t O N 
five fevere wounds, was conveyed from the field of aftion 
to Tarragona. The general, in his difpatches to the junta, 
gave a faithful account of what had parted, without fay¬ 
ing a word of what he had perfonally fullered. He was- 
afterwards joined by the army under general Blake, and 
both were employed in oppofingthe progrefs of the French 
in Catalonia. 
On the 19th of May, the joint army of Valencia and 
Arragon, under the command of general Blake, proceeded 
againll Alcaniz, a town of Arragon, near the frontiers of 
Catalonia, which was occupied by the French; drove 
them in great diforder from that important poll, and af¬ 
terwards routed and forced fmaller parties of French from 
other places. On the 15th of June, general Blake made 
an attack on Saragofia, but was repulfed with great lofs. 
For two fuccertive days he was attacked by Suchet, in the 
neighbourhood of Belrtiite, when the enemy was repulfed. 
On the third day the battle was renewed in the valley of 
Almonazir, when the whole of the Spanifh army, without 
firing a (hot, though oppofed by only one-third of their 
numbers, fuddenly took flight, and left their general at¬ 
tended by only fix or feven officers. This army not only 
abandoned their baggage, but threw down their arms. 
Nine pieces of cannon, immenfe quantities of provilions, 
Itores, and ammunition, fell into the hands of the French, 
together with 3000 prifoners. 
The corps or armies of the French generals Vifilor and 
Sebaftiani, after long retrograde inarches, the former on the 
ffiores of the Tagus, the other through the deferts of Caf- 
tille, had united their forces at a fliort diftance from To¬ 
ledo. Their united force, with the reinforcement brought 
by king Jofeph from Madrid, has been computed vari- 
oufiy, from 34 or 40 to 50,000. It was ftationed in the 
neighbourhood of Talavera del Reyna, and along the 
banks of the river Alberche. 
In the mean time fir Arthur Wellefley, after his return 
from the purfuit of Soult, had remained long inaftive in 
the vicinity of Lifbon ; not by any means from his own 
difpofition, which was full of activity and ardour in the 
caufe, and forward and adventurous in quell of perfonal 
reputation ; but becaufe it was necertary that fome plan 
of co-operation fliould be concerted between him and the 
Spanirti generals, particularly general Cuelta. When this 
was effected, the Britifli and Spanifh generals began their 
march towards Madrid. A complete junction of their 
armies was effected on the 20th of July, and immediate 
meafures were taken for carrying into effect the plan of 
operations agreed on. Sir Robert Wilfon, w ho command¬ 
ed a corps of Portuguefe to the number of three or four 
tlioufand men, which he had brought into a ftate of ex¬ 
cellent difcipline, was ordered to proceed to Efcalona, on 
the river Alberche, and the corps under Venegas ad¬ 
vanced to Argonda. The main ftrength of the allied 
army marched on towards Ollala, where the enemy was 
polled. 
On the 26th of July, Cuelta’s advanced guard was at¬ 
tacked near Torrijos, and obliged to fall back to the left 
bank of the Alberche. The French army remained Hill 
at Ollala, thereby indicating an intention to try the re- 
fult of a general aftion. For this, the bell pofition ap¬ 
peared to fir Arthur Wellefley to be in the neighbour¬ 
hood of Talavera del Reyna, a town half-way between 
Placentia and Madrid, and about fixty or feventy miles 
diftant from both ; and, Cuefta having confented to take 
up this pofition, on the morning of the 27th the Britifh 
general Sherbrooke was ordered to retire witli his corps to 
its ftation in the line, leaving general Mackenzie, with 
a divilion of infantry and a brigade of cavalry, as an ad¬ 
vanced pod in the wood on the right of the Alberche, 
which covered the left flank of the allies. 
The pofition taken up by the troops at Talavera ex¬ 
tended rather more than two miles. The ground was 
open upon the left, where the Britifh army was ftationed, 
and it was commanded by a height, on which there was 
.drawn up in echelon, and iniecgnd line, a .diyifion of in- 
D O N. r§i 
fantry under major-general Hill. Between this height 
and a range of mountains ftill farther to the left, there 
was a valley which was not occupied, as it was command¬ 
ed by the height juft mentioned 5 and the range of moun¬ 
tains appeared too diftant to have any influence on the 
expefted action. The right wing of the allied army, con¬ 
fiding of Spanifh troops, extended immediately in front of 
the town of Talavera down to the Tagus. This part of 
the ground was covered by olive-trees, and much inter- 
feded by banks and ditches. The high road leading from 
the bridge over the Alberche, was defended by a heavy 
battery in front of a church, which was occupied by Spa¬ 
nifh infantry. All the avenues to the town were defend¬ 
ed in a fimilar manner, and the town itfelf was occupied. 
At about two o’clock on the 27th, an attack was made 
on the divifion under general Mackenzie, who gradually 
fell back in good order, though not without lome lois, 
on the left of the pofition of the combined armies. To¬ 
wards the evening the French made an attempt to over¬ 
throw the Spanifh infantry which formed the right wing 
of the army, but without fuccefs. In the dufk of the 
evening the enemy commenced a general attack on the 
allies, by a cannonade on the left of their pofition, and by 
an attempt with his cavalry to overthrow the Spanirti in¬ 
fantry; which attempt entirely failed. A divifion was 
then pufhed along the valley 0:1 the left of the height oc¬ 
cupied by major-general Hill, of which the French gained 
a momentary polfeffion ; but major-general Hill inllantly 
regained it by an attack with the bayonet. This attack 
was repeated in the night, and again at daylight in the 
morning of the 28th, by two diviiions of infantry, but 
was repulfed by our divifion under major-general Hill. 
Nor was the enemy more fuccefsful in their attack on ge¬ 
neral Campbell. They were completely repulfed by that 
officer, fupported by a regiment of Spanifh cavalry and 
two battalions of Spanifh infantry, and loll their cannon. 
General Sherbrooke’s divifion, which formed the left and 
centre of the firfl line of the army, was next attacked. 
They immediately charged with bayonets, and drove back 
the enemy with great flaughter. The brigade of guards, 
which formed part of this divifion, in their eagernefs to 
purfue the enemy, advanced too far, and were thrown 
into a temporary confufion, having expofed their left flank 
to the fire of a battery. A part of general Cotton’s bri¬ 
gade of cavalry, on obferving this, pufhed forward, and 
covered their retreat towards their original pofition. The 
enemy, being thus foiled in all his attempts againlt the al¬ 
lied army, and having loft twenty pieces of cannon and 
a few prifoners, retreated in complete order acrofs the 
Alberche. Their lofs in killed and wounded was never 
calculated with any degree of exaftnefs. Sir A. Wellef¬ 
ley was inclined to eftimate it at 10,000. The French faid 
that our lofs was greater than theirs, owing to the greater 
number of cannon they had brought to play againlt us. 
The lofs of the Britifh, in killed, wounded, and miffing, 
amounted to nearly 6000. 
As the Spanifh troops were only partially engaged, their 
lofs was comparatively fmall, not exceeding 1000 111 killed, 
wounded, and miffing. The Spaniards, we are told, formed 
the right wing of the allied army; and that an attempt 
was made to overthrow the Spanifh infantry, which en¬ 
tirely failed. And in another part of his difpatch, fir 
Arthur fays, “ the Spanifh commander-in-chief, his offi¬ 
cers and troops, maiiifelled every difpofition to render us 
affiltance ; and thole of them who were engaged did their 
duly." But in a letter to his brother the marquis, dated 
at Merida, Augult 2, 1809, he wrote as follows : “ In the 
battle of Talavera, in which almoll the whole of the Spa¬ 
nifh army was engaged, whole corps threw down their 
arms in my prefence, and faved themfelves by flight, al¬ 
though they were neither attacked nor menaced with an 
attack, but merely frightened, I believe, at their own fire. 
Thofe bale foldiers in their flight from Talavera pillaged 
every thing that came in their way, even the baggage of 
Che Englilh army, which was at that very time'fighting 
ia 
