Note 920 — SECTION XXXVIII: CHAPTER IV

Napier says (v. p. 225), and all subsequent historians have followed him, that Picton originally intended to place Cole on a line between Oricain and Arleta, i. e. on the low back-slope of the ridge. This seems to me almost incredible, as this ground is all running downhill, completely commanded by the much loftier crests about the Col. Surely no one, according to the tactical ideas of 1813, would take up a defensive position half-way down a slope whose summit is abandoned to the enemy. I can find no authority save Napier (who was not in the battle) for this curious statement. And I am justified, I think, in holding that the San Miguel hill was the place where Picton intended to place Cole, by the narrative and sketch-map of Wachholz of Ross’s brigade, who places the first position of the 4th Division on a well-marked hill immediately to the right of Villaba, and close to the 3rd Division’s ground at Huarte. This must mean San Miguel.