SIEGE OF BADAJOZ. 17th. March and 6th. April, 1812.
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The formidable fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo having been captured with such unlooked-for rapidity, astonished the French General, who had assembled an army of sixty thousand men for its relief, which now again returned to its winter quarters. As soon as the breaches were repaired, and the place put in a state of defence, the Earl of Wellington undertook, for the third time, the siege of Badajoz. The preparations for this service had been carried on with extraordinary secrecy, and were completed about the beginning of March, when the army broke up from its cantonments in the neighbourhood of Almeida, and, moving with the greatest rapidity, arrived before Badajoz on the 16th. of that month when the place was invested by the third, fourth, and light divisions. An advanced post, the Picurina, was taken by storm on the 25th., and on the following day two breaching batteries opened fire on the town.
On the 6th. of April three breaches were considered practicable, and orders were issued for the assault. It was determined to 139assault the castle of Badajoz by escalade. Accordingly the attack was made on the night of the 6th. of April, at ten o’clock. Major-General Kempt’s brigade[48] led, and he was wounded in crossing the River Rivillas, below the inundation. Notwithstanding this circumstance and the obstinate resistance of the enemy, the castle was carried by escalade, and the third division (known as the “Fighting Third”) established therein about half-past eleven. Meanwhile Major Wilson, of the 48th. regiment, carried the ravelin of St. Roque, with a detachment of two hundred men of the guard in the trenches, and, with the aid of Major Squire, of the Engineers, he established himself within that work.
The fourth and light divisions were not perceived by the enemy until they reached the covered way, and the advanced guards of the two divisions descended without difficulty into the ditch, protected by the fire of the parties stationed on the glacis for that purpose. They advanced to the assault of the breaches, led by their gallant officers, with the utmost intrepidity; but such was the nature of the obstacles prepared by the garrison at the top and behind the breaches, and so determined the resistance, that the assailants could not establish themselves within the place. Many brave officers and soldiers were killed or wounded by explosions at the top of the breaches, and others who succeeded to them were compelled to give way. Repeated attempts were made till after twelve at night, when the Earl of Wellington, seeing that success was not to be attained, and that Lieutenant-General Picton was established in the castle, the fourth and light divisions were 140ordered to the ground on which they had first assembled for the attack.
Major-General Leith in the meantime had pushed forward Major-General Walker’s brigade on the left, supported by the 38th., under Lieutenant-Colonel Nugent, and the 15th. Portuguese regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Do Rego; and he had made a false attack upon the Pardaleras, with the 8th. Caçadores, under Major Hill. Major-General Walker forced the barrier on the road of Olivença and entered the covered way on the left of the bastion of St. Vicente, close to the Guadiana. There he descended into the ditch, and escaladed the face of that bastion.
This proceeding was supported by Lieutenant-General Leith, with the 38th., and the 15th. Portuguese regiment; and the British troops being thus established in the castle, which commanded all the works of and in the town; and the fourth and light divisions being formed again for the attack of the breaches, all resistance ceased. At daylight in the morning of the 7th. of April, the Governor, General Philippon, who had retired to Fort St. Christoval, surrendered, together with the whole garrison, which consisted of five thousand men at the commencement of the siege, of whom one thousand two hundred were killed or wounded during the operations, besides those lost in opposing the assault. About three thousand five hundred prisoners were captured, being all that survived of the gallant garrison.
The regiments present at the capture of Badajos, were the 4th., 5th., 7th., 23rd., 27th., 30th., 38th., 40th., 43rd., 44th., 45th., 48th., 52nd., 60th., 74th., 77th., 83rd., 88th., 94th., and Rifle Brigade.
This success cost the British and Portuguese the following heavy casualties:—Seventy-two officers, fifty-one sergeants, two drummers, and nine hundred and ten rank and file killed; three hundred and six officers, two hundred and sixteen sergeants, seventeen drummers, and three thousand two hundred and forty-eight rank and file wounded. No wonder that the Iron Duke wept, when he saw that the glory of the capture was purchased at such a price.
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