Note 129 — SECTION XVIII: CHAPTER II
Reading edition
Heudelet, writing from Talavera on Jan. 13, assured the King that he had certain information, by English deserters, that Wellington’s army, 16,000 foot and 7,000 cavalry, was at Merida, Badajoz, and Elvas on Dec. 31. As a matter of fact, the army had marched off between Dec. 9 and Dec. 20, and Wellington himself had retired into Portugal on Christmas Eve. On the day when Heudelet wrote he and his head quarters were at Vizeu, in the Beira.