It is rare in Peninsular literature to find any general descriptions of the normal working of the military machine. In personal diaries or reminiscences the author takes for granted a knowledge of the daily life of the army, which was so familiar to himself, and only makes remarks or notes when something abnormal happened. Official documents, on the other hand, are nearly always concerned with changes or modifications in routine. They explain and comment upon the reasons why some particular detail of practice must be abandoned, or be more strictly enforced, but they do not give descriptive accounts of the whole system of which that detail is a part. A notion as to the methods on which Wellington’s army was moved could be got together by the comparison of a great many of his “General Orders.” But, fortunately, we are spared much trouble in the compilation of such a sketch by the fact that, for once, it is possible to lay one’s hand on a careful detailed narrative of how the army marched. It is to be found in the anonymous introduction to the second edition of Selected General Orders, which Gurwood published in 1837. It was apparently not by the editor himself, as he states in his introductory note that it “was written, as a critique, at the suggestion of the author of a distinguished periodical review; but being found too long and too professional for columns usually destined to literature or politics, it was not inserted.”267 Since authors do not review their own books, it is clear that this critique was written by some friend, not by Gurwood himself. It extends to about thirty-seven pages, of which nine are devoted to the long and interesting sketch of Wellington’s army on the march, which is reproduced in the following paragraphs. The author, writing for the general public, not for the professional public, tells us precisely what we want to know.

“The orders for movement from the Commander of the Forces were communicated by the Quarter Master General to the General Officers commanding divisions, who detailed them, through their Assistant Quarter Master Generals, to the Generals of brigades, who gave them out immediately to the battalions of their brigades, through the Brigade Majors. The drum, the bugle and the trumpet sounded the preparation for the march at a certain hour, generally one hour and a half before daylight, in order that the several battalions might be assembled on the brigade alarm-posts, so as to be ready to march off from the ground precisely at daylight. It must be observed that the alarm-post is the place of assembly in the event of alarm; it was generally, and should always be, the place of parade.

“It is singular to refer to these orders to see how a division of 6000 men, and so on in any proportion, rolled up in their blankets ‘in the arms of Murphy,’ were all dressed, with blankets rolled, packed, equipped, squadded, paraded in companies, told off in subdivisions, sections, and sections of threes, marched by companies to the regimental alarm-posts, and finally to that of the brigade, formed in close columns, all by sounds as familiar to the soldier as the clock at the Horse Guards to a corporal of the Blues. Guns were paraded, baggage packed and loaded, Commissariat mules with the reserve biscuit, the Storekeeper with the spare ammunition-bullocks placed under charge, all assembled with the same precision and order, ready to march off under the direction of the Assistant Quarter Master General attached to the division or corps, who had previously assembled the guides, whom he attached to the column or columns directed to be marched to the points or towns named in the Quarter Master General’s instructions. In the mean time the formidable Provost Marshal attached to the division made his patrols.

“The report of ‘All Present’ being made in succession by the Brigade Majors to the Assistant Adjutant General, and by him to the General commanding the column, the word ‘By sections of threes, march,’ was given, from the right or left, as directed in the Quarter Master General’s instructions, the whole being formed either right or left in front, according to the views of the General in command of the army. The advanced guard of the column was then formed under the superintendence of the Brigade Major of the Brigade, right or left in front. This advanced guard consisted of one company of varying strength. The whole was marched off at sloped arms, with the greatest precision and regularity, and remained in that order until the word ‘March at ease’ was given to the leading battalion, which was successively taken up by the others in the rear. The women, in detached parties, either preceded the column or followed it—none were permitted to accompany it; they generally remained with the baggage, excepting when their finances enabled them to make little speculations in bread and comfort in the villages or towns in the neighbourhood of the line of march. The Assistant Provost Marshal with his guard and delinquents brought up the rear of the column, followed by the rear guard, under an officer who took up all the stragglers, whom he lodged in the main guard on his arrival, where those who had received tickets of permission to fall out were directed to join their corps, non-commissioned officers being in waiting to receive them.

“The first halt was generally made at the expiration of half an hour from the departure, and afterwards once an hour; each halt lasted at least five minutes after the men had piled their arms; this might vary a little, as the weather, distance, or other circumstances of the march might point out. The object of halting was for the purpose of allowing those who had fallen out to rejoin their companies, which, excepting in cases of sickness, usually occurred; as a man wanting to fall out was obliged to obtain a ticket from the officer commanding his company so to do, and to leave his pack and his firelock to be carried by his comrades of his section of threes; he therefore lost no time to return to his rank, and give back his ticket. This first halt was generally passed in eating a piece of bread or meat set aside for the march—arranging the accoutrements, pack, haversack, and canteen, so as to sit well—in jokes about the last night’s quarters or bivouac, or in the anticipations of the next. At the expiration of the halt the drum or bugle sounded the ‘Fall-in,’ and, by word of command, the leading battalion proceeded in the same order as in the beginning of the march; the other battalions following in succession, always with music; then ‘March at ease’ as before; but when the word ‘Attention’ was given, the whole sloped arms and marched in the same order as at a field-day; this was always done in formations previous to the halt.

“When the army was not near the enemy, two officers preceded each battalion on its march, one of them twenty-four hours before the battalion, and, on his arrival at the station pointed out, received the necessary information from the Assistant Quarter Master General. The other officer marched the same day in charge of the camp-colour men of each company, so as to arrive early, and take over the quarters from the officer who went on the day before.

“The Deputy Assistant Quarter Master General always preceded these officers, to make arrangements with the magistrates as to quarters: and the town was parcelled out by him, in proportion to the strength of the several battalions or corps, to their respective officers; they divided it according to their judgment to the ten orderlies, who chalked on the doors the letter of the company and number of men to occupy, as also the officers’ quarters, which invariably were in the quarters of the company. The officer first marked off the quarters of the Commanding Officer, staff, orderly-room, guard-room, Quarter Master’s stores, all in the most central position in the quarters of the regiment. The first officer then proceeded to the next station; the second officer and the ten orderlies proceeded to the road by which the troops were to arrive, and accompanied them to the alarm-post fixed for them: which spot the Assistant Quarter Master General, under the direction of the General in command, had pointed out, either in front or in rear of the town. Here they halted in column, as also assembled the following morning, or at any other time that the alarm or assembly might be sounded. The brigades, the battalions, and the companies each had their respective alarm-posts or places of formation in the most central parts of their quarters. The officers commanding companies then put their men up, and made reports to the Officer Commanding as to the accommodation, or the want of it, the officers commanding battalions to those commanding brigades, and the Generals of Brigades to the General of the Division. The Assistant Quarter Master General was always ready to be appealed to, in case of a battalion being crowded, to afford further accommodation, as there was generally some building or street reserved in a central position for this purpose, or in the event of detachments of other corps arriving.

“When the column was to bivouac in huts, or, as afterwards, encamp in tents, there occurred less difficulty. On arrival on the position pointed out in the Quarter Master General’s instructions, the General commanding chose what he considered the most favourable ground in accordance with needs as to front, communications with his flanks and rear, reference to wood and water, and the health of the ground, avoiding proximity to marshes, where the night damps might affect the troops. The Assistant Quarter Master General disposed of this ground to the several officers sent on in advance by the battalions for that purpose, as before described in quarters. The General then proceeded to the front, and indicated where he wished his advanced piquets to be posted, to be in communication with the outposts of the cavalry in front, or, if there were none, to cover all the approaches with detached posts and sentries, so that nothing should be able to arrive by any of them without being seen and stopped; or if patrols or other movements of the enemy should take place, either by night or day, that the same might be made known by the chain of sentries to the detached posts and outlying piquets, and communicated to the main body, if thought necessary, by the Field Officer of the outlying piquets. Preconcerted signals of setting fire to beacons, or a certain number of musket shots fired, communicated the alarm more quickly, and allowed the troops more time to get under arms, until the precise cause of the alarm was ascertained.

“The division having arrived on its ground, the outlying piquets were immediately marched off to take the covering of the front just described. The temporary division-hospital, and the Commissariat magazines, being pointed out to the Commanding Officers, Surgeons, and Quarter Masters, the brigades and battalions proceeded to their respective alarm-posts and ground for the encampment or bivouac, accompanied by the officers and the camp-colour men as before stated. The quarter and rear guards were then mounted, to be relieved always in two hours afterwards by fresh troops. The sentries from the quarter guards watched the communications to the front, and to the detached posts between the camp and the outlying piquets, to communicate alarm if announced in any manner from the front.

“If the troops were to encamp, the tent mules, which always immediately followed the column, under charge of an officer, preceding all other baggage, were unloaded, and the company’s tents pitched in column on the alignment given to the battalion, brigade, and division.

“If there were no tents, then the bill-hooks came speedily into play: regular squads were formed for cutting branches, others for drawing them to the lines, and others as the architects for constructing the huts: this was an amusement more than a duty, and it was quite wonderful to see how speedily every one was under cover. It was the pride of each company that their officers’ huts should be the first and the best built. The soldier became quite re-invigorated by the mere act of piling arms, getting off his accoutrements, pack, haversack, and other incumbrances, which weigh generally about sixty pounds, and set to work in right earnest at the hut-building. Although the huts were not quite so speedily erected, or pitched with the same regularity, as the tents, yet still the order and alignment were preserved when the ground permitted. This might not have been essential, yet still no opportunity should be allowed to escape in inculcating the habit of order and regularity in whatever is done by the soldier; and, however simple the act, it should be impressed on his mind, that what is ordered is the easiest, and that what is his duty is his interest.

“The regular fatigue parties for bread, meat, and spirits were regularly told off and warned, before the companies were dismissed to pitch tents or build huts. These parties consisted generally of two or three men per company, under a corporal, for each particular article of provisions, to be ready to turn out when that article was called at the quarter guard. A company’s guard or watch, of a corporal and four privates, furnishing one sentry with side arms only, always remained in the lines of the company to repeat communications and preserve order.

“The Commanding Officers made their reports through the Majors of brigade, that their respective battalions had received bread, meat, spirits, and forage, specifying the number of days for each; that they had marched off one or more companies, of such and such strength, for the outlying piquets, to the posts directed under the orders of the Field Officer of the outlying piquets; and that the orderlies who had accompanied them had returned, knowing where to find them. The outlying piquets were under the Field Officer of the day, who again received his instructions from the Assistant Adjutant General of the division. The Commanding Officers at the same time reported the force of the company or inlying piquet, which were ready to turn out to support the outlying piquet in the event of being required, and were under the Field Officer of the day of the inlying piquets, and kept on their accoutrements, although in other respects, like the remaining companies, not on duty, and in their tents or huts. The company on inlying piquet, as also the Field Officer of the day in charge of the whole of the companies of the brigade, were always first for the outlying piquet.

“All particular duties were taken by companies, under their own officers, and not by the old way of individual roster of so many men per company; such were the company for outlying piquet; the company for inlying piquet, which gave the quarter and rear guards within the lines; the first company for general fatigue, from which the Quarter Master’s fatigues were taken for ammunition, equipment, working parties, and all other fatigues, excepting rations; all these duties were taken by the roster of companies.

“The issue of rations was regulated by the Quarter Master and Commissariat, agreeably to the instructions of the General commanding the division or brigade, communicated in orders to the battalions, and was done regimentally by individuals from all the companies, and not by the company on general fatigue. On the issue of any article, such as bread, meat, wine, or forage, the fatigue parties from each company, as before described, were summoned from the quarter guard by the Quarter Master, who called out the watch in the lines of each company; those previously warned for each article turned out under their respective non-commissioned officers, and assembled under the officer of the inlying piquet named in the orders at the quarter guard. He then proceeded with the Quarter Master or Quarter Master Sergeant to the place of issue; after the delivery he returned to the quarter guard, reported to the Captain of the Day, who was the captain of the inlying piquet, the regularity or irregularity of the particular issue under his superintendence, and then dismissed the parties under their several non-commissioned officers to their respective companies, where the delivery was immediately made under the orderly Officer of each company. The same routine took place when in quarters; and, although the recapitulation may appear tedious, still the whole was performed with a celerity which leaves more time to the soldier when in camp than in any other situation.

“At an appointed hour the sick reports were gathered from the companies, and the men paraded for the inspection of the Surgeon; he reported to the Staff Surgeon, who, in his turn, reported to the General commanding the division, sending his own report to the Inspector General of Hospitals.

“The General commanding the division made his reports to the Adjutant and Quarter Master Generals for the information of the Commander of the Forces, according to the importance of the report and the circumstances of the moment.

“When before the enemy, the issue of the provisions and the cooking were attended to with every consideration to the position of things, so that what was to be done should be done with speed as well as precaution; for it would be bad management to throw away the soup before it was well made, or swallow it boiling hot, in case of interruption, and still worse to leave it to the enemy. All this is sufficiently dwelt upon in the Duke’s ‘Circular Letter,’ and in the admirable orders of General Robert Craufurd, from whence the greater part of the foregoing details were learned and proved in the field.268

“The new tin camp-kettle, carried alternately by the men of each squad, was a great improvement upon the old Flanders iron cauldron, which required a whole tree, or the half of a church door, to make it boil; and which, being carried on the camp-kettle mule (afterwards appropriated to carry the tents), only arrived with the baggage. This improvement, as the Duke truly observed in his ‘October Minute,’ left much valuable time disposable for other purposes. It is to be hoped that in any future wars some improvement will also take place in the weight and temper of the old bill-hook, which, in the early part of the Peninsular War, was immoderately heavy, and had edges which, on attempting to cut any wood not absolutely green, bent like lead: many of the men threw these away, but the more prudent exchanged them for the lighter and better tempered bill-hook used by the Portuguese in their vineyards, exchange being no robbery with our fellows.

“In the camp or bivouac, in fine weather, all went on merrily, but there came moments of which the mere remembrance even now recalls ancient twitches of rheumatism, which the iron frame of the most hardy could not always resist. On the night previous to General Craufurd’s affair on the Coa, on those previous to the battle of Salamanca and the battle of Waterloo, and on many other less anxious nights, not hallowed by such recollections, deluges of rain not only drenched the earth, but unfortunately all that rested or tried to rest upon it; the draining through the hut from above by some ill-placed sticks in the roof, like lightning conductors, conveyed the subtle fluid where it was the least wanted; while the floods coursing under, drove away all possibility of sleep: repose was, of course, out of the question, when even the worms would come out of the earth, it being far too wet for them. ‘In such a night as this’ it was weary work to await the lagging dawn with a craving stomach; and, worse still, to find nothing but a bellyful of bullets for breakfast. But, on the Pyrenees, in the more fortunate and healthy days of tents, it was not unusual, when the mountain blast and torrents of rain drew up the pegs of the tents, for them to fall, as nothing in nature falls, squash on the soldier, who lay enveloped and floundering in the horrible wet folds of canvas. Then nothing but the passing joke ‘Boat a-hoy!’ or the roars of laughter caused by some wag, who made this acme of misery into mirth, could re-animate to the exertion of scrambling out of these clammy winding-sheets. These are recollections, however, which, notwithstanding the sufferings in the experience of them, and their legacies of rheumatism, still afford pleasurable feelings to the old soldier, now laid up by his Christmas fireside.”

To this long and lively description by an anonymous Peninsular veteran (probably from the Light Division) of the way in which Wellington’s army moved, we need only add a few words by way of caution and supplement. The smoothly-working regularity which it described could not always be secured in actual practice. There were marches where the system could not be carried out, by reason of hurry, unexpected changes of direction, and the vagaries of the weather. When some sudden movement of the French forced the Duke to throw his army on a route that he had not intended to take, the elaborate provision of officers going before to act as harbingers could not be carried out. When a division halted, late at night, at some unforeseen destination, there could be neither the selection of billets, nor (in the open field) the erection of huts described above. All had to be done more or less haphazard in the dark. In hot or stormy weather stragglers were numerous, and the “ticket” routine broke down altogether. The description above will do for long orderly movements like the advance on Madrid in 1812, or the march to Vittoria, in 1813, but it fails to reproduce the impression of confusion and misery caused by the perusal of any good narrative of the Burgos retreat, or of the disorder in the hasty marches to intercept Soult on the eve of the battles of the Pyrenees. A quotation from a diarist in the ranks,269 giving a picture of the first-named march may suffice to give the reverse of the shield.

“Retreating before the enemy at any time is a grievous business, but in such weather as that of November, 1812, it was doubly so. The rain pouring down in torrents drenched us to the skin, the road, composed of clay soil, stuck to our shoes so fast that they were torn off our feet. The nights were dismally dark, the cold winds blew in heavy gusts, and the roads became gradually worse. After marching in this state for hours, we halted in a field by the roadside, piled our arms, and were allowed to dispose of ourselves as we best could. The moon, wading through dense masses of clouds, sometimes threw a momentary gleam on the miserable beings huddled together in every variety of posture, and trying to rest or to screen themselves from the cold. Some were lying on the wet ground rolled in wetter blankets, some placed their knapsack on a stone, and sat on it, with their blankets wrapped about them, their heads resting on their knees, their teeth chattering with cold. Long before daylight we were again ordered to fall in, and proceeded on our retreat. The rain still continued to fall, the roads were now knee-deep in mud. Many men got fatigued and could not follow: the spring waggons could not hold them all; they dropped behind to fall into the hands of the French cavalry. By some mismanagement the commissary stores had been sent on ahead with the baggage, toward Rodrigo, and we were without food. The feeling of hunger was very severe: some oxen that had remained with the division were killed and served out to us, but our attempts to kindle cooking fires with wet wood were abortive. Sometimes we just managed to raise a smoke, and numbers would gather round a fire, which then would go out, in spite of their efforts.

“A savage sort of desperation took possession of our minds: those who lived on most friendly terms with each other in better times now quarrelled with each other, using the most frightful imprecations on the slightest offence. A misanthropic spirit took possession of every breast. The streams from the hills were swollen into rivers, which we had to wade, and vast numbers fell out, among them even officers. It was piteous to see the men, who had long dragged their limbs after them with a determined spirit, finally fall down in the mud unable to proceed further. The despairing looks that they gave us, when they saw us pass on, would have pierced the heart at any other time; but our feelings were steeled, and we had no power to assist, even had we felt the inclination.

“At last the rain somewhat abated, but the cold was excessive: at the nightly halt many men threw themselves down in the mud, praying for death to relieve them from their misery. And some prayed not in vain, for next morning, starting in the dark, we stumbled over several who had died in the night. Setting my foot inadvertently on one, I stooped down to feel, and I shall never forget the sickening thrill that went to my heart, as my hand touched his cold, clammy face. This day we halted earlier than usual, and the weather being clearer, got fires lighted; but there was nothing to eat save acorns from a wood in which we encamped—we greedily devoured them, though they were nauseous in the extreme. Next day’s sufferings were of the same nature—only more aggravated, till at last we neared Rodrigo in the dark, halted, and heard at last the well-known summons of ‘Turn out for biscuit,’ ring in our ears. We had got to food at last. Instead of the usual orderly division each man seized what he could get, and began to allay the dreadful gnawing pain which had tormented us for four days of unexampled cold and fatigue.”