HLI Chronicle 1909 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

70HIGHLAND LlGHT INFANTRY CHRONICLE.c'al1ing upon their saints for protection. Theopposite plain was covered with fugitives.The French liked not, as usual, the spiritwith which we formed and the ardour withwhich our cavalry issued from the gates.The bridge over the Esla had been destroyedto little purpose, as a ford was found only 300yards further down the river. The picquetshastened thither, and were skirmIsbing withfour squadrons of the Imperial Guards whichhad already formed on the bank. The 10thHussars were sent for. On their arrival,General Stewart, with them and the picquets,charged and drove the Impe..:ial Guard intothe river. They cressed in the utmost confusion,but formed on the opposite bank.Sorne pieces of artillery that had been placedon the bridge soon dispersed them. Gene;:alLefevre, commander of"tbe Imperial Guards,and seventy prisoners, were the fruits of thisaction."On the 30th cbe Regiment reached Astorgas,which they had been Itd to believe was to betheir resting-place; here also they found thereI~mants of General Rc msna's Spanish army,which was 10 have combined with the British.Its condition now, however, was mi~erable inthe extreme; and it was very evident that nohelp could be expected from them. "It hadmore the appearance of a large body ofpeasants driven from their homes, famished,and in want of everything, than a regulararmy. Sickness was making dreadful havocamong them." Moore's difficulties, indeed,were greatly increased by the presence of theremnant of Romana's army; during theprevious month large stores of every sort hadbeen accumulated here by Sir David Rairdfor the army. The presence of Romana'sarmy now led to such tumult and confusionthat any proper distribution of these storeswas found to be quite impossible, with theresult that part had to be destroyed and partleft to fall into t,he enemy's hands. Amongstthis were large supplies of boots and clothing,and our men, although in rags, and many ofthem barefooted, had to go on without thesenecessaries owing to the impossibility ofdistributing them.Quitting Astorgas on the 31st, the nextstage of the retreat commenced, probably themost trying of all. From Astorgas to VillaFranca, a distance of some 60 miles, the roadpassed over a high mountain, where theyexperienced the full terrors of winter in abarren, open, and desolate country. Almostwithout fuel to cook the little food they didget, and without shelter, the limit of miseryseemed almost to have been reached. Provisionswere scarce and irregularly issued,while the waggons in which were their maga.­zines, baggage, and stores, were often desertedin the night by the Spanish driVelS, who wereterrified at the approach of the French." The first sixteen miles the road lay whollyup the mountain, to the summit of Foncebadons,and the country was open. At thistime it was a barren waste of snow. At thetop of the mountain is a pass, which is, theysay, one of the strongest in Europe. It isabout eight or nine miles long. All throughthis pass the silence was only broke:l by theglOans of the mert who, unable to proceedfurther, laid themselves down in despair toperish in the snow, or when the report.of apistol told of the death of a horse whiC'h' hadfallen down unable to proceed. The ·rainpoured in torrents; the melted snow washalf knee-deep in many places, and stained bythe blood that flowed from our wounded andbruised feet. To add to our we wer~forced by turns to drag the baggage. Thiswas more than human nature could sustain.Many waggons were abandoned, and muchammunition destroyed. Our arrival at VillaFranca closed the second act of our tragedy." What a New Year's Day had we passed!Drenched with rain, famished with cold andhunger, ignorant when our misery was tocease, how differently did we pa.ss our ' Hog-·manay' from the manner our friends werepassing theirs at home!"*On the 1st January, Napoleon occupiedAstorgas, where 70,000 infantry, 10,000*" Journal of a Soldier."