BOOK X. allies to destroy, the bridges at Rosslau and Acken, pushing a small corps to Zerbst, by which he CHAP. IX. gave some ground to believe, that he meant to march down the right bank of the Mulda, to pass 1813. the Elbe at Wittenberg, and to repass again at Magdeburg. This feint hadthe effect of inducing the prince-royal to fall back to Cothen, where he assembled his army. Finding, however, that the movement of the enemy on the right bank of the Elbe had no other consequence, he decided to return to General Blucher, and to take his post in the general action with that general.

Reports having been received of the march of General Benningsen and Count Colloredo, the army marched on the 15th from Altenberg to Pegau, (the place of assembly on the morning of the battle of Lutzen); and it was determined to attack the enemy the following morning. Accordingly the heads of all the columns advanced towards the enemy's position at day-break on the 16th; General Blucher by Schenditz to Golitz and Wetteritz; General Giulay by Lutzen, on Lindenau; General Count Meerveldt between the Elster and Pleisse, on Connewitz; General Prince of Hesse Homburg, on the right bank of the Elster, in the same direction, to support Count Wittgenstein, towards Wachaw, with General Kleist on his right, towards Liebert Wolkowitz; and General Klenau on the extreme right towards Fuchshayn on the Grimmal road.

The enemy occupied the only ridge in this plain in front of the named places, behind the centre of which, towards Leipsic, Bonaparte's tent was pitched. He was also in force at Connewitz, on the side of General Giulay's advance, and towards General Blucher.

At half-past nine, immediately on the emperor's arrival on the field, the cannonade began with Count Wittgenstein's corps, and immediately extended to both flanks on the whole position, and was continued without any intermission till after dark at night.

Count Wittgenstein almost immediately drove the enemy from the heights opposed to him, and the whole ridge was for some time occupied by the allies; but a large force of infantry and cavalry, opposed to General Kleist, occasioned a continual contest during the whole morning.

Count Meerveldt having advanced to Connewitz, beyond the right of the force opposed to Count Wittgenstein, repaired the bridge which had been destroyed on the Pleisse at Lolitz, and was about to pass over, when, unfortunately, his horse was killed, and himself taken prisoner by a column of the enemy, which was supposed to be a division of the allies retiring.

At the same time Murat, at the head of an immense body of cavalry, appeared on the ridge, on the right of Count Wittgenstein; and judging

that he had time to attack before the Russian reserve could come up to him, he sent on the light artillery of the guard, and immediately afterwards charged with his masses of cavalry. The Russian reserve had broken ground in its front, which rendered it impossible for the cuirassiers to meet him with the velocity they desired; but the cavalry of Count Wittgenstein's corps attacked him in flank, and he retired with as much precipitation as he advanced.

During the preparation of Murat's attack, the Austrian cavalry was greatly distinguished; they made nine charges on the enemy's right, in some of which they swept the whole front with great slaughter. The Russian cuirassiers having advanced, together with the guards and grenadiers, and the latter having occupied a wood on their right, no further attack was made; but the cannonade and fire of the tirailleurs continued till after dark, when the troops lay upon their arms, upon the ground they occupied.

General Giulay, opposed by superior force, could not penetrate. General Blucher had a brilliant action, and defeated the force opposed to him, taking upwards of thirty pieces of cannon, an eagle, and more than 2,000 prisoners.

The next morning, at day-break, Count Wittgenstein's corps appeared on the ground from whence he had driven the enemy, but the heads of columns of the French cavalry and infantry were on their right on the same ridge, the cannon on each side almost within musket-shot, and the videttes within pistol-shot; and in this attitude the armies remained the whole day, without firing a shot, except some accidental skirmishing by the advanced men. Three great corps were advancing rapidly to join the allies; it was therefore evidently not to their advantage to renew the attack, unless either General Blucher, or the field-marshal, was attacked by the enemy, in which case either would have advanced immediately to support the other. Count Colloredo arrived at the village of Magdeborn at noon, and in the evening relieved Count Wittgenstein, who be came his support. In the evening also part of General Benningsen's corps arrived, and would have immediately marched upon the enemy's flank, had not the general been made acquainted, while framing his attack, that the action was postponed. The prince-royal also sent notice, that he would arrive on General Blucher's left by the afternoon of the next day.

On the 18th, the disposition for a general ac tion was carried into effect; Marshal Schwartzenberg's order of battle, from left to right, was as follows:-Count Colloredo's corps, supported by the Austrian reserve, and connected with General Meerveldt's corps; Count Wittgenstein and Gen. Kleist supported the Russian reserve; General Klenau, his right a little brought forward, sup

ported also by Russian grenadiers; General Benningsen, his right still more advanced towards Posa; beyond the morass on his right, General Bubna, and Count Platoff were advanced, connecting between General Benningsen and the prince-royal.

General Blucher was to advance between his royal highness and the great morass which extends from Merseburg to Leipsic; and General Giulay in his original direction from Lutzen upon Lindenau..

The village of Liebert Wolkowitz was the point to which all the attacks, under the direction of the field-marshal, were to point; the corps advancing towards a central point, thereby becoming gradually more closely connected, and the more distant corps on the right advancing first.

The enemy occupied the villages with masses in their rear, but the more distant posts were carried without being much supported, the masses retiring with precipitation towards the suburbs of Leipsic. All the villages, however, were defended with cannon, which rendered the action and the cannonade general over the whole extent of the plain. Some of the villages nearest Leipsic were most obstinately disputed. The whole plain was covered with bodies of dead men and horses; and the ruins of the villages were full of heaps of dead and dying. Every part of the combination succeeded. General Blucher's left, connected with the prince-royal's advanced corps, consisting of the Russians and Prussians, came into action in the afternoon, having approached by Taucha. Towards the latter part of the day, by far the most serious and obstinate efforts of attack and defence were made at the villages of Stetteritz and Probsteyda, the former of which was taken and re-taken several times; the latter held out till dark. Napoleon was several hours between these villages, animating his men, and sending in fresh troops till dark; and it must be confessed, that they were most gallantly defended. A large body of Westphalian and Saxon troops, with 22 pieces of artillery, came over to the allies during the action.

The Emperor of Russia was with his army during the whole of the three days; on the first he was joined in the field by the king, who had remained at Toplitz, and had accompanied Gen. Benningsen's army in its actions near Pirna, and before Dresden.

In the afternoon of the 18th, the Emperor of Austria arrived, and joined the other monarchs near the village of Probsteyda, where their majesties remained till dark.

The enemy had then been driven from every part of his position, into a circle within cannonshot of Leipsic, from whence a column had already begun its march towards the south-west. In the

night, the villages of Stetteritz and Probsteyda BOOK X. were abandoned, and occupied by the allies; but Bonaparte continued to hold Leipsic, and the CuAP. IX. villages connected with the suburbs, with a strong rear-guard towards the allies.

Early on the 19th, the Emperor Alexander received a flag of truce, sent in the name of the King of Saxony, offering to capitulate to save the town. His imperial majesty gave his answer aloud, in the hearing of many bundred officers, with remarkable force and dignity: he said, in substance, that an army in pursuit of a flying enemy, and in the hour of victory, could not be stopped a moment by considerations for the town; that, therefore, the gates must be immediately opened, and, in that case, the most strict discipline should be observed; that if the German troops in the place chose to join their countrymen in this army, they should be received as brothers; but that he considered any proposal sent, while Napoleon was at hand, as extremely suspicious, as he well knew the enemy he had to deal with; that as to the King of Saxony personally, who had taken a line of determined hostility, he gave no answer, and declined making any communication.

The heavy cannon and columns of attack were ordered to advance. In the meanwhile, the prince-royal attacked and stormed the city on the other side, a Prussian corps being the first in the square.

General Toll, who had been sent with the Saxon flag of truce, to ensure the correct delivery of the message, was, at that moment, in the King of Saxony's apartment, and, running out, called to the Saxon guards to lay down their' arms, which they instantly did; their example' was followed by the Baden and Wurtemburg troops. The action continued some time in the further part of the town, and, before it ceased, the emperor and the king entered with the fieldmarshal, and met the prince-royal at the door of the King of Saxony's quarters. Gen. Blucher arrived also at the same time. All the cannon was takeu.

Thus the allies gained a complete victory, and Bonaparte left Leipsic at nine in the morning of October 19, and retired with such precipitation and disorder, that Generals Regnier, Lauriston, Bertrand, and several others, were taken in Leipsic or near it. The intention of the enemy being apparent, the Russian reserve, and the troops. which had been least engaged, marched at an early hour up the Elster, to endeavour to stop him; Cossacks having been already detached under the Hettman Count Platoff, to destroy bridges, and to occasion every possible difficulty and embarrassment. General Blucher had also detached a strong corps, to go up the left bank of the Saale.

1818.

60,000 30,000 25,000

142,000

Thus, of 220,000 men, not more than 78,000 remained after the 19th, and these were dispersed and dispirited, and closely pursued. Of the allies an effective army of 200,000 men still remained.

HITHERTO, for nearly two years, the war conducted by the Marquis of Wellington was necessarily termed the war in Portugal; and when the success of the British army and of its gallant commanders took the towns of Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo, and thereby transferred their direct operations to Spain, its name was changed to that of the war in the Peninsula. After the victory of Vittoria it became the war of the Pyrenees. In a few days, the British commander and his army had traversed the Peninsula from one frontier to the other; and his stages were marked by a succession of triumphs.

General Clauzel, with two or three divisions of the army of the north, not having been engaged in the battle of Vittoria, was occupied in the Asturias, and in the maritime parts of Biscay. After his intelligence of the battle, this French general, being thereby confounded in all his plans, was unwilling to abandon the Asturias to the Guerillas, though at the same time apprehensive that his march towards the routed armies would be intercepted. The Marquis of Wellington, for the purpose of relieving the Asturias, sent a detachment of considerable force towards Logrona, and another towards Tudela, where he must have

2

passed. Notwithstanding these detachments had' been most judiciously stationed, General Clauzel, partly by good fortune, and partly by an unexampled alacrity, effected his escape, and ultimately put himself in safety at Saragossa.

General Graham had hunted the enemy to the very foot of the mountains, and had crossed the small but deep mountain river, the Bidassoa, which separates France from Spain. The enemy, as if ashamed of the battle of Vittoria, and of their cowardly desertion of their own cause in that memorable contest, collected their spirits, and made efforts, in some degree, to recover their lost character. General Foy, an officer of known merit, having united the garrisons of Bilboa, Tolosa, and Mondragon, to his own division of the army of Portugal, opposed a good resistance to General Graham, and, upon the whole, fought with bravery and courage.

The Spanish army of reserve, under the Count d'Abisbal, marched in the rear of the allies, and was entrusted with the siege of the strong post of Pancorvo, on the high Burgos road. In the ma-nagement of this affair they acted with the greatest gallantry, and at length accomplished the task assigned to them.

Lieut.-general Sir J. Murray, indeed, thought himself obliged to raise the siege of Tarragona, on the arrival of Marshal Suchet, which occasioned much disappointment, as this expedition had excited great interest. The naval and military forces performed their duty; they took the fort, and thereby, as they imagined, secured the rear of Sir John Murray.

Two practicable breaches having been effected at San Sebastian, July 24, orders were given that they should be attacked the next morning. The attempt to obtain possession of the place failed, with considerable loss on the side of the allied

army.

Marshal Soult had been appointed Lieutenant de l'Empereur and commander-in-chief of the French armies in Spain and the southern provinces of France, by a decree imperial, on the Ist of July; and he joined and took the command of the army on the 13th; which having been joined, nearly about the same time, by the corps which had been in Spain under the command of Gen. Clauzel, and by other reinforcements, was called the army of Spain, and re-formed into nine divisions of infantry, forming the right, centre, and left, under the command of General Reille; Comte d'Erlon, and General Clauzel, as lieutenant-generals, and a reserve under General Villatte; and two divisions of dragoons and one of light cavalry, the two former under the command of Generals Treillard and Tilly, and the latter under the command of General Pierre Soult. There was besides allotted to the army a large proportion of artillery, and a considerable number of guns had already joined.

The allied army was posted in the passes of the mountains. Major-general Byng's brigade of British infantry, and General Murillo's division of Spanish infantry, were on the right, in the pass of Roncesvalles. Lieutenant-general Sir Lowry Cole was posted at Viscarret, to support those troops and Lieutenant-general Sir Thomas Picton, with the third division, at Glaque, in re

serve.

Lieutenant-general Sir Rowland Hill occupied the valley of Bastan, with the remainder of the second division, and the Portuguese division, under the Conde de Amarante, detaching General Campbell's Portuguese brigade to Los Alduides, within the French territory. The light and seventh divisions occupied the heights of Santa Barbara, and the town of Vera, and the Puerto de Echalar, and kept the communication with the valley of Bastan; and the sixth division was in reserve at San Estevan. General Longa's division kept the communication between the troops at Vera, and those under Lieutenant-general Sir Thomas Graham, and Marischal del Campo Giron, on the great road. The Conde del Abisbal blockaded Pamplona.

On the 24th, Marshal Soult collected the right and left wings of his army, with one division of his centre, and two divisions of cavalry, at St. Jean de Pied de Port, and on the 25th attacked, with between 30 and 40,000 men, General Byng's post at Roncesvalles. Lieutenant-general Sir Lowry Cole moved up to his support with the fourth division, and these officers were enabled to maintain their post throughout the day. But the enemy turned it in the afternoon; and Lieutenant-general Sir Lowry Cole considered it to be necessary to withdraw in the night; and he marched to the neighbourhood of Zubiri. In the actions which took place on this day, the 20th regiment distinguished themselves. Two divisions of the centre of the enemy's army attacked Sir Rowland Hill's position in the Puerto de Maya, at the head of the valley of Bastan, in the afternoon of the same day. The brunt of the action fell upon Major-general Pringle's and Major-general Walker's brigades in the second division, under the command of Lieutenant-general the honorable W. Stewart. These troops were at first obliged to give way; but having been supported by Major-general Barnes's brigade of the 7th division, they regained that part of their post, which was the key of the whole, and would have enabled them to re-assume it, if circumstances had permitted it; but Sir Rowland Hill having been apprized of the necessity that Sir Lowry Cole should retire, deemed it expedient to withdraw his troops likewise to Irurita; and the enemy did not advance on the following day beyond the Puerto de Maya.

Notwithstanding the enemy's superiority of numbers, they acquired but little advantage over these brave troops during the seven hours they were engaged. All the regiments charged with the bayonet. The conduct of the 82d regiment, which moved up with Major-general Barnes's brigade, was truly gallant.

Lord Wellington was not apprized of these events till late in the night of the 25th and 26th; and he adopted immediate measures to concentrate the army to the right, still providing for the siege of San Sebastian, and for the blockade of Pamplona. This would have been effected early on the 27th, only that Lieutenant-general Sir Lowry Cole, and Lieutenant-general Sir Thomas Picton concurred in thinking their post at Zubiri not tenable for the time during which it would have been necessary to wait in it. They, therefore, retired early on the 27th, and took up a position to cover the blockade of Pamplona, having the right, consisting of the third division, in front of Huarte, and extending to the hills beyond Olaz; and the left, consisting of the 4th division, Majorgeneral Byng's, and Brigadier-general Campbell's Portuguese brigade, on the heights in front of Villalba, having their left at a chapel behind So

BOOK X.

CHAP. X.

1813.

BOOK X. rausen, on the high road from Ostiz to Pamplona, and their right resting upon a height which deCHAP. X. fended the high road from Zubiri and Roncesvalles. General Murillo's division of Spanish 1813. infantry, and that part of the Conde del Abisbal's corps not engaged in the blockade, were in reserve. From the latter, the regiment of Travia, and that of El Principe, were detached to occupy part of the hill on the right of the fourth division, by which the road from Zubiri was defended.

The British cavalry, under Lieutenant-general Sir Stapleton Cotton, were placed near Huarte on the right, being the only ground on which it was possible to use the cavalry.

The British commander-in-chief joined the third and fourth divisions just as they were taking up their ground on the 27th; and, shortly afterwards, the enemy formed their army on a mountain; the front of which extended from the high road to Ostiz, to the high road to Zubiri; and they placed one division on their left of that road, on a height, and in some villages in front of the third division. They had here also a large body of cavalry. In a short time after they had taken up their ground, the enemy attacked the bill, on the right of the fourth division, which was then occupied by one battalion of the 4th Portuguese regiment, and by the Spanish regiment of Pravia. The troops defended their ground, and drove the enemy from it with the bayonet. Seeing the importance of this hill to their position, Lord Wellington reinforced it with the 40th regiment; and this regiment, with the Spanish regiments of El Principe and Pravia, held it from this time, notwithstanding the repeated efforts of the enemy, during the 27th and 28th, to obtain possession of it.

Nearly at the same time that the enemy attacked this height on the 27th, they took possession of the village of Sorausen, on the road to Ostiz, by which they acquired the communication by that road, and they kept up a fire of musketry along the line till it was dark.

Having been joined on the morning of the 28th, by the sixth division of infantry, Lord Wellington directed that the heights should be occupied on the left of the valley of the Lanz; and that the sixth division should form across the valley in rear of the left of the fourth division, resting their right on Oricain, and their left upon the heights above-mentioned. The sixth division had scarcely taken their position when they were attacked by a very large force of the enemy, which had been assembled in the village of Sorausen. Their front was, however, so well defended by the fire of their own light troops from the heights on their left, and by the fire from the heights occupied by the fourth division and Brigadier-general Campbell's Portuguese brigade, that the enemy were soon driven back with immense loss, from a fire on their front, both flanks and rear.

In order to extricate their troops from the difficulty in which they found themselves in their situation in the valley of the Lanz, the enemy now attacked the height on which the left of the fourth division stood, which was occupied by the 7th caçadores, of which they obtained a momentary possession. They were attacked, however, again by the 7th caçadores, supported by Majorgeneral Ross, at the head of his brigade of the fourth division, and were driven down with great loss.

The battle now became general along the whole front of the heights occupied by the fourth division, and in every part in favor of the allied army, excepting where one battalion of the 10th Portuguese regiment of Major-general Campbell's brigade was posted. This battalion having been overpowered, and having been obliged to give way immediately on the right of Majorgeneral Ross's brigade, the enemy established themselves on their line, and Major-general Ross was obliged to withdraw from his post.

The British commander, however, ordered the 27th and 48th regiments to charge, first that body of the enemy which had first established themselves on the height, and next those on the left. Both attacks succeeded, and the enemy were driven down with immense loss; and the sixth division having moved forward at the same time to a situation in the valley, nearer to the left of the fourth, the attack upon this front ceased entirely, and was continued but faintly on other points of their line. In the course of this contest, the gallant fourth division, which had so frequently been distinguished in this army, surpassed their former good conduct. Every regiment charged with the bayonet; and the 40th, 7th, 20th, and 23d, four different times. Their officers set them the example, and Major-general Ross had two horses shot under him. The Portuguese troops likewise behaved admirably; as did also the Spanish regiments del Principe and Pravia.

Lieutenant-general Sir Rowland Hill had been ordered to march by Lanz upon Lizasso, as soon as Lieutenant-general Sir Thomas Picton and Sir Lowry Cole had moved from Zubiri; and Lieutenant-general the Earl of Dalhousie, from St. Estevan, to the same place, where both arrived on the 28th, and the seventh division came to Marcalain.

The enemy's force which had been in front of Sir Rowland Hill, followed his march, and arrived at Ostiz on the 29th. The enemy thus reinforced, and occupying a position in the mountaius which appeared little liable to attack, and finding that they could make no impression of their front, determined to endeavour to turn their left by an attack on Sir Rowland Hill's corps. They reinforced, with one division, the troops