by Rory Muir
24. Wellington to Liverpool, 9 June 1812, Supplementary Despatches and Memoranda of Field Marshal Arthur, Duke of Wellington, ed. by the 2nd Duke of Wellington, 15 vols (London, John Murray, 1858–72), vol 7, p. 343.
25. Wellington to Liverpool, 29 June 1812, Liverpool Papers, BL Loan Ms 72, vol. 21, ff. 187–8.
26. Wellington to Bathurst, 21 July 1812, Wellington's Dispatches, vol. 5, pp. 749–52; see also Wellington to Liverpool, 25 June 1812, ibid., p. 722.
27. Oman History, vol. 2, pp. 538–42; see also my Tactics and the Experience of Battle in the Age of Napoleon, pp. 95–100.
28. Cathcart to Graham, 31 July 1812, Lynedoch Papers, NLS Ms 3610, ff. 187–96.
29. Burgoyne in Wrottesley, Life and Correspondence of … Burgoyne, pp. 203–4.
30. Earl of Ellesmere, Personal Reminiscences of the Duke of Wellington (London, John Murray, 1904), p. 107n; see also chapter one, commentary, p. 18.
31. Wellington to Bathurst, 9 July 1812, Wellington Papers WP 1/347, printed with the name suppressed in Wellington's Dispatches, vol. 5, pp. 739–9.
32. Boutflower, Journal of an Army Surgeon, p. 145.
33. Campbell to Torrens, 25 July 1812, Hope of Luffness Papers, NAS GD 364/1/124.
34. Quotation from “The Bingham Manuscripts’, ed. by T.H. McGuffie, JSAHR, vol. 26, no. 107 (1948), p. 107; for his temper and much warm praise see George Napier, Passages in the Early Military Life of Sir George T. Napier, K.C.B., ed. by W.C.E. Napier (London, John Murray, 1884), pp. 151–2.
35. Alexander Gordon to Lord Aberdeen, 8 August 1811, Aberdeen Papers, BL Add. Ms 43,224, ff. 11–15.
36. Michael Glover, Wellington as a Military Commander (London, Sphere, 1973), p. 195.
37. W. M. Gomm, Letters and Journals of Field Marshal William Maynard Gomm …, ed. by Francis Culling Gomm (London, John Murray, 1881), p. 189.
38. George Napier, Passages in the Early Military Life, p. 238; Edward Costello, The Peninsular and Waterloo Campaigns (London, Longmans, 1967, first published 1852), p. 23n; Wellington to Torrens, 7 September 1812, Wellington's Dispatches, vol. 6, p. 55.
39. Torrens to Wellington, ‘Private’, 24 August 1811, Wellington Papers, WP 1/337.
40. For example, Wellington to Clinton, 7 am, 16 July 1812, Wellington's Dispatches, vol. 5, pp. 747–8.
41. Quoted in ‘The Bingham Manuscripts’, p. 108.
42. Clinton's inspection report on the 2nd in WO 27/106 (unfoliated).
43. Leach, Rough Sketches, p. 262; W. Verner, History and Campaigns of the Rifle Brigade, 2 vols (London, John Bale & Sons, 1919), vol. 2, p. 393.
44. Wellington to Torrens, 7 September 1812, Wellington's Dispatches, vol. 6, pp. 55–56; but cf Glover, Wellington as a Military Commander, p. 196, which suggests that this praise should not be taken at face value; however, the story that Glover links to Hope does not fit exactly.
45. Biographical information about Campbell is difficult to find, but see R. G. Thorne, ed., The History of Parliament. The House of Commons 1790–1820, 5 vols (London, Seeker & Warburg for the History of Parliament Trust, 1986), vol. 3, p. 372 and also Appendix IV of the present work.
46. Bragge, Peninsular Portrait, pp. 18, 38.
47. ‘An Essex Soldier's Letter of Long Ago’, edited by Miss E. Vaughan, The Essex Review, July 1917, p. 143 (letter of Private Alexander Thompson, 2 January 1812).
48. Oman, History, vol. 5, p. 600.
49. Castel, Relation de la Bataille et Retraite des Arapiles, pp. 19–20; Sarramon, La Bataille des Arapiles, p. 223 and note; Oman, History, vol. 5, p. 598n.
50. Oman, History, vol. 5, p. 595; see Appendix I of the present work for losses on 18 July.
51. Napier, History, vol. 4, p. 296; Oman, History, vol. 5, p. 600.
52. Oman, History, vol. 5, p. 603; the return of 1 July printed by Sarramon, La Bataille des Arapiles, pp. 409–12, while organized differently, gives a similar strength for the French artillery.
53. PRO WO 1/255; Oman, History, vol. 5, p. 598.
54. My thanks to Steven H. Smith, Howie Muir and George Nafziger, whose contributions to the Napoleonic Discussion Forum helped to clarify, if not resolve, this problem.
55. Sarramon, La Bataille des Arapiles, p. 151 and note; return of 1 July in ibid., pp. 409–12; return of 15 July in Fortescue, History of the British Army, vol. 8, pp. 632–6.
56. Girod de l'Ain, Vie Militaire du Général Foy, pp. 178–9.
Chapter Three: Preliminary Manoeuvres and Skirmishing: Morning and Early Afternoon
1. Corporal John Douglas, Douglas's Tale of the Peninsula and Waterloo, ed. by Stanley Monick (London, Leo Cooper, 1997), pp. 42–3; see also James Hale, The Journal of James Hale, Late Serjeant in the Ninth Regiment of Foot (Cirencester, Philip Watkins, 1826; reprinted by Peter Catley and IX Regiment, 1997), p. 85 (p. 79 of reprint); Anonymous memoirs of a private soldier in 1/38th, NAM Ms 7912–21, f. 20; and Kincaid, Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, p. 80.
2. Wellington to Bathurst, 24 July 1812, Wellington's Dispatches, vol. 5, p. 753.
3. Colonel Jackson to Graham, 24 July 1812, Lynedoch Papers, NLS Ms 3610, ff. 181–4.
4. Leith Hay, Narrative of the Peninsular War, pp. 250–1; Gomm, Letters and Journals, pp. 276–7; Campbell to Torrens, 25 July 1812, Hope of Luffness Papers, NAS GD 364/1/1224.
5. Wellington's Dispatches, vol. 5, pp. 753–4; Beamish, History of the King's German Legion, vol. 2, pp. 70–1; Cathcart to Graham, 31 July 1812, Lynedoch Papers, NLS Ms 3610, ff. 187–96.
6. Green, Vicissitudes of a Soldier's Life, pp. 98–9.
7. For casualty figures see Appendices II and III; see also commentary, pp. 72–4.
8. [Denis Le Marchant,] Memoirs of the Late Maj-General Le Marchant (London, Bentley, 1841), pp. 277. But compare this to William Legh Clowes to Denis Le Marchant, 4 June (c. 1841?), Le Marchant Papers, in the Royal Military Academy Library, Sandhurst, Packet 29a, Item 4, who denies that such a detachment was made, at least from the 3rd Dragoons. It seems possible that this story is actually based on the part played by the 3rd Dragoons on 18 July, but without knowing the source of the story it is hard to dismiss it out of hand. I am grateful to Mark Urban for sending me a copy of this letter.
9. Beamish, History of the King's German Legion, vol. 2, p. 70 and note.
10. Girod de l'Ain, Vie Militaire du Général Foy, pp. 173–4; Marmont, Mémoires, vol. 4, p. 133.
11. Marmont, Mémoires, vol. 4, pp. 133–4; see also Sarramon, La Bataille des Arapiles, pp. 198–9, and Girod de l'Ain, Vie Militaire du Général Foy, pp. 174–5.
12. Vere, Marches, Movements … 4th Division, p. 31; Napier, History, vol. 4, p. 263.
13. Cathcart to Graham, 31 July 1812, Lynedoch Papers, NLS Ms 3610, ff. 187–96: a note on the manuscript in another hand says ‘omit this sentence’ in reference to the first sentence quoted here. Presumably the letter was to be copied for private circulation among family and friends, as was common at the time, rather than being published.
14. Lillie in H. A. Bruce, The Life of General Sir William Napier, KCB, 2 vols (London, John Murray, 1864), vol-1, pp. 277–8; Charles Synge, ‘Captain Synge's Experiences at Salamanca’, ed. by F. St L. Tottenham, Nineteenth Century and After, July 1912, p. 55; Wellington's Dispatches, vol. 5, p. 753.
15. Vere, Marches, Movements … 4th Division, p. 32.
16. Wellington's Dispatches, vol. 5, p. 754; see also commentary, pp. 75–6.
17. Fortescue, History of the British Army, vol. 8, p. 483n.
18. Sir F. Maurice, The History of the Scots Guards …, 2 vols (London, Chatto & Windus, 1934), vol. 1, p. 363 quoting a diary; John Mills, For King and Country. The Letters and Diaries of John Mills, Coldstream Guards, 1811–1814, ed. by Ian Fletcher (Staplehurst, Spellmount, 1995), p. 181; Aitchison, An Ensign in the Peninsular War, pp. 175–6.
19. ‘H.C.’ to Colonel Taylor, 25 July 1812, Hope of Luffness Papers, NAS GD 364/1/1224; see commentary, p. 77 and Appendix IV for further discussion of this letter.
&nb
sp; 20. Aitchison, An Ensign in the Peninsular War, p. 180.
21. See commentary, pp. 77–8 for discussion of sources for all these points.
22. Thomas Dyneley, Letters Written by Lieut.-General Thomas Dyneley C.B., R.A., While on Active Service between the Years 1806 and 181s, ed. by Colonel F. A. Whinyates (Cambridge, Trotman, 1984), p. 32; on Sympher see Vere, Marches, Movements … 4th Division, p. 32.
23. Castel, Relation de la Bataille et Retraite des Arapiles, p. 16 says he was sent with these orders at 8 am; it was only seven or eight miles as the crow flies, so the 27th should have rejoined their division soon after midday, but they may have been delayed.
24. Marmont, Mémoires, vol. 4, pp. 136–7.
25. Aitchison, An Ensign in the Peninsular War, p. 176; General Friedrich Ludwig von Wachholtz, ‘Auf der Peninsula 1810 bis 1813’, ed. by H. L. von Wachholtz, Beihefte zum Militär-Wochenblatt, 1907, p. 293; Beamish, History of the King's German Legion, vol. 2, p. 72; see also Mills, For King and Country, p. 181.
26. Wachholtz, ‘Auf der Peninsula’, pp. 292, 294; see Appendix II for allied casualties; Maurice, History of the Scots Guards, pp. 363–4; D. Mackinnon, Origins and Services of the Coldstream Guards …, 2 vols (London, Bentley, 1833), vol. 2, p. 176; see also a much later letter from Captain George Browne of the 23rd Fusiliers in A.D.L. Cary and S. McCance, Regimental Records of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, 4 vols (London, RUSI, 1921–9), vol. 1, pp. 253–4.
27. Marmont, Mémoires, vol. 4, p. 138.
28. Cathcart to Graham, 31 July 1812, Lynedoch Papers, NLS Ms 3610, ff. 187—96; see also Wellington's Dispatches, vol. 5, p. 754, and Alexander Gordon to Lord Aberdeen, 25 July 1812, Aberdeen Papers, BL Add. Ms 43,224, ff. 95–101. See Vere, Marches, Movements … 4th Division, p. 33 and Leith Hay, Narrative of the Peninsular War, p. 256 for estimates of the French having twenty guns; and for the Fifth Division's lack of cover, ibid., p. 256 and Gomm, Letters and Journals, p. 277.
29. Douglas, Douglas's Tale, p. 43.
30. Robert Eadie, Recollections of Robert Eadie: Private of the 79th Regiment of Infantry (London, Maggs, 1987, first published, 1829), pp. 122–4.
31. Green, Vicissitudes of a Soldier's Life, pp. 99–100; see also W. Wheeler, The Letters of Private Wheeler, 1800–1828, ed. by Captain B. H. Liddell Hart (London, Michael Joseph, 1951), p. 87 – Wheeler was in the same division, though not the same regiment, and his account provides general confirmation of Green's description.
32. Marmont, Mémoires, vol. 4, pp. 137–9.
33. Sarramon, La Bataille des Arapiles, pp. 212–13 – see commentary, p. 80 for more on this point.
34. Marmont, Mémoires, vol. 4, pp. 138, 430–48; Fortescue, History of the British Army, vol. 8, p. 486.
35. Oman, History, vol. 5, pp. 428–33, 438–9; Sarramon, La Bataille des Arapiles, pp. 204–6, 211–13; Fortescue, History of the British Army, vol. 8, p. 486, 502–3; Young and Lawford, Wellington's Masterpiece, pp. 217–21; see commentary, pp. 78–80.
36. Girard, Les Cahiers du Colonel Girard, pp. 199–200, cf Napier, History, vol. 4, pp. 296–7.
37. Girod de l'Ain, Vie Militaire du Général Foy, pp. 175–6.
38. Ibid., p. 175; Marmont, Mémoires, vol. 4, pp. 139, 444; Oman, History, vol. 5, p. 437 accepts Foy's ‘between three and four o'clock in the afternoon’, adding only the rider ‘certainly nearer the latter than the former hour’.
39. C. C. F. Greville, The Greville Memoirs. A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV, King William IV and Queen Victoria, ed. by Henry Reeve, 8 vols (London, Longmans, Green, 1888), vol. 4, p. 40, 2 January 1838. Oman's citation ‘Greville's Memoirs ii p. 39’ is confusing but not inaccurate: in the 1885 edition it is in the ‘second part’ of the Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria, vol. 1, p. 39.
40. Greville, Greville Memoirs, vol. 4, p. 141, 18 November 1838.
41. For example, Muriel Wellesley, The Man Wellington (London, Constable, 1937); p. 239; Edward Fraser, The Soldiers Whom Wellington Led (London, Methuen, 1913), p. 239; James Lunt, Scarlet Lancer (London, Hart-Davis, 1964), p. 57.
42. Oman, History vol. 5, p. 419 and note; Sarramon, La Bataille des Arapiles, p. 190; Fortescue, History of the British Army, vol. 8, p. 480; Napier, History, vol. 4, p. 263 gives Chauvel two thousand horsemen and twenty guns,
43. Leith Hay Papers, NAS GD 225, Box 40, manuscript narrative of the campaign of 1812.
44. Boutflower, Journal of an Army Surgeon, pp. 147–8.
45. Cartografia Militar de España, Mapa General Serie L, Salamanca 13–19 (478) E. 1:50,000 (1993).
46. I must particularly thank Howie Muir for first pointing out to me the discrepancies between Fortescue and the ordnance map, and for an extended and most useful correspondence on this whole subject.
47. Leith Hay, Narrative of the Peninsular War, p. 254.
48. Leith Hay Papers, NAS GD 225, Box 40, manuscript narrative of the campaign of 1812.
49. Mills, For King and Country, p. 187.
50. Oman, History, vol. 5, pp. 421–2; Muir, Tactics and the Experience of Battle in the Age of Napoleon, pp. 58–9; Sarramon, La Bataille des Arapiles, p. 196n; Wellington's Dispatches, vol. 5, pp. 753–4.
51. Synge, ‘Captain Synge's Experiences at Salamanca’, p. 58.
52. Wellington's Dispatches, vol. 5, pp. 753–4; Green, Vicissitudes of a Soldier's Life, pp. 98–9; Marmont, Mémoires, vol. 4, pp. 133–4; Girod de l'Ain, Vie Militaire du Général Foy, pp. 173–4; Sarramon, La Bataille des Arapiles, pp. 196–7.
53. McGrigor to [Wellington ?], 25 July 1812, Bathurst Papers, BL Loan Ms 57, vol. 5, f. 509.
54. Wellington to Croker, 8 August 1815, Wellington Papers, WP 1/478, printed with Croker's name suppressed in Wellington's Dispatches, vol. 8, pp. 231–2.
55. Mills, For King and Country, p. 179; Aitchison, An Ensign in the Peninsular War, p. 175.
56. Sarramon, La Bataille des Arapiles, p. 199; M. Lemonnier-Delafosse, Campagnes de 1810 à 1815. Souvenirs Militaires … Tome Second (Havre, Imprimerie du Commerce Alph. Lemale, 1850), p. 157.
57. Sarramon, La Bataille des Arapiles, p. 199; Oman, History, vol. 5, p. 426.
58. Marmont, Mémoires vol. 4, p. 134; Mills, For King and Country, p. 181; Aitchison, An Ensign in the Peninsular War, p. 175; Tomkinson, Diary of a Cavalry Officer, p. 188; Oman, History, vol. 5, pp. 426–7; Ellesmere, Personal Reminiscences of the Duke of Wellington, p. 107n.
59. Wrottesley, Life and Correspondence of … Burgoyne, p. 200; Wellington's Dispatches, vol. 5, p. 754; Marmont, Mémoires, vol. 4, p. 136.
60. Leith Hay, Narrative of the Peninsular War, p. 256; Mills, For King and Country, p. 181.
61. Sarramon, La Bataille des Arapiles p. 209; Napier, History, vol. 4, p. 266; Andrew Leith Hay to his father, 24 July 1812, Leith Hay Papers NAS GD 225; Box 34/26; Andrew Leith Hay, manuscript narrative of the campaign of 1812, loc. cit., GD 225, Box 40; Mills, For King and Country, p. 181.
62. Campbell in H. C. Wylly, History of the 1st and 2nd Battalions, The Sherwood Foresters …, 2 vols (Frome, for the regiment, 1929), vol. 1, p. 223; Edward Pakenham, Pakenham Letters, 1800 to 1815 (Privately printed, 1914) p. 173, but cf ibid., p. 170; Sarramon, La Bataille des Arapiles, p. 210; Moggridge [Thomas Hamilton], ‘Letters from the Peninsula’, p. 546; Oman, History, vol. 5, p. 436; Major-General Benjamin D'Urban, The Peninsular Journal of Maj-Gen. Sir Benjamin D'Urban, ed. by I. J. Rousseau (London, Greenhill, 1988, first published 1930), p. 274.
63. Fortescue, History of the British Army, vol. 8, p. 485 and note; Oman, History, vol. 5, pp. 425–6; Young and Lawford, Wellington's Masterpiece, pp. 210, 215–16; D'Urban, Peninsular Journal, p. 274; Campbell in Young and Lawford, Wellington's Masterpiece, p. 215.
64. Beamish, History of the King's German Legion, vol. 2, pp. 71, 415–17 (Arentschildt's report); Wellington's Dispatches, vol. 5, p. 754.
65. Sarramon, La Bataille des Arapiles, p. 199; Marmont, Mémoires, vol. 4, p. 134.
66. Dyneley, Letters, pp. 33, 36; Macdonald in Captain Fra
ncis Duncan, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, 2 vols (London, John Murray, 1872–3), vol. 2, p. 327; Wachholtz, ‘Auf der Peninsula’, p. 292; Synge, ‘Captain Synge's Experiences at Salamanca’, pp. 59–60.
67. Aitchison, An Ensign in the Peninsular War, p. 175; Mills, For King and Country, p. 181; Tomkinson, Diary of a Cavalry Officer, p. 185; Maurice, History of the Scots Guards, p. 363.
68. Marmont, Mémoires, vol. 4, p. 135; Cathcart to Graham, 31 July 1812, Lynedoch Papers, NLS Ms 3610, ff. 187–96; Alexander Gordon to? nd [July or August 1812], fragment, Tomes Mss; Browne, Napoleonic War Journal, p. 169; Tomkinson, Diary of a Cavalry Officer, p. 188; see also H. Arbuthnot, The Journal of Mrs Arbuthnot, 1820–1832, ed. by Francis Bamford and the Duke of Wellington, 2 vols (London, Macmillan, 1950) vol. 1, p. 212, 7 February 1823.
69. Browne, Napoleonic War Journal, pp. 168–70; Scovell Papers, PRO WO 37/7, p. 10; Wellington's Dispatches, vol. 5, p. 754.
70. Oman, History, vol. 5, p. 427; Vere, Marches, Movements … 4th Division p. 31–2; Cathcart to Graham, 31 July 1812, Lynedoch Papers NLS Ms 3610, ff. 187–96. Cathcart states that the commissariat and baggage were ordered to retreat ‘in the afternoon’; but Daniel, who is not as reliable a source but who was directly affected, says that this order was received at 10 o'clock in the morning. [J. E. Daniel], Journal of an Officer in the Commissariat Department of the Army … (Cambridge, Trotman, 1997, first published 1997), p. 133.
71. Dyneley, Letters, pp. 32, 35; Vere, Marches, Movements … 4th Division, p. 32; Young and Lawford, Wellington's Masterpiece, p. 207; Beamish, History of the King's German Legion, vol. 2, p. 71.
72. Wellington's Dispatches, vol. 5, pp. 754, 759.
73. Dyneley, Letters, p. 36; Wachholtz, ‘Auf der Peninsula’, p. 294; Leith Hay also praises Sympher's battery, which ‘kept up a constant and well directed fire against the moving masses of the enemy’ (Narrative of the Peninsular War, p. 256).
74. Leith Hay, Narrative of the Peninsular War, pp. 253–4; see chapter five, p. 105 and commentary, pp. 116–17 for more on this incident.