The Sixth, and several other corps, were directed to cross the valley behind the village, and to take post on another height, which overtopped the hill in front of the village; and, before the regiment reached the summit, the battle had commenced. A sternly contested action among rugged rocks and broken grounds ended in an entire defeat of the French army; and the Sixth were rewarded with the honour of bearing the word "Vimiera" inscribed on their colours.
These successes were followed by the convention of Cintra, and the British soldiers saw their gallant efforts succeeded by the deliverance of Portugal from the power of the enemy. On the departure of the French, the Sixth marched up the country to the strong fortress of Almeida, situate on the river Coa, in the province of Beira, where they remained in garrison four months.
1809
In the mean time reports were circulated of the insurrection against the French, and it was affirmed that enthusiastic multitudes of Spaniards were pressing forward from every quarter to complete the destruction of the legions of Napoleon, which were stated to be baffled, dispirited, and on the eve of quitting Spain. Although the accounts given by the Spaniards of their own strength and power were absurdly exaggerated, yet the British government, placing some confidence in the immense numbers of the patriots, and in the goodness of their cause, sent Lieut.-General Sir John Moore with an army into Spain to aid them in their laudable exertions to effect their emancipation; and the Sixth were withdrawn from Almeida to take part in this hazardous enterprise. After passing the frontiers of Portugal and pushing forward boldly into Spain, the British troops met with disappointment and disaster. Bonaparte had passed the Pyrenees with a powerful army, and rushing like a tempest upon the undisciplined multitudes of patriots, he quickly broke, destroyed, and dispersed them; then bending his course to Madrid, entered the capital in triumph. Little remained to be done to complete the conquest of Spain, but the destruction of the army of Britons, who, by long and toilsome marches through a difficult country, had ventured to menace his lines, and were the only troops in Spain capable of resisting his veteran legions. Quitting Madrid, he advanced with an immense army capable of enveloping and of swallowing up the handful of British troops; but Sir John Moore, with his characteristic energy and skill, withdrew towards the coast, and escaped the toils of his adversary. The Sixth were nearly eight hundred strong; they were commanded by Major Gordon, and were brigaded with the ninth, twenty-third, and forty-third regiments, under Major-General Beresford: they suffered most severely in the long and harassing retreat over mountains and rivers, through narrow defiles, and along roads covered with snow; but on arriving at Corunna, the men obtained shelter in the neighbouring villages and recruited their wasted strength. While the troops were waiting the arrival of transports, the French army approached, and, on the 16th of January, 1809, was fought the hard-contested battle of Corunna, in which British valour and endurance were conspicuously displayed, and this disastrous expedition was terminated by a glorious victory, which reflected lustre on the British arms; but the officers and soldiers had to lament the loss of their gallant leader, Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, who was mortally wounded during the heat of the action.
After this victory the troops embarked for England: the Sixth were one of the last corps which went on board the transports, having lined the walls of Corunna during the embarkation; and, on arriving in England, it was ascertained that they had lost about four hundred men in this arduous enterprise, in which they earned the honorary distinction of bearing the word "Corunna" inscribed on their colours.
The regiment remained in England until the middle of July, when the first battalion, having been completed to its establishment by drafts from the second, embarked with the expedition against Holland commanded by Lieut.-General the Earl of Chatham. In the siege and capture of Flushing and the reduction of the island of Walcheren, the regiment had only Ensign Addison and a few men wounded; but when the Walcheren fever broke out among the troops, its ranks were thinned by the ravages of that pestilential disease. The object of the expedition having been frustrated by delays, the island was evacuated; and in December the Sixth returned to England so reduced in numbers, and the sick men so numerous, as to be unable to furnish the usual reliefs of the ordinary regimental guard.
1810
1811
1812
In August, 1810, the first battalion embarked at Dover, for Ireland, and was stationed at Cork and Kinsale until October, 1812, when it embarked for the Peninsula. Previous to going on board the transports it was inspected by Lieut.-General Sir John Hope, the Commander of the Forces in Ireland, who was pleased to express himself much gratified at witnessing the high state of discipline, and the general appearance and efficiency of the corps.
The Sixth, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Archibald Campbell, arrived at Corunna on the 28th of October; but as the allied army, commanded by Field-Marshal the Marquis of Wellington, had evacuated Madrid, and was retiring from Burgos upon Salamanca, the transports again put to sea, and proceeded to Lisbon, where the regiment landed on the 15th of November, on which day it was joined by four hundred men from the second battalion at Jersey.