(Extracted from the Monthly Returns.)
1811.1812.1813.1814.
A.B.C.D.E.F.G.H.I.
1. General, Field, and Staff Officers, not included on Company Rolls8891011119108
2. Royal Horse Artillery4954996997289269881,0161,0071,021
3. Royal Foot Artillery8841,1119961,3271,8761,8621,9501,9851,966
4. Royal Artillery Drivers7778581,0401,1592,1542,1502,6832,7192,734
5. Ordnance Medical Staff91018182726292929
6. Field Train or Commissariat Department of the Ordnance8486129121130128153154148
General Total of Royal British Artillery2,2572,5722,8913,3635,1245,1655,8405,9045,897
King’s German Artillery421412449434450446430439412

N.B.—The Field Train Department attached to the Engineers is not included, as it did not appear in the Monthly Returns of the Artillery.

General Howorth vacated the command of the Artillery in the Peninsula in July 1811, being obliged to return to England on account of ill-health,—and was shortly afterwards succeeded by General Borthwick. This officer was wounded at Ciudad Rodrigo, and returned to England,—a coolness having sprung up between him and Lord Wellington, which recurred with one of his successors, and continued until the command of the Artillery devolved upon his favourite, then Colonel Dickson, a few months after the siege of Burgos.

Major Dickson D.-A.-G. dated Castel Branco, 23 Jul. 1811.

On the 19th July, 1811, Lord Wellington sent for Colonel Fletcher, Colonel Framingham, and Major Dickson, and informed them that it was his intention to attempt the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo; and after a little conversation as to the means of transport, &c., he desired Major Dickson to proceed to Oporto, to superintend the conveyance of the English battering train up the Douro to Lamego, and thence by land to Francoso, whence it would also be conveyed by land to its final destination. This battering train had arrived in Lisbon in the first instance, and had been carried secretly to Oporto, with a view to the proposed siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, its ostensible destination being Cadiz.[28] Two new companies of Artillery which had arrived in Lisbon were now ordered to Oporto to assist Major Dickson. In all these arrangements Lord Wellington underrated the strength of the French army in the north of the Peninsula.

To D.-A.-G. dated Oporto, 27 Aug. 1811.

Major Dickson reached Almeida, on his way to Oporto, on the 28th July, and arrived at the latter place on the 3rd August, where he found Captain Bredin’s and Captain Glubb’s companies—now H Battery, 1st Brigade, and 5 Battery 5th Brigade—waiting his orders. Before the 13th the whole of the train had been embarked in boats, about 160 in number, and despatched to Lamego; but the work and the climate proved too much for Major Dickson, and before he could follow the train he was struck down with a violent fever, accompanied by delirium. When first attacked, he requested Lord Wellington to send some one to take up his duties, and, accordingly, his friend Captain May was sent, and superintended the movement of the train until the 5th September, when the gallant Dickson, only half recovered, and travelling in a litter, arrived at Lamego. Here he found that all the guns and stores had marched for Villa da Ponte, and that Captain May was on the point of following Major Dickson to D.-A.-Gen. dated Villa da Ponte, 13 Sept. 1811. them. On the 8th Major Dickson left Lamego, and reached Villa da Ponte on the 10th, where he fell an immediate victim to a relapse of fever, which lasted acutely several days. Captain Bredin’s company had, in the meantime, been recalled to the head-quarters of the army, to take over the brigade of guns from Captain Thompson’s, which was almost hors de combat from sickness.[29] The troops left with the battering train were therefore reduced to Captain Glubb’s company of Royal Artillery, about 250 Portuguese Artillery, and from 1200 to 1400 Portuguese Militia, intended to assist on the march. Captain Holcombe’s company of Royal Artillery was hourly expected. That company is now No. 4 Battery 2nd Brigade.

Ibid. 20 Sept. 1811.

On the march, the battering train had been arranged by Captain May as follows. It was divided, as far as the ordnance was concerned, into five divisions; each gun marched with 350 rounds, and each howitzer and mortar with 160 rounds. An officer was placed in charge of each division, and each division marched separately. The remaining stores and ammunition requisite to furnish a total of 800 rounds per gun, and 400 for each howitzer and mortar, were under the charge of the Commissary and other officers, and marched in rear.

While at Villa da Ponte, awaiting orders from Lord Wellington for a further advance, Major Dickson’s correspondence was of a nature which reveals to the reader more of the personal element than his letters, as a rule, allow to become visible. The alternate hoping and despairing as to orders for advance,—the ennui produced by enforced idleness,—the impetuous way in which he would fling himself into professional discussions with General Macleod, merely to occupy his leisure,—the spasmodic fits of zeal in improving the arrangement of the immense train,—all unite to present to the reader a very vivid picture of him whose hand, so long still, penned these faded letters. His recurring attacks of fever—followed by apologies like the following: “The fact is, when I am well I forget all, take violent exercise at all times and seasons, and knock myself up; but I am determined to be more careful in future”—followed by an inevitable relapse, in proof of the failure of his good resolutions,—combine to bring before the reader a very lovable picture of a very earnest man. It is by such study alone that the Artilleryman can realise the characters of the great among his predecessors in the Corps, and by such links that he can bind them to himself with that almost family tie, of which the Regimental union is but an expansion.