CHAPTER V.

First operations of marshal Bessières-Spaniards defeated at Cabeçon, at Segovia, at Logroño, at Torquemada-French take St. Ander-Lefebvre-Desnouettes defeats the Spaniards on the Ebro, on the Huecha, on the Xalon-First siege of Zaragoza- Obser

vations.

As all the insurrections of the Spanish provinces took place nearly at the same period, the operations of the French divisions were nearly simultaneous; I shall, therefore, narrate their proceedings separately, classing them by the effect each produced upon the stability of the intrusive government of Madrid.

OPERATIONS OF MARSHAL BESSIÈRES.

This officer had scarcely fixed his quarters at Burgos when a general movement of revolt took place. On his right, the bishop of St. Ander excited the inhabitants of the diocese to take arms. In his rear, a

mechanic assembled some thousand armed peasants at the town of Logroño. In front, five thousand men took possession of the Spanish artillery dépôt at Segovia, and an equal number assembling at Palencia, advanced to the town of Torquemada, while general Cuesta, with some regular troops and a body of organized peasantry, took post on the Pisuerga at Cabeçon.'

Bessières immediately divided his disposable force, which was not more than twelve thousand men, into several columns, and traversing the country in all directions, disarmed the towns and interrupted the combinations of the insurgents, while a division of Dupont's corps, under general Frère, marched from the side of Madrid to aid his efforts. General Verdier attacked Logroño on the 6th of June, dispersed the peasantry, and put the leaders to death after the action. General La Salle, departing from Burgos with a brigade of light cavalry, passed the Pisuerga, fell upon the Spaniards at Torquemada on the 7th, broke them, and pursuing with a merciless sword, burnt that town, and

1 Moniteur-Victoires et Conquêtes des Français.

entered Palencia on the 8th. Meanwhile Frère defeated the Spanish force at Segovia, taking thirty pieces of artillery; and general Merle, marching through the country.lying between the Pisuerga and the Duero with a division of infantry, joined La Salle at Dueñas on the 12th; from thence they proceeded to Cabeçon, where Cuesta accepting battle, was overthrown, with much slaughter, the loss of his artillery, and several thousand muskets.

The flat country being thus subdued, La Salle's cavalry remained to keep it under, while Merle, marching northward, commenced operations, in concert with general Ducos, against the province of St. Ander. On the 20th, the latter general drove the Spaniards from the pass of Soncillo; the 21st, he forced the pass of Venta de Escudo, and descending the valley of the river Pas, approached St. Ander; on the 22d, Merle, after some resistance, penetrating by Lantueño, followed the course of the Besaya to Torre La Vega, then turning to his right, entered St. Ander on the 23d; Ducos arrived at the same time, the town submitted, and the bishop fled with the greatest part of the clergy. The authorities of Segovia, Valladolid, Palencia, and St. Ander were then compelled to send deputies to take the oath of allegiance to Joseph. By these operations, the above-named provinces were completely disarmed, and so awed by the activity of Bessières that no further insurrections took place, his cavalry raised contributions and collected provisions without the least difficulty; Frère's division then returned to Toledo, and from thence marched to San Clemente, on the borders of Murcia.

While Bessières thus broke the northern insurrections, the march of general Lefebvre-Desnouettes against the province of Aragon brought on the first siege of Zaragoza. To that place had flocked from the most distant parts, soldiers, flying from Madrid and Pampeluna, the engineers of the school of Alcala, and all the retired officers in Aragon. With their assistance Palafox's forces were rapidly organized, and numerous battalions were posted on the roads leading to Navarre. The baron de Versage, an officer of the Walloon guards, occupied Calatayud with a regiment composed of students, and made a levy there to protect the powder-mills of Villa Felice, and to keep a communication with Soria and Siguenza. The arsenal of Zaragoza supplied the patriots with arms; the people of Tudela broke their bridge on the Ebro, and Palafox reenforced them with five hundred fusiliers.

It was in this situation of affairs Lefebvre commenced his march from Pampeluna the 7th of June, at the head of three or four thousand infantry, some field batteries, and a regiment of Polish cavalry. On the 9th he forced the passage of the Ebro, put the leaders of the insurrection to death, after the action, and then continued his movement by the right

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bank to Mallen. On the Huecha, Palafox with ten thousand infantry, two hundred dragoons, and eight pieces of artillery, disputed the passage, but on the 13th, he was overthrown. The 14th, the French reached the Xalon, where another combat and another victory carried Lefebvre across that river. The 15th he was on the Huerba, in front of the heroic city.'

FIRST SIEGE OF ZARAGOZA.

Zaragoza contained fifty thousand inhabitants. Situated on the right bank of the Ebro, it was connected with a suburb, on the opposite side, by a handsome stone bridge; its immediate vicinity was flat, and on the side of the suburb low and marshy. The small river Huerba, running through a deep cleft, cut the plain on the right bank, and taking its course close to the walls, fell into the Ebro nearly opposite to the mouth of the Gallego, which, descending from the mountains on the opposite side, also cut the plain on the left bank. The convent of St. Joseph, built on the right of the Huerba, covered a bridge over that torrent, and, at the distance of cannon-shot, a step of land commenced, which, gradually rising, terminated at eighteen hundred yards from the convent, in a hill called the Monte Torrero. On this hill, which commanded all the plain and overlooked the town, several storehouses, built for the use of the canal, were intrenched, and occupied by twelve hundred men, and the canal itself, a noble work, furnished water carriage without a single lock from Tudela to Zaragoza.2

The city, surrounded by a low brick wall, presented no regular defences, and possessed very few guns in a serviceable state; but the houses were strongly constructed, and for the most part of two stories, each story vaulted, so as to be nearly fire-proof. Every house had its garrison, and the massive convents, rising like castles, around the circuit and inside the place, were crowded with armed men. Such was Zaragoza when Lefebvre-Desnouettes appeared before it, his previous movements having cut the direct communication with Calatayud, and obliged the baron Versage to retire to Belchite with his volunteers and fresh levies.

Palafox had occupied the olive groves and houses on the step of land between the convent of St. Joseph and Monte Torrero; but his men, cowed by their previous defeats, were easily driven from thence on the 16th. The town was then closely invested on the right bank of the Ebro, and so great was the terror of the Spaniards, that some of the French, penetrating without difficulty into the street of St. Engracia, were like to have taken the city.4 Palafox, accompanied by his brother

1 S.: Journal of Lefebvre's Operations, MS.-Moniteur - Victoires et Conquêtes des Français-Cavallero. 2 Cavallero; Siege of Zaragoza. 3 S. Journal of Lefebvre's

Operations, MSS. 4 Cavallero.

Francisco, an aide-de-camp, and one hundred dragoons, endeavoured, under pretence of seeking succour, to go forth on the side of the suburb at the moment when the French were entering on the side of Engracia; but the plebeian leaders, suspicious of his intentions, would not suffer him to depart without a guard of infantry, commanded by Tio, or goodman Jorge. It was this person and Tio Marin, who by their energy contributed most to the defence of the city in the first siege; but for them Palafox who has gathered the honours, would have fled at one gale, while the enemy was pressing in at another, and Zaragoza was then on the verge of destruction, for the streets were filled with clamour, the troops making little resistance, and all things in confusion. But the French, either fearful of an ambuscade or ignorant of their advantages, suddenly retired, and then the people as if inspired, changed from the extreme of terror to that of courage, suddenly fell to casting up defences, piercing loopholes in the walls of the houses, and constructing ramparts with sand-bags, working with such vigour, that under the direction of their engineers, in twenty-four hours they put the place in a condition to withstand an assault. Whereupon Lefebvre, confining his operations to the right bank of the Ebro, established posts close to the gates, and waited for re-enforcements.

Meanwhile Palafox, crossing the Ebro at Pina, joined Versage at Belchite, and having collected seven or eight thousand men and four pieces of artillery, gained the Xalon in rear of the French. From thence he proposed to advance through Epila and relieve Zaragoza by a battle, but his officers, amazed at this project, resisted his authority, and would have retired upon Valencia.' Nevertheless, ignorant of war, and probably awed by Tio Jorge, he expressed his determination to fight, saying, with an imposing air, "that those who feared might retire." Touched with shame, all agreed to follow him to Epila; but two French regiments, detached by Lefebvre, met him on the march, and the Spaniards, unable to form any order of battle, were, notwithstanding their superior numbers, defeated with the loss of three thousand men. Palafox, who did not display that firmness in danger which his speech promised, must have fled early, for he reached Calatayud in the night, although many of his troops arrived there unbroken the next morning. After this disaster, leaving Versage at Calatayud, to make fresh levies, the Spanish chief repaired, with all the beaten troops that he could collect, to Belchite, and from thence regained Zaragoza on the 2d of July.

Meanwhile Lefebvre had taken the Monte Torrero by assault, and on the 29th of June, was joined by general Verdier with a division of infantry and a large battering train; and being then twelve thousand strong, attacked the convents of St. Joseph and the Capuchins, the very

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day that Palafox returned. A first assault on St. Joseph's failed, but the second succeeded, and the Capuchins, after some fighting, was set fire to by the Spaniards and abandoned. All this time the suburb was left open and free for the besieged; and Napoleon, who blamed this mode of attack, sent orders to throw a bridge across the Ebro,-to press the siege on the left bank, -and to profit of the previous success, by raising a breaching battery in the convent of St. Joseph. A bridge was accordingly constructed at St. Lambert, two hundred yards above the town, and two attacks were carried on at the same time. A change also took place in the command, for hitherto the French troops employed in the siege formed a part of marshal Bessières' corps, but the emperor now directed Lefebvre to rejoin that marshal with a brigade, and then constituting the ten thousand men who remained with Verdier a separate corps, gave him the command.

Verdier continued to press the siege as closely as his numbers would permit, but around him, the insurgents were rapidly organizing small armies and threatened to enclose him in his camp, wherefore he sent detachments against them; and it is singular that, with so few men, while daily fighting with the besieged, he should have been able to scour the country, and put down the insurrection, as far as Lerida, Barbastro, Tudela, Jaca, and Calatayud, without any assistance save what the garrison of Pampeluna could give him from the side of Navarre. In one of these expeditions the powder-mills of Villa Felice, thirty miles distant, were destroyed, and the baron Versage was defeated, and forced to retire with his division towards Valencia.3

2

During the course of July, Verdier made several assaults on the gate of El Carmen, and the Portillo, but he was repulsed in all, and the besieged having been re-enforced by the regiment of Estramadura, composed of eight hundred old soldiers, made a sally with two thousand men to retake the Monte Torrero; they were, however, beaten, with the loss of their commander, and regular approaches were then commenced by the French against the quarter of St. Engracia and the castle of Aljaferia. The 2d of August, the besieged were again re-enforced by two hundred men of the Spanish guards and volunteers of Aragon, who brought some artillery with them; but the French also, were strengthened by two old regiments of the line, which increased their numbers to fifteen thousand men ; and on the 3d, the breaching batteries opened against St. Engracia and Aljaferia; the mortars threw shells at the same time, and a Spanish magazine of powder blowing up in the Cosso, a public walk formed on the line of the ancient Moorish ramparts, destroyed several houses, and killed many of the defenders. The place was then

1 S. Journal of Lefebvre's Operations, MSS. 2 Napoleon's notes; Appendix, No. II.

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