A history of the Peninsular War, Vol. 1, 1807-1809

by Charles Oman

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.

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INDEX

• Acevedo, general, commands division under Blake, [408];
  • wounded at Espinosa, [415];
  • murdered by the French, [426].
• Acland, brigadier-general, arrives at Peniche, [241];
  • at Vimiero, [249]-[58];
  • gives evidence before the Court of Inquiry, [294].
• Afrancesados, party of the, in Spain, [97].
• Alagon, Palafox defeated at, [145].
• Alcedo, general, governor of Corunna, surrenders to Soult, [596].
• Alcolea, combat of, [129].
• Alexander, Emperor of Russia, his meeting with Napoleon at Erfurt, [377].
• Andalusia, province of, rises against the French, [69];
  • its geography, [74], [80].
• Anstruther, brigadier-general, arrives in Portugal, [248];
  • at Vimiero, [250]-[61];
  • in command at Almeida, [494];
  • dies at Corunna, [595].
• Antonio, Don, brother of Charles IV, appointed head of the Junta of Regency, [48];
  • goes to Bayonne, [62];
  • at Valençay, [56].
• Army, the Spanish, its character and organization, [89]-[95]:
  • see also Tables and Appendices [v], [viii], &c.
• Army of Spain, the French, character of the first, [103]-[7];
  • of the second, [107]-[13]:
  • see also Tables and Appendices [vi], &c.
• Artillery, the, of the Spanish army, [94], [95];
  • of the French army, [112];
  • tactics of the, [120]-[2].
• Asturias, Prince of the: see [Ferdinand].
• Asturias, province of the, declares war on France, [65];
  • sends emissaries to England, [66];
  • sends troops to Blake’s army, [382], [384].