XIII
SIR JOHN MOORE’S ARMY:
ITS STRENGTH AND ITS LOSSES.
N.B.—The first column gives the strength of each of Baird’s regiments on Oct. 2, and of Moore’s regiments on Oct. 15, deducting from the latter men left behind in Portugal. The second column gives the men present with the colours on Dec. 19, but not those in hospital or ‘on command’ on that day. These last amounted on Dec. 19 to 3,938 and 1,687 respectively. The third column gives the numbers disembarked in England in January.
| Total strength in Oct. 1808. | Effective strength present on Dec. 19, 1808. | Disembarked in England in Jan. 1809. | Deficiency. | |
| Cavalry (Lord Paget) | ||||
| 7th Hussars | 672 | 497 | 575 | 97[751] |
| 10th Hussars | 675 | 514 | 651 | 24 |
| 15th Hussars | 674 | 527 | 650 | 24 |
| 18th Light Dragoons | 624 | 565 | 547 | 77 |
| 3rd Light Dragoons K.G.L. | 433 | 347 | 377 | 56 |
| 3,078 | 2,450 | 2,800 | 278 | |
| 1st Division (Sir D. Baird). | ||||
| Warde’s Brigade: | ||||
| 1st Foot Guards, 1st batt. | 1,340 | 1,300 | 1,266 | 74 |
| 1st Foot Guards, 2nd batt. | 1,102 | 1,027 | 1,036 | 66 |
| Bentinck’s Brigade: | ||||
| 4th Foot, 1st batt. | 889 | 754 | 740 | 149 |
| 42nd Foot, 1st batt. | 918 | 880 | 757 | 161 |
| 50th Foot, 1st batt. | 863 | 794 | 599 | 264 |
| Bentinck’s Brigade: | ||||
| 1st Foot, 3rd batt. | 723 | 597 | 507 | 216 |
| 26th Foot, 1st batt. | 870 | 745 | 662 | 208 |
| 81st Foot, 2nd batt. | 719 | 615 | 478 | 241 |
| 7,424 | 6,712 | 6,045 | 1,379 | |
| 2nd Division (Sir J. Hope). | ||||
| Leith’s Brigade: | ||||
| 51st Foot | 613 | 516 | 506 | 107 |
| 59th Foot, 2nd batt. | 640 | 557 | 497 | 143 |
| 76th Foot | 784 | 654 | 614[752] | 170 |
| [Estimate] | ||||
| Hill’s Brigade: | ||||
| 2nd Foot | 666 | 616 | 461 | 205 |
| 5th Foot, 1st batt. | 893 | 833 | 654 | 239 |
| 14th Foot, 2nd batt. | 630 | 550 | 492 | 138 |
| 32nd Foot, 1st batt. | 806 | 756 | 619 | 187 |
| 5,032 | 4,482 | 3,843 | 1,189 | |
| Catlin Crawfurd’s Brigade: | ||||
| 36th Foot, 1st batt. | 804 | 736 | 561 | 243 |
| 71st Foot, 1st batt. | 764 | 724 | 626 | 138 |
| 92nd Foot, 1st batt. | 912 | 900 | 783 | 129 |
| 2,480 | 2,360 | 1,970 | 510 | |
| 3rd Division (Lt.-Gen. Fraser). | ||||
| Beresford’s Brigade: | ||||
| 6th Foot, 1st batt. | 882 | 783 | 491 | 391 |
| 9th Foot, 1st batt. | 945 | 607 | 572 | 373 |
| 23rd Foot, 2nd batt. | 590 | 496 | 418 | 172 |
| 43rd Foot, 2nd batt. | 598 | 411 | 368 | 230 |
| Fane’s Brigade: | ||||
| 38th Foot, 1st batt. | 900 | 823 | 757 | 143 |
| 79th Foot, 1st batt. | 932 | 838 | 777 | 155 |
| 82nd Foot, 1st batt. | 830 | 812 | 602 | 228 |
| 5,677 | 4,770 | 3,985 | 1,692 | |
| Reserve Division (Maj.-Gen. E. Paget). | ||||
| Anstruther’s Brigade: | ||||
| 20th Foot | 541 | 499 | 428 | 113 |
| 52nd Foot, 1st batt. | 862 | 828 | 719 | 143 |
| 95th Foot, 1st batt. | 863 | 820 | 706 | 157 |
| Disney’s Brigade: | ||||
| 28th Foot, 1st batt. | 926 | 750 | 624 | 302 |
| 91st Foot, 1st batt. | 746 | 698 | 534 | 212 |
| 3,938 | 3,595 | 3,011 | 927 | |
| 1st Flank-Brigade (Col. R. Crawfurd). | ||||
| 43rd Foot, 1st batt. | 895 | 817 | 810 | 85 |
| 52nd Foot, 2nd batt. | 623 | 381 | 462 | 161 |
| 95th Foot, 2nd batt. | 744 | 702 | 648 | 96 |
| 2,262 | 1,900 | 1,920 | 342 | |
| 2nd Flank-Brigade (Brig.-Gen. C. Alten). | ||||
| 1st Lt. Batt. K.G.L. | 871 | 803 | 708 | 163[753] |
| 2nd Lt. Batt. K.G.L. | 880 | 855 | 618 | 262[754] |
| 1,751 | 1,658 | 1,326 | 425 | |
| Artillery, &c. | 1,455 | 1,297 | 1,200 | 255[755] |
| Staff Corps | 137 | 133 | 99 | 38 |
| Total | 33,234 | 29,357 | 26,199 | 7,035 |
It will be noted that if to the 29,357 of the second column there are added the 3,938 sick and the 1,687 men ‘on command,’ the gross total of the army on Dec. 19 must have been 34,982, a figure which exceeds that at the bottom of the first column. It would seem, therefore, that about 1,748 men in small detachments joined the army at Salamanca and elsewhere before Dec. 19. They must represent drafts and convoy-escorts coming up from Portugal. The apparent deficiency for the campaign therefore is 8,783. But it must not be supposed that these 8,783 men were all lost between Salamanca and Corunna: from them we must deduct (1) the 296 casualties by shipwreck while returning to England; (2) 589 rank and file who escaped individually to Portugal, and were then enrolled (along with the convalescent sick left behind by Moore’s regiments) in the two ‘battalions of detachments’ which fought at Talavera; (3) the number of sick discharged from Salamanca on to Portugal in the convoys escorted by the 5/60th and 3rd Regiments. I can nowhere find the number of these invalids stated, but it must have been large, as the total of the sick belonging to the whole army was nearly 4,000 in December. It will be a very modest estimate if we give 1,500 for those of them who were at Salamanca, the head quarters hospital of the army, and were capable of being moved back to Portugal.
We may therefore deduct under these three heads about 2,385 men. This figure taken from 8,783 leaves 6,398 for the real loss in the campaign.
But even from this total 400 more must be deducted, for 400 British convalescents were released by the Galician insurgents from French captivity and sent back to Lisbon in the spring of 1809. [‘Further papers relative to Spain and Portugal,’ p. 7 in Parliamentary Papers for 1809.]
On the whole, then, about 5,998 men were actually lost. Napier’s estimate of 3,233 (i. 502) for the total loss is certainly too low. Of these 2,189 were prisoners sent to France. [Schepeler, ‘Table of prisoners sent to France, 1809-13’ on p. 150.] The remaining 3,809 perished in battle, by the road, or in hospital.