In the beginning of September, by a new distribution of the army, the 91st was placed in Major-General Beresford’s brigade with the 6th and 45th regiments, and in the 4th division, that of Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Wellesley. On Sept. 20th, however, it seems to have been attached, with its brigade, to the 3rd division.
On Oct. 19th the regiment advanced into Spain, with the rest of the army under Lt.-Gen. Sir John Moore, proceeding by Abrantes, Covilhão, Belmonte, Morilhão, Ciudad Rodrigo, and Salamanca, arriving at the last-mentioned place on Nov. 18th. On the 28th the regiment was formed into a brigade with the 20th, 28th, 52nd, and 95th regiments, to compose a part of the reserve army under Major-General the Hon. Edward Paget, in which important capacity it served during the whole of Sir John Moore’s memorable retreat to Corunna. On Jan. 11th, 1809, the 91st, along with the rest of the army, took up its position on the heights of Corunna, the reserve brigade on the 16th—the day of battle—being behind the left of the British army. The 91st does not appear to have been actively engaged in this disastrous battle,—disastrous in that it involved the loss of one of England’s greatest generals, the brave Sir John Moore. On the evening of the 16th the 91st embarked, and arrived in Plymouth Sound on the 28th.
The officers, non-commissioned officers, and men who were left sick in Portugal on the advance of the regiment with Sir John Moore, were formed into a company under Captain Walsh, and placed as such in the first battalion of detachments. This battalion was commanded by Lt.-Col. Bunbury, and composed part of the army in Portugal under Lt.-General Sir Arthur Wellesley. This company was actively employed in the affairs of May 10th, 11th, and 12th, which led to the capture of Oporto. It afterwards advanced with the army which drove the enemy into Spain.
The company was engaged on July 27th and 28th in the battle of Talavera, in which, out of a total strength of 93 officers and men, it lost 1 officer, Lieutenant Macdougal, and 9 rank and file killed, 1 sergeant and 30 rank and file wounded, and 1 officer, Captain James Walsh, and 19 men missing; in all, 61 officers and men. Captain Walsh was taken prisoner by the enemy in a charge, and with many other officers was marched, under a strong escort, towards France. He, however, effected his escape at Vittoria on the night of August 20th, and after suffering the greatest privation and hardship, he rejoined the army in Portugal, and reported himself personally to Lord Wellington. Captain Thomas Hunter, of the 91st, who was acting as major of brigade, was also wounded and taken prisoner in this action.
Meantime, the main body of the 91st, after being garrisoned in England for a few months, was brigaded with the 6th and 50th Foot, under Major-General Dyott, and placed in the 2nd division, under Lieut.-General the Marquis of Huntly, preparatory to its embarkation in the expedition to Walcheren, under Lieut.-General the Earl of Chatham. The regiment disembarked at South Beveland on August 9th, and entered Middelburg, in the island of Walcheren, on Sept. 2nd. Here it seems to have remained till Dec. 23rd, when it re-embarked at Flushing, arriving at Deal on the 26th, and marched to Shorncliffe barracks. In this expedition to Walcheren the 91st must have suffered severely from the Walcheren fever, as in the casualty table of the Record Book for the year 1809 we find, for the months of Sept. and Oct. respectively, the unusually high numbers of 37 and 42 deaths.
The 91st remained in England till the month of Sept. 1812, on the 18th and 19th of which it again embarked to take its share in the Peninsular war, arriving at Corunna between the 6th and the 12th of October. On October 14th the regiment set out to join the army under the Duke of Wellington, arriving on Nov. 1st at Villafranca, about 12 miles from Benavente. After taking part in a movement in the direction of Bragança, on the frontiers of Portugal, the 91st, which had been placed in the Highland or General Pack’s brigade, then under the command of Colonel Stirling of the 42nd Regiment, in the 6th division,—finally removed to San Roma, where it remained during the winter.
In April 1813, the 91st left its winter quarters, and on May 14th advanced with the combined army to attack the enemy. At the battle of Vittoria, on June 21st, the 6th division, to which the 91st belonged, was ordered to defile to the right to watch the movements of a division of the enemy during this important action, and on the 22nd it marched through Vittoria, and took charge of the guns and other warlike stores abandoned by the enemy.
On June 27th the 91st, along with the rest of the army, commenced the march towards Pamplona, and on July 6th the 6th division, in conjunction with the 5th, invested that fortress. But the blockade of Pamplona having been left to the 5th division and the Spanish legion, the 6th division advanced to San Estevan on July 15th. On the 26th of the same month, the enemy having made some movements to raise the siege of Pamplona, the 6th division moved from San Estevan on that day, and, in conjunction with the 4th and 7th divisions, on July 28th attacked the head of the French column at the small village of Sorauren, near Pamplona, and completely checked its progress. On the 30th, at daybreak, the action recommenced on the right of the division by an attack from the enemy’s left wing. The action continued hotly until about noon, when the light companies of the Highland brigade, under the direction of Major Macneil of the 91st Regiment, stormed and carried the village of Sorauren, causing the enemy to flee in all directions, pursued by the division.
On the 28th the regiment lost 1 sergeant and 11 rank and file killed, and 6 officers—Captain Robert Lowrie, Lts. Allan Maclean, John Marshall, and S. N. Ormerod, and Ensigns J. A. Ormiston and Peter M’Farlane—and 97 rank and file wounded; on the 30th, 1 private was killed, and Major Macneil and 8 rank and file wounded. At least about 40 of the wounded afterwards died of their wounds.
The 91st continued to take part in the pursuit of the enemy, and on the night of August 1st bivouacked on the heights of Roncesvalles; on August 8th it encamped on the heights of Maya. The regiment remained in this quarter till the 9th of Nov., on the evening of which the army marched forward to attack the whole of the enemy’s positions within their own frontier; and on the next day, the 10th of Nov., the battle of Nivelle was fought, the British attacking and carrying all the French positions, putting the enemy to a total rout. The 91st lost in this action, Captain David M’Intyre and 3 men killed, and 2 sergeants and 4 men wounded.