Twenty-Five Years in the Rifle Brigade by Quartermaster William Surtees

Author:Quartermaster William Surtees [Surtees, Quartermaster William]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Biography, History, Spain & Portugal, Military, France
ISBN: 9781908692580
Google: kYU2rgEACAAJ
Goodreads: 38637226
Publisher: Wagram Press
Published: 2011-03-25T04:00:00+00:00

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CHAPTER X.

Advance in pursuit of the Enemy—Our Forces retreat, in order to counteract Soult's movements for the succour of Pamplona—Total defeat of Soult in the several Actions near Pamplona—Our Forces again advance—Come up with the retreating Enemy at the Bridge of Yanzi—The Enemy take up a position behind Vera—A considerable body of the Enemy attacked at the Pass of Eschallar, and forced to retreat.

We remained in bivouack all night where the battle had terminated; and did not begin to move till near mid-day on the 22d, when we set off in the track of the enemy, and at night reached Salvatiera, where King Joseph had slept the night after the action.

The poor beaten French must have had a long march after the fight, for this was probably sixteen or eighteen miles from Vittoria. We started early on the morning of the 23d, and very soon began to overtake the rear of the enemy. They now resorted to a system of retarding our march, at once both cruel and cowardly; every village they passed through they set on fire. Of course this caused us some delay, as the road generally ran through the middle of the village, and the country on each side was enclosed, but still nothing could justify such barbarity to the unoffending natives, who were thus deprived of house and home, and probably all they possessed in the world. We overtook their rearguard near a village about two leagues from Salvatiera. They attempted to make a stand while the village was in flames, but a shrapnell shell from our horse artillery set them instantly in motion. We came upon a considerable body of them again near the village of La Cunca, where we again cannonaded them, and where our people had some slight skirmishing with their rear.

We encamped for the night near this village, and again started after them in the morning early. My battalion led the column to-day, the post of honour. We had marched, I think, about eight or ten miles without overtaking any of the flying foe before us, but at last we came to an open country, that which we had traversed being pretty thickly enclosed, with bad roads and wet weather, which rendered marching very uncomfortable. Here a halt was ordered, as the enemy was in front in some force; here for the first time we got upon the great road leading from Pamplona towards Bayonne; and here, where it turned the corner of a mountain, forming a pretty acute angle, they had the only gun and howitzer they had saved from the fight in position, and ready to receive us. The men of my battalion, and a part of our 1st battalion, were ordered to put their knapsacks up behind the hussars of the German Legion, as it was not expected they would be wanted, and it thus rendered our people better able to run. The enemy appeared to have two battalions here, one of which remained on the great

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