Lieut.-Colonel Charles W. Doyle[10] having been appointed a brigadier-general and employed on a special mission in Spain, the command of the second battalion devolved upon Major Hugh Gough, and on the 28th of December following, it embarked at Ramsgate to join the army under Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, with numerous supplies of men and stores; but being dispersed by a storm, it rendezvoused at Cork, from whence it was ordered to proceed to Portugal.

1809.

The battalion arrived at Lisbon on the 12th of March 1809, and joined the army under the command of Lieut.-General Sir Arthur Wellesley. It was employed in the operations against the French at Oporto, and advanced in April following in pursuit of the French army, which had retreated from Portugal towards Madrid.

After suffering many privations in common with the rest of the troops, a junction was effected at Oropesa on the 20th of July with the Spanish army under General Cuesta. On the 27th of July, when General Cuesta had retreated from Alcabon under cover of Lieut.-General Sherbrooke’s divisions, Lieut.-General Sir Arthur Wellesley, K.B., withdrew to the position of Talavera, leaving Major-General John Randoll McKenzie on the Alberche to protect the movement. When the French on the 27th of July crossed this river, Major-General McKenzie’s division was posted near the Casa des Salinas, his infantry in the forest, and cavalry on the plain. The attack was somewhat sudden, and the second battalions of the Thirty-first and Eighty-seventh regiments, which were in the wood on the right of the Alberche, sustained some loss. As the enemy increased his numbers on the British side of the river, Major-General McKenzie fell back gradually, and entering the position by the left of the combined army, took up his ground in a second line in rear of the foot guards. In the dusk of the evening the enemy commenced his attack on the British left, but failed. In the night the attack was repeated, and on the morning of the 28th of July the French renewed the attack on the height on the British left, and were again repulsed with considerable loss.

After a pause of some hours the attacks were renewed upon the whole British front, and the action became general. Brigadier-General Alexander Campbell’s division, on the British right, sustained the assault of the enemy’s fourth corps, assisted by Major-General McKenzie’s brigade. “The English regiments, putting the French skirmishers aside, met the advancing columns with loud shouts, and breaking in on their front, and lapping their flanks with fire, and giving no respite, pushed them back with a terrible carnage. Ten guns were taken; but as General Campbell prudently forbore pursuit, the French rallied on their supports, and made a show of attacking again. Vain attempt! The British artillery and musketry played too vehemently upon their masses, and a Spanish regiment of cavalry charging on their flank at the same time, the whole retired in disorder, and the victory was secured in that quarter.”[11]

In the action on the 28th of July, Major-General McKenzie, who commanded the division of which the Eighty-seventh formed part, was killed.

The news of the victory of Talavera gained over the French army, commanded by Joseph Bonaparte in person, excited great joy in England, and Lieut.-General Sir Arthur Wellesley was raised to the peerage by the title of Viscount Wellington.

The loss of the British amounted to six thousand in killed, wounded, and missing; that of the French was much more considerable. The loss sustained by the second battalion of the Eighty-seventh regiment consisted of one officer and one hundred and ten men killed, and thirteen officers and two hundred and thirty men wounded: total three hundred and fifty-four; strength in the field, eight hundred and twenty-six, leaving a remainder of four hundred and seventy-two.

Killed.
Ensign—Nicholas la Serre.
Wounded.
Major—Hugh Gough, severely (on 28th July).
Captain—Rawdon McCrea, slightly (since dead).
”Anthony William Somersall, slightly.
Lieutenant—W. G. Cavanagh, severely.
”Richard Thos. Hingston, died of his wounds.
”Ralph Johnson, severely.
”John D. Bagenal, arm amputated.
”James Carroll, severely.
”Adam Rogers, severely (on 28th July).
Ensign—Theobald Butler, severely.
”Theobald Pepper, severely (on 28th July).
”Wright Knox, severely.
”James T. Moore, slightly.