Towards the evening of the 9th our camp was nearly emptied of all its saleable commodities, and the following morning was occupied in getting rid of the many Spaniards who still hovered about us, endeavouring to get a bargain of some of the unsold articles. By noon all traffic had ceased, and the men began to arrange themselves for a fresh combat with Marshal Soult, who was advancing towards Badajoz. The appearance and demeanour of the soldiery in no way warranted the idea that they had been occupied as they were for the last three weeks, but more especially for the last three days. They were the same orderly set of men they had been before the attack on the town, and were just as eager to fight Soult as they were to storm Badajoz: the only change visible was their _thinned ranks_. In my regiment alone, out of seven hundred and fifty privates, four hundred and thirty-four had fallen; and of the officers, who at the commencement of the siege counted twenty-four, but five remained unhurt! Our total loss exceeded five thousand men; and although no officer of a higher rank than colonel was killed, it is a singular circumstance that every general actively engaged was wounded on the night of the assault. Picton, Colville, Kempt, Walker, and Bowes, who headed the assaulting divisions and brigades, were every one of them hurt on that fatal 8th of April.[27] ----- Footnote 27: Picton headed the 3rd Division; Kempt its 1st Brigade. Colville commanded the 4th Division; Bowes its 2nd Brigade. Walker the 2nd Brigade of the 5th Division. The total loss of the British during the siege was 72 officers and 963 men killed, and 306 officers and 3483 men wounded. There were also 100 missing, mostly, it is believed, men whose bodies fell into the Guadiana or the Rivillas and were not found. This gives a total of 4924, so that Grattan’s figure of “over 5000” is hardly exaggerated. ----- CHAPTER XIX Departure from Badajoz—The wounded left to the protection of Spanish soldiers—Subsequently removed to Elvas—The author leaves Elvas to join the army—Spaniards and Portuguese—Rodrigo revisited—A Spanish ball—Movements of Marshal Marmont—Fall of the forts of Salamanca—Amicable enemies. On the 15th of April, 1812, the heroes of Badajoz took a last farewell of the scene of their glory and the graves of their fallen companions, and marched towards the banks of the Coa and Agueda, where, but a few months before, they had given proofs of their invincible valour. Indeed it might be said, without any great stretch of historical truth, that every inch of ground upon which they trod was a silent evidence of their right to be its occupant—so far, at least, as right of conquest goes.