On the next morning the 2nd Battalion left Benevente, and after a toilsome march of thirty miles, reached La Bañeza late at night; and on the following day moved on to their old quarter, Celada. On the 31st they marched into Astorga, and halted for an hour or two there while the magazine was destroyed; observing the road from Astorga to Leon, by which it was thought the enemy were advancing. However, they did not appear; and the Battalion moved on another wearisome march of twenty miles to Foncevadon. Here Craufurd’s brigade, which had hitherto formed the rear-guard, was detached, and proceeded by Orense to Vigo, in order to seize the passage of the Minho should Moore’s army find it necessary to retreat by that route. On January 1, 1809, therefore, the Battalion marched by most difficult mountain roads to Ponferrada. Here the men suffered great privation, the Alcalde having given all the bread to his countrymen of Romana’s army, which was marching with ours, and thus left our people without provisions after their wearisome march. On the next day they marched over rugged snow-clad mountains; and while they were toiling over them another instance of Craufurd’s iron discipline occurred. The word being passed to open out to allow the General to pass, a hungry Rifleman called out that ‘he had more need to give them bread.’ This, unhappily, reached the General’s ears, who at once halted the brigade, ordered the offender to be tried by drum-head Court-Martial, and flogged on the spot: a terrible, perhaps a necessary, check to murmuring under such privations. So, labouring in hunger and fatigue, the Battalion toiled on to San Domingo-Flores, which they reached at ten o’clock at night, and after a scanty ration of black bread, lay down, wet and weary, till dawn, when another long and difficult march brought them at night to La Rua. These terrible marches caused many stragglers; many perished on the inhospitable hills; many fell into the hands of the yet more cruel enemy; and some, with the help of some refreshment from the sparse and poor population, dragged on wearily and rejoined the Battalion at Orense or Vigo. In such want and sufferings the Battalion reached Orense on January 7, having pushed on a detachment by forced marches to secure the bridge over the Minho there. A halt on the 8th enabled the men to wash their linen and take off their clothing and accoutrements; a relief they had not had for many days; and a supply of provisions much refreshed the starving soldiers.