At eleven o’clock at night, on the 9th of June 1811, the siege of Badajoz virtually ceased. From the moment the second attack against San Christoval was repulsed, Lord Wellington resolved to make the best of a bad business, and he converted the siege into a blockade. On the 10th, the battering train and stores were removed from the trenches, and by the 13th our works were clear. The town was closely blockaded until the 17th, on which day we broke up from before the place, and crossing the Guadiana by the ford above San Christoval, reached the banks of the Caya, in the neighbourhood of Aronches, a little after noon. It appeared from the different reports of our spies that the whole disposable force, not only of Soult’s army of the South, but also of that of Portugal, were in march against us; and Lord Wellington accordingly took up a defensive position near Elvas, with his vanguard at Campo Mayor, consisting of the 3rd and 7th Divisions of infantry. The Dukes of Dalmatia and Ragusa formed their junction at Badajoz on the 28th, and the two Marshals dined there together on that day. Great praise was bestowed upon General Phillipon for his fine defence of the place, and, as a matter of course, much bombastic stuff was trumpeted forth in the papers about the valour displayed by the Imperial soldiers on the occasion. Our losses were rated at more than four times their real amount; and though no blame was attached by the enemy to our troops, the Engineers were attacked with a severity that I have reason to think was unjust. One writer speaking on the subject says:— “Had the Engineers followed the rules of fortification with as much ability as his lordship displayed in the application of the principles of the higher branches of tactics, Badajoz would, no doubt, have surrendered about the 14th or 15th of June. It scarcely would be believed, were it not expressly mentioned in the official reports, that in the beginning of the nineteenth century, troops should have been sent to the assault with ladders after the breach had been judged practicable.” I shall leave it to the gentlemen of the Engineers to answer these remarks; but as far as I have been able to collect the facts, and I have received my information from good, I might say the best, authority, our defeat before San Christoval arose from three causes: first, the want of knowledge displayed by the officer commanding the first attack of the real situation of the breach, owing to the unfortunate circumstance of the engineer being killed at the onset; secondly, the shortness of the ladders, and the smallness of the storming party each night; and thirdly, the conduct of the men who were entrusted with the charge of the ladders—a foreign corps, it is true;[17] but why employ troops of this description upon a service so desperate? ----- Footnote 17: The battalion of Brunswick Oels, largely composed of German deserters from the French army.