"
A heart less stout might have been broken, a genius less mighty
stifled in this evil tangle of stupidity, incompetence and
malignity that sprang up and flourished about him can every hand.
A man less single-minded must have succumbed to exasperation, thrown
up his command and taken ship for home, inviting some of his
innumerable critics to take his place at the head of the troops,
and give free rein to the military genius that inspired their
critical dissertations. Wellington, however, has been rightly
termed of iron, and never did he show himself more of iron than in
those trying days of 1810. Stern, but with a passionless sternness,
he pursued his way towards the goal he had set himself, allowing no
criticism, no censure, no invective so much as to give him pause in
his majestic progress.
Unfortunately the lofty calm of the Commander-in-Chief was not
shared by his lieutenants. The Light Division was quartered along
the River Agueda, watching the Spanish frontier, beyond which
Marshal Ney was demonstrating against Ciudad Rodrigo, and for lack
of funds its fiery-tempered commander, Sir Robert Craufurd, found
himself at last unable to feed his troops. Exasperated by these
circumstances, Sir Robert was betrayed into an act of rashness.
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