301 
LON 
prifed of Souk’s retreat, put his army in motion towards 
Caftile. 
On April the 24th, lord Wellington was at Alfayates, 
on the Portuguele border, the enemy having retired upon 
his advance. They had eroded the Agueda on the 23d, 
and were then in full retreat towards the Tonnes. Ge¬ 
neral Drouet was at that time at Fuente Ovejuna, in Cor¬ 
dova, and marlhal Souk at Seville. His lordffnp, on the 
day of the above date, difpatched fir Rowland Hill to carry 
into execution the plan of an attack upon the enemy’s 
ports and ■ettablifhments'at the paflage of the Tagns, at 
Almaraz, in Eftremadura, near the border of New Caftile. 
This poft afforded the only good military communication 
below Toledo acrofs the Tagus, and from that river to 
the Guadiana, all the permanent bridges below that of 
Arzobifpo having been *deftroyed in the operations of the 
war, and left unrepaired. The bridge at Almaraz was 
protected by fttong works thrown up by the French on 
both tides of the river,- and was further covered on the 
fouthern fide by the caffle and redoubts of Mirabete, 
about a league diftant, commanding the pafs of that name, 
through which runs the only carriage-road to the.bridge, 
which is that to Madrid. The neceffary preparations for 
this expedition would not permit general Hill to begin 
his march from Almendralejo till the 12th of May. On 
the 16th, he formed his force into three columns, the left 
directed again ft the caftle of Mirabete ; the right, againft 
the forts of the bridge 5 and the centre, to the high road 
leading to the pafs of Mirabete. The approach was fo 
difficult, that it was day-break on the 19th, before the at¬ 
tack could be made. The right column, provided with 
fealing ladders, moved to the aflault of Fort Napoleon, a 
ftrong fortrefs on the left bank of the river. The ardour 
of the troops broke through all obftacles, and in the midft 
of a deftructive fire they ruihed on with fixed bayonets. 
And drove the garrifon through the feveral intrenchments 
acrofs the bridge, which, having been cut on the other 
fide, obliged many of the fugitives to leap into the river, 
where they perifhed. The panic communicated itfelf to 
the garrifon*of Fort Ragufa, on the right bank, who aban¬ 
doned their works, and fled in great confufion. The vic¬ 
tors then effected the deftrinftion of all the material parts 
of the forts and works for the defence of the bridge, and 
made prize of the magazines and eighteen pieces of can¬ 
non. The attack upon Mirabete ferved only as a diver- 
fion, inducing the enemy to believe that the attack upon 
the forts near the bridge would not commence till that 
was decided. In this ipirited exploit, the Britifli lofs in 
killed and wounded fell fhort of two hundred. General 
Hill then returned to Almendralejo. 
Attention was now chiefly fixed upon the allied army 
of lord-Wellington, which had been for fome time ad¬ 
vancing upon the French under Marmont. It eroded 
the Agueda on June 13th, and arrived in front of Sala¬ 
manca on the 16th. ,The enemy on its approach retreated 
acrofs the Tormes, leaving about- eight hundred men in 
l'ome forts conftrufted upon the ruins of colleges and con¬ 
vents in Salamanca. The allied army entered the city, 
but lord Wellington found it neceffary to break ground 
againft the forts. Marmont at this time was retiring 
upon the Douro. In Eftremadura, major-general Slade’s 
brigade of cavalry had fallen in with two French regi¬ 
ments of dragoons, which they broke ; but, purfuing in- 
■Cautioufiy, they were attacked by the enemy’s referve, and 
driven back with confiderable lofs. The forces under 
snarflial Soult and general Drouet had made a junftion, 
and moved forward to Llerena and St. Olalla; upon which, 
general Hill had called in his detachments, and concen¬ 
trated his forces at Albuera. 
The batteries againft the forts of Salamanca began to 
‘ifij-e on the jyth. Marmont, .on the 20th, made a forward 
movement in order to communicate with the forts ; and 
on the night of the 21ft his troops eftabliffied a poft on 
the right flank of the allied army. Lord Wellington hav¬ 
ing direfted general Graham to attack this pofition ©a 
Yon. XIII. No. 907 . 
D O N. 
the 22d, the enemy were driven from the ground with 
confiderable lofs. They then made a frefli movement, 
the objeft of which was to communicate with their garri- 
fons by the left bank of the Tormes, which river they 
crofted in force on the 24th; but the approach of general. 
Graham on that fide the river caufed them to retire to 
their former pofition. Meantime the liege of the forts 
did not proceed with the rapidity that lord Wellington 
had expefted. An attempt to fform the principal work 
on the night of the 23d failed of fncceis, with confider¬ 
able lofs : major-general Bowes was among the Haiti. On 
the 27th, the buildings in the largeft fort, St. Vincente, 
being let on fire by the guns of the befiegers, and a breach 
being made in another fort, the commander of St. Vin¬ 
cente, in order to gain time, expreffed a delire to'capitu¬ 
late after a certain number of hours. Lord Wellington, 
however, perceiving his objeft, ordered an immediate 
florin of the two other forts, which fucceeded ; and the 
commander of St. Vincente then fent a flag to notify the 
furrender of that fort, on the terms of the garrifon being 
prifoners of war, which was accepted, though the ftorni 
of the place had'commenced. Thefe forts were found to 
be fo ftrongly conflrufled, that they could not poffibly be 
taken without a regular attack. They coff the allies above 
four hundred and fifty men killed and wounded. Upon 
the intelligence of this event, the French army retired. 
Lord Wellington on the iff of July broke.up liis camp, 
and advanced towards the French, who were marching 
upon Tordefillas. Sir Stapleton Cotton attacked their 
rear guard on the 2d, and drove it in to their main body; 
but the reft of the allied army were too far diftant to im¬ 
pede them in their paffage of the Douro, after which they 
took a pofition on that river, with their centre at Torde¬ 
fillas. Lord Wellington took poft at Rueda. On the 7th 
the French were reinforced by the junction of general 
Bonner, who had advanced from Afturias. They after¬ 
wards extended to their right as far as Toro, where they 
employed themfelves in repairing the bridge which they 
had before demolilhed. General Hill at this time had 
left Albuera, and moved towards the enemy, who retired 
before him towards Cordova. He had reached Llerena 
on the 9th. 
Marmont now turned upon the allies, and aftumed the 
part of an affailant. He fent a confiderable body over the 
Douro at Toro on the 16th, while lord Wellington on 
that night moved the allied army to their left, with the 
intention of concentrating on the Guarena, a river that 
runs into the Douro. The French on the fame night re¬ 
crofted at Toro, and Marmont moved his whole army to 
Tordefillas, where, on the 17th, he again crofted the 
Douro, and on the fame day affembled his troops at Nava 
del Rey. Various movements thence fucceeded between 
the two armies ; and the French, on the 18th, made an at¬ 
tack on a body ftationed at Caftrejon under the command 
of fir Stapleton Cotton, who refilled till the cavalry joined 
him, and then retreated in excellent order to the main 
army on the Guarena. The enemy then cfofled that river, 
and indicated an intention of prefling upon the left of the 
allied, army ; but it was defeated by a timely attack made 
by general Alten’s brigade of cavalry, fupported by a 
body of infantry. In this affair a French general was taken, 
with other priloners. A variety of other movements were 
made, in which it was the object of Marmont to cut oft’ 
the allies from their communication with Salamanca and 
Ciudad Rodrigo, and of lord Wellington to fruftrate this 
purpofe. On the 21ft the allied army was concentrated 
on the Tormes, and the enemy had-moved towards the 
fame river. 
Two armies moving in fuch a confined fpace of ground 
could not be long without coming to a general engape- 
rnent; and this refult was flattened by the intelligence 
lord Wellington received on the night of the 21ft, that 
general Chauvel had arrived at Polios on the 20th with 
the cavalry and horfe-artillery of the northern army, to 
join Marmont, which he would effect within a day oi" two. 
4- H ' It 
