After retiring a few miles before the superior numbers of the enemy, the regiment went into winter quarters, where it received a draft of two hundred men from the second battalion.
Colonel Saunders being promoted to the rank of major-general, Lieut.-Colonel Barlow arrived in Portugal to command the first battalion, and Lieut.-Colonel Coghlan proceeded to Ireland to command the second battalion. Lieut.-Colonel Coghlan had commanded the first battalion during two campaigns.
1812
In January, 1812, the regiment was employed in covering the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, which fortress was captured by assault during the night of the 19th of that month. The regiment afterwards traversed the country to the Alemtejo, from whence it advanced across the Guadiana, and was employed in Spanish Estremadura during the siege of Badajoz, which fortress was captured by assault on the 6th of April. After these brilliant enterprises were completed, the regiment returned to the northern frontiers of Portugal, and marched to sustain the troops which destroyed the French works at the bridge of Almarez.
Advancing into Spain, the allied army drove a French corps from the city of Salamanca, which was taken possession of amidst the rejoicings of the inhabitants, and the Sixty-first Regiment was one of the corps employed in the siege of the forts of San Vincente, St. Cajetano, and La Merced, in which the French had left garrisons. On the night of the 22nd of June the light company was engaged in an attempt to capture St. Cajetano and La Merced by escalade, when Captain John Owen led the assault with distinguished gallantry; he had gained the top of one of the ladders, and was in the act of entering the fort, when he was shot through the left arm, which was dreadfully shattered, and the next moment another shot in the shoulder precipitated him into the ditch. Private Charles Carr saw his Captain fall, and leaping into the ditch under a heavy fire raised the fallen Captain,—called a comrade to his aid, and they carried their officer to a place of safety. The attack failed. Captain Owen was promoted to the rank of major, and on receiving the usual pension for the loss of his arm, he settled an annuity upon Private Charles Carr.
The regiment sustained considerable loss on this occasion in killed and wounded, and among the latter was Lieutenant Given.
Some delay took place in the capture of the convents, from the want of ammunition; but a supply having been received, they were reduced before the end of June.
From Salamanca the regiment advanced to the banks of the Douro, and when the French army passed the river and advanced, the British fell back a few stages.
On the 22nd of July, the opposing armies manœuvred near Salamanca, and the French commander making a faulty movement, the British general ordered his divisions forward and commenced the battle. For some time the Sixty-first were formed, with their division, behind the village of Arapiles, to support the fourth division, which was engaged upon a rising ground beyond the village; the regiment was exposed to a heavy cannonade; and the village was soon in flames from the bursting of shells. The fourth division being pressed by very superior numbers, the sixth division advanced at a running pace to its support, and on passing the village of Arapiles the Sixty-first opened their fire; but the French soldiers were so mingled with the men of the fourth division, that the regiment ceased firing for fear of destroying friends as well as enemies. The French carried the hill, and, elated with success, rushed forward with great impetuosity; but the Eleventh and Sixty-first gave three cheers, fired a volley, and charged with bayonets with so much resolution that the torrent of battle was arrested, and, after a desperate effort, the French were overpowered, and the hill was re-captured. Lieut.-Colonel Barlow, Major Downing, eight other officers, and about a hundred soldiers had fallen; but the survivors pressed upon their opponents with the bayonet until ordered to halt on the low ground beyond the hill. The French rallied under a cloud of skirmishers, and appeared intent on attempting to recover the hill. At this moment the regiment was exposed to the fire of a number of sharpshooters, and a numerous artillery, it was threatened with a charge of infantry, and a hostile body of cavalry was manœuvring on its left, yet it was as steady as on an ordinary parade; the surviving officers and soldiers formed four divisions two deep, and prepared to charge with their gallant associates of the Eleventh Regiment. Colonel Napier states, in his History of the Peninsular War,—“The struggle was no slight one. The men of General Hulse’s brigade, which was on the left, went down by hundreds, and the Sixty-first and Eleventh Regiments won their way desperately, and through such a fire as British soldiers only can sustain.” The southern ridge was regained, and “the reserve of Boyer’s dragoons coming on at a canter, were met and broken by the fire of Hulse’s noble brigade. Then the changing current of the fight once more set for the British.” In this second advance the Eleventh and Sixty-first drove the enemy before them a considerable distance. The two regiments then halted, and being within range of the enemy’s artillery, Major-General Hulse directed the men to sit down; but the French fire occasioned many casualties, and the major-general called the commanding officers of regiments forward and directed them to acquaint their men with his intention of attacking the heights in front. This was answered by three cheers from the surviving officers and men, and an immediate advance, under a destructive fire from the French artillery and skirmishers; but the brigade pressed gallantly forward and speedily gained the summit. The French formed column. The Eleventh and Sixty-first changed front, and opening their fire, soon forced the enemy to retire. The officers and serjeants with the colours of the Sixty-first fell under the enemy’s fire, when the colours were seized by Privates William Crawford and Nicholas Coulson, who carried them to the top of the hill. Crawford was instantly promoted to serjeant; the same rank was offered to Coulson, but he answered that he was over-rewarded already by the cheers and thanks of his comrades, and the approbation of his officers. Serjeant Crawford fell a sacrifice to his gallantry in a subsequent engagement.
Lieutenants Wolfe and Armstrong took charge of the colours, and the regiment continued to advance. The sixth division was engaged towards the close of the action, in forcing the French from the last height on which they ventured to make a stand: and when darkness put an end to the fight, the British were victorious at every part of the field; at the same time the broken remains of the French army were hurrying from the scene of disaster in confusion.