[127] I find in the _Vaughan Papers_ the following note: ‘General Lefebvre-Desnouettes was residing at Cheltenham on parole, having been taken prisoner at Benavente by Lord Paget. I went to Cheltenham on May 27, 1809, for the express purpose of seeing the general. He told me that he had advanced at first with no more than 3,000 men, but that after General Verdier joined him, the French force employed against Saragossa was 15,000 men. I understood that in the attack of July 2 and the previous fighting they lost 2,000 men, and that their total loss in the whole siege was 4,000, including three generals wounded.’ _Nap. Corresp._ (xvii. 389, 426) calls the whole force before Saragossa on August 2, 17,300 men. But there seems to have been present in all only--
(1) Lefebvre-Desnouettes’ column: { 2nd of the Vistula (1st and 2nd batts.) 1376 Brigade { 70th of the line (3rd batt.) 379 Grandjean { 4th _bataillon de marche_ 581 { 6th ditto 655 = 2991
{ 1st of the Vistula (1st and 2nd batts.) 1243 Brigade { 1st supplementary regiment of the Legions Habert { of Reserve (1st and 2nd batts.) 1030 { 47th of the line (3rd batt.) 420 { 15th ditto (4th batt.) 411 = 3104
{ Regiment of Polish Lancers 717 Cavalry { 5th _escadron de marche_ 217 = 934
(2) Division of Gomez Freire: 14th Provisional Regiment (1st, 2nd, and 3rd batts.) 1173 7th _bataillon de marche_ 334 5th Portuguese infantry 265 Portuguese Cazadores 288 = 2060
(3) Column of Colonel Piré (arrived June 29): 3rd of the Vistula (1st and 2nd batts.) 1332 National Guards _d’élite_ (two batts.) 971 3rd, 8th, and 9th _escadrons de marche_ 275 = 2578
(4) Bazancourt’s Brigade (arrived August 1): 14th of the line (1st and 2nd batts.) 1488 44th ditto (1st and 2nd batts.) 1614 11th _escadron de marche_ 205 = 3307
(5) Artillery and train 561 = 561 ------ Total 15,535
These are mainly Belmas’s figures. He mentions a battalion of the 16th of the line as present at the great assault. There must be some error here, as that regiment was not in Spain. It is probably a misprint for the 70th of the line, which is not mentioned by him as present, though it certainly was so.
It was at this moment, apparently, that Verdier sent in a _parlementaire_ with the laconic note--‘Head Quarters, Santa Engracia. Capitulation?’ To which Palafox returned the well-known reply--‘Head Quarters, Saragossa. War to the knife[128].’