ollowers. End of the Campaign of 1811. Winter
Quarters.

Lord Wellington, soon after the battle of Fuentes, was again called
into Estremadura, to superintend the operations of the corps of the
army under Marshal Beresford, who had, in the mean time, fought the
battle of Albuera, and laid siege to Badajos. In the beginning of
June our division was ordered thither also, to be in readiness to aid
his operations. We halted one night at the village of Soito, where
there are a great many chestnut trees of very extraordinary
dimensions; the outside of the trunk keeps growing as the inside
decays. I was one of a party of four persons who dined inside of one,
and I saw two or three horses put up in several others.

We halted, also, one night on the banks of the Coa, near Sabugal, and
visited our late field of battle. We found that the dead had been
nearly all torn from their graves, and devoured by wolves, who are in
great force in that wild mountainous district, and shew very little
respect either for man or beast. They seldom, indeed, attack a man;
but if one happens to tie his horse to a tree, and leaves him
unattended, for a short time, he must not be surprised if he finds, on
his return, that he has parted with a good _rump steak_; _that_ is the
piece that they always prefer; and it is, therefore, clear to me,
that the first of the wolves must have been reared in England!

We experienced, in the course of this very dark night, one of those
ridiculous false alarms which will sometimes happen in the best
organized body. Some bullocks strayed, by accident, amongst the piles
of arms, the falling clatter of which, frightened them so much that
they went galloping over the sleeping soldiers. The officers'
baggage-horses broke from their _moorings_, and joined in the general
charge; and a cry immediately arose, that it was the French cavalry.
The different regiments stood to their arms, and formed squares,
looking as sharp as thunder for something to fire at; and it was a
considerable time before the cause of the _row_ could be traced. The
different followers of the army, in the mean time, were scampering off
to the rear, spreading the most frightful reports. One woman of the
52d succeeded in getting three leagues off before daylight, and swore,
"that, as God was her judge, she did not leave her regiment until she
saw the last man of them cut to pieces!!!"

On our arrival near Elvas, we found that Marshal Beresford had r