Peace in War: British & Portuguese Troops in the
Upper Floodplains
of the Guadiana River in March and September 1812
[Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen./Boa tarde, senhoras e
senhores./
Buenas tardes, damas y caballeros.]
It´s a great delight for me to be here. I assume that I
have been invited to this talk concerning the Peninsular War for my sins. In
spite of that, I trust you may find it interesting. I also hope that you can
excuse my errors and mistakes: since June 2019 I haven’t had the opportunity to
speak in English.
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Don Benito, Saint
James's Parish Church, the only building still standing in the grand square, as
it was in 1812
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I understand
that I am talking to an audience who have a good knowledge of the war. That is
why I have chosen to speak not exactly about the war, but about peace, peace in
the war, when officers liked to pose as travellers. I believe that the story I
chose, among a few others, is rather amusing, quite apropriate for the
occasion.
Finally Don
Benito, the place where Captain John Patterson, of the 50th (West Kent) Regiment of Foot, was billeted in March and
September 1812, is a town in the area of the Guadiana river Upper Floodplains I
feel very attached to. Captain Patterson wrote about his cantonment there in a journal called The Adventures of Captain John
Patterson, with Notices of the Officers, &c. of the 50th, or Queen’s Own
Regiment, from 1807 to 1821, which was published in 1837.
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John Patterson's
book title page
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Concerning
Don Benito, another British officer serving in the Royal Horse Artillery,
Lieutenant William Swabey, who by that time was in Campanario wryly wrote in
his diary on September 13th: To our great
satisfaction came a route to Don Benito, a town which the highly coloured
epithets of the Spaniards had made me think at least a second London. I was
much disappointed. It is however a mart
for the few commodities that since the siege of Cadiz find their way to
this part of Estremadura.
About how it all started
For quite a
while now I have been reading and translating Peninsular War texts taken from
letters, diaries, recollections, memoirs, biographies, etc. written by British
soldiers, mainly officers, who fought in the Peninsula from 1808 to 1814.
In 2001 I was
asked to write a part of the history of
Campanario, the town where I was born, from January 1789, when Charles
IV was crowned King of Spain and the Indies, to the death of his son Ferdinand
VII in September 1833. The History of
Campanario, a rather voluminous book, was published at the end of
2003.
Campanario is
a small town in the east of the province of Badajoz, in the area of La Serena.
It was founded in the 1230s, when the region was conquered by the Order of
Alcántara, and Ferdinand III (the Saint) of Castille and León, awarded it to
the knights of Alcántara in April 1234, which was good for the area as the
Order tended to be a gentler lord, much less demanding, than the aristocracy or
the high hierarchy of the Church.
Cross of the Order
of Alcántara and coats of arms of three of "las siete villas":
Campanario, La Coronada and Magacela
I then searched
several archives. To my surprise, in the local parish archives I found that on
the 3rd of September, 1812, a Portuguese child had been baptized and named
José. His parents were don Juan
Evangelista Nogueira, lieutenant of the Portuguese 4th Cavalry Regiment, and doña Joaquina Angélica, both from
Lisbon.
Also, in the
parish archives of La Coronada, a town eight kilometres from Campanario, a
friend of mine found that on the 10th of September 1812 a Portuguese soldier,
Juan Pereira de Carvallo, of the second company of the 18th Regiment of Foot,
had been buried in the parochial church of the town. He came from the parish of
San Lorenzo Dames.
It seems that the town that the priest
called San Lorenzo Dames was São Lourenço de Asmes, whose name at present is
Ermesinde, in the municipality of Valongo, in the district of Porto.
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Cavalry General
Robert Ballard Long
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I expected to
see some entries about British troops in the area, but I could find none. A few
years later I learnt that there was a whole British and Portuguese army corps
around, together with a few thousand Spanish troops, too.
We have no time to talk about the movements of that corps
but I can say for sure that there were several thousand troops in the areas of
La Serena and the Upper Floodplains of the Guadiana river, in a line some
thirty or forty kilometres long from one end to the other. Cavalry General
Robert Ballard Long, for example, was in Campanario.
The
reason why British soldiers don’t appear in the parish archives is probably
because they had their own chaplains. Since 1810 Wellington made serious
attempts to organize brigade chaplaincies and asked the Church of England for
respectable chaplains. He distrusted the wave of evangelical “conversions” that
was spreading in England at the time because with conversions came
“enthusiasm”, the dread of all normal easy-going men, as Charles Oman
puts it.
On this matter Sir Charles Oman points out: Wellington was a sincere believer in
Christianity as presented by the Church of England, but he had not been in the
least affected by recent evangelical developments, and his belief was of a
rather dry and official sort; an officer who took to public preaching and the
forming of religious societies was only two or three degrees less distasteful
to him than an officer who was foul-mouthed in his language and openly
contemned holy things.
Elvas
in 1808 and 1812
Before
we let Captain Patterson speak, let me dedicate a few words to Elvas, the fine
town that is hosting us.
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Cavalry General
Charles William Stewart
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The
first mention on Elvas I have found belongs to cavalry General Charles William
Stewart when, in charge of the Hussar Brigade, he arrived in Elvas coming from Vila Viçosa on the 5th of
November 1808. He seemed quite pleased with the place and wrote:
We halted on the 5th at
Elvas; and as we came in at an early hour of the day, such as felt disposed
were enabled to take an accurate survey of that highly-striking place.
The first object which attracts the notice of a stranger
here, is a magnificent aqueduct, measuring in altitude no less than one thousand
feet. It rests upon three or four arches, raised one above the other, and is
composed entirely of a remarkably fine and polished stone. In length it
measures about three miles, and it conveys all the water which is used in the
place to a cistern of such dimensions as to be capable of containing a
sufficient supply for the inhabitants during six months. Of the town itself it
may be sufficient to state that the streets are generally handsome,— the houses
being all built with stone, and extremely neat in their appearance; but though surrounded
by a wall, it is not a place of any great strength. It lies, indeed, at the
foot of Fort La Lippe, and consequently at its mercy; and it is commanded by
other heights, which overlook it from various quarters.
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The Taj Mahal, by Charles Forrest, 1824
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All right, but nearly four years of war later, things
apparently had changed the town a little bit and definitely not for the best,
if we have to credit the eyes and nose of the captain of the Buffs (the 3rd - East
Kent - Regiment of Foot) Charles Ramus
Forrest, who, by the way, was also an
excellent painter, though it seems that he painted nothing in the Peninsula.
His paintings are from India and Canada, where he was stationed after the
Peninsular War. He arrived in Elvas on the 14th of April 1812 and wrote in his
diary.
Elvas is allowed to be the
dirtiest town in all Portugal and it certainly deserves that epithet being the
filthiest place I ever was in all my life – the streets narrow and full of all
kinds of offensive stuff and when it rains the entire street is a kennel ankle
deep.
March 1812
Now let’s
listen to what Captain Patterson has got to tell us about his first stay in Don
Benito:
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Lieutenant-General
Sir Rowland Hill ("Daddy Hill”)
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As you know, when in March
16th, 1812, the Earl of Wellington’s army opened the first trenches before
Badajoz, two independent covering forces were detached from the army. One of
them, 19,000 strong was at the orders of Lieutenant-General Thomas Graham. The
other one with 14,000 troops was under the command of Lieutenant-General
Rowland Hill, whose purpose was to hold the French in check and to try to
dislodge them from eastern and southern Estremadura towards Andalusia. It was
formed by the British 2nd Division, John Hamilton’s Portuguese division, Robert
Long’s British and John Campbell’s Portuguese cavalry, and about 5,000 Spanish
troops from the old Estremaduran army.
John Patterson wrote:
We remained at Campo Maior until the 4th of
November, and from thence marched to Portalegre and Alburquerque, at which
latter town we took up our quarters on the 4th of March, 1812.
[...] From Alburquerque we again departed, and after
various marchings and counter-marchings, we were at last conducted to Don
Benito, where we arrived on the 22nd of March, having previously halted for a few
days at Almendralejo.
Don
Benito is a large town, with a population of about five-thousand souls, and is situated
in the heart of a most productive country.
I
was billetted on the house of Don Diego Ramírez, whose family consisted of four
fat good looking damsels, two children, and his spouse, a garrulous matron, who
was very officious on this occasion. I was ushered into a handsome and well
furnished chamber, where I was immediately introduced to my worthy patron, a fine
jolly old don; we seated ourselves round an ample brassiero, well stored with charcoal,
and were soon engaged in noisy prattle and gossip, with a fluency worthy of the
most experienced adepts in the science. According to custom, sundry
good-humoured wenches attended at the sideboard, pouring out the limpid fluid
to those who were inclined to qualify for the Temperance Society. Supper being
introduced, Don Diego presided in the style of a true Major Domo. The feast
consisted of a large dish of sallad and oil, with other ingredients; sweet meats
in abundance supplied the place of more nutritious food; while, by way of
interlude, sausages and garlick appeared, by which our olfactory nerves were
agreeably regaled. These were followed by other varieties in the kickshaw line,
and, in order to promote the hilarity of our carousals, wine of generous
quality was freely served. The young senoras, too, were by no means shy of
helping themselves to bumpers of that enlivening beverage, filled out in
glasses of dimensions similar to our English tumblers. One of the damsels,
named Margaritta, entertained the company with a few pleasant songs on the
guitar, accompanied by the voice of her sister Francisca, while Dolores, a
pretty little girl with black eyes, danced a bolero, twirling the castanets in
a most bewitching style, to the delight and admiration of the joyous circle. The
Spaniards seem, at all times, to have a soul for music, and chiefly do they
love the plaintive strain, as sung by the peasant girls in their enchanting
manner. They are extremely fond of the Scotch bagpipe, and when the Highland corps
appeared among them, all ranks and ages ran to their doors and windows to
listen with rapture to their piper Sandy, while he played along the streets.
Before the siege of Badajos
commenced, the 2nd Division was ordered to march in the direction of that
garrison, for the purpose of forming a part of the corps of observation, destined
to counteract any interruption to our plans, which might be threatened by the
Duke of Dalmatia, who at this time lay with his army in the neighbourhood of
Seville, in Andalusia. The Divisions of Generals Hill and Graham were
accordingly encamped in the woods before Talavera la Real, three leagues from
Badajos, and on the left bank of the Guadiana.
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Sir Rowland Hill's
campaigns in Estremadura in 1812
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September 1812
When Wellington began his
march upon Salamanca on 13th of June 1812 and came to defeat Marshal Marmont at
the Arapiles on the 22nd of July, Rowland Hill’s corps was left in Estremadura
with the instructions of diverting Marshal Soult as far as possible from
sending troops northward. He had nearly 19,000 men at his command, about 7,500
were British and something over 11,000 men were Portuguese. He could also count
on the nearly 4,000 Spanish troops (horse and foot) at the orders of General
Morillo and Count Penne de Villemur.
At first Hill had his headquarters
in Almendralejo and the troops were cantoned in the centre of what today is the
province of Badajoz.
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Jean Baptiste
Drouet, Count d'Erlon
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The
French in Estremadura had a contingent that consisted of Drouet D’Erlon’s and
Darricau’s infantry divisions, with Lallemand’s and Perreimond’s cavalry,
altogether not more than 12,000 men. Since May D’Erlon had abandoned all
southern and most of eastern Estremadura. He himself was lying at Azuaga and
Fuente Obejuna, in the province of
Córdoba, while Darricau was more to the north, about Zalamea de la Serena.
Though there were many movements in
June, July and August, the lines did not change much, D’Erlon moving his troops
in La Serena to raise requisitions. As far as I know there was only one combat
of certain importance on the 11th of June, the skirmish of Maguilla, where
General John “Black Jack” Slade’s cavalry was beaten by Lallemand’s men.
Everything changed after Marshal Soult ordered the
dismantling of the Cadiz Lines, which finished on the 24th of August and
decided to abandon Seville with the enormous booty he had been accumulating in
three years of misrule. On the 26th of August the French troops in front of
Hill suddenly vanished. Hill did not pursue D’Erlon because he has orders from
Wellington to go up to the Tagus and join the main army.
On the 1st of September we have
Captain Patterson again approaching Don Benito. He wrote:
On
the 1st of September, we again resumed our journey towards the interior; and,
marching some hours before daylight, we arrived when it became clear, at La
Hava. Our road, for the most part, lay over a country thinly planted with olive
trees, but producing numerous fruitful vines. On approaching La Hava, the
distant spires of Don Benito became discernible, and, on passing two leagues
further, appeared the mountain of Marcella, upon the highest part of which
stands the castle and village of Marcella. The former is an old fortified ruin,
having a round tower in the centre, and the latter a poor miserable place,
consisting of a few wretched hovels crowded together.
Like
all the small towns, in this part of Spain, we found La Hava a collection of
insignificant habitations, thrown into a groupe, without order or regularity,
as if the place had suddenly dropped from the clouds; the chapel, as usual, in
the centre, being the most prominent object in this confused assemblage of
nondescript dwellings.
We entered Don Benito on the
4th of September, and, as we had been formerly quartered there, the inhabitants
were kind and hospitable. In this instance, as weII as in every other, when we
had occasion to make the observation, the Spaniards proved themselves a
generous and friendly people, evincing in every possible way, and by every mark
of good-will, the pleasure they experienced not only in seeing strangers but on
the return of those whom they had known before, and who had at other times
enjoyed theirhospitality.
I was quartered at the house of Don Pedro Montenegro, a fat portly gentleman,
who, with his family, exerted themselves to make my residence within their walls
as agreeable as I could desire.
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Magacela (John
Patterson's Marcella). This was probably the view that Patterson had on his way
to Don Benito
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During
our stay the ceremony of a Spanish wedding was performed in my quarters, which,
though not affording much that was calculated to enliven the company assembled,
was characteristic of the people, and their motives for entering into the holy
state. AJonzo, the happy bridegroom, was a rosy cheeked comely boy of sixteen.
His friends proposed him as a suitable match for Senora Maria Teresa, the daughter
of my landlord, for the purpose of preventing his being liable to be called off
to serve in the armies—married men being then exempt from the contributions
required to fill up the ranks, all the youthful fellows in the neighbourhood
espoused themselves in order to avoid the Junta's levies; so that many
contracted an union at a very early age, or when mere children, for fear of the
war.—Our hero did not appear to be much interested about the matter; young and
simple, as he was, the passion of love was quite a stranger to his breast. His
intended Mariceta, a fine girl of eighteen, was however of no such temperament,
for having arrived at years of discretion she was better educated in all those
sort of things, and consequently made herself as engaging as possible in the
eyes of her juvenile bridegroom.—They were seldom together before their marriage;
courtship seemed to be laid aside as a superfluous piece of business, and the
whole affair of matrimony, being previously settled by the wiseacres of their
families, the poor devoted victims had nothing to do but just get on as they
were commanded.
The
friends and acquaintances, consisting of a bevy of old and young of both sexes,
together with a moderate share of clerigos, being assembled, Alonzo made his entrée
clothed in a capote, of materials warm enough to raise a flame within
his frigid breast, if there was even an expiring ember there. His hair was tied
up with ribbons, and a sash completed his attire. The fair bride, attended by
her sister Catalina, soon came after, dressed in sable robes, that being the
costume worn at all times on these occasions.
The
reverend priest followed, and without delay began to make his preparations for
rivetting the chain by reading out of a huge black book, by the light of a long
wax taper. Having muttered for some minutes, in a hollow tone scarcely audible,
he joined their hands, then poured forth his last benediction, and so this
important ceremony was concluded. After the venerable Father had bestowed his blessing
on the guests around, all immediately resumed their places, on low forms and
chairs on either side of the room. The Patrona, together with her assistant
deities, retired to an adjoining alcoba, where they commenced serving out
refreshments of all varieties upon large plates: these were handed about by a couple
of jolly, good-looking padres, who, as they offered them to the lovely
senoritas, showed no small degree of gallantry, passing off compliments and
soft words highly acceptable to their willing ears.
Poor
Alonzo, meanwhile, sat like Patience, and, though not smiling at grief, yet he
looked very much as if he would rather be at home with his mother, than be
brought to cut such a figure in the mummery. The bride, every now and then,
modestly hid her face and blushes from the vulgar gaze, under a long black veil
of the finest lace.
Chocolate
and cakes were handed round, and the damsels pocketed the fragments, which they
purloined without any remorse of conscience. About nine o'clock the company began
to separate, and this most stupid of all stupid weddings was finished by a
general salutation on all sides, and by Alonzo, amidst the smiles and winks of
the envious spinsters, going off quietly to his father's, while his cara sposa
remained at home in single blessedness, to dream of happiness yet to come.
While
we remained at Don Benito, the natives vied with each other in their efforts to
afford as much enjoyment as possible to their guests. Balls and other
festivities were among the many sources by which they endeavoured to amuse us.
The
assemblies were usually held in the spacious apartment of a large building, the
residence of a marquis, and situated in the grand square. The fair and lively
daughters of my host were regular attendants at the ball-room, and were
escorted thither by a tall black looking man, who, in his official capacity of
chaperon, on this and other occasions, took the damsels under his wing, and as
he proceeded along collected a reinforcement of old and young; his party, by
the time of their arrival, having accumulated to a motley crowd of votaries,
including domestics and a train of followers: many of them under pretence of
being brothers, friends or relations, intruded uninvited, pushing after the
ladies without ceremony, to the no small annoyance of the respectable portion
of the company. The women on those occasions make but few preparatory
arrangements. After having merely plaited up the hair, or thrown a mantilla
loosely across the neck and shoulders, and adorned the feet with a pair of
white or yellow shoes, they sally forth in the same dress which they have worn
during the day.
We
departed from Don Benito on the 13th of September, and passing over the plains
of Medellin, forded the Guadiana about a league above the bridge.
That’s all. This was the end the end
of the presence of Wellington’s troops, and the end of the war, in the
territories that today make up the province of Badajoz. This army, however,
would come back to the northwest of Estremadura (to part of the lands that
today form the province of Cáceres) after the siege of Burgos to finally
abandon the region in May 1813.
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