On the 5th of March 1811, Lieut.-General Graham, and the army under his command, arrived on the low ridge of Barrosa, and gained a decisive victory over the French army under Marshal Victor, composed of the two divisions of Generals Rufin and Laval.
The circumstances under which Lieut.-General Graham found himself placed were such as compelled him to attack the very superior force, in point of numbers, of his opponents. The allied army, after a night-march of sixteen hours from the camp near Veger, arrived on the morning of the 5th at the low ridge of Barrosa, about four miles to the southward of the mouth of the Santi Petri river. This height extends inland about a mile and a half, continuing on the north the extensive heathy plain of Chiclana. A great pine forest skirts the plain, and circles round the height at some distance, terminating down to Santi Petri, the intermediate space between the north side of the height and the forest being uneven and broken. A well-conducted and successful attack on the rear of the enemy’s lines near Santi Petri by the vanguard of the Spaniards under Brigadier-General Ladrizabel, opened the communication with the Isla de Leon, and Lieut.-General Graham received General La Pena’s directions to move down from the position of Barrosa to that of the Torre de Bermeja, about half way to the Santi Petri river, in order to secure the communication across the river, over which a bridge had been recently constructed. This latter position occupied a narrow woody ridge, the right on the sea cliff, the left falling down to the Almanza creek on the edge of the marsh. An easy communication between the western points of these two positions was kept up by a hard sandy beach. Lieut.-General Graham, while on the march through the wood towards the Bermeja, received intelligence that the enemy had appeared in force on the plain of Chiclana, about fifty miles from Tarifa, and was advancing towards the heights of Barrosa.
The British general, considering that position as the key to that of Santi Petri, immediately countermarched in order to support the troops left for its defence, and the alacrity with which this manœuvre was executed served as a favourable omen. It was, however, impossible in such intricate and difficult ground to preserve order in the columns, and time was never afforded to restore it entirely.
Before the British could get quite disentangled from the wood, the troops on the Barrosa hill were seen returning from it, while the enemy’s left wing was rapidly ascending. His right wing at the same time stood on the plain, on the edge of the wood, within cannon-shot. A retreat in the face of such an enemy, already within reach of the easy communication by the sea-beach, must have involved the whole allied army in all the danger of being attacked during the unavoidable confusion of the different corps arriving nearly at the same time on the narrow ridge of the Bermeja.
Lieut.-General Graham relying on the heroism of British troops, and regardless of the number and position of the enemy, determined on an immediate attack. Major Duncan soon opened a powerful battery of ten guns in the centre. The right wing proceeded to the attack of General Rufin’s division on the hill, while that under General Laval, notwithstanding the havoc made by Major Duncan’s battery, continued to advance in very imposing masses, opening his fire of musketry, and was only checked by that of the left wing.
The left wing now advanced firing; and a most determined charge by the three companies of Guards and the second battalion of the Eighty-seventh regiment, supported by the remainder of the wing, soon decided the defeat of General Laval’s division. In this charge the Eagle of the eighth French regiment of light infantry (which suffered immensely) and a howitzer were captured, and remained in possession of Major Gough, now Lieut.-General Viscount Gough, G.C.B., and colonel of the Eighty-seventh regiment.[13] These attacks were zealously supported by Colonel Belson with the Twenty-eighth, and Lieut.-Colonel Prevost with a portion of the Sixty-seventh regiment.
Lieut Pym 87th Regt del.
Madeley lith 3 Wellington St. Strand