When the siege of Badajoz occasioned the advance of Marshal Marmont with the French army to Spanish Estremadura, the FIFTY-THIRD, and other corps left on the Agueda, made a corresponding movement, and joined the army under Lord Wellington in the Alemtejo. The French armies separating again, the FIFTY-THIRD returned, with the sixth division, of which they formed part, to the northern frontiers of Portugal. On the 11th of September the battalion crossed the Agueda river to the small village of Felicio Chico, to protect the inhabitants from the depredations of the garrison of Ciudad Rodrigo. A numerous French army advancing to throw a supply into that fortress, the FIFTY-THIRD withdrew across the river, and proceeded to Fuentes d'Onor; from whence they moved to the vicinity of Espejo. The French forces advancing, the allies, being much inferior in numbers, withdrew a few stages; the enemy soon retired again, and the FIFTY-THIRD went into village cantonments.
Major-General Campbell, being appointed to the staff of the army in India, took leave of the sixth division, in an order dated the 5th of November, and after expressing his thanks to the general officers commanding brigades, and officers commanding regiments, he adverted "to his feelings of regret at being about to separate from that brigade which it was so long his pride to command, and especially from the FIFTY-THIRD regiment, the only remaining corps of his original brigade, whose undaunted steadiness and gallantry, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Bingham, gained them the admiration of the army the first time they were under fire."
1812
In January, 1812, when Lord Wellington besieged and captured Ciudad Rodrigo, the sixth division was at Penna Verde; but it advanced to the frontiers on the approach of the French army: when the enemy withdrew, the FIFTY-THIRD fell back to Grajal. They subsequently traversed the country to Elvas, and formed part of the covering army during the siege of Badajoz, which fortress was captured by storm on the 6th of April. After taking an active part in the operations of the covering army, the FIFTY-THIRD again marched northward, and halted at Castel de Vide on the 2nd of May.
The services of the second battalion in Portugal and Spain, had been equally meritorious with those of the first battalion in India. After returning from Spanish Estremadura, it reposed a short period in quarters: in May it moved forward to support the troops under Lieut.-General Hill in their attack on the French bridge at Almaraz, and afterwards returned to Castel de Vide.
In June the army passed the Agueda river and advanced to Salamanca, the French retiring upon Toro, but leaving a body of troops in two fortified convents. The FIFTY-THIRD were employed in the siege of these convents, and on the 18th of June Lieutenant J. H. Devenish was severely wounded in the trenches; he died on the 24th, and was buried in the church near the great square of the city. Marshal Marmont advancing to relieve the besieged convents, the regiment was twice removed from the siege to confront the French army; but the enemy did not hazard an attack. On the 23rd of June, when an unsuccessful attempt was made by the light infantry to capture the smaller convent by escalade, the regiment had three men killed; Lieutenant James Hamilton, and seven men, wounded. The progress of the siege was delayed by a scarcity of ammunition, but a supply was received. The smaller convent was captured by storm on the 27th of June; and the attack on the larger one had commenced, when the commandant surrendered.
Advancing from Salamanca the army proceeded to the banks of the Douro; but the French having been considerably reinforced, and having crossed that river, the allies fell back to the vicinity of Salamanca, where the two armies manœuvred on the 22nd of July, and the enemy, having weakened his centre in his attempt to turn the right flank of the allied army, Lord Wellington seized the favourable opportunity to commence the battle. The FIFTY-THIRD, with the other corps of the sixth division, supported the fourth division in its attack on the French army, and circumstances occurred which occasioned the regiment to be brought into action before the other corps of its division. The FIFTY-THIRD supported the twenty-third Portuguese regiment; and this corps giving way, the FIFTY-THIRD had to sustain the attack of a superior body of infantry supported by cavalry in front, at the same time they were exposed to the flank fire of the French posted on one of the hills called the Arapiles. The regiment withdrew from this unequal contest in good order, and forming square, resisted the charge of the French cavalry with great steadiness, thus affording an example of what can be effected by a small body of infantry, when charged by very superior numbers of cavalry. The officer at the head of the French dragoons having been wounded close to the bayonets of the square, and the success of the attack of the other regiments of the brigade to which the FIFTY-THIRD belonged becoming evident, the French cavalry retired, taking with them Captain Fehrszen and nine wounded men as prisoners. Lieut.-Colonel Bingham having been severely wounded, the command of the regiment devolved on Brevet Lieut.-Colonel John Mansel.
After resisting the charge of the French cavalry, the FIFTY-THIRD again advanced, and were engaged in the attack of the last position occupied by the enemy on that memorable day. This was a desperate musketry action in the dark, and the difficulties of the ascent of the mountain gave the French division, under General Maucune, formed on the summit, a decided advantage. The FIFTY-THIRD were on the left of the sixth division on this occasion, and the British gallantly won their way upwards, and finally forced the enemy to make a precipitate retreat.
Colonel Napier has given the following spirited description of this last attack, in his History of the Peninsular War:—"Assisted by a brigade of the fourth division, the troops then rushed up, and in the darkness of the night the fire showed from afar how the battle went. On the side of the British a sheet of flame was seen, sometimes advancing with an even front, sometimes pricking forth in spear heads, now falling back in waving lines, and anon darting upwards in one vast pyramid, the apex of which often approached, yet never gained, the actual summit of the mountain; but the French musketry, rapid as lightning, sparkled along the brow of the height with unvarying fulness, and with what desperate effects, the dark gaps and changing shapes of the adverse fire showed too plainly. Yet, when Pakenham had again turned the enemy's left, and Foy's division had glided into the forest, Maucune's task was completed, the effulgent crest of the ridge became black and silent, and the French army vanished, as it were, into darkness."