The different movements amongst the contending armies in the end of 1811 caused it to be presumed that the campaign the following year would open with much spirit; and so it did, although earlier than was anticipated. Marmont, thinking himself safe till the spring, had not only quartered his army in very extensive cantonments, but also detached General Montbrun, with three divisions, to co-operate with Marshal Suchet in the kingdom of Valencia. Intimately acquainted with these details, Lord Wellington redoubled his efforts in the arrangement of all that was necessary to carry on the siege of Ciudad-Rodrigo with vigour. The 3rd Division, which was one of those destined to take a part in the attack, broke up from its cantonments on the morning of the 4th of January 1812. Carpio, Espeja, and Pastores were occupied by our troops, and the greatest activity prevailed throughout every department, but more especially in that of the Engineers. All the cars in the country were put into requisition for the purpose of conveying fascines, gabions, and the different materials necessary to the Convent of La Caridad, distant a league and half from Rodrigo. The guns were at Gallegos, and everything was in that state of preparation which announced that a vigorous attack was about to be made, in the depth of a severe winter, against a fortress that had withstood for twenty-five days all the efforts of Marshal Masséna in the summer of 1810, when it was only occupied by a weak garrison of Spaniards. Yet, nevertheless, every one felt confident, and the soldiers burned with impatience to wipe away the blot of the former year in the unfortunate siege of San Christoval and Badajoz. I have before mentioned that we had not an effective corps of engineers—I mean in point of numbers. To remedy this defect a proportion of the most intelligent officers and soldiers of the infantry were selected during the autumn months and placed under the direction of Colonel Fletcher, the Chief Engineer. They were soon taught how to make fascines and gabions, and what was of equal consequence—how to use them. They likewise learned the manner of working by sap, and by this means that branch of our army, which was before the weakest, had now become very efficient. The morning of the 4th of January was dreadfully inauspicious. The order for marching arrived at three o’clock, and we were under arms at five. The rain fell in torrents, and the village of Aldea-de-Ponte, which the brigade of General Mackinnon occupied, was a sea of filth; the snow on the surrounding hills drifted down with the flood and nearly choked up the roads, and the appearance of the morning was anything but a favourable omen for us, who had a march of nine leagues to make ere we reached the town of Robleda on the river Agueda, which was destined to be our resting-place for the night.