The American Sharpe Read online

  17th Lord Wellington reviewed the division this day on the Espeja plain, and was I understand very much pleased with them. The 1st Hussars were with us also, there are now 492 effective. The 4th Division it is said, moves tomorrow. We received pay this day up to January 24th.

  18th The Spaniards say that General Castanos moves from Aldea del Obispo for Rodrigo tomorrow. The weather appears now to be settled. We have begun to cut barley for forage.

  19th Blank

  20th We are to commence marching tomorrow, we march I understand to Saelices el Chico. I am very glad we are going to move, for I am tired of this idle life.

  21st We broke up from our cantonments, the 2nd Brigade broke up yesterday, and bivouacked last night near Carpio. The 1st Brigade marched this morning independently by regiments and forded the Agueda at Molinos des Flores1. We went the wrong road and passed near Saelices el Chico, bivouacked in a wood about 1 mile from the Agueda, the whole division together. Very good forage.

  Colonel Barnard who has exchanged with Colonel Beckwith took command of the regiment today. I picked up my old servant Clements2 on the road today and took him on the staff once more.

  The country about the ground where we bivouacked is very beautiful. General Graham with all the divisions of the army except the 2nd & ours are moving on the other bank of the Douro; Lord Wellington is to be with these two divisions that move on Salamanca.

  22nd Marched at day break to the [Castillejo de] Yeltes, when we arrived there we were told that 300 French cavalry who were in the village of St Martin del Rio [Martin de Yeltes?] about 2 miles on and were driving off cattle, the hussars (who with the 14th passed us today) went on, our battalion went on about 1 mile, halted here and then returned and bivouacked near the river. Very pretty country, we had no corn but very good grass.

  23rd The division marched left in front at daybreak this morning, passed through St Martin del Rio, and Boadilla and bivouacked on the left bank of the Huebra, on the same ground on which we encamped on the night of the 17th November last, after the French had driven us across the river. We were about 2 miles from the village of San Munoz the Blues and Life Guards bivouack near us, their horses are in good condition.

  There are attached to the division now 13 mules laden with entrenching tools, several engineer artificers, an engineer officer, some sappers & miners.

  I walked into the village of San Munoz today, it has been a good village but is terribly destroyed, the staff of the division are in there.

  24th Halted here all day, mustered by the paymaster, General Hill’s Division are I understand about 3 miles to our right. Headquarters at Tamames. We are not far from Castillejo de Huebra [Cuarto del Pilar?], the place Leach & I dined at on the 22nd June last on our way up to Salamanca.

  25th Marched this morning about ¼ before 4 o’clock right in front, through Aldehuela [de la Boveda] (near Castro [Enriquez] the village Leach & I had slept at on the 23rd June last) to a wood about a mile beyond the village of Robliza [de Cojos] where we halted and bivouacked. Head quarters at Matilla [de los Canos del Rio].

  As Hill’s troops approached Salamanca, the French defenders retired north eastward towards Toro, Hill followed.

  26th Marched at the usual hour, left in front, through Calzada de Don Diego to the bank of the rivulet of Val de Munoz, near which we bivouacked. The French had picquets on the ground on which we halted of cavalry this morning, which retired into Salamanca (about a league off) on the appearance of our cavalry. The cavalry followed them down to the bridge which the French blockaded. About 3 hours after we halted on this ground we were ordered to fall in and march to a ford which we did and bivouacked on the left bank of the Tormes opposite the same ford which I crossed on the 24th June last. The cavalry crossed the river and the French left Salamanca, a Spaniard told me that the French had 4,000 men & that they have retired on the Toro road.

  27th Halted all day opposite the ford which is called the Vado (ford) de Canto [El Canto?]. I rode into Salamanca where I heard the following news, the French not 5,000, principally infantry, retired from the town when the cavalry crossed the river. The 1st [German] Hussars & 14th Light Dragoons with some light artillery followed them, when they came up with them the infantry formed squares. The guns came close up to them and did great execution, there were killed, wounded & taken prisoners about 300 men. I have since heard more.

  I fell in with a Spanish woman who is better informed and gave me more information than I ever found or expected from a Spanish woman. She says that the general who commanded these men who were here yesterday was Maucune3. That the French officers talking of the British said that they were good soldiers & fought well, but that if they lost 20 thousand men they could not replace, with them it was different. They also said that if the British were not in the country 8,000 men could take possession of the whole of Spain. I asked her if she believed it, she said she did; the Spanish soldiers were brave, but their officers were worth nothing.

  She said also that the French told her that they had orders from the Emperor to retire behind the Ebro without fighting if they could help it and there wait the result of the campaign with the Russians. They assured her also that they would be in Salamanca again in 3 months. She says also that Soult has not left Spain.

  Another sensible remark she made was that in the British army there was but one commander, the Lord Wellington, with the French every general had his own army.

  The French did not plunder the town when they left it, but levied 5,000 rations. The town is much improved since we left it in November last, it is cleaner, the markets & shops are better supplied.

  Head quarters are here, I saw Lord Wellington in the cathedral in which there was a Te Deum performing, he had a grey frock coat on with his sword & sash.

  I cannot conceive why General Maucune remained so long here, he lost between 3 & 400 men without gaining any object whatever, his men were all drunk, officers & all.

  28th Marched at the usual hour left in front to the village of Aldeanueva de Figeuroa (about 4½ leagues from Salamanca on the Toro road) and bivouacked on the outside of that village. Crossed the Tormes by the ford in our front. Lord Wellington leaves this part of the army unaccompanied by his staff except Colonel Campbell and an aide de camp and rides in one day 14 leagues to join General Graham’s army. Towards evening it began to rain very hard, the Portuguese having no tents, the 17th Portuguese Regiment was ordered into the village, but there being the small pox in it, our battalion were ordered to give up their tents to them and go into the town, which they did4. I preferred remaining in camp as did most of the officers.

  29th A fine day and not hot, halted all day. Went out shooting today, it is a beautiful sporting country in appearance, bagged a brace of partridge which was all I fired at. General Hill’s Corps (for he now no longer commands the 2nd Division only, but there are some Portuguese brigades attached to that division which form a corps of which he has the command. General Stewart commands the 2nd Division) is about 2½ miles on our right.

  It is said we do not move from here for a day or two yet. Lord Wellington’s baggage & part of his staff are here.

  30th Fine day. Halted all day. There are some French on this side of the Douro at La Nava del Rey and their cavalry at Alaejos one league on this side of it.

  I rode this evening to Parada de Rubiales, the village our division bivouacked near on the 29th June last. I saw a peasant in this place who left Parada la Nava del Rey on account of the French who came there on Thursday.

  Canizal (the position we retired to on the 18th July last when driven from Castrejon) is only 1 league from here, saw Hill’s encampment, his head quarters are at [La] Orbada, I understand that it was General Villatte5 who commands the troops at Salamanca the other day and that his dispatch has been intercepted, he magnifies our numbers and the valour of his troops in usual French style.

  We have a supporting battalion to the picquets every night.

  31st There came an order last night for the
division to get under arms ¼ before 3 o’clock this morning, we accordingly formed contiguous close columns of battalions 100 yards in front of the village and at sunrise marched home. General Alten has today received intelligence that the enemy have retired across the Douro to Tordesillas. Rode to a hill in front, from which I saw Toro. We have scarcely any cavalry with us, Victor Alten’s Brigade6 are watching some ford on the Douro and the greater part of those attached to Hill are at Alba de Tormes, the Household Brigade are still at Salamanca as also a Portuguese Brigade of infantry belonging to Hill’s Corps.

  The order for turning out the division tomorrow morning was given this evening and afterwards countermanded.

  June

  1st Our company went on picquet this morning at about ½ past 2 o’clock on the road to Fuentesauco. Rained hard at night and very cold. Head quarters baggage left this today.

  2nd The division marched this morning at 4 o’clock through Fuentesauco & [La] Boveda de Toro to a pine wood about 5½ leagues from Aldeanueva [de Figueroa] & about 2 from Toro, arrived there at about 12, halted for 2 hours and ½ and cooked, moved on then towards Toro, bivouacked opposite to it on the left bank of the river.

  Hill does not move today. The French, principally cavalry, retired from Toro this morning and destroyed the bridge. General Graham crossed the Esla yesterday with the loss of 12 men drowned. The 10th Hussars came up with the enemy’s cavalry after they had left Toro, charged them and made 206 prisoners with a very trifling loss on their part7. Lord March8(as we were coming into our bivouack) was riding to General Hill with orders. I do not think this road so highly cultivated as the road by which we went up to the Douro last year. But I have remarked in this country, wherever there is corn it is very fine and very few instances of blight.

  3rd The division moved right in front and got over the Douro with great difficulty; the enemy having completely destroyed two arches of the bridge, while the division was halted on the bank of the river after getting over I rode into the town and went into the castle when I saw the prisoners taken yesterday by the 10th. They were fine looking men and some few of them very much cut about the head. But their horses, at least those that I saw, more miserable than I could have imagined.

  After the brigade got over we moved to Tagarabuena about 1 mile from Toro. Walked into Toro after breakfast. There had been brought in since morning a picquet of 50 cavalry and 2 officers who were taken by Don Julian Sanchez, they had two guns. I went to the castle and saw them, there was one poor fellow run through his body with a pike, I saw the wound dressed, he bore it very patiently.

  Toro is a good town, but the dullest for its size I ever saw in Spain. Hill is moving here, we have parties from our division working to rejoin the bridge.

  4th The division marched this morning at the usual hour through Casasola [de Arion], Villabarba & La Mota de Toro [Mota de Marques], & another village (San Cebrian [de Mazote]) to a small oak wood near the Convent of Espina [La Santa Espina] which has once been a fine building about 7 leagues from Toro. Passed the 4th Division near Villabarba & the 3rd near [Castillo de] La Mota.

  5th Marched this morning at 5 o’clock to Castromonte where we halted for about half an hour, then moved on to La Mudarra, near which we bivouacked. It is about 1 & ½ leagues from our last night’s encampment and 4 leagues from Valladolid. The Commissariat stores are not well up. It rained this evening, there are supporting battalions to the picquet every night.

  6th Fine day. Received orders to march to Ampudia 4 leagues & there wait for orders. Marched by the outside Villalba de los Alcores (into which I rode, it is an old Moorish walled town with a castle, it looks well outside, but is very poor inside. I did not see one very good looking house) and through a small village called Valoria [del Alcor], to Ampudia, near which we bivouacked. The country for the most part level & uncultivated though very good looking ground and rather woody near Ampudia to our left, it falls into an immense plain appreciably well cultivated and full of towns. Ampudia is such another Moorish town as Villalba, good looking at a distance, and very poor inside. The houses hereabouts are all built of mud and not whitewashed and look very shabby. There is a castle here also, through which I went, it has a very ancient appearance and is in most excellent repair considering all things.

  I saw a captain of the 4th Chasseurs, a Swiss, who deserted from the French 8 days ago and came in today. He says that Marshal Jourdan9 commands in chief; Soult10 he says, has gone to France for disobeying King Joseph in disgrace, and their orders are to go behind the Ebro.

  The 4th Division are here bivouacked on our left; head quarters of the army in the town. There are two encampments on our left, about a league & half, one near a village called Villerias [de Campos], which must be General Graham’s column. The 3rd Division are not here, but at Valoria. The 6th & 7th Divisions with General V. Alten’s Brigade are moving on a road on our right under the command of the Earl of Dalhousie.11

  There are a great many old Moorish fortifications hereabouts, one, a castle about 2 miles from us to the left, situated on a hill called the Castle of Torremormojon, with a village below it of the same name. We are badly off for wood here, we are now on the main road to Palencia and 4 leagues from it. The leagues in this part of the country are not long. Very rainy night.

  7th Marched this morning at 5 o’clock near Autilla [del Pino] and another village to Palencia 3 & ½ leagues. The order of march was on this road by which we are advancing as follows.

  D’Urban’s Portuguese Brigade of cavalry, Ponsonby’s Brigade, Hussar Brigade, Light Division, 4th Division, Reserve of Artillery, Household Brigade of Cavalry, 3rd Division. We marched through Palencia & encamped close to it. King Joseph reviewed the troops on the ground on which we encamped yesterday morning and set off immediately after the review, the last of them left this morning, at 7 o’clock. Palencia is a city & capital of a province of that name in the Kingdom of Leon; it is a very ancient looking place and has been a Moorish fortress, it has an old wall round it, entire in most places.

  Even for a Spanish city its interior is not good, although superior to Toro, the approaches to it are very beautiful, it is situated on the left bank of the Carrion over which at the town are two bridges. About a mile from the town on the side by which we entered is a canal called Canal de Castilla with a lock where the road crosses it. It has a cathedral which I was in, it is very handsome and elegant but not magnificent. The inhabitants say there is a bishop’s palace and 6 convents. It is the dirtiest Spanish city I ever was in. The inhabitants were very much astonished at our tents, they say they never saw them before and peeped with curiosity into every one.

  It rained today and was cold and cloudy. I saw John12 of General Graham’s Staff in Palencia who said he was coming into the town. I understand all the British divisions of the army are hereabouts this night. The country through which we passed until we descended into the plain in which Palencia is situated is totally uncultivated and apparently very bad stony soil. Palencia is situated in a fertile and cultivated flat with heights on both sides. The people are civil and appeared glad to see us.

  8th Marched this morning at 5 o’clock through Fuentes de Valdepero (a village with a Moorish castle in high apparent preservation. The French cavalry were here yesterday when ours arrived here). Monzon [de Campos] a village with a castle on a hill above it, Amusco another Moorish village. To Tamara [de Campos] another old fortress near which we bivouacked. A good looking village called Pina [de Campos] about 2 miles to our left. The country pretty well cultivated through which we passed. Rained very hard and incessantly all night.

  9th Moved at about 6 o’clock to a rather drier ground near Pina. The Portuguese regiments (who have no tents) into Pina. I saw some of the British Hussar Brigade at Tamara as we came by. Showery all day, fine night.

  10th Marched at 4 o’clock left in front as usual, through Fromista and Requena [de Campos] to Lantadilla, the division bivouacked outside of the town as also the 4th Division, but the weather threate
ning rain, our company and the 3rd Battalion were sent into quarters in the village in order to give up our tents to other companies. The public mules which used to carry camp kettles for the men, now carry three tents each per company. We passed the Canal de Castilla twice, once near Fromista near a lock and again after having passed Requena. The roads were very bad, the 6th & 7th Divisions are encamped near Tamara; General Hill was at Torquemada yesterday.

  There was a report yesterday that we were to march upon Reinosa which is just at the source of the Ebro and by that means, turn the line of the river and we have been marching direct upon it ever since leaving Palencia, but we left that road to our left when we came to Requena today and are now moving on Burgos.

  We have papers up to the 18th containing the official dispatch concerning Sir J. Murray’s fight with Suchet. The inhabitants of this part of Spain are uglier, dirtier and worse dressed than on the frontiers or indeed any part of the country I have been in. They are [sic] exactly resemble the Portuguese, both in dress & appearance. The villages are also of the worst description I have seen in Spain. This place is on the right bank of the Pisuerga, over which is a bridge of 7 arches. The country through which we are marching is an extensive flat plain, full of dykes.

  11th Marched through Arenillas [de Riopisuerga] to Villasandino situated on the right bank of the Rio Odra, over which is a bridge of 10 arches. There are an immense quantity of pigeons here. I found a wild duck’s nest in the middle of a barley field. We have been moving ever since leaving Palencia in a low open country, in general very well cultivated and full of drains.

  12th Marched at the usual hour, left in front, crossed a ridge or sierra which terminates the plain in this direction. Just over the ridge is the village of Castrillo de Murcia and between this and another ridge, is a beautiful little valley. The Brigade of General V. Alten was waiting in this valley for us, moved across the valley and marched up a ravine in the opposite ridge in which we passed through the villages of Villandiego & Yudego. From some heights above Yudego I got the 1st view of Burgos, marched a little further and then halted for some hours, during which time the cavalry were skirmishing in front. Marched on at last through the village of Isar, in another valley to a plain (from which we had a better view of Burgos. It appears a very good looking place, the castle is on a very commanding situation on a hill, the town appears to be built round the base of the hill). Just as we came on the plain, a heavy cannonading commence[d] about a league in our front, remained here on the plain for about 3 hours, during which time the cannonading continued, the cause of which was a body of the enemies [sic] infantry who had been surprised by our cavalry, retiring in squares to cross a bridge between them and Burgos. A division of infantry were moving on to the front just as we arrived on the plain, but could not be brought up in time, so that the enemy got over the bridge. I understand that if our division had been marched on at once to the bridge that must all have been taken prisoners. It rained hard all this time. We moved in the evening back to the village of Hornillos del Camino and encamped outside of it; it is situated in the same valley as Isar.