THE SACKING OF BADAJOZ.

FROM THE REMINISCENCES OF A SUBALTERN.

BADAJOZ, one of the richest and most beautiful towns in the south of Spain, whose inhabitants had witnessed its siege in silent terror for one and twenty days, and who had been shocked by the frightful massacre that had just taken place at its walls, was now about to be plunged into all the horrors that are, unfortunately, unavoidable upon an enterprise such as a town taken by storm. Scarcely had Count Phillippon and his garrison commenced their march towards Elvas, when the work of pillage commenced. Some-many indeed-of the good soldiers turned to the ditch of the castle and to the breaches to assist and carry off their wounded companions; but hundreds were neglected in the general and absorbing thirst for plunder.

The appearance of the castle was that of a vast wreck the various ladders lying shattered at the base of its walls, the broken piles of arms, and the brave men that lay as they had fallen-many holding their firelocks in their grasp-marked strongly the terrible contest in which they had been engaged, and presented to the eye of a spectator ample food for reflection; it was not possible to look at those brave men, all of them dead or frightfully maimed, without recollecting what they had been but a few short hours before; yet those feelings, fortunately perhaps, do not predominate with soldiers, and those sights, far from exciting reflections of a grave nature, more usually call forth some jocular remark, such as, "that he will have no further occasion to draw rations;" or"that he has stuck his spoon in the wall and left off messing,"—such is the force of habit.

At the breaches, the light and fourth division soldiers lay in heaps upon each other-a still warm group; and many of those veterans from whom the vital spark had not yet fled, expired in the arms of the few of their companions who sought to remove them to a place better suited to their miserable condition. But war, whatever its numerous attractions to a young mind may be, is but ill calculated to inspire it with those softer feelings so essential to soothe us in the moment of our distress; it must not, therefore, be wondered at, that a wish for plunder and enjoyment took the place of humanity, and that hundreds of gallant men were left to perish from neglect.

A military writer*, whose book has been the theme of admiration by all that have read it,—and I hope, for their own sakes, that there are few who have not,-in speaking of this epoch, says, that three days after the fall of the town he rode towards the Guadiana, and that in passing the verge of the camp of the fifth division, he was surprised and shocked to find two soldiers standing at the door of a small shed; they made signs to him, and upon examination he found that each had lost a leg! The surgeon had dressed their wounds on the night of the assault, and although their melancholy and destitute situation was known to hundreds of their companions, who had promised them relief, they were

* Capt. Kincaid.

actually famishing within three hundred yards of their own regiment!!!

Before six o'clock in the morning of the 7th of April, all organization amongst the assaulting columns had ceased, and a scene of plunder and cruelty, that it would be difficult to find a parallel for, took its place. The army, so fine and effective on the preceding day, was now transformed into a vast band of brigands, and the rich and beautiful city of Badajoz presented the turbulent aspect that must result from the concourse of numerous and warlike multitudes nearly strangers to each other, or known only by the name of the nation to whom they belonged. The horde of vagabonds, Spaniards as well as Portuguese, women as well as men that now eagerly sought for admission to plunder, nearly augmented the number of brigands to what the assailing army had reckoned the night before; and it may be fairly said that twenty thousand people-armed with full powers to act as they thought fit, and all, or almost all, armed with weapons which could be turned, at the pleasure or caprice of the bearer, for the purpose of enforcing any wish he sought to gratify-were let loose upon the ill-fated inhabitants of this devoted city. These people were under no restraint-had no person to control them, and in a short time got into such an awful state of intoxication that they lost all control over their own actions. What a frightful picture is this of a town carried by storm!-it is true, nevertheless, and, unfortunately for the sake of humanity, it is necessary, absolutely necessary; because if such latitude was not allowed to the soldiery, I believe that few fortresses would be carried by assault: the alternative is not, however, the less painful. If the reader can for a moment fancy a fine city, containing an immense population, amongst which may be reckoned a proportion of the most beautiful women that Andalusia, or perhaps the world, could boast of,-if he can fancy that population, and those females, left to the mercy of twenty thousand infuriated and licentious soldiers for two days and two nights,―if, I say, he can fancy this, he can well imagine the horrors that were acted within the walls of Badajoz.

In the first burst, all the wine and spirit stores were forced open and ransacked from top to bottom; and it required but a short time for the men to get into that fearful state that was alike dangerous to allofficers or soldiers, or the inhabitants of the city. Casks of the choicest wines and brandy were dragged into the streets, and when the men had drunk as much as they fancied, the heads of the vessels were stove in, or the casks otherwise so broken that the liquor ran about in streams.

In the town were a number of animals that belonged to the garrison, several hundred sheep, numerous oxen, as likewise many horses; those were amongst the first taken possession of; and the wealthy occupier of many a house was glad to be allowed the employment of conducting them to our camp, as, by doing so, he got away from a place where his life was not worth a minute's purchase; but terrible as was this scene, it was not possible to avoid occasionally laughing, for the conducteur was generally not alone obliged to drive a herd of cattle, but also to carry the bales of plunder taken by his employers-perhaps from his own house!-and the stately gravity with which the Spaniard went through his work, dressed in short breeches, frilled shirt, and a hat and plumes that might vie with our eighth Henry, followed, as he was, by our ragamuffin soldiers with fixed bayonets, presented a scene that would puzzle even Mr. Cruikshank U.S. JOURN. No. 58, SEPT. 1833.

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himself to justly delineate. The plunder so captured was deposited in our camp, and placed under a guard, chiefly composed of the sol diers' wives!

The shops were rifled, first by one group, who despoiled them of their most costly articles, then by another, who thought themselves rich in capturing what had been rejected by their predecessors; then another, and another still, until every vestige of property was swept away. A few hours was sufficient for this; night was fast drawing near, and then a scene took place that has seldom fallen to the lot of any writer to describe. Every insult, every infamy that human invention could torture into language, was practised. Age as well as youth was alike unrespected, and perhaps not one house, or one female, in this vast town, escaped injury: but war is a terrible engine, and, when once set in movement, it is not possible to calculate when or where it will stop. Happy are those countries that have not been visited by its scourge; and grateful ought the nation to be that can boast of having a man-I mean the Duke of Wellington-that, by his great genius as a general and steel-hardiness as a man-because nothing but the latter quality, in which, perhaps, he surpasses all ancient or modern heroes, could have enabled him or his army to remain in the Peninsula one day after the invasion of Portugal by the Prince of Esling, in 1810-has kept the British empire free from such a calamity; but such a picture of this great man can be but ill appreciated by the "people," who one day followed the triumphant car of the conqueror of Napoleon's hitherto invincible legions and marshals, and whose deafening shouts of applause shook the metropolis of Great Britain to its basement story, and who, a few short years afterwards, pelted him with mud in the same streets ! But war, not politics, is the subject of this "Reminiscence," so I shall aside the latter, and pursue the former.

The day of the eighth of April was also a fearful one for the inhabitants; the soldiers became reckless, and drank to such an excess, that no person's life, no matter of what rank, or station, or sex, was safe. If they entered a house that had not been emptied of all its furniture or wine, they proceeded to destroy it; or, if it happened to be empty, which was generally the case, they commenced firing at the doors and windows, and not unfrequently at the inmates, or at each other! They would then sally forth into the streets, and fire at the different church-bells in the steeples, or the pigeons that inhabited the old Moorish turrets of the castle-even the owls were frighted from this place of refuge, and, by their discordant screams, announced to their hearers the great revolution that had taken place near their once peaceful abodes. The soldiers then fired upon their own comrades, and many men were killed, in endeavouring to carry away some species of plunder, by the hands of those who, but a few hours before, would have risked their own lives to protect those they now so wantonly sported with then would they turn upon the already too deeply injured females, and tear from them the trinkets that adorned their necks, fingers, or ears! and, finally, they would strip them of their wearing apparel. Some, 'tis said, there were ruffians of the lowest grade, no doubt-who cut the ear-rings out of the females' ears that bore them, when they discovered a band of marauders approaching the unfortunate beings that were subjected to such brutal treatment, and whom they feared might antici

pate them in their infamy; for here, as in all such disgraceful scenes, "might made right;" and the conduct of the soldiers, during the sacking of Badajoz, is a sufficient proof, if such proof be wanting, of the dangers attendant upon anything where the multitude are allowed to think and act for themselves.

Hundreds of those fellows took possession of the best warehouses, and for a time fulfilled the functions of merchants; those, in their turn, were ejected by a stronger party, who, after a fearful strife and loss of lives, displaced them, and occupied their stead, and those again were conquered by others, and others more powerful! and thus was Badajoz circumstanced on the morning of the 8th of April, 1812. It presented a fearful picture of the horrors that are inevitable upon a city carried by assault; and although it is painful to relate these disgraceful facts, it is essential nevertheless. All writers, no matter how insignificant they may be, and I am willing to place myself at the bottom of the list of those persons, should, in any detail which may lay claim to historical facts, be extremely cautious that they in no way mislead their readers; and in anything that I have ever written, or may hereafter write, I shall not deviate from this principle. I feel as much pride as any man can feel in having taken a part in actions that must ever shed lustre upon my country; but no false feeling of delicacy shall ever prevent me from speaking the truth-no matter whether it touches the conduct of one man or ten thousand!

To put a stop to such a frightful scene, it was necessary to use some forbearance, as likewise a portion of severity. In the first instance, parties from those regiments that had least participated in the combat were ordered into the town to collect the hordes of stragglers that filled its streets with crimes too horrible to detail, but the evil had spread to such an extent that this measure was inadequate to the end proposed, and in many instances the parties so sent became infected by the contagion, and in place of remedying the disorder, increased it, by joining once more in revels they had for a time quitted. At length a brigade of troops was marched into the city, and were directed to stand by their arms while any of the marauders remained; the provost-marshals attached to each division were directed to use that authority with which they are of necessity invested. Gibbets and triangles were in consequence erected, and many men were flogged, but, although the contrary has been said, none were hanged-although hundreds deserved it.

A few hours, so employed, were sufficient to purge the town of the infamous gang of robbers that still lurked about its streets, and those ruffians-chiefly Spaniards or Portuguese, not in any way attached to the army-were infinitely more dangerous than our fellows, bad as they were. Murder-except indeed in a paroxysm of drunkenness, and in many cases, I regret to say, it did occur in this way,-never entered their thoughts, but the infamous miscreants here referred to would commit the foulest deed for less than a dollar.

Towards evening tranquillity began to return, and, protected as they now were by a body of troops, untainted by the disease which had spread like a contagion, the unfortunate inhabitants took advantage of the quiet that reigned: yet it was a fearful quiet, and might be likened to a ship at sea, which after having been plundered and dismasted by pirates, was left floating on the ocean without a morsel of food to supply

the wants of its crew, or a stitch of canvass to cover its naked masts; by degrees, however, some clothing, such as decency required, was procured for the females, by the return of their friends to the town; and many a father and mother rejoiced to find their children, who were still dearer to them than ever from the dangers they had escaped alive, although it was impossible to hide from them the fact that they had been seriously and grossly injured. But there were also many who were denied even this sad consolation, for numbers of the towns-people had fallen in the confusion that prevailed, some of our officers also were killed in this way, and it has been said, I believe truly, that one or two, one a colonel commanding a regiment, lost their lives by the hands of their own men. These calamities are, however, the unavoidable attendants on war; and a great victory, gratifying as it unquestionably is to the General who achieves it, is not without its alloy, and brings forcibly to my recollection the fine reply of the Duke of Wellington after the battle of Waterloo, to a lady of great literary celebrity in Paris. This lady was amongst the many French who were at a ball given at the time the allied armies occupied Paris in 1815. She was most pointed in her attentions to the Duke, and devoted almost her entire conversation to him in preference to the two Emperors, the King of Prussia, or the other distinguished allied generals. "My lord," said she, in the course of conversation, "do you not think the gaining a great battle a delightful thing?" "Ne pensez vous pas, qu'une grande victoire est la plus agréable de toutes choses ?" "Madam," replied the Duke, with a degree of coldness bordering on austerity, "I look upon it as the greatest calamity-except losing one!" Je la regarde comme le plus grand malheur-excepte une defaite!" It was a fine saying and worthy of him that uttered it; yet this same man has been represented as one devoid of feeling!

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The plunder with which our camp was now filled was so considerable, and of so varied a description, that numerous as were the purchasers, and different their wants, they all had, nevertheless, an opportunity of suiting themselves to their taste; still the sale had not commenced in form, although, like other markets, some private sales were effected." From the door of my tent I had a partial view of what was taking place; but for the present, I shall leave the marché, and describe how I, myself, was circumstanced from the period I reached my tent, wounded, on the morning of the seventh.

The two faithful soldiers, Bray and Macgowan, that conducted me there, on entering, found my truss of straw, or bed, if the reader will so allow me to designate it, occupied by Mistress Nelly Carsons, the wife of my bât-man, who, I suppose, by the way of banishing care, had taken to drinking divers potations of rum to such an excess, that she lay down in my bed, thinking, perhaps, that I was not likely again to be its occupant; or, more probably, not giving it a thought at all. Macgowan attempted to awake her, but in vain! a battery of a dozen guns might have been fired close to her ear without danger of disturbing her repose. Why then, sir," said he, " sure the bed's big enough for yees both, and these are no times to stand on saramony with another man's wife, and she'll keep you nate and warm, for, be the powers, you're kilt with the cowld and the loss ov blood." I was in no mood to stand on ceremony, or, indeed, to stand at all; and I will venture to say that no man