Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 10, 2025
Whilst we were staying at Badajoz, numbers of us fell sick daily, and amongst them was unfortunately myself. We were conveyed to a Portuguese town some four leagues from Badajoz, called Elvas, which was the strongest fortified town in Portugal, being very little more than two leagues from the frontier of Spain.
March 14th. We joined them, at about eleven at night, in the town of Portalegré. March 16th. Quartered in the town of Elvas. I received a billet on a neat little house, occupied by an old lady and her daughter, who were very desirous of evading such an incumbrance.
The gentleman then asked what the trunks contained: I answered clothes and linen; when he begged pardon for the insolence of the subordinate, and informed him that I was at liberty to proceed where I thought proper. I thanked him for his exceeding politeness, and, under guidance of the boy, made the best of my way to the Inn of the Three Nations, to which I had been recommended at Elvas.
The whole of the garrison were marched off, as prisoners, to Elvas, about ten o'clock in the morning, and our men were then permitted to fall out, to enjoy themselves for the remainder of the day, as a reward for having kept together so long as they were wanted.
Lawrence transferred into the Grenadier company The regiment embarks at Cadiz for Lisbon again in consequence of Sir John Moore's defeat at Corunna Hospitality of an English merchant March to join Sir Arthur Wellesley at Castello Branco The Spanish troops reviewed Lawrence's opinion of them Battle of Talavera Lawrence's opinion of the Spaniards justified Severe fighting on the second day of the battle Friendliness between the wounded Final attack and repulse of the French Horrible fate of some of the wounded Advance to Oropesa The Spanish General Cuesta deserts the wounded at Talavera March towards Badajoz Privations on the road Fresh supply of clothes at Badajoz Lawrence invalided to Elvas Is cured chiefly by reflecting on his manner of burial Returns to Badajoz Sir Arthur Wellesley made Viscount Wellington End of 1809.
The main body travelled by fairly direct routes to Salamanca, where Moore arrived on November 13, but he was induced by information, which proved to be incorrect, to send his cavalry and guns with a column under Hope, by the more circuitous high road through Elvas and Talavera.
In the narrative of the expedition of Hernando de Soto to Florida in 1539, by a gentleman of Elvas, there are references to the customs of the Indian tribes of South Carolina, the Cherokees, Choctas, and Chickasas, and of some of the tribes west of the Mississippi, whom the expedition visited one after another.
On the 11th of March the army arrived at Elvas, and on the 15th a pontoon bridge was thrown across the Guadiana. The following day the British troops crossed the river, and invested Badajos, with fifteen thousand men, while Hill and Graham, with thirty thousand more moved forward, so as to act as a covering army, in case the French should advance to raise the siege.
At six o'clock then in the evening of the 4th, on a fresh mount, I turned my back on the doomed fortress, and crossing the Guadiana by the horse ferry above Elvas, struck into the Alemtejo. On the 6th I reached Castello Branco and found the position of the Allies sufficiently serious.
Had he pushed forward at once, he would have found the place unprepared for a siege, but, delaying a few days at Elvas to give his tired troops repose, the French repaired the walls, and were in a position to offer a respectable defense, when he made his appearance under its walls.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking