The French army was overpowered and driven from the field with severe loss: and the Royal authority was afterwards given for the FIFTY-THIRD regiment to bear the word "Salamanca" on its colours, to commemorate the distinguished conduct of the second battalion on this memorable occasion: Lieut.-Colonel Bingham and Lieut.-Colonel Mansel received gold medals.
Nineteen men were killed. Captain A. K. Blackhall died of his wounds, much regretted; Lieut.-Colonel Bingham, Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Robertson, Captains O. G. Fehrszen, J. W. Poppleton, D. M'Dougall, and John Fernandez, Lieutenants J. B. Hunter, and Joseph Nicholson, Ensign Peter Bunworth, Adjutant John Carss, Volunteer Munro Morphet, and seventy-six men were wounded; nine men wounded and prisoners. Captain Fehrszen was taken prisoner, but was left by the enemy at Alba de Tormes. The total loss amounted to nearly half the soldiers under arms on this occasion.
The following officers were in the field, and escaped uninjured:—Lieut.-Colonel John Mansel. Lieutenants P. Hovenden, and John Fraser. Ensigns W. Harrison, W. Baxter, George Fitzgerald, Robert Hilliard, J. W. Moir, and Michael Nagle. Surgeon T. Sandell; Assistant-Surgeon Charles MacLean.
On the day after the battle, Major-General Hulse was nominated to command the fifth division, when the command of the brigade devolved on Lieut.-Colonel Mansel of the FIFTY-THIRD, and that of the second battalion of the regiment on Lieutenant Hovenden. In August Lieut.-Colonel Bingham was sufficiently recovered of his wounds to resume his duty, when he took the command of the brigade, and Lieut.-Colonel Mansel that of the second battalion of the regiment.
Advancing in pursuit of the enemy, the army entered the city of Valladolid amidst the rejoicings of the people. The FIFTY-THIRD were afterwards left, with the sixth division, at the small town of Cuellar, in the province of Segovia, while Lord Wellington advanced with the army to Madrid. General Clauzel returning with the re-organized French army, the sixth division withdrew to Arevalo. Lord Wellington returning from Madrid, the French again retreated, and the allied army advanced up the beautiful Pisuerga and Arlanzan valleys, turning the enemy's positions and forcing him to continue his retreat beyond Burgos. The FIFTY-THIRD were employed in the siege of the castle of Burgos, in which service they had four men killed, Ensign Nagle, one serjeant, and several men wounded. Lieutenant Fraser distinguished himself at the attack of one of the out-works. The concentration of the enemy's numerous forces having rendered a retrograde movement necessary, the FIFTY-THIRD shared in the fatigues, privations, and sufferings of the retreat from Burgos to the frontiers of Portugal, where they went into winter-quarters; they were removed from the sixth to the fourth division, and formed in brigade with the third battalion of the twenty-seventh, and the first battalions of the fortieth and forty-eighth regiments, under Major-General William Anson.
1813
The second battalion having become considerably reduced in numbers by its arduous services in Spain and Portugal, the effective and efficient soldiers were formed into four companies, for service in the Peninsula; and the officers of the other six companies, with the remaining non-commissioned officers and soldiers, were ordered to proceed to England, under the command of Captain Poppleton. The four service companies marched to join the head-quarters of the fourth division, at St. Jaō de Pesquira, where they arrived on the 6th of January, and were formed with four companies of the second, or the Queen's Royal, into the second provisional battalion, which was commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Bingham of the FIFTY-THIRD regiment.
Taking the field under a superior organization strengthened by reinforcements, and proudly confident in the skill and resources of its commander, the allied army penetrated Spain in May, to turn the French positions on the Douro. The FIFTY-THIRD formed part of the force under Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Graham (afterwards Lord Lynedoch), which proceeded through the mountainous regions of the Tras-os-Montes, and passed the Esla river, the French falling back on Toro. Pressing forward upon their numerous enemies, the British forced them to quit one position after another, until the legions of France were concentrated in the plain of Vittoria, under Joseph Bonaparte, titular King of Spain, where they prepared to oppose the victorious career of the allied army. In the battle of the 21st of June the FIFTY-THIRD formed part of the centre column, under the immediate command of Lord Wellington, and their bearing throughout the day, which ended in the complete overthrow and discomfiture of the French army, was afterwards rewarded with the Royal authority to bear the word "Vittoria" on the colours of the regiment. Their loss was four men killed and six wounded.
The following officers served at the battle of Vittoria,—viz.:
Colonel G. R. Bingham. Captains O. G. Fehrszen and James Mackay. Lieutenants C. F. Hunter, Thomas Impett, James Hamilton, Thomas Dowker, and John Fraser. Ensigns George Fitzgerald, Michael Nagle, and John Wilton. Adjutant John Carss. Surgeon Thomas Sandell; Assistant-Surgeon Charles MacLean. Volunteer John Fernandez.