[133] Oddly enough, in the Duke of Rovigo’s own _Mémoires_ the statement is made that these troops arrived too late to fight at Rio Seco, a curious error (ii. 248).
[134] See the dispatch of July 13, to Savary, and that of the same day to King Joseph (_Nap. Corresp._, 14,191).
The reinforcements being hurried on to Bessières by forced marches, that general found himself on July 9 at the head of a force with which he thought that he might venture to attack Blake and Cuesta. If they had brought with them all their troops, and had called in the Asturians, it is probable that the marshal would have found himself too weak to face them: fortunately for him he had only five-ninths of the army of Galicia and Cuesta’s miserable levies in front of him. His own fighting force was formed of odd fragments of all the divisions which formed his _corps d’armée_: large sections of each of them were left behind to guard his communications with France, and others were before Saragossa. Bessières marched from Burgos with the brigade of the Imperial Guard: at Palencia he picked up Lasalle’s cavalry with half Mouton’s newly arrived division of veterans (the second brigade was left at Vittoria) and a small part of Merle’s division, which had been hastily brought over the mountains from Santander to join him. There was also present the larger half of Verdier’s division, of which the rest was now in Aragon with its commander[135].
[135] Bessières’ army seems to have consisted of the following elements:--
(1) One regiment of the Fusiliers of the Imperial Guard (three batts.) 1,900 Three squadrons of cavalry of the Imperial Guard 300
(2) From Verdier’s Division: Ducos’ { 13th Provisional Regiment (four batts.) 2,000 Brigade { 14th Provisional Regiment (one batt.)[a] 500
Sabathier’s { 17th Provisional Regiment (four batts.) } Brigade { 18th Provisional Regiment (four batts.)[b] } 2,800
(3) From Merle’s Division: D’Armagnac’s { 47th of the Line (one batt.)[c] } Brigade { 3rd Swiss Regiment (one batt.) } 1,600
(4) From Mouton’s Division: Reynaud’s { 4th Léger (three batts.) } Brigade { 15th of the Line (two batts.)[d] } 3,000
(5) Lasalle’s Cavalry Brigade: 10th Chasseurs} 22nd Chasseurs} 850 ------ ----- 11,800 1,150