[123] Sir Charles Vaughan was introduced to the heroine by Palafox while he was staying in Saragossa in October. He describes her as ‘a handsome young woman of the lower class,’ and says that when he met her she was wearing on her sleeve a small shield of honour with the name ‘Zaragoza’ inscribed on it. The fact that the dead sergeant was her lover is given by Palafox in his short narrative of the siege, which ought to be a good authority enough.
[124] Napier, with all his prejudice against the Spaniards, does not venture to absolutely reject the story. ‘Romantic tales of women rallying the troops and leading them forward at the most dangerous period of the siege were current; their truth may be doubted. Yet when suddenly environed with horrors, the sensitiveness of women, driving them to a kind of frenzy, might have produced actions above the heroism of men’ (i. 45). W. Jacob, M.P., in his _Travels in the South of Spain in 1809-10_ (p. 123), says that he met Agostina at Seville, wearing a blue artillery tunic, with one epaulette, over a short skirt; she was present when Lord Wellesley entered Seville, and was welcomed by the Junta.
The fruitless attack of July 2 cost the French 200 killed and 300 wounded. The Saragossan garrison lost somewhat less, in spite of the bombardment, since they had been fighting under cover against enemies who had to expose themselves whenever they got near the wall. Verdier resolved for the future to shun attempts at escalade, and to begin a regular siege. He commenced on the third of July to construct parallels, for a main attack on the southern side of the place, and a secondary attack on the north-western. He also threw a detachment across the Ebro [July 11], to close the hitherto undisturbed access to the city through the suburb of San Lazaro and the stone bridge. The force which could be spared for this object from an army of no more than 12,000 or 13,000 men was not really sufficient to hold the left bank of the Ebro, and merely made ingress and egress difficult without entirely preventing it. On two or three occasions when considerable bodies of Spaniards presented themselves, the French could do no more than skirmish with them and try to cut off the convoys which they were bringing to the city. They could not exclude them, and for the whole remainder of the siege the communications of the Saragossans with the open country were never entirely closed[125].
