On the 15th of June the regiment was stationed at Nava de Aver, in Portugal, where it remained three weeks, forming part of the four divisions of infantry left behind the Agueda to observe the movements of the French army under Marshal Marmont during the time the second siege of Badajoz was undertaken. When the enemy moved southwards, the regiment directed its march by Castello Branco for the Alentejo; and went into position on the Caya, being hutted near the wood and town of Aronches until the 2d of July, when it proceeded to Portalegre.
While at this station the Fourth had the misfortune to lose their commanding officer, Lieut.-Colonel Bevan, who died on the 8th of July, and was buried with military honours in the castle-yard, all the officers of the division attending. He was succeeded by Lieut.-Colonel Brooke, and brevet Lieut.-Colonel Faunce was appointed lieutenant-colonel in the regiment and placed at the head of the second battalion.
The regiment left its quarters in Portalegre on the 21st of July, and was hutted near that town seven days, when it proceeded into cantonments at Castel de Vide. When Lord Wellington moved towards the Agueda with the view of rescuing Ciudad Rodrigo from the power of the enemy, the Fourth crossed the Tagus by the bridge of boats, and proceeding by Castello Branco, entered Spain on the 11th of August at Navas Frias. After passing seven days in huts near St. Payo, they proceeded into cantonments at Pena Parda; but returned to their huts on the 26th of August, and back to quarters on the 2d of September, where they remained until the 26th of that month: meanwhile Ciudad Rodrigo was blockaded, and Lord Wellington's head-quarters were at Fuentes Guinaldo. When Marshal Marmont advanced to relieve this fortress, the Fourth remained with their division at St. Payo, watching the passes from Estremadura. In the subsequent manœuvres they were not brought into action with the enemy; and after the retreat of the French army, they were stationed at Guarda, in Portugal.
1812
The enemy being deceived by the seemingly careless winter attitude of the allied army, left Ciudad Rodrigo to the protection of its garrison; and the British commander, profiting by this omission, commenced the siege of this important fortress in the early part of January, 1812 with four divisions; the King's Own remained in quarters at Bobadela, where they had proceeded on the 7th of December. On the receipt of intelligence that Marshal Marmont was collecting his forces to succour the place, the whole army was brought forward and posted in the villages on the Coa, ready to cross the Agueda and give battle. Ciudad Rodrigo was captured by storm during the night of the 19th of January; and the Fourth were cantoned in the suburbs of that fortress from the 20th of January to the 23d of February.
In consequence of the great difficulty experienced in procuring land carriage for the supplies of the army, many of the regiments had to proceed a considerable distance for their clothing, and the King's Own marched for that purpose from Ciudad Rodrigo to Penacova, where the clothing arrived by water from Coimbra; that in use having been in wear during two years of hard service.
Meanwhile the fifth division was proceeding towards the Alentejo to engage in the siege of Badajoz, and the regiment joined its brigade at Campo Mayor on the 24th of March. On the 30th of that month it proceeded to Elvas; on the 4th of April it bivouacked near the city of Badajoz, and three breaches, which were deemed practicable, having been made, the regiment was formed on the evening of the 6th ready to take part in the storming of this strong fortress. On this occasion the fifth division was directed to make a false attack on the Pardaleras, and a real assault on the bastion of San Vincente; the King's Own, headed by Lieut.-Colonel Brooke, led the assault of the bastion.
The division advanced in silence from its bivouac-ground towards the remote side of the town; the sky was clouded and the air thick with watery exhalations, and as the troops approached the lofty fortress, a low murmur was heard in the trenches, lights were seen passing to and fro along the ramparts, and the loud voices of the French sentinels proclaimed that all was well in Badajoz. The garrison watching from its lofty station the approach of its adversaries, stood prepared with every means of destruction which art could devise, and each soldier had three loaded muskets beside him, that the first fire might be quick and fatal. As the British soldiers approached the fortress with ladders and weapons, the sight of the formidable works and towering walls awakened in their resolute hearts an eagerness for the assault, and they advanced with audacity to meet that fiery destruction which their adversaries were prepared to pour down upon them. Major-General Walker's brigade, led by the King's Own, having gained the bank of the Guadiana, advanced along the margin of the river, and the sound of their footsteps being rendered inaudible by the rippling of the waters, they reached the French guard-house at the barrier-gate of the Olivença road undiscovered; but at that moment an explosion took place at the breach, and the moon emerging from behind the clouds, the French discovered the column and gave the alarm. The glacis was mined, the ditch deep, the scarp thirty feet high, and the parapet lined with bold troops; yet the British soldiers springing forward under a sharp fire commenced hewing down the wooden barrier at the covered way. The Portuguese, being panic-stricken, threw down the scaling-ladders, but others snatched them up again, and having forced the barrier, jumped into the ditch. The guiding engineer was killed, and the ladders were found too short, for the walls were generally above thirty feet high; at the same time a mine was sprung beneath the soldiers' feet, beams of wood and live shells were rolled over on their heads, showers of grape swept the ditch, and man after man dropped dead from the ladders. At length three ladders were reared against a corner of the bastion, where the scarp was only twenty feet high, and one man climbing an embrasure which had no gun, and was only stopped by a gabion, was pushed to the top by his comrades; he drew others after him until many had gained the summit; and although the French opened a sharp fire against them from both flanks, and from a house in front, yet their numbers increased and they could not be driven back. Half the King's Own regiment entered the town to dislodge the enemy from the houses, while the others pushed along the ramparts, and, by hard fighting, won three bastions. Major-General Walker, leading the attack of the last bastion, fell covered with wounds; and several of the soldiers observing a lighted match on the ground, cried out, "A mine." The troops retiring hastily for fear of an explosion, were at that moment attacked by a French reserve, and driven back with great loss as far as the San Vincente, where the pursuing enemy was destroyed by the fire of a battalion of the thirty-eighth, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Nugent, posted in reserve. The storming party rallied, and, returning to the attack, once more charged along the breaches, and were engaged with the enemy.
In the meantime, the men of the King's Own who had entered the town, finding the streets empty, the houses illuminated with lamps, and no appearance of opposition, excepting a few shots fired by the Spaniards from underneath the doors, they advanced with bugles sounding towards the great square of the town, capturing in their progress several mules laden with ammunition proceeding towards the breaches. Arriving at the square, it was found empty as the streets, the houses decorated with lamps; a low whispering was heard, and the lattices were occasionally opened and shut, but no troops appeared to be in the buildings. The castle had been won by the British troops; but at the breaches the fight was still raging, and dreadful sounds like the deep tones of distant thunder echoed through the town; the King's Own rushed to the scene of conflict to attack the garrison in reverse, but were assailed by a heavy fire of musketry and forced back by superior numbers. At length the garrison was forced from the breaches, partial actions afterwards took place in various quarters, and eventually the governor, finding all lost, escaped with part of his garrison to the fort of St. Christoval, on the opposite side of the river, where he surrendered.
In the storming of Badajoz the Fourth had Captain H. T. Bellingham and Lieutenant Francis Staveley killed; Lieutenants William Sheppard and Martin Dane died of their wounds; Major Alured W. Faunce, Captains John Williamson, G. W. Wilson, Robert Anwyl, and Thomas Burke, with Lieutenants W. S. L. Alley, J. Salvin, Patrick Conroy, John Browne, John Craster, Hygat Boyd, and Ensigns Robert Arnold and Edward Rawlings, wounded: the regiment also sustained a loss of two hundred and thirteen serjeants, drummers, and rank and file, killed and wounded.