Battle Field of Salamanca - A Letter from a Soldier

Student Name
CL112LEC1 [or LEC2] Student ID
Battle field of Salamanca

Battle Field of Salamanca Surname
Dear Mother,
It has been long since I have written to you but on all accounts I miss you and family a lot. I am
doing well here and hope that you all are in good health too. Through this letter, I am about to
tell you regarding one of the most audacious war situation of my life, which we all encountered
today. Don’t be alarmed as your son is on his feet and doing great. You would be happy to know
that our army defeated the French army in a classic struggle in the town of Salamanca. Both the
sides had armed forces of around 50,000 personnel; therefore, the war had almost equal
shoulders on both ends (Battle Of Salamanca).
Our army was marching and fighting under the great leadership of military genius Arthur
Wellesley, who further strategically divided the force into foot soldiers division (infantry), horse
soldiers division (brigades), and independent brigades with cannons. I appreciate him for his
excellent decision making skills, common sense, good relations with civilian population, and
care for the soldiers and their supplies. Also, in 1805, he returned to England from India with a
knighthood (A Light Dragoon in the Peninsula). I got to learn a lot regarding wars and other skills
from him. Our opposition was a Napoleon army with infantry and artillery, guided by Auguste
Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont.
Last Name | 2

Battle Field of Salamanca Surname
The view of the landscape where the war took place consisted of two flat-topped hills that
dominated the area, known as the Greater and Lesser Arapiles, with a wide road that ran from
south the north in between the two ridges. I saw with the help of my telescope that down the
valley was complete hush only with a small walled farm about half-way up the slope on the right
of the road and a small olive grove surrounded by a low stone wall on the left of the road. For
many days, our army and the French troops were keeping visual check on each other while
marching on different locations. Today we were massed for the battle and took the advantage of
being masked under the dust clouds from the French view due to a low ridge, retiring to the west.
Lieutenant general Wellesley observed the weakness of separating French army and ordered
attack on them (Atkinson). Eventually, we won this battle and thankfully our commander is safe,
but the head of the opposition, that is, Auguste Marmont got badly injured during the war and
was immediately relocated for medical aid and treatment.
Mother, you will be proud to know that I was commanded to block the French re-enforcements
from arriving at the French siege of Merida, in northern Spain. I completed this task successfully
and got appreciated by Wellesley. This made me feel really honored and glad during the same
moment. An interesting fact associated with Arthur Wellesley is that he had a reputation of being
a defensive general, due to which Marmont misunderstood and took wrong steps which worked
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