APPENDIJ^ to the CHRONICLE. 48^ 



by detachments from the garrison 

 of Ciudad Rodrigo. 



I doubted of the capacity of the 

 garrison of Ciudad Rodrigo to 

 make the detachment to the latter, 

 but so httle of the effectual occu- 

 pation of the former, that in writing 

 to marshal Beresford on the 17th 

 July, I desired him to look to ilie 

 Puerto de Perales, but that I con- 

 sidered Banos as secure, as appears 

 by the extract of my letter which I 

 inclose. 



On the 30th intelligence was re- 

 ceived at Talavera, that 12,000 ra- 

 tions had been ordered at Fuenfe 

 Duenos for ihe 2Sth, and 24,000 

 at Los Santos for the same daj', 

 for a French corps, which it was 

 believed was on its march towards 

 the Puerto de Banos. 



General Cuesta expressed some 

 anxiety respecting this post, and 

 sent me a message, to propose that 

 Sir Robert Wilson should be sent 

 there with his corps. 



Sir Robert was on that day at 

 Talavera, but his corps was in the 

 mountains towards Escalona ; and 

 as he had already made himself 

 very useful in that quarter, and had 

 been near Madrid, with which city 

 he had had acommunication, which 

 I was desirous of keeping up, I 

 proposed that a Spanish corps 

 should be sent to Banos without 

 loss of time. 



I could not prevail with general 

 Cuesta, although he certainly ad- 

 mitted the necessity of a reinforce- 

 ment when he proposed that Sir 

 Robert should be sent to Banos, 

 and he was equally sensible with 

 myself, of the benefit to be derived 

 to the cause, from sending Sir 

 Robert back to Escalona. 



At this lime we had no further 

 inlelligcnce of the tnemy '» advance 



than that the rations were ordered ; 

 and I had hopes that the enemy 

 might be deterred from advancing, 

 by the intelligence of our success 

 on the 28th, and that the troops in 

 the Puerto might make some de- 

 fence; and that under these circum- 

 stances, it was notdesirable todivert 

 Sir Robert Wilson from Escalona. 



On the 30th, however, I renewed 

 my application to general Cuesta, 

 to send there a Spanish division of 

 sufficient strength, in aletter to gen. 

 O'Donoghue, of which I inclose a 

 copy, but without effect ; and he 

 did not detach general Bassecourt 

 till the morning of the 2nd, after we 

 had heard that the enciTiy had en- 

 tered Bejar, and it was obvious 

 that the troops in the Puerto would 

 make no defence. 



On the 2nd we received accounts, 

 that the enemy had entered Pla- 

 centia in two columns. 



The marquis de la Reyna, whose 

 two battalions consisted of only 600 

 men, with only 20 rounds of am- 

 munition each man, retired from 

 the Puerto and from Placentia, 

 without firing a shot, and went to 

 the bridge of Almaraz, which he 

 declared that he intended to re- 

 move ; the battalions of Bejar dis- 

 persed without making any re- 

 sistance. 



The general called upon me on 

 that day, and proposed that half of 

 the army should march to the rear 

 to oppose the enemy, while the 

 other half should maintain the post 

 at Talavera. 



My answer was, that if by half 

 the army, he meant half of each 

 army, 1 could only answer that I 

 was ready either to go or to stay 

 with the whole British army, but 

 that Icouldnotseparatcit. He then 

 desired mctochuse whether 1 would 



2 r 2 "o 



