by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XV.
CIUDAD RODRIGO AND BADAJOS.
It was in the beginning of December, 1811, that the Scudamores againsailed up the Tagus to Lisbon, after an absence of just six months.When they had passed the medical board, they were transferred from theunattached list to the 52d Regiment, which was, fortunately for them,also in Spain. No events of great importance had taken place duringtheir absence. Wellington, after the battles of Fuentes d'Onoro andAlbuera, had been compelled to fall back again to the frontier in theface of greatly superior forces, and had maintained his old positionon the Coa till the approach of winter compelled the French to retireinto the interior, where they had their magazines and depots.
The Scudamores found that the 52d were encamped on the Agueda,and they at once prepared to go up country to join them. Theirchargers--presents from their aunt on leaving--were fresh andvigorous, and they purchased a strong country horse for Sambo, who,thanks to some practice which he had had in England, was now able tocut a respectable figure on horseback. A few hours were sufficient tomake their preparations, and at noon on the day after landing, theymounted, and, followed by Sam, accompanied by a muleteer and two mulescarrying their baggage, they started from the hotel at which they hadput up.
As they rode down the main street they saw several mountedofficers approaching, and at once recognized in the leader thecommander-in-chief, who had just arrived from the front to pay oneof his flying visits, to endeavor to allay the jealousies in thePortuguese Council, and to insist upon the food which the BritishGovernment was actually paying for, being supplied to the starvingPortuguese soldiers. Drawing their horses aside, they saluted LordWellington as he rode past. He glanced at them keenly, as was hiscustom, and evidently recognized them as he returned the salute.
When he had passed, they turned their horses and continued their way.They had not gone fifty yards, however, when an officer came up ata gallop. Lord Wellington wished them to call at his quarters in anhour's time.
There are few things more annoying than, after having got through allthe trouble of packing and getting fairly on the road, to be stopped;but there was no help for it, and the boys rode back to their hotelagain, where, putting up their horses, they told Sam not to let themuleteer leave, for they should probably be on the road again in anhour.
At the appointed time they called at the head-quarters, and givingtheir cards to two officers on duty, took their seats in the anteroom.It now became evident to them that their chance of an early interviewwas not great, and that they would in all probability be obliged topass another night in Madrid. Portuguese grandees passed in and out,staff officers of rank entered and left, important business was beingtransacted, and the chance of two Line captains having an interviewwith the commander-in-chief appeared but slight. Two hours passedwearily, and then an orderly sergeant came into the room and read outfrom a slip of paper the names "Captain Thomas Scudamore; CaptainPeter Scudamore. This way, if you please," he added, as the boys rosein answer to their names, and he led the way into a room where acolonel on the staff was seated before a table covered with papers.
"Gentlemen," he said, "I have news which I think will be pleasant toyou both. Lord Wellington has not forgotten the services you renderedin carrying his communications to the guerilla chiefs. Your reportswere clear and concise, and your knowledge of Spanish especiallyvaluable. Lord Beresford, too, has reported most favorably of yourconduct while with him. There happen to be two vacancies on his staff,and he has desired me to fill them up with your names."
Although the Scudamores would in some respects rather have remainedwith their regiment, yet they could not refuse an honor which wasgenerally coveted as being a post in which an active officer hadplenty of opportunities of distinguishing himself, and which wascertain to lead to speedy promotion. They accordingly expressed theirwarm thanks for the honor which Lord Wellington had done them.
"Are you well mounted?" Colonel Somerset asked.
"We have one capital charger each," Tom said.
"You will want another," Colonel Somerset remarked. "There are a lotof remounts landed to-day. Here is an order to Captain Halket, theofficer in charge. Choose any two you like. The amount can be stoppedfrom your pay. How about servants; you are entitled to two each?"
"We have one man of the Norfolk Rangers--a very faithful fellow, whohas returned with us from leave; if he could be transferred, he woulddo for us both if we had a cavalry man each for our horses."
The colonel at once wrote an order for Sam's transfer from hisregiment on detached service, and also one to the officer commanding acavalry regiment stationed in Madrid, to supply them with two troopersas orderlies.
"May I ask, sir, if we are likely to stay in Madrid long--as, if so,we will look out for quarters?" Tom asked.
"No; the general returns to-morrow, or next day at latest, to Almeida,and of course you will accompany him. Oh, by-the-by, Lord Wellingtonwill be glad if you will dine with him to-day--sharp six. By-the-way,you will want to get staff uniform. There is the address of a Spanishtailor, who has fitted out most of the men who have been appointedhere. He works fast, and will get most of the things you want readyby to-morrow night. Don't get more things than are absolutelynecessary--merely undress suits. Excuse my asking how are you off formoney? I will give you an order on the paymaster if you like."
Tom replied that they had plenty of money, which indeed they had,for their aunt had given them so handsome a present upon starting,that they had tried to persuade her to be less generous, urging thatthey really had no occasion for any money beyond their pay. She hadinsisted, however, upon their accepting two checks, saying that onenever knew what was wanted, and it was always useful to have a sum tofall back on in case of need.
Two days later the Scudamores, in their new staff uniforms, were,with some six or eight other officers, riding in the suite of LordWellington on the road to the Coa. The lads thought they had neverhad a more pleasant time, the weather was fine and the temperaturedelightful, their companions, all older somewhat than themselves, wereyet all young men in high health and spirits. The pace was good, forLord Wellington was a hard rider, and time was always precious withhim. At the halting-places the senior officers of the staff kepttogether, while the aides-de-camp made up a mess of their own, alwayschoosing a place as far away as possible from that of the chief, sothat they could laugh, joke, and even sing, without fear of disturbinghis lordship.
Sam soon became a high favorite with the light-hearted young fellows,and his services as forager for the mess were in high esteem.
Three days of hard riding took them to Almeida, where the breachescaused by the great explosion had been repaired, and the place putinto a defensible position. Tom and Peter had been afraid thatthere would be at least four months of enforced inactivity beforethe spring; but they soon found that the post of aide-de-camp toWellington was no sinecure. For the next month they almost lived inthe saddle. The greater portion of the English army was indeed lyingon the Agueda, but there were detached bodies of British and largenumbers of Portuguese troops at various points along the whole lineof the Portuguese frontier, and with the commanders of these LordWellington was in constant communication.
Towards the end of December some large convoys of heavy artilleryarrived at Almeida, but every one supposed that they were intended tofortify this place, and none, even of those most in the confidence ofthe commander-in-chief, had any idea that a winter campaign was aboutto commence. The French were equally unsuspicious of the truth. Twiceas strong as the British, they dreamt not that the latter would takethe offensive, and the French marshals had scattered their troops atconsiderable distances from the frontier in winter quarters.
Upon the last day of the year the Scudamores both happened to havereturned to the front--Tom from Lisbon, and Peter from a long ride toa distant Portuguese division. There was a merry party gathered rounda blazing fire in the yard of the house where they, with several otheraides-de-camp, were quartered. Some fifty officers of all ranks
werepresent, for a general invitation had been issued to all unattachedofficers in honor of the occasion. Each brought in what liquor hecould get hold of, and any provisions which he had been able toprocure, and the evening was one of boisterous fun and jollity. Inthe great kitchen blazed a fire, before which chickens and duckswere roasting, turkeys and geese cut up in pieces for greaterrapidity of cooking, were grilling over the fire, and as they cameoff the gridiron they were taken round by the soldier-servants totheir masters as they sat about on logs of wood, boxes, and othersubstitutes for chairs. Most of the officers present had alreadysupped, and the late-comers were finishing their frugal meal, afterwhich the soldiers would take their turn. There was a brewing of punchand an uncorking of many a bottle of generous wine; then the song andlaugh went round, and all prepared to usher in the new year joyously,when a colonel of the staff, who had been dining with Lord Wellington,entered. "Here's a seat, colonel," was shouted in a dozen places, buthe shook his head and held up his hand.
"Gentlemen, I am sorry to disturb you, but orders must be obeyed.Villiers, Hogan, Scudamores both, Esdaile, Cooper, and Johnson, hereare despatches which have to be taken off at once. Gentlemen, Ishould recommend you all to look to your horses. All attached to thetransport had better go to their head-quarters for orders."
"What is up, colonel?" was the general question.
"The army moves forward at daybreak. We are going to take Ciudad."
A cheer of surprise and delight burst from all. There was an emptyingof glasses, a pouring out of one more bumper to success, and infive minutes the court was deserted save by some orderlies hastilydevouring the interrupted supper, and ere long the tramp of horsescould be heard, as the Scudamores and their comrades dashed off indifferent directions with their despatches.
The next morning a bridge was thrown over the Agueda at Marialva,six miles below Ciudad, but the investment was delayed, owing to theslowness and insufficiency of the transport. Ciudad Rodrigo was buta third-class fortress, and could have been captured by the processof a regular siege with comparatively slight loss to the besiegers.Wellington knew, however, that he could not afford the time for aregular siege. Long before the approaches could have been made, andthe breaches effected according to rule, the French marshals wouldhave been up with overwhelming forces.
Beginning the investment on the 7th, Wellington determined that itmust be taken at all costs in twenty-four days, the last day ofthe month being the very earliest date at which, according to hiscalculations, any considerable body of French could come up to itsrelief.
Ciudad lies on rising ground on the bank of the Agueda. Thefortifications were fairly strong, and being protected by a very highglacis, it was difficult to effect a breach in them. The glacis is thesmooth ground outside the ditch. In well-constructed works the wallsof the fortification rise but very little above the ground beyond,from which they are separated by a broad and deep ditch. Thus theground beyond the ditch, that is, the glacis, covers the walls fromthe shot of a besieger, and renders it extremely difficult to reachthem. In the case of Ciudad, however, there were outside the placetwo elevated plateaux, called the great and small Teson: Guns placedon these could look down upon Ciudad, and could therefore easilybreach the walls. These, then, were the spots from which Wellingtondetermined to make the attack. The French, however, were aware of theimportance of the position, and had erected on the higher Teson aninclosed and palisadoed redoubt, mounting two guns and a howitzer. Agreat difficulty attending the operation was that there were neitherfuel nor shelter to be obtained on the right bank of the river, andthe weather set in very cold, with frost and snow, at the beginningof the siege. Hence the troops had to be encamped on the left bank,and each division, as its turn came, to occupy the trenches fortwenty-four hours, took cooked provisions with it, and waded acrossthe Agueda.
On the 8th, Pack's division of Portuguese and the light division wadedthe river three miles above the fortress, and, making a circuit tookup a place near the great Teson. There they remained quiet all day.The French seeing that the place was not yet entirely invested paidbut little heed to them. At nightfall, however, Colonel Colborne,with two companies from each of the regiments of the light division,attacked the redoubt of San Francisco with such a sudden rush that itwas carried with the loss of only twenty-four men, the defenders, fewand unprepared, being all taken prisoners. Scarcely, however, was theplace captured than every gun of Ciudad which could be brought to bearupon it opened with fury. All night, under a hail of shot and shell,the troops labored steadily, and by daybreak the first parallel, thatis to say, a trench protected by a bank of earth six hundred yardsin length was sunk three feet deep. The next day the first division,relieved the light division.
Tom and Peter, now that the army was stationary, had an easier time ofit, and obtained leave to cross the river to see the operations. Thetroops had again to wade through the bitter cold water, and at anyother time would have grumbled rarely at the discomfort. When theyreally engage in the work of war, however, the British soldier caresfor nothing, and holding up their rifles, pouches and haversacks, tokeep dry, the men crossed the river laughing and joking. There was butlittle done all day, for the fire of the enemy was too fast and deadlyfor men to work under it in daylight. At night the Scudamores lefttheir horses with those of the divisional officers, and accompaniedthe troops into the trenches, to learn the work which had there tobe done. Directly it was dusk twelve hundred men fell to work toconstruct their batteries. The night was dark, and it was strange tothe Scudamores to hear the thud of so many picks and shovels going,to hear now and then a low spoken order, but to see nothing save whenthe flash of the enemy's guns momentarily lit up the scene. Every halfminute or so the shot, shell, and grape came tearing through the air,followed occasionally by a low cry or a deep moan. Exciting as it wasfor a time, the boys having no duty, found it difficult long to keepawake, and presently dozed off--at first to wake with a start whenevera shell fell close, but presently to sleep soundly until dawn. By thattime the batteries, eighteen feet thick, were completed.
On the 10th the fourth division, and on the 11th the third, carriedon the works, but were nightly disturbed, not only by the heavy firefrom the bastions, but from some guns which the French had mounted onthe convent of San Francisco in the suburb on the left. Little waseffected in the next two days, for the frost hardened the ground andimpeded the work. On the night of the 13th the Santa Cruz convent wascarried and the trenches pushed forward, and on the next afternoon thebreaching batteries opened fire with twenty-five guns upon the pointsof the wall at which it had been determined to make the breaches,while two cannons kept down the fire of the French guns at the conventof San Francisco. The French replied with more than fifty pieces,and all night the tremendous fire was kept up on both sides withoutintermission. Just at daybreak the sound of musketry mingled with theroar of cannon, as the 40th Regiment attacked and carried the conventof San Francisco. Through the 16th, 17th, and 18th the artilleryduel continued, some times one side, sometimes the other obtainingthe advantage; but during each night the trenches of the besiegerswere pushed forward, and each day saw the breaches in the rampartsgrow larger and larger. On the 19th the breaches were reported aspracticable--that is, that it would be possible for men to scramble upthe fallen rubbish to the top, and orders were therefore given for theassault for that night.
The attack was to be made at four points simultaneously; the 5th,94th, and 77th were to attack from the convent of Santa Cruz, to makefor the ditch, enter it, and work their way along to the great breach;Mackinnon's brigade of the third division was to attack the greatbreach from the front; the light division posted behind the conventof San Francisco were to attack from the left, and make their way tothe small breach; while a false attack, to be converted into a realone if the resistance was slight, was to be made by Pack's Portugueseat the St. Jago gate at the opposite side of the town. As night fellthe troops moved into their position, and Lord Wellington went tothe convent of San Francisco, from whose
roof he could survey theoperations. The Scudamores, with the rest of the staff, took uptheir places behind him. Suddenly there was a shout on the far right,followed by a sound of confused cheering and firing, while flashes offlame leapt out along the walls, and the guns of the place opened firewith a crash. Now the 5th, 94th, and 77th rushed with great swiftnessalong the ditch, when, at the foot of the great breach, they weremet by the third division. Together they poured up the breach, andthe roar of musketry was tremendous. Once at the top of the breach,however, they made no progress. From a trench which had been cutbeyond it, a ring of fire broke out, while muskets flashed from everywindow in the houses near. It was evident that some serious obstaclehad been encountered, and that the main attack was arrested.
"This is terrible," Peter said, as almost breathless they watched thestorm of fire on and around the breach. "This is a thousand timesworse than a battle. It is awful to think how the shot must be tellingon that dense mass. Can nothing be done?"
"Hurrah! There go the light division at the small breach," Tomexclaimed, as the French fire broke out along the ramparts in thatquarter. A violent cheer came up even above the din from the greatbreach, but no answering fire lights the scene, for Major Napier,who commanded, had forbidden his men to load, telling them to trustentirely to the bayonet. There was no delay here; the firing of theFrench ceased almost immediately, as with a fierce rush the men of thelight division bounded up the ruins and won the top of the breach. Fora moment or two there was a pause, for the French opened so fierce afire from either side, that the troops wavered. The officers sprangto the front, the soldiers followed with the bayonet, and the French,unable to stand the fierce onslaught, broke and fled into the town.Then the men of the light division, rushing along the walls, tookthe French who were defending the great breach in rear, and as thesegave way, the attacking party swept across the obstacles which, hadhitherto kept them, and the town was won. Pack's Portuguese hadeffected an entrance at the St. Jago gate, which they found almostdeserted, for the garrison was weak, and every available man had beentaken for the defence of the breaches.
Thus was Ciudad Rodrigo taken after twelve days' siege, with a lossof twelve hundred men and ninety officers, of which six hundred andfifty men and sixty officers fell in that short, bloody fight at thebreaches. Among the killed was General Craufurd, who had commanded atthe fight on the Coa.
Upon entering the town three days afterwards, at the termination ofthe disgraceful scene of riot and pillage with which the Britishsoldier, there as at other places, tarnished the laurels won by hisbravery in battle, the boys went to the scene of the struggle, andthen understood the cause of the delay upon the part of the stormers.From the top of the breach there was a perpendicular fall of sixteenfeet, and the bottom of this was planted with sharp spikes, and strewnwith the fragments of shells which the French had rolled down intoit. Had it not been for the light division coming up, and taking thedefenders--who occupied the loopholed and fortified houses whichcommanded this breach--in rear, the attack here could never havesucceeded.
The next few days were employed in repairing the breaches, and puttingthe place again in a state of defence, as it was probable that Marmontmight come up and besiege it. The French marshal, however, whenhurrying to the relief of the town, heard the news of its fall, andas the weather was very bad for campaigning, and provisions short,he fall back again to his winter quarters, believing that Wellingtonwould, content with his success, make no fresh movement until thespring. The English general, however, was far too able a strategistnot to profit by the supineness of his adversary, and, immediatelyCiudad Rodrigo was taken, he began to make preparations for the siegeof Badajos, a far stronger fortress than Ciudad, and defended bystrong detached forts. Three days after the fall of Rodrigo GeneralHill came up with his division; to this the Norfolk Rangers nowbelonged, and the Scudamores had therefore the delight of meeting alltheir old friends again. They saw but little of them, however, forthey were constantly on the road to Lisbon with despatches, everybranch of the service being now strained to get the battering-traindestined for the attack on Badajos to the front, while orders weresent to Silviera, Trant, Wilson, Lecca, and the other partisanleaders, to hold all the fords and defiles along the frontier, so asto prevent the French from making a counter-invasion of Portugal.
On the 11th of March the army arrived at Elvas, and on the 15th apontoon bridge was thrown across the Guadiana. The following day theBritish troops crossed the river, and invested Badajos, with fifteenthousand men, while Hill and Graham, with thirty thousand more movedforward, so as to act as a covering army, in case the French shouldadvance to raise the siege. Badajos was defended by five thousand men,under General Phillipson, a most able and energetic commander, who hadin every way strengthened the defences, and put them in a position tooffer an obstinate resistance.
Before attacking the fortress it was necessary to capture one of theoutlying forts, and that known as the Picurina was selected, becausethe bastion of the Trinidad, which lay behind it, was the weakestportion of the fortress. The trenches were commenced against this onthe night of the 17th, and, although the French made some vigoroussorties, the works progressed so rapidly that all was ready for anassault on the forts on the 25th, a delay of two days having beenoccasioned by the French taking guns across the river, which sweptthe trenches, and rendered work impossible, until a division was sentround to drive in the French guns and invest the fortress on thatside. The Picurina was strong, and desperately defended, but it wascaptured after a furious assault, which lasted one hour, and costnineteen officers and three hundred men. It was not, however, untilnext evening that the fort could be occupied, for the guns of the townpoured such a hail of shot and shell into it, that a permanent footingcould not be obtained in it. Gradually, day by day, the trenches weredriven nearer to the doomed city, and the cannon of the batteriesworked day and night to establish a breach. Soult was known to beapproaching, but he wanted to gather up all his available forces, ashe believed the town capable of holding out for another month, atleast. Still he was approaching, and, although the three breacheswere scarcely yet practicable, and the fire of the town by no meansoverpowered, Wellington determined upon an instant assault, and on thenight of the 6th of April the troops prepared for what turned out tobe the most terrible and bloody assault in the annals of the Britisharmy. There were no less than six columns of attack, comprising in alleighteen thousand men. Picton, on the right with the third divisionwas to cross the Rivillas and storm the castle. Wilson, with thetroops in the trenches, was to attack San Roque. In the center thefourth and light division, under Colville and Barnard, were to assaultthe breaches; and on the left Leith, with the fifth division, was tomake a false attack upon the fort of Pardaleras, and a real attackupon the bastion of San Vincente by the river side. Across the riverthe Portugese division, under Power, was to attack the works at thehead of the bridge. The night was dark and clouded, and all was asstill as death outside the town, when a lighted carcass, that is alarge iron canister filled with tar and combustibles, fell close tothe third division, and, exposing their ranks, forced them to commencethe attack before the hour appointed. Crossing the Rivillas by anarrow bridge, under a tremendous fire, the third division assaultedthe castle, and, although their scaling-ladders were over and overagain hurled down, the stormers at last obtained a footing, and therest of the troops poured in and the castle was won. A similar andmore rapid success attended the assault on San Roque, which wasattacked so suddenly and violently, that it was taken with scarceany resistance. In the mean time the assaults upon the breaches hadcommenced, and it is best to give the account of this terrible scenein the words of its eloquent and graphic historian, as the picture isone of the most vivid that was ever drawn.
"All this time the tumult at the breaches was such as if the veryearth had been rent asunder, and its central fires bursting upwardsuncontrolled. The two divisions had reached the glacis just as thefiring at the castle commenced, and the flash of a single musket,discharged
from the covered-way as a signal, showed them that theFrench were ready; yet no stir was heard and darkness covered thebreaches. Some hay-packs were thrown, some ladders placed, and theforlorn hopes and storming parties of the light division, five hundredin all, descended into the ditch without opposition; but then a brightflame shooting upwards displayed all the terrors of the scene. Theramparts, crowded with dark figures and glittering arms were on oneside, on the other the red columns of the British, deep and broad,were coming on like streams of burning lava. It was the touch of themagician's wand, for a crash of thunder followed, and with incredibleviolence the storming parties were dashed to pieces by the explosionof hundreds of shells and powder-barrels. For an instant the lightdivision stood on the brink of the ditch, amazed at the terrificsight; but then, with a shout that matched even the sound of theexplosion, the men flew down the ladders, or, disdaining their aid,leaped, reckless of the depth, into the gulf below--and at the samemoment, amidst a blaze of musketry that dazzled the eyes, the fourthdivision came running in, and descended with a like fury. There wereonly five ladders for the two columns, which were close together;and a deep cut, made in the bottom of the ditch as far as thecounter-guard of the Trinidad, was filled with water from theinundation. Into that watery snare the head of the fourth divisionfell, and it is said above a hundred of the fusiliers, the men ofAlbuera, were there smothered. Those who followed checked not, but,as if such a disaster had been expected, turned to the left, and thuscame upon the face of the unfinished ravelin, which, being rough andbroken, was mistaken for the breach, and instantly covered with men;yet a wide and deep chasm was still between them and the ramparts,from whence came a deadly fire, wasting their ranks. Thus baffled,they also commenced a rapid discharge of musketry and disorder ensued;for the men of the light division, whose conducting engineer had beendisabled early and whose flank was confined by an unfinished ditchintended to cut off the bastion of Santa Maria, rushed towards thebreaches of the curtain and the Trinidad, which were, indeed, beforethem, but which the fourth division had been destined to storm. Greatwas the confusion, for the ravelin was quite crowded with men of bothdivisions; and while some continued to fire, others jumped down andran towards the breach; many also passed between the ravelin andthe counterguard of the Trinidad, the two divisions got mixed, thereserves, which should have remained at the quarries, also camepouring in, until the ditch was quite filled, the rear still crowdingforward, and all cheering vehemently. The enemy's shouts also wereloud and terrible, and the bursting of shells, and of grenades, andthe roaring of guns from the flanks, answered by the iron howitzersfrom the battery of the parallel, the heavy roll, and horrid explosionof the powder-barrels, the whizzing flight of the blazing splinters,the loud exhortations of the officers, and the continual clatterof the muskets, made a maddening din. Now a multitude bounded upthe great breach, as if driven by a whirlwind, but across the topglittered a range of sword-blades, sharp-pointed, keen-edged on bothsides, and firmly fixed in ponderous beams chained together, and setdeep in the ruins; and for ten feet in front the ascent was coveredwith loose planks, studded with sharp iron points, on which, feetbeing set, the planks moved, and the unhappy soldiers, falling forwardon the spikes, rolled down upon the ranks behind. Then the Frenchmen,shouting at the success of their stratagem, and, leaping forward,plied their shot with terrible rapidity, for every man had severalmuskets, and each musket, in addition to its ordinary charge,contained a small cylinder of wood, stuck full of wooden slugs,which scattered like hail when they were discharged. Once and againthe assailants rushed up the breaches, but always the sword-blades,immovable and impassable, stopped their charge, and the hissing shellsand thundering powder-barrels exploded unceasingly. Hundreds of menhad fallen, hundreds more were dropping, still, the heroic officerscalled aloud for new trials, and sometimes followed by many, sometimesby a few, ascended the ruins; and so furious were the men themselves,that, in one of these charges, the rear strove to push the foremost onto the sword-blades, willing even to make a bridge of their writhingbodies, but the others frustrated the attempt by dropping down; andmen fell so fast from the shot, it was hard to know who went downvoluntarily, who were stricken and many stooped unhurt that never roseagain. Vain also would it have been to break through the sword-blades,for the trench and parapet behind the breach were finished, and theassailants, crowded into even a narrower space than the ditch was,would still have been separated from their enemies, and the slaughterwould have continued. At the beginning of this dreadful conflictAndrew Barnard had, with prodigious efforts, separated his divisionfrom the other, and preserved some degree of military array; but nowthe tumult was such, no command would be heard distinctly except bythose close at hand, and the mutilated carcasses heaped on each other,and the wounded struggling to avoid being trampled upon, broke theformations; order was impossible! Officers of all ranks, followed moreor less numerously by the men, were seen to start out as if struckby sudden madness, and rash into the breach, which, yawning andglittering with steel, seemed like the mouth of a huge dragon belchingforth smoke and flame. In one of these attempts, Colonel Macleod, ofthe 43rd, a young man whose feeble body would have been quite unfitfor war if it had not been sustained by an unconquerable spirit, waskilled; wherever his voice was heard his soldiers had gathered, andwith such a strong resolution did he lead them up the fatal ruinsthat, when one behind him, in falling, plunged a bayonet into hisback, he complained, not; but, continuing his course, was shot deadwithin a yard of the sword-blades. Yet there was no want of gallantleaders, or desperate followers, until two hours passed in thesevain efforts had convinced the troops the breach of the Trinidad wasimpregnable; and, as the opening in the curtain, although less strong,was retired, and the approach to it impeded by deep holes and cutsmade in the ditch, the soldiers did not much notice it after thepartial failure of one attack which had been made early. Gathering indark groups, and leaning on their muskets, they looked up with sullendesperation at the Trinidad, while the enemy, stepping out on theramparts, and aiming their shots by the light of the fire-balls whichthey threw over, asked, as their victims fell, 'Why they did not comeinto Badajos?' In this dreadful situation, while the dead were lyingin heaps, and others continually falling, the wounded crawling aboutto get some shelter from the merciless shower above, and withal asickening stench from the burnt flesh of the slain, Captain Nicholas,of the engineers, was observed by Lieutenant Shaw, of the 43rd, makingincredible efforts to force his way with a few men into the SantaMaria Bastion. Shaw immediately collected fifty soldiers, of allregiments, and joined him, and although there was a deep cut alongthe foot of that breach also, it was instantly passed, and these twoyoung officers led their gallant band, with a rush, up the ruins; butwhen they had gained two-thirds of the ascent, a concentrated fireof musketry and grape dashed nearly the whole dead to the earth.Nicholas was mortally wounded, and the intrepid Shaw stood alone! Withinexpressible coolness he looked at his watch, and saying it was toolate to carry the reaches, rejoined the masses at the other attack.After this no further effort was made at any point, and the troopsremained passive but unflinching beneath the enemy's shot, whichstreamed without intermission; for, of the riflemen on the glacis manyleaped early into the ditch and joined in the assault, and the rest,raked by a cross-fire of grape from the distant bastions, baffled intheir aim by the smoke and flames from the explosions, and too few innumber, entirely failed to quell the French musketry. About midnight,when two thousand brave men had fallen, Wellington, who was on aheight close to the quarries, ordered the remainder to retire andre-form for a second assault; he had heard the castle was taken,but thinking the enemy would still resist in the town, was resolvedto assail the breaches again. This retreat from the ditch was noteffected without further carnage and confusion. The French fire neverslackened. A cry arose that the enemy was making a sally from thedistant flanks, and there was a rush towards the ladders. Then thegroans and lamentations of the wounded, who could not move andexpected to be slain, increased, and many officers
who had not heardof the order, endeavored to stop the soldiers from going back; somewould even have removed the ladders but were unable to break thecrowd."
While this terrible scene was passing, the victory had been decidedelsewhere. The capture of the castle by Picton would, in itself, havecaused the fall of the town upon the following day, but Leith, withthe fifth division, after hard fighting, scaled the St. Vincentebastion, and came up through the town and took the defenders of thebreaches in the rear. Then the French gave way, the British poured in,and the dreadful scenes which had marked the fall of Ciudad Rodrigowere repeated, and even surpassed. Up to the present day the name ofan Englishman is coupled with a curse in the town of Badajos. At thissiege, as at the last, the Scudamores acted the part of lookers on,and although they bitterly regretted it, it was well for them that itwas so. The capture of Badajos cost the allied army five thousand men,of whom three thousand five hundred fell on the night of the assault.Each of the divisions which attacked the breaches lost over twelvehundred men, and the 52nd Regiment, who formed part of the lightdivision, lost their full share. Among the ranks of the officers theslaughter was particularly great, and scarce one escaped withouta wound. The Scudamores would fain have volunteered to join theirregiment in the assault, but it was well known that Lord Wellingtonwould not allow staff officers to go outside their own work. Thereforethey had looked on with beating hearts and pale faces, and withtears in their eyes, at that terrible fight at the Triudad, and haddetermined that when morning came they would resign their staffappointments and ask leave to join their regiment. But when morningcame, and the list of the killed and wounded was sent in, and theywent down with a party to the breach to collect the wounded, theycould not but feel that they had in all probability escaped death, orwhat a soldier fears more, mutilation. "After all, Tom," Peter said,"we have done some active service, and our promotion shows that weare not cowards; there can be no reason why we should not do our dutyas the chief has marked it out for us, especially when it is quiteas likely to lead to rapid promotion as is such a murderous businessas this." After this no more was said about resigning the staffappointment, which gave them plenty of hard work, and constant changeof scene, whereas had they remained with the regiment they would oftenhave been stationed for months in one place without a move.