people on the side of Villa de Conde, and General Arnaud, hemming in those above the town, prevented them from plunging into the river also, as in their desperate mood they were going to do. Nevertheless the battle continued within Oporto, for the two battalions sent from the centre, having burst the barricades at the entrance of the streets, penetrated, fighting, to the bridge; there all the horrid circumstances of war seemed to be accumulated, and the calamities of an age compressed into one doleful hour. More than four thousand persons, old and young, and of both sexes, were seen pressing forward with wild tumult, some already on the bridge, others striving to gain it, and all in a state of phrensy. The batteries on the opposite bank opened their fire when the French appeared, and at that moment a troop of Portuguese cavalry flying from the fight, came down one of the streets, and remorseless in their fears bore at full gallop into the midst of the miserable helpless crowd, trampling a bloody pathway to the river. Suddenly the nearest boats, unable to sustain the increasing weight, sunk, and the foremost wretches still tumbling into the river as they pressed from behind, perished, until the heaped bodies rising above the surface of the waters, filled all the space left by the sinking of the vessels. The first of the French that arrived, amazed at this fearful spectacle, forgot the battle, and hastened to save those who still struggled for lifeand while some were thus nobly employed, others by the help of planks, getting on to the firmer parts of the bridge, crossed the river and carried the batteries on the heights of Villa Nova. The passage was thus secured; but this terrible destruction did not complete the measure of the city's calamities; two hundred men, who occupied the bishop's palace, continued to fire from the windows, and maintained that post until the French, gathering round them in strength, burst the doors and put all to the sword. Every street and house then rung with the noise of the combatants and the shrieks of distress; for the French soldiers, exasperated by long hardships, and prone, like all soldiers, to ferocity and violence during an assault, became frantic with fury when, in one of the principal squares, they found several of their comrades who had been made prisoners fastened upright and living, but with their eyes burst, their tongues torn out, and their other members mutilated and gashed. Those that beheld the sight spared none who fell in their way. It was in vain that Soult strove to stop the slaughter, it was in vain that hundreds of officers and soldiers opposed, at the risk of their lives, the vengeance of their comrades, and by their generous exertions rescued vast numbers that would otherwise have fallen victims to the anger and brutality of the moment. The frightful scene of rape, pillage, and murder, closed not for many hours, and what with those who fell in battle, those who were drowned, and those sacrificed to revenge, it is said that ten thousand Portuguese died on that unhappy day! The loss of the French did not exceed five hundred men.* * S.: Journal of Operations, MS. CHAPTER VI. Operations of the first and fourth corps-General state of the French army-Description of the valley of the Tagus-Inertness of Marshal Victor-Albuquerque and Cartoajal dispute-The latter advances in La Mancha-General Sebastiani wins the battle of Ciudad Real-Marshal Victor forces the passage of the Tagus, and drives Cuesta's army from all its positions-French cavalry checked at Miajadas-Victor crosses the Guadiana at Medellin Albuquerque joins Cuesta's army-Battle of Medellin-Spaniards totally defeated-Victor ordered, by the king, to invade Portugal-Opens a secret communication with some persons in Badajoz-The peasants of Albuera discover the plot, which failsOperations of General Lapisse-He drives back Sir Robert Wilson's posts, and makes a light attempt to take Ciudad Rodrigo-Marches suddenly towards the Tagus, and forces the bridge of Alcantara-Joins Victor at Merida-General insurrections along the Portuguese frontier-The central junta remove Cartoajal from the command, and increase Cuesta's authority, whose army is re-enforced-Joseph discontented with Lapisse's movement-Orders Victor to retake the bridge of Alcantara. THE dire slaughter at Oporto was followed up by a variety of important operations, but before these are treated of, it is essential to narrate the contemporaneous events on the Tagus and the Guadiana; for the war was wide and complicated, and the result depended more upon the general combinations than upon any particular movements. OPERATIONS OF THE FIRST AND FOURTH CORPS. It has been already related* that Marshal Victor, after making a futile attempt to surprise the Marquis of Palacios, had retired to his former quarters at Toledo; that the Conde de Cartoajal, who succeeded the Duke of Infantado, had advanced to Ciudad Real with about fourteen thousand men; that Cuesta having broken the bridge of Almaraz, guarded the line of the Tagus with fourteen thousand infantry and two thousand five hundred cavalry. The fourth corps remained at Talavera and Placencia, but held the bridge of Arzobispo by a detachment. The remainder of the French army was in Catalonia, at Zaragoza, or on the communication. The reserve of heavy cavalry had been suppressed, and the regiments dispersed among the "corps d'armée ;" and the whole army, exclusive of the king's guards, was about two hundred and seventy thousand men, with forty thousand horses, showing a decrease of sixty-five thousand men since the 15th of November. But this decrease included the imperial guards, the reserve of infantry, and many detachments drafted from the corps,-in all forty thousand men, who had been struck off the rolls of the army in Spain, with a view to the war in Germany. The real loss of the French by sword, sickness, and captivity, in the four months succeeding Napoleon's arrival in the Peninsula, was therefore about twenty-five thou sand-a vast number, but not incredible, when it is considered that two sieges, twelve pitched battles, and innumerable combats had taken place during that period. Such was the state of affairs, when the Duke of Belluno, having received orders to aid Soult in the invasion of Portugal, changed places with the fourth corps. Sebastiani was then opposed to Cartoajal, and * Page 284. + Imperial Muster-rolls, MSS. Victor stood against Cuesta. The former fixed his head-quarters at Toledo, the latter at Talavera de la Reyna, the communication between them being kept up by Montbrun's division of cavalry, and the garrison of Madrid, composed of the king's guards, and Dessolles' division, equally supported both. But to understand the connexion between the first, second, and fourth corps, and Lapisse's division, it is necessary to have a clear idea of the nature of the country on both sides of the Tagus. That river, after passing Toledo, runs through a deep and long valley, walled up on either hand by lofty mountains. Those on the right bank are always capped with snow, and ranging nearly parallel with the course of the stream, divide the valley of the Tagus from Old Castile and the Salamanca country; the highest parts being known by the names of the Sierra de Gredos, Sierra de Bejar, and Sierra de Gata. In these sierras the Alberche, the Tietar, and the Alagon, take their rise, and ploughing the valley in a slanting direction fall into the Tagus. On the left bank the principal mountain is called the Sierra de Guadalupe, and it extends in a southward direction from the river, dividing the upper part of La Mancha from Spanish Estremadura. Now the communications leading from the Salamanca country into this valley of the Tagus are neither many nor good; but the principal passes are, 1st. The way of Horcajada, an old Roman road, which, running through Pedrahita and Villa Franca, crosses the Sierra de Gredos at the Puerto de Pico, and then descends by Montbeltran to Talavera ; 2d. The pass of Arenas, leading nearly parallel to, and a short distance from the first; 3d. The pass of Tornevecas, leading upon Placencia; 4th. The route of Bejar, which, crossing the Sierra de Bejar at the pass of Baños, descends likewise upon Placencia ; 5th. The route of Payo or Gata, which crosses the Sierra de Gata by the pass of Perales, and afterwards dividing, sends one branch to Alcantara, the other to Coria and Placencia. Of these five passes the two last only are, generally speaking, practicable for artillery. The royal roads leading from Toledo and Madrid to Badajoz, unite near Talavera and follow the course of the Tagus by the right bank as far as Naval Moral, and then, turning to the left, cross the river at the bridge of Almaraz. But, from Toledo, westward, to the bridge of Almaraz, a distance of above fifty miles, the left bank of the Tagus is so crowded by the rugged shoots of the Sierra de Guadalupe, that it may be broadly stated as impassable for an army, and this peculiarity of ground gives the key to the operations on both sides. For Cuesta and Cartoajal, by reason of this impassable Sierra de Guadalupe, had no direct military communication; but Victor and Sebastiani, occupying Toledo and Talavera, could unite on either line of operations by the royal roads above mentioned, or by a secondary road which, running near Yebenes, crosses the Tagus by a stone bridge, near Puebla de Montalvan, half way between Toledo and Talavera. The rallying point of the French was Madrid, and their parallel lines. of defence were the Tagus, the Alberche, and the Guadarama. The base of Cartoajal's operations was the Sierra de Morena. Cuesta's first line was the Tagus, and the second the Guadiana, from whence he could retreat by a flank march to Badajoz, or by a direct one to the defiles of Monasterio in the Sierra Morena. But the two Spanish armies, if they had been united, would not have furnished more than twenty-six thousand infantry and five thousand cavalry, and they had no reserve; whereas the two French corps, united, would have exceeded thirty-five thousand fighting men, supported by the reserve under the king. The French, therefore, had the advantage of numbers, position, and discipline. Following the orders of Napoleon, Marshal Victor should have been at Merida before the middle of February. In that position he would have confined Cuesta to the Sierra Morena, and with his twelve regiments of cavalry he could easily have kept all the flat country, as far as Badajoz, in subjection. That fortress itself had no means of resistance, and, certainly, there was no Spanish force in the field capable of impeding the full execution of the emperor's instructions, which were also reiterated by the king. Nevertheless, the Duke of Belluno remained inert at this critical period, and the Spaniards attributing his inactivity to weakness, endeavoured to provoke the blow so unaccountably withheld; for Cuesta was projecting offensive movements against Victor, and the Duke of Albuquerque was extremely anxious to attack Toledo from the side of La Mancha. Cartoajal opposed Albuquerque's plans, but offered him a small force with which to act independently. The duke complained to the junta of Cartoajal's proceedings, and Mr. Frere, whose traces are to be found in every intrigue and every absurd project broached at this period, having supported Albuquerque's complaints, Cartoajal was directed by the junta to follow the duke's plans; but the latter was himself ordered to join Cuesta with a detachment of four or five thousand men. ROUT OF CIUDAD REAL. Cartoajal, in pursuance of his instructions, marched with twelve thousand men and twenty guns towards Toledo, and his advanced guard attacked a regiment of Polish lancers near Consuegra, but the latter retired without loss. Sebastiani, with about ten thousand men, immediately came up against him, and the leading divisions encountering at Yebenes, the Spaniards were pushed back to Ciudad Real, where they halted, leaving guards on the river in front of that town. The French immediately forced the passage, and a tumultuary action ensuing, Cartoajal was totally routed with the loss of his guns, a thousand slain, and several thousand prisoners; the vanquished fled by Almagro, and the French cavalry pursued even to the foot of the Sierra Morena. The importance of this action, fought on the 27th of March, and commonly called the battle of Ciudad Real, is said to have been greatly exaggerated by Sebastiani, and was certainly not followed up with any great profit to the victors. The French general having gathered up the spoils, sent his prisoners to the rear, and held his troops concentrated on the Upper Guadiana, to await the result of Victor's operations; thus enabling the Spanish fugitives to rally at Carolina, where they were re-enforced by levies from Grenada and Cordova. While these events were passing in La Mancha, Estremadura was also invaded; for the king, having received a despatch from Soult, dated Orense, and giving notice that the second corps would be at Oporto about the 15th of March, had reiterated the order for Lapisse to move on Abrantes, and for the Duke of Belluno to pass the Tagus and drive Cuesta beyond the Guadiana. Marshal Victor, who appears to have been, for some reason unknown, averse to aiding the operations of the second corps at all, remonstrated, and especially urged that the order to Lapisse should be withdrawn, lest his division should arrive too soon, and without support, at Abrantes; but this time the king was firm, and, on the 14th of March, the Duke of Belluno, having collected five days' provisions, made the necessary dispositions to pass the Tagus. The amount of the Spanish force immediately on that river was about sixteen thousand men, and Cuesta had also several detachments and irregular bands in his rear, which may be calculated at eight thousand more. The Duke of Belluno, however, estimated the troops in position before him at thirty thousand, a great error for so experienced a commander to make. On the other hand, Cuesta was as ill-informed; for this was the moment when, with his approbation, Colonel D'Urban proposed to Sir John Cradock, that curiously combined attack against Victor already noticed, in which the Spaniards were to cross the Tagus and Sir Robert Wilson was to come down upon the Tietar. This, also, was the period that Mr. Frere, apparently ignorant that there were at least twenty-five thousand fighting men in the valley of the Tagus without reckoning the king's or Sebastiani's troops, proposed that the twelve thousand British under Sir John Cradock should march from Lisbon to "drive the fourth French corps from Toledo," and "consequently," as he phrased it "from Madrid." The first movement of Marshal Victor awakened Cuesta from these dreams. The bridges of Talavera and Arzobispo were, as we have seen, held by the French, and their advanced posts were pushed into the valley of the Tagus, as far as the Barca de Bazagona. The Spanish position extended from Garbin, near the bridge of Arzobispo, to the bridge of Almaraz, the centre being at Meza d'Ibor, a position of surprising strength, running at right angles from the Tagus to the Guadalupe. The head-quarters and reserves were at Deleytosa, and a road, cut by the troops, afforded a communication between that place and Meza d'Ibor. Now on the right bank of the Tagus there was easy access to the bridges of Talavera, Arzobispo, and Almaraz; but on the left bank no road existed, by which artillery could pass the mountains, except that of Almaraz, which was crossed at the distance of four or five miles from the river by the almost impregnable ridge of Mirabete. The Duke of Belluno's plan was therefore to pass the Tagus, at the bridges of Talavera and Arzobispo, with his infantry and part of his cavalry, and to operate in the Sierra de Guadalupe against the Spanish right; while the artillery and grand park, protected by the remainder of the cavalry, were to be united opposite Almaraz, having with them a raft-bridge to throw across at that point. This project is, however, scarcely to be reconciled with the estimate made of Cuesta's force; for surely nothing could be more rash than to expose the whole of the guns and field stores of the army, with no other guard than some cavalry and one battalion of infantry, close to a powerful enemy, who possessed a good pontoon train, and who might, consequently, pass the river at pleasure. The 15th, Laval's division of German infantry, and La Salle's cavalry, crossed at Talavera, and, turning to the right, worked a march through the rocky hills; the infantry gaining Aldea Nueva, on a line somewhat * General Semelé's Journal of Operations, MS. |