 
 the breach repaired ; and the besieged followed 
 up their success by making a sally, and gaining 
 possession of the trenches. Another effort was 
 made on our part on the 18th of October ; but, af- 
 ter a siege of thirty days, in which two thousand 
 of our troops perished, and which only failed for 
 want of the necessary means of attack, Burgos 
 was abandoned, and we commenced our retreat 
 towards Portugal. The retreat commenced on 
 the 21st of October, and was attended with great 
 difficulty and distress ; continual rain, deep and 
 miry roads, and a want of sufficient food, being 
 among the daily hardships which we had to en- 
 counter. 
 
 Uuder these circumstances, many irregularities 
 and excesses were committed by the men in the 
 course of their march, many of whom took to ma- 
 rauding for the purpose of obtaining food, whilst 
 others from exhaustion or indifference, lagged be- 
 hind and fell into the hands of the enemy. Lord 
 Wellington on his arrival at head quarters, wrote 
 a letter, severely censuring the commanders of 
 the different brigades and regiments, which pro- 
 duced a powerful effect. During the retreat, Sir 
 Edward Paget was unfortunately made prisoner, 
 almost in the centre of our army. A detachment 
 
136 
 
 of French light troops were concealed in a wood 
 on the road to Giudad Rodrigo, and Sir Edward 
 observing an interval between the fifth and se- 
 venth divisions of infantry, rode alone to the rear to 
 enquire into the cause by which the progress of the 
 latter had been delayed. On his return he missed his 
 way and fell into the hands of the enemy. By 
 this unlucky accident, his country, at a moment 
 of peculiar need, was deprived of the services of 
 one of the bravest and most distinguished of her 
 leaders. On the 18th of November, the head quar- 
 ters of Lord Wellington were at Ciudad Rodrigo, 
 and on the two following days, we crossed the 
 Agueda, and were distributed in cantonments, 
 where we were suffered to enjoy the repose ne- 
 cessary to prepare us for the toils of the succeed- 
 ing campaign. During the long, interval in which 
 we remained in cantonments no hostile movement 
 of importance too Lplaec. 
 
 On the 16th of May, 1813, the campaign opened. 
 Five divisions with a large force of cavalry, under 
 Sir Thomas Graham, who had resumed his station 
 as second in command, were directed to cross the 
 Douro, and effect a junction with the remainder 
 of the army near Valladolid, while Lord Welling- 
 ton in person, with our division, and a brigade of 
 cavalry and a corps of Spaniards, moved towards 
 Salamanca, and Sir Rowland Hill with the troops 
 from Estramadura, was to advance on the same 
 point by Alba de Tormes. By these movements 
 
137 
 
 the line of the Douro was turned, in consequence 
 of which, the defensive works of the enemy be- 
 came entirely useless, and the whole of our army 
 \vas united on the right bank of that river on the 
 3d of June. On the day following, Wellington, 
 continuing his advance, compelled the French to 
 evacuate Valladolid, and retire to Burgos, whither 
 he pursued them, and forced them to abandon the 
 place. By this movement, the enemy were driven 
 behind the Ebro, which river our army passed, a 
 few days afterwards without opposition. On the 
 18th our division came in contact with two brig- 
 ades of French infantry, which we attacked, and 
 defeated with the loss of three hundred men. On 
 the 19th Lord Wellington drove a French corps of 
 observation from a strong position behind the Bay- 
 gas ; and on the 20th, he collected all his divisions, 
 and reconnoitered the enemy, who were now en- 
 camped at Vittoria, to the number of seventy 
 thousand combatants, under the nominal command 
 of Joseph Bonaparte in person, and determined on 
 the following morning to attack him. 
 
 BATTLE OF VITTORIA. 
 
 Vittoria, the chief town of Alava, one of the 
 Biscayan provinces, stands behind the little river 
 Zadorra, in a plain about two leagues in extent, 
 bounded on one side by a part of the Pyrenean 
 chain, and on the other by a range of bold heights of 
 *12 
 
138 
 
 smaller altitude. The ground around Vittoria is 
 marked by considerable 1 inequalities of surface, of 
 which the enemy did not fail to take advantage. 
 At the period in question, it was for the most part 
 covered with ripening' corn, which gave conceal- 
 ment to the light troops, and sometimes even to 
 the movements of whole battalions during the en- 
 gagement. The French army was posted as fol- 
 lows. The right extended northward, from Vit- 
 toria across the Zadorra, and rested on some 
 heights above the villages of Abechuco and Gam- 
 arra Major, covered by formidable field works. 
 Between the centre and right was a thick wood, 
 into which were thrown several battalions of in- 
 fantry. The right of the centre occupied a strong 
 height commanding the valley of the Zadorra, 
 the bridges over which were fortified. It was 
 covered with infantry, flanked and otherwise 
 defended by one hundred pieces of cannon. The 
 advanced posts of the centre lined the banks of 
 the Zadorra. The left, and left centra crowned the 
 high ridge above the village of Subijana de Alava, 
 with a reserve posted at the village of Gomecha, 
 and a corpse thrown out to occupy the bold moun- 
 tains above Puebla, to protect the centre which 
 might otherwise have been turned by the main 
 road where it crosses the Zadorra. Thus posted, 
 the French army covered each of the three great 
 roads which concentrate at Vittoria, in the great 
 road to Bayonne. That of Logrono by its left, 
 that of Madrid by its centre, and that of Bilboa 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 139 
 
 by its right. It was commanded by Joseph in per- 
 son, having Marshal Jourdan as Major-General. 
 In point of numbers, there existed little disparity 
 on either side, it having been found necessary be- 
 fore passing the Ebro, to detach General Foy with 
 twelve thousand men towards Bilboa, to procure 
 subsistence for the army, and keep in check the 
 powerful guerilla bands which haunted the neigh- 
 borhood ; and General Clausel with a corps of fif- 
 teen thousand men was at Logrono. Lord Wel- 
 lington likewise had found it necessary to employ 
 the sixth division under General Packenham, in 
 guarding the line of supply. The amount of com- 
 batants on either side, therefore may be fairly cal- 
 culated at from seventy to seventy-five thousand 
 men. At day light on the morning of the twenty- 
 first of June, Lord Wellington put his army in 
 motion in three great divisions. That on the right, 
 under Sir Rowland Hill, consisting of the second 
 British division, the Portuguse division of the 
 Conde de Amarante, and Morillo's corps of Span- 
 iards, was destined to commence the action, by 
 attacking the enemy's left on the mountains be- 
 hind the Sub ij ana. The left column commanded 
 by Sir Thomas Graham, composed of the first and 
 fifth divisions, two brigades of cavalry, and the 
 Spanish division of Longa, was directed by a 
 wide movement to turn the enemy's right, and 
 crossing the Zadorra, to cut off his retreat by the 
 road to Bayonne. The centre corps, consisting of 
 
140 
 
 our division, the third, fourth and seventh, in two 
 columns, was ordered to wait till both or one of 
 the flank columns should have crossexl the Zador- 
 ra and then to make a powerful attack on the 
 French centre. 
 
 The Spanish troops under General Morillo, com- 
 menced the action by an attack on the enemy's 
 corps posted above Puebla, supported by the light 
 companies of the second division, and the seventy- 
 first regiment, under the Honorable Colonel Cad- 
 ogan. After a severe struggle, in which that most 
 promising and gallant officer was mortally wound- 
 ed, the enemy were driven from the heights at the 
 point of the bayonet. Strong reinforcements were 
 then brought up by the enemy, and the contest 
 was renewed, and continued for some time, with 
 great obstinacy on both sides. Sir Rowland Hill, 
 however, having detached an additional force to 
 support the troops already engaged, the French at 
 length gave way, and yielded undisputed posses- 
 sion of the heights. Thus far successful, Sir Row- 
 land Hill crossed the Zadorra, and directed two 
 brigades of the second division to attack the heights 
 of Subijana de Alava. Here the contest was se- 
 vere. The troops advanced under a heavy fire of 
 artillery, and succeeded in dislodging the enemy, 
 and driving them back on their reserve. The 
 heights thus gallantly carried, however, were too 
 important, to be resigned, while a chance of re- 
 gaining them remained. Fresh columns of attack 
 
141 
 
 were formed, and repeated efforts were made by 
 the enemy to recover their ground, but without 
 success. At length Joseph, alarmed at these re- 
 peated failures, and the threatening attitude as- 
 sumed by Sir Rowland Hill, withdrew his advan- 
 ced posts from the Zadorra, and directed the left 
 to fall back for the defence of Vittoria. In the 
 meanwhile, our division and the fourth, under 
 General Cole, had passed the Zadorra at the bridge 
 of Nanclares and Tres Puentes ; and the third 
 and seventh divisions, crossing by the bridge on 
 the Mendonza road,both columns advanced against 
 the height in the centre. At the same time, Sir 
 Rowland Hill moved forward from Subijana de 
 Alava, and vigorously followed the left wing in 
 its retreating movements. Though the enemy had 
 been forced to withdraw his left, the centre still 
 stood firm, and received our columns, advancing 
 from the Zadorra, with a fire so destructive, as for a 
 time to check our progress. Two brigades of horse- 
 artillery were then moved forward to the front ; 
 and, thus supported, our centre columns continued 
 their advance in fine order. Notwithstanding the 
 difficulties of the ground, the division of Sir Thom- 
 as Picton first came in contact with a strong body 
 of the enemy, whom, by a spirited attack, he drove 
 into immediate retreat, with the loss of twenty- 
 eight pieces of artillery. On the approach of our 
 division with the fourth, the whole heights were 
 abandoned, and the French retired in admirable 
 
142 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 order on Vittoria, taking advantage of every fa- 
 vorable position to turn on their pursuers. In the 
 meanwhile, Sir Thomas Graham, with the left 
 column, which on the evening before had been 
 moved to Margina, was advancing by the high 
 road from Bilboa to Vittoria. About ten o'clock, 
 he approached the enemy's right, posted on the 
 heights commanding the village of Abechuco. 
 From these he immediately dislodged them, by 
 attacks both in front and flank. 
 
 Having gained possession of the heights, Sir 
 Thomas Graham directed General Oswald's divis- 
 ion to advance against the village of Gamarra 
 Major, which the enemy occupied in great force, 
 while, w T ith the first division, he attacked the vil- 
 lage of Abechuco. Gamarra Major was carried 
 in the most gallant style by the brigade of Gener- 
 al Robinson, which advanced in columns of bat- 
 talion, under a heavy fire of artillery and muske- 
 try, without firing a shot, and drove out the ene- 
 my at the point of the bayonet, with great slaugh- 
 ter, and the loss of three guns. The attack on 
 Abechuco was no less successful. Under cover of 
 the fire of two brigades of horse artillery, Colonel 
 Halket's brigade of the German legion, advanced 
 to the attack, and drove the enemy from the vil- 
 lage, with the loss of three guns and a howitzer, 
 captured by the light battalion in a very gallant 
 charge. The village of Gamarra Menor was 
 likewise carried by the Spaniards, under Longa, 
 
143 
 
 after a trifling resistance. During the operations 
 at Abechuco, the enemy made the greatest efforts 
 to re-establish themselves at Gamarra Major. A 
 strong body advanced to regain the village, but 
 were driven back in confusion by General Hay's 
 brigade. In spite of this failure, another attempt 
 was subsequently made ; but Sir Thomas Graham 
 having caused the houses in front of the bridge to 
 be loopholed, and placed his artillery in a position 
 to flank the approach, the enemy were again re- 
 pulsed, and did not afterwards venture to renew 
 the attack. Notwithstanding these successes, it 
 was found impossible to cross the bridges, the 
 heights on the left of the Zadorra being occupied 
 by a strong reserve ; and General Graham await- 
 ed the moment when the attacks on the enemy's 
 left and centre should occasion the withdrawal of 
 the corps in his front. This at length came. To- 
 wards evening, when the centre of our army had 
 penetrated beyond Vittoria, the right wing of the 
 enemy, fearing to be cut off, retired hastily from 
 its position. 
 
 Sir Thomas Graham immediately pushed for- 
 ward across the Zadorra, and took possession of 
 the road to Bayonne, which, for some distance, 
 runs along the margin of the river. Great confu- 
 sion ensued. The baggage, heavy artillery, mili- 
 tary chest, and court equipages of Joseph, had 
 already been put in motion by that road, and were 
 now intercepted. The enemy's columns, which 
 
144 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 were also retreating on Bayonne, were forced back 
 into the Pampluna road; and in a moment the 
 French army became a vast mob, without organ- 
 ization of any sort, and divested of every attribute 
 of a military body. Never had any victory 
 achieved by the enemy over the rude and undisci- 
 plined Spanish levies been more complete ; never 
 was any army reduced to a more absolute and to- 
 tal wreck, than that which now fled from the field 
 of Vittoria. Our troops pressed forward, allow- 
 ing not a moment of respite in which order might 
 be restored, and adding to the amount of our cap- 
 tures at almost, every step. Unfortunately the 
 country was too much intersected by ditches, to 
 admit of the action of cavalry ; and it was impos- 
 sible for infantry advancing in military order, to 
 come up with an enemy who trusted solely for 
 safety to rapidity of flight. The amount of pris- 
 oners, therefore, was comparatively small, though 
 the pursuit was kept up with unrelenting activity 
 till the approach of night, when the extraordinary 
 fatigue of the troops occasioned it to be discontin- 
 ued. Joseph, whom from this period it would be 
 a mere mockery to designate as king, fled towards 
 Pampluna, and owed his safety to the swiftness 
 of his horse. The tenth hussars entered Vittoria 
 at full gallop, the moment after his carriage had 
 left it. Captain Windham, with one squadron, 
 pursued, and fired into the carriage ; and Joseph 
 had barely time to throw himself on his horse, and 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 145 
 
 escape under the protection of an escort of drag- 
 oons. 
 
 The immediate results of the battle, were the 
 capture of one hundred and fifty-one guns, and 
 four hundred and fifteen caissons, with upwards 
 of fourteen thousand rounds of ammunition, nearly 
 two millions of musket cartridges, forty thousand 
 pounds of gunpowder, the military chest, and the 
 whole baggage of the army, including the baton 
 of Marshall Jourdan. Several carriages with 
 ladies, among whom was the Countess de Gazan, 
 likewise remained as trophies in the power of the 
 victors. Many other females of rank, whose hus- 
 bands were attached to the (5ourt at Madrid, 
 sought safety by mingling in the confused melee of 
 fugitives. Being utterly unprepared for such a 
 disaster, their sufferings were extreme during the 
 retreat to the Pyrenees ; and many are stated to 
 have crossed the frontier barefooted, and in a 
 state of the most pitiable privation. Though the 
 defeat of the enemy was thus accompanied by 
 every conceivable concomitant of disgrace, the 
 loss of combatants on both sides was unusually 
 small. The amount of killed and wounded, on 
 our part, was less than five thousand. That of 
 the enemy is rated, by their own writers, as low 
 as six thousand, but was unquestionably greater. 
 The number of prisoners made by our own troops, 
 from ' the causes already mentioned, did not ex- 
 ceed one thousand. 
 13 
 
146 
 
 This was the last battle in which I was engaged. 
 We drove the French from Vittoria to the confines 
 of their own country. On the day they crossed the 
 lines, we had a sharp skirmish with the enemy. We 
 then took up our position on the heights of Bara, 
 or Vera, where we encamped and remained until 
 the latter part of August. 
 
 On the evening of the 30th of August, the night 
 previous to the taking of the town of St. Sebas- 
 tian, I was placed as one of the advanced picket 
 guard near to the outposts of the enemy. In the 
 morning after the fog had cleared away we found 
 ourselves surrounded by the French army. 
 
 Our regiment observing our position endeavored 
 to rescue us. 
 
 After a severe contest, having fired all our am- 
 munition away, we were overpowered and taken 
 prisoners. We were hurried to Bayonne, where 
 we remained till our army drove the French under 
 the walls of that garrison. 
 
 At Bayonne we mingled with other prisoners, 
 Spanish and Portuguese, who had been previous- 
 ly taken. From thence we were marched through 
 France into Holland, and put in Jevet prison in 
 the town of Susan. We were in all, five thousand 
 and five hundred in number, and remained here, 
 under good treatment, until the spring, when the 
 Russians crossed the Rhine. The French being 
 now alarmed at the advance of the Russians, 
 fearing they might release us, divided the prison- 
 
148 HAMILTON S CAMPAIGN. 
 
 whether the guns of our escort were actually 
 loaded, some thought they were not, but it appear- 
 ed to me that they had a shot in the locker in case 
 we attempted to leave the ranks. This actually 
 proved to be the case, for no sooner had we got in- 
 to the woods than a smart volley came whizzing 
 round our ears, the effect of which we avoided by 
 covering ourselves on the retreat by the trees. 
 
 At this time the Russians and French were en- 
 gaged, and we distinctly heard the sound of their 
 cannon, which served us as a guide to direct us to 
 the Russian and Prussian army. 
 
 On the second day about 1 1 o'clock, we arrived 
 in safety at the advanced posts of the Prussian 
 forces, where w.e were received with great cordi- 
 ality. The Prussian commander sent an interpre- 
 ter with us to the Alcalde of the neighboring vil- 
 lage, demanding of him in our behalf, a good din- 
 ner for each, and a bottle of the best wine. This 
 proved quite a treat to us after our poor fare, and 
 long imprisonment.. 
 
 Shortly after this the allied army, moved for- 
 ward and entered Paris, where I was requested to 
 become a waiter to an English officer, in the 
 Russian service, with whom I remained until 
 peace was concluded. 
 
 At the battle of Troyes, Bonaparte and his 
 whole army were discomfited. He with a rem- 
 nant of his guards, took up a position, upon a 
 small conical hill, near Paris, where he surrender^ 
 
149 
 
 ed and was afterwards sent to Elba. I remained 
 in Paris about three months. This city is the 
 greatest place for crime and debauch in the world, 
 women and wine are as plenty as shad flies on 
 the Hudson. 
 
 Upon the exchange of prisoners I set out for 
 Dunkirk, in Holland, where I took passage on 
 board the King's cutter, and in a few hours land- 
 ed at Dale. I went to Hyde and joined the 2d bat- 
 talion of the 43d regiment, for my old and first 
 battalion lay at Bordeaux in France. Immediate- 
 ly after, an order came from the War Office, for ten 
 sergeants to join the Duke of York's Chasseurs, 
 a regiment then forming in the Isle of Wight. As 
 one of those ten, I volunteered, and joined that 
 regiment, and shortly we were ordered to the 
 island of St Vincent, in the West Indies.. 
 
 I can now look back with gratitude on that pro- 
 tecting care that watched over my pathway from 
 the morning of childhood, protected my life, and 
 shielded me when in danger, while the bullets flew 
 around me like hail stones. 
 
 Had I when I left Paris, joined the first battal- 
 ion of the 43d, my old regiment, I might, with 
 many of my brave comrades, have fallen in the bat- 
 tle of New Orleans, under the command of Paken- 
 ham, whose soldiers lay in heaps before the en- 
 trenchments of Andrew Jackson and his brave 
 Americans. Or had I survived and sailed with the 
 
 remnant of the British troops, from New Orleans, 
 13* 
 
150 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 to France, my bones might have lain bleaching 
 on the field of Waterloo.* 
 
 BATTLE OF WATERLOO. 
 
 The allied powers again took up arms for the 
 overthrow of Bonaparte, who had returned from 
 Elba ; the Duke of Wellington having arrived 
 at Brussels early in April, was appointed field 
 marshal of the United Netherlands, the force un- 
 der him amounting to eighty thousand, of which 
 about thirty-eight thousand were English. The 
 Prussians- were already in Flanders, under the 
 command* of Blucher;; and the troops- of Italy, 
 Russia and Austria, were also rapidly approach- 
 ing the frontiers of France. Meantime, Napoleon 
 having been received with the greatest enthusi- 
 asm in his capital, had got together no less than 
 three hundred and seventy-five thousand men un- 
 der arms, by the first of June; and on the 14th, 
 he appeared on the Belgian frontier with his army, 
 concentrated into three divisions, amounting to 
 one hundred and thirty thousand fighting men, 
 with a field artillery of three hundred and fifty 
 pieces. He had the utmost confidence in his 
 troops r and saying, as he threw himself into his 
 carriage to proceed to join them, "Igo to mea- 
 sure myself against Wellington," set out from 
 
 * I was not in the battle of Waterloo, but for the benefit of the 
 reader will here insert a brief account of that memorable engage- 
 ment. 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 151 
 
 Paris in full conviction of shortly returning to it 
 as Emperor of France, and conqueror of Europe. 
 
 " Soldiers," said Napoleon, in his last address to 
 his army, " this is the anniversary of Marengo, and 
 of Friedland, which twice decided the fate of Eu- 
 rope. Then, as after the battles of Austerlitz and 
 Wagram, we were too generous. We trusted to 
 the oaths and protestations of princes, whom we 
 left upon their thrones. Now, however, coalesced 
 among themselves they conspire against our inde- 
 pendence, and the most sacred rights of France. 
 They have begun the most unjust of aggressions. 
 Are not they and we the same still ? Soldiers ! at 
 Jena, against these same Prussians, now so arro- 
 gant, you were as one to three ; and, at Montmi- 
 rail, one to six. Let those among you that have 
 been prisoners in England, describe their pont- 
 ons (the hulks), and tell the miseries they there 
 endured. A moment of prosperity has united 
 these senseless princes against us. The oppres- 
 sion and humiliation of France are beyond their 
 power. If they enter France, they will there find 
 a grave !" 
 
 Nothing*could be more calculated than this ad- 
 dress to inflame the passions and animate the 
 courage of those to whom it was addressed. Im- 
 patient for battle, the French troops advanced 
 rapidly to the Belgic territory ; and, on the 15th of 
 June, a body of them met the Prussian out-posts, 
 at a short distance from the Sambre, and forced 
 
152 Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 them to re-cross it with great loss. This success 
 was followed up by the taking of Charleroi ; 
 whilst a second body of the French, advancing to 
 Gosseiles, to intercept the Prussians who had eva- 
 cuated the former town, were so electrified by the 
 presence of Bonaparte, that, without waiting to 
 fire a shot, they rushed furiously on their adversa- 
 ries and drove them from all their positions. 
 
 Intelligence of this repulse reached the Duke of 
 Wellington, at Brussels, on the night of the 15th, 
 whilst he was at a ball, given by the Dutchess of 
 Richmond. Without leaving the scene of festivi- 
 ty, where most of the British officers were also 
 present, he gave orders for the route of march ; 
 and at midnight, the whole city was suddenly 
 awakened by the beat of the drum, and the sound 
 of the trumpet summoning the troops to assemble. 
 By eight o'clock in the morning of the 16th, all the 
 regiments had quitted Brussels, and were march- 
 ing upon Les Quatre Bras, where the Duke of 
 Wellington, being strengthened with reinforce- 
 ments under the Prince of Orange, assumed the 
 offensive, and gave orders for the attack. His 
 grand object was to maintain a line of communi- 
 cation with the Prussian troops, which the enemy, 
 on the other hand, were as anxious to prevent, as 
 on this point depended, in all probability, the ul- 
 timate fate of either army. The contest was fur- 
 ious, but decisive ; and terminated in the repulse 
 of the French, who finding themselves suddenly 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 153 
 
 exposed to solid columns of numerous battalions, 
 supported by a formidable cavalry, which, until 
 close upon them, had been concealed by uneven 
 fields covered with high wheat and rye, appeared 
 panic-struck, and fell back in dismay and con- 
 fusion. 
 
 Marshal Ney was, however, little alarmed, ex- 
 pecting every moment the arrival of a corps of 
 reserve, but which he now, for the first time, learnt, 
 had been disposed of by Bonaparte elsewhere. 
 " The shock," says Marshal Ney, in his letter giv- 
 ing an account of the battle to the Duke of Otranto, 
 " which this intelligence gave me confounded me. 
 Having no longer under me more than three di- 
 visions, instead of the eight upon which I calcula- 
 ted, I was obliged to renounce the hopes of victo- 
 ry ; and in spite of the intrepidity and devotion of 
 my troops, my utmost efforts after that could only 
 maintain me in my position till the close of the 
 day." 
 
 In this dilemma, he ordered the eighth and 
 eleventh cuirassiers to charge the first battalions, 
 which they did with great bravery and captured 
 one of the colours of the sixty-ninth regiment ; 
 but the fire of the adverse infanty was so deadly 
 and perpetual, that they were compelled to retreat 
 in rapid disorder, and Wellington remained in pos- 
 session of Quatre Bras. 
 
 In this action fell the brave Duke of Bruns- 
 wick. But, notwithstanding the repulse of Ney, 
 
154 
 
 Napoleon, before the close of the day, obtained 
 his end, in separating the Prussians and the Eng- 
 lish, by the complete defeat of the former at Lig- 
 ney, whence he forced Blucher to retreat ; and 
 that General having had his horse shot under him, 
 only escaped falling into the hands of the French 
 cuirassiers by the darkness of the night. 
 
 Bonaparte now took possession of all the Prus- 
 sian posts ; directed Grouchy to pursue Blucher 
 with thirty thousand men ; and put himself in 
 readiness to attack the English, whom he felt little 
 doubt of overpowering. On the morning of the 
 17th, Wellington received information of the re- 
 pulse of the Prussians, and of their retreat to Wa- 
 vre ; in consequence of which he evacuated Qua- 
 tre Bras, and retired by Genappe, upon Waterloo, 
 where he took up his final position near the fores^ 
 of Soigne. With the exception of an affair of 
 cavalry, in which a corps of French lancers, after 
 having repelled a charge of the seventh Hussars, 
 were, in their turn, repulsed by the first regiment 
 of life guards, no action of importance occured 
 during the day. The approach of night was ac- 
 companied by a violent storm of rain, thunder 
 and lightening, which rendered the bivouac of the 
 troops wretched in the extreme : and tended rather 
 to enervate than refresh them for the exertions of 
 the forthcoming day. 
 
 During the night, Napoleon had, either from sur- 
 mise or report, imagined that the British had re- 
 
155 
 
 treated ; and on finding them still in their position, 
 on the morning of the 18th, he is said to have ex- 
 claimed, in a transport of joy, " I have them, 
 then, at last, these English !" 
 
 Preparations on both sides now commenced for 
 battle ; and by ten o'clock, the whole French ar- 
 my, with the exception of the force under Grou- 
 chy, was seen ranged along the heights opposite 
 to those occupied by the British, amounting to 
 about 80 or 90,000 men commanded by Napoleon 
 in person. The army of the Duke of Wellington, 
 consisted of about 70,000, which was so skillfully 
 disposed that a great portion of it was entirely 
 concealed from the enemy. 
 
 About noon, the first discharge of cannon was 
 heard from the French lines, which was followed 
 by a furious attack on the farm of Hougoumont, 
 where a most deadly struggle took place, and 
 which was so obstinately defended by the British, 
 that the enemy set fire to the building, after hav- 
 ing in vain attempted to drive their adversaries 
 from the position. In the meantime, La Haye 
 Sainte was the scene of a severe contest ; but it 
 was at length carried by the French, after the 
 most sanguinary action. The enemy now advan- 
 ced towards Mont St. Jean ; and, as they ap- 
 proached, the English artillery made dreadful havoc 
 in their ranks ; but they persisted in the attack 
 with unflinching bravery, and with an enthusias- 
 tic perseverance, which indicated that they had 
 
15G Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 decided on this ground as their grand point of 
 concentration for victory or defeat. The roar of 
 the cannon, the shouts of the soldiery, the hissing 
 of balls and grape shot, and the explosion of shells, 
 now mingled together with an awful effect ; the 
 enemy gained ground, though slowly, and one of 
 their columns drew near to Mont St. Jean. " At 
 the same time," says a French officer, in his ac- 
 count of the battle, "our cavalry rushed to carry 
 the guns on the plains, but was charged, in its 
 turn, by the enemy's horse, who issued in a body 
 from the hollows where they had lain in ambus- 
 cade, and the slaughter became horrible. 
 
 Neither side gave way one step. Fresh col- 
 umns reinforce them ; the charge is repeated. 
 Three times the French are on the point of forcing 
 the positions; and three times they are driven 
 back. " In these assaults," says the same authori- 
 ty, " Lord Wellington exposed himself very much ; 
 and, in order to direct in person, "the efforts of his 
 troops, several times threw himself into the midst 
 of the melee, to animate them by his presence." 
 He moved about in every direction, giving his or- 
 ders and encouraging his men in the midst of the 
 hottest fire ; and, at one time, perceiving the fifty- 
 second and ninety-fifth regiments waver and give 
 ground under the attack of an overwhelming force, 
 he rallied them, placed himself at their head, and 
 exclaiming, " We must not be beaten ; what will 
 they say in England V Charged in person and 
 
157 
 
 turned the fortune of the day. At this moment 
 the issue of the contest was doubtful ; the British 
 ranks, although they had suffered much, were un- 
 broken ; but great confusion, it is said, prevailed 
 in their rear. However no appearance of trouble 
 was visible in their front, which sustained the furi- 
 ous attacks of the French with such firmness and 
 obstinacy, that they in their turn began to lose 
 somewhat of their confidence and impetuosity. 
 
 It was now seven o'clock, when a general offi- 
 cer informed Bonaparte, who still kept ordering 
 fresh troops forward, that his soldiers would be 
 annihilated by one of the batteries if they continu- 
 ed in their present position ; at the same time re- 
 questing to know what they should do to elude its 
 destructive fire. Carry it, said the Emperor. At 
 the same time, he kept sending off despatches to 
 Paris, exclaiming to his Secretary, in a tone of 
 distraction, " Above all, fail not to say the victo- 
 ry is mine." 
 
 At this time two bodies of Prussians, which he 
 mistook for Grouchy's, coming up, opened an at- 
 tack on Bonaparte's flank and rear. 
 
 Lord Wellington now gave the signal for a gen- 
 eral advance ; to meet which, Napoleon, as his 
 last and only hope, led on his imperial guard. 
 These old warriors entered the plain with their 
 accustomed intrepidity, and courage was restored 
 through the whole line. The guard made several 
 
 charges, but was constantly repulsed, crushed by 
 14 
 
15& Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 a terrible artillery that each minute seemed to 
 multiply. The French grenadiers, however, still 
 kept their ground ; and whilst they beheld the 
 grape shot make day-light through their ranks, 
 destroying at the rate of a hundred and fifty men 
 in a minute, promptly and cooly closed their shat- 
 tered files, and remained firm and immoveable. 
 But their intrepidity was of little avail or dura- 
 tion ; a charge directed against their flank threw 
 them into disorder, and the cry of " all is lost, 
 the guard is driven back !" was heard on every 
 side. In an instant the whole French army con- 
 fused, fled, pursued by their enemy. Napoleon 
 narrowly escaped being taken prisoner by secret- 
 ing himself in a cider orchard, near the farm of 
 Caillon. 
 
 Thus ended the memorable battle of Watterloo, 
 in which nearly 40,000 combatants perished. 
 
 After remaining a year or over at St. Vincent, 
 we received the rout for the island of Jamaica ; 
 our company was stationed at Fort George, Fort 
 Antonio, on the east end of the island. During 
 our stay in this Fort we were much afflicted with 
 disease, especially with the vomito and yellow 
 fever. Sixty-two of our company died. Here I 
 was confined to the hospital for three months. 
 
 At the reduction of the army, in the year 1819. 
 my regiment, which was the last formed, was or- 
 dered to Quebec, where we were disbanded. 
 
HAMILTON^ CAMPAIGN. 159 
 
 Each private received from the British govern- 
 ment a grant of land in Upper Canada of one hun- 
 dred acres and a year's provisions. 
 
 Being a Sergeant my grant was two hundred 
 acres, but I never saw the land nor availed my- 
 self of the Royal bounty. These grants were for- 
 feited in 1843. 
 
 A year ago, while at the Crown office, in Mon- 
 treal, at offer was made to me of one hundred 
 acres, in consideration of my former services as a 
 soldier in the British army. 
 
 It was in Montreal, I first contracted the appe- 
 tite for strong drink. There were pipers and fid- 
 lers in almost every low tavern ! Here I was 
 shorn of my strength, or more properly speaking 
 ef my money ; and when at last I thought the 
 Philistines would be upon me, I bid farewell to 
 the city, and in company with several others, 
 sought for employment on the government works 
 at Long Soult, on the Grand River, In this place 
 I staid but one month, and left for Potsdam in the 
 State of New York, where I spent the winter, as 
 a waiter in a Hot-hell (Hotel), or one of the Dev- 
 il's wigwams, as they are better termed. Here 
 I studied the drunkard's system of navigation, and 
 had many a hard cruise in the sea of intemper- 
 ance, in which my frail bark was well nigh foun- 
 dered. 
 
 As moderate drinking is the great high-way, 
 By which all drunkards pass'd the other day, 
 
I GO Hamilton's campaign. 
 
 Supremely blind must all their followers be, 
 Though here and there an inverted track they see. 
 In vain death packs the drunkards in his urn 
 No sooner gone, the tiplers drunkards turn, 
 Ere thou art snar'd cease tampering with the foe , 
 Nor in the way of death and ruin go. 
 Come give your pledge, from tipling to abstain, 
 Embrace the temperance cause and safe remain. 
 
 I worked the summer of 1820, in Utica, on the 
 canal. The allowance of seven gills of grog a 
 day, on these works was not very favorable to the 
 cause of temperance. Most of the men drank 
 very freely. There were however two young men, 
 brothers, from the north of Ireland, protestants, 
 who could not be prevailed upon to taste a drop, 
 and never had from their youth up. 
 
 In the fall of this year, I went into an Auction 
 store in Utica, and laid out my money in goods 
 and commenced pedling. I took the road and tra- 
 velled north, until I entered Vermont. Here I had 
 my pack stolen. 
 
 I afterwards settled in the town of Berkshire, in 
 Franklin County, Vermont, where I worked on a 
 farm, for a manwhose jiame was Francis Rublee. 
 I here became acquainted with the familyTof my 
 wife, whose name was Gray. Mrs. Gray, whose 
 daughter I afterwards married, was a kind heart-, 
 ed pious woman, and took all opportunities to per- 
 suade me to become a christian. I was first brought 
 under serious impressions, by hearing Mrs. Gray 
 sead a tract called the Shepherd of Newton Stew- 
 
Hamilton's campaign. 161 
 
 arts. I soon after began to read the bible, and 
 commenced going to meeting. My convictions 
 increased, as light broke into my mind, for several 
 months, when one morning as I was praying for 
 mercy, in a sequestred spot near the house, I found 
 peace and pardon through faith in Jesus Christ. 
 I then joined the praying army, and for the first 
 five years, I ran in the way of God's command- 
 ments ; but alas ! the glory soon departed, for I 
 became entangled with the yoke of bondage, by 
 indulging too freely in the intoxicating bowl. 
 
 I found now by sad experience, that he that 
 knoweth his master's will and doeth it not, shall 
 be beaten with many stripes. 
 
 I sought the Lord and he heard the voice of my 
 supplication, and restored once more to me the 
 joys of his salvation, and I again found pleasure 
 in his service. 
 
 Upon reflection, I can now see, that had I never 
 been persuaded to read the bible, I should in 
 all probability have found a drunkard's grave. 
 But I thank God that he ever snatched me as a 
 brand from the burning, and from the fires which 
 the cursed bowl kindles on the drunkard's vitals 
 while on earth. Upon the death of my father-in- 
 law, being defrauded of the property, that came 
 by the right of my wife, I removed into the State 
 of New York, where I have resided ever since. 
 
 In the year 1841, when the great Temperance 
 reformation commenced, I entered the ranks of the- 
 
162 
 
 teetotal army as a Lecturer, and for the last six 
 years have travelled the greater part of the time 
 in various parts of New England and New York. 
 Wherever I have been engaged in this good cause, 
 I have been received with the greatest cordiality, 
 and have seen many drunkard's reclaimed and re- 
 stored to their friends to usefulness and society. 
 
 I take this opportunity of expressing my grati- 
 tude to the friends of the temperance cause in 
 general, for their kindness, and for encouraging 
 me in my weak efforts to promote the best inter- 
 ests of my fellow men ; hoping to witness before 
 I die the complete triumph of the glorious temper- 
 ance reformation. 
 
 If God spares my life, I shall still continue to 
 exhort and encourage the poor drunkard to cast 
 away the unhallowed bowl, and to bear in mind 
 that all the danger lies in the first glass. 
 
 There is no safety for moderate drinkers ; the 
 only sure way is to touch not the inebriating cup. 
 It is an old saying, that " drinking water will nei- 
 ther make a man sick nor in debt, nor his wife, 
 (if he has one,) a widow. 
 
 Make room for the thousands on thousands returning, 
 From the desolate pathway of darkness and sin. 
 Their hearts for the accents of kindness are yearning, 
 Oh ! shout in your gladness and welcome them in. 
 
 From the isles of the ocean, the vallies and mountains, 
 With the proud flag of victory, in triumph unfurld. 
 They come to partake of the life giving fountain, 
 Those waters are flowing to gladden the world. 
 
HAMILTON S CAMPAIGN. 163 
 
 Oh, still at our posts we stand to deliver, 
 'Till the light burns again on each desolate heart, 
 And the demon of drunkenness is vanquished forever, 
 Whose breath, like a plague spot has darkened the earth. 
 
 In conclusion, may the star of Temperance in 
 union with the star of Bethelem, lighten up the 
 dark horizon of this benighted earth. 
 

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