so much unpleasant feeling that Wellington went out of his way to send for and rebuke officers who had been circulating malevolent criticism[294]. The French captain Gouache, who had commanded the square, was very properly promoted and decorated by Masséna: nothing could have been more firm and adroit than his conduct[295]. [290] Viz. three squadrons of the 14th, one (Krauchenberg’s) of the 1st Hussars K.G.L., and two of the 16th. The other two squadrons of the hussars, and the 4th squadron of the 14th, were holding the outpost line to right and left. [291] It is certain that both charged, and both were beaten off. But the regimental diarists of the two regiments each mention only the repulse of the squadron from the other corps. See Tompkinson (of the 16th), _Diary_, p. 31, and Von Linsingen’s letter (from the 1st Hussars), printed in Beamish, i. 279-80. [292] Von Grüben’s squadron of the K.G.L. Hussars, and the fourth squadron of the 14th Light Dragoons, neither of which formed part of Craufurd’s little expedition. The former had been watching Villa de Ciervo, the latter was on outpost duty. [293] Charles Napier in his diary [_Life_, i. p. 132] and Tomkinson [p. 31] accuse Craufurd of reckless haste. Harry Smith, in his autobiography [i. p. 22], holds that the Rifles could have got up in time to force the square to surrender. Leach [p. 142] makes much the same comment. All these were eye-witnesses. Yet it would have taken some time to bring up the guns or the infantry, and the French were near broken ground, over which they might have escaped, if not immediately assailed. See also Craufurd’s Life by his grandson, pp. 114-16. [294] Among these officers was General Stewart, the adjutant-general, see Wellington to Craufurd, from Alverca, July 23, a very interesting letter, commented on in the _Life of Craufurd_, pp. 117-20. [295] Hulot (p. 36) says that he met the square retiring, and noticed that numbers of the bayonets and gun-barrels had been cut and bent by the blows of the English dragoons, as they tried to force their way in. See Masséna’s dispatch to Berthier of Aug. 10, in Belmas’s _Pièces Justificatives_. SECTION XIX: CHAPTER VI COMBAT OF THE COA: SIEGE OF ALMEIDA (JULY-AUGUST 1810)