In the meantime the second battalion had embarked from Cork to join the British army in Portugal under Lieutenant-General Sir John Craddock; it landed at Almeda, opposite to Lisbon, in April, and mustered upwards of six hundred and fifty officers and men, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Sir William Myers, baronet: the Royal Fusiliers and second battalion of the fifty-third regiment, with one company of the sixtieth, formed a brigade under Brigadier-General Alexander Campbell. Soon afterwards Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Wellesley arrived in Portugal to command the army.
In May the combined British and Portuguese forces advanced against the French under the celebrated Marshal Soult, who had captured Oporto by assault about five weeks previously, and occupied that city with a numerous body of veterans. The British general advanced upon Oporto, and the Royal Fusiliers had the honour of taking part in the masterly movements by which the legions of Napoleon were driven from that city on the 12th of May, pursued through the wild and mountainous districts in the north of Portugal, and forced to abandon their artillery and ammunition, and to save themselves by a precipitate flight.
After this success the army retired to Abrantes, where the Royal Fusiliers were encamped nearly three weeks; they subsequently advanced into Spain to aid the patriotic Spaniards in their attempts to expel the French from their country, the British being joined by a Spanish force under General Cuesta. Having entered Spain, the army proceeded along the valley of the Tagus, and halted near Talavera de la Reyna. The Spaniards pushed forward, but were speedily driven back by the advance-guard of the French army under Joseph Buonaparte, who bore the title of King of Spain. A British brigade covered the retreat of the Spaniards, and the allied army went into position near Talavera, the Spaniards occupying the strong ground on the right, and the British extending to the left along the more exposed part of the field. In the centre, between the two armies, there was a commanding spot on which a redoubt had been commenced, with some open ground in its rear; at this important post the Royal Fusiliers were stationed, with several other corps under Brigadier-General Campbell, and they proved themselves worthy of the trust reposed in them.
The French attacked the left of the British position on the evening of the 27th of July, and were repulsed. The attack was renewed at daylight on the following morning, and British skill and valour were again triumphant. A short respite ensued while the French generals held a council of war; but soon after mid-day their army was seen in motion. The British stood to their arms and calmly awaited the approach of the hostile legions; a cloud of light troops covered the front of the French army; they were followed by four dense columns, protected by eighty guns; and the Royal Fusiliers beheld the torrent of battle advancing towards them with the fury of a tempest, threatening instant destruction to all opposition. The fourth corps came rushing forward with such impetuosity that it speedily cleared the intersected ground in front, and attacked the Royal Fusiliers and other corps on the right of the British line with terrific violence. The British regiments met the storm of war with unshaken firmness, and breaking in on the front of the advancing columns, and assailing their wings with a heavy fire, forced them back with a terrible carnage: the Royal Fusiliers rushed gallantly forward to the muzzles of the French artillery, and, after an obstinate resistance, captured seven guns, which the enemy endeavoured to re-capture, but in vain. The French veterans rallied on their supports, and appeared resolute on another attack, but they were assailed by so tremendous a fire of artillery and musketry, that they retired in disorder, and thus victory was secured in this part of the field. Sir Arthur Wellesley observed in his despatch,—"I was highly satisfied with the manner this part of the position was defended;" he also mentioned the second battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Sir William Myers, among the corps which had particularly distinguished themselves, and thanked the battalion and its commanding officer in orders. The French were repulsed at every point of attack, and they withdrew from a contest in which the superiority of the British troops was eminently displayed.
The Royal Fusiliers had Lieutenant Beaufoy and six rank and file killed; Lieutenants Kerwan and Muter, Adjutant Page, one serjeant, two drummers, and fifty-one rank and file wounded; one private soldier missing. Their commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir William Myers, was rewarded with a gold medal; and the regiment was subsequently authorised to bear the word "Talavera" inscribed on its colours as an honorary distinction for its gallantry on this occasion.
In the subsequent part of this campaign the battalion sustained considerable loss from disease; but it was not engaged in actual conflict with the enemy.
During the summer Lieutenant-Colonel the Honourable Edward Michael Pakenham, commanding the first battalion in Nova Scotia, was placed on the staff of the army in Portugal. The affable deportment, amiable disposition, and liberality of this brave and zealous officer, with his gallantry in the field, and his assiduous attention to the interests, comfort, reputation, and efficiency of the regiment during the series of years he had served with the Royal Fusiliers, had procured him the regard and esteem of every member of the corps. Previously to his leaving the battalion, the officers obtained his consent to have his portrait taken, and presented him with a sword valued at two hundred guineas, as a mark of their sincere regard for him as an officer and a gentleman, and of their admiration of his manly virtues and zeal for the service. The command of the first battalion devolved on Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Blakeney, who devoted himself to the good of the service, and preserved the battalion in its high state of discipline and efficiency; it was employed at the out-posts of Nova Scotia, and occupied George's Island, Melville Island, Point Pleasant, York Redoubt, &c.
1810
On the 1st of January, 1810, the first battalion mustered upwards of a thousand officers and soldiers, and events occurred soon afterwards which occasioned the removal of this fine body of men from North America to the theatre of war in the Peninsula, where the Spaniards and Portuguese were struggling for independence against the forces of France, and where a British army sent to aid the patriots was acquiring never-fading laurels under Sir Arthur Wellesley, who had been created Viscount Wellington.