Sarah researches Corunna:
I first read about the retreat to Corunna in 2009, when I signed up for a battlefield tour. A special bicentennial event, covering the retreat and the subsequent battle.
As a historical novelist, specifically Georgian and Regency romance, I can’t get away from war. You only have to visit Wikipedia and look at the timeline for the British Army to see the British are fighting someone, somewhere, throughout the whole period.
Battles can help with backstory
Plenty of action going on for heroes and villains alike. It is, quite literally, character building! In my next book (The Earl’s Marriage Dilemma, to be published in December) the hero and his best friend both fought at the Battle of Waterloo. (Would you like a sneak US cover preview?)
For my current work in progress (in which, incidentally, the best friend is the hero) I needed a convincing back-story for the villain. I found it in the Retreat to Corunna .
Let me explain
Two significant events occurred for me in 2023 and we celebrated with a road trip through Spain and Portugal. It was meant to be pure pleasure, but of course, one can’t help getting inspired!
The trip included a visit to Corunna, something I had wanted to do since first going on the tour. That first visit took place in January, and I had always wanted to go back when it was somewhat warmer – the photo gives you some idea of how bleak it was in 2009!
The beach was definitely warmer in 2023!
Inspiration
The 2009 tour followed Sir John Moore’s retreat to Corunna and the subsequent battle and it inspired me to write The Earl’s Runaway Bride, which was published the following year.
Corunna was the perfect backdrop for Nathan and Fee’s first encounter, although things soon began to go awry for my star-crossed lovers.
But don’t worry, it’s a romance and it will all work out in the end. Somehow.
Back to 2024…
Corunna and the retreat has once again provided me with the perfect backstory – this time for my villain.
Since it is a work in progress, I can’t share too much of the story here, but I thought you might be interested in a brief outline of the events that inspired it.
The history of the Retreat to Corunna
In 1808 Sir John Moore took over command of the British Army in the Peninsula and in November he began his march towards Salamanca with about 30,000 men. His aim was to frustrate Napoleon’s plans to conquer Spain.
Moore’s problem: Napoleon had a few more men at his disposal. About 300,000.
In December, the British achieved a significant victory at Sahagun, when the British 15th Light Dragoons defeated two regiments of French Cavalry.
(I hope my photos give you some idea of what the weather was like in the winter of 2009)
But they did not follow with up with an attack and the French regrouped.
Napoleon now saw an opportunity to destroy the British army and he gathered his forces. Madrid was already under French control and the Spanish were in disarray.
Moore knew his army was in danger of being obliterated by Napoleon and began the three-week retreat northwards, to the coast.
The weather was atrocious, and their route took the army over the mountains of Leon and Galicia in icy conditions. (I took the picture above when we were on our tour, having struggled up the old road in a modern coach, only to find this much newer highway at the top! Excuse the quality, I think I was getting frost-bite in my fingers.)
The troops sleeping outside would wake with their queues (the long hair tied at the back of the neck, as in the picture on the right) frozen to the ground in the morning.
The men were weak from hunger and cold. Discipline broke down and there was widespread looting and drunkenness. Some soldiers were so drunk they were left behind, at the mercy of the French who were close behind.
The Battle of Corunna
Moore established himself in Corunna, but the British transports had not yet arrived and the French were drawing closer.
He knew he would have to fight for the British ships to reach the harbour safely and carry out an evacuation.
The fighting began on the Heights of Palavea, but the bloodiest fighting took place in the village of Elvina on the 16th January 1809.
Initially forced out of the village, the British counter-attacked with General Moore charging back with two of his regiments. Ferocious hand-to-hand fighting ensued and they eventually used their bayonets to force the French back.
Fatally wounded during the battle, Moore remained conscious for several hours. He must have suffered horrendously, having been struck by a cannon shot that “broke his ribs, his arm, lacerated his shoulder and the whole of his left side and lungs.”
He lived long enough to know that the battle had been won. Moore died along with about 900 of his men in that battle, while the French lost about 2000. There is a memorial on the battlefield, marking the spot where he fell.
The Evacuation
The British soldiers, ragged and starving, had marched into Corunna to make their stand against the French. Many had not behaved particularly well towards the Spanish people during their retreat.
There were tales of looting and pillage, but the people of Corunna fought bravely beside the British troops. They fought off the French long enough for the British ships to evacuate the army. It is said that while the British were marching their troops through the town to the harbour during the night, the townspeople put candles and lamps in their windows to light their way.
Moore was buried in the ramparts of the town, wrapped in a military cloak. He is still revered by the people of Corunna as a saviour – the photo shows Moore’s Monument during the Bicentennial celebrations in January 2009.
My 2009 visit was with a small party of battlefield tourists, travelling from Portugal northwards through Spain, following the army’s route. I found it incredibly moving, especially since the winter weather set in with snow and ice. We were dry and relatively warm, but it did give us some idea of what it was like for the soldiers who were there at the time. The British lost around 5,000 men during the three-week retreat.
Now for something a little lighter…
Pictures from the 2009 re-enactment in Corunna:
And Finally
What do you do with all that research?
You may love all the detail you have uncovered, but your reader may not. While I love history, the over-riding story I am writing is a romance. It’s important not to put in too much information.
The Earl’s Runaway Bride only touches on the retreat to Corunna, and this is all my hero says about it:
“We marched through hell to get to Corunna and all the time the French were snapping at our heels. My men were starving. We had scarcely one good pair of boots between us and we knew we would have to make a stand against the French with the sea at our backs.”
And my latest wip?
Can’t tell you much I’m afraid!
The backstory is for my villain, so it will be brief, and it certainly won’t be glorious!
Happy reading.
Sarah
I was so interested to read the details of the retreat and the battle, Sarah. I am eager to know what your dastardly villain did there! As a child I learned Charles Wolfe’s poem, The Burial of Sir John Moore After Corunna by heart and my mother loved to hear me recite it. It always brought her to tears. “No useless coffin enclosed his breast,
Not in sheet or in shroud we wound him;
But he lay like a warrior taking his rest
With his martial cloak around him.” It still has the power the raise gooseflesh.
Thanks Liz, glad you enjoyed it. I thought of adding the poem too but I thought I had wittered on long enough!
That was really interesting, Sarah. I only knew the bare facts about the retreat – I don’t remember it being covered at school! Thank you.
We didn’t do much at all at school on the Napoleonic wars, which was a pity. I have made up for it since, though! Thanks for stopping by.
Absolutely fascinating. I didn’t know any of this. I had picked up bits and pieces about the Peninsula War and realised how bloody it was. And the general soldiery seem to have got out of hand all too often.
My knowledge has been cobbled together from from various sources, many fictional- including reading Lord Ponsonby’s despatches from Rio de Janeiro, in the Public records Office. He had accompanied the Portuguese royal family to Brazil whither the British transported them to escape the French advance. (He wasn’t happy; his wife hated the climate and they were both appalled by the tolerance of the exiled court towards the licentious behaviour of the young crown prince Dom Pedro – who later became the first emperor of Brazil.)
My only encounter with Wolfe’s poem was in Molesworth, where the English teacher requires it to be recited in class: resulting in, “The burial, Sir, of Sir John Moore,Sir, at Corunna, Sir. Notadrumwasheard…” Made me hoot.
But after Liz’s story, and your (literally) chilling photographs, Sarah, I’m now off to read it properly, with far greater insight. Thank you, both.
So pleased you enjoyed this Sophie. Corunna was like an early Dunkirk…Napoleon saw his chance to annihilate the British army but Moore’s brave stand allowed many soldiers to escape back to England. Wellington returned a few months later for a much more successful campaign!
So interesting to hear this snippet of history. My knowledge of the Peninsular War is limited to Heyer’s Spanish Bride, I think. The one takeaway for me is that war then was just as brutal as it is now, but perhaps for different reasons. Marching in snow must be horrendous.
Thanks for dropping in, Liz! I think a soldier’s life has always bee tough, but it must have been pretty bad in Spain, too hot, too dry or too cold! When we went to the Bicentenary in Corunna in 2009 what struck me most was that the Spaniards looked upon the British as their allies in their fight to be independent of Napoleon. They still revere Sir John Moore as a hero!
Thank you for bringing back some pleasant memories, Sarah. I visited Corunna in late summer 2009 and enjoyed seeing the Bicentennial celebration markers which remained. The Peninsular War has always fascinated me and the story of Sir John Moore’s retreat is so dramatic!
Glad you liked, it, Gail. I think if you tried to write something like that story people wouldn’t believe it! Thanks for stopping by
I saw the link to your post on Linked-in via lovely Liz Fielding. We had a brief conversation and I wondered if it was the Battle of Corunna featured in my (now) very battered copy of the Spanish Bride by Georgette Heyer which your blog post was referring to. In fact it was the Battle of Badajo when Wellington famously referred to the soldiers in the British Army as ‘the scum of the earth.’ Great blog post, I enjoyed reading it. Lizzie
Thanks Lizzie, glad you could drop in – yes, Wellington wasn’t involved in the Battle of Corunna – if Sir John Moore hadn’t made the courageous stand he might not have had an army to bring back to Spain later in 1809! Corunna was a bit like Dunkirk, not quite a glorious victory but it did save the British army from annihilation.