The light cavalry of the king’s guard, followed by the infantry, then poured through the town; and, on the extreme left, Sebastiani, with a rapid charge, cut off six thousand infantry, and obliged them to surrender. The Spanish cavalry, which had only suffered a little from the cannonade, and had never made an effort to turn the tide of battle, now drew off entirely: the second line of infantry gave ground as the front fell back upon it in confusion; and Areizaga, confounded and bewildered, ordered the left wing, which had scarcely fired a shot, to retreat, and then quitted the field himself. For half an hour after this, the superior officers who remained, endeavoured to keep the troops together in the plain, and strove to reach the main road leading to Dos Barrios; but Girard and Dessolle’s divisions being connected after passing Ocaña, pressed on with steady rapidity, while the Polish lancers and a regiment of chasseurs, outflanking the Spanish right, continually increased the confusion: finally, Sebastiani, after securing his prisoners, came up again like a whirlwind, and charged full in the front with five regiments of cavalry. Then the whole mass broke, and fled each man for himself across the plain; but, on the right of the routed multitude, a deep ravine leading from Yepes to Dos Barrios, in an oblique direction, continually contracted the space; and the pursuing cavalry arriving first at Barrios, headed nearly ten thousand bewildered men, and forced them to surrender. The remainder turned their faces to all quarters; and such was the rout, that the French were also obliged to disperse to take prisoners, for, to their credit, no rigorous execution was inflicted; and hundreds, merely deprived of their arms, were desired, in raillery, “to return to their homes, and abandon war as a trade they were unfit for.” This fatal battle commenced at eleven o’clock; thirty pieces of artillery, a hundred and twenty carriages, twenty-five stand of colours, three generals, six hundred inferior officers, and eighteen thousand privates were taken before two o’clock, and the pursuit was still hot. Seven or eight thousand of the Spaniards, however, contrived to make away towards the mountain of Tarancon; others followed the various routes through La Mancha to the Sierra Morena; and many saved themselves in Valencia and Murcia. [Sidenote: S. Journal of Operations MSS.] [Sidenote: Letter from Lord Wellington to Lord Liverpool, Nov. 30, 1809. MSS.]