Note 543 — SECTION XXXIII: CHAPTER VI

The exact moment of Marmont’s wound is very difficult to fix, as also that of Wellington’s attack. The Marshal himself (as mentioned above, p.438) says that he was hit ‘environ les trois heures,’ and that Leith and Cole advanced ‘peu après, sur les quatre heures.’ Foy places the wound merely ‘between 3 and 4 p.m.’ Parquin, who commanded Marmont’s escort of chasseurs, says that the Marshal had been carried back to Alba de Tormes by 4 o’clock—impossibly early. On the other hand Napier gives too late an hour, when saying that Marmont was wounded only at the moment when Leith and Cole advanced, 4.45 or so, and was running down from the Arapile because of their movement. This is, I imagine, much too late. But it is supported by Victoires et Conquêtes, sometimes a well-documented work but often inaccurate, which places the unlucky shot at 4.30. Grattan places the order to the British infantry (Leith and Cole) to prepare to attack at 4.20—Leith Hay at ‘at least an hour after 3 o’clock.’ Gomm, on the other hand, makes Wellington move ‘at 3 o’clock in the afternoon.’ Tomkinson (usually very accurate) places Pakenham’s and Leith’s success at ‘about 5 p.m.’ D’Urban thinks that he met Lord Wellington and received his orders after 4 p.m.—probably he is half an hour too late in his estimate.