In March, Badajoz was invested for the third time, and Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill’s[41] corps again formed part of the covering army. He halted at Almendralejos, while Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Graham (afterwards Lord Lynedoch) took post at Zafra. Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill’s division then moved forward, and took post at Medellin. When the breaches at Badajoz were nearly practicable, Marshal Soult, having effected a junction with Generals Drouet and Daricau, advanced to relieve it. Viscount Wellington thereupon determined to fight him at Albuhera. Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Graham then fell back towards that place, and Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill having destroyed the bridge at Merida, marched from the Upper Guadiana to Talavera Real. Marshal Soult did not however advance in time, and Badajoz was taken on the 6th of April.
After the fall of Badajoz, when Viscount Wellington marched towards Beira, two divisions of British infantry, in one of which was the second battalion of the THIRTY-FIRST, remained with Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill in Estremadura, to cover Badajoz during the re-establishment of its works. Nothing occurred in the army until the 12th of May, when six thousand men, with twelve field-pieces, crossed the Guadiana at Merida, and joining the battering train and pontoons, formed the force destined to surprise the French at Almaraz.
The THIRTY-FIRST remained in position on the Guadiana, while the expedition proceeded to attack the French works on the Bridge at Almaraz, on the Tagus, which were captured on the 19th of May. The bridge having been destroyed, and the communication between the several divisions of the French army rendered more difficult, the British troops returned to the south of the Guadiana.
A great part of June was passed in operations against General Drouet, until he was reinforced on the 18th of that month with General Barrois’s division of infantry, and two divisions of cavalry. Hereupon Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill fell back gradually to Albuhera, and took up a position on the former field, awaiting an attack. The enemy did not advance, and on the 2nd of July, Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill broke up from Albuhera, and moved upon General Drouet, who retired towards Cordova. At the end of July, Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill was at Llerena, and the second battalion of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, in Brigadier-General Byng’s brigade, was detached to Merida. General Drouet made a demonstration, but no action of infantry ensued.
After the victory gained by the army under Viscount Wellington on the 22nd of July at Salamanca, the troops under Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill penetrated the Spanish provinces: during the month of August they were engaged in the pursuit of General Drouet, and in the beginning of October they were on the Tagus, between Aranjuez and Toledo.
While the army under the Marquis of Wellington, which title was conferred upon him after the victory of Salamanca, was engaged in the siege of the Castle of Burgos, the second battalion of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment remained at Aranjuez. In consequence of the necessity of raising the siege of Burgos, and retreating, Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill broke up from his ground on the Tagus, to effect a junction with the grand army, which commenced its retrograde movement from Burgos on the 21st of October.
On the 30th of October, Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill, having taken up a position of defence on the Jarama, was pressed by the enemy, who attacked the bridge of Aranjuez. The French were repulsed by Colonel Skerrett, with the forty-seventh (of which he was the Lieutenant-Colonel), and part of the ninety-fifth regiment, now the Rifle Brigade. The retreat continued without molestation; and on the 8th of November, the troops under Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill were at Alba, while the Marquis of Wellington occupied the heights of San Christoval. The brigade of the second division, in which the second battalion of the THIRTY-FIRST was posted, being in the neighbourhood of the fords of Encinas.
On the 14th of November, the enemy passed the river near that place, and the Marquis of Wellington moved with the second division to attack him, while the remainder of the troops were ordered towards the Arapiles in the evening. No engagement occurred. The enemy fortified himself at Mozarbes, on the ground he had taken up the night before, and moved bodies of cavalry and infantry to the communication with Ciudad Rodrigo. The superiority of numbers on the part of the French caused the British army to continue its march to Ciudad Rodrigo, which it reached on the 19th of November. Thus ended the retreat from Burgos. The men had suffered greatly on the march and required rest; the enemy had pressed the retreat closely with his cavalry, and made an attack upon the rear upon the passage of the Huebra; the roads were difficult, and in some parts impassable. The second battalion of the THIRTY-FIRST did not share in the hardships of the main retreat until it had crossed the Tormes.