1808.]

DEATH OF GENERAL GOBERT.

101

action; on the contrary, he did nothing whatever, but waited patiently for the crisis. This soon arrived. The Spanish General Castaños, though not looked upon as a great commander, was syste matically disposing his troops in the country around for an attack on the French. He divided his force into four divisions: the first, comprising his right, consisted of 10,000 of his best troops, and was commanded by Reding, a Swiss; the second 6,000 strong, was commanded by the Marquis de Compigni, an old officer of the Walloon Guard; the third was in charge of an Irishman, Don Felix Jones; and the fourth, consisting of 8,000 or 10,000 men, was regarded as the reserve under Don Manuel de le Pêna. On the 9th of July, the Spanish head-quarters were advanced to Arjoneilla, and General Reding to Jaen. On the 14th, the heights to the south of the river were crowned with irregular Spanish riflemen, who obliged the French to stand to their arms. Dupont sent an officer to destroy the bridge of Maimelejo, on his right, and directed Vedel, from Baylen, to send a detachment to Mengibar on his left, and to send constant patroles from his side to Rumblar to meet those which he would send from Andujar. On the 15th, the Spaniards, under General Lefranc, came down the mountains upon the French right wing, and accordingly Dupont, desirous of concentrating his force, ordered in Vedel to come in from Baylen, and that Gobert should descend from Carolina to take up the ground at Baylen quitted by Vedel, which was done the same night, leaving General Belair with 1,500 men to hold Mengibar. Gobert sent word to the General-inChief that he had obeyed his directions, but that he left the enemy in force at La Carolina, and that he had been obliged to abandon Linares and bring down the cuirassiers to the support of Belair.

On the 16th, in the morning, the Spanish divisions appeared in force on the banks of the Guadalquivir on every side. Don Juan de la Cruz had repaired the bridge of Maimelejo and crossed the river there, while the Marquis de Compigni endeavoured, but in vain, to cross at Villa Nueva de le Reyna; but it was at Mengibar where the real attack was made, where Reding crossed and drove back Belair. Gobert immediately marched down troops from Baylen to his support, but the division was encountered on the road in open retreat. In the act of rallying them, General Gobert was struck on the head by a ball, of which he died, and Brigadier Dufour assumed the command. He immediately put himself at the head of the cuirassiers, which not only effectually covered the further retreat to Baylen, but stayed the advance of the Spaniards, whom he made to recross the Guadal-quivir. An idle cannonade continued for some time between the two banks, and General Fresia, in the meantime, succeeded in driving back the Guerillas who had descended upon Andujar from the mountains. Dupont, on hearing of the death of Gobert, ordered back Vedel in the night to Baylen. During this affair the insurgents, under Colonel Valdecanos, marched up from Baeza and occupied Linares, from which a road leads up to La Carolina by Guarroman, and Dufour, satisfied at having cleared his front of the enemy, now fell back to repel this demonstration in his rear. When, therefore, Vedel reached

102

GENERAL DUPRÉ MORTALLY WOUNDED.

[A.D. Baylen he found there neither friends nor enemies. He immediately sent out patroles towards Mengibar, but met with no insurgents in that direction; then, hastily concluding that the Spaniards were advancing behind him through the mountain to cut him off from the pass, he at once followed Dufour to Guarroman, and pushed forward his reconnoissance as far into the pass as Despéna Perros. He reported his apprehensions to Dupont, who replied approvingly, but added, "Mettez le poste de Baylen en sûreté." When next, he heard, however, from Vedel, it was to report his retreat on the 18th to La Carolina. Dupont felt the extreme danger of leaving Baylen unoccupied between him and Vedel, and immediately taking measures to break up from Andujar, without being perceived by Castaños, marched away to Baylen; but he was too late. The Spaniards were of course excellently well served with intelligence, and no sooner was it known that Vedel had retired up the mountain pass, and that Dupont was preparing to march, than the divisions of Reding and De Compigny crossed the Guadalquivir, on the same day, and uniting their forces took quiet possession of Baylen, while Castaños made demonstrations of advance in front and flank of Andujar, which the French had little difficulty in repelling, but Dupont was at the moment in utter ignorance of the occupation of Baylen. Thus situated, he set his army in motion on the evening of the same day, to march as soon as the heat of the day had passed, after having dismantled the tête de pont and destroyed the bridge at Andujar. At half-past 3, on the evening of the 19th, the march was suddenly interrupted at the rivulet of the Rumblar (over which is a stone bridge) by a host of skirmishers, and by guns established in battery on the side of Baylen. He felt that he must at all hazards force the passage, and ordered forward the Brigade Chabert, supported by the dragoons of General Dupré, with the Swiss under General Schramm, in reserve. These were met by the Walloon Guards, under Reding, and the regiment of horse called Los ordenes militares, under Don Francisco de Saavedra. In the conflict, Dupré was mortally wounded, and Schramm, at the head of the Swiss, was struck down. The light guns of the French answered feebly the 12pounders which the Spaniards had placed in battery, and the superiority of their force enabled them to send flanking parties to threaten the French wings. In vain Dupont sent against them the cavalry under General Pryor, which could not act because of the olive-yards which abounded here, and the brigade Pannetier; but, although these last had partial success, there now appeared on the heights between the Rumblar and Baylen two solid lines of soldiers. Dupont refused the counsel given to him to cut his way through, and gain La Carolina, but placed himself at the head of the marines of the Imperial Guard, and charged the first line of the enemy. His troops, however, fatigued by their night march and gasping under the noonday heat, could make no impression on the Swiss troops under Reding; and, in the middle of the fight the Suisses-Françoises, under De Freuler, unwilling to contend with their countrymen any longer, passed over in a body of 1,600 men to the Spanish lines.

1808.]

CAPITULATION OF BAYLEN.

103

The unfortunate Commander-in-Chief, in despair, listened in the hope that General Vedel's division might be advancing to his aid, and, to his delight, he heard the sound of cannon; but it was not from the side of La Carolina but from the rear, where the leading troops of Castaños, under General de la Pena, announced his approach to General Reding by discharges of artillery. Under these circumstances there was no resource but to endeavour to treat with the enemy, and Dupont sent M. de Villoutreys to demand a suspension of arms, to which Reding assented; but when the same officer went with the same proposition to General de la Pena, on the other side, he flatly refused to concede anything, and referred the bearer to General Castaños. In the meantime, the fire ceased on both sides, and the troops rested in their positions during the night. The answer of Castaños arrived on the morning of the 20th, to the effect that he was ready to treat at Baylen. Dupont accordingly commissioned General Marescal to meet him there, and repaired with M. de Villoutreys to the post-house, where General Castaños with the Count de Tolly received them. The French officers, notwithstanding the imminent danger of their position, conducted themselves, as they are generally found to do, with no lack modesty. They at once demanded that the whole army should be permitted to retire on Madrid, that the division Barbou should indeed lay down their arms, but that those of Vedel and Dufour should be included in the convention and retain their weapons. Castaños was in the act of conceding these terms, when an intercepted despatch of Savary came into his hands. This had been intrusted to the especial care of a young officer of the name of Fénélon, who had been captured in the mountains, and it peremptorily ordered Dupont to withdraw his forces from La Mancha and concentrate them with the rest of the French army at Madrid. As, therefore, it was clear that to concede the conditions demanded was merely to carry out the orders of the French authorities, Castaños refused the French propositions, and a new arrangement was agreed upon, which was, however, delayed for a definite decision till the morning of the 21st. In the meantime, Captain Barte and another officer arrived in camp on the part of General Vedel, and, having obtained an audience of Dupont, gave him the intelligence that General Vedel had heard the firing of the day before, and had brought back two divisions under his command to Guarroman, and that he was ready to attack the Spanish army from his side the same night, to enable Dupont to cut his way through. The French General, however, returned orders by Captain Barte, that it was much better that Vedel and Dufour should make the best of their way by a rapid march across La Mancha and endeavour to reach Madrid without any reference to himself, who had already come to terms with Castaños, and in the early morning of the 21st Vedel accordingly marched away. It was said that General Dupont admitted to Vedel that he had included him in the capitulation, but at the same time advised him to repudiate his authority and assert his own independence. He therefore marched off, reaching St. Elena before his departure became known;

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THE SUPREME JUNTA REFUSE TO RATIFY IT.

[A.D. and he was preparing mines to destroy the road at Despena Penos, in order to render it impassable to his pursuers to follow him, when Castaños heard of his departure, and declared the convention violated, and altogether at an end, unless he halted; at the same time threatening to put the whole of Barbou's division to the sword, if the French General did not instantly stop his march and return. The consequence was that Vedel was overtaken, marched back to Guarroman, and submitted.

On the 23rd, the division Barbou, with Dupont at its head, defiled before General Castaños and De la Pena, and laid down their arms, to the number of 8,242 men. Vedel did the same at Baylen on the 24th, to the number of 9,393 rank and file; but, instead of laying down their arms, they adopted the mock heroic, and delivered them up in bundles to Spanish Commissioners. The insurgents now heaped every species of abuse upon the prisoners, and demanded back the sacred vessels which had been carried away from the churches of Cordova and Jaen. Castaños addressed a proclamation to the population to calm their fury, and, to prevent bad consequences, ordered the prisoners to be marched away in two columns to San Lucan and Rota, avoiding all great towns. By the terms of the capitulation, they were to be embarked on board Spanish ships at Cadiz and conveyed to France. By the same treaty, the Junta of Seville were declared the supreme authority, but its members, yielding to the clamour on every side, refused to ratify the capitulation, and declared the whole of the French army prisoners of war. They were scarcely able to reach Cadiz in safety from the rage of the people, and many were destroyed by the inhabitants as they journeyed thither, and none but the officers were permitted to return to France. General Castaños, with perfect good faith, employed his influence to have justice done to those who had surrendered to him, but in vain. He then appealed to the British authorities, Lieut.-General Sir Hew Dalrymple, at Gibraltar, and Lord Collingwood, at Cadiz; but Morla, to retain his popularity, denounced the convention, and the Spanish people would listen to nothing short of absolute and unreserved surrender.

The capitulation of Baylen is one of the darkest incidents in the annals of the French army, and there is nothing but that of Pavia to compare with it. Napoleon was at Bourdeaux when the news reached him, and was, for the moment, completely overwhelmed by it. It was the first event in the career of his arms calculated to destroy the prestige of victory which had hitherto attended them. He said with bitterness that defeat was the occasional fate of all in the reverses of war, but to surrender 20,000 men with arms in their hands appeared a disgrace which admitted of no excuse: of course it was no mitigation of the evil in his eyes that Mack had surrendered to himself a greater force belonging to Austria in the campaign of 1805. Generals Dupont and Vedel were put in prison immediately on their return to France, and the Emperor ordered a process to be instituted against them, but nothing was done further, and they were still in prison when the Allies entered Paris in 1814.

1808.]

THE HEROIC MAID OF ZARAGOZA.

105

The former General took service subsequently under the Bourbons, and was War Minister to Louis XVIII.

17. FIRST SIEGE OF ZARAGOZA.

General Verdier had been desired by the Emperor to endeavour to force his way into Zaragoza, and on the 29th of June had arrived before that city, bringing reinforcements to General LefebvreDesnouettes and all the guns which he could collect at Pampeluna. He now assumed the command, and gave the necessary orders to commence the siege. The city of Zaragoza may be almost called an open town. It is placed entirely on the right bank of the Ebro, and is completely enclosed by an old wall of brick, 10 feet high and 3 feet thick, without any suburbs, except the small fauxbourg called Arrabates, situated beyond the bridge, on the left bank, which is here commanded from the city side. Three large buildings, the residence of the Inquisition, in front of the gate del Portillo; the convent of Sta Engracia, at the entrance of the Camina reale from Madrid; and that of San José, on the great road to Valencia, were prepared by Palafox as so many great redoubts in front of the wall, where were many clive-yards, and a rather considerable stream, called La Huerba, which protected more than one-half of the enceinte to its junction with the Ebro. The whole town is overlooked by an elevated plateau, called Monte-Torrero, at the foot of which, about two miles distant, runs the great canal of Arragon. General Lefebvre had, as we have related, taken possession of Monte-Torrero on the 27th, which cut off all the communications of the city from the side of Madrid.

Colonel Lacoste, of the Engineers, who had been expressly sent by the Emperor to undertake the siege, carefully reconnoitred every side of Zaragoza; but all the siege materials were not arrived at the French Engineers' camp, when General Verdier opened fire on the night of the 30th of June. It is fairly established as a rule of military art, though it is constantly violated by the impatient spirit of military commanders, that men should never be employed against barricades of wood or stone until all the means of science shall be at hand to break down or damage the obstructions they offer. The guns were at once established on the side of the Castillo de la Aljaferia, called the palace of the Inquisition, which they battered in breach, while they bombarded the city on the side of Portillo. On the morning of the 2nd, preparations were made for an assault, but General Hubert, who commanded the false attacks on the side of San José, on arriving at the wall, found the ladders were too short, and met such a determined resistance as he did not expect. Palafox had established a battery of 40 guns, which resolutely replied to the French fire, and completely flanked the approach of the troops, who were ordered to assail it in 6 columns. It was here that Augustina, an enthusiastic young woman of the lower class, first showed herself, and seizing a port-fire from the hand of a dead gunner, she fired a 24-pounder from the Spanish battery, and jumping upon it. swore that she would never quit it but with her life.