ABSTRACT

A T 10.00 AM ON 22 June the allied advanced guard moved out of Vitoria in pursuit of the French. Contact had been lost the previous evening in the dark and rain and those troops not engaged in plundering — there were some, like the heavy cavalry and 5th Division, for example, who recalled the night after the battle only as one of short rations and cold, wet, weather — had bivouacked four or five miles east of the city. As the French had continued their flight far into the night until too exhausted to go any further, a gap between pursued and pursuers had already opened, made worse by an exceedingly leisurely start by the allied cavalry on the morning of 22 June. Coming on top of the plundering this was scarcely likely to improve Wellington's temper, and it is hard to understand, for out of nine brigades of cavalry available, only two had actually been in action on 21 June. The tardy cavalry was followed by the plunder-laden, drink sodden infantry at such a pace that the French had a breathing space in which to gather themselves together; as early as the morning of 22 June their battalions, regiments and divisions began to reassemble.