“Look forward, officers and soldiers, to the achievement of new honours and the acquirement of fresh fame.
“Officers, be the friends and guardians of these brave fellows committed to your charge.
“Soldiers, give your confidence to your officers. They have shared with you the chances of war; they have bravely bled along with you; they will always do honour to themselves and you. Preserve your regiment’s reputation for valour in the field and regularity in quarters.
“I have now the honour to present the
Royal Colour.
This is the King’s Colour.
“I have now the honour to present your
Regimental Colour.
“This is the colour of the Seventy-first regiment.
“May victory for ever crown these colours.”
The expectations which General Floyd had formed of the regiment were soon to be realised. In the month of June the first battalion of the regiment embarked at Cork for Portugal, in the expedition under Sir Arthur Wellesley, which sailed on the 13th of July. The fleet arrived in Mondego Bay on the 29th, and the forces, amounting to 10,000 men, landed early in August. In a few days a body of 5000 troops from Gibraltar joined the army. General Wellesley made a forward movement towards Lisbon on the 9th of August, and was joined on the 11th by 6000 Portuguese, but being destitute of provisions and military stores he could not proceed. The British army reached Caldas on the 14th—four companies of the 60th and Rifle corps pushing forward to the village of Brilos, then in possession of the enemy. An affair of advanced posts now took place, which ended in the occupation of the village by the British. This was the commencement of a series of battles and operations which raised the military fame of Great Britain to the highest pitch, overtopping all the glories of Marlborough’s campaigns. Lieutenant Bunbury and a few privates of the Rifle corps were killed on this occasion.