Note 417 — SECTION XXVI: CHAPTER III

Of this episode, only hinted at by Fririon, and not mentioned at all by Masséna in his official dispatch, we have a vivid description in Marbot, which might be doubted if it were not borne out by hints in Napier and Thiébault and by the direct statement of Marshal Jourdan in his memoirs. If Lepic had charged, it is hard to see what effect he could have produced, for all Peninsular experience went to prove that infantry in battle order on a good position could not be broken by cavalry, however daring. The 1st and 3rd Divisions were well established on their ground, with a steep slope below them, and could not have been moved. Lepic’s refusal to charge, however, always takes a prominent part in the description of Fuentes de Oñoro by French writers, not eye-witnesses, who are anxious to prove that Wellington ought to have lost the battle.