1812.
Upon the 19th of March 1812, the battalion moved northward to Castello Branco, where it remained for about a week, and afterwards returned for the last time to Portalegre.
The Earl of Wellington having made arrangements for the third siege of Badajoz, Lieutenant-General Sir Rowland Hill’s[28] corps was destined to cover his movements, and with that view proceeded on the 21st of March towards Merida, and afterwards to Don Benito, where the troops remained for a few days; but upon the approach of Marshal Soult with a large army, with the intention of raising the siege, Lieut.-General Hill retired upon Albuhera, through Arroyo de San Servan and Talavera Real.
Badajoz having been assaulted and carried by the troops under the Earl of Wellington on the night of the 6th of April, after a sanguinary conflict, the movement of Marshal Soult was rendered nugatory, and the troops under his orders retired into Andalusia.
Marshal Marmont having, during the progress of the siege, penetrated into the province of Beira, and threatened Ciudad Rodrigo and Almeida, the Earl of Wellington, after the fall of Badajoz, crossed the Tagus, leaving Sir Rowland Hill’s force to watch Marshal Soult, which took post at Almendralejos for that purpose.
The battalion was stationed at this town from the 13th of April until the 11th of May. It having then become expedient to render the communications between the French armies on the north and south of the Tagus as precarious as possible, by the destruction of the bridge of boats at Almaraz, the corps under Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill, being the most disposable and convenient force, was accordingly ordered on this important service.
The French, feeling the importance of this bridge to their mutual strength and security, had surrounded it on both sides of the river with formidable enclosed works, having in the interior of them casemated and loop-holed towers. The troops appointed for these strong works, consequently, anticipated an arduous struggle.
Upon the 12th of May the corps broke up from Almendralejos, and marching by Truxillo and Jaraicejo, reached on the 18th of that month the sierra, five miles from Almaraz, on which stands the Castle of Mirabete. This post was so strongly fortified that it blocked up the only road to Almaraz for the passage of artillery, which was considered by the enemy absolutely necessary for the destruction of the works. Sir Rowland Hill thought otherwise; and ascertaining that infantry could cross the sierra by a track through Roman Gordo, he left his artillery, and descended at night with a column of 2,000 men. The leading company arrived at dawn of day close to the principal fort, built on a height a few hundred yards in front of the tête-de-pont; but such were the difficulties of the road that a considerable time elapsed before the rear closed, during which the troops were fortunately sheltered by a ravine, unseen by the enemy.
On the 19th of May the fiftieth regiment and the left wing of the Seventy-first, having been provided with ladders, were appointed to escalade the works of Fort Napoleon, supported by the right wing of the Seventy-first, and the ninety-second regiment.