Major General Sir Thomas Picton
[p. i]
A HISTORY OF THE
PENINSULAR WAR
BY
CHARLES OMAN
M.A. Oxon., Hon. LL.D. Edin.
FELLOW OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY
CHICHELE PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY
FELLOW OF ALL SOULS COLLEGE
CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE REAL ACADEMIA
DE LA HISTORIA OF MADRID, OF THE ACADEMY OF LISBON
AND THE ACADEMY OF SAN LUIS OF SARAGOSSA
Vol. IV
Dec. 1810-Dec. 1811
MASSÉNA’S RETREAT FUENTES DE OÑORO
ALBUERA TARRAGONA
WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1911
[p. ii]HENRY FROWDE, M.A.
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK
TORONTO AND MELBOURNE
[p. iii]
PREFACE
In this volume are contained the annals of allthe many campaigns of 1811, with the exception of those of Suchet’sValencian expedition in the later months of the year, which for reasonsof space have to be relegated to Volume V. It was impossible to exceedthe bulk of 660 pages, and the operations on the Mediterranean coastof Spain can be dealt with separately without any grave breach ofcontinuity in the narrative, though this particular Valencian campaignaffected the general course of the war far more closely than anyother series of operations on the Eastern side of the Peninsula, asI have been careful to point out in the concluding chapters of Section XXIX.
The main interest of 1811, however, centres in the operations ofWellington and his opponents, Masséna, Soult, and Marmont. In theprevious year the tide of French conquest reached its high-water mark,when Soult appeared before the walls of Cadiz, and Masséna forced hisway to the foot of the long chain of redoubts that formed the Lines ofTorres Vedras. Already, before 1810 was over, Masséna’s baffled armyhad fallen back a few miles, and this firs