SECTION XXVII: CHAPTER IV

SOULT’S TROUBLES IN ANDALUSIA. JULY-SEPTEMBER 1811

After his departure from the Guadiana on June 28th, Soult found himself plunged into a new series of troubles, which were to continue all through the summer and autumn. Just as he was about to set out for Seville with two cavalry regiments as escort, following in the wake of Godinot’s and Conroux’s infantry, he received the unwelcome news that Blake, of whose march he had been aware since the 24th, had crossed the lower Guadiana near Mertola on June 23[613], and had invaded the Condado de Niebla with nearly 12,000 men. If Blake had struck straight at Seville there can be little doubt that he would have taken it, for General Daricau, the governor, hastened, on the first news of the approach of an enemy, to shut himself up in the fortified Cartuja Convent, with his scanty garrison of convalescents, drafts, and Juramentados. He had not the least hope of maintaining the large and turbulent city under control. But no one appeared to molest him, except some cavalry, who were easily driven off by cannon-shot. Blake, apparently disliking to present himself in the open plain of the Guadalquivir, had not marched on Seville, but sat down on June 30 to besiege the castle of Niebla, the capital of the region which he had invaded. It was the only French garrison left in western Andalusia, and was held by a battalion of 600 ‘Swiss’ in King Joseph’s service—a miscellaneous corps formed of deserters of all races from the Spanish and British armies, under a Colonel Fritzhardt. Blake lay for five days before the mediaeval castle with the division of Zayas, while Ballasteros, with the rest of the army, took a position to cover him against French troops coming[p. 476] from Estremadura, who (as was rightly suspected) were not long in appearing. The siege failed because Blake had brought no artillery with him—on account of the bad mountain roads he had sent his guns round from Mertola by Ayamonte, and they had not come up. An attempt to take the castle by escalade failed, and the Spanish general was sitting helplessly before its walls on July 2nd, when the news came that the French were upon him. Soult, hearing on his way southward of Blake’s raid, had turned both Conroux and Godinot against the invaders, and had continued his own route to Seville with no more than the cavalry and one infantry regiment. While Godinot marched on Niebla by Cala and Aracena, Conroux tried to cut in between Blake and the sea by a circuitous route by Fregenal, through the worst of the mountains, aiming at the ports of Huelva and Moguer. It was hoped that the Spaniards might be caught between the two divisions—but the quarry was too shy. Blake departed at the first alarm, and embarked at Ayamonte with Zayas’s division; Ballasteros, marching away into the hills which he knew so well, evaded Conroux, and passed for a time northward into the Sierra de Aroche. The cavalry under Penne Villemur did not abscond by water, but returned along the Portuguese frontier to Estremadura, where it joined the skeleton army of Casta?os, which still consisted of no more than six or eight battalions under Morillo and Carlos de Espa?a, some 3,000 or 4,000 men at most. Wellington had sent it back to Villa Vi?osa during the operations around the Caya, declining to use it in the fighting-line till it should be reorganized. Blake, whose embarkation at Ayamonte on July 8th had been accompanied by circumstances of disgraceful panic[614], returned to Cadiz with 7,000 men. Ballasteros followed him thither six weeks later, having descended from the hills and embarked at the mouth of the Guadiana at the end of August.

Blake’s Niebla expedition had been conducted with the greatest timidity and incompetence. Yet it had served Welling[p. 477]ton’s purpose much as he had intended, since it drew off 11,000 French troops into a remote corner of Andalusia for some weeks. It is true that Soult’s original withdrawal from the Guadiana was not caused by this diversion, but it had forced him to send away on a wild-goose chase troops urgently needed elsewhere. For if Conroux and Godinot had not marched to Niebla and Ayamonte, they would have gone straight to Granada, to reinforce the 4th Corps, which was, throughout the month of July, in considerable danger from the Murcians. It was not till August had begun that Soult was able to come to its aid, with the divisions which had been distracted to the far west by Blake’s expedition.

Of Freire’s Army of Murcia we have heard nothing since the unhappy rout of Baza (November 3, 1810). After that shock it had kept quiet for many a day, and only dared to move when, in April 1811, Soult began to make heavy requisitions on the 4th Corps, in order to form the army that marched for Albuera. Further drafts had been called westward in the end of May, so that Leval, who succeeded Sebastiani as commander of the corps about this time, was left with numbers quite inadequate to hold down the broad kingdoms of Jaen and Granada. This, of course, gave Freire the chance of accomplishing something useful: and, leaving the frontiers of Murcia, he began to press forward against the French posts. He had at this time a force of three infantry divisions, under La Cuadra, Sanz, and Creagh, and two weak cavalry divisions under Osorio and Ladrón. The whole amounted, after making deductions for the garrison of Cartagena (2,000 men) to nearly 12,000 bayonets and 1,500 sabres[615]. In May Freire began to push forward cautiously, with his cavalry and two divisions on the high-road Lorca-Baza-Granada, and a smaller force, consisting of La Cuadra’s division, on the side road which leads, by Huescar and Pozoalcon, to the valley of the upper Guadalquivir and the kingdom of Jaen. His progress was so slow that the French were able to withdraw at their leisure before him, without any loss. Leval was so weak that he made no attempt to stand, and evacuated in succession the coast lands about Almeria, as far as Motril, the highlands east[p. 478] of Granada, including the towns of Baza and Guadix, and the upper valley of the Guadalquivir. La Cuadra’s advanced posts penetrated as far as Ubeda, and bickered with the garrisons of Baeza, Linares, and Jaen. Officers sent out from the main column raised the mountaineers of the Sierra Nevada, and bands of insurgents began to cut the communications between Granada and Malaga. At the head of these irregulars was the turbulent Conde de Montijo, of whom we last heard when he got into trouble for conspiring against the supreme Junta[616]. He is now found more usefully employed, giving trouble to the enemy instead of to his own Government.

Cautious though Freire had been, his advance had shaken the hold of the 4th Corps on eastern Andalusia. Leval reported to Soult that, with the 3,000 or 4,000 troops whom he had concentrated at Granada, he was quite helpless, and was wellnigh blockaded on every side. It was only with difficulty that he could keep in touch with the Polish division, which lay in and about Malaga, or with the garrisons of Jaen and Cordova on the other side. He could only collect a force sufficient to attack Freire by abandoning all his outlying posts, and permission to do so had not been granted him. He must be reinforced, or allowed to concentrate his scattered troops and strike at the enemy’s main body.

A few days later the state of affairs in eastern Andalusia became still more threatening. Blake, after embarking at Ayamonte on July 8th, had two days later returned to Cadiz with the two Albuera divisions of Zayas and Lardizabal. He stayed only a fortnight in the island city, and got leave from the Regency to join the Army of Murcia. In order that he might dispose of all the forces in that direction, he asked and obtained the control of the Valencian army also, and was made Captain-General of that province as well as of Murcia and Aragon. Blake landed at Almeria on July 31st with the same troops that he had brought back from the west—about 7,000 foot and 500 horse. From thence he led them to join Freire’s army near Baza, and left them there, while he himself (taking Zayas and some other officers with him) made a hasty visit to Valencia, to receive[p. 479] over the command from the Marquis del Palacio[617], and to see what measures were necessary with regard to the threatening movements of Suchet on the side of Aragon.

The two divisions under Lardizabal and Joseph O’Donnell (vice Zayas) had joined Freire on August 3rd, and a force of 15,000 infantry and nearly 2,000 horse was thus concentrated near Baza. But Freire, being now only the interim commander, refused to take any responsibility, and remained apathetically watching the small French force in Granada, which was (for the moment) absolutely at his mercy. He posted the army in a very strong position near Gor, twelve miles in front of Baza and forty miles from Granada. It was covered in front by the ravine of one of the tributaries of the Guardal river, and could only be turned on the flanks by a very wide movement in difficult ground. La Cuadra’s division remained at Pozoalcon, some thirty miles away from the main body, observing the kingdom of Jaen and vexing its garrisons by small incursions.

Soult had returned to Seville after the expulsion of Blake from western Andalusia, but with no intention of staying there for long, since it was clearly necessary to re-establish the lost prestige of the French arms on the side of Granada, and to reoccupy the ground which Leval had been forced to give up. But he had judged that there was no desperate hurry, since Freire had shown himself such a sluggish adversary: and though he had already directed Godinot’s provisional division to march on Jaen in the last days of July, he himself was still at Seville when he received the unexpected news of Blake’s disembarkation at Almeria on the 31st of that month. Since the Army of Murcia was thus reinforced, the danger to Leval at Granada had become imminent, and it was clearly necessary to rescue him at once. Accordingly the Marshal, setting out from Seville on August 3rd with four regiments of Latour-Maubourg’s cavalry and part of Conroux’s infantry division[618], arrived at Granada by forced marches on the 7th. Godinot was at the same time directed to[p. 480] move from Jaen and Baeza against La Cuadra, to drive him off from Pozoalcon, and then to fall upon the flank and rear of Freire’s strong position near Baza.

Nothing could have served Soult better than the chance that the army against which he was marching was destitute for the moment of its new Commander-in-Chief, and left in charge of a substitute who shirked responsibility. From August 3rd, when the Albuera divisions joined Freire, down to the 7th, when the reinforcements reached Granada, the small French force in that city had been in a most dangerous position. But nothing whatever had happened during the critical days: the Spaniards had remained quiescent behind the ravine of Gor. Picking up the small part of the garrison of Granada that could be spared to join his field force, Soult marched against the enemy on the 8th of August, and was in front of their position on the 9th, with 6,000 infantry and 1,500 horse. Seeing the enormous strength of the ground, he contented himself with making noisy artillery demonstrations against Freire’s line, and waited for the arrival of Godinot, who with 4,000 bayonets and 600 sabres was due to appear in the rear of the Murcians on the 10th, if all had gone well with him.

As a matter of fact Godinot had marched against La Cuadra on the 7th from Baeza, by the way of Jodar. The Spanish general, who was outnumbered, abandoned his post at Pozoalcon on the 8th and fell back towards Huescar, nearer the frontier of Murcia, without fighting. Godinot, therefore, found nothing to prevent him from falling on the rear of the main hostile force, and marched on Baza. His approach was reported to Freire, who detached against him Joseph O’Donnell’s division of 4,000 men, and ordered La Cuadra to hasten to its aid, and to join in covering the flank of the army. O’Donnell took post at the fords of the Guardal river, in front of Zujar, and stood on the defensive, hoping to be joined by La Cuadra during the course of the day. The latter, however, had gone off too far to the east for it to be possible for him to return in time, and O’Donnell was badly beaten by Godinot on the afternoon of the 9th, and lost a third of his men—423 killed and wounded, and 1,000 dispersed or prisoners.

By continuing his march for another eight miles, after beating[p. 481] O’Donnell, Godinot might have seized Baza and cut off Freire from his retreat on Murcia. But his men were tired, and it was reported to him that a new Spanish force—La Cuadra, coming up over late in the day—was approaching. Wherefore he halted, and only sent out cavalry to search for Soult’s flank, and to reconnoitre Baza. But Freire, on hearing that O’Donnell was crushed, and his own rear threatened, silently evacuated his strong position in the night, and marched through Baza and across Godinot’s front with all his host. He got away, but Soult, detecting his retreat at dawn, bade Latour-Maubourg pursue him with all speed at the head of his horsemen. The Spanish rearguard was caught up at Las Vertientes, ten miles beyond Baza. Freire ordered his cavalry, under Osorio and Loy, to face about and protect the march of the infantry. But a charge of Pierre Soult, who led the French advance brigade, broke the Spanish horse, who fled in all directions, uncovering the infantry. The latter took to the hills—one column consisting of the divisions of Sanz and O’Donnell went off southward, and escaped without much loss by Oria and Albox. The other, containing the divisions of Creagh and Lardizabal, turned north, plunged into the Murcian hills, and made its way by Maria to Caravaca. La Cuadra, making a separate retreat in a parallel direction, also arrived at the last-named place[619]. Such was their haste that one column made thirty-six miles in the day on the 10th, the other twenty-seven. Stragglers were many.

The Murcian army was thus divided into two masses, neither of which covered the main road to the capital of the province, and Soult, standing triumphant at Velez Rubio with his 12,000 men united, might have marched on Murcia had he chosen. But the way was long—some seventy miles—and the intervening country rough and thinly peopled. The Marshal resolved not to pursue Freire, but to devote himself to the hunting down of the insurgents of Granada and the southern mountains, while the main hostile army was out of action. When, therefore, Blake returned from Valencia to pay a hasty visit to his[p. 482] scattered army, he found it shaken in morale, and weaker by 4,000 men than when he had left it, but not destroyed. Of the two disjointed sections, one descended in haste from the northern mountains, the other came in marching parallel with the coast; they met at Alcantarilla in front of the city of Murcia, on August 14th, and began to fortify a position there. But the French had turned back; Soult contented himself with reoccupying Baza with a permanent garrison, and did not cross the Murcian frontier. Hence Blake was able, a few weeks later, to take off to the north not only his own two divisions, but part of Freire’s troops, for service against Suchet on the side of Valencia. It was a lucky chance for him that the invasion of Valencia from the side of Aragon only began upon September 16, more than a month after Soult had returned into Andalusia. If it had come earlier, there would have been no succours available for the oft-defeated and never very efficient ‘2nd Army’, as the Valencian corps was now called.

Soult had not gone in person further than Velez Rubio, though his light cavalry had pursued the flying Spaniards many miles further, as far as the pass of Lumbreras. On August 14th he turned back[620], and broke up his army into several columns, who were to hunt down the insurgents of the Sierra Nevada and the Alpujarras. The main body returned to Granada, a flanking column occupied Almeria, another swept the valley of the upper Guadalquivir. There was much plunder and a good deal of reckless shooting of inhabitants—for the French were exasperated at the rising which had taken place in districts that had seemed for the last eighteen months to be pacified. But the crushing of the insurgents turned out to be a long business—indeed eastern and southern Andalusia were never so thoroughly under Soult’s control as they had been in 1810 and the early months of 1811. The Count of Montijo lurked persistently in[p. 483] the mountains, and gained several small successes over General Godinot, who was in main charge of the hunt. On August 21st he captured two whole companies of Poles near Motril, and a few days later checked a column of 1,500 men under Colonel Remond. He himself ultimately got off to join the Murcian army, but the local guerrilleros continued the strife, which was to blaze up again into a formidable conflagration when a new Spanish regular force came upon the scene. This was the division of Ballasteros, who, as has been already mentioned, abandoned his old haunts by the Rio Tinto and the lower Guadiana, to land on September 4th at Algesiras with 3,000 men. Calling in the serranos of the Ronda mountains to his aid, he captured many small places, and forced Soult to turn Godinot’s troops against him. Thus the insurgents further east got a momentary respite, and Soult’s unending troubles took a new turn. But the autumn and winter warfare in the extreme south of Andalusia must be narrated in another place. Suffice it to say here that Soult was never in the later months of 1811 so free from trouble as to find it easy to send any serious aid to Drouet and the 5th Corps, whose duty it was to check and contain Hill’s Anglo-Portuguese divisions in Estremadura.