After driving the enemy across the Douro and taking possession of Valladolid, the army marched to Madrid, and the Fourteenth light dragoons passed Segovia and bivouacked near Escurial, a place celebrated for its magnificent palace, built by Philip II. and used as a monastery. The head quarters of the regiment were established at Getafe, and it took the out-post duty. Lieutenant Cust commanded a post of observation at Consingia, in La Mancha, and Lieutenant Ward a post of communication between that station and Madrid.
When the Marquis of Wellington left Madrid to undertake the siege of Burgos, the Fourteenth were left in the vicinity of the capital of Spain; and when a concentration of the French forces rendered a retrograde movement necessary, the regiment assembled, with the first German hussars, at Guadalaxara, and fell back upon Madrid. From Madrid the regiment formed part of the rear-guard of Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill's corps, to Alba de Tormes, and for several days it was almost constantly engaged in manœuvring and skirmishing to retard the advance of the enemy. On the 16th of November the regiment repulsed the charge of a body of French lancers of superior numbers, at Matilla, and had several men killed and wounded. Colonel Hervey again signalized himself, and narrowly escaped being made prisoner.
In the retreat from Salamanca to Ciudad Rodrigo, the regiment took part in the piquets and other duties of the rear-guard, which it continued to perform until the army went into cantonments behind the Agueda; and Captain Badcock was detached with a reconnoitring party to the Sierra de Francia and river Alagon.
1813
After passing the winter in cantonments among the Portuguese peasantry, the regiment crossed the confines of that kingdom, and formed part of the centre column of the allied army in the advance in May 1813. Arriving at Salamanca on the 26th of that month, the bridge and streets were found barricaded, and a division of French infantry, three squadrons of cavalry, and some artillery, under General Villattes, were formed on the heights above the ford of Santa Marta. A British brigade passed the river at the ford, and the Fourteenth light dragoons and first German hussars removed the barricades and pushed through the town, when the enemy fell back, but was overtaken, and lost about two hundred men killed and wounded, and two hundred prisoners.
The line of the Tormes was thus gained; that of the Douro was soon afterwards won; and the allied army, proudly confident in its distinguished commander, advanced with a firmness which the enemy could not withstand, and the Carion and the Pisuerga were speedily passed: the Fourteenth light dragoons forming, as usual, part of the advance of the allied army, were engaged, on the 12th of June, in forcing a division of the enemy from a position near Burgos, when one squadron, under Captain Milles, charged and took some prisoners and a gun. The loss of the regiment was limited to one man and one horse killed; and one man and five horses wounded.
Unable to withstand the combinations of the British general, the French destroyed Burgos castle, and fell back with tumult and confusion behind the Ebro; the British urged their march towards the sources of that river, and traversing a wild but beautiful region, turned the enemy's position: the Fourteenth being in advance, crossed the Ebro at the bridge of Frias on the 15th of June, and a patrol fell in with a body of the enemy near Pancorba.
The enemy concentrated in front of Vittoria; the Marquis of Wellington examined their position on the 20th of June, and the Fourteenth skirmished with the French near the village of Huarte.
On the 21st of June, the long-expected battle was fought near Vittoria, and the Fourteenth light dragoons had the honour of sharing in a conflict in which the French army sustained a decisive overthrow. The regiment was attached to the troops under Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill, and supported the attacks of the infantry and artillery; in the afternoon it was detached to out-flank the enemy's left, and in the evening it pursued the wreck of the French army along the Pampeluna road, passing the whole of the enemy's baggage, which had been abandoned.
The gallant bearing of the Fourteenth on this occasion was subsequently rewarded with the royal authority to bear the word "Vittoria" on their guidons and appointments; and an additional honorary distinction was conferred on their commanding officer, Colonel Hervey.