Chapter XLIII · OPERATIONS DURING THE WINTER AND SPRING. BATTLE OF VITTORIA. (continued 2)

The Intruder, who now appears for the last time upon the stage of his everlasting infamy, narrowly escaped. The tenth hussars entered Vittoria at the moment that he was hastening out of it in his carriage. Captain Wyndham with one squadron pursued, and fired into the carriage, and Joseph had barely time to throw himself on his horse and gallop off under the protection of an escort of dragoons. The carriage was taken, and in it the most splendid of his trinkets, and the most precious articles of his royal plunder. Marshal Jourdan’s staff was among the trophies of the field; it was rather more than a foot long, and covered with blue velvet, on which the imperial eagles were embroidered; and it had been tipped with gold; but the first finder secured the gold for himself. The case was of red morocco with silver clasps, and with eagles on it, and at either end the Marshal’s name imprinted in gold letters. Lord Wellington sent it to the Prince Regent, and was gracefully presented in return with the staff of a Field-Marshal of Great Britain. The spoils resembled those of an Oriental rather than of an European army; for the Intruder, who in his miserable situation had abandoned himself to every kind of sensuality, had with him all his luxuries. His plunder, his wardrobe, his sideboard, his larder, and his cellar, fell into the conqueror’s hands. The French officers, who carried the pestilential manners of their nation wherever they went, followed his example as far as their means allowed, and thus the finest wines and the choicest delicacies were found in profusion. The wives and mistresses of the officers had gathered together in one house, where they were safe, and from whence they were sent in their own carriages with a flag of truce to Pamplona. Poodles, parrots, and monkeys, were among the prisoners. Seldom has such a scene of confusion been witnessed as that which the roads leading from the field of battle presented; ... broken down waggons stocked with claret and champagne, others laden with eatables dressed and undressed, casks of brandy, apparel of every kind, barrels of money, books, papers, sheep, cattle, horses, and mules, abandoned in the flight. The baggage was presently rifled, and the followers of the camp attired themselves in the gala dresses of the flying enemy. Portugueze boys figured about in the dress coats of French general officers; and they who happened to draw a woman’s wardrobe in the lottery, converted silks, satins, and embroidered muslins, into scarfs and sashes for their masquerade triumph. Some of the more fortunate soldiers got possession of the army chest, and loaded themselves with money: “Let them,” said Lord Wellington, when he was informed of it; “they deserve all they can find, were it ten times more.” The camp of every division was like a fair; benches were laid from waggon to waggon, and there the soldiers held an auction through the night, and disposed of such plunder as had fallen to their share to any who would purchase it. Even dollars became an article of sale, for they were too heavy to be carried in any great numbers; eight were offered for a guinea, ... guineas which had been struck for the payment of the troops in Portugal, and made current there by a decree of the Regency, being the gold currency. The people of Vittoria had their share in the spoils, and some of them indemnified themselves thus for what they had suffered in their property by the enemy’s exactions.

The city sustained no injury, though the French were driven through it, and though great part of the battle might be seen from every window. Nothing could be more mournful than its appearance that night, ... a lantern at every door, and no one in the streets. It was the first place where the allies had found that the inhabitants were French in feeling. Two days of heavy rain impeded the pursuit; but that rain saved many houses from the flames, for the French wreaked their vengeance upon every thing which they could destroy in their flight. Every house at which the pursuers arrived had been gutted by the fugitives, every village set on fire, and the few inhabitants who had not taken flight in time had met with no mercy; at every step the allies found havoc, and flames, and misery, the dying and the dead. Such was the panic among the fugitives, that, finding the gates of Pamplona closed, they attempted to force their way over the walls, and did not desist till they were opposed by a serious fire of cannon and musketry. A council of war was held there, in which it was resolved to blow up the works and abandon the place; with this intent they destroyed ammunition and tore down palisades from the outworks. But the Intruder knew that the possession of so strong a fortress would in some degree cover his flight; and the last act of his usurped authority was to order that every article of food and fuel should be taken from the Spaniards who were within reach. By the rigorous execution of this order, the quantity in the town was more than doubled; and having left a garrison there, the flying force continued their way to the Pyrenees. Their rear was still in sight of Pamplona, when the right and centre of the allies were checked in their pursuit by a fire from the walls.

♦Sir T. Graham proceeds against G. Foy.♦

Sir Thomas Graham with the left of the army was ordered to march by Puerto S. Andrian upon Villa Franca, in the hope of intercepting General Foy, who occupied Bilbao after the atrocities which he had committed in Castro. The orders were not received till the 23rd, when the weather and the ways in consequence were so bad, that only a small part of the column could pass the mountain that day; and it was not till the 24th that Sir Thomas, with Major-General Anson’s brigade of light dragoons, the light battalions of the German legion, and two Portugueze brigades could march from Segura, the rest of the troops not having come up. The roads were so slippery with the rain, and in many places so steep, that horses could scarcely keep their feet, or the infantry make any progress. This allowed Foy time to withdraw the troops from some of the military stations there, and with his collected force he began his retreat into France. The allies came to the junction of the roads from Bilbao and from Vittoria to Bayonne just as the enemy’s rear had passed it. The French occupied in force some strong ♦June 24.♦ ground on the right of the Oria, in front of the village of Olaverria, about a mile and a half from Villa Franca; they were dislodged from thence, and allowed the pursuers to take possession of the town, meaning to make their stand at Tolosa. During the night, Longa’s corps joined Sir Thomas, and the advance of General Giron’s. On the following morning the enemy evacuated Celequiz, and took up a very strong position between that place and Tolosa, covering the road to Pamplona. Longa was then directed to march by Alzo upon Lizara in order to flank his left, while General Mendizabel was requested to dispatch some battalions from Aspeytia to flank his right, which rested upon a mountain with an inaccessible ravine in front. The French were driven from the summit of a hill lying between the Pamplona and Vittoria roads, on the right of the allies, by a very skilful attack of Lieutenant-Colonel Williams, and the possession of this important point enabled the assailants to act on the Pamplona road. In the course of the afternoon the Spaniards arrived at their ♦The French driven from Tolosa.♦ destination, and between six and seven a general attack was made, one column advancing upon the Vittoria road, another on the left; General Bradford driving the enemy in on their front by the Pamplona road, and Longa still more on the right from the side of the mountains, turning, and forcing from very strong positions, all their posted bodies on the right of the town. Still they held the town; and it was found much more capable of defence than had been represented; this was generally the case with their fortified posts, so prone were the Spaniards to report things always according to their hopes; the walls had been loop-holed, and new towers erected to flank it. The Vittoria gate was barricadoed and the Pamplona one on the bridge; both were flanked by convents and other large buildings which the enemy occupied; the place was nowhere open, and a strong wood block-house had been constructed in the Plaza, of so much importance had it been deemed. A nine-pounder was brought up close to the Vittoria gate, under cover of the light battalions’ fire; the gate was burst open: at the same time, the walls were attacked and gained under a considerable fire, and about half an hour after night closed, the enemy forsook the place, flying from every point, and the troops entered amidst the vivas of the inhabitants, who had fully expected to have been plundered that night by the retreating enemy. The British officer who first entered thought they were in some danger from their deliverers, considering the mixed composition of the troops, and how likely it was that some parties away from their regiments might take advantage of the darkness and the confusion. He advised them therefore to shut their doors, and, to the credit of the troops, it must be added, that no outrage or excess was committed. Longa and the German legion passed on, and formed immediately beyond the town. The loss of the allies on this and the preceding day amounted to about 400. Sir Thomas Graham was struck during the attack by a musket-ball; the hurt was not serious, and he attempted to conceal it, but could not, and was obliged to dismount.

♦June 26.♦

On the morrow one brigade was placed on the Pamplona road, and another on the Bayonne, each about a league from Tolosa; a third occupied Alegria, and Sir Thomas then halted two days to ascertain ♦Foy retreats into France.♦ the advance of Lord Wellington on his right. Foy had retreated to Anduain, where he destroyed the bridge; but he now knew himself to be no longer safe within the Spanish territory, and lost no time in making his way into France. A brigade of the Galician army attacked his rear-guard on the Bidassoa at Irun, and drove them over the bridge. They still maintained a strong stone block-house there, which served as a head to the bridge, and some loop-holed houses on the Spanish side of the river. General Giron sent for some Spanish artillery to dislodge them; an ♦June 30.♦ English brigade of nine pounders was sent from Oyarzun to act with it; the French then found it necessary to abandon their post, and they blew up the block-house and burnt the bridge. In all these affairs no troops could have behaved better than the Spanish; and General Giron, with a natural and becoming feeling, had been very desirous that this last exploit should fall to their part. The garrison at Passages, 150 in number, ♦Passages is surrendered.♦ surrendered on the same day to Longa, and on the following the garrison of Guetaria, being blockaded by land, evacuated the town and fort, ♦Castro abandoned by the enemy.♦ and went by sea to St. Sebastian. Castro de Urdiales, the scene of General Foy’s atrocities, had been abandoned the day after the battle of Vittoria, the British squadron having cut off the garrison from all supplies by sea, and the Spaniards by land. A British vessel heaving opportunely in sight, the commandant withdrew precipitately, without destroying his artillery and powder, or injuring the castle. A few old women were the only survivors in the town, and their tale of the barbarities which the French and Italian troops had committed there is too dreadful for recital; there is, however, a satisfaction in recording that fourteen of the perpetrators were among the prisoners taken at Bilbao, and were deservedly put to death. The garrison got by sea to Santona, that and St. Sebastian being the only points which the enemy now occupied upon that coast. The French had left 700 men in Pancorbo, a post commanding a ravine through which the high road ♦Pancorbo taken.♦ from Burgos to Vittoria passes. The Andalusian army of reserve, under the Conde de Abisbal, was on its way to join the main force. Lord Wellington requested him to make himself master of the town and lower works, and blockade, as closely as he could, the castle, which is situated on a high rock. Abisbal assaulted and took the town and the fort of Santa Marta on the 28th; and cutting off the garrison in the castle from the spring which supplied them with water, compelled them to surrender two days afterwards, when in all other respects they were well provided for a regular defence.

♦Clausel retires to Zaragoza.♦

General Clausel’s corps, consisting of part of the army of the north, and one division of the army of Portugal, 14,000 in all, had been recalled from its operations against Mina to join the collected force of the Intruder. Coming in a direction which none of the fugitives had taken, he approached Vittoria the day after the battle, and finding that city in possession of Major-General Pakenham’s division, which had just arrived there, and having no means of communicating with the routed army, he retired immediately towards Logroño. There he halted, hoping to obtain information whereby to direct his movements; and Lord Wellington thinking there was some prospect of intercepting his retreat, moved three divisions towards Tudela, and the 5th and 6th from Vittoria and Salvatierra towards Logroño. Clausel, who was at this time harassed by the indefatigable Mina, and by Don Julian Sanchez with his regiment of cavalry, left Logroño on the 24th, taking with him the garrison of that place, and marching on the left bank of the Ebro, crossed it by the bridge at Lodosa, and reached Calahorra on the following day. On the next he arrived at Tudela; but the Alcalde of that city informed him that the allies were on the road to meet him, upon which he marched toward Zaragoza, taking with him this garrison also.

♦Preparations for the siege of Pamplona.♦

Sir Rowland meantime following the main body of the defeated army on their retreat over the Pyrenees, dislodged them from every point which they attempted to hold, and obtained possession of the passes of S. Esteban, Donna Maria, Maya, and Roncesvalles. It was now Lord Wellington’s intention to besiege Pamplona: with this intent the heavy guns and stores for the siege were brought from Santander to Deba, a little town to the westward of S. Sebastian’s: there they were landed, and cows and bullocks had been collected for transporting them to the trenches: but the intelligence which Lord Wellington received from the Anglo-Sicilian army rendered it necessary to give up this intention, and every thing therefore was reshipped.