Thus ended the proceedings of 1809. Sir Arthur Wellesley was, after the battle of Talavera, raised to the rank of Viscount Wellington.



CHAPTER VIII.

The regiment billeted at Olivencia — Curious astronomical conjunction — Lawrence exemplifies the truth of an old proverb at the expense of his hosts, and draws down the wrath of the church on himself — Succeeds more satisfactorily in the case of his comrade — The army shifted to the valley of the Mondego — Lord Wellington's hopes in Almeida and Ciudad Rodrigo being disappointed, it falls back still further to Busaco — Battle of Busaco — Lawrence makes a capture, which may be regarded by some readers as emblematic.

At the beginning of 1810 we proceeded from Badajoz to Olivencia, and were there billeted on the inhabitants, two or more in a house, as the circumstances would permit. I remember one very curious thing which occurred at this time, which was that the names of the drum-majors of the three regiments that were collected in this place were Sun, Moon, and Star, our regiment having the Moon, the Fifty-third the Sun, and the Ninth the Star, so that if having the Sun, Moon, and Star fighting for us was any help, they were there all ready.

I happened to be billeted with a comrade of the name of Lewis Phillips, a Welshman, in a house occupied by a respectable but poor man and his wife, whom we found on the whole very kindly meaning towards us. Their occupation was that of labourers, and at this particular season of the year they were employed in picking olive-berries. Before going out to their work in the morning they would prepare their supper; which, as it was then Lent, and they were not allowed to eat meat, consisted, as far as I was able to observe, of a mixture of greens, oil, cayenne pepper, and salt, which they would leave on the embers in an earthenware jar to be cooked by the time they came back; and as generally either myself or my comrade was in the way, they would ask us to occasionally give it a stir. One day after I had been there some little time, I was left as cook, and feeling in rather a mischievous mood, I cut some of my meat up very small—not much indeed, as may be supposed, out of the pound, which was all that we then received—and put it into the jar; and by nighttime it was so boiled and stirred that even I, who knew it was there, could scarcely recognize it. On their return they were very hungry and soon partook of their caldo, as they called it, pronouncing it to be very good, and praising me as the best cook they had had for some time, little suspecting what that same best cook had put into it. I was foolish enough, though indeed I did not expect what a bother I should throw up, to ask them then what they thought was in their caldo, and when I told them there was meat in it, they exclaimed they had eaten the Devil, or words to that effect in their language, which we were beginning to understand pretty well by that time after being so long in the country. When they had been and got rid of all they had eaten for supper, they reported me to their priest for making them eat meat in Lent contrary to the laws of their religion; and on the priest coming to the house he condemned me for ever, and prayed to them telling them not to take any notice, as it was done against their will and by an ignorant Protestant.

They never liked me much afterwards, nor set me to watch their caldo, and, as they were obliged to have me there still, managed to make me rather uncomfortable; but this did not altogether debar me from continuing my jokes, and more as I thought it was pretty well time for Lewis to have his turn of it. It happened that Lewis particularly disliked olive oil, and I was myself very fond of it, and as we were very seldom on duty together, it used to fall to the one off to cook and bring the other his meals to the guard. So one day I pitched upon a plan by which to take Mr. Taffy in, he being on guard and I the cook that day. I asked him what he would have for his dinner, and he said some potatoes fried in butter, a piece of bread, and his usual pint of wine: so I got some olive oil, and fried the potatoes in that instead of in butter; and when his turn came for him to be relieved for a time off sentry, took his meal to him, which, coming as it did when he was very hungry, he was not long in lapping up. I then asked him how he had enjoyed it; and he answered he had never had a better meal in his life. I said, "Lewis, I thought you did not like oil." "No, no more I do; there was no oil there." I told him I had fried the potatoes in oil, but I could not make him believe it, so at last I said if he was agreeable I would make another mess in the same manner when we were both together at liberty. He consented, so the first time we were both together to dinner I commenced my frying, he being witness to the whole operation, and I found that I succeeded better in my experiment with Lewis than with the worthy people of the house, for after that he could eat as much oil as I could.

After we had stayed at Olivencia for some weeks, chiefly in order to refresh ourselves after the long and tedious marches, warfare, and illness to which for the last two years we had been subjected, Lord Wellington removed his headquarters to Visen, and the army went for the most part into cantonments on the valley of the Mondego. Lord Wellington knew that his troops were then only strong enough for defensive operations, and was therefore determined, unless strongly reinforced, not to take rash measures; but on the enemy's fresh invasion of Portugal he again shifted his headquarters to Celorico. After that we moved on to another small place, called, as far as I am able to remember, Guarda, near Almeida, about eight or ten leagues from Ciudad Rodrigo.

Almeida was at that time garrisoned by some Portuguese troops commanded by an English officer. The French had invested it, but Lord Wellington expected that it would have been able to baffle the enemy until the commencement of the rainy season, and would thus retard the enemy's movements. Almeida was a town of very great strength, but Massena opened fire on it about the 23rd of August, and it was obliged to capitulate as soon afterwards as the 27th, a magazine containing most of the ammunition having blown up, taking with it great part of the town and the fortifications; the governor being thus disappointed of his desire to detain the French any longer. In this sad accident hundreds of the inhabitants and the soldiery, with many of the enemy, who were assembled outside to watch the effect, were launched into eternity either by the explosion itself or by the huge falling masses. And not only did this misfortune occur, but Ciudad Rodrigo meanwhile had fallen into the enemy's hands, and thus a way was opened for a fourfold contest.

Owing to these repeated disappointments of Lord Wellington's plans, we were again obliged to fall back into the valley of the Mondego, crossing that river and taking up our position on the heights of Busaco, situate about six leagues north-east of Coimbra. Our march was one of great difficulty, owing to the heavy rains and bad roads; but Lord Wellington did his best to provide against these as much as possible by taking the best road; while, on the other hand, Massena, who was following us up on his way to Lisbon, had taken the very worst; and what was more, owing to ignorance of the country, had little expected to meet a range of heights with, above all, us on the top of them, ready to retard his progress as much as possible.

We arrived at Busaco about the centre of September, and on the 26th our line was formed. Our division, under General Cole, occupied the extreme left of the line, looking down on a flat country, where the British cavalry were drawn up in reserve. The divisions of Generals Hill, Leith, and Picton occupied the right of our line, with the first division, commanded by Sir Bryant Spencer, in the centre. In the meantime the French had taken up their position in front, and a splendid view we had of their encampment from Busaco heights for a time; but it was not destined to be for long that we were to witness this fine sight, without mingling some of their best blood with ours, for early on the morning of the 27th they were in active stir, evidently in the full intention of storming our heights. We were immediately ordered under arms, and ready, if necessary, to go into action.

Early in the morning the French made their appearance. The action commenced on our right and centre, the heaviest fire keeping there the whole time that the battle lasted, as the division I was in had but slight brushes with them. The French must have lost in this engagement some four or five thousand men, while we lost little more than a thousand: but it must be borne in mind what an immense advantage we had over them, as, being situated as we were on the heights, we could witness their every movement. That night they retreated to their old position, disheartened at the little success they had gained, or rather at the actual defeat they had suffered, and not feeling inclined to renew the contest next day: and some very slight engagements were all that ensued, chiefly on the left where the light infantry were.

Whilst strolling about one day on these heights I caught a fine cock, which I tamed by tying him to my knapsack by the leg and carrying him about with me, much to the amusement of my comrades; for after I had had him about a fortnight, he became so tame that he would sit on my knapsack quite quietly, without even the string to his leg. We named him Tom, and I took to carrying him about everywhere, even on to the battlefield; wherever my knapsack went, Tom went too, and when the balls were whizzing about, which he did not seem altogether to like, he would make that curious noise which many may have observed as such which a bird like this would make when pursued or frightened. He served, however, to while away many a long and dreary hour pleasantly by his peculiar little ways, and we all became very fond of him: and he grew quite fat on the many tit-bits he received from my comrades and myself during our mess, it being quite marvellous to see how regularly he went to each in turn for his contribution. And it was still more curious to see how Tom was always ready for action on any move of the knapsacks, and not only that, but how very seldom he made any mistake as to which was the right one. However, certain it was that after he had inhabited my knapsack for a little time he had made sufficient marks on it that I could never mistake it for any other, so perhaps he went by them as well as myself.



CHAPTER IX.

March To Leiria — Liberation of Nuns — Retreat before the French to within the lines of Torres Vedras — General flitting on the part of the population — Pitiful scenes on the road — Lawrence and his comrades cantoned in a cellar at Patamara — They find a treasure — The owner doesn't, and makes a disturbance — Lawrence as an interpreter — A game of cunning between officers and men, ending in a victory for the latter — Massena compelled to retreat to Santarem for want of supplies — The regiment receives its South American prize money, and is promptly put in the way to spend it.

On Lord Wellington finding that the French intended to alter their route, and so escape this formidable height, he retreated towards Lisbon himself, passing Coimbra, at which place the Portuguese took some thousands of the French sick and wounded, together with some few effective troops, who had been left to protect the hospital. From Coimbra we proceeded farther south, having again to cross the Mondego, which we did in the latter end of September, reaching Leiria on the 2nd of October.

On the march we passed a nunnery, where we halted for about a quarter of an hour. A great many of the nuns were crowding the balconies to watch us, and as the French were following us up pretty close, the colonel ordered the doors to be broken open by a body of grenadiers, which was soon done, myself being among the number told off for the purpose. This was not carried out, however, without an accident, for one of the women meanwhile fell from a balcony, owing to the crowded state in which they were packed on it. The poor women seemed very glad to get their liberty, for they came out as thick as a flock of sheep, and a great many of them soon passed us bound for Lisbon, being fearful of consequences if they took any other direction: as the French were after us so near as to skirmish with our rear-guard, which chiefly consisted of cavalry.

Lord Wellington had indeed issued a proclamation ordering all the inhabitants to fall back on the approach of the enemy, and destroy any articles that they might possess and were not able to carry with them, that were at all likely to be of any use to the enemy; and so thousands of the population of the country that seemed about to fall within the bounds of the enemy's marches were to be seen flying from their dwellings, and our army during its retreat was accompanied by crowds of miserable men, women, and children, all eager to reach the capital, as they knew that if they fell in with the French, they would be treated as some had been before, with all the barbarities of an atrocious enemy. I have often heard talk of "moving" in England, and have seen a cart or wagon with a man driving a load of furniture, at the rate of three miles an hour, with a woman and perhaps several children sitting on the top, or at the back; but I never before or since saw such a wholesale move as this was, for every one seemed anxious to carry as many of his effects as he could find room for. The farther we proceeded the more confused our retreat appeared, for multitudes were obliged to rest weary and exhausted by the roadside, and often, though made eager in their endeavours as they heard of the enemy's approach to again renew their tedious journey, were found dying or even dead from their hard exertions, and the road was everywhere strewn with pieces of all kinds of furniture, which the poor fugitives had vainly attempted to get forward.

From Leiria we went on further to Torres Vedras, which we gained after a long, tedious, and impressive march; and there we took up our position at some fine breastworks which Lord Wellington had for some time previous ordered to be thrown up by the Portuguese peasantry in case of the retreat of our army. Now we found how much we needed them, for on the 10th of October the French came in sight of our strong position, where we had drawn up, determined that they should not proceed one step farther towards Lisbon.

Massena was rather surprised at our strength, which was quite unexpected by him. He had thought of driving the English into the sea, but he now found his mistake, so encamped about a mile and a half from our position.

On the 14th, however, he attacked our lines near Sobral, but was repulsed; and on another occasion a slight skirmish took place on the right of the line, in which the French general, St. Croix, was killed by the fire from our gunboats; but on account of our strong position, the French did not come to a general engagement.

The cold and rainy weather having now set in, Lord Wellington had provided as well as possible for the best reception of his troops, who were mostly now in cantonments, whilst those of Massena's army were subject to hardships of the worst description, owing to the cold, wet, and above all insufficient food and raiment, for they were far away from all supplies from their own country, and there were guerillas or mountain rebels always on the watch to intercept such as were sent, while our army was so near Lisbon that it could always get abundance. Our regiment was situated in a village called Patamara, in the front of our works, where we lay as comfortably as if we had been living in peaceful times; though we were so near the enemy that we very often wandered into the same vineyards, and exchanged compliments by shaking hands.

We were cantoned in a large cellar, but it was unfortunately empty, or at least there was no wine in it, and though there was a quantity of wheat in a vat, we had no need of that, as we had plenty of our own supplies. The owner of our cellar generally visited us every day, and we could not help thinking after a time that he seemed to take particular notice of a large box or bin that two of our men were using to sleep in, so we moved it one morning, and found that the ground underneath had been disturbed. Of course we thought that there must be some treasure concealed there, so we went to work with our bayonets, having no other tools at hand, and soon we came across a large jar, which we found contained bags of dollars, about two hundred and fifty in each bag; which treasure we distributed privately among the cellar company, carefully breaking the jar and returning the earth to its proper place, with the chest on the top of it, so that a minute eye could not have told that it had been disturbed.

Next morning as usual the owner came, bringing with him two labourers, who set to work filling the chest with wheat from the vat, evidently with the intention of making it weighty, he little suspecting that his treasure, which he supposed was underneath, had been divided amongst his tenants. After that we thought we were pretty right from detection, but we were mistaken, for in the morning our restless owner again made his appearance with the two labourers. I should think that that night he must have dreamt of our manoeuvre, for he now shifted the wheat back again into its place, moved the chest, and raised the earth and the broken jar, but found the bird had flown. I shall never forget the rage the man was in. I thought he would have torn the hair off his head; in fact, he did tear some up by the roots, but he must have found that a poor way of showing his spite. He cried, "Ladrone! Ladrone!" which was his way of expressing "Thief! Thief!" but finding that we did not take much notice of him, he reported his loss to the colonel, or rather went off to him with that intention; but as the colonel did not understand his language, I was sent for, as by that time I was pretty well acquainted with it; and on my replying to the question as to what the Portuguese wanted, that he required a corporal and three privates to guard a stack of wood, the colonel told me to let him know that he had nothing to do with it. I told the Portuguese that it was no use his making a noise about the money, as it must have been only a little change that he could not conveniently recover, unless he could bring proper witnesses to prove he had put the money there.

That only appeased him for the night, however, for he came bothering the colonel again next morning. The colonel again sent for me and asked me what on earth this man wanted now, so I was then obliged to admit the truth. I asked him if he would forgive me for telling him an untruth overnight, and on his consenting, I told him the Portuguese had lost a quantity of money, which he put down at seven thousand dollars. The Portuguese's answer to the question who had placed the money there was that he had himself, but he could bring no witnesses to show that he had really done it, so the colonel said he could have nothing to do with the affair. However, the following morning the plague again appeared, so the colonel to quiet him told him that the grenadiers had some prize money which was expected in a few days, and which he should receive in lieu of what he had lost, which sent the old man off seemingly as satisfied as if he had already got the money in his possession, shaking hands with us all round, and bowing and scraping as if we had been so many kings.

The matter did not altogether rest here, however, for the colonel suspecting that we were implicated, next day we were ordered as if for marching, just as if we were going to leave the place that very day, but the men being quite up to that trick, knowing that the French were still in front, concealed their shares of the money in and around the cellar. I remember well the manner in which my own and one of my fellow-comrades' shares were hidden: there was a heap of pumpkins in the cellar, and in one of these we enclosed our money, cutting a piece out of it of sufficient size to admit the dollars, and after closing it up with the top of the original piece, mixing it again with the remainder of the heap. The company was then marched out into a field, and all our knapsacks and pockets were searched, but even the little money that some must have had before was missing.

The colonel did not mind being baffled so much as the major did, who told the colonel that if he left it in his hands he would endeavour to find the money, to which the colonel replied that he was just the man the Portuguese wanted. The manner in which this cunning major went to work might have succeeded with men less artful than he found us to be, but every one in the cellar had part in it, so it was to the interest of all to keep the affair secret, and not only that, but every man's share in the prize happened to amount to more than the sum which the major offered to any one who would reveal it. He came to one of the sergeants of the grenadiers and told him to pick out ten of the men who would be most likely to inform, but instead of doing so, I think the sergeant must have chosen the ten worst rogues in the company. These were then all marched off to the major's quarters, and had in one by one to see him, as he sat with five guineas lying on his table, which he offered to the first who should reveal the mystery: but finding, after he had interviewed about three of them, that he was being duped, for they all told the same tale, that was that they knew nothing about the money, he was so enraged that he told them all to go about their business, saying that they were all a set of thieves, and next time he saw the colonel he had to own, much to the amusement both of the latter and of the whole regiment, that he had been beaten in his knowing undertaking.

Massena remained a little more than a month in his position in front of Torres Vedras, when, owing to want of food and ammunition, he was compelled to retrace his steps, not being able to get supplies through Spain, as the guerillas—who were the most warlike and independent race of the Spaniards, being chiefly offenders who had escaped to the mountains and there formed themselves into one strong body amounting to some thousands—were always on the watch for any supplies that they might catch hold of, more especially from the enemy, and appropriate to their own use. Much credit is due to Lord Wellington for thus drawing the enemy to a place such as Torres Vedras, where they could get no supplies, and further, could gain no advantage, but on the other hand must have lost some thousands through want, cold and wet.

From Torres Vedras Massena's army proceeded to Santarem, about ten leagues from Torres Vedras, and there took up his position on the Tagus, whence foraging parties were sent out to scour the country for provisions, who committed horrible excesses on the inhabitants, carrying away their cattle, or any provisions they could lay their hands on. It was this that chiefly infuriated the inhabitants against the French, and caused them to retaliate on any of their stragglers or wounded whom they came across butchering and using them in a most awful manner; and even then, after all this work, this method of gathering provisions for so large an army as Massena's was soon exhausted.

When the French had retreated from Torres Vedras, Lord Wellington left some troops in charge of his lines there, and followed to Santarem, but no general battle took place, only small engagements. The enemy seemed pretty firm to their ground, so Lord Wellington moved his army into cantonments again. Our detachment was lying some distance from Santarem on the Tagus; the actual name of the place is blotted from my memory by lapse of years.

It was rather curious that while there we received our South American prize money; money taken from the very people we were now allied with, so that a great part of it was spent amongst them again. Each private received eight dollars, and I believe the serjeants sixteen.

The Lisbon traders must have got scent of this, for a quantity of boats laden with little requisites and luxuries ascended the river from Lisbon to trade amongst the soldiers, and so we were soon enabled to rid ourselves of our little spare cash. Our colonel was very considerate to these people, and being determined as far as possible to prevent all plunder, had their boats or stalls guarded by sentries. This, however, did not altogether hinder some of the more daring from getting things on the cheap now and then, but they were so trifling that they are hardly worthy of mention.



CHAPTER X.

Opening of the year 1811 — Surrender of Olivencia and Badajoz to the French under Soult — The French followed up in their retreat from Santarem — Engagements on the route — Pombal — Redinha — Condexo — Casal Nova — Fatal results of having too large a head — Miranda de Corno — Poz de Aroce — Halt at Moira while the French take refuge in Celorico — The fourth division ordered to Badajoz — Halt at Portalegre — Shameful instance of plunder and sacrilege by Lawrence and his comrades — Campo Mayor — Outrageous theft from an unprotected female — A stolen bird turns evidence against its purloiner.

The remainder of the year 1810 was spent in these cantonments, the French still lying in their position at Santarem. But the beginning of 1811 brought on us more and fatal work, for Soult's army had invested Olivencia and Badajoz, and obliged them, not being garrisoned by the British, but only by the Spaniards, to surrender. The way was thus paved for one of the worst engagements in the whole Peninsular war; I mean the storming of Badajoz.

The French did not move from Santarem till the beginning of March, which we discovered on the 6th, and Lord Wellington, having received fresh reinforcements from England, determined on following them up. They had taken three routes, and consequently our army had to be divided too. Our division, which was the Fourth, with the First and Sixth divisions, commanded by Marshal Beresford, was to follow by way of Thomar, and the main body of the army by way of Leiria and Pombal, and so again to unite.

On our route we came up with the French at Thomar, but on our appearance they retreated to Espinal, a short distance off Pombal, and took up a strong position between these two latter places. We followed them up and combined ourselves again into one body. At Pombal the French had tried, but in vain, to retain the old castle situated there, and some slight skirmishing had taken place between them and some of our light troops. At Redinha the third, fourth, and light divisions attacked the enemy's left, and after a stout engagement we compelled them to retire upon their main body, and being likewise attacked on the right, their whole body was thrown into retreat on Condexo. On our appearance there, they set fire to the place, and again retreated; their object in burning such a little town being probably to prevent our cavalry, cannon, and ammunition from following them up too closely. We were, however, delayed but a very short time, for we marched through the burning town, certainly not letting the grass grow under our feet, as the ground was much too hot. It appeared once to have been a beautiful town, but after this it was one sad mass of ruin.

The French proceeded from this place to Casal Nova, but were so quickly followed up that Picton's division overtook them and nearly captured their leader. Next day we came up with the enemy, posted in a strong position at Casal Nova, and on the 14th of March the light division attacked them and obliged them to retreat to a neighbouring height, whence after another attack they again found it best to retire on Miranda de Corno. Part of our division was in this engagement, and I never saw cannon play with better or more deadly effect on any body of men than ours did on the enemy, situated as they were on the heights of Casal Nova. Yet they left very few dead or wounded on the field; I think they must have carried most of them away, as the ground was strewn with muskets and swords.

The thing I noticed most particularly in this fight was the singular death of a man in our regiment, who was named William Halfhead, but considering the size of his head, which must have gone a very great way towards filling half a bushel measure, it was wrongly so, and he was the sport of the whole regiment, who named him Bushelhead. His head was indeed so large that he had to have two caps to make him one. This poor fellow was standing within five yards of me when a shot from the enemy's cannon took this same head clean off. I heard one of the men exclaim, "Hullo, there goes poor Bushelhead," and that was all the sympathy he got.

One division, under General Cole, proceeded after the enemy to Panella, where it was joined by another, under General Nightingale, and on the enemy seeing how closely they were followed they retreated from Miranda de Corno, setting fire to that town also. We again fell in with them on the banks of a river near the village of Poz de Aroce, where a brisk attack was made on them by the British, and they were driven from the river in great confusion with a loss of some four hundred men or more. It has been reported that numbers were even killed by their own side, through the darkness of the night and the confusion arising from their not having expected an attack then.

We encamped there one day, and then again pursued the enemy, coming up with them where they were posted behind the river Alva. There they had sent out four or five hundred foragers in search of provisions: and indeed they must have wanted them badly, for even we that had come from the land of plenty at Torres Vedras were at that time in great want. We did not, however, let them stay there long enough for the suppliers to return, for we opened fire on them, and forced them to retreat to Moira, leaving their foraging parties to the mercy of the English and Portuguese, most of them sooner or later falling into our hands. We crossed the Alva on a floating bridge and halted near Moira, as the enemy had now retreated to Celorico; but here Lord Wellington was obliged to stay the pursuit through want of provisions.

On hearing of the state of Badajoz he had already determined to send reinforcements to that place, so our division and one of the Portuguese under General Hamilton, with a brigade of cavalry, were directed to march southward again and invest Badajoz before that place's defences could be repaired by the enemy. Accordingly, on the 17th of March, our divisions crossed the Tagus at Tancos, whence we advanced to Portalegre, halting there for about two days.

Here I think I ought to relate an incident just to show that the English often committed depredations on the inhabitants almost as bad as the enemy. We are often too prone to see other people's and nations' faults, whilst if our own had but the light thrown on them, they would often come up to, if not exceed, those of our adversaries.

We, at least my company, were billeted in a chapel, at night lying on straw, which in the morning had to be rolled up neatly in our blankets so as to make the place look comfortable during the day, a separate lot of straw being allowed for every two men. Very close to this chapel there was situated a farmyard, inhabited by a quantity of pigs: and pork being a thing which the company had not tasted for some time, we made up our minds to have a treat. So one of our number was chosen to steal a pig, being, I suppose, one whose fingers were thought well adapted to the purpose. He pitched on a very novel plan of proceeding, for, taking a sergeant's pike, he stuck the pig with it, and then escaped till the poor animal had died; on which, not being long afterwards, we conveyed it to the chapel.

We thought that we had done this all unobserved, but the farmer had either watched our movements, or must have seen the blood and gone to count, and so missed the pig, and we soon saw that all was not to pass off so nicely as we expected, for presently he put in an appearance at the chapel too. Finding, however, that we were too strong for him, and seeing nothing of the missing pig, he went off and reported the circumstance to our colonel.

Meanwhile we lost no time in making our plans for a place of security for our prize. At first we thought of our straw beds, that is, of wrapping the pig in the blanket, but our afterthoughts told us that that would not be safe. At one end of the chapel, however, there was a large statue of the Virgin Mary, having on a robe with a long train, and it was under this train that we concealed our prize in the best possible manner, so as to baffle any chance of detection by the appearance of the train being altered. And sure enough, it proved to be the safest place we could have hit upon for our desired end, for very soon in came the farmer with a priest, and the first thing they did was to make their obedience to the monument, whilst we were all the time laughing in our sleeves to think how they were likewise honouring the pig.

Something more serious was soon to happen, however, for a very few minutes afterwards the captain and colonel both came in and ordered every berth to be examined; but they searched in vain, and pronounced it to be some mistake on the farmer's part, as in that short time we could not have cooked, eaten, or otherwise got rid of the pig. The farmer, however, still felt certain that we had it, but it could not be found anywhere in the chapel, so he was obliged to retire without any compensation for his unfortunate pig. Then we breathed a little more freely at last, for if we had been found out, we most likely should have had our grog stopped for some time, and that goes in such times very much against the heart of a soldier.

Early next morning our kettles were at work in the usual way, cooking our breakfasts, but that particular morning every man of the chapel company had a small extra portion in the pot, being his allowance of the pig, not much certainly, when it came to be divided amongst so many, about one pound for each man; but even that, and the more especially as it was pork, was thought no little of in such times of short diet, for we were not over abundantly stocked with provisions. In fact it was chiefly for that reason, and to refresh ourselves from the long continued marches, that we were now delaying on our southward route.

On again resuming our march, we arrived in four or five days at a place called Campo Mayor, where we caught sight of the enemy, but only in marching order towards Badajoz. Here I have again to relate another shameful instance of plunder which happened on the same march. We were encamped near a village of no particular note, and of which therefore I did not arrive at the exact name: and a party of men, perhaps to the number of about twenty, including myself, were out on the forage, when we arrived at the house of a poor woman, who evidently kept a kind of general shop, though we could not see any other houses near. Four or five with myself went into the shop and asked the woman if she had any bread for sale, to which she replied that there was some baking which would be done in about an hour, if we could wait, which we consented to do; but meanwhile a signal was given to the remaining part of our company, who, observing that the oven was built out from the house, immediately set to work to make a hole with their bayonets so as to be able to get the bread out. While this operation was going on out at the back we were amusing the woman with some of our Peninsular tales in front until the hour had passed; when, on her going to draw the bread she found much to her amazement that every loaf was missing, and daylight gleaming in on her through a hole in the back of the oven. The poor woman was then in a terrible stew, and we did all we could to reconcile her to her loss, making out that we knew nothing of the sad business; but this pity did not detain us long, for we pretty quickly made for the camp and made a first rate meal off the bread, which was to us then a greater luxury than meat, as we were very seldom supplied with bread, more especially so fresh as this, which was smoking hot, though not very well done; but if it had been dough we could have eaten it at that time.

On another occasion, on the same march, I caught another cock, or rather took it from a farmyard; but not feeling inclined to be troubled with a second live one, as I had still got Tom campaigning with me, I gave it three swings by the head, which I thought broke its neck, and put it away out of sight in my high cap. On my return to camp, the company had just fallen in on parade, and no sooner had the captain passed close to me, than my cap-tenant crew, or made a terrible noise of some sort, much to the astonishment both of myself and the captain, who said, "Hullo, Lawrence, what have you got there?" I told him a cock, which I had bought when out foraging. "Yes," he said, "you offered four, but took it with five," meaning, I suppose, my fingers. He was perfectly right, but I did not think it would have passed off quite so smoothly, as many in the Peninsula were hanged for plunder; all we were allowed to forage for at this place being provisions for the horses and mules.



CHAPTER XI.

Commencement of the siege of Badajoz — Sortie by the garrison repulsed — Lawrence takes a prisoner, who proves difficult of persuasion — Lawrence poses as champion of the regimental grog, and is indulged in return with an uncomfortable spell of sentry — He eventually triumphs — Move to, and capture of Olivencia — Separates from a faithful friend — Return towards Badajoz — Battle of Albuera.

From Campo Mayor we went on towards Badajoz, some slight skirmishing with the enemy's rear-guard taking place on the way, but with very little success on either side. We made a stay at Elvas until preparations had been made for crossing the Guadiana, and then we proceeded to Badajoz, the town that so pestered the Allies during the Peninsular War. Our brigade took up its position on the north side of the town and river, and commenced throwing up batteries. During our operations the French sallied out of the town, crossed the river, and attempted to destroy a part of our work, thus actively engaging about three hundred of our covering party, together with a small reinforcement of grenadiers, which latter, however, soon made them beat a retreat into the town again.

I succeeded in capturing a straggler here, but was not able to get him into our lines by myself, on account of his lying down and refusing to come; so I broke his musket, but not feeling inclined even then to leave him, I knelt down to protect myself a little from the enemy's shot, and waited for some assistance. This was not long in coming, for the colonel, seeing my position, allowed a man, Towser by name, who had volunteered, to come and lend me a hand, and thus we were enabled to get my captive safe at last to the lines: not, however, without some risk to our own lives, as the enemy were firing at us all the time from a fort situated a short distance from the river. The man was not at all willing at first to walk, so we dragged him by the leg along the ground for some way; but owing to the roughness of the road, he soon found that he preferred walking. We searched him and found a doubloon and a half on his person, which Towser and I divided equally between us. The colonel reprimanded me for running such a risk for one prisoner, but he was satisfied with my answer, which was that perhaps the man had been on the alert to fire at some of us, which might have terminated in the colonel's own death, or maybe in mine. The colonel had already been slightly wounded in the leg, which obliged him afterwards to go into the hospital at Elvas, and some thirty-eight of my comrades unfortunately met their deaths in this affray.

The colonel sent a quantity of rum from Elvas to be divided amongst those men who were in action at the time he received his wound, but the officer then in charge of us, whom nobody in the regiment liked, only served out the half of it, which only came to about half a pint for each man, much to the discontent of all. I spoke out and said that we ought to have it all, as the colonel had sent it, and we had had to fight hard for it; which so put out the officer that he said I should not have any at all. The sergeant, however, gave me a half a pint with the rest, unbeknown to the officer, and immediately went and asked him if I was to have any. The officer then told him to "let the rascals have the lot, and then they would be satisfied," so thus I came in for another half pint, which I put into my canteen with some water to drink when I might next be on sentry.

This came to my turn on the very night following, and as it chanced, I was commanded by the same officer that I have been alluding to. It was not often that the major went round with the picket, but that night, having taken the colonel's command, he did so, and saw me placed on sentry. I was placed as outlying sentry, and ought to have been relieved in three hours, instead of which, out of spite for the rum job, the officer never came near me all night; in fact, I never saw a man from the time I was put on till I came off myself in the morning. I will give some details of the coincidences of that night, which was dark but starlight, so that I could just catch a dim glimpse of the enemy's before mentioned fort, and, owing to the heights, was able to see the town very well.

The place where I was on sentry was in a field of standing wheat in ear, amongst which I sat down and was fairly comfortable for about an hour; after which the enemy seemed to have made out my position, and kept dabbing at me with their muskets for a long time. I could not make out how it was they had caught sight of me, but after they had continued firing for some time, I at last found out the cause. On my cap there was a large bright brass plate, which no doubt made a slight reflection either from the stars or the light from the town, and so drew their attention to me. So much for bright dress and brass plates, thought I, though fortunately they had done me no harm; and now for the remedy that I proposed. I took the loading-rod from my musket, and stuck it fast into the ground, and placing my cap upon it, I proceeded about ten yards to the right and sat down; and it was fortunate that I did so, for during the night they put two shots through my cap, and that would have been awkward if my head had been inside. It is not to be supposed, however, that I sat there bareheaded all night, for I put on my slop or foraging cap, and then sat hearkening to the sound of chimes and bells pronouncing the hours of eleven, twelve, one, two, three, and four, and the occasional whizzing of shells and shot over my head.

At length, after hearing the bells strike the last-named hour, and seeing the dawn, too, beginning to peep over the distant horizon, knowing that my turn to be relieved had long since passed, I put back my loading rod into its place and my cap on my head, and decamped to the body picket. There I met the major, who seeing me return, and knowing that it was my turn for rest, asked me where I had been. I said, "Were you not with the officer when he placed me on sentry last night?" He replied; "Yes, has he not relieved you since?" On which I told him no, and that I thought it was time to relieve myself, likewise showing him my cap for him to judge what a hot night I had had of it. I also gave the reason that I thought for the officer's spite, which put him out terribly, so much so that he immediately called up the officer, who had retired to rest some hours, and told him that if they had not been so near the enemy, he would have had him tried by court-martial for his neglect: which might have ended by his being cashiered out of the service. That was the first and last time that he ever left me on sentry all night.

Our stay here, however, was of short duration for we proceeded further towards Olivencia, which was garrisoned by about four hundred of the enemy. We crossed the Guadiana near that place on a bridge constructed of empty casks and planks, and sat down before the town about the 11th of April. In a few days our batteries were all ready for action, and on the garrison refusing to surrender, we commenced firing, and soon made a breach; but at that point the governor, fearing an assault, immediately surrendered, and he and his garrison were all taken prisoners.

It was at this place that I parted with Tom. For being bothered by the colonel's servant to let him have my pet, I foolishly consented, though my comrades did their best to persuade me to keep him. He told me he wanted to take him to England, and gave me a dollar for him, but I afterwards found out that he had killed him for his master's dinner. I think I felt as sorry for that as I ever did for anything, for I dearly liked Tom.

From Olivencia we marched again towards Badajoz, but owing to Soult's army being on its way to relieve that town, Beresford had occupied the heights of Albuera, about thirteen miles southeast of Badajoz, in order to check the enemy if possible in their intended object. General Cole therefore advanced to Albuera as well, and the action had just commenced when he arrived. The Allies had taken up their position on a fine ridge of heights, and the French under Marshal Soult made their appearance on the 15th of May.

On the following morning they made an attack on the right, which was occupied by the Spaniards, who soon gave way in great disorder, again leaving the brunt of the battle to the British; and not only that, but also thus allowing the French to gain part of the heights. A noble attack, however, was made by the Second division, the first brigade of which in trying to gain the ridge was met by the fierce Polish Lancers, who slaughtered a tremendous number of them; in fact, the battle was at one time thought to have been gained by the French, and most likely would have been, had not Colonel Harding hurled part of our division and a reserve Portuguese brigade against the enemy, and so renewed the fight. General Cole himself led our fusiliers up the hill. Six British guns and some colours were then already in the enemy's possession, but Cole's troops soon dispersed the lancers, and, recapturing the guns and colours, drove the French down again in confusion.

It is useless for me to give any further details of this celebrated battle, for it has been already depicted so many times and so much more ably than I could do; but the Allies could not have lost less than seven thousand killed, wounded and missing, while the French loss was stated to be nine thousand. It was seldom, however, that we arrived at the correct estimate of the enemy's loss, it being generally the custom to state it as greater than ours, and my opinion is that in this battle the Allies lost quite an equal number to the French. The Spaniards especially must have sustained a great loss in their confusion. It was always a bother to get them to stir forward during a battle, but retreating was what they were best at, and then it was always in confusion; at the battle of Albuera indeed whilst they were in this state they even fired at random, and several shots went amongst the English.

General Cole was himself wounded in this engagement, which resulted so sadly for both parties; for it could hardly be termed a victory for either side, and if so it was a very dearly bought one. Still it was we who remained on the field in the end.



CHAPTER XII.

The siege of Badajoz converted into a blockade — Move to Guinaldo — Lord Wellington as a general — A slight digression on the horrors of war — Instances of cruelty by both the French and the inhabitants — The English not wholly blameless — Private depredations of Lawrence and his comrades — Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo — Capture of a troublesome convent — A successful assault made — Scenes in the town afterwards — Incidents during the cantonments — Putting it out of sight proves not to be the best way of keeping grog — Being too sparing to one's beast not always advantageous.

For the remaining part of the year 1811 both armies were inactive. The batteries had been at work at Badajoz and breaches had been made, but these had proved impracticable, twelve forlorn hopes and storming parties having advanced into them with no better result than that many met their deaths and the remainder had to withdraw owing to obstacles. The siege was therefore converted into a blockade, and Lord Wellington, who after taking Almeida and driving the French out of Portugal, had come southward with two divisions to reinforce Beresford's army, moved the general South Army into cantonments and encampments near the River Caza, a tributary of the Guadiana. There we remained till July, when we were marched northward again across the Tagus, and took up our position at Guinaldo. While there no particular engagement ensued; the enemy indeed falling on another part of our line, but no success being obtained on either side.

Although Lord Wellington had now driven the French clean out of Portugal, he had still other work to do; work that praised him more than he had been before, work that raised him to higher honours than he yet possessed, but likewise work that sacrificed more thousands of human beings than had been through the whole three years. There can be no doubt that if he had had as many troops as the French, he would long before this have driven them out of Portugal and perhaps Spain as well; he seemed to understand their every movement, and was thus always ready waiting to receive them; and they on their part seemed to think they had more than found their match in him, and had become very cautious in contending with him. But he actually had only half their number, or even less, that he could depend on, and these were sometimes not fit for service from want or other privations, as these tales of the hospitals or rather deadly convents go to prove, where so many of my comrades passed the end of their lives, and their remains were carried out with no more ceremony than I described as at Elvas.

The Portuguese themselves were mostly exempt from the actual slaughter, but their country had already been left by the enemy in about as bad a state as it could; for if it had been infested with swarms of locusts, the devastation could not have been paralleled. The war could not have left one family quite untouched by its destructiveness or by misery and grief irrecoverable for many years; and indeed, in some cases, for ever, for many a child was deprived of its father or mother, or even of both parents, and many were the parents who had lost their children; and if any had accumulated a little fortune then it must have been lost, being ever liable to be plundered by the soldiery.

It must be said, however, that certainly the Spaniards and likewise the Portuguese behaved on their part very cruelly to the enemy's wounded, prisoners, or stragglers. I myself was witness to one of their barbarous acts. They had laid a ring of straw round a wounded Frenchman and set fire to it, and when the poor man tried to crawl out, he was only received with a pitchfork which sent him again into the centre. We soon made the Portuguese fly by firing in amongst them; but when we came up to the poor man, his hair, fingers, and face were fearfully burnt already. He implored us not to leave him, but we were obliged to, and no doubt either the Portuguese returned and killed him, or else he died of the injuries he had sustained at their hands, or from the wounds that had before disabled him.

These barbarities, however, the enemy brought on themselves by dealing out the same coin, for they would go on foraging parties, and perhaps find a whole family or more together trying to protect their very subsistences, when they would kill the males, serve the females not much better, and carry off everything they could lay their hands on if of any value. Sometimes, however, they were overpowered in these freaks, and then they suffered just as bad a fate as I showed just now; which, after all, is not much to be wondered at.

I am sorry to say, however, that we ourselves were not quite free from the charge of depredations, though we did not carry them on to the extent of bloodshed. An instance of this in which I was myself mixed up happened during our stay at this very place Guinaldo.

We were quartered nearly twenty in number in two upper rooms of a house, of which the family inhabited the lower part. Our beds, as usual, consisted chiefly of straw. An Irish comrade of ours, by name Harding, whom we named Pig Harding, owing to his always being on the look out for any cheap pieces he could lay hands on, was quartered in the same house, and we had not been there many days before he found about thirty pounds of sausages curled round the bottom of a large earthen jar that contained at least ten or twelve gallons of olive oil, the sausages having evidently been placed there either to keep, or to be out of our sight. Pig, however, who was up to many of the Spanish movements, was not long in finding them; he soon had tried the bottom with his bayonet, and found a prize worth fishing for; and he came running into our room carrying the sausages, which owing to their oily state did not fail to leave a trace of their whereabouts. We soon repaired this defect so as not to be noticeable on the floor, which was not kept so clean as it might be, and which our stay there had not improved much, and then we had a fine meal off our sausages, which, to use Pig's own words, "Blood and 'ounds, were good, very," and soon there were very few left.

After all in the house had eaten sufficient, the rest were given to some of our comrades in another house, our policy being always to get rid of any plunder as quickly as possible so as to bar detection if it was found out. There were always plenty to help eat it, and in this case every one of the sausages were gone before the woman found out her loss, which was not till next day about dinnertime, when no doubt she expected to cook the family meal off them. The sausages in that country were generally made of cooked meat flavoured with garlic and cayenne pepper, so that they were fit for eating at all times without cooking. When the poor woman found them missing, she soon thought of the right parties as the thieves; and with her fingers all dripping with oil, for she had evidently been feeling for them in the jar, she rushed in crying, "Ladrone, Ladrone (you thieves, you thieves), the French are bad enough, but you are worse!" We only laughed at her, so she reported us to our major, who immediately came to our room and said, "Then you are up to your prigging tricks again," and asked the woman how much the sausages were worth. She did not fail to ask enough, for she said sixteen dollars, which he paid at once, saying he would deduct it from our pay.

The major never did as he said he would, however, and we heard no more either of the sausages or of our money; but still we did not know that at the time, and the threat only had the effect of sending Pig off again in search of something that would at least give us the worth of our money. He waited till just before we were going to shift from these quarters, and then he found out a trap-door, through which he got himself hoisted up, and found eight sides of bacon there, with one of which he descended, thinking that would be as much as we could conveniently eat at that place, and so at any rate we had the worth of the sixteen dollars, for this last affair was not found out before we started.

On another occasion, whilst we were at the same place, some Spaniards came into our camp with wine for sale, contained in pigskins carried across mules' backs, one on each side, and whilst the Spaniard was measuring it out of one skin, a hole had been made in the other with a penknife, which lightened both burdens at once considerably, much to the discontent of the Spaniard on finding it out. But I think that all such lesser manoeuvres as this, though bad in themselves, can be perhaps looked over in considering the frequent hungry state that so large a body of men were in during this war.

We remained in this neighbourhood till the latter end of 1811. The beginning of 1812 opened with the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, where we arrived and began to break ground on the 8th of February.

We had to commence throwing up our batteries and breastworks under a particular annoyance from three guns, situated on a fortified convent a little distance from the town, near where our brigade's operations were in progress, so our colonel for one volunteered to storm the convent, which offer was accepted. Several companies, therefore, including my own, advanced under him unobserved by the enemy in the darkness of the night, and succeeded in effecting an entrance into the convent, the garrison being taken by surprise, but managing to decamp. I then volunteered with a few men to march on up to the tower where the guns were situated, a priest being made to show us the way, as the path which we had to tread was so winding. When we arrived at the top, which must have taken us at least ten minutes, we found no French there, but the three shattered cannon still remained, which we were ordered to pitch down, not much improving their condition thereby, and so we gained the object for which we had come. All the French that were left in the convent, or at least all I saw there, were two of their wounded, but they were good enough to leave us a room full of cabbages, which came in very handy.

After this affair we took up our quarters in the convent, but still continued our ground work. Once the enemy sallied out of the town and attacked us during these operations, and a smart brush ensued, but they were soon obliged to retire again. Now and then the garrison would greet us with a cannon-ball, which often did some little mischief; a sergeant was killed by one, which at the same time took another's arm off, and I myself had a narrow escape one day whilst in the breastworks, from a six-pounder which having struck the convent, rebounded and caught me in the chest. Luckily it was nearly spent, but as it was it knocked me down, and it was some time before I could recover my breath, and that not until my comrades had poured some rum and water down my throat. My chest was much discoloured and swollen, through which I was ill for nearly a week.

By the 19th of January two practicable breaches were made in the walls of the town, and an attack was ordered. Our colonel volunteered for the forlorn hope, but it was put under other commanders, being chiefly composed of the rifles. The main breach was committed to General Picton's division, and the brigades of General Vandeleur and Colonel Barnet were ordered to attack the smaller breach, headed by a storming-party of three hundred men and a forlorn hope, under Major George Napier of the Fifty-second regiment. The forlorn hope assembled between seven and eight o'clock under the walls of the convent we were then occupying, which protected them a little from the enemy's shot. All was deathly silent amongst those men, who perhaps could not help thinking that it might be their last undertaking: in fact, this is much the worst business a soldier can enter upon, as scarcely anything but death looks him in the face. There they were watching with intense anxiety for the to many fatal signal; and at length the order was given to advance.

The assault was to be conducted on all sides at once, and in double quick time the troops were at the breach, although the ladders, which were being carried by the Portuguese, when wanted had disappeared. Our troops nevertheless pushed onwards and gained the breach, when either through accident or the neglect of the train-man, a mine was sprung before the French were clearly off it, and both French and English were suddenly blown into the air and buried together in the ruin. After the smother had fairly cleared away, our troops met with very little difficulty in mounting the breach and scouring the ramparts, the French throwing down their arms and retiring into the town itself, where after a brief contest in the streets, the whole surviving garrison surrendered; but it was not without the loss of many of the bravest men on our side in the first assault.

This successful achievement was attended with all the horrors of the soldiery, excesses, riot, and drunkenness taking place on every side. Houses were plundered of their contents, cellars broken open and emptied, and many houses were even set on fire, amid the yells of the dissipated soldiers and the screams of the wounded. Thus the night passed, but in the morning order was a little restored, and those men who were sensible enough returned to their own regiments.

About forty-one pieces of cannon, some stands of arms, and a quantity of provisions were taken, besides which the enemy must have lost quite a thousand men, besides the prisoners. Amongst these latter were six or seven deserters belonging to the Allied army, who were sent to their respective regiments and probably shot: fortunately there were none belonging to our division. The Allies' loss was very considerable, being upwards of a thousand also.

After the reduction of Ciudad Rodrigo, Lord Wellington put it under garrison and ordered the breaches to be repaired. Then he marched south to watch the proceedings at Badajoz, whilst we again went into cantonments near Rodrigo.

Some muleteers halted under the protection of our troops at this place, laden with rum and biscuits for the supply of the army, over which sentries were placed on guard, but instead of guarding, they took so much rum, which being there generally carried in pigs' skins was easily got at, that they died in consequence next morning. Likewise one of our cavalry men was here flogged for making away with his horse's corn to selfishly buy himself grog; and well deserving of punishment he was, for the poor horse was miserably thin. In fact, the horses in general were the same, and it was thought that many were served the same; but this man being the first that was caught, was tried by court-martial and sentenced to fifty lashes as an example. The man asked the colonel to look over it as it was his first offence, but the colonel said, "The horse's looks tell a different tale from that; he has long had the bitters, and you the sweet, and now it is time things should be the other way round." Certainly the horses' forage could not at all times be procured, and especially in the winter, but for that very reason they had more need of it when it could be. The best horses I saw during the whole Peninsular campaign were the German hussars': those men were not so fond of drink as ours, which might perhaps account for the condition of their animals, as they had no more chance of gaining forage than our men had.



CHAPTER XIII.

Lawrence's division marched south to invest Badajoz — Small choice allowed by the fortunes of war — In the trenches — A fort taken — The town walls breached — Refusal of the garrison to surrender — An assault ordered — Lawrence in the forlorn hope — A somewhat premature assignation — Fighting in the breach — Lawrence wounded — Fearful scenes on his way to the rear — He reports on the state of affairs to Lord Wellington — The story of Filer — The castle carried after severe fighting, and the English enter the town — Dreadful excesses on the part of the victorious troops — Great losses on both sides in the assault — The end of Lawrence's assignation.

Our stay at Rodrigo was of short duration, for we were soon ordered south to invest Badajoz, which gave us another long and tedious march of a hundred and fifty miles or more. We arrived there at the beginning of March, and the third, ours, that is the fourth, and the light divisions, under the command of Marshal Beresford and General Picton, invested the town.

We soon broke ground before the town by commencing to throw up breastworks and batteries. Very heavy rains had just lately set in, but our troops still pursued their undertaking and persevered in the trenches. A cannonade was kept up from the town, which fortunately, however, did not do much damage; but on the 19th of March the garrison attacked us, and were only driven back with a loss on our side of a hundred men killed and wounded, and a still greater loss on their part.

I killed a French sergeant myself with my bayonet in this action. I was at the time in the trenches when he came on the top and made a dart at me with his bayonet, having, like myself, exhausted his fire; and while in the act of thrusting he overbalanced himself and fell. I very soon pinioned him to the ground with my bayonet, and the poor fellow soon expired. I was sorry afterwards that I had not tried to take him prisoner instead of killing him, but at the time we were all busily engaged in the thickest of the fight, and there was not much time to think about things. And besides that, he was a powerful-looking man, being tall and stout, with a beard and moustache completely covering his face, as fine a soldier as I have seen in the French army, and if I had allowed him to gain his feet, I might have suffered for it; so perhaps in such times my plan was the best—kill or be killed.

About eight hundred of us were every night busily engaged in the trenches, whilst a large number, who were called the covering party, were on the look out in case of an attack from the enemy. The rain poured down so fast that balers were obliged to be employed in places, and at times the trenches were in such a state of mud that it was over our shoes. We were chiefly employed during the day in finishing off what we had done in the night, as very little else could be done then owing to the enemy's fire. We had not been to work many days before we got within musket shot of a fine fort situated a little distance from the town, and garrisoned with four or five hundred of the enemy, who annoyed us rather during our operations. One night as I was working in the trenches near this place, and just as the guard was about to be relieved, a shell from the town fell amongst them and exploded, killing and wounding about thirty. I never saw a worse sight of its kind, for some had their arms and legs, and some even their heads, which was worse, completely severed from their bodies. I remember my comrade, Pig Harding, who was working near me at the time, and had, like myself, become hardened to the worst of sights during our sojourn in the Peninsula, saying as a joke, "Lawrence, if any one is in want of an arm or a leg he can have a good choice there;" little thinking, poor fellow, that soon he would himself be carried out, numbered with the slain. On the morning after this explosion a terrific scene of our mangled comrades presented itself, for their remains strewed the ground in all directions.

Of course our next thought was how to clear ourselves of this troublesome fort. Some suspicions were entertained that it was undermined, so in the dead of night some engineers were sent between it and the town to search for a train, and finding that the earth had been moved, they dug down and found the train and cut it off. Then, on the next night, the Eighty-seventh and Eighty-eighth regiments were ordered up to storm the fort, and succeeded after a brisk action in gaining the place, the most of the garrison escaping into the town. Next morning I entered the fort with the rest, where we found the wounded Frenchmen lying. We relieved their pain a little by giving them some of our rum and water, and then conveyed them to the rear; most of their wounds being bad, evidently from the bayonet, but not mortal.

Owing to the success of taking this fort we were enabled to carry on our works much nearer to the town, and by the beginning of April two batteries were formed within three or four hundred yards of the place: and in about five days, through the effects of our twenty-four pounders, three practicable breaches were made in the walls.

Lord Wellington then ordered the town to be attacked on the night of the 6th, having previously sent to know if it would surrender: and the answer being "No," he asked for the inhabitants to be allowed to quit, as he intended to take the town by assault. In consequence of this some thousands of the inhabitants quitted the city.

A storming-party was selected from each regiment, and each of the third, fourth, and light divisions was told off to a breach. I joined the forlorn hope myself.

Before, however, that I proceed further in my account of this sanguinary affair, I will relate an engagement that myself, Pig Harding, and another of my comrades, George Bowden by name, entered into before we even started on our way, of which the result showed what a blind one it was. Through being quartered at Badajoz after the battle of Talavera, all three of us knew the town perfectly well, and so understood the position of most of the valuable shops: and hearing a report likewise that if we succeeded in taking the place, there was to be three hours' plunder, we had planned to meet at a silversmith's shop that we knew about, poor Pig even providing himself with a piece of wax candle to light us if needed.

But all this was doomed to disappointment. We were supplied with ladders and grass bags, and having received and eaten our rations, and each man carrying his canteen of water, we fell in at half-past eight or thereabouts to wait for the requisite signal for all to advance. During the interval our men were particularly silent: but at length the deadly signal was given, and we rushed on towards the breach.

I was one of the ladder party, for we did not feel inclined to trust to the Portuguese, as we did at Ciudad Rodrigo. On our arriving at the breach, the French sentry on the wall cried out, "Who comes there?" three times, or words to that effect in his own language, but on no answer being given, a shower of shot, canister and grape, together with fire-balls, was hurled at random amongst us. Poor Pig received his death wound immediately, and my other accomplice, Bowden, became missing, while I myself received two small slug shots in my left knee, and a musket shot in my side, which must have been mortal had it not been for my canteen: for the ball penetrated that and passed out, making two holes in it, and then entered my side slightly. Still I stuck to my ladder, and got into the entrenchment. Numbers had by this time fallen: but the cry from our commanders being, "Come on, my lads!" we hastened to the breach; but there, to our great surprise and discouragement, we found a chevaux de frise had been fixed and a deep entrenchment made, from behind which the garrison opened a deadly fire on us. Vain attempts were made to remove this fearful obstacle, during which my left hand was dreadfully cut by one of the blades of the chevaux de frise, but finding no success in that quarter, we were forced to retire for a time.

We remained, however, in the breach until we were quite weary with our efforts to pass it. My wounds were still bleeding, and I began to feel very weak; my comrades persuaded me to go to the rear; but this proved a task of great difficulty, for on arriving at the ladders, I found them filled with the dead and wounded, hanging some by their feet just as they had fallen and got fixed in the rounds. I hove down three lots of them, hearing the implorings of the wounded all the time; but on coming to the fourth, I found it completely smothered with dead bodies, so I had to draw myself up over them as best I could. When I arrived at the top I almost wished myself back again, for there of the two I think was the worse sight, nothing but the dead and wounded lying around, and the cries of the latter, mingled with the incessant firing from the enemy, being quite deafening.

I was so weak myself that I could scarcely walk, so I crawled on my hands and knees till I got out of reach of the enemy's musketry. After proceeding for some way I fell in with Lord Wellington and his staff, who seeing me wounded, asked me what regiment I belonged to. I told him the Fortieth, and that I had been one of the forlorn hope. He inquired as to the extent of my wounds, and if any of our troops had got into the town, and I said "No," and I did not think they ever would, as there was a chevaux de frise, a deep entrenchment, and in the rear of them a constant and murderous fire being kept up by the enemy. One of his staff then bound up my leg with a silk handkerchief, and told me to go behind a hill which he pointed out, where I would find a doctor to dress my wounds; so I proceeded on, and found that it was the doctor of my own regiment.

Next after me Lieutenant Elland was brought in by a man of the name of Charles Filer, who had seen him lying wounded at the breach with a ball in the thigh, and on his asking him to convey him from the breach, had raised him on his shoulders for that object. But during his march a cannon-ball had taken the officer's head clean off without Filer finding it out on account of the darkness of the night, and the clamour of cannon and musketry mingled with the cries of the wounded. Much it was to Filer's astonishment, then, when the surgeon asked him what he had brought in a headless trunk for; he declared that the lieutenant had a head on when he took him up, for he had himself asked him to take him from the breach, and that he did not know when the head was severed, which must have been done by one of the bullets of which there were so many whizzing about in all directions. Some may doubt the correctness of this story, but I, being myself both a hearer and an eyewitness to the scene at the surgeon's, can vouch for the accuracy of it. Certainly Filer's appearance was not altogether that of composure, for he was not only rather frightened at the fearful exposure of his own body at the breach and across the plain, but he was evidently knocked up, or rather bowed down, by the weight of his lifeless burden, which he must, if he came from the breach, have carried for upwards of half a mile, so that, under these disadvantages, the mistake might easily have been made even by any one of harder temperament than his. But the tale did not fail to spread through the camp, and caused great laughter over Filer, sentences being thrown at him such as "Who carried the man without a head to the doctor?" &c.

After Lord Wellington had found it useless to attempt to face the breach with the chevaux de frise, he altered his plans of attack. More success had fortunately been achieved in the other breaches, so he withdrew the men from our fatal breach to reinforce the others, but not till at least two thousand had been killed or wounded in this single assault. He had ordered the castle to be attacked, and a quantity of troops had been supplied for the purpose with long ladders, which had been raised against the walls and filled with men: but the enemy showered down a mass of heavy substances, such as trees and large stones, and amongst all a number of deadly bursting shells, and thus broke the ladders and tumbled the men down from top to bottom, crushing still more underneath.

Yet more men were found ready to push on to the sanguinary scene. More ladders had indeed to be procured, which caused another great delay, but as soon as they arrived they were quickly hoisted, and the precaution was taken this time to fix them farther apart, so that if more beams were waiting to be rolled over, they might not take such a deadly sweep.

The second attempt was more successful, for the ramparts were gained and the French driven back: and a single piece of ground being thus gained, a footing was soon established for many more, who succeeded in turning round some guns and firing them along the ramparts, soon sweeping the enemy off them.

Fresh reinforcements on both sides shortly arrived at this for us successful spot, but the garrison was soon forced back into the town. The ramparts were then scoured, the breaches cleared, and the chevaux de frise pulled down, and the main body of the English entered the town. Some opposition had to be overcome in the streets, but that was soon cleared away, and the French escaped to Fort San Cristoval.

Our troops found the city illuminated to welcome them, but nevertheless then began all the horrors that generally attended a capture by assault—plunder, waste, destruction of property, drunkenness, and debauchery. I was myself exempt from all this, owing to my wounds, which kept me in camp at the time the town was taken; but though I was at least a mile off, I could distinctly hear the clamour of the rabble, as the guns and musketry had ceased; and next morning I hobbled as well as I could into the town with the help of the handle of a sergeant's pike chopped up so as to form a stick, and there sure enough I found a pretty state of affairs. Pipes of wine had been rolled into the streets and tapped by driving the heads in, for any one to drink of them who liked, and when the officers tried to keep order by throwing all of these over that they could, the men that were in a state of drunkenness lay down to drink out of the gutters, which were thus running with all sorts of liquors; doors were blown open all through the city, both upstairs and down, by placing muskets at the keyhole and so removing the locks. I myself saw that morning a naked priest launched into the street and flogged down it by some of our men who had a grudge against him for the treatment they had met at a convent, when staying in the town before. I happened to meet one of my company, and asked him how he was getting on, to which he replied that he was wounded in the arm, but that he had got hold of something that compensated for that a little, showing me a bag of about a hundred dollars that he had succeeded in obtaining, and saying that I should not want whilst he had got it.

But whilst all this debauchery was going on amongst some of our soldiers, I will give a word of credit to a great many of the more respectable, who were trying as much as lay in their power to stop the ferociousness of the same. That morning I met many about, who said they were sorry to think that the soldiers could not carry it on without going to such excesses as they did, respectable houses being ransacked from top to bottom, with no regard to the entreaties of the few inhabitants who remained within the walls. Things that could not be taken were often destroyed, and men were threatened if they did not produce their money, and the women sometimes the same. Comparatively few murders were, I believe, committed, but some no doubt occurred.

It was not till the drunken rabble had dropped into a sound slumber or had died in consequence of their excesses, that the unhappy city became at all composed; but in the morning some fresh troops were placed on guard, and a few gallows were erected, but not much used. Two or three officers had been killed in the act of keeping order, and I have been given to understand that some of the fifth division, having arrived after most places had been ransacked, plundered their drunken fellow-comrades, and it was likewise reported that a few were even murdered. Lord Wellington punished all offenders by stopping their grog for some time; but in these times such scenes as these were generally found to occur after a place had had to be so hardly fought for. No doubt in the present day, at least half a century later, more discipline is observed in similar circumstances, which must be owned as a great improvement.

This same morning the garrison surrendered. Before the assault it had numbered about five thousand, but we found that some twelve hundred of these had been slain, and now the rest were prisoners; while upwards of one hundred and fifty guns, eighty thousand shots, and a great quantity of muskets and ammunition were taken in the place. Ours was a much severer loss, for nearly five thousand of our men, including three or four hundred officers, were either killed or wounded. But it must be observed that with the circumstances under which our troops had to fight it was a wonder that they entered the town at all that night, every obstacle that a cunning enemy could devise being there to be overcome. Every kind of combustible deadly in its action was thrown amongst the men; placed in readiness along the ramparts were trees, stones, and beams; and the worst of all was the fearful chevaux de frise; in fact nothing had been wanting to discourage the men, who, however, pushed on, being as anxious as Lord Wellington himself to get into the town.

All being now over, thoughts of Pig Harding, George Bowden, and our engagement, ran in my head, and how it had all failed, poor Pig having received seven shots in his body, and George Bowden having had both thighs blown off. Both must have met with instant death, and I myself had four wounds and was disabled for some time from getting about. I resolved then that I would never make any more engagements under the same fearful circumstances. We missed poor Pig more than any man of the regiment, for he passed many an hour away pleasantly with his jokes, being a thoroughbred Irishman, and not only that, but he supplied us with many an extra piece of tommy by his roguish tricks.



CHAPTER XIV.

Six weeks in hospital at Estremoz — A new way to keep up the spirits — Lawrence allowed to go on to Salamanca at his own risk — He catches the fever there, and has to go into hospital again at Ciudad Rodrigo — At last rejoins his regiment — Cessation of hostilities on both sides, and the British Army goes into cantonments — Lawrence made a corporal — The cat's paw comes in for its share of the booty, and gets the chestnuts into the bargain — A romantic episode to relieve the monotony of war.

A day or two after these events, the wounded were all conveyed to hospital, some to Elvas and some to Estremoz. I was amongst the latter, as was likewise my comrade whom I mentioned as meeting me in the streets of Badajoz, as we were considered better able to stand the longer journey, the distance on from Elvas to Estremoz being about six leagues the other side from Badajoz.

On our arrival at hospital, we were allowed to take in no spirits or wine, which, as we had lately had so much of them, seemed to be more of a hardship to us than our wounds: but we were not long in working a system by which we were enabled to procure something to drink. The window of our ward looked out into one of the streets, on the opposite side of which was a wine shop, which for some time tormented us horribly: it was something like the fable of the fox and the grapes, sour because it was out of reach. The man of the house was often at his door on the look out, the natives there seeming to suffer from that general complaint as much as in our own country villages, where if there is anything fresh in the streets, perhaps only a strange man, or even one of the inhabitants in a new coat or hat, the whole place works itself into an uproar.

We soon devised a plan to gain our desired end. There was in the ward a tin kettle, holding nearly two gallons, and having procured a long string we put our money into this, and lowered it to the Portuguese, who soon getting used to our plan would put the money's value in the shape of wine into the kettle and again tie it to the string, so that we could hoist it up to the window again. After that we arranged for our ward to be pretty well supplied with grog too in the same way. Some suspicions being entertained by the doctor on the inflamed appearance of our wounds, he told us two or three times that he knew we had been drinking something we ought not, and blew the sergeant of the guard up for not being more strict in his search at the door, little dreaming how we had contrived another way to get this aggravator of our wounds in. But the appearance of our wounds did not stop us from lowering the kettle, which soon went down twice and sometimes three times a day, for the neighbouring wards got scent of the affair, and sent money to be lowered as well.

Thus I passed about six weeks before I recovered sufficiently to get out of the hospital; but many were in a much worse state than myself, some losing their arms, some their legs, and some even dying of their wounds. One of the slug shots, however, could never be extricated from my knee, having settled into the bone. I felt it for some time, but in the end it ceased to trouble me, the bone having probably grown over it.