The American Sharpe Page 6

  Following the retreating French, the 95th came upon the scene at Garcia Hernandez, where Bock’s Heavy Cavalry Brigade broke through two formed squares and captured some 1,400 men.

  23rd We commenced marching again this morning before daybreak. Crossed the Tormes by a ford, halted a few minutes on the bank, given to understand we were to halt half an hour, marched off suddenly. Soon after this arrived on the ground, where General Bock’s Heavy German Brigade of cavalry had just made one of the most dashing charges ever (I believe) known, on the enemy’s rearguard of infantry. We marched over the ground just after the charge, it was made up an hill, arms and accoutrements were lying in every direction, in one place near the top of the hill where they charged and broke a square. The form of the square might be seen by the arms and accoutrements &c lying as if they had been charged in columns of sections. We continued following them until towards afternoon (their rearguard in sight all day) when we halted near a village.

  24th Marched again before daybreak through Penaranda [de Bracamonte] a good looking town (or rather city, for it is what they call a ciudad) to Flores de Avila where the division bivouacked in two woods outside of the town, the officers got into houses. The people in Penaranda received us very well, they told us that Marmont was about to have had his arm amputated9 when the advanced guard of the army appearing, he was obliged to make off. Our company on picquet, head quarters here.

  25th Our baggage which we have not seen since it went to the rear on the night of the 17th came up today, halted here all day.

  26th Through 3 different villages to Aldeaseca, head quarters here bivouacked outside of the town, could not get houses. Weather very hot.

  27th Through Arevalo, a curiously situated town (situated between two rivers it has been a Moorish fortress, it is a good looking town) to Mantega de Vaca10, we were quartered in the village of Mantega de Vaca.

  28th To Olmedo a good town, where the division are quartered in a convent, the officers are to take whatever houses they think proper but are given to understand that head quarters will be here and that they are liable to be turned out of their quarters. Many have been turned out, however I got into a pretty good house with a stable and have been lucky enough to keep it. The French General Ferey11 who was wounded on the 22nd has been buried here and dug up again by the inhabitants, I saw his body. He was buried again by our division. The people here received us very well, a priest met our division as we marched in with fireworks which is a token of rejoicing among the Spaniards. Olmedo has formerly been fortified, it is surrounded by a wall with small round towers at about every hundred yards.

  29th We marched this morning at about daybreak , we understood we were to march to Portillo which is a town situated on a mountain when we were in sight of Portillo and about a league from it, we were halted for a considerable time, at last we marched to a village to the left of it called [La] Pedraja de Portillo. The division bivouacked outside of the town, the houses of which there were very few were told off to the officers.

  30th Marched before day break and forded the Douro, halted on the right bank of it in a pine wood, about 6 miles English from Valladolid. The 1st Division halted on the left bank. About one o’clock an order was given that all except one officer per company might go to Valladolid. I rode in together with Hopwood12, Layton13 and Leach, it is a fine city, the entrance to it is very fine, it is a larger place than Salamanca but I do not think it so handsome a city, the plaza or square (which is the part of a city or town in which the Spaniards pride themselves more) of this place is large but by no means handsome, it appears to be a very old place. The French having been here so long, the place is completely Frenchified and the inhabitants did not seem over glad to see the English. There are good shops & coffee houses here, the latter of course established by the French for I never saw any in the country before except at Badajoz which place also the French had possession of for a long time. The enemy left behind them here some sick and some British prisoners14. I saw a man of the 3rd Dragoon Guards here and a more wretched figure I never saw. He said however that he had not been ill treated, but that he got rations very irregularly but he believed it was not their fault for their own sick were in the same way.

  31st Halted all day in the same ground as yesterday. I have a very bad toothache.

  August

  1st Received an order last night to march at daybreak this morning, marched accordingly to Tudela de Duero about a league & a half from where we bivouacked, the whole division are quartered here, pretty good quarters. Had a tooth drawn by Jones15.

  2nd There is I believe some prospect of remaining quiet for a little while and I sincerely wish we may, for we have had hard work for the last 6 weeks. Tudela is a pretty good town, It is situated on the right bank of the Douro, there is a bridge here, one of the arches of which the French have destroyed. The country about here is very beautiful.

  About 5 o’clock this evening we received an order to march immediately to Aldeamayor [de San Martin]. In consequence of the bridge being destroyed, we were obliged to ford the river, the ford is a very bad one and caused considerable delay before the division could march off from the opposite bank. I was on duty to bring up stragglers. Got to Aldeamayor about 9 o’clock, our brigade bivouacked outside the town, the other quartered in the town.

  3rd The officers of our company got a house in town. The men are ordered to change their ground by day to a wood and return to the old ground at night on account of the wood being damp.

  Rode this evening to Portillo, about a league from here, it is situated on the top of a mountain & has been a Moorish fortress, it is a curious place and put me much in mind of Guarda.

  Leach being given charge of the three companies attached to the 2nd Brigade, his company transferred with him.

  4th The 1st Brigade marched this day to Pedraja de Portillo. Balvaird having gone to England on account of ill health, Leach as senior captain is now attached with his company to the 2nd Brigade in order to take command of the 3 companies.

  The 2nd Brigade to which we now belong, remains at Aldeamayor. Drew a bill on England for £25. Rode this evening to a village beyond Portillo, head quarters are at Cuellar.

  5th Rode over to Pedraja where the 1st Brigade are to receive the money for the bill I drew. I was acting as adjutant this evening at a flogging match16 and was blackguarded by old Vandeleur like a pickpocket. Received an order this evening to march tomorrow morning.

  Wellington now left Clinton’s 6th Division to pursue Marmont, whilst he turned his army south to take the political prize of Madrid.

  6th Marched before daybreak and bivouacked in a fine wood on the left bank of the Caya near the village of Alpino17, this day’s march was through a fine corn country. There is a General Order that the officers see regularly 1/3 water mixed with the rum.

  7th Marched before daybreak & bivouacked in a pine wood on the banks of the Piron near Puente de Roble18. 1st Division are encamped near us. Fine level corn country. Rode to a village a little off the road on this day’s march and bought some turkies [sic] very cheap.

  8th Through Carbonero [el Mayor], a very good town and Yanguas [de Eresma] to the bank of the Eresma where ours and the 1st Division encamped.

  I stopped in Carbonero to forage for the mess, the people in this place have a very peculiar way of dressing, the way in which the women dress their hair is particularly curious and they are altogether the wildest looking set I ever saw. In Yanguas they are much the same. Query, is this the same Yanguas in which Sancho Panza was taped in a blanket?19

  9th To the park of the Pallacio d’el Rio Frio where we found several other divisions bivouacked, it is about a league from Segovia. I went into the palace which is a large square building of stone, plastered on the outside & coloured brick. There is no furniture inside nor any ornaments except about a dozen pictures, I do not know what it might have been but in its present state it is not worth walking an hundred yards to see. After breakfast I rode into Segovia, it is a ve
ry fine old city, better worth seeing I think than either Salamanca or Valladolid, the entrance to it is beautiful. The most remarkable things in it are the cathedral which is uncommonly beautiful, especially the inside of it. There are some very fine painted glass windows. The castle or towers of Segovia (which is made honourable mention of in Gil Blas20 and in which they show what they call Gil Blas’ cell) is a very curious place. It is excessively strong by nature, being built on a rock, very high and perpendicular on every side, but that which looks towards the city, and even in front of that part of it runs a very deep ditch cut out of the rock over which there is a draw bridge. The Spanish government have always used it as a state prison, but the French have used it as a fort and mounted some guns on it. The French when they left the place rendered useless all the artillery they left here, the ditch above mentioned is full of gun carriages, guns, mortars &c. I saw in the courtyard in the interior of the building a small English brass mortar with GR and a crown on it laying spiked. The view from the top of the tower is very fine, on the one side a fine corn country and on the other that immense ridge of mountains which runs from the rock of Lisbon across the whole peninsula and which in this place divides Old from New Castille. There is also a very handsome stone aqueduct said to have been built by the Romans. The town has a very ancient appearance but is clean and pleased me very much.

  10th Marched about a league & a half and encamped in a field near a village called I think [Otero de] Horreros. I today saw the first league stone I ever saw in the country, on it was inscribed Madrid 11 leagues.

  11th Marched this day across the Sierra de Guadarrama which divides Old from New Castille, the road of the pass paved with stones. At the top of the sierra is a stone pillar with a lion on the top of it, which marks the boundary of the two Castilles. Just at the beginning of the pass we passed through the small village of San Rafael, the church of which the French have made a temporary fortification of and is very curious. The view of New Castille from the top of the sierra is very wild and cheerless, the face of the country being entirely burnt and uncultivated. On gaining the bottom of the mountains we passed through the village of Guadarrama, part of which is fortified in the same manner as San Rafael we halted and bivouacked in the park of the far famed Palace of Escorial. After breakfast I rode to Escorial it is (though now apparently much destroyed and deserted) a very good town, it is built entirely of stone and is by far the most uniformly built town I have seen in either Spain or Portugal. In the palace itself I am I confess rather disappointed, however I saw it to great disadvantage, the French having plundered it of everything they could carry away worth taking, the chapel however is very beautiful and the mausoleum or sepulchre of the sovereigns of Spain which is underneath the chapel is the most magnificent thing of the kind I ever saw, the paintings on the ceiling over the principal staircase together with those in that of the library is very beautiful, but there is not a book left in the library. All that I saw of what was formerly the inhabited part of the place was entirely plundered but it had not the signs of having ever been grand, for I did not see one room that could have conveniently dined 20 people. In this place also the French have been obliged to make little fortifications at the end of every street leading out into the country.

  12th Halted here all day, I rode again to Escorial, saw Fraser of the 79th.21

  13th Received an order last night to march. Marched accordingly this morning at about daybreak along a very fine road called the Carmino Real, with regular league and half league stones. To Las Rozas, [note by Gairdner - 1st Brigade to Majadahonda, the Portuguese cavalry the other day behaved very ill at this place, they actually ran away from some French cavalry and deserted some guns they ought to have defended. Some German cavalry also were in Las Rozas charged, obliged them to leave the guns & behaved exceedingly well.] A small village about a league and a half from Madrid. Even in this small place though only six English miles from the metropolis, the church and all the entrances to the place are fortified. It is almost deserted, many houses are quite uninhabited. After breakfast I rode with Leach, Pemberton22 & Hopwood into Madrid. I had heard that Madrid for a capital was a small place and the idea I had formed from what I have seen of some of their towns and cities fell far short of what it really is, it is really a beautiful city. There were preparations going on at the time I entered to proclaim the new constitution which was done that afternoon, there were a great many processions parading the streets, the houses as is usual on public occasions were hung with tapestry &c and the windows crowded with women. I am very much mistaken if I did not see in one of the windows one of the nuns that was in the house I was in at Badajoz after I was wounded. After riding about the streets for [a] short time we went to the Fuente d’Auros an excellent coffee house where we dined. After dinner we walked out, the 5th Division was just marching out, having been relieved here by the 3rd. The streets through which they passed were crowded with people and I never saw such real enthusiasm in my life as they showed. I was seized hold of and kissed by men, women & children, old & young. After this we went to the play, the house is small but very neat, there is one thing remarkable with respect to their prompter, he is seated in a sort of trap door in the middle of the lamps with his face towards the stage with a sort of cover or canopy over him. Slept at the Fuente d’Auros, our horses are at a public stable.

  14th Went after breakfast to see the palace, it is a very fine building outside, but not finished. The inside is the most beautiful magnificent thing I ever saw. Every room is hung & furnished different from the others, they are all full of pictures which are of course first rate performances. There is one of Napoleon Bonaparte crossing the Alps of which I have seen prints in England. Soon after coming out of the palace we met an officer of the 3rd Division who told us that they were just about to storm the Retiro23, which the French have fortified & left a garrison in. when Lord Wellington sent in some message by Lord F. Somerset24 & the garrison surrendered. He told us that they were to march out at 3 o’clock, I went to see the garrison march out, they I understand surrendered on condition that they should march out with the honours of war, that the officers should keep their baggage & the soldiers their packs. They piled their arms before they came to the outer gate and then marched out. They were uncommonly fine men, a great many Germans among them, they were almost all drunk & complained of their head having surrendered. After this went to the Fuente d’Auros and dined.

  15th Went to see the Retiro. The principal fortification is a large square building called La China formerly a china manufactory which building is surrounded by a line of fortifications of earth in the regular form of bastions, curtains &c with the banquettes, ditches &c & which is very complete [&] strong indeed. There were a great quantity of horses taken in La china. After this I went to see the museum, it is exceedingly well worth seeing indeed. There is in it a perfect skeleton of the mammoth which is I believe the only perfect one in the world, and there is among the specimens of sculpture a Venus & Cupid cut out of a solid block of blue and white marble with which I who know nothing about [with] these things was very much pleased.

  After this I rode to Villaverde, a village about 3 miles from Madrid in the direction of Toledo, where the division are & to which place they marched from Las Rozas & Majadahonda on the 14th. On my way to Villaverde I crossed the Manzanares by the beautiful bridge of Toledo. The more I have seen of Madrid the more I am pleased with it, very much crowded at Villaverde.

  16th The 1st Brigade moved to Getafe, a village about 3 miles from here.

  17th Rode into Madrid returned to dinner. Even in this place the streets leading into the country are fortified, this is what the French call having quiet possession of a country.

  18th Not very well.

  19th The 1st Brigade moved to Madrid.

  20th In consequence of the complaints of the badness of the water here, our brigade moved this morning to Getafe, very good quarters. 14th Dragoons here.

  21st Very unwell.

 
; 22nd – 30th Blank

  31st There is a grand bullfight given in Madrid this day to Lord Wellington & the army.

  Marshal Marmont had been replaced by General Souham. He rapidly reorganised his army and began to put pressure on Clinton’s covering force. Wellington took the majority of his army northwards in an effort to defeat Souham, but he retired and the Duke was forced to carry out a siege at Burgos with hopelessly inadequate means.

  The Light Division, however, remained near Madrid for ten weeks until the combined armies of King Joseph and Marshal Soult appeared. They were initially ordered forward to face this threat but on hearing of Wellington’s retreat from Burgos, they were forced then to retire as well.

  September

  1st Lord Wellington has left Madrid today and gone northward. General Clinton who was left with the 6th Division and several regiments lately arrived from England in the north when we marched for Madrid and whose head quarters were at Cuellar has been obliged to retire to Arevalo. Lord Wellington has taken with him the 1st, 5th & 7th Divisions. The 3rd Division is in Madrid, the 4th at Escurial, the 2nd are in the neighbourhood of Toledo.

  2nd September – 20th October. During most part of the time I have been here, I have been very unwell, add to that I never had money, for the army has never been worse paid than since we have been here, so that I have not had much pleasure to boast of having enjoyed in the capital of Spain. Notwithstanding all this, I like it better than any quarter I ever was in as a soldier.

  21st We received an order this morning at about 5 o’clock to march at 8. The brigade marched accordingly, passed through Villaverde, crossed the Manzanares by a very bad ford (in which there was a great deal of the baggage apart, mine among the rest) passed through the town of [Villa de] Vallecas and went on to a place called Rivas [Vaciamadrid] which consists of a convent and two or three houses. [Note by Gairdner – Saw a division march from Madrid towards Pinto as we crossed the road, it must have been the 3rd Division. The 1st & 2nd Battalions of our regiment with the officers of the 1st Battalion in the convent, the officers of the 2nd Battalion in a house near the convent, the rest of the houses occupied by head quarters of the brigade. The 1st Cacadores are at Vaciamadrid the 52nd marched on. The situation of this place is most romantically beautiful, it is situated on the right bank of the River Uresma, which bank is uncommonly steep & bold while the other bank is quite flat and the country on the other side for a considerable extent is a flat plain. It must be an excellent sporting country, we bagged about twenty wild pigeons here.