The Bugle-Boy of Badajoz

The Bugle-Boy of Badajoz by James Grant

"The Bugle-Boy of Badajoz" by James Grant follows José Francisco de Castro, an orphaned Portuguese boy discovered weeping at his mother's grave in the cemetery of the Penha Convent at Cintra in 1808, during the French occupation under Marshal Junot. His father, the guerilla chief De Castro, had been executed by the French, his mother has just died, and his sister Theresa was carried off by French voltigeurs. Homeless and living in a church porch, José is taken in by Captain Dom Pedro de Lobiera of the Seventh Regiment of Cazadores (Portuguese Light Infantry) and made a bugle-boy, serving under Colonel the Viscount de Sa within Marshal Beresford's forces, allied with Wellington's British army. José proves to have a natural gift for music and quickly masters the full repertoire of bugle calls used to direct light infantry in the field. He becomes a favorite of his officers and a regimental pet, distinguishing himself through coolness under fire. At the Battle of Salamanca (1812) his bugle sounds the rally that helps retake the Arapiles hill, and he assists the wounded Beresford after he is unhorsed. He serves through the campaigns of Talavera, Busaco, and the bloody field of Albuera, repeatedly rallying wavering troops with his bugle amid heavy French fire. The narrative's centerpiece is the third siege of Badajoz in 1812. After a grueling approach march in torrential rain, the Cazadores join the investing forces under Beresford and Picton against the garrison commanded by Generals Phillipon and Vaillant. The trenches are dug under constant bombardment, and a breach is made, but the French have fortified it with a formidable chevaux-de-frise of sword blades, mines, grenades, and massed muskets. On the catastrophic night of April 6, 1812, during the storming of the breaches—an assault costing over two thousand British casualties—José's fellow bugler, Diaz of Belem, is decapitated by a cannon shot beside him. José presses on, having already shared his plan with Colonel de Sa and Captain de Lobiera: disguised by blood and clay, he crawls unseen beneath the chevaux-de-frise, conceals himself among the dead, and infiltrates behind the French position. There, he sounds the French bugle-call for retreat, which he has secretly learned, causing the French defenders to fall back in confusion toward Fort San Cristóval, where they surrender the next day to Lord Fitzroy Somerset. Grant notes this celebrated feat is Portuguese legend rather than documented history—absent from Napier's account or Wellington's dispatches—yet it was widely believed throughout Beresford's army and gave José his enduring nickname, "The Bugle-Boy of Badajoz." Wellington himself hears of the exploit and rewards José with a substantial sum of money (administered in installments by Captain de Lobiera on account of his youth) along with a good service medal and Portuguese decoration. Still only eighteen and modest despite his fame, José continues serving as a bugler rather than seeking a commission. He fights on at Vitoria and in the Pyrenees, where he is wounded and hospitalized at Elizondo. There he is nursed by a lay sister who turns out to be his long-lost sister Theresa, who escaped the French after their rout at Vitoria—a brief but joyful reunion before he returns to duty. He serves further at Nivelle, Orthes, and Bordeaux, sounding his final battle call at Toulouse, where he assists the wounded Viscount de Sa by relaying command to Captain de Lobiera. After the peace and the army's disbandment, José's fortunes decline sharply. He tries to support himself teaching music but falls into poverty, repeatedly petitioning the Portuguese government for a pension without success. The story closes over twenty years later in the town of Golega on the Tagus, where the aged and infirm former bugler ekes out a living teaching the cornet, his heroism seemingly forgotten by the state, his final hope resting on the compassion of the new Viscount de Sa—son of his old colonel—now serving in the Ministry, who might yet grant the old soldier's long-deferred plea for recognition and support.

By James Grant · First published 1890 · Genre: Historical Fiction, War/Military Fiction, Coming-of-Age · 3,262 words

First lines

'Mother! mother! come out of the cold ground; come to your little José, who is so lonely now! ' wailed a boy stretched on his mother's grave, while wetting with his tears the flowers that had been laid there, and the green turf, into which he dug his little hands in the wildness of his great grief.

It was in the cemetery of the Penha Convent at Cintra, and when ravaged Portugal lay wasted and bleeding under the feet of the French army, led by Marshal Junot, the Duc d'Abrantes, to Lisbon, in 1808, a period that seems long ago now, yet was fresh enough in the memory of our fathers.

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The Bugle-Boy of Badajoz is listed on Textopian as a short story by James Grant, dated 1890 CE.

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historical fiction · Napoleonic Wars · Peninsular War · military adventure · British Army · siege warfare · Spain · Portugal · early nineteenth century · soldiers · battle scenes · heroism

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