In this attack Major-General Le Marchant received a ball through the body, which terminated the career of that brave and talented officer. Lieutenant Selby, of the King's Own, was likewise killed by a musket-shot through the left breast.[36] The result of this day was the entire overthrow of the French, 7,000 prisoners, eleven guns and two eagles remaining in the hands of the victors. The King's Own earned, on this occasion, the royal permission to bear the word 'Salamanca,' on their guidons. They sustained the following loss: Killed,—Lieutenant Selby, one serjeant, nine privates, and two officers' horses, and 13 troop horses. Wounded,—one serjeant, eight privates, and fifteen horses.

After the action the French retreated upon Alba, where they crossed the Tormes, and thence through Arevalo, upon Valladolid, sustaining in their march a severe loss from the German cavalry, which, having been uninjured in the battle, was despatched in pursuit of, and overtook their rear-guard three leagues beyond Alba, defeating it, and taking nine hundred prisoners.

The British army advanced on the route of the French, and entered Valladolid on the 30th of July; on the following day Cuellar was occupied, and on the 6th of August, the army moved on Segovia, crossed the Guadarama mountains on the 10th, and entered Madrid on the 12th; the brigade, now commanded by Colonel Ponsonby, forming the personal escort of Lord Wellington.

After halting seven days at Madrid, the brigade moved to St. Ildefonso, where it was cantoned for a few days. Intelligence was received that the army of General Clausel, who had succeeded Marmont, was advancing on Valladolid, and the British in consequence assembled at Olivares and its vicinity. An immediate attack was intended; but the artillery of the fifth division not arriving in time, the enemy retired on the 7th of September, having destroyed the bridge at Valladolid. They continued retreating rapidly till the 17th, when the immediate vicinity of Burgos induced Clausel to make a stand, and Colonel Ponsonby's brigade was ordered to the front; but, before the army could be formed for attack, the enemy again retired to Breviesca, leaving a strong garrison in the castle of Burgos.

The castle was invested, and the covering army took up a position on the heights of Quintana Palla, the King's Own being at Villa Yerna.

On the 19th of October, the French General Souham, who now commanded in the place of Clausel, being greatly reinforced, resolved to attempt the relief of Burgos. About four P. M. the French attacked and carried the village of Quintanapalla, but were repulsed in every attempt to penetrate farther, and abandoned the village on the approach of a force destined to retake it, consisting of the left wing of infantry, and Ponsonby's brigade of cavalry.

It being ascertained that Marshal Soult and Joseph Bonaparte were moving on the Tagus, and that Sir Rowland Hill, menaced by such powerful forces, could not maintain his position on that river, at the same time his retreat would leave the army before Burgos, already in a critical situation, quite insulated, the Marquis of Wellington resolved to retire so far as was necessary to form a junction with Sir Rowland Hill; and at dusk on the 21st, the army withdrew with such celerity and silence that the French were not aware of the retreat till the British had reached Hormillas, and did not show in any force till the evening of the 22nd of October. On the next morning the retrograde movement was continued in two columns, Ponsonby's brigade covering the column from Hormillas, and being threatened during the day by an immense body of cavalry. Such was the steadiness of the troops, that the overwhelming, force of the French could make no impression and the column went into bivouac for the night on the hills above Cordovilla, with little or no loss.

An hour before daylight on the 24th, the column, covered by Ponsonby's brigade, filed over the bridge of Cordovilla, and in the course of the day, the army crossed the Carrion, the head-quarters being established at Duenas. Early on the morning of the 25th, two squadrons of the fifth dragoon guards and Third dragoons were sent to the bridges of Palencia, to cover the party employed in mining them for destruction, but the French, advancing in force, gained possession of the bridges in an unbroken state. At this place the King's Own lost a man and horse by a round shot, and the party returned in the evening to Duenas; the army having in the meantime destroyed the bridges at that place, and at Villa Muriel, and the enemy having been defeated in an attempt to cross by the fords.

1813

The army retired four leagues on the 26th of October, and crossed the Pisuerga at Cabezon, in which town, and its vicinity, it remained till the 29th, when it retired early, and crossed the Douro at Tudela and Puente del Douro, the bridges at which places were blown up, as were those at Toro and Zamora; but the French having possessed themselves of the bridge at Tordesillas, the British on the following morning took up a position in front of it. In this position they remained till the 6th of November, when, the enemy having repaired the bridge of Toro, it became necessary to retire to Torrecilla de la Orden, and thence, on the 7th and 8th, to Salamanca. On the 14th, the French crossed the Tormes, and the British recommenced their retreat on the following morning, and entered Ciudad Rodrigo on the 18th; they afterwards went into winter quarters on the frontiers of Portugal, the enemy not advancing beyond the Yeltes. On the 20th, Ponsonby's brigade was at Albergaria, where it halted eight days, after which the King's Own proceeded by the route of Guarda, Celerico, and Penhancos, to Saixho. Here the regiment was quartered until the 28th of December, then at Arganil till February 11th, 1813, and afterwards at Soure, near the mouth of the Mondego, until the 19th of April.