“Regimental Orders.
“It is with the most painful feeling of regret Lieut.-Colonel Sir Hugh Gough is necessitated to announce to the second battalion, Prince’s Own Irish, that their services as a corps are no longer required, in consequence of the military arrangements it has been found necessary to adopt.
“In making this distressing though necessary communication, and in taking leave of those brave officers and men, at whose head it has been Sir Hugh Gough’s good fortune so long to have been placed, he feels himself on this occasion called upon to recapitulate the leading ones of so many brilliant achievements performed by his gallant comrades now about to separate. The recollection of such scenes must be a source of gratification to all, whether called on to serve their country in India, or to retire to their families and native land. To their Commanding Officer it ever has and ever will be, a source of heartfelt exultation. By their country and by their illustrious master, their services have been duly appreciated, and nobly rewarded by that designation, and by those badges so peculiar, so honorable, and so gratifying.
“The Eighty-seventh had the good fortune to serve under the first General of the age, throughout the greater part of the Peninsular war, and longer than most corps in the service. At the battle of Talavera on the 27th of July, 1809 (when the battalion first encountered the enemy), they had to sustain unsupported the repeated attacks of the advance corps, and did not retire until both flanks were turned, the battalion nearly surrounded by an infinitely superior force, and two-thirds of the officers and men either killed or wounded. The movement of the regiment to the rear, and its formation on the other corps of the division, was a counterpart of their conduct, in having instantly recovered, on the first attack of the enemy, a temporary confusion which was occasioned by the fire of a British regiment into the rear of the battalion, the thickness of the wood having made it impossible for that distinguished corps to have perceived the new position which the Eighty-seventh had taken up.
“On this memorable occasion the charge of the two centre companies did them and their officers the greatest honor. The gallantry of the whole was conspicuous, and obtained the personal thanks of the brave officer who commanded the division[16], and who unfortunately fell on the following day, and also the repeated thanks of the officer commanding the brigade.
“At the brilliant action of Barrosa the conduct of the Eighty-seventh in taking up the first position under a most destructive fire from the enemy’s artillery, and a column three times its numbers, when it formed with the precision of parade movements, gave a happy omen of the issue of the day. The advance of the battalion in line, its volley into the two battalions of the eighth, and its charge on that corps, called for and received the proudest meed of gallantry, the enthusiastic approbation of such an officer as Sir Thomas Graham.
“This charge was rewarded by the wreathed eagle of the eighth French regiment, and a howitzer: it led in a great measure to the total discomfiture of the right column under General Laval, and nearly annihilated two battalions of one of the finest regiments in the French army: of one thousand six hundred men, which they brought into the field, only three hundred and fifty returned to Chiclana. The ready formation of the right wing from amidst the ranks of the retreating enemy, and their charge on the fifty-fourth French regiment, which at this moment attacked the right of the Eighty-seventh, was rewarded by the marked approbation of their esteemed chief. The ultimate advance of the battalion on the enemy’s guns was equally praiseworthy.
“At Tarifa, a species of service new to the British army called for a renewal of that steady gallantry which marked the conduct of the Eighty-seventh at Barrosa. The immense superiority, in number, of the enemy, added enthusiasm to discipline: the cool intrepidity, the strict observance of orders, the exulting cheer when the enemy’s columns pressed forward to the attack, proved the feelings which influenced the defenders of the breach of Tarifa, and was as honorable to them as soldiers, as their humane conduct to the wounded (when the enemy fled) was to their characters as men.
“The persevering attention to their duty on the walls, in conjunction with their brave comrades, the second battalion of the Forty-seventh, exposed to the continued fire of an enemy ten times the number of the garrison, and to the most dreadfully inclement weather, led to the ultimate abandonment of the siege, and was rewarded by the approbation of their General, their Prince, and their Country.