Note 454 — SECTION VII: CHAPTER IV

To show how strange is Napier’s statement (i. 254) that the army of Estremadura consisted of ‘the best troops then in Spain,’ and that it was therefore disgraceful that they ‘fought worse than the half-starved peasants of Blake,’ we may perhaps give the list of Belvedere’s little force: it consisted of—

1st Division (General de Alos): 4,160

*4th battalion of the Spanish Guards

One battalion of Provincial Grenadiers of Estremadura

*Regiment of Majorca (two batts.)

*2nd Regiment of Catalonia (one batt.)

One company of Sharpshooters

2nd Division (General Henestrosa): 3,300

*4th battalion of the Walloon Guards

Volunteers of Badajoz (two batts.)

Volunteers of Valencia de Alcantara (one batt.)

Volunteers of Zafra (one batt.)

Galician troops: Battalions of Tuy and Benavente 1,600

Cavalry: 2nd, 4th, and 5th Hussars (called respectively ‘Lusitania,’ ‘Volunteers of Spain,’ and ‘Maria Luisa’) 1,100

Artillery: two and a half batteries 250

Sappers: one battalion 550

Total 10,960

Only the cavalry and the five battalions marked with a star were regulars.