Journals of sieges carried on by the army of the Duke of Wellington in Spain during the years 1811 to 1814

434 Pages·1846·10.977 MB·English

by  John Thomas Jones, H. D. Jones (ed.)

JOURNALS
OF
SIEGES IN SPAIN,
&c.
VOL. I.
7
PRINTED BYW. HUGHES,
KING'S HEAD COURT, GOUGH SQUARE.
04.02.
JOURNAL, OS THE SEIGES
TA
by the Army vede
THE DDAALLKKEE OF WELLINGTON
IN SPAIN,
Between the Years 13 ..
with an Account of
THE LINES OF TORRES VEDRAY.
BY MAJOR GENERAL
SIR JOHN T. JONES , BART KC.
1
Freebarn,sculp
In Three Volumes.
EDITED BY LIEUT COL: HARRY JONES
ROYAL ENGINEERS.
LONDON, JOHN WLALг..
THI
THE
ME
THIRD EDITION, EDITED BY LIEUT.-COL. H. D. JONES, R.E.
JOURNALS OF SIEGES
CARRIED ON BY
THE ARMY UNDER THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON,
IN
SPAIN,
DURING THE YEARS 1811 TO 1814;
WITH NOTES AND ADDITIONS:
ALSO
MEMORANDA RELATIVE TO THE LINES THROWN UP
TO COVER LISBON IN 1810.
BY
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR JOHN T. JONES, BART., R.E.,
KNIGHT COMMANDER OF THE BATH.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
London:
JOHN WEALE, 59, HIGH HOLBORN.
M.DCCC.XLVI.
F1481.79.3
HARVARD COLLEGE
MAR101925
LIBRARY
Starrfend
(3vols)
"
T
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
THE Journals of the Sieges in Spain were originally
penned at the commencement of 1813, for the avowed
purposeofdrawinggeneralattentiontotheveryinefficient
composition and inadequate strength of the siege esta
blishments ofthe empire, which certainly at that period
had the effect of rendering our attacks of fortified places
farless certain and less powerful than our natural advan
tages, great resources, and liberal military expenditure,
entitledthenationto expect.
Thefirst edition was exhausted in a few months; but
the attention of those intrusted with regulating the en
gineers'branch ofthe army being at that time zealously
engaged in giving it due organization and efficiency, any
further discussion of the subject would have been mis
placed, andno second edition was allowed to appear.
Inthetwelveorthirteen yearswhich have since elapsed,
a very near approach has been made to perfection, and
theJournals would have been left to sink into oblivion,
had not many officers pressed for their republication, as
themeans of preserving the details of the engineers' and
artilleryexertions during operations unlikely to be again
equalledinbold and arduous achievement.
Under this view, the narrative connecting the several
operations, and also the two chapters relating to defi
ciencies, happily no longer existing, have been expunged,
and the work is now put forth merely as professional
VOL. I. b
vi PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
memoranda ofthe artilleryand engineers' arrangements at
the Siegesin Spain.
It should be stated, thatthe additional artillery details
introduced into the Journals have been furnished by
Colonel Sir A. Dickson and Lieutenant-Colonel Sir J.
May, K.C.B., who directed the service of that arm atthe
several sieges; but the observations on artillery in the
notes canboast of no such authority fortheir correctness,
being merelygeneral reasoning onthe properties and use
of ordnance, as connected with the science of attacking
fortresses,tothe extent essentially necessary to beunder
stoodforthe due performance ofan engineer's duty.
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
THE late Sir Lawrence Jones, Bart.,* shortly after the
Author's death, having been urgently solicited to allow a
third edition ofthe Journals ofthe Sieges in Spain,' and
6
ofthe Memoranda onthe Lines thrown up in 1811 to
cover Lisbon,' to be published, consulted me upon the
subject, and requested me to undertake the Editorship.
I willingly accepted the office, from an anxious desire
that the invaluable professional details which they con
tain might continue available for the junior members of
the Corps of Royal Engineers; and, still further, to
extend generallythe benefits to be derived from the study
of the operations therein described. Since the period
towhichtheyrefer, there have notbeen any sieges under
taken bythe British army; the value ofthe Journals is
therefore increased rather than diminished bythe length
oftime thathas elapsed sincetheir publication. Through
outtheworkthe Editor has preserved the text unaltered:
his attention has been directed to render the narrative
* The melancholy death of Sir LawrenceJones occurredwhile
thesheetsofthis edition were passingthroughthepress. Onthe
7th of November last, while travelling in Turkey, not far from
Macri, he and his Greekservant were shotbya concealed party
ofbanditti, five in number. It is satisfactory to be able to add
that, mainly owing tothe energy ofthe BritishAmbassador, Sir
Stratford Canning, allthe perpetrators ofthis terrible crime have
been apprehended. Sir Lawrence succeeded to his title on the
26th ofFebruary, 1843.
viii PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
of those important Sieges as instructive as possible;
and with this viewhe has added numerous extracts from
the Dispatches of the Duke ofWellington, from French
Journals ofthe same Sieges, andalsofromFrench Official
Documents; all of which, taken in conjunction withthe
text, will, it is hoped, be considered as increasing very
materially the value ofthe work.
Some of the Dispatches explain the reasons which
influenced certain events ; others showthe opinion ofthe
General commanding the operations; and from the
French authors interesting details are given ofthe duties
performed and works executed by the several garrisons
previously to and during the Sieges, to strengthen the
places, and prolong their defence.
6
The Memoranda on the Lines thrown up to cover
Lisbon,' which were originally printed for private circu
lation, arenow, with two additional papers bythe Author,
formed into athird volume: copious selections have been
made from the Dispatches, principally with a view to
show what took place during the occupation ofthe Lines,
andthearrangementsfor repelling anyattack whichmight
be made upon them.
H. D. J.