History of the Peninsular War Author:Robert Southey Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: the issue of a movement which was undertaken Chap. . . , . . . , i- f xxiv. against his opinion, moved two divisions of infantry and a brigade of cavalry, ... more »under General Sherbrooke, across the Alberche to Casalegas, to keep up the communication with Cuesta and with Sir Robert Wilson. Near that village the body of a Spanish peasant was found, whom the French soldiers had a littlebefore burnt, or rather scorched to death. It lay with the arms lifted and the hands clenched, as if in the act of prayer, the features distorted, and the whole corpse stiffened in one dreadful expression of agony! Joseph Buonaparte and Marshal Jourdan left ' of L L Joseph and Madrid on the 23d, and halted that night at Sebastiani Navalcarnero, designing to form a junction with Victor at Casalegas, and to order Sebastiani thither as soon as that general, in pursuance of his instructions, should have returned from Consuegra and Madrilejos, where he was watching Venegas, to Toledo. Another object which Jourdan had in view was to check Sir Robert Wilson, whose force he supposed to be considerably greater than it was, and of whose enterprising spirit the French stood in fear. But Victor, who was well informed of the plans of his enemies, perceived, that if he fell back upon Navalcarnero to join the Intruder, it would be easy to interpose between them and Sebastiani, in which case the junction of their whole force in this quarter would be rendered exceedingly difficult, if not impossible. Apprising Joseph, therefore, of his movements, he retreated to the Chap, left bank of the Guadarrama, at its confluence — - — — with the Tagus near Toledo. Sebastian! reached 1809. juh/'. that city the same day, and the Intruder, march- ing to the same point, fixed his head-quarters at Vargas, two leag...« less