[396] Wilson had been removed by Beresford from his own Lusitanian Legion, and told to take up the command of the Brigade at Almeida: it was, apparently, with two battalions drawn from the garrison of that fortress that he now joined Beresford.
[397] Wellesley to Beresford, Coimbra, May 7. Wellington Dispatches, iv. 309.
[398] Ibid. iv. 320.
[399] Wellington Dispatches, iv. pp. 270, 281, 305.
[400] The whole force consisted of the following, present with the colours:—
| Cavalry: | Officers. | Men. |
| 14th Light Dragoons | 20 | 471 |
| 16th Light Dragoons | 37 | 673 |
| 20th Light Dragoons | 6 | 237 |
| 3rd Light Dragoons K.G.L. | 3 | 57 |
| Infantry: | ||
| H. Campbell’s brigade: | ||
| Coldstream Guards | 33 | 1,194 |
| 3rd Foot Guards | 34 | 1,228 |
| One company 5/60th | 2 | 61 |
| A. Campbell’s brigade: | ||
| 2/7th Foot | 26 | 559 |
| 2/53rd Foot | 35 | 787 |
| One company 5/60th | 4 | 64 |
| 1/10th Portuguese | – | – |
| Sontag’s brigade: | ||
| 97th Foot | 22 | 572 |
| 2nd Batt. Detachments | 35 | 787 |
| One company 5/60th | 2 | 61 |
| 2/16th Portuguese | – | – |
| R. Stewart’s brigade: | ||
| 29th Foot | 26 | 596 |
| 1st Batt. Detachments | 27 | 803 |
| 1/16th Portuguese | – | – |
| Murray’s brigade: | ||
| 1st Line Batt. K.G.L. | 34 | 767 |
| 2nd Line Batt. K.G.L. | 32 | 804 |
| 5th Line Batt. K.G.L. | 28 | 720 |
| 7th Line Batt. K.G.L. | 22 | 688 |
| Hill’s brigade: | ||
| 1/3rd Foot | 28 | 719 |
| 2/48th Foot | 32 | 721 |
| 2/66th Foot | 34 | 667 |
| One company 5/60 Foot | 2 | 61 |
| Cameron’s brigade: | ||
| 2/9th Foot | 27 | 545 |
| 2/83rd Foot | 29 | 833 |
| One company 5/60 Foot | 2 | 60 |
| 2/10th Portuguese | – | – |
With Lawson’s battery of 3-pounders, and Lane’s, Heyse’s, and Rettberg’s of 6-pounders. Allowing 600 each for the Portuguese battalions, the total comes to 16,213 infantry, 1,504 cavalry, and 550 gunners, also sixty-four men of the wagon train, and thirty-nine engineers. Total, 18,370.
[401] Wellington to Beresford, from Coimbra, May 7, 1809.
[402] He told Wellesley that the general was ‘a man of weak intellect,’ and that he thought that he had won him over to the plot from the way in which he received the news of it. Wellesley to Castlereagh, May 15, from Oporto.
[403] This may be perhaps inferred from Soult’s letter to King Joseph, written after the retreat, in which he says that he had intended to pack off Lahoussaye and Mermet from the front: ‘À cette époque j’ai voulu faire partir ces généraux, qui n’ont pas toujours fait ce qui était de leur pouvoir pour le succès des opérations; mais j’ai preféré attendre d’être arrivé à Zamora, afin de ne pas accréditer les bruits d’intrigues et de conspirations qui eurent lieu à Oporto, auxquels ils n’ont pas certainement pris aucune part.’ [Intercepted letter in Record Office.]