A history of the Peninsular War, Vol. 5, Oct. 1811-Aug. 31, 1812

by Charles Oman

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X

WELLINGTON’S ARMY AT SALAMANCA.
STRENGTH AND LOSSES

N.B.—Strength by the morning state of July 15, 1812. Losses of the British by the return annexed to Wellington’s dispatch: those of the Portuguese from the official returns at Lisbon. The fighting strength on July 22, owing to losses at Castrejon and Castrillo, and to weary men falling out during the retreat, may have been perhaps 1,000 less.

I. BRITISH TROOPS

						Losses.
			Strength.			Killed.		Wounded.		Missing Men.	Total Loss.
			Offs.	Men.	Total.	Offs.	Men.	Offs.	Men.
Cavalry (Stapleton Cotton):
Le Marchant’s Brigade		3rd Dragoons	17	322	339	1	6	—	11	2	20
		4th Dragoons	22	336	358	—	7	1	21	—	29
		5th Dragoon Guards	22	313	325	—	9	2	42	3	56
G. Anson’s Brigade		11th Light Dragoons	30	361	391	—	—	—	—	—	—
		12th Light Dragoons	19	321	340	1	2	—	2	—	5
		16th Light Dragoons	14	259	273	—	—	—	—	—	—
V. Alten’s Brigade		14th Light Dragoons	23	324	347	—	1	—	2	—	3
		1st Hussars K.G.L.	23	324	347	—	2	5	16	—	21
Bock’s Brigade		1st Dragoons K.G.L.	25	339	364	—	—	—	—	—	—
		2nd Dragoons K.G.L.	23	384	407	—	—	—	—	—	—
Total British Cavalry			218	3,335	3,543	2	27	8	94	5	136
Infantry.
1st Division (H. Campbell):
Fermor’s Brigade		1st Coldstream Guards	26	928	954	—	7	1	22	8	38
		1st Third Guards	23	938	961	—	1	1	20	2	24
		1 comp. 5/60th Foot	1	56	57	—	—	—	—	—	—
Wheatley’s Brigade		2/24th Foot	23	398	421	—	—	—	5	—	5
		1/42nd Foot	40	1,039	1,079	—	—	—	3	—	3
		2/58th Foot[770]	31	369	400	—	—	—	3	1	4
		1/79th Foot	40	634	674	—	—	—	1	3	4
		1 comp. 5/60th	1	53	54	—	—	—	—	—	—
Löwe’s Brigade		1st Line Battalion K.G.L.	26	615	641	—	1	—	8	—	9
		2nd Line Battalion K.G.L.	26	601	627	—	1	2	40	4	47
		5th Line Battalion K.G.L.	30	525	555	—	1	1	17	—	19
Total 1st Division			267	6,156	6,423	—	11	5	119	18	158
3rd Division (Pakenham):
Wallace’s Brigade		1/45th Foot	26	416	442	—	5	5	45	—	55
		74th Foot	23	420	443	—	3	2	40	4	49
		1/88th Foot	21	642	663	2	11	4	110	8	135
		3 comps. 5/60th Foot	11	243	254	—	6	3	24	3	36
J. Campbell’s Brigade		1/5th Foot	32	870	902	—	10	6	110	—	126
		2/5th Foot	19	289	308	—	1	2	21	—	24
		2/83rd Foot	24	295	319	—	2	2	30	—	34
		94th Foot	24	323	347	1	3	3	21	—	28
Total 3rd Division			180	3,498	3,678	3	41	27	401	15	487
4th Division (Lowry Cole):
W. Anson’s Brigade		3/27th Foot	19	614	633	—	—	1	7	—	8
		1/40th Foot	24	558	582	—	12	5	115	—	132
		1 comp. 5/60th	2	44	46	—	—	—	—	—	—
Ellis’s Brigade		1/7th Foot	24	471	495	1	19	10	165	—	195
		1/23rd Foot	19	427	446	1	9	6	90	—	106
		1/48th Foot	22	404	426	—	9	10	60	—	79
		1 comp. Brunswick Oels[771]	1	53	54	—	—	—	—	—	—
Total 4th Division			111	2,571	2,682	2	49	32	437	—	520
5th Division (Leith):
Greville’s Brigade		3/1st Foot	32	729	761	—	23	8	129	—	160
		1/9th Foot	31	635	666	—	3	1	42	—	46
		1/38th Foot[772]	36	764	800	2	14	12	115	—	143
		2/38th Foot	20	281	301	—	9	2	40	1	52
		1 comp. Brunswick Oels[773]	2	76	78	—	—	—	—	—	—
Pringle’s Brigade		1/4th Foot	36	421	457	—	—	1	17	—	18
		2/4th Foot	27	627	654	—	2	—	23	6	31
		2/30th Foot	20	329	349	—	3	1	22	1	27
		2/44th Foot	20	231	251	2	4	—	23	—	29
		1 comp. Brunswick Oels[773]	3	66	69	—	—	—	—	—	—
Total 5th Division			227	4,159	4,386	4	58	25	411	8	506
6th Division (Clinton):
Hulse’s Brigade		1/11th Foot	31	485	516	1	44	14	281	—	340
		2/53rd Foot	25	316	341	—	26	11	105	—	142
		1/61st Foot	29	517	546	5	39	19	303	—	366
		1 comp. 5/60th	2	59	61	—	—	—	—	—	—
Hinde’s Brigade		2nd Foot	27	381	408	1	13	6	77	12	109
		1/32nd Foot	33	576	609	2	15	9	111	—	137
		1/36 Foot	29	400	429	4	16	5	74	—	99
Total 6th Division			176	2,734	2,910	13	153	64	951	12	1,193
7th Division (Hope):
Halkett’s Brigade		1st Light Batt. K.G.L.	25	544	569	—	—	2	7	—	9
		2nd Light Batt. K.G.L.	21	473	494	1	5	1	9	—	16
		Brunswick Oels[773] (9 companies)	23	573	596	—	4	2	42	1	49
De Bernewitz’s Brigade		51st Foot	27	280	307	—	—	—	2	—	2
		68th Foot	21	317	338	1	3	2	14	—	20
		Chasseurs Britanniques	27	686	713	—	5	—	10	14	29
Total 7th Division			144	2,873	3,017	2	17	7	84	15	125
Light Division (Chas. Alten):
Barnard’s Brigade		1/43rd Foot	30	718	748	—	—	1	15	—	16
		Detachments 2/95th and 3/95th Rifles	19	373	392	—	—	—	5	—	5
Vandeleur’s Brigade		1/52nd Foot	28	771	799	—	—	—	2	—	2
		8 comps. 1/95th	27	515	542	—	—	—	2	2	4
Total Light Division			104	2,377	2,481	—	—	1	24	2	27
Royal Horse Artillery (troops of Ross, Macdonald, and Bull, and drivers)			18	403	421	—	1	—	2	—	3
Field Artillery (companies of Lawson, Gardiner, Greene, Douglas, May, and drivers)			35	650	685	—	1	—	4	—	5
King’s German Legion Artillery (battery of Sympher)			5	75	80	—	2	—	4	—	6
Artillery Total			58	1,128	1,186	—	4	—	10	—	14
Engineers			12	9	21	—	—	—	—	—	—
Staff Corps			5	81	86	—	—	—	—	—	—
Wagon Train			24	115	139	—	—	—	—	—	—
BRITISH TOTAL
Infantry			1,209	24,368	25,577	24	329	159	2,387	69	2,968
Cavalry			218	3,335	3,553	2	27	8	94	5	136
Artillery			58	1,128	1,186	—	4	—	10	—	14
Engineers			12	9	21	—	—	—	—	—	—
Staff Corps			5	81	86	—	—	—	—	—	—
Train			24	115	139	—	—	—	—	—	—
General Staff			?	?	?	2	—	9	—	—	11
Total			1,526	29,036	30,562	28	360	176	2,491	74	3,129
II. PORTUGUESE TROOPS
Cavalry:
D’Urban’s Brigade: 1st and 11th Dragoons (12th Dragoons absent)[774]			32	450	482	2	5	2	18	10	37
Infantry:
Power’s Brigade, 3rd Division: 9th and 21st Line, 12th Caçadores			90	2,107	2,197	1	29	9	23	14	76
Stubbs’s Brigade, 4th Division: 11th and 23rd Line, 7th Caçadores			137	2,417	2,554	3	177	18	267	11	476
Spry’s Brigade, 5th Division: 3rd and 15th Line, 8th Caçadores			156	2,149	2,305	3	45	4	64	7	123
Rezende’s Brigade, 6th Division: 8th and 12th Line, 9th Caçadores			134	2,497	2,631	8	113	10	336	20	487
Collins’s Brigade, 7th Division: 7th and 19th Line, 2nd Caçadores			132	2,036	2,168	—	5	1	10	1	17
Pack’s Independent Brigade: 1st and 16th Line, 4th Caçadores			85	2,520	2,605	5	97	15	242	17	376
Bradford’s Independent Brigade: 13th and 14th Line, 5th Caçadores			112	1,782	1,894	—	8	—	3	6	17
Attached to Light Division: 1st and 3rd Caçadores			30	1,037	1,067	—	5	—	12	—	17
Artillery:
Arriaga’s battery			4	110	114	—	—	—	1	—	1
Total			912	17,105	18,017	22	484	59	976	86	1,627
III. SPANISH TROOPS
Carlos de España’s Division: 2nd of Princesa, Tiradores de Castilla, 2nd of Jaen, 3rd of 1st Seville, Caçadores de Castilla, Lanceros de Castilla			160	3,200	3,360	—	2	—	4	—	6
GENERAL TOTAL
British			1,526	29,036	30,562	28	360	176	2,491	74	3,129
Portuguese			912	17,105	18,017	22	484	59	976	86	1,627
Spanish			160	3,200	3,360	—	2	—	4	—	6

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XI

STRENGTH AND LOSSES OF MARMONT’S ARMY AT SALAMANCA

To fix the fighting strength of Marmont’s army at Salamanca is comparatively easy. It consisted of the 49,636 officers and men accounted for by the return of July 15th printed on the next page, minus some 700 men lost at the combats of Castrillo and Castrejon [also called ‘combat of the Guarena’] on July 18, and such few hundreds more as may have fallen behind from fatigue during the long marches of July 20-1. Roughly speaking, it must have counted some 48,500 men, as opposed to Wellington’s 50,000. The French translators of Napier’s Peninsular War (Mathieu Dumas and Foltz) only give a table of June 15, which is of course a month out of date for Salamanca, and append a note that ‘deducting artillery, engineers, équipages militaires, officers, sergeants, and garrisons, as also losses between June 15 and July 15 they find the result of about 42,000 sabres and bayonets for the battle.’ Why any sane person should deduct officers, sergeants, and artillerymen from a fighting total I am unable to conceive, though contemporary British writers, including Wellington himself, often did so. But the results of adding to their ‘42,000 sabres and bayonets’ the list of 1,925 officers, 3,244 artillerymen and artillery train (both in the divisions and in the reserve), 332 engineers, and 742 équipages militaires, is to give the figure 48,343, which practically agrees with the total that I state above; if sergeants are added it would much exceed that total. We may take this, therefore, as fairly correct—bearing in mind that the 26 officers and 742 men of the équipages militaires cannot be counted as combatants.