[545] All this from D’Urban’s unpublished narrative in the D’Urban papers.
[546] All this is from D’Urban’s narrative, and letters from Colonel Watson to D’Urban. The colonel bitterly resented Napier’s account of the charge (Peninsular War, iv. p. 268).
[547] The division was marching left in front, so that the senior regiment was in the rear. The fourth unit of the division (23rd Léger) was absent, garrisoning Astorga, as was also the 2nd battalion of the 1st, which was a very strong four-battalion corps. Hence there were only 8 battalions out of 11 present, or 4,300 men out of 6,200.
[548] It is not certain that the whole of the rear regiment (the 1st Line) was in the group: possibly one or two of its battalions were not yet on the ground.
[549] Grattan, p. 245.
[550] The 1/5th lost 126 men, more than any other 3rd Division regiment except the 88th. Sergeant Morley of the 5th, its only Salamanca diarist, writes (p. 113): ‘There was a pause—a hesitation. Here I blush—but I should blush more if I were guilty of a falsehood. We retired—slowly, in good order, not far, not 100 paces. General Pakenham approached, and very good-naturedly said “re-form,” and after a moment “advance—there they are, my lads—let them feel the temper of your bayonets.” We advanced—rather slowly at first, a regiment of dragoons which had retired with us again accompanying ... and took our retribution for our repulse.’ The dragoon regiment was presumably part of D’Urban’s brigade.
[551] This comes from the report of Arentschildt on the doings of his brigade: it is not mentioned by Napier, nor is there anything about it in Wellington’s dispatch. The time is fixed by Arentschildt speaking of it as ‘during the attack on the first hill.’ He says that he closed with the main body of the French horse and drove it off.
[552] The losses in officers of the three regiments were, taking killed and wounded only, not unwounded prisoners, 25 for the 101st, 15 for the 62nd, 5 for the 1st, by Martinien’s lists. The British returns of prisoners sent to England, at the Record Office, show 6 officers from the 101st, 2 from the 62nd, and 1 from the 1st, received after the battle. I presume that nearly all the wounded, both officers and rank and file, count among the prisoners. The 1st entered in its regimental report 176 tués ou pris, 22 blessés, 29 disparus: here the only people who got away would be the 22 blessés. The regimental return of the 101st shows 31 officers wanting—which seems to correspond to the 25 killed and wounded plus the 6 prisoners sent to England.
[553] All this from Leith Hay, ii. p. 53. The 1/38th had joined from Lisbon only twelve hours back.
[554] This is proved by the narrative of the Brunswick captain, Wachholz, who commanded the company of that corps attached to the Fusilier brigade.