Salamonde

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The events at Salamonde; mainly French pov

Oman

On reaching Salamonde Soult was informed by the cavalry in
his front that they had been brought to stand at the bridge of
Ponte Nova, a few miles up the defile, by a body of Ordenanza^
who had taken up the wooden flooring of the bridge, torn down
its balustrades, and bairicaded themselves upon the further side.
Unless they could be dislodged ruin stared the Marshal in the
face : for the British were close in his rear, €md there was no
lateral line of escape from the precipitous defile. Surrender
next morning must foUow. In this crisis Soult saw no chance
of safety before him save a dash at the half-demolished bridge.
When darkness had fallen he sent for Major Dulong, an officer
of the 31st L^er, who enjoyed the reputation of being the most
daring man in the whole army, €md told him that he must
surprise the Portuguese by a sudden rush at midnight, and win
the passage at all costs. He was allowed to pick 100 volunteers
from his own regiment for the enterprise.

The safety of a whole army has seldom depended upon a
more desperate venture' than that which Dulong took in hand.
Nothing remained of the bridge save the two large cross-beams,
no more than three or four feet broad ; they were slippery with
continuous rain, and had to be passed in complete darkness
under the driving sleet of a bitter north wind. Fortunately for
the assailants the same cold and wet which made their enterprise
so dangerous had driven the Ordenanza under cover : they had
retired to some huts a little way beyond the bridge. If they
left any one on guard, the sentinel had followed his friends, for
when Dulong and his party crept up to the passage they found
it absolutely deserted. They crossed in single file, and reached
the further side unobserved, losing one man who slipped and fell
into the fierce river below. A moment later they came on
the Portuguese, who were surprised in their sleep : many were
bayonetted, the rest fled in dismay — they were but a few score
of peasants, and were helpless when once the passage had
been won.

For six hours Soult^s sappers were working hard to replace
the flooring of the ruined bridge with tree trunks, €uid boards
torn from the houses of the neighbouring village. At eight it
was practicable, and the troops began to cross. It was a long
business : for 20,000 men with 4,000 cavalry horses and a great
drove of pack-€uiimals had to be passed over the narrow, rickety,
and uneven structure, whose balustrades had not been replaced.
All the day was spent in hurrying the troops across, but they
got forward so slowly that Soult saw himself forced to place a
strong rearguard in position, to hold back the pursuers till the
main body was safe. He left behind a brigade of Merle^s
division, and two of Franceschi^s cavalry regiments, ranged
behind a lateral ravine which crosses the road some distance
below the bridge. They were placed with their right on the
rough river bank and their left on the clifi*s which overhang
the road ; orders were given to the efi*ect that they must hold on
at all costs till the army had completed the passage of the
Ponte Nova. At half-past one the British light dragoons
arrived in front of the position, saw that they could not force
it, and started a bickering fire with the French pickets, while
they waited for the main body to come up.

Napier

In this extremity, Soult sent for Major Dulong, an officer justly reputed for
one of the most daring in the French ranks. Addressing himself to this brave
man, he said, "I have chosen you from the whole army to seize the Ponte
Nova, which has been cut by the enemy. Do you choose loo grenadiers and
25 horsemen ; endeavour to surprise the guards, and secure the passage of
the bridge. If you succeed, say so, but send no other report ; your silence
will suffice." Thus e.xhorted. Dulong selected his men, and departed.

Favoured by the storm, he reached the bridge unperceived of the Portuguese,
killed the sentinel before any alarm was given, and then, followed by 12
grenadiers, began crawling along a narrow slip of masonry, w hich was the only
part of the bridge undestroyed. The Cavado river was in full flood, and
roaring in a deep channel ; one of the grenadiers fell into the gulf, but the
noise of the storm and the river was louder than his cry ; Uulong, with the 1 1
still creeping onwards, reached the other side, and falling briskly on the first
posts of the peasants, killed or dispersed the whole. At that moment, the
remainder of his men advanced close to the bridge ; and some crossing, others
mounting the heights, shouting and firing, scared the Portuguese supporting-
posts, who imagined the whole army was upon them ; and thus the passage was
gallantly won.

At foiu- o'clock the bridge being repaired, the advanced guards of the French
commenced crossing ; but as the column of march was long, and the road
narrow and rugged, the troops filed over slowly ; and beyond the Ponte Nova
there was a second obstacle still more formidable. For the pass in which the
troops were moving being cut in the side of a mountain, open on the left for
several miles, at last came upon a torrent called the Misarella, which, breaking
down a deep ra\'ine, or rather gulf, was only to be crossed by a bridge,
constructed with a single lofty arch, called the Saltador, or leaper ; and so
narrow that only three persons could pass abreast. Fortunately for the
French, the Saltador was not cut, but entrenched and defended by a few hundred
Portuguese peasants, who occupied the rocks on the farther side ; and here the
good soldier Dulong again saved the army : for, when a first and second attempt
had been repulsed with loss, he carried the entrenchments by a third effort ;
but at the same instant fell deeply wounded himself. The head of the column
now poured over, and it was full time, for the English guns were thundering in
the rear, and the Ponte Nova was choked with dead.

Sir Arthur Wellesley, quitting Braga on the morning of the 16th, had come,
about four o'clock, upon Souk's rear-guard, which remained at Salamonde to
cover the passage of the army over the bridges. The right was strongly pro-
tected by a ravine, the left occupied a steep hill ; and a stout battle might have
been made, but men thus circumstanced, and momentarily expecting an order
to retreat, will seldom stand firmly ; and, on this occasion, when some light
troops turned the left, and General Sherbrooke, with the guards, mounting the
steep hill, attacked the front, the French made but one discharge, and fled in
confusion to the Ponte Nova. As this bridge was not on the direct line of
retreat, they were for some time unperceived, and gaining ground of their pur-
suers, formed a rear-guard ; but, after a time, being discovered, some guns
were brought to bear on them ; and then man and horse, crushed together, went
over into the gulf ; and the bridge, and the rocks, and the defile beyond were
strewed with mangled bodies.

This was the last calamity inflicted by the sword upon the French army in
this retreat ; a retreat attended by many horrid as well as glorious events ; for
the peasants in their fury, with an atrocious cruelty, tortured and mutilated
every sick man and straggler that fell into their power ; and on the other hand,
the soldiers, who held together in their turn, shot the peasants ; while the track
of the columns might be discovered from afar by the smoke of the burning
houses.

The French reached Montalegre on the 17th ; and an English staff-officer,
with some cavalry, being upon their rear, as far as Villclla, picked up some
stragglers ; but Sir Arthur, with the main body of the army, halted that day at
Ruivaens.