The loss of the Eighty-Eighth before Ciudad Rodrigo was one officer, Lieutenant Beresford, and twenty rank and file killed; four Lieutenants, Flack, Armstrong, Johnston, and W. Kingsmill, two serjeants, and fifty-four rank and file wounded. Lord Wellington in his despatches notices the third division and this regiment in the following words,—

“The conduct of all parts of the Third Division in these operations, which they performed with so much gallantry and exactness on the evening of the 19th in the dark, affords the strongest proofs of the abilities of Lieutenant-General Picton and Major-General Mackinnon, &c.” And again: “It is but justice to the third division, to report that the men who performed the sap belonged to the Forty-Fifth, Seventy-Fourth, and Eighty-Eighth Regiments.”

After the reduction of Ciudad Rodrigo, the regiment occupied the village of Albergeria until the middle of February, when it marched towards the South to join the forces in Alentejo, and act against the fortress of Badajoz. In this siege the duty of the trenches was performed by the third, fourth, and sixth divisions, about sixteen thousand strong, while the French garrison amounted to six thousand. The place was invested on the 16th of March, and the trenches opened the same night. On the night of the 19th the garrison made a sortie with two thousand men against the right of the trenches with great gallantry, and at first with considerable success, but were finally driven back to the town with loss. In that part of the British line which faced the advanced fort called La Picurina, were two batteries in a forward state, occupied by a party of the Forty-Fifth and Eighty-Eighth, under the command of Captain Hogan of the Eighty-Eighth. The trenches were in such a state from the rain which had fallen almost incessantly from the commencement of the siege, that the working parties were up to their knees in water, and it was deemed right to keep the covering troops as much as possible out of the wet ground. About half an hour before the usual time of relieving the guard of the trenches, Ensigns Darcy and Grattan of the Eighty-Eighth, although the smoke of the French batteries combined with a heavy fog rendered it impossible to distinguish objects at any distance, thought they observed symptoms of the enemy’s meditating a sortie from the Picurina Fort. Without waiting for orders, they instantly directed the working party to throw down their tools and resume their arms; in the next moment, and before many of the men were in readiness to act, the French made a rush at the battery No. 2, but were received at the point of the bayonet, by the few assembled men of the Forty-Fifth and Eighty-Eighth, and thus the readiness and presence of mind of two young officers, and the firmness of a handful of brave men, preserved the half finished works from destruction. Some of the soldiers pursued the repulsed enemy as far as the glacis of the town, and two privates of the Eighty-Eighth, Kelly of the fourth company (who has been already mentioned for his conduct at Talavera, Busaco, and Ciudad Rodrigo) and M‘Gowan of the grenadiers particularly distinguished themselves.

On the 24th the regiment lost one Lieutenant (North) killed, and had another Lieutenant (Stewart) wounded, by the fire of the place. On the evening of the 25th it was determined to storm the Picurina redoubt; five hundred men of the third division were ordered upon that duty, and amongst them a detachment of the Eighty-Eighth, commanded by Captain Oates and Lieutenant George Johnston. The latter officer was a volunteer; it was not his tour of duty in the trenches, and he still carried his arm in a sling from the effects of his wound at Ciudad Rodrigo; but the moment he heard that Captain Oates, who was the Captain of his company, was to be of the storming party, he determined to join him. The first attack was made at the gorge of the redoubt, but the defences were too strong and the resistance too obstinate even for troops accustomed to victory; repulsed there, however, and with severe loss, they did not abandon the attack in despair; gliding round the flanks and faces of the work, they sought for, and at length obtained, an entry by scaling the ramparts. In one of these attempts the ladders proving too short, Captain Oates observing that the ditch though very deep was narrow, called out, “Come, boys, though the ladders are too short to mount up the ditch, let us try our hand with them across it.” In a few minutes three ladders were pitched from the glacis into the mouth of an embrasure, and across them, in spite of a severe fire of musketry and grape. Captain Oates led the way into the redoubt; here he soon fell, disabled by a severe wound, and Lieutenant Johnston was killed within a few paces of him; in fact, of fifteen officers who were with the party not one escaped unhurt.

During the further progress of the siege, the regiment lost a field-officer, Major Thompson, who was killed in the trenches on the night of the 28th, and on the same night Brevet-Major Murphy was wounded. In the final assault on the 6th of April, the escalade of the castle was the duty allotted to the third division. Lieutenant Whitelaw of the Eighty-Eighth volunteered to lead the advance of twenty men, but less fortunate than his brother officer, Lieutenant Mackie at Ciudad Rodrigo, fell at the moment of victory; Captain Lindsay of the Eighty-Eighth was also killed while in the act of raising a ladder for his company to escalade the castle wall; three other Lieutenants were killed (Mansfield, Cotton, and Macalpine); and one Captain (Peshall) and four Lieutenants (Faris, Armstrong, Davern, and Grattan) wounded. Mr. Thomas Martin, eldest son of Richard Martin, Esq., many years M.P. for Galway, who had joined the regiment as a volunteer soon after the opening of the trenches and accompanied the grenadiers in the assault, was also wounded in the shoulder. The total loss of the regiment before Badajoz, during the sieges in June, 1811, and in March and April, 1812, amounted to eight officers, five serjeants, and forty-two rank and file killed; and eight officers, ten serjeants, and one hundred and sixty-six rank and file wounded.

After the fall of Badajoz, the regiment returned to the frontiers of Beira, where it remained till the army again took the field in June. At the battle of Salamanca, (22nd July) the Eighty-Eighth, together with the Forty-Fifth and Seventy-Fourth, formed the right brigade of the third division, which was posted on the right of the army, opposite to the Seventh French division, under General Bonnet. Lieutenant-General Picton being at this time absent from the field on account of ill-health, the division was commanded by Major-General the Honourable Edward Pakenham, the brigade by Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Wallace of the Eighty-Eighth, and the Eighty-Eighth itself by Major Seton, who had succeeded to that rank upon the death of Major Thompson in the trenches at Badajoz. It was five in the afternoon, when Lord Wellington rode up and desired Major-General the Hon. E. Pakenham to move the third division forward, and carry the heights and guns in his front. The division was at this time formed in open column, right in front, facing a hill behind which the French were posted, and on which were erected two batteries. The colours were just uncased, and the bayonets fixed, when Lieutenant-Colonel Wallace addressed a few animating words to the men, explaining their situation, and cautioning them to be aware of the enemy’s cavalry, which was watching them closely, and hanging on their flank: to the officers he said, “Gentlemen, the regiment is on this day, as it generally is on such occasions, tolerably strong, and (pointing to the batteries which crowned the hill in front) we are likely to have a good deal of noise about our ears. I would recommend you to place yourselves in the centre and front of your companies, which will prevent any mistake.”

The brigade now moved forward in one column, the Forty-Fifth leading, followed immediately by the Eighty-Eighth; the enemy opened a heavy fire from fourteen guns, which was replied to by a brigade of nine-pounders firing over the heads of the advancing column. When the smoke cleared away, Bonnet’s division was perceived advancing rapidly round the face of the hill, as if determined to anticipate attack; Major-General Pakenham now rode up to Lieutenant-Colonel Wallace and ordered him to wheel the brigade into line without halting, a manœuvre which evidently disconcerted the enemy, who nevertheless continued to advance with drums beating and keeping up a heavy fire of musketry. In spite of the enemy’s fusillade, Major-General Pakenham, Lieutenant-Colonel Wallace, and Majors Seton and Murphy, remained at the head of the Eighty-Eighth, which formed the centre of the brigade, and continued to advance steadily in line with firelocks on the rest. As the British advanced, the fire of the enemy slackened, and they seemed inclined to give way, when several of their officers advanced in front to animate the men, and one officer of the Twenty-Second, (the leading regiment of the French column,) seizing a firelock, ran out in front of his men and shot Major Murphy of the Eighty-Eighth through the heart. At the same moment a ball struck the pole of the King’s colour, cutting it nearly in two, and taking the epaulette off the shoulder of Lieutenant D’Arcy who carried it. The men now, for the first time, became impatient, and called out for revenge; Major-General Pakenham cheered, and desired Lieutenant-Colonel Wallace to let them loose; the men rushed into the midst of the fire, and a close and desperate, but short, conflict took place. The deep and ponderous column, so formidable in attack, was now completely overthrown, and at the mercy of its assailants; many of the French were killed and wounded, and the broken column pursued for about a quarter of a mile through an extensive but thinly-planted wood of cork-trees. At this moment a shout in the rear caused the pursuers to expect to have a charge of French cavalry to repel, but they were agreeably disappointed by having Major-General Le Marchant’s brigade of heavy cavalry to greet, instead of a fresh enemy to resist. The French could not withstand this new attack, and the whole column, originally seven thousand strong, was cut to pieces or captured, together with two eagles and eleven pieces of cannon.

Owing to the previous casualties at Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, only four Captains were present with the regiment at Salamanca, and of these, one (Captain Mackie) acted as Aide-de-Camp to Lieutenant-Colonel Wallace, and when the heavy brigade charged, joined them in the attack. Two others (Murphy, brevet-major, and Hogan) were killed, and the fourth (Captain Adair) so severely wounded, as to survive the effects only a few months. Captain Tryon of the Eighty-Eighth, D.A.A.G., was likewise severely wounded. The Eighty-Eighth had also four Lieutenants (Meade, Nickle, Grattan, and Kingsmill) wounded; one serjeant and eighteen rank and file killed, and one serjeant and one hundred and nine rank and file wounded; the total of casualties amounting to seven officers and one hundred and twenty-nine non-commissioned officers and privates.

After the battle of Salamanca the Eighty-Eighth formed part of the corps which occupied Madrid during Lord Wellington’s march to Burgos, and on the evacuation of that capital in October following, returned to quarters in Portugal, where it received a strong detachment of the Second battalion, which again raised its effective strength to near one thousand rank and file. For the first time, also, since its arrival in the Peninsula, it was furnished with tents in common with the other regiments.

1813