Under Wellington's Command: A Tale of the Peninsular War

by G. A. Henty

  Chapter 11: The French Advance.

  As there were no signs of any French force approaching the positionheld by the Portuguese, Terence moved his regiment a short distanceforward, to a point which enabled them to obtain a view right downthe valley in which the conflict was taking place. He then allowedthem to fall out of their ranks; knowing that in less than a minutefrom the call being sounded they would be under arms again, and inreadiness to move in any direction required. Then, with Herrara andhis three English officers, he moved a short distance away andwatched the scene.

  As soon as Regnier's columns had crossed the bottom of the ravine,their guns along the crest opened fire on the British positionfacing them.

  "They are too far off for grape," Terence said. "You remember,Ryan, at Corunna, how those French batteries pounded us from thecrest, and how little real damage they did us. A round shot doesnot do much more harm than a bullet, unless it strikes a column inmotion, or troops massed in solid formation.

  "Those fellows are mounting the hill very fast."

  "They are, indeed," Ryan agreed. "You can see how the line of smokeof our skirmishers on the hillside gets higher and higher."

  "I wish our regiment was there, Colonel," Bull said. "We might dosome good; while here we are of no more use than if we were ahundred miles away."

  "No, no, Bull, that is not the case. If the French had not seenthat this position was strongly held, they might have moved adivision by this road and, if they had done so, they would haveturned the main position altogether, and forced Wellington to fallback, at once. So you see, we are doing good here; though I do notsay that I should not like to be over there."

  "The French will soon be at the top of the hill," Herraraexclaimed. "See how they are pushing upwards."

  "They certainly are gaining ground fast," Macwitty said. "They arewithin a hundred yards of the top. Our men don't seem to be able tomake any stand against them at all.

  "Colonel, the lower column is turning off more towards their left."

  "They had better have kept together, Macwitty. It is evident thatPicton's division is hard pressed, as it is and, if those twocolumns had united and thrown themselves upon him, they would havebroken right through our line. As it is, the second party will haveLeith's division to deal with. Do you see one of his brigadesmarching swiftly to meet them, and some guns sweeping the Frenchflank? I wish we were nearer."

  The scene had become too exciting for further conversation, andthey watched almost breathlessly. The line of smoke on the top ofthe crest showed that the head of the column had made good itsfooting there; while the quick puffs of smoke, and the rattle ofmusketry, denoted that the other column was also within a shortdistance of the summit. But Leith's regiments were approaching thespot at the double. Presently there was the crash of a tremendousvolley, and then the leading regiment disappeared over the brow ofthe hill, and into brushwood. The roar of musketry was heavy andcontinuous, and then Ryan gave a joyous shout, as it could be seenthat the two long smoke wreaths were becoming mixed together, andthat the movement was downwards and, ere long, the dark masses oftroops could be seen descending the hill even more rapidly thanthey had climbed it. Leith's second brigade was now approaching thescene of the struggle, and was near at hand; Hill's division wasseen in motion towards the same spot.

  "That is all right now," Terence said; "but there is another bigfight going on, further up the valley."

  It was too far off to make out the movements of the troops but,even at that distance, the smoke rolling up from the hillside gavesome idea of the course of the fight. Here, too, after mountingmore than halfway up the slope, it could be seen that the tide ofwar was rolling down again; though more slowly, and with harderfighting than it had done in the struggle nearer to them. And whenat last the firing gradually ceased, they knew that the French hadbeen repulsed, all along the line.

  "The men had better open their haversacks and eat a meal," Terencesaid. "We may get an order to move, at any moment."

  No orders came, however, and the troops remained in the positionsthat they occupied until the following morning. Then a heavyskirmishing fire broke out and, for some time, it seemed as if thebattle was to be renewed. No heavy masses of the French, however,came down from the hill on their side to support the light troopsin the valley and, in the afternoon, the firing died away. Towardsevening a staff officer rode up, at full speed, and handed a noteto Terence.

  "The French have turned our left by the Royalva Pass. Trant hasfailed to check them, and the whole army must fall back. These areyour instructions."

  The mishap had not been Trant's fault. He had been sent by thePortuguese general on a tremendous detour and, when he arrived atthe position assigned to him, his troops were utterly exhausted bytheir long and fatiguing march. A large proportion had deserted orfallen out and, with but 1500 wearied and dispirited men, he couldoffer but little resistance to the French advance and, beingattacked by their cavalry, had been driven away with loss. Terenceopened the note.

  "You will march at once. Keep along on this side of the Mondego,breaking up your command into small parties, who will visit everyvillage within reach. All of their inhabitants who have not obeyedthe proclamations, and retired, are to leave at once. Destroy allprovisions that you can find. Set fire to the mills and, where thisis not practicable, smash the machinery and, bearing south as yougo, spread out over the country between the Zezere and the sea, andcontinue to carry on the duty assigned to you, compelling thepeasants to drive their animals before them, along the roads toLisbon."

  "I understand, sir," Terence said, after reading the note, "andwill carry out the orders to the best of my ability."

  Five minutes later the regiment was under arms. Terence called thewhole of the officers together, and explained the instructions thathe had received. The two battalions were broken up into halfcompanies which, as they marched along the Mondego, were to be leftbehind, one by one; each party, when left, turning south, andproceeding to carry out the orders received. In a few cases, only,were companies to keep intact as, although a hundred men would beample for the duty at the large villages, two hundred would not betoo much in a town like Leiria.

  On reaching Foz d'Aronce, half a battalion moved to the east, towork down by the river Zezere. The rest turned to the right, tofollow the course of the Mondego down to the sea. For convenience,and in order to keep the troops in hand, Bull, Macwitty, Ryan, andHerrara each took the command of half a battalion; with orders tosupervise the work of the companies belonging to it, and to keep intouch with the nearest company of the next battalion, so that thetwo thousand men could advance, to a certain extent, abreast ofeach other.

  Foz d'Aronce had already been evacuated by its inhabitants, but inall other villages the orders were carried out. By daybreak thelast company in the two battalions reached the sea coast and, aftertwo hours' rest, began its march south. The others had long been atwork.

  It was a painful duty. The frightened villagers had to be roused inthe darkness, and told that the French were approaching, and thatthey must fly at once, taking their animals and what they couldcarry off in carts away with them. While the terrified people wereharnessing horses to their carts, piling their few valuables intothem, and packing their children on the top, the troops went fromhouse to house, searching for and destroying provisions, settingfire to barns stored with corn, and burning or disabling any flourmills they met with.

  Then, as soon as work was done, they forced the villagers to takethe southern road. There was no difficulty in doing this for,although they had stolidly opposed all the measures ordered byWellington, trusting that the French would not come; now that theyhad heard they were near, a wild panic seized them. Had an orderlyretreat been made before, almost all their belongings might havebeen saved. Now but little could be taken, even by the mostfortunate. The children, the sick, the aged had to be carried incarts and, in their haste and terror, they left behind many thingsthat might well have been saved.

  The peasantry in t
he villages suffered less than the townspeople,as their horses and carts afforded means of transport: but evenhere the scenes were most painful. In the towns, however, they werevastly more so. The means for carriage for such a large number ofpeople being wanting, the greater number of the inhabitants wereforced to make their way on foot, along roads so crowded withvehicles of every kind that the British divisions were frequentlybrought to a standstill, for hours, where the nature of the countryprevented their quitting the road and making their way across thefields.

  On the 29th, the greater portion of the British troops passed theMondego. Hill retired upon Thomar, and the rest of the troops wereconcentrated at Milheada. The commissariat stores followed thecoast road down to Peniche, and were embarked there. The lightdivision and the cavalry remained, after the main body had beendrawn across the Mondego, north of that river.

  Soon after starting on his work, Terence learned that the Britishtroops had passed through Pombal, Leiria, and Thomar. It wasconsequently unnecessary for him to endeavour to clear those towns.

  The delays caused at every village rendered the work slow, as wellas arduous. The French drove the light division through Coimbraand, following, pressed so hotly that a number of minor combatstook place between their cavalry and the British rear guards.Before Leiria the rear guards had to fight strongly, to enable theguns to quit the town before the French entered it.

  Terence presently received orders to collect his regiment againand, crossing the Zezere, to endeavour to join Trant and the otherleaders of irregular bands, and to harass Massena's rear. He hadalready, knowing that great bodies of French cavalry had crossedthe Mondego, called in the companies that were working Leiria andthe coast; as they might otherwise have been cut up, in detail, bythe French cavalry. With these he marched east, picking up theother companies as he went and, on the same evening, the regimentwas collected on the Zezere.

  Having followed the river up, he reached Foz d'Aronce and then,finding that several bodies of French troops had already passedthrough that village, he turned to the left and camped close to theMondego; sending ten of his men over the river, in peasants'clothes, to ascertain the movements of the enemy. One of themreturned with news that he had come upon a party of Trant's men,who told him that their main body were but two miles away, and thatthere were no French north of Coimbra.

  The regiment had made a march of upwards of forty miles that day.Therefore, leaving them to rest, Terence forded the Mondego androde, with Ryan, to Trant's village.

  "I am glad, indeed, to see you, O'Connor," the partisan leadersaid, as Terence entered the cottage where he had establishedhimself. "Is your regiment with you?"

  "Yes, it is three miles away, on the other side of the river. Wehave marched something like eighty miles, in two days. We have beenbusy burning mills and destroying provisions, but the Frenchcavalry are all over the country, so I was ordered to join you, andaid you to harass the French line of communication, and to do themwhat damage we could."

  "There is not much to be done in the way of cutting theircommunications; at least, there is nothing to be done to the northand east of this place, for Massena brought all his baggage andeverything else with him; and cut himself loose, altogether, fromhis base at Ciudad. If the people had but carried out Wellington'sorders, Massena would have suffered a fearful disaster. We havelearned, from stragglers we have taken, that the fourteen days'provisions with which they marched were altogether exhausted; andthat they had been unable to obtain any here. They would have hadto retreat, instantly; but I hear that, in Coimbra alone, there isenough food for their whole army, for at least two months."

  "But could we not have destroyed it, as we retreated?"

  "Of course, we ought to have done so," Trant said; "but from what Ihear, the affair was very badly managed. Instead of the firstdivision that went through burning all the magazines and stores, itwas left to Crawford to do so; and he, as usual, stopped so longfacing the enemy that, at last, he was regularly chased throughCoimbra and, the roads being blocked with carts, his brigade wouldhave been destroyed had the French infantry pushed strongly afterhim.

  "Things are just as bad, in the way of provisions, on the otherside of the river. We have done a great deal in the way ofdestroying mills and magazines. I am afraid Massena will findenough provisions to last his army all the winter."

  "That is bad."

  "Had it only been Coimbra, no very great harm would have been done;for the French troops got altogether out of hand when they entered,plundered the place and, as I hear, destroyed enough provisions tohave lasted them a month."

  "Of course, they hold the town?"

  "Oh yes! It is full of their sick and wounded."

  "What force have you?" Terence asked.

  "I have 1500 men of my own. Miller and Wilson, with some of theNorthern militias, will be here shortly; and I expect, in a fewdays, we shall have eight thousand men."

  "The great thing would be to act before the French know that thereis so strong a force in the neighbourhood," Terence said, "becauseas soon as they hear that, they are sure to send a strong forceback to Coimbra."

  "How do you mean, to act?" Trant asked in some surprise.

  "I propose that we should capture Coimbra, at once. I have 2000 menand you have 1500. I don't suppose they have left above a couple ofthousand in the town, perhaps even less and, if we take them bysurprise, I should think we ought to be able to manage that number,without difficulty. I certainly consider my own men to be a matchfor an equal number of French."

  "It is a grand idea," Trant said, "and I don't see why we shouldnot carry it out. As you say, the sooner the better. They may knowthat I am here, but they will never dream of my making such attemptwith a force which, I must own, is not always to be relied upon.They are always shifting and changing. After a long march, half ofthem will desert; then in a few days the ranks swell again.Consequently, the men have little discipline and no confidence ineach other, and are little better than raw levies; but for roughstreet fighting I have no doubt they would be all right, especiallywhen backed by good troops like yours.

  "How would you proceed? As yours is the real fighting body, youshould have the command."

  "Not at all," Terence said warmly. "You are my senior officer, notonly in rank but in age and experience. My orders were to assistyou as far as I could and, while we are together, I am ready tocarry out your orders in any way."

  "Will your men be able to attack in the morning?"

  "Certainly. They will have a good night's rest, and will be quiteready for work, say, at four o'clock in the morning. It is not morethan two hours' march to Coimbra, so that we shall be there bydaybreak. Have they any troops between us and the town?"

  "They have a post at a village, a mile this side, O'Connor. Do youknow how far their army is, on the other side of the river?"

  "I know that they had a division close to Leiria, the day beforeyesterday; but whether they have any large body just across theMondego, I cannot say."

  "Then we will first surprise their post. I will undertake that.Will you march your force down the river, close to the town? I havea hundred cavalry and, as soon as I have captured the post, I willsend them on at a gallop; with orders to ride straight through tothe bridge, and prevent any mounted messengers passing across it.As soon as you hear them come along the road, do you at once enterthe town. I will bring my men on at the double, and we shall not bemany minutes after you.

  "It would be as well for you to enter it by several streets, asthat will cause greater confusion than if you were in a solid body.The principal point is the great convent of Santa Clara, which hasbeen converted into a hospital. No doubt a portion of the garrisonare there; the rest will be scattered about in the publicbuildings, and can be overpowered in detail.

  "I think we are certain of success. I hope you will stop for a timeand take supper with me and, in the meantime, I will send downorders for my men to be under arms, here, at half-past three."

  'Good news. We are going to
take Coimbra.']

  Terence and Ryan remained for an hour, and then rode back to theregiment. The men were all sound asleep, but Herrara and the twomajors were sitting round a campfire.

  "What news, Colonel?" the former asked, as Terence rode up.

  "Good news. We are going to take Coimbra, tomorrow morning. AllMassena's sick and wounded, and his heavy baggage are there. Theyhave no suspicion that any force is yet assembled in theneighbourhood and, I expect, we shall have easy work of it. Theyhave a post a mile out of the town. Trant will surprise and capturethat, at five in the morning. Just before daybreak we shall enterthe town. We must march from here at half-past three."

  "That is something like news, Colonel," Macwitty exclaimed. "Itwill cut the French off from this line of retreat, altogether, andthey must either fall back by the line of the Tagus, or throughBadajoz and Merida."

  Terence laughed.

  "You are counting your chickens before they are hatched, Macwitty.At the present moment, it seems more likely that Wellington willhave to embark his troops than that Massena will have to retreat.He must have nearly a hundred thousand men, counting those whofought with him at Busaco and the two divisions that marched downthrough Foz d'Aronce; while Wellington, all told, cannot have above40,000. Certainly some of the peasants told me they had heard thata great many men were employed in fortifying the heights of TorresVedras, and Wellington may be able to make a stand there; but as wehave never heard anything about them before, I am afraid that theycannot be anything very formidable.

  "However, just at present we have nothing to do with that. If wecan take Coimbra it will certainly hamper Massena and, if the worstcomes to the worst, we can fall back across the Douro.

  "Don't let the bugles sound in the morning. It is not likely, butit is possible that the French may send out cavalry patrols atnight. If a bugle were heard they might ride back and report that aforce was in the neighbourhood, and we should find the garrisonprepared for us. Now we had better do no more talking. It is pasteleven, and we have but four and a half hours to sleep."

  At half-past three the troops were roused. They were surprised atthe early call, for they had expected two or three days' rest,after the heavy work of the last eight days; but the companyofficers soon learned the news from their majors and, as it quicklyspread through the ranks, the men were at once alert and ready.Fording the river, they marched at a rapid pace by the road toCoimbra and, soon after five o'clock, arrived within a few hundredyards of the town. Then they were halted and broken up into fourcolumns, which were to enter the town at different points. Thesignal for moving was to be the sound of a body of cavalry,galloping along the road. Terence listened attentively for therattle of musketry in the distance, but all was quiet; and he hadlittle doubt that the French had been surprised, and captured,without a shot being fired.

  Soon after half-past five he heard a dull sound which, before long,grew louder and, in five minutes, a body of horsemen swept past ata gallop. The troops at once got into motion, and entered the town.There was no longer any motive for concealment. The bugles soundedand, with loud shouts, the Portuguese ran forward. French officersran out of private houses, and were at once seized and captured.Several bodies of troops were taken, in public buildings, beforethey were fairly awake. Some of the inhabitants--of whom many,unable to make their escape, had remained behind; or who hadreturned from the villages to which they had at first fled--cameout and acted as guides to the various buildings where the Frenchtroops were quartered and, in little over a quarter of an hour, thewhole town, with the exception of the convent of Santa Clara, wasin their hands.

  By this time Trant had come up, with his command. The troopsrapidly formed up again and, issuing from several streets, advancedagainst the convent. The astonished enemy fired a few shots; then,on being formally summoned to surrender, laid down their arms.Thus, on the third day after Massena quitted the Mondego hishospitals, depots, and nearly 6000 prisoners, wounded andunwounded, among them a company of the Imperial Guard, fell intothe hands of the Portuguese.

  The next day Miller and Wilson came up; and their men, crossing thebridge and spreading over the country, gathered in 300 moreprisoners; while Trant marched, with those he had captured, toOporto.

  Plan of the Lines of Torres Vedras.]

  On the 10th of October the whole of Wellington's army was safelyposted on the tremendously strong position that he had, unknown tothe army, carefully prepared and fortified for the protection ofLisbon. It consisted of three lines of batteries and intrenchments.The second was the most formidable; but the first was so strong,also, that Wellington determined to defend this, instead of fallingback to the stronger line. At the foot of the line of mountains onwhich the army was posted, stretching from the Tagus to the sea,ran two streams; the Zandre, a deep river, which extended nearlyhalfway along the twenty-nine miles of lines, covered the left ofthe position; while a stream running into the Tagus protected theright. The centre, therefore, was almost the only part at which theline could be attacked with any chance of success; and this wasdefended by such tremendous fortifications as to be almostimpregnable.

  Massena, who had only heard vague rumours of the existence of thesefortifications, four days before, was astounded at the unexpectedobstacle which barred his way. The British troops, as soon as theyarrived, were set to work to strengthen the intrenchments. Treeswere felled, and every accessible point was covered by formidableabattis. The faces of the rocks were scarped, so that an enemy whowon his way partly up the hill would find his farther progressarrested by a perpendicular wall of rock. Soon the eminences on thecrest bristled with guns; and Massena, after carefully reconnoitringthe whole position, came to the conclusion that it could not beattacked; and disposed his troops in permanent positions, facing theBritish centre and right, from Sobral to Villafranca on the Tagus;and sent his cavalry out over the country, to bring in provisions.

  To lessen the district available for this operation, Wellingtonsent orders for the northern militia to advance and, crossing theMondego, to drive in the foraging parties. Trant, Wilson and theother partisan corps were also employed in the work. A strong forcetook up its position between Castello Branco and Abrantes, whilethe militia and partisans occupied the whole country north ofLeiria; and the French were thus completely surrounded.Nevertheless, the store of provisions left behind in the towns andvillages was so large that the French cavalry were able to bring insufficient supplies for the army.

  During the week that followed, the Minho regiment was engaged inwatching the defiles by which Massena might communicate with CiudadRodrigo, or through which reinforcements might reach him. Wilsonand Trant were both engaged on similar service, the one farther tothe north; while the other, who was on the south bank of the Taguswith a number of Portuguese militia and irregulars, endeavoured toprevent the French from crossing the river and carrying off theflocks, herds, and corn which, in spite of Wellington's entreatiesand orders, the Portuguese government had permitted to remain, asif in handiness for the French foraging parties.

  Owing to the exhausted state of both the British and Portuguesetreasuries, it was impossible to supply the corps acting in rear ofthe French with money for the purchase of food. But Terence hadreceived authority to take what provisions were absolutelynecessary for the troops, and to give orders that would, at sometime or other, be honoured by the military chest. A comparativelysmall proportion of his men were needed to guard the defiles,against such bodies of troops as would be likely to traverse them,in order to keep up Massena's communications. Leaving, therefore, ahundred men in each of the principal defiles; and ordering them toentrench themselves in places where they commanded the road, andcould only be attacked with the greatest difficulty; while the roadwas barred by trees felled across it, so as to form an impassableabattis, behind which twenty men were stationed; Terence marched,with 1500 men, towards the frontier.

  Five hundred of these were placed along the Coa, guarding the roadsand, with the remainder, he forded the river and place
d himself inthe woods, in the plain between Almeida and Ciudad Rodrigo. Here hecaptured several convoys of waggons, proceeding with provisions forthe garrison of the former place. A portion of these he despatched,under guard, for the use of the troops on the Coa, and for those inthe passes; thus rendering it unnecessary to harass the people, whohad returned to their villages after Massena had advanced againstLisbon.

  Growing bolder with success, he crossed the Aqueda and, marchinground to the rear of Ciudad Rodrigo, cut off and destroyed convoysintended for that town, causing great alarm to the garrison. Thesewere absolutely ignorant of the operations of Massena, for soactive were the partisans, in the French rear, that no singlemessenger succeeded in getting through and, even when accompaniedby strong escorts, the opposition encountered was so determinedthat the French were obliged to fall back, without havingaccomplished their purpose. Thus, then, the garrison at CiudadRodrigo were ignorant both of Massena's whereabouts, and of thenature of the force that had thrown itself in his rear. Severaltimes, strong parties of troops were sent out. When these werecomposed of cavalry only, they were boldly met and driven in. Whenit was a mixed force of cavalry, infantry, and artillery, theysearched in vain for the foe.

  So seriously alarmed and annoyed was the governor that 3000 troopswere withdrawn, from Salamanca, to strengthen the garrison. InDecember Massena, having exhausted the country round, fell back toa very strong position at Santarem; and Terence withdrew his wholeforce, save those guarding the defiles, to the neighbourhood ofAbrantes; so that he could either assist the force stationed there,should Massena retire up the Tagus; and prevent his messengerspassing through the country between the river and the range ofmountains, south of the Alva, by Castello Branco or Velha; postingstrong parties to guard the fords of the Zezere.

  So thoroughly was the service of watching the frontier line carriedout, that it was not until General Foy, himself, was sent off byMassena, that Napoleon was informed of the state of things. He wasaccompanied by a strong cavalry force and 4000 French infantryacross the Zezere, and ravaged the country for a considerabledistance.

  Before such strength, Terence was obliged to fall back. Foy wasaccompanied by his cavalry, until he had passed through CastelloBranco; and was then able to ride, without further opposition, toCiudad Rodrigo.

  Beresford was guarding the line of the Tagus, between the mouth ofthe Zezere and the point occupied on the opposite bank byWellington, sending a portion of his force up the Zezere; and theseharassed the French marauding parties, extending their devastationsalong the line of the Mondego.

  Although the Minho regiment had suffered some loss, during theseoperations, their ranks were kept up to the full strength withoutdifficulty. Great numbers of the Portuguese army deserted duringthe winter, owing to the hardships they endured, from want of foodand the irregularity of their pay. Many of these made for the Minhoregiment, which they had learned was well fed, and received theirpay with some degree of regularity, the latter circumstance beingdue to the fact that Terence had the good luck to capture, with oneof the convoys behind Ciudad Rodrigo, a considerable sum of moneyintended for the pay of the garrison. From this he had, withouthesitation, paid his men the arrears due to them; and had still30,000 dollars, with which he was able to continue to feed and paythem, after moving to the line of the Zezere.

  He only enrolled sufficient recruits to fill the gaps made by warand disease; refusing to raise the number above 2000, as this wasas many as could be readily handled; for he had found that thelarger number had but increased the difficulties of rationing andpaying them.