GENERAL PI I S T O R Y. 



[143 



«f St. Francisco, and that he had 

 broke ground within 600 yards 

 of the place. Lieutenant-General 

 Hill had arrived on December the 

 30th at Merida, whence General 

 Dombrowski had retired in the 

 night, leavino; his magazines of 

 provisions. General Hill had re- 

 moved forward with the intention 

 of attacking General Drouet, who 

 retired first upon Zafra, and then 

 upon Llerena : General Hill there- 

 fore returned to Merida, where he 

 put his men into cantonments. In 

 another dispatch, dated January 

 the 15th, Lord Wellington gives 

 an account of the progress of the 

 siege, which had been facilitated 

 by two successful attacks on posts 

 of the enemy, close to the body of 

 the place, and had enabled the be- 

 siegers to establish a second paral- 

 lel at the distance of 150 yards 

 from it. 



• On the 20th, his lordship was 

 enabled to send the welcome in- 

 telligence of the capture of Ciu- 

 dad Rodrigo, that important fron- 

 tier town, which had so often been 

 the object of military operations. 

 The fire of the batteries having 

 considerably injured the defences 

 of the place, and made breaches 

 regarded as practicable. Lord Wel- 

 lington determined on a storm, 

 though the approaches had not 

 been brought to the crest of the 

 glacis, and the counterscarp was 

 still entire. The attack was made 

 on the evening of the 19th, in five 

 separate columns, for the disposi- 

 tion of which, we refer to the ac- 

 count in the Gazette. All these 

 attacks succeeded, and in less than 

 an hour the assailants were in pos- 

 session of and formed upon the 

 ramparts of the place, each column 

 contiguous to the next. The ene- 

 VoL. LIV. 



my then, who had sustained a se- 

 vere loss in the conflict, submitted. 

 The loss of the besiegers was also 

 considerable, especially in officers 

 of rank. Of these, Major-General 

 M'Kinnon was killed by the ex- 

 plosion of a magazine close to the 

 breach. His Lordship bestows the 

 warmest encomiums on all the 

 officers engaged in this service, 

 and the success of such a spirited 

 enterprize redounds equally to the 

 honour of the Commander, and 

 those who acted under him. The 

 fruits of victory were a garrisoH of 

 1,700 men, besides officers, 'tmd 

 153 pieces of ordnance, including 

 the heavy train of the French army, 

 with great quantities of ammunition 

 and stores. The losses of the be- 

 siegers from January the 15th to 

 the 19th, amounted to nearly 700 

 ofall descriptions, killed, wounded, 

 and missing. 



The sense of the Spanish na- 

 tion on this success was displayed 

 in a vote of the Cortes, by accla- 

 mation, conferring on Lord Wel- 

 lington the rank of a Grandee of 

 the first class, vith the title of 

 Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo. 



The French, at this time, were 

 concentrating their northern forces 

 about Salamanca, and for this pur- 

 pose had evacuated the province of 

 Asturias. The Guerillas were every 

 where upon the alert to give them 

 all possible molestation. 



rJuring the siege of Valencia, 

 the Spaniards, in Catalonia, under 

 the command of General Lacy and 

 Baron d'Eroles, by way of diver- 

 sion, or to improve the opportu- 

 nity of the absence of the French 

 main army, made an attempt upon 

 Tarragona, in which they were 

 assisted by an English naval force. 

 The French General De Caen, 



[T,] however. 



