(2) Division of Gomez Freire: 14th Provisional Regiment (1st, 2nd, and 3rd batts.) 1173 7th _bataillon de marche_ 334 5th Portuguese infantry 265 Portuguese Cazadores 288 = 2060 (3) Column of Colonel Piré (arrived June 29): 3rd of the Vistula (1st and 2nd batts.) 1332 National Guards _d’élite_ (two batts.) 971 3rd, 8th, and 9th _escadrons de marche_ 275 = 2578 (4) Bazancourt’s Brigade (arrived August 1): 14th of the line (1st and 2nd batts.) 1488 44th ditto (1st and 2nd batts.) 1614 11th _escadron de marche_ 205 = 3307 (5) Artillery and train 561 = 561 ------ Total 15,535 These are mainly Belmas’s figures. He mentions a battalion of the 16th of the line as present at the great assault. There must be some error here, as that regiment was not in Spain. It is probably a misprint for the 70th of the line, which is not mentioned by him as present, though it certainly was so. It was at this moment, apparently, that Verdier sent in a _parlementaire_ with the laconic note--‘Head Quarters, Santa Engracia. Capitulation?’ To which Palafox returned the well-known reply--‘Head Quarters, Saragossa. War to the knife[128].’ [128] The story sounds theatrical, but is vouched for by good authorities, Vaughan and Palafox himself, who chose the words for the type of the reverse of the medal that was issued to the defenders of Saragossa (see Arteche, ii. 394). All through the afternoon of the fourth of August, the French slowly pushed their way up the streets which lead northward towards the Coso, the main thoroughfare of Saragossa. They could only get forward by storming each house, and turning each barricade that offered resistance, so that their progress was very slow. While inflicting terrible losses on the Spaniards, they were also suffering very heavily themselves. But they drove a broad wedge into the city, till finally they reached and crossed the Coso, halfway between the southern wall and the river. In the streets beyond the Coso their impetus seemed to have exhausted itself: many of the men were too tired to press forward any longer; others turned aside to plunder the churches and the better sort of houses[129]. Verdier tried to cut his way to the great bridge, so as to divide the defenders into two separate bodies, and was so far successful that many of the Spaniards began to troop off across the river into the suburb of San Lazaro. But he himself was wounded, his main column lost its way in the narrow side-streets, and the attack died down.