officers, who in their flurry had mistaken them for Spaniards; for
Lord Wellington had previously ordered the Spaniards to wear a piece
of white substance round their left arm to make some distinction
between the French dress and theirs, which was very similar; but the
French had got knowledge of this, and a great number of them, who were
obliged in their hurried retreat and on account of the difficulties of
the road to pass near our lines, had adopted the Spanish white band.
Still we fired at them both with muskets and artillery; but when the
officers perceived the white on their arms, without bestowing any more
consideration as to whether they were the enemy or the Spaniards, they
immediately stopped us from doing so. As soon as the French in passing
observed this, they sunk into the valley and piled arms as if they
were allies; and directly an opportunity afforded itself, they again
took up their muskets and fired right into our lines, doing terrible
mischief.

I never in all the days of the campaign saw men in such a rage as ours
were with the officers. I really thought that some serious
consequences would ensue, but as it was, all fortunately passed off as
well as could be expected after such a mistake. For if this trick had
before been observed, we might have taken the whole body prisoners by
a direct movement of our right flank, as no other way lay open to
their retreat without their encountering great difficulties; but the
chance was now thrown away, and repairs could not be made of the
damage done; many in our line having lost their irrecoverable lives,
and others being more or less injured. We had only to make what
consolation we could from beholding the almost express pace of the
party as it retreated from where lay our comrades, either as groaning,
wounded, or shattered corpses.

After their signal defeat at Vittoria, scarcely anything was left open
to the French but to cross the Pyrenees into their own territory on
the other side. Numberless quantities of warlike instruments were
captured, such as cannons, muskets, cartridges, and all kinds of
ammunition, besides supplies for the army, food, clothing, and the
like, which were considering our need at the time of great benefit to
the Allies.

I myself had my feet new rigged after this affair, and it was
certainly not before I wanted a covering for them; there was certainly
a part of the upper leathers of my old pair of boots left, but the
chief part of th