By midsummer 1813, Wellington had captured most of the Spanish heartland, in the campaign that had opened with the capture of Badajoz the year before, and was advancing towards the Pyrenees, the mountain barrier that forms the frontier between Spain and France.
A major French army, commanded by Napoleon’s brother, Joseph, whom the Emperor had appointed King of Spain, still lay in his way. On 21 June 1813, Wellington found Joseph near the city of Vitorio. The French had 65,000 men, Wellington 80,00, including Spanish and Portuguese regiments as well as British.
The ‘gentleman volunteer’ who reports on the Battle of Vitorio that followed was an acute observer both of the events of a gunpowder engagement, and of the everyday routines of army life in an age before railways or motor transport supplied soldiers with their necessities. As always in those days, the first thought of the rank and file, even in the immediate aftermath of combat, was how to provide for their own sustenance — and for that of the women who, often against army orders, accompanied them on the line of march. When hungry soldiers were presented with the windfall of sheep killed in crossfire, therefore, they set to with a will. The meal improvised after the victory of Vitorio fuelled the subsequent advance to the passes of the Pyrenees, and thence to the battles inside France that would lead to Napoleon’s abdication and exile to Elba in 1814.
Camp on the banks of the river Aragon, near Caseda,
2 lea[gues] S. of Sanguessa.
June 29th 1813.
DEAR BROTHERS,
This is the first hour I have had to write since my last of the 20th inst. We halt today. One reason is [that] if we did march we should leave half behind us — they are completely knocked up. Every hour since my last is so full of incident that I shall give you it as much at length as I can.
On the 21st our own division marched. I was in orders for the charge of the baggage which was to march at 7 o’clock. We did so & went round that mountain from which we had heard firing the night before. After marching ½ a league the baggage halted for the reserve artillery & Household troops to pass. We then mov’d up the hill & I there learned that a general engagement was begun. I gave the sergeant charge of the baggage & immediately galloped on & at the top of the hill saw the whole of the French army in a plain with Vitoria in their rear & a smart skirmish on my right. Ours was the first brigade.
On arriving I found the 43rd in front & came up to them as it was going round a hill to a wood on the top, the river running just below. We remained there about an hour & then marched round by No. 2 bridge which was not defended, to a hill overlooking the whole plain with a wall in front breast high & we formed behind it. They gave us a salute with one or two guns from bridge No. 3 which did no damage. This was to begin with.
I have called this spot a plain because it is so in comparison with this mountainous country surrounding. It is an oval form but it is crowded with little hills 3 or 400 yards asunder, very disadvantageous for a retiring army. The hill in front was the highest. Behind was a line of artillery and infantry well formed to defend the bridge.
The 2nd Division began the battle on our right. In the meantime our main force, viz: 1st, 7th, 3rd & 4th divisions moved round to their right. We had between 70 & 80,000 men: French 60,000. We all expected they would have defended the bridges obstinately and their positions more so, but they most shamefully and very unlike Frenchmen gave up both with scarcely a shadow of defence.
About 10 o’clock the ist 95th moved along the river side, the 2nd brigade moving round to attack bridge NO. 3. The river is fordable in some parts. The bridge was lined with skirmishers, 2 or 3 troops of cavalry & 2 guns. The 2nd brigade sent skirmishers below the bridge. They opened a fire just as Graham’s columns came in sight. At a distance of ¼ mile the 95th was running down to flank them [the French]. They had a large body in squares. All now began to return to them as fast as they could run. We then moved down the hill in open column of companies and, formed line and, with a few skirmishers in front, were ordered to attack the hill. A sergeant was in the centre with [one] Colour and myself with the other. We were to make for the centre of the middle & highest hill, the 17th Portuguese supporting us. When we were ½ way up the hill, they [the French] disappeared without firing a shot. During this time the 2nd brigade were moving round the hill and our columns were crossing the river. Their [French] line moved off before them. We moved round the hill & heard a heavy fire on our left & very near. We moved on to a hill 300 yards farther & there the cannon balls began to hiss over our heads. We mov’d on to a hill 100 yards from the village, a very heavy fire continuing on our left. We formed line about 20 yards from the bank (2 yds high). Here we had a very strong fire from a battery of theirs, of balls & shells, while the 95th & some other troops were attacking the village which they defended well.
The first ball that came was a spent one. It struck the ground about 50 yards from us & was coming straight for me but it rebounded about 10 yards [from me] & went to my left, just over the heads of the men & struck our old colonel [Daniel Hearn] on the arm. He called out but was not much hurt as it came about as swift as a swallow flies. Finding the fire heavy, we moved under a bank & lay down. At that moment a shell came gently hopping direct for me but it was polite enough to halt on top of the bank about 6 yards from us. We lay down & in about 1 minute it burst doing no harm. In another minute a ball struck the close column of the 17th Portuguese not a yard from the place the 43rd colours had just left & about 16 yards from us. It killed a sergeant & took off the leg of each of the ensigns with the colours. This was about 2 o’clock.
We halted there a ¼ of an hour until the village was taken by the 95th, who captured their cannon. We then moved in open column to our right, the battery firing as fast as possible all the time. During this time some Spanish troops were skirmishing with a flock (for they were all scattered) of French on the side of the mountain and a body of French between us & them, which the 4th Division was chasing, kept retiring and taking up good positions & most cowardly abandoning them till we came to the village. This is to be said for them that their principal force was on our left & was retiring hotly engaged. The 3rd Division had most of it (the attack) & were nearly a mile before them so that they were afraid of being cut off. At the same time they had to support their skirmishers on the mountain as they were more behind still. We were about even [i.e. level] with them & against a village, on the right of which there was a wood. We moved to our right hoping to cut them off but they ran too fast for us.
Just after we came out of the wood we found a little valley & they had regularly taken up an excellent position. We formed line on the hill while the one opposite us was taken. The 45th was in line in the hollow ready to charge up the hill, more in the rear, on which were 18 or 20 pieces of cannon playing upon our regiment. They were ½ a mile distant. We kept driving in their skirmishers to a line formed on a hill to our right, No. 7. After this a Portuguese regiment moved round their left &, appearing on their flank, they all set off from that, leaving all their artillery.
(Note. The French had no idea of our attacking them today. If we had done so they would have had batteries all along the hill, & if they had been obliged to retire, would have returned to this position & suddenly opened upon us a most destructive fire. It was their intention to attack us, but Lord Wellington had a better head than any of their miserable generals who commanded them on that day.)
All this time Genl. Graham was pressing their main force on the[ir] right. It was near here that two of our officers [Major John Duffy and Lieutenant George Houlton] were wounded. They did not maintain their position more than ½ an hour. Several of our officers remarked, & I think it just, that cannon make more noise and alarm than they do mischief. Many shots were fired at us but we suffered little from them. A young soldier is much more alarmed at a nine pounder shot passing within 4 yds. of his head than he is of a bullet at a distance of as many inches, although one would settle him as effectively as the other. Artillery makes great havoc when in close column. The French are very correct in aiming their artillery. [At] ½ past 3, in passing the line the 45th occupied in the valley, I saw 10 or 12 killed or wounded in the space of as many yards owing to the fire kept up on them from the hill.
Upon their cannons ceasing to fire, our guns galloped after them as fast as they could move. They began to run faster than we could follow. We chased them by Vitoria in grand style, leaving them no time to save their immense baggage. They took up a position 1½ miles beyond Vitoria which they abandoned as soon as some 9 pounders from a hill close to Vitoria played upon them. As they went up the hill in the greatest disorder, scattering like a flock of sheep, we kept moving forward leaving Vitoria ½ a mile to our right. After this the Household troops, viz: the [Life] Guards & Blues, came galloping by us. I do not know what good they did, if any I am sure you would hear of it.
At 6 o‘clock we came up to a village where were 8 or 10 wagons overturned with all kinds of valuable baggage attended by dragoons, Spaniards & stragglers plundering them. The smell of French brandy was very strong, 1 am sorry I cannot tell the taste. The soldiers were not allowed to touch a drop. If they attempted it the officers knocked it out of their hands. However, as they had to march over a great quantity it could not be entirely prevented. We saw the French no more this day. We continued marching till dark, 9 o’clock, passing more wagons overturned & baggage of every description, including flocks of sheep, goats, bullocks, asses, mules, horses &c.
At last we halted at the side of a narrow lane stopped up with wagons, our artillery in front of us firing as long as they could see. We here found a flock of sheep, mostly killed & tumbled one upon another into a deep ditch. In the same ditch were 2 or 3 pieces of cannon, overturned, horses & mules with them. You can hardly form any conception of the scene here — everyone busy & most employed in getting the sheep out of the ditch, while others were skinning them, the whole, as you may suppose, knocked up. In the morning I was fortunate in being on the baggage so [had] had an excellent breakfast & took the precaution to put some bread & meat in my pocket. Many of the officers had nothing all day. From bridge No. 1 to Vitoria is 2 leagues & we marched 1½ leagues beyond it. The division then formed upon a hill close by. The baggage, of course, could not get up.
I shall now conclude this with a short description of the scene presented on halting. The wood of the wagons supplied fuel & about every 2yds. square was a fire & a circle round it. One will describe the whole — one making dough boys (flour & water mixed) swearing all the time at one for not producing a frying pan, at another for getting in his light; another giving a young soldier a thump for crossing between him & the fire while he plastered his blistered feet. The poor creature is turning round to beg his pardon, when he treads upon another, who threatens to upset him if he does not sit down. A woman who is undressing by his side (perhaps the wife of one of the party) raises her shrill voice & blasts him for not being quick. An old soldier sits smoking his pipe & frying the mutton or skimming the pot, while a dirty fist seizes the mutton, and another equally so lays hold of it & it is torn asunder by a knife with edge & back alike. The whole is shortly devoured & they lie down to sleep in their blankets. It was a cloudy but fine day. I had not the slightest touch of shot or shell.
Yours &c.
G. H.