In February, 1813, the regiment was removed to St. Pedro de Sul, on the Vouga, and in April to Agueda, between Coimbro and Oporto. In the mean time arrangements were made for opening the compaign, and in May, the British cavalry of the left wing crossed the Douro, some at Oporto, some at Lamega and other places, and entered the mountainous district of the Tras-os-Montes; they were followed by several divisions of infantry, and by the pontoon train; the whole under Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Graham. The Twelfth Light Dragoons formed a part of this force; they passed the Douro at Oporto, accompanied this portion of the army in its difficult march through mountainous regions held to be nearly impracticable even for small corps, and forded the Esla at the end of May. The French, finding their position turned, fell back without hazarding a battle, and a series of retrograde movements brought them behind the Ebro. The Twelfth Light Dragoons followed close on the rear of the retiring enemy, and moving towards the sources of the Ebro, traversed those wild, but beautiful, mountain-regions, through which the Marquis of Wellington moved his numerous columns to turn the position occupied by the French, who fell back upon Vittoria. On the 18th of June, the Twelfth Light Dragoons overtook a French division, with which they skirmished until a British column came up, when the enemy retired.

The skilful and brilliant movements of the British commander had forced the enemy back in confusion from the banks of the Tormes to the confines of the Pyrenees, in three weeks; and this splendid success was followed by a great victory in the valley of Vittoria on the 21st of June, in the gaining of which the Twelfth Light Dragoons had the honor to take part. They formed part of the left column under Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Graham, and supported the attacks of the infantry and artillery on the right of the enemy's positions at Abechuco and Gamarra Major, and towards the close of the action they crossed the little river Zadora, turned the enemy's right, and cut off his retreat by the Bayonne road. The loss of the regiment was small, viz.:—Cornet Hammond and one man killed, and three men wounded: its gallant bearing throughout the action, and the zeal, spirit, and activity evinced by the officers and men, were, however, conspicuous, particularly in its movements in the evening of that eventful day.

On the 23rd of June, the Twelfth Light Dragoons were detached, with other forces under Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Graham, by the pass of Adrian to the district of Guipuscoa, in the province of Biscay, and in the evening the head of the column, having crossed the Mutiol mountain, descended upon Segura. The Twelfth passed the night in the mountain, resumed the march on the following day, and arrived in the evening in the neighbourhood of Villa Franca, at the moment when the rear-guard of General Foy's division, which was escorting a valuable convoy towards France, was entering the town. The French took up a strong position, some sharp fighting occurred, and eventually General Foy fell back to Tolosa, from whence he was driven with the loss of four hundred men killed and wounded; but the convoy entered France in safety.

In the beginning of July, St. Sebastian was besieged, and the Twelfth Light Dragoons were employed in covering the siege of that important fortress. Towards the end of July, when Marshal Soult advanced with a powerful army to drive the allies from the Pyrenees and relieve the invested fortresses, the siege of St. Sebastian was turned into a blockade, and Major-General Anson's brigade of cavalry was employed in keeping up the communication through the mountains, between the left and centre of the allied army. The communication was interrupted on the 27th and 28th of July; but was renewed on the 29th, and after much hard fighting in the mountains, the French were driven back with loss. The siege of St. Sebastian was then renewed, and the Twelfth Light Dragoons took post at Usurbil, from whence a squadron was subsequently detached to Renterio to furnish the out-posts in that direction. St. Sebastian was taken by storm on the 31st of August, and on the 9th of September the citadel surrendered. About this period Major-General Vandeleur was appointed to the command of the brigade of which the Twelfth Light Dragoons formed part.

After the fall of St. Sebastian, the troops which had been employed in the siege advanced to the frontiers, and on the 7th of October the passage of the Bidassoa was forced, and the army entered France. Unprincipled aggression was thus overtaken by retributive justice, and the kingdom which had sent its legions to other countries to ravage and devastate, became the theatre of war. After the passage of the river, the Twelfth Light Dragoons bivouacked on the great road, with posts at Urogne.

Pampeluna having surrendered, a forward movement was made on the 10th of November, when the enemy's works on the river Nivelle were attacked and forced. The Twelfth supported the infantry, and lost several men and horses from a cannonade to which they were exposed. The river Nive was passed in the early part of December; but the weather became so severe as to confine the troops to their quarters, and the Twelfth Light Dragoons returned to Urogne, and took the out-post duty in front of St. Jean-de-Luz. The French army occupied a strong camp at Bayonne.

1814

When the severity of the weather abated, the army was again put in motion; and in the second week of February, 1814, the British commander advanced against the enemy's left to draw Marshal Soult's attention to that quarter, while the passage of the Adour was effected, by the division under Lieut.-General Sir John Hope, below Bayonne. By a difficult night-march a body of troops approached the river on the morning of the 23rd of February; the artillery forced the French flotilla to retire, and sixty men of the foot-guards were rowed across in a pontoon; a raft was formed, a hawser was stretched across, and six hundred of the foot-guards, the fifth battalion of the sixtieth regiment, and part of the rocket-battery crossed, and repulsed the attack of a French column from Bayonne. On the 24th a squadron of the Twelfth Light Dragoons crossed the Adour, the men in boats, and the horses swam across the river. A British flotilla afterwards arrived, a bridge of boats was thrown across, and Bayonne was blockaded.

In the mean time important events had transpired in various parts of Europe, and the gigantic power of Bonaparte was reduced. A party favorable to the Bourbon dynasty was known to exist at Bordeaux, towards which city a body of troops was detached under Sir William, now Lord, Beresford. The Twelfth Light Dragoons moved by the old road across the Landes towards Bordeaux, where they arrived on the 12th of March, and the magistrates and city-guards displayed the white cockade. The regiment was left at Bordeaux under Lieut.-General the Earl of Dalhousie; it furnished posts and patroles between the Garonne and Dordogne. Two squadrons were subsequently attached to part of the seventh division which occupied La Réolles; and on the 7th of April, a squadron commanded by Major Bridger, crossed the Dordogne, with Lord Dalhousie, and made a successful charge upon a body of French infantry at Etoliers.

Hostilities were soon afterwards terminated by the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty to the throne of France. After reposing a short time in quarters, the regiment commenced its march through France to Calais, which was performed in a month, and in the second week of July it embarked for Dover, from whence it proceeded to Hounslow, where it was reviewed by His Royal Highness the Duke of York; it was afterwards removed to Dorchester.