1st bat.
On the 5th of January, 1809, a position was taken up at Lugo, where some skirmishing occurred, in which three companies of the Seventy-first were engaged, and repulsed the enemy.
Lieut.-General Francis Dundas was appointed from the Ninety-fourth Regiment to be Colonel of the Seventy-first on the 7th of January, 1809, in succession to Lieut.-General Sir John Francis Cradock, K.B., removed to the Forty-third Regiment.
The retreat was again commenced on the 9th of January, and on the 11th the army, still nearly fifteen thousand strong, reached Corunna. The British Army, having accomplished one of the most celebrated retreats recorded in modern history, repulsing the pursuing enemy in all his attacks, and having traversed two hundred and fifty miles of mountainous country, accompanied by severe privation, was not destined to embark for England without a battle.
The transports not having arrived, a position was occupied in advance of Corunna, and some sharp skirmishing ensued, in which four companies of the Seventy-first were warmly engaged, and lost several men in killed and wounded. Lieutenant William Lockwood was severely wounded. On this ground the battle of Corunna was fought on the 16th of January; but the Seventy-first being placed on the extreme left of the British line, had little part in it. The result of the action was glorious to the British Army, but was darkened by the loss of Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, who received a severe wound during the battle, and died at ten o’clock on the same night. His remains were wrapped in a military cloak, and interred in the Citadel of Corunna, over which Marshal Soult, with the true feeling of a soldier, erected a monument.
Lieut.-General Sir David Baird, who succeeded to the command upon Sir John Moore being wounded, was also wounded, and the command devolved upon Lieut.-General the Honourable John Hope.
At eight o’clock on the night of the 16th of January the troops quitted their position, leaving the pickets posted and a few men to keep up the fires, and then marched into Corunna, where they embarked for England on the following day.
In commemoration of this battle, and of the conduct of the battalion during the expedition, the Seventy-first, in common with the army employed under Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, received the royal authority to bear the word “Corunna” on the regimental colour and appointments.
The thanks of both Houses of Parliament were conferred on the troops, and were communicated to Lieut.-Colonel Pack by Lieut.-General Sir David Baird in the following letter:—
“Portsmouth, 30th January, 1809.