History of the Peninsular War, Volume 5 (of 6)Southey, Robert
History
History of the Peninsular War, Volume 5 (of 6)
Southey, Robert
Peninsular War, 1807-1814
Chamorin, lying on his face in his clotted blood: as soon as the body
was turned up, the French captain gave a sort of scream, sprung off his
horse, threw off his brazen helmet, and kneeling by the body, took the
lifeless hand, and kissed it repeatedly with a passionate grief which
affected all the beholders.
♦MEASURES CONCERTED WITH THE SPANIARDS.♦
After this affair Beresford cantoned his troops at Campo Mayor,
Elvas, Borba, and Villa-Viçosa: they were equally in need of rest and
of refitment, great part of the British infantry having made forced
marches from Condeixa, and being in want of shoes. General Ballasteros,
who was seldom at any time in force without suffering defeat, and never
defeated without presently obtaining some success, after experiencing
some of these customary alternations, and incurring some severe losses
in the Condado de Niebla, had fallen back upon Gibraleon, hoping to
effect a junction with Zayas, who had been sent from Cadiz with 6000
men, of whom 400 were cavalry. Something was always to be expected
from Ballasteros’s remarkable activity; but there was equal reason
for dreading the effect of his incaution: by Beresford’s request,
therefore, Castaños wrote to desire that he and Zayas would not commit
themselves, but reserve their force entire for co-operating with him.
Beresford’s objects at this time were, to throw a bridge across the
Guadiana at Jurumenha, ... to recover Olivença, drive Mortier out
of Extremadura, and form as soon as possible the siege of Badajoz.
Foreseeing the want of a bridge, Lord Wellington had frequently, before
the fall of that place, urged the Spanish general officers to remove
the bridge-boats, and other ♦APRIL.♦ materials which were in store
there, to Elvas. They began to follow this advice, but so late and
so slowly, that only five of the twenty boats had been removed, when
Mendizabal’s defeat rendered any further removal impossible: these,
when laid down, left 160 yards of the river uncovered. Nor was this
the only difficulty. It had been supposed that ample supplies had been
collected at Estremoz and Villa Viçosa; but owing to the poverty of
the Government, and to that mismanagement which, from the highest to
the lowest of its departments, prevailed and was maintained, as if
by prescriptive right, throughout, not enough were found to ensure
the subsistence of the troops from day to day. Moreover, there were
no shoes in store for an army which had marched itself barefoot. And
had there been no deficiency of stores, and no previous difficulties
to overcome, Beresford’s force, consisting of 20,000 effective men,
British and Portugueze, was inadequate to the operations which he was
to undertake with it, though it was the utmost that Lord Wellington
could spare from the more immediately important scene of action on the
frontier of Beira.
♦BRIDGE CONSTRUCTED AT JURUMENHA.♦
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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