Bussaco

He had been rebuffed at Bussaco, but that defeat had not prevented him turning the enemy's left flank and thus chasing the British and Portuguese out of central Portugal.

Sharpe's Escape Cornwell, Bernard 2003

Bussaco was the place where the Portuguese learned they could beat the French and, rightly, it holds a celebrated place in Portuguese history.

Sharpe's Escape Cornwell, Bernard 2003

So why fight at Bussaco if the Lines of Torres Vedras could do the job better?

Sharpe's Escape Cornwell, Bernard 2003

Mass-na managed to tear himself from Henriette's arms and rode back to Bussaco where he decided against any kind of reconnaissance and simply launched his troops into their attack.

Sharpe's Escape Cornwell, Bernard 2003

"And this bad road, " Hogan went on, 'leads straight to a place called Bussaco.

Sharpe's Escape Cornwell, Bernard 2003

A defeated army would be in no mood to face the victorious French again, and so a loss at Bussaco would surely mean that Lisbon itself would fall inside a month.

Sharpe's Escape Cornwell, Bernard 2003

Because it was dawn and, at Bussaco, the guns were at work.

Sharpe's Escape Cornwell, Bernard 2003

It was a foolhardy decision, for the ridge at Bussaco is a formidable position.

Sharpe's Escape Cornwell, Bernard 2003

The journey from the ridge of Bussaco to the city of Coimbra was less than twenty miles, but the mist and the darkness slowed Ferragus and his men, so it was just before dawn that they rode past the imposing university buildings and down the hill to his brother's house.

Sharpe's Escape Cornwell, Bernard 2003

Wellington conclusively defeated Mass-na on the heights of Bussaco, and had he guarded the road around the north of the great ridge, he could probably have repulsed the French there and then, forcing them back to Ciudad Rodrigo across the Spanish border, but that, of course, would have left Mass-na's army relatively undamaged.

Sharpe's Escape Cornwell, Bernard 2003