ALS - BRIGADIER GENERAL GOVERNOR RICHARD BLUNT
PENICHE DECEMBER 30, 1810

ANCHORING THE WEST END OF THE LINES AT TORRES VEDRAS, BLUNT REPORTS DESPERATE LOOTING BY STARVING FRENCH CAVALRY & INFANTRY FORAGING PARTIES TIGHTENING THE NOOSE AROUND MASSENA WITH A SCORCHED EARTH POLICY

SCARCE AUTOGRAPHED WAR DATE LETTER BY GENERAL BLUNT MISSING FROM MOST COLLECTIONS

THIS DOCUMENT IS COVERED BY OUR WRITTEN, SIGNED AND SEALED
LIFETIME GUARANTEE OF AUTHENTICITY

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Transcription:

Peniche 30th Dec'r 1810

Sir,

     I was honored with your letter expressing your wish that I should afford every aid to expedite the removal of the Property of the Monteiro Mor which I immediately attended to, furnishing such Carts as they required & giving a Seg't. with an order for the protection -
     If however they have delayed embarking it or carrying it away, I begin to be apprehensive for its safety as my reports today speak of strong Parties of Cavalry & Inf'y exceeding 300 - which I have not the force at Obidos at present to repel - & that their want of provisions is so great as to induce them to extend their foraging Parties - very wide - St Martinho is particularly mentioned as an object, but unless the Cattle & Property embarked of the Monteiro Mor - I believe nothing is to be obtained - I have the honor to be
 

                                                  Sir Your most obedient
                                                      humble Serv't
                                                       R[ichar]d Blunt
                                                            B'r Gen'l.

When Massena ran up against Wellington's brilliant defense works in the autumn of 1810, known as the Lines at Torres Vedras, he was confronted with an insurmountable barrier. But that was only part of his problem. Wellington had successfully closed off the peninsula protecting Lisbon and had brought as much of the supplies and people behind the works as was feasible. In effect he had pursued a scorched earth policy as he retreated down the Mondego River Valley, knowing that while he was shortening his supply lines, Massena was running out of provisions. He knew that the French relied upon forced local requisitioning in order to support their troops. Indeed, a large French Corps could often not spend more than two weeks in any area as it would soon strip the country bare of supplies and disturb the local population not a little bit. Massena lasted four weeks in front of Torres Vedras before he pulled back to re-provision at Santarem with Rio Maior on his right and the Tagus (river that runs to Lisbon) on his left. But by the end of December, even this area was being plucked clean. Blunt mentions that "their want of provisions is so great as to induce them to extend their foraging Parties - very wide."  He goes on to mention St Martinho, north of Peniche, which is on the coast and 30 miles from Santarem. Obidos is to the east of Peniche about half way to Rio Maior.

Glover notes in his, The Peninsular War, that Massena faced tough choices. "one of the worst of his difficulties was his total isolation. He had no communication with Spain. The militia and "ordenanza" had drawn an invisible net round his rear. They murdered his stragglers, harried his foraging parties and intercepted despatches. The two ends of the net were secured on the fortresses of Peniche and Abrantes".

The Fortress of Peniche ordered to be built by D. João IV  in the seventeenth century for protection against invasions from the sea. Originally an island, over time it became a peninsula with a narrow causeway. Peniche is Europe’s most westerly town and home to the largest fishing harbour in Portugal.

GENERAL RICHARD BLUNT, KTS
GOVERNOR OF PENICHE
(1770 - 1859)

Richard Blunt was the son of Robert Blunt and christened at St Martin-in-the-Fields on 6th September 1770. He joined the army on 31st January 1787 as an Ensign in the Buffs (3rd Regiment of Foot). He was promoted to Lieutenant (1791), Captain (1793), Major (1796) and commanded the Regiment as Lt. Colonel 1799,  serving with the Buffs in the West Indies (1787-1790), Flanders (1793-1795), West Indies again (1797-1802), Hanover (1805), & Madeira (1807). He was seconded to the Portuguese Army in 1809 as a Brigadier-General under Marshal William Carr Beresford for the duration of the Peninsular War, serving as Governor of Peniche from 1st July 1810. He commanded a brigade of the Portuguese Army, "Blunt's Brigade", and was the Inspector of Recruiting, Portuguese Army 1810. He made Major General in 1812, Lt. General in 1814, serving in the Portuguese Service until 1817. He was Inspector General of the Infantry, Portuguese Army 1814-1817 and was made a Knight Commander of the Portuguese Order of the Tower and Sword (KTS). He was Colonel-in-Chief to the 66th Regiment from 1835 and attained the full rank of General in 1841. He died at Barnfield House, Millbrook, Southampton on 25th December 1859.

Document Specifications:  A very fine handwritten ALS letter signed by Richard Blunt as Commander in Peniche and dated December 30th 1810. Single sheet letter measures 9⅝" tall x 7¼" wide (246mm x 185mm). On one sheet of light blue, batonne laid paper, with partial watermark. An interesting ink offset letter to Colonel Peacocke (Commandant at Lisbon) showing on the back page. Writing on two pages as shown. This is a very fine handwritten letter by the Commander of the Portuguese Forces at the fortress of Peniche, which anchored the Atlantic end of the Lines at Torres Vedras, as they tried to starve Massena out of Portugal. A scarce ALS Blunt letter datelined Peniche and missing in most collections. A nice enhancement to a collection of Peninsular War Letters.

 From the Sir Charles Stuart, Lord Rothesay, Correspondence. Stuart was His Britannic Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Portugal during the greater part of the Peninsular War (10 January 1810 to 26 May 1814). He was a personal friend and confidante of Wellington and Nelson, member of the Portuguese Regency (the only British Subject in the war ever permitted to hold an official position in a foreign government while also representing Britain), and later ambassador to Netherlands & France. The most important foreign diplomat of the Peninsular War, his archive of diplomatic, military and intelligence dispatches are second only to Wellington's Dispatches.

 Offered by Berryhill & Sturgeon, Ltd