Meanwhile there were yet a few days during which he would retain the command, and it was in his power to start the campaign on the right lines, even if he was not to reap the reward of its success. His first eight days on shore (August 2-9), were spent in the organization of the commissariat of his army, which the Home Government had disgracefully neglected. Except the two troops of the Irish Wagon Train, which he had insisted on bringing with him, he had no transport at his disposal, and, as he wrote to Castlereagh, ‘the existence of the army depends upon the commissariat, and yet the people who manage it are incapable of managing anything out of a counting-house[191].’ All that could be got out of the country he utilized: the Bishop of Oporto had sent him a few horses which enabled him to raise his force of mounted men from 180 to 240[192], and to give some animals to the artillery[5], to add to those that had come from Ireland[193]. But though he succeeded in equipping his own three batteries, the two which Spencer brought from Andalusia had to be left behind on the Mondego for want of draught-horses[194]: the dismounted men of the 20th Dragoons had also to be dropped. For the commissariat the Bishop of Oporto had sent some mules, which were raised to a total of 500 by purchases in the country-side, while 300 bullock-carts were procured for the heavier stores by requisition from the neighbouring villages. It was only on the ninth that things were so far ready that the army could move forward. It was now divided into six small brigades under Generals Hill, Ferguson, Nightingale, Bowes, Catlin Crawfurd, and Fane: the third, fourth, and fifth brigades had only two battalions each, the other four had three[195]. [191] Ibid., iv. 59; cf. pp. 168, 169. [192] Ibid., iv. 168. Cf. the returns for Vimiero of men present, with the 180 horsed men brought from Ireland. [193] Ibid., iv. 168. [194] Ibid., iv. 59. [195] The brigading was as follows:--1st Brigade (Hill), 5th, 9th, 38th; 2nd Brigade (Ferguson), 36th, 40th, 71st; 3rd Brigade (Nightingale), 29th, 82nd; 4th Brigade (Bowes), 6th, 32nd; 5th Brigade (C. Crawfurd), 50th, 91st; 6th Brigade (Fane), 45th, 5/60th, 2/95th. Before Vimiero the 45th and 50th changed places (see the narrative of Col. Leach of Fane’s Brigade). It is worth noting that six of these sixteen battalions, as also the 20th Light Dragoons, had just returned from the disheartening work of the Buenos Ayres expedition. They were the 5th, 36th, 38th, 40th, 45th, and 71st. Wellesley had resolved to advance by the coast-road on Lisbon, via Alcobaça, Obidos, and Torres Vedras, and it was along the desolate shore ‘up to the knees in sand and suffering dreadfully from thirst[196],’ that his men made their first march of twelve miles to Lugar. The distance was moderate, but the troops had been so long cramped on shipboard that some of the regiments had fallen out of condition and left many stragglers.