While the army under the Duke of Marlborough was pursuing a victorious career in Flanders and Germany, the troops which had been employed in Portugal and Spain had likewise gained important successes. In October 1705, the allied troops under the Earl of Peterborough captured Barcelona, and that celebrated city was successfully defended by them in April and May of the following year. Madrid was taken possession of by the Earl of Galway in June 1706, and the fortunes of Charles III. appeared in the ascendant; but the delay of that prince to avail himself of these advantages, by marching at once to the capital of Spain, enabled Philip V. to collect an army superior in numbers to the Allies, and Madrid was again occupied by the enemy in August of the same year.
1707.
On the 25th of April 1707, the allied forces under the Earl of Galway were defeated by the Duke of Berwick at Almanza[8], which materially changed the aspect of affairs in Spain.
Additional troops were shortly afterwards selected for embarkation for Portugal, and the Thirty-ninth was one of the regiments directed to proceed to that country.
Accordingly the Fifth, Twentieth, Thirty-ninth, and a newly raised regiment commanded by Colonel Stanwix (since disbanded), having been selected for this service, sailed from Cork on the 22nd of May 1707, and landed at Lisbon on the 8th of June. This seasonable reinforcement arriving soon after the defeat of the allied army at Almanza, in the south-east of Spain, and at the moment when the enemy, having captured Serpa and Moura in the Alemtejo, had seized on the bridge of Olivenza in Portuguese Estremadura, and menaced that important place with a siege, its presence revived the drooping spirits of the Portuguese.
These four regiments being the only British troops in that part of the country, were disembarked with every possible expedition, and marched to the frontiers under the command of the Marquis de Montandre, when the enemy immediately ceased to act on the offensive, and retired. The four regiments having halted at Estremos, a strong town of the Alemtejo, situated in an agreeable tract on the Tarra, remained in this pleasant quarter during the summer heats, and afterwards encamped in the fruitful valley of the Caya, near Elvas, having detached parties on the flanks to prevent the enemy making incursions into Portugal, in which service the regiments were engaged until November, when they went into quarters in the frontier towns of Portugal.
1708.
In the spring of 1708 the regiment again took the field, and was encamped at Fuente de Sapatores, between Elvas and Campo Mayor. The British division was soon afterwards increased to six regiments, by the arrival of the Thirteenth foot, and a newly raised regiment (Paston’s) from England. The little army in the Alemtejo was commanded by the Marquis de Fronteira, but the characteristic inactivity of the Portuguese occasioned the services of the Thirty-ninth to be limited to defensive operations. The regiment was encamped in the autumn at Campo Mayor, and afterwards went into cantonments.
1709.
The regiment moved from its quarters in the spring of 1709, and became engaged in active operations. It was first encamped near Estremos, and proceeded from thence to Elvas on the 23rd of April 1709; the regiment was subsequently encamped with the army on the banks of the Caya, where the Earl of Galway, who had been removed from the army in Catalonia, appeared at the head of the British division.