XVI

BRITISH AND PORTUGUESE ARTILLERY
IN THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1812

[DETAILS COLLECTED BY MAJOR J. H. LESLIE, R.A.]

I. ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY

The following troops were serving in the Peninsula in 1812:—

Troop.	Under Command of	Arrived in Peninsula.	Designation in 1914.
A	Brevet Major H. D. Ross	July 1809	‘A’ Battery, R.H.A.
D	Captain G. Lefebure[808] [Later 2nd Captain E. C. Whinyates]	March 1810	‘V’ Battery, R.H.A.
E	Captain R. Macdonald	August 1811	‘E’ Battery, R.H.A.
I	Brevet Major R. Bull	August 1809	‘I’ Battery, R.H.A.

A, E, and I were serving with Wellington’s main army in 1812, attached respectively to the Light Division, the 7th Division, and the 1st Division of Cavalry (Stapleton Cotton). All three were present at Salamanca, but A was left at Madrid in August with the Light Division, and did not take part in the Burgos Campaign. D was attached to Erskine’s ‘2nd Cavalry Division,’ and served under Hill in Estremadura from the beginning of the year till Hill marched up to Madrid in October.

II. ROYAL (FOOT) ARTILLERY

The seven companies shown in the following tables were serving in the Peninsula in 1812 with the field army.

Note.—In 1812 there were ten battalions of Royal (Foot) Artillery, the companies of which were always designated by the name of the commanding officer, whether he was actually present with his company or no.

Batalion.	Under Command of	Arrived in Peninsula.	Designation in 1914.
1st	Captain J. May[809]	March 1809	2nd Battery, R.F.A.
4th	Captain S. Maxwell	October 1810	72 Company, R.G.A.
5th	Captain F. Glubb[810]	March 1809	48 Company, R.G.A.
8th	Brevet Major R. W. Gardiner	April 1811	78 Company, R.G.A.
8th	Captain R. Lawson	August 1808	87th Battery, R.F.A.
8th	Captain J. P. Eligé[811] [Later, Captain T. A. Brandreth]	October 1810	Reduced in 1819.
9th	Captain R. Douglas	March 1812	45th Battery, R.F.A.

Of these, Gardiner’s company was attached to the 1st Division, Maxwell’s to the 2nd, Douglas’s to the 3rd, Lawson’s to the 5th, Eligé’s to the 6th. May’s company accompanied the main army without guns, in charge of the Reserve ammunition train.

Glubb’s company was attached to the heavy 18-pounders and 24-pounder howitzers of the Reserve Artillery.

Gardiner’s, Douglas’s, Lawson’s, and Eligé’s [now temporarily under 2nd Captain W. Greene, Eligé having been killed at the Salamanca forts] companies were present at Salamanca, as was also the Reserve Artillery, but the last-named was not engaged.

Maxwell’s company was with Hill in Estremadura from January till the march to Madrid in September-October. Part of it was present at the capture of Almaraz on 19 May.

The following additional companies were in Portugal in 1812, but did not join the field army:—

Batalion.	Under Command of	Arrived in Peninsula.	Designation in 1914.
6th	Brevet Major H. F. Holcombe	April 1811	102 Company, R.G.A.
1st	Captain A. Bredin	September 1808	37th Battery, R.F.A.
6th	Captain G. Thompson	March 1809	18th Battery, R.F.A.
5th	Captain H. Stone	March 1812	92 Company, R.G.A.
6th	Captain W. Morrison	October 1812	51 Company, R.G.A.

Of these Holcombe’s company was employed at the sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz. The other companies present at these leaguers were Glubb’s and Lawson’s at Rodrigo, and Glubb’s and Gardiner’s at Badajoz.

In June Holcombe’s and Thompson’s companies were sent round by sea to the east coast of Spain, and there joined the Anglo-Sicilian expedition of General Maitland, with which they continued to serve.

At the beginning of 1812, there were present at Cadiz, Cartagena, and Tarifa, doing garrison duty, the following companies under Lieut.-Col. A. Duncan:—

Batalion.	Under Command of	Arrived in Peninsula.	Designation in 1914.
2nd	Captain P. Campbell[812]	March 1810[813]	62 Company, R.G.A.
5th	Captain H. Owen	January 1810	60 Company, R.G.A.
9th	Captain P. J. Hughes	January 1810	Reduced in 1819.
10th	Captain W. Roberts	March 1810	63 Company, R.G.A.
10th	Major A. Dickson	April 1810	21 Company, R.G.A.
10th	Captain W. Shenley	April 1810	11 Company, R.G.A.

Of these Hughes’s company was detached to Tarifa, and took a brilliant part in its defence in Dec. 1811-Jan. 1812. The rest were in Cadiz and the Isle of Leon. Owen’s and Dickson’s companies (the latter until July 1812 being commanded by Captain R. H. Birch, whose own company of the 10th battalion was at Gibraltar, as Dickson, with the rank of Major, was serving with the Portuguese Army) marched from Cadiz to Madrid with Skerrett’s column at the end of September 1812, and in October joined Wellington’s main field army. Hughes’s, Roberts’s, and Shenley’s companies remained in garrison at Cadiz, and Campbell’s was divided between Cartagena and Tarifa.

At Alicante, under General Maitland, there were present during the later months of the year not only Holcombe’s and Thompson’s companies, which had come round from Lisbon, but also the two following British companies from Sicily:—

Batalion.	Under Command of	Arrived in Peninsula.	Designation in 1914.
8th	Captain J. S. Williamson	August 1812	40th Battery, R.F.A.
4th	Captain R. G. Lacy	December 1812	25 Company, R.G.A.

III. KING’S GERMAN LEGION ARTILLERY

Of the three companies of the Legionary Artillery in the Peninsula only one (No. 4) was with the field army, that of Captain F. Sympher, attached to the 4th Division. This unit was present at the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, and also at the battle of Salamanca.

Captain K. Rettberg’s (No. 1) and Captain A. Cleeves’s (No. 2) companies were doing garrison duty in the Lisbon forts; but Rettberg himself, with a detachment of two officers and thirty men of his company, came up to the siege of Badajoz in March-April.

IV. PORTUGUESE ARTILLERY

[The details are taken from Major Teixeira Botelho’s Subsidios.]

Only three field batteries accompanied the allied field army during the campaign of 1812, though seven had been at the front in 1811. These batteries were:—

Captain J. da Cunha Preto’s 6-pounder [from the 1st regiment] and Captain W. Braun’s 9-pounder [from the 2nd regiment] batteries, both attached to General Hamilton’s Portuguese division, which always acted with Hill in Estremadura, and Major S. J. de Arriaga’s 24-pounder howitzer battery, which formed part of the Artillery Reserve, and accompanied Wellington’s own army to Badajoz, Salamanca, and Burgos. This company came from the 1st (Lisbon) regiment.

But in addition the 2nd or Algarve regiment supplied one company, under Captain J. C. Pereira do Amaral for the siege of Badajoz.

The 4th or Oporto regiment gave two companies (200 men) under Captain J. V. Miron for the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, and one (70 men) under Captain William Cox for the siege of Badajoz. Cox’s company was sent round to Alicante in June, along with the British companies of Holcombe and Thompson, and joined Maitland’s Anglo-Sicilian corps for the rest of the war.

Another company of the 4th regiment under Captain D. G. Ferreri formed the divisional artillery of Silveira’s Militia corps, and was present at the blockade of Zamora in June-July 1812.

The 1st or Lisbon regiment sent a company under Captain M. A. Penedo to Alicante, along with the company of Cox mentioned above from the 4th regiment. It also supplied one company under Lieutenant A. da Costa e Silva for the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo.

The 3rd or Elvas regiment supplied three companies, under the command of Major A. Tulloh[814], for the siege of Badajoz—they were those of Captains A. V. Barreiros, J. Elizeu, and J. M. Delgado.