1808
After passing six years at Ipswich and Norwich, the Seventh Hussars proceeded to Guildford in July, 1808; and when on their march they were reviewed by His Royal Highness the Duke of York, on Hounslow-heath. Important events had, in the mean time, transpired on the continent and in the peninsula, and Portugal and Spain had become subject to the tyrannical sway of Bonaparte, who had nearly attained the zenith of his power. Portugal was delivered during the summer of 1808, by British skill and valour; and a powerful effort in aid of the Spaniards, who were endeavouring to free themselves of the French yoke, having been resolved upon by the British government, the Seventh Hussars were selected to take part in this enterprise.
Eight troops, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel R. H. Vivian, and consisting of two lieut.-colonels (Vivian and Kerrison), two majors (Hon. Berkeley Paget and Hon. G. H. C. Cavendish), eight captains, six lieutenants, four cornets, four staff-officers, six quarter-masters, 717 non-commissioned officers, trumpeters, and privates, and 677 troop-horses, embarked at Portsmouth in October; on arriving at Corunna, in November, the horses were slung overboard, and they swam to the shore. The regiment marched by squadrons to Astorga, from whence it proceeded, with the Tenth and Fifteenth hussars, towards Salamanca, to join the troops advancing from Portugal under Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, K.B. The British commander had been promised that his advance should be covered by a powerful and victorious Spanish army, and that numerous and enthusiastic legions of patriots were ready to co-operate with him; but not a Spanish soldier was in his front;—the enemy was at hand;—those armies with which he had been ordered to co-operate had been routed and dispersed, and Bonaparte was approaching the capital of Spain in triumph. Twenty-three thousand Britons were not able to cope with three hundred thousand French; but Sir John Moore resolved to push boldly forward, and menace the French lines, that he might thus draw Bonaparte with a powerful army from the capital, which would give time for the southern provinces of Spain to organize their means of resistance, and for the discomfited Spanish armies to re-assemble. The boldness and ability with which this resolution was executed, surprised Napoleon, and deserve the commendation of posterity. The Seventh Hussars were employed in this enterprise, and a piquet of the regiment was engaged on the 21st of December, with the Tenth and Fifteenth hussars, commanded by Lieut.-General Lord Paget, in driving a body of French dragoons from Sahagun, when about twenty of the enemy were killed, and thirteen officers and one hundred and fifty-four men taken prisoners, in a sharp sword-fight which lasted about twenty minutes.
The approach of Bonaparte with an immense army rendered it necessary for the British to withdraw, and the heavy baggage, with several brigades of infantry, commenced retiring; at the same time the cavalry patroles advanced up to the French lines and skirmished, to conceal the retrograde movement. On the morning of the 25th of December a squadron of the Seventh Hussars, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Kerrison, advanced towards Carrion, and encountering a French detachment of about equal numbers, made them all prisoners except the officer, who wounded Lieut.-Colonel Kerrison in the arm, and escaped.
The regiment commenced its retreat a few hours after this affair; and the army rested two days at Benevente, a rich open town situate in a plain extending from the Gallician mountains to the neighbourhood of Burgos. The infantry afterwards continued the retreat, while the cavalry remained in the town, and had parties watching the fords of the little river Esla. Soon after day-break on the 29th of December, six hundred cavalry of the French imperial guard crossed the stream and advanced into the plain; the British detachments retired fighting, and a piquet of the Seventh Hussars, under Lieutenant Lowther, was sharply engaged. Being joined by part of the Third German hussars, the piquets charged the French leading squadrons with signal gallantry, the ground was obstinately disputed, and a particularly animating scene presented itself. Baggage mules and followers of the army were scattered over the plain, the town was filled with tumult, the distant piquets and videts were galloping in from right and left; the French were pressing forward, and every appearance indicated that the enemy's whole army was come up and passing the river. Suddenly Lord Paget led the Tenth hussars at speed into the plain; the piquets that were engaged united, and the whole charged. In an instant the scene changed, the French were seen galloping back, with the British at their heels; they plunged into the stream without breaking their ranks, and having gained the opposite heights, they wheeled round and appeared inclined to come forward a second time; but the British horse artillery opening upon them, they retired. Fifty-five killed and wounded Frenchmen lay on the plain, their general, Lefebre Desnouettes, and several other officers, were taken prisoners, and many of those who escaped across the river, were wounded. The piquet of the Seventh Hussars suffered severely, nearly every man being either killed or wounded.
1809
1810
The enemy planted heavy cannon on the bank of the river, and made a show of re-crossing; but Lord Paget guarded the fords all the day, and at night withdrew with the cavalry. The Seventh were constantly in the rear of the army, with the other hussar regiments, during the remainder of the retreat; they, however, suffered little from the swords of the enemy; but the effects of frost, snow, and of a deficiency in the supplies of provision and forage, were severely felt. The want of horse-shoes was a serious evil, which was owing to the impracticability of the forge carts accompanying the regiment. When the army withdrew from the position at Lugo, during the night of the 8th of January, 1809, the Seventh Hussars were left behind to keep up the bivouac fires, and to cover the retreat, and they were in the rear of the army until it arrived within three leagues of Corunna.
On arriving at Corunna, the regiment mounted two hundred and fifty horses only, out of six hundred and eighty which had marched from that port about two months before, and many of those which remained, were destroyed for the want of transport, which could be obtained only for the officers' horses and for about ninety troop-horses.