“Do you remember Moore’s retreat on Corunna? … I fell asleep on horseback and woke in a ditch under three inches of snow.” (February 24, 1814)

The Napoleonic Wars – involving various countries and theatres of war – lasted from 1803 until 1815. In 1807, French armies occupied first Lisbon, then Madrid, and Napoleon installed his brother Joseph as King of Spain. The Spanish resisted the occupation and appealed to Britain for assistance. The Peninsular War began in 1808 and ended in 1814, when the French armies were beaten back into France after the Battle of the Nivelle.

In the winter of 1808, however, things were not looking good for the British. Their general, Sir John Moore, found that he was about to be overwhelmed by a superior force, so he had to retreat. The army withdrew northwards towards the port of Corunna, where the troops embarked on 16 January 1809.

Justin was in the 15th (King’s)Hussars, who helped cover the retreat. He lost his regiment during the night of January 3, at Las Herrerías, between Villa Franca and As Nogais (Nogales): “The Fifteenth, still with the rear-guard, passed through Villa Franca without halting and reached Herrerias at eight o’clock at night. Here they hoped to pass the night undisturbed, but at 10 p.m. the ‘rouse’ was sounded and the King’s Hussars found that the whole Army had retired, leaving them with the 20th Foot and 95th Rifles to cover the retreat.” (Colonel H. C. Wylly, The 15th (King’s) Hussars, 1759–1913, London 1914, p. 165)

It was intensely cold, a piercing wind blew, and the long hill of As Nogais was covered in snow. Various roads branch off in a confusing crossing behind Las Herrerías; in the darkness and confusion Justin’s horse took a wrong turn and he ended up in the mountains between Galicia, Asturias and Castilla y León.

 

Imagine this in winter!

Carlos de Haes, La vereda (Mountain Path)

© Museo Nacional del Prado

The scene depicted in this painting may be a little too far north and east, but there is such a thing as being too fastidious. Besides, the entry at the Prado website gives us a bit of geographical leeway:

It is more than likely that this painting, too, shows the landscape of the Picos de Europa, a tall range forming part of the Cantabrian Mountains in northern Spain. The geological structure of the high peaks, the flora on the lower slopes, the attire of the male figure on the path – swathed in the traditional wrap or cloak used in the north to ward off the rigors of the winter – and the date given all situate this work within the context of Haes’s first voyage to Asturias (translated from A. Gutiérrez Márquez, Carlos de Haes en el Museo del Prado 1826-1898, Madrid: Museo Nacional del Prado, 2002, p. 108).