LV. 1809. Hardships the troops. The night was cold and tempestuous; a severe storm СНАР. of wind and rain, mixed with sleet, burst upon the troops; and in the confusion of a nocturnal retreat, two divisions lost their way, and complete disorganisation ensued; inso- 51. Continues the much that a large part of the army became little better retreat to than a mass of stragglers, who were only prevented from Corunna becoming the prey of the pursuers by the fortunate cir- undergone by cumstance of none of his cavalry appearing in sight. Order having, at daylight, been in some degree restored, Sir John Moore collected the army into a solid mass, and the retreat to Corunna was effected without further molestation from the enemy, the night-march from Lugo having gained to the British twelve hours' start of their pursuers, which they were never afterwards able to regain; but notwithstanding this, it was nearly as disorderly and harassing as the preceding part had been. As the troops successively Jan. 11. arrived at the heights from whence the sea was visible, and Corunna, with its white citadel and towers, rose upon the view, all eyes were anxiously directed to the bay, in hopes that the joyful sight of a friendly fleet of transports might be seen; but the wide expanse was deserted, and a few coasters and fishing-boats alone were visible on the dreary main. Deeply did every one then lament that a battle had not been fought long before; and as the officers cast their eyes on the low sand-hills in front of the ramparts of the town, on which they well knew the contest for their embarkation must be sustained, they thought with poignant regret of the innumerable positions, a hundred times stronger, which, in the course of the retreat, might have been taken up for the encounter. Now, how- 2 Tor. ii. 199, ever, there was no alternative; the sea was in their front, 200. Lond. i the enemy in their rear; fight they must to secure the Nap. i. 487. means of embarkation, be the position favourable or unfavourable.1 278, 280 52. Corunna of The brigades, as they successively arrived, were passed on into the town, and all the means which circumstances would admit of taken to strengthen the land defences, Arrival at which, though regular, were very weak; the inhabitants the troops cheerfully and honourably joining in the toil, though they and the tranwell knew, from the preparations which were going for- Vigo Bay. ward, that an embarkation was intended. On the day Jan. 13. following, two powder-magazines, at a short distance with sports from Jan. 12. CHAP. LV. 1809. out the walls, containing four thousand barrels of powder, the gift of England, were blown up, with an explosion so terrific, that nothing in the whole course of the war approached to it. The coast resembled the sudden explosion of a volcano ; the city was shaken to its foundations, the rocks torn from their bases, the sea was tossed as in a tempest, the earth shook for leagues around; while slowly arose in the air a huge black cloud, shooting forth dazzling sparks, from whence, at a great height, stones burst forth with a prodigious sound, and fell with a sharp rattle in all directions. A stillness yet more awful ensued, broken only by the hoarse and sullen lashing of the still agitated waves on the shore.* On the following day, the transports from Vigo hove in sight, and soon after stood into the bay. Preparations were immediately made for the embarkation of the sick and wounded; the cavalry horses were almost all destroyed, and the greater part of the artillery, consisting of fifty-two pieces, put on board; Tor. ii. 198, eight British and four Spanish being only reserved for immediate use. Notwithstanding all the sufferings of the retreat, not one gun had been taken by the enemy.1 Jan. 14. 1 Lond. i. 278, 279. 199. Nap. i. 487, 488. 53. the British in front of Corunna. Meanwhile, the bulk of the army, still fourteen thou sand strong, was drawn up with great care by Sir John Position of Moore, on a range of heights, or rather of swelling knolls, which formed a sort of amphitheatre around the village of Elvina, at the distance of rather more than a mile from CORUNNA. Hope's division was on the left, its flank covered by the muddy stream of the Mero, commanding the road to Lugo; Baird's next, directly behind Elvina; then the rifles and Frazer's division, which watched the coast-road to St Jago, and was prepared to support any menaced point; General Paget, half a mile in the rear, with the reserve, at the village of Airis. The French, full twenty thousand strong, were posted on a higher semicircular ridge, sweeping round the lesser one occupied by the British at the distance of about a mile. Laborde's division was on the right, Merle's in the centre, *It is from Colonel Napier, an eye-witness, that this elegant description is taken. Whoever has had the good fortune to see that most sublime of spectacles, an eruption of Vesuvius, will have no difficulty in giving implicit credit to the graphic truth of the picture. The author witnessed one in 1818, and the act of transcribing these lines recalls, in all its vividness, the thrilling recollection of the matchless scene. CHAP LV. 1809. Mermet's on the left; their light field-pieces were distributed along the front of the line; the dragoons, under Lahoussaye, Lorge, and Franceschi, to which the English had nothing to oppose, clustered to the left of the infantry, and menaced the British right flank; while a great battery of twelve heavy guns, advantageously posted on a steep eminence between their foot and horse, not twelve hundred yards from Baird's division, was prepared to carry devastation along the whole line. From the inactivity of the French army during the two preceding days, Sir John Moore had been led to imagine that they had no serious intention of disquieting his retreat; and preparations, on the 16th, were making for withdrawing the Jan. 16. troops into the town as soon as the darkness would admit of its being done without observation. But, about noon, a general movement was seen along their whole line; and soon after, at two o'clock, their infantry, in four massy columns, was observed to be descending from the heights which they occupied, and advancing with a swift step towards the English position. Perceiving that the hour 1 Nap. 487, he had so long and so passionately wished for was at 488. Tor. ii. 199, 200. hand, Sir John Moore instantly galloped to the front; Lond. i. 278, the troops every where stood to their arms, and deployed 519, 523. into line; while the French, according to custom, ad- Jom. i. 116 vanced in long and deep columns, preceded by a cloud of light troops.1 280. South. 54. Corunna. Their onset, as at Vimeira, and in all the subsequent actions of the war, was extremely impetuous. A cloud of.skirmishers led the way, who drove in the English Battle of advanced posts with great vigour, and in the confusion Commenceof their retreat made themselves masters of Elvina, ment of the directly in front of the centre. As they drew near to the British position they deployed into line, and it soon appeared that they extended greatly beyond its extreme right; but the 4th regiment, which was there stationed, action. 372. Hope's noways discouraged by this alarming circumstance, threw 2 Jom. iii. back its right wing; and, presenting a front in two direc- 117. Ann. tions, in which attitude it advanced, was soon warmly Reg. 1809, engaged with the enemy. Highly delighted with this official Desp. display of presence of mind, and deeming the right Nap. i. 494, secure when intrusted to such intrepid defenders,2 Sir 116. John Moore rode up to Baird's division in the centre, LV. CHAP. which had now come to blows with their opponents there, who, having carried Elvina, were bursting through the enclosures which lay between its houses and the British with loud cries and all the exultation of victory. 1809. 55. Vehement struggle in the centre. The action now became extremely warm along the whole line. The French and English centres advanced to within pistol-shot of each other; and after exchanging a few volleys, the 50th and 42d charged bayonets, and drove the enemy opposed to them in the most gallant style back again through Elvina, and a considerable way up the slope on the other side. But this furious onset being carried too far, and not adequately supported, met with a severe check; the victorious troops, when broken by the enclosures and stone-walls on the other side of the village, were assailed in their turn by fresh French regiments, and driven back a second time through its streets, Major Napier, who commanded the 50th, being wounded and made prisoner. But Moore was at hand to repair the disorder. Instantly addressing the 42d regiment with the animating words, "Highlanders, remember Egypt!" and bringing up a battalion of the Guards to its support, he again led them forward to the charge. The shock was irresistible: borne back at the point of the bayonet, the enemy were again driven into Elvina, from whence, after battle. Ann. a desperate struggle, they were finally expelled with Reg. 1809, great slaughter. In this decisive contest, however, Sir p. 428. Nap. i. 494, 496. John Moore received a mortal wound from a cannonLond. 1. 285, shot; and Sir David Baird, struck down at the head of his 1 General Hope's ac count of the 286. Tor. ii. 201, 202. 56 Repulse of men, had been shortly before carried from the field in a senseless condition.1 Foiled in this attempt to pierce the centre, Soult re newed his attacks with Laborde's division on the left while a heavy column endeavoured to steal unperceived the French. round the British right, where they so greatly outflanked their opponents. But the ground on the left being in favour of the English, all his efforts were defeated with comparative ease; and General Hope, who commanded there, pressing forward in pursuit of the repulsed columns, carried the village of Palavio Abaxo, close under the enemy's original position, which remained in his hands at nightfall. At the same time, on the right, General Paget, with the reserve, not only at once CHAP. LV. 1809. perceived and advanced to meet the column which was endeavouring to turn his flank, but assailed it with such vigour, that it was thrown back upon Lahoussaye's dragoons, and the whole driven in disorder to the foot of the hill on which the great battery was placed. When night, arriving in that wintry season at an early hour, separated the combatants, the enemy was not only repulsed at all points, but the British line was considerably in front of the ground they had occupied at the commencement of the action. They held, on the left, Palavio Abaxo; in the centre, Elvina; and on the right were advanced to the acclivity of their central battery. Had Frazer's troops, stationed on the coast-road to St Jago on the extreme right, been at hand to support this splendid advance of the reserve, and an hour more of daylight remained, the enemy would have been routed. Had the cavalry been on the field, or the horses not foundered, he would have been thrown back in irretrievable confusion on the swampy stream of the Mero, now flooded by the full tide, and traversed only by a single arch at El Burgo, and totally annihilated. Night, however, having supervened when the success was still incomplete, and the means of embarking unmolested Hope's having been gained by the enemy's repulse, General Ann. Reg. 1809, p. Hope, upon whom the command had devolved, did not Nap. 1. 498, conceive himself warranted in making any change in the 499. Lond. i. preparations for departure; and after dark the troops 201, 202. were withdrawn into the town, where they were all got on board without either confusion or delay.1* Sir John Moore received his death-wound while animating the 42d to the charge. A cannon-ball struck his left breast, and beat him down by its violence to the *The British loss at Corunna was from 800 to 1000 men; that of the French was stated by their own officers to Colonel Napier at 3000; Sir John Hope estimated it at 1600, but it was at least 2000-a number which would doubtless appear surprisingly large, if the murderous effect of the fire of the British infantry, from the coolness and discipline of the men, were not decisively proved by every action throughout the war. The total loss of the army during the retreat was 4033, of whom 1397 were missing before the position at Lugo, and 2636 from that to the final embarkation of the army, including those who fell at Corunna : of this number 800 stragglers contrived to escape into Portugal, and being united with the sick left in that country, formed a corps of 1876 men, which afterwards did good service, both at Oporto and Talavera. Six three-pounders which never were horsed were thrown over the rocks near Villa-Franca: the guns used at Corunna, twelve in number, were spiked and buried in the sand, but afterwards discovered by the enemy. Not one, from first to last, was taken in fight.-See the General Returns quoted in NAPIER, i. App. No. 26. 1 Despatch, 373. 287. Tor. ii. |