Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 5.djvu/331

Rh mounted the ramparts, thirty-one and a half feet high, drove the defenders before him, and thus gave the signal of victory, by taking possession of the town. He now silenced the batteries near the breach, which had greatly annoyed the third division, opened a communication at the breaches for the light and fourth divisions to enter, and the sound of the trumpets giving the signal of advance, was now heard in every direction, while the enemy, distracted on all hands, were able to make but a feeble resistance. This escalade, which has been considered by the historians of the peninsular war, as an extraordinary instance of British valour and intrepidity, was decisive as to the fate of Badajos. The fortress quickly yielded to the allied troops, and the British flag was quickly seen waving over its battlements, the French eagle being trampled in the dust, but not before seven hundred alone of the fifth division were either killed or wounded.

Lord Wellington now pushed forward to Salamanca, the depot for the army of Portugal, where the duke of Ragusa had left a garrison of eight hundred men, and encamped his army on the plain of Villares, a position at no great distance. The convent of San Vicente was reduced by means of hot shot, Gayetano carried, and these, together with another fort, entirely destroyed. The French and British armies, the former of which was vastly superior, after several unsuccessful attempts to bring each the other into action, marched in column simultaneously along the heights, by parallel movements, in the direction of Salamanca, frequently cannonading and skirmishing. The duke of Ragusa on the left bank of the river Douro, occupied one of the Arapiles, his left resting upon an extensive forest; an important station, where he could readily annoy the communication with Ciudad Rodrigo, and otherwise embarrass the British army in its movements. In making a feint opposite the fifth division, however, an'd bringing forward his left wing in a direction parallel almost with the right of the British, and apparently to force their post on the Arapiles and annoy them on the right, he extended his army too far; and lord Wellington, who had determined to retire into his stronghold at Ciudad Rodrigo, observing this favourable opportunity, resolved to give battle, and for this purpose rapidly moved the third division across the valley to the left of the enemy, from the extreme right on the Ciudad Rodrigo road, where it had commenced its retreat, and attacked them by surprise on the flank. The main body of Marmont's army had crossed the Tonnes by the fords of Huerta. To the left of the British cavalry stood the fourth and fifth divisions, which extended in two lines to the foot of the Arapiles, near the Portuguese regiments; the first and light divisions being drawn up to the left of the Arapiles, and the sixth and seventh kept in reserve. Lieutenant-general Leith, having opened himself upon brigadier-general Bradford's Portuguese brigade, when it came parallel with his front line, was ordered to direct his march to the heights, and dislodge the enemy. In conjunction with the fourth and fifth divisions, the front was attacked by brigadier-general Bradford's brigade, and the cavalry under the command of Sir Stapleton Cotton. This order was the more welcome, as the fifth division had been for an hour exposed to a galling and murderous fire; and having equalized the two lines into which it had been divided, and regulated the advance, the gallant captain, afterwards colonel Leith Hay, M.P., who had at this time a horse killed under him, was despatched as aid-de-camp with an order for the light infantry in front to clear the line of march of the enemy's voltigeurs, and secure, if practicable, some of the most advanced of their guns, which amounted to twenty, opposite the fifth division alone. General Bradford's brigade, and the heavy cavalry of general Le Merchant, which had been on the right of the fifth, moved in unison with that