In the last post in this series covering Carolyn's and my visit to Portugal earlier this year, I concluded our stay in Lisbon with a look at the Museu do Combatente, the Monument to Overseas Combatants and Fort of Bom Sucesso, with a link below to that post and the others that preceded it if you want to go back.
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| JJ's on Tour - Portugal 2025, Lisbon Part 3 |
We concluded our last night in Lisbon with a second visit and a wonderful meal at Il Basilico, with a big thank you to Miguel and his team for adding to our stay in the city, before preparing the next morning to catch the train to Porto, a city I had been looking forward to visiting given its particular history during the Peninsular War, and a place I missed visiting due to time constraints during our big tour of Peninsular War Battlefields back in 2019.
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| British Guards on the attack in Steve M's and my playtest of Rearguard at Grijo, one of the small actions fought by the French pulling back to Porto in May 1809 JJ's Wargames - Over the Hills Playtest, Rearguard at Grijo |
The three hour train journey across the open farmland between Lisbon and Porto whizzed by, the time spent chatting to a very nice family from Canada, also on their way to Porto, and with me making occasional glances from the window in our lovely and clean first-class carriage taking in the landscape crossed by Wellesley's and Soult's forces in the campaign of May 1809 when the Anglo-Portuguese army closed in on Porto forcing back Soult's forward elements at Albergaria and Grijo, and scenarios Steve M and I put together for the O'er the Hills Scenario Book back in 2018.
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| The road to Porto, following the route of our train journey from Lisbon and illustrating the villages of Albergaria and Grijo that saw French rearguard actions as Soult pulled his troops back behind the Douro. |
Sir Arthur Wellesley landed with fresh British reinforcements at Lisbon to join the British garrison together with the first elements of the British trained Portuguese army on the 22nd April 1809 and in his characteristically determined approach to demonstrate to the British government the practicability of his plan for holding Portugal as a base of operations for aiding and supporting the guerrilla war in Spain; he immediately activated plans to drive Soult and French II Corps out of the country that would see his spearhead formations clash with a French advance party somewhat unaware of his presence near the village of Albergaria, hastily forced to prepare a rapid withdrawal back to Oporto when they realised the strength of the force that was attempting to envelope them from the south.
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| French supply wagons pull out in retreat as the British advance guard chases them along the road to Albergaria on the retreat to Porto. JJ' s Wargames - Over the Hills Playtest, Retreat to Albergaria |
Once in Porto main station we hailed a taxi which drove us into town and down to the waterfront at Villa Nova, the main area for the Port Houses that make Porto so famous around the world for its wonderful fortified wine, Port, or vinho do Porto, and we were delighted with our apartment, Point 1 on Fortescue's map below, perfectly situated with wonderful views over the river and positioned just below the famous Luís I Bridge and the Mosteiro da Serra do Pilar above it.
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| Sir John Fortescue's map of Oporto illustrating Wellesley famous crossing of the River Douro on the 12th May 1809, seemed a very appropriate one to use to help illustrate where I took my pictures during our stay and perhaps give an idea as to how modern day Porto has expanded over the intervening two-hundred plus years. |
Point 1 - Villa Nova
By the time we arrived at our apartment the afternoon was drawing in and the market stalls were doing a brisk trade with visitors enjoying the weather and looking for a suitable restaurant to dine in that evening.
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| My port barges suitably adapted and laden with redcoats for my Crossing of the Douro game. |
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| The vista from our lovely apartment in Vila Nova and the city of Porto across the River Douro the next morning and much quieter than the previous evening. |
Almost directly across from our apartment was where the infamous 'Bridge of Boats' had originally been constructed and where so many Portans had lost their lives on the 29th March 1809 when Marshal Soult's II Corps brushed aside the motley defenders of the Bishop of Porto in the foothill emplacements behind the city.
Sir Charles Oman described the events in Vol. II of his monumental history as the French broke through the defences into the town;
'. . . Lorges' dragoons pursued them among the woods above the water and sabred many): others threw themselves into the citadel of St. Joao and capitulated on terms. But several thousands, pressed into the angle between the Douro and the ocean, were slaughtered almost without resistance, or rolled en masse into the water.
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| A model in the Porto Military Museum captures the carnage that followed Soult's army breaking into the city of Porto in March 1809. |
The fate of the Portuguese centre was no less horrible. Their commander, (General) Parreiras, fled early, and got over the bridge to report to the Bishop the ruin of his army. The main horde followed him, though many lingered behind, endeavouring to defend the barricades in the streets. When several thousands had passed the river, some unknown officer directed the drawbridge between the central pontoons to be raised, in order to prevent the French from following. This was done while the larger part of the armed multitude was still on the further bank, hurrying down towards the sole way of escape.
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| The small grey rectangular plaque on the wall on the opposite back to our apartment is the memorial to those innocents killed in March 1809 fleeing the French troops and also marks the position of where the bridge was moored across the river. |
Nor was it only the fighting-men whose retreat was cut off: when the news ran round the city that the lines were forced, the civil population had rushed down to the quays to escape before the sack began. It was fortunate that half the people had left Oporto during the last two days and taken refuge in Beira. But tens of thousands had lingered behind, full of confidence in their entrenchments and their army of defenders. A terrified mass of men, women, and children now came pouring down to the bridge, and mingled with the remnants of the routed garrison
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| Oman's map shows clearly the French forces mustered in March to break into Porto through the hilltop fortifications of the Bishop of Porto's motley defenders, under Generals Lima Barreto and Parreiras, as well as key places that featured in Wellesley's Crossing of the Douro later in May. |
The pontoons were still swinging safely on their cables, and no one, save those in the front of the rush, discovered that there was a fatal gap in the middle of the passage, where the drawbridge had been raised. There was no turning back for those already embarked on the bridge, for the crowds behind continued to push them on, and it was impossible to make them understand what had happened.
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| The disaster at the infamous 'Bridge of Boats' during the French pursuit of civilians in Porto. Our apartment is in one of the buildings seen on the right of picture directly below the monastery on the hill above, |
The French had now begun to appear on the quays, and to attack the rear of the unhappy multitude: their musketry drowned the cries of those who tried to turn back. At the same time the battery on the Serra hill, beyond the river, opened upon the French, and the noise of its twenty heavy guns made it still more impossible to convey the news to the back of the crowd.
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| A close up of the memorial plaque as seen above. |
For more than half an hour, it is said, the rush of fugitives kept thrusting its own front ranks into the death-trap, forty feet broad, in the midst of the bridge. If anything more was needed to add to the horror of the scene, it was supplied by the sudden rush of a squadron of Portuguese cavalry, which — cut off from retreat to the east — galloped down from a side street and ploughed its way into the thickest of the crowd at the bridgehead, trampling down hundreds of victims, till it was brought to a standstill by the mere density of the mass into which it had penetrated. So many persons, at last, were thrust into the water that not only was the whole surface of the Douro covered with drowning wretches, but the gap in the bridge was filled up by a solid mass of the living and the dead. Over this horrid gangway, as it is said, some few of the fugitives scrambled to the opposite bank.
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| Hundreds of tourists pass by this sign most days and are probably totally unaware of the horror that occurred in this beautiful riverside street in Porto. |
At first the French, who had fought their way down to the quay, had begun to fire upon the rear of the multitude which was struggling to escape. But they soon found that no resistance was being offered, and saw that the greater part of the flying crowd was composed of women, children, and non-combatants. The sight was so sickening that their musketry died down, and when they saw the unfortunate Portuguese thrust by thousands into the water, numbers of them turned to the charitable work of helping the strugglers ashore, and saved many lives.
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| '. . the French, who had fought their way down to the quay, had begun to fire upon the rear of the multitude which was struggling to escape.' |
The others cleared the bridge-head by forcing the fugitives back with the butt ends of their muskets, and edging them along the quays and into the side streets, till the way was open. In the late afternoon some of Mermet's troops mended the gap in the bridge with planks and rafters, and crossed it, despite of the irregular fire of the Portuguese battery on the heights above. They then pushed into the transpontine suburb, expelled its defenders, and finally climbed the Serra hill and captured the guns which had striven to prevent their passage.'
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| 1st Duke of Dalmatia, Jean-de-Dieu Soult as Marshal of the Empire. Copy of an 1805 portrait by Jean Broc. |
This part of the quayside is also the place where Sir Arthur Wellesley's troops landed to enter the town in the famous crossing of the Douro on the 12th May 1809, as recounted by Oman;
'Soult was now growing desperate: he ordered up from the city Reynaud's brigade, which had hitherto guarded the quays in the neighbourhood of the broken bridge. His intention was to make one more attack on the Seminary, and if that failed to draw off in the direction of Vallongo and Amarante. This move made an end of his chances; he had forgotten to reckon with the Portuguese.
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| The Port quayside of Porto depicted by Lt Col Robert Batty, in the more peaceful years of the 1820's, captures the look of the country surrounding Porto back in 1809, together with the boat traffic that was the source of the City's wealth. |
The moment that the quays were left unguarded, hundreds of citizens poured out of their houses and ran down to the water's edge, where they launched all the boats that had been drawn ashore, and took them over to the English bank. Richard Stewart's brigade and the Guards who had been waiting under cover of the houses of Villa Nova, immediately began to embark, and in a few moments the passage had begun.
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| With the French garrison having marched off and busy trying to repel the British bridgehead in the Seminary, top right of picture on the cliffs above, the first boat has appeared carrying the 29th Foot leading the British Guards to land in the town, having been transported across by the local townsfolk who rushed to man their boats and bring the British troops across as soon as the French left the quayside unguarded. |
The 29th was first formed up on the northern bank, and dashed up the main street into the city, meeting little or no opposition; the 1st Battalion of Detachments and the Guards' brigade soon followed. In half an hour they had come upon the flank of the French force which was attacking the Seminary, and had taken in the rear and captured one of Soult's reserve batteries, whose horses were shot down before they could escape along a narrow lane.'
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| The main street, centre of picture, leading up from the quayside along which the 29th Foot 'dashed up the main street into the city, meeting little or no opposition'. |
One of the best ways to see Porto and its position on the banks on the mighty Douro river is to take a leisurely cruise along it on one of the many converted wine barges designed for the job, and so Carolyn and I, for slightly different reasons, were eager to get on the river and see the sights.
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| The map illustrates well the three prongs of Wellesley's crossing with Hill and Murray leading the way, and with the crossing at Viilla Nova made once Soult was forced to move his troops to hold off the first two crossings. Soult's attention was focussed on the section of river leading from the city to the coast, fancying Wellesley would cross there with support from the Royal Navy. |
Additionally if you are interested in the crossing carried out by Wellesley's troops on the 12th May 1809 there really is no better way of appreciating the task they faced, together with the key positions fought over on that day than by seeing things from the river itself.
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| 'The Duke' as I like to refer to him, Field Marshal Sir Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, perhaps one of the finest British military commanders alongside the Duke of Marlborough and Field Marshal William Joseph (Bill) Slim, 1st Viscount Slim, and the Crossing of the Douro one of his most remarkable victories. |
Again, I had my copy of Oman at hand to remind myself of the situation and the first moves made by Wellesley's troops;
'So thoroughly were both Soult and his staff impressed with the idea that Wellesley would endeavour to operate below, and not above, the city, that while the lower reaches of the Douro were watched with the greatest care, a very inefficient look-out was kept on the banks above Oporto: there would seem to have been but a single battalion placed in that direction, and this small force was lying far back from the river, with no proper system of pickets thrown forward to the water's edge. Yet the opposite bank was full of cover, of thickets, gardens and olive groves, screening several lanes and by-paths that had led down to ferries.
Such of the boats as had not been scuttled had been brought over to the north bank, but they were not all protected by proper guards. All this was inexcusably careless — the main blame must fall on the Marshal for his parti pris in refusing to look up-stream: though some must also be reserved for General Quesnel, the governor of Oporto, and for Foy, the brigadier whose battalions were in charge of the eastern suburb of the city.
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| 'Such of the boats as had not been scuttled had been brought over to the north bank, but they were not all protected by proper guards.' |
But the fact was that none of the French officers dreamed of the possibility that Wellesley might make an attempt, on the very morning of his arrival, to cross the tremendous obstacle interposed in his way by the rolling stream of the Douro. That he would deliver a frontal attack on them in full daylight was beyond the limits of the probable. They had no conception of the enterprise of the man with whom they had to deal.
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| A local taking a mid-morning dip in the Douro. |
There was this amount of truth in their view, that the British General would not have made his daring stroke at Oporto, unless he had ascertained that the carelessness of his adversaries had placed an unexpected chance in his hands. By ten o'clock in the morning Wellesley had concentrated behind Villa Nova the whole of his force — the three columns of Paget, Hill, and Sherbrooke were now up in line.
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| The view of Villa Nova from the Luís I Bridge, that I took as we made our way to our boat seen moored along the jetty nearest to camera. 'By ten o'clock in the morning Wellesley had concentrated behind Villa Nova the whole of his force — the three columns of Paget, Hill, and Sherbrooke were now up in line.' |
They were kept out of sight of the enemy, some in the lateral lanes of the suburb, but the majority hidden behind the back slope of the hills, where orchards and vineyards gave them complete cover from observers on the northern bank.
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| A better impression of the likely look of the Serra and its monastery in 1809 without the bridge and later buildings. |
While the troops were coming up, Sir Arthur mounted the Serra height, and reconnoitred the whole country-side from the garden of the convent. He had with him Portuguese notables who were well acquainted with Oporto and its suburbs, including several persons who had come over the river on the preceding day, and could give him some notion of the general disposition and emplacement of the French army. Sweeping the valley with his glasses he could see Franceschi's vedettes moving about on the heights down-stream, and heavy columns of infantry forming up outside the north-eastern gates of the city.
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| The imposing heights of the Serra and the monastery from which Wellesley made his reconnaissance and appraisal of French positions on the morning of the 12th May 1809. |
At eleven o'clock this body moved off, escorting a long train of wagons — it was Mermet's division starting for Amarante in charge of Soult's convoy of sick and reserve artillery. On the quays, below the broken bridge, many French pickets were visible, ensconced at the openings of the streets which lead down to the water. But turning his glass to the right, Wellesley could note that upstream matters looked very quiet, the rocky banks above the deep-sunk river were deserted, and nothing was visible among the gardens and scattered houses of the south-eastern suburb. It was possible that French troops might be ensconced there, but no sign of them was to be seen.
Many intelligence-officers had already been sent off, to scour the southern bank of the river, and to ascertain whether by any chance the enemy had overlooked some of the boats belonging to the riverside villages. In a short time two valuable pieces of news were brought up to the Commander-in-chief. The large ferry-boat at Barca d'Avintas, four miles above the city, had been scuttled, but not injured beyond the possibility of hasty repairs. It was already being baled out and mended by the villagers. Nearer at hand a still more important discovery was made. Colonel Waters, one of the best scouts in the army, had met, not far south of the suburban village of Cobranloes, an Oporto refugee, a barber by trade, who had crossed over from the north bank in a small skiff, which he had hidden in a thicket.
The man reported that the opposite bank was for the moment unguarded by the French, and pointed to four large wine-barges lying stranded below the brink of the northern shore, with no signs of an enemy in charge. Yet the position was one which should have been well watched: here a massive building, the bishop's Seminary, surrounded by a high garden wall, lies with its back to the water. It was an isolated structure, standing well outside the eastern suburb, in fairly open ground, which could be easily swept by artillery fire from the dominating position of the Serra heights.
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| '. . . the bishop's Seminary, surrounded by a high garden wall, lies with its back to the water. It was an isolated structure, standing well outside the eastern suburb, in fairly open ground, which could be easily swept by artillery fire from the dominating position of the Serra heights.' |
Waters had with him as guide the prior of Amarante, and by his aid collected three or four peasants from the neighbouring cottages. After some persuasion from the ecclesiastic, these men and the barber consented to join the British officer in a raid on the stranded barges on the further bank. It was a hazardous undertaking, for one French picket had lately been seen to pass by, and another might appear at any moment.
But the necessary half-hour was obtained; Waters and his fellows entered the barber's skiff, crossed the river unseen, got the four barges afloat, and returned with them to the southern bank. They turned out to be big clumsy vessels, capable of holding some thirty men apiece. The explorer had noted that the Seminary buildings above were perfectly empty.
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| '. . . three batteries (Lane's and Lawson's British guns, and one K. G. L. battery) were quietly pushed into the convent garden and trained upon the roads leading to that isolated building.' |
On receiving this intelligence, Wellesley resolved to take the chance which the fates offered him. If the French had shown themselves alert and vigilant, he could not have dared to throw troops across the river into their midst. But they seemed asleep at high noon, and their manifest negligence encouraged him. His mind was soon made up: he ordered Murray with two battalions of his brigade (1st and 2nd Line battalions of the K. G. L.), also a detached company of rifles of the K. G. L., two guns, and two squadrons of the 14th Light Dragoons, to march hard for Barca d'Avintas, cross on the ferry, and seize a position on the opposite bank capable of being defended against superior numbers.
But this (as the small force employed sufficiently demonstrates) was only intended as a diversion. The main blow was to be delivered nearer at hand. Wellesley had resolved to endeavour to seize the abandoned Seminary, and to throw his main body across the river at this point if possible. The local conditions made the scheme less rash in fact than it appears on the map. The east end of the Serra hill completely commands all the ground about the Seminary: three batteries (Lane's and Lawson's British guns, and one K. G. L. battery) were quietly pushed into the convent garden and trained upon the roads leading to that isolated building — one along the shore, the other further inland. If the place could once be seized, it would be possible to protect its garrison by fire across the water.
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| The cliff top position occupied by the guns of the K.G.L., Lane's and Lawson's batteries to cover the crossing to the Seminary on the opposite bank. |
There were only two artillery positions on the French bank, from which the Seminary could be battered: one, close to the water's edge, was completely under the guns of the Serra convent. The other, on the heights by the chapel of Bom Fin, was rather distant, and could not be used against boats crossing the river, as they would be invisible to gunners working on this emplacement. Cannon placed there might do some damage to the Seminary buildings, but could not prevent the garrison from being reinforced. Realizing all this at a glance, Wellesley hurried down Hill's brigade to the water's edge, and the moment that the leading company of the Buffs had got on board the barges, bade them push off
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| In our recreation of the Crossing of the Douro, the first of Hill's troops have entered the Seminary and are busy loopholing and preparing it for defence as the barges below bring over more troops |
In a quarter of an hour the first vessel was over, and a subaltern and twenty-five men rushed up into the empty enclosure of the Seminary, and closed the big iron gate opening into the Vallongo road, which formed its only land-exit. The men from the other barges were just behind: they set themselves to lining the garden wall and to piling up wood and earth against it, in order to give themselves a standing-place from which they could fire over the coping.
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| The rearward facing wall of the Seminary and the slope behind up which the troops from Hill's brigade climbed from the river. |
The barges went back with all speed, and were again loaded and sent off. Meanwhile Wellesley and his staff were looking down in breathless anxiety on the quiet bend of the river, the silent suburb, and the toiling vessels. At any moment the alarm might be given, and masses of the enemy might debouch from the city and dash in upon the Seminary before enough men were across to hold it.
For the best part of an hour the Commander-in-chief must have been fully aware that his daring move might end only in the annihilation of two or three companies of a good old regiment, and a check that would appear as the righteous retribution for recklessness.
But no stir was seen in Oporto: the barges crossed for a second time unmolested: on their third trip they carried over General Edward Paget, whom Wellesley had placed in command of the whole movement.
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| 'More than half the Buffs had passed, and the Seminary was beginning to be adequately manned . . . ' |
More than half the Buffs had passed, and the Seminary was beginning to be adequately manned, when at last some shots were heard outside the gates, and a few minutes later a line of French tirailleurs, supported by three battalions in column, came rushing down upon the enclosures. A full hour had passed between the moment when the first boatload of British soldiers had been thrown across the river, and the time when the French discovered them!
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| Across from the Seminary, and where our boat turned about to take us back to Villa Nova, the beach from which Hill's brigade boarded their barges to make the hazardous crossing to the Seminary can clearly be seen today below the hights of Avintes. |
This boat trip was a bit of a dream come true for me as I had spent many months back in 2018 pouring over maps and pictures of this terrain to capture it for my game and it was so satisfying that the scene captured in my minds eye was so clearly replicated by seeing it close up and for real, and being on the water was like literally following in the wake of Paget and the Buffs, that morning when they made their daring crossing, an opposed crossing in the face of the enemy, one of the hardest military operations to pull off successfully.
As we made our return voyage to our jetty we passed the old fourteenth century city wall rebuilt in the reign of King Ferdinad I, and very noticeable in period prints of the city as seen below, showing the bridge of boats and the old wall clearly delineating the edge of the original city boundary with the Bishops Seminary outside in more open land before later developments
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| The 14th century city wall can be seen clearly in this period depiction of Porto above the river and bridge of boats, with the Bishops Seminary in the distant background in the open country beyond the city wall. |
As we passed under the Luís I Bridge, the sight of the Graham's Port Lodge reminded me that we needed to take a few gifts home.
Point 2 - Porto City and the Cathedral
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| Bolhão Market. |
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| Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady - Porto. |
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The statue of Vímara Peres (died in Galicia, 873) was a ninth-century nobleman who served as the first Count of Portugal. |
In the second part of this post I'll take a look at the other sites highlighted, at Points 3 to 7 in Porto, and the ground over which Marshal Soult and his troops were eventually forced to relinquish as they marched back the way they had come through the mountains to Galicia in June 1809.
This will include a closer look at Wellesley's position around the Serra Monastery and Convent, the Seminary, held by the 3rd (Buffs) Foot and the balance of Hill's brigade, the Church of Bomfim, where the French guns were positioned to bombard the Seminary, the fortifications at São João da Foz, the Porto Military Museum and the Peninsular War Memorial, so lots more to come.
As always, more anon.
JJ
