At the battle of Busaco the following regiments took part: the Coldstreams and Scots Guards; 4th, 14th, and 16th Light Dragoons, and three batteries of artillery; 1st Royal Scots 3rd Batt. 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 24th, 27th, 29th, 31st, 34th, 38th, 39th, 40th, 42nd, 43rd, 45th, 48th, 50th, 52nd, 53rd, 57th, 60th, 61st, 66th, 74th, 79th, 83rd, 88th, 97th, and the Rifle Brigade; there were also present the following units of the King's German Legion; 1st and 2nd Light Battalions, and the 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 7th Line Battalions.
Rodrigues and Isle of France.—To keep our order chronologically we must leave for a moment the army in Spain to call attention to the fact that it had become necessary, in order to protect British shipping from the French ships harbouring in the Isle of France, or the Mauritius, that the place should be taken from them. Previous to this, as part of the same plan, it had been decided to also take the Island of Rodrigues, as a preliminary to the capture of the Isle of Bourbon. For the action which was fought at Rodrigues it was decided to award a medal to those who had taken part in the expedition in the then French islands, and on September 10th, 1811, a General Order was issued stating that a medal would be awarded to those who had taken part in the action at Rodrigues, the defeat of the French on the Isle of Bourbon, and the capture of the Isle of France. The medal was awarded to native troops only, although the 86th and 96th Regiments bear BOURBON on their colours. 2,201 were struck, 45 gold and 2,156 silver. The obverse bears a figure of a sepoy standing beside a field gun, holding the Union Jack unfurled in his right hand, and in his left his musket with bayonet fixed; with his left foot he tramples on a French colour and Eagle, whilst the British fleet at anchor forms the background. On the reverse is a Persian inscription surrounding a laurel wreath, stating that "this medal was conferred in commemoration of the bravery and accustomed fidelity exhibited by the sepoys of the English company in the capture of the Mauritius Islands in the year of the Hegira 1226." Outside the wreath is the record RODRIGUES VI JULY MDCCCIX. BOURBON VIII JULY & ISLE OF FRANCE IN DEC. MDCCCX. The medal, 19∕10 in. in diameter, was intended to be worn suspended from a silken cord.
It is noteworthy that a corporal of the 86th planted the regimental colours on the redoubt, and in the fight for the Isle of Bourbon Lieutenant Munro of the 86th was killed, also 17 men killed and 59 wounded. At the taking of the Isle of France only 29 of both services were killed, and less than 150 wounded and missing; besides the fleet of 70 sail, an army of 10,000 men under Major-General Abercromby took part in the expedition.
Barrosa.—On September 29th Wellington retired with the allied armies of 25,000 British and 30,000 Portuguese behind the famous lines of Torres Vedras, where his force was augmented by the arrival of English troops. Masséna made a series of ineffectual attacks, which had the effect of keeping Wellington's army from getting stale, and then retired to Santarem. Meanwhile a force of 4,500 British, under Lieutenant-General Graham, and 7,000 Portuguese under General Dom Manuel le Lapeña, reached Tarifa to operate against the rear of the French army under Marshal Victor at Chaclana. Graham had unfortunately contented himself with the command of his own troops, leaving Lapeña to assume the position of Commander-in-Chief. On April 5th, 1811, Lapeña halted his army on the Cerro de Puerco, now known as the heights of Barrosa. The Spaniards, lacking in discipline and devoid of esprit de corps, straggled into a situation which gave the keen-eyed French Marshal an opportunity he was not slow to take advantage of, for the blundering Lapeña had left a position which could have been held on the heights of Barrosa, with the result that his Spanish army was routed and driven towards the sea. Lapeña's stupidity had placed Graham in a very awkward situation. He had obeyed the command to move to Te Bermeja, but, apprised of the danger that threatened the Spanish General, he countermarched, only to find that Lapeña had bolted with his rabble of soldiery, and that the French held the key of the position. Graham determined to take the heights, and it is said there was never a shorter, more violent, or bloodier conflict; it lasted one hour and a quarter, and resulted in a loss to the French of about 3,000 killed and wounded, including General Ruffin and Brigadier Rousseau, who were mortally wounded, and six guns. The British out of their small army lost in killed and wounded about 1,243 men, including 50 officers and 60 sergeants. The 87th Regiment, Royal Irish Fusiliers, distinguished themselves by charging the French line, and capturing the Eagle of the 8th Infantry, the first to be taken during the war; two companies of the Coldstream Guards accompanied the 87th in its charge.
The following British regiments took part in the battle: 2nd Batts. of the Grenadier, Coldstream, and Scots Guards; flank companies of the 1st Batt. 9th Regiment; 1st Batt. 28th; flank companies 2nd Batt. 47th; 2nd Batt. 67th; flank companies 2nd Batt. 87th; 2nd Batt. 87th; 2nd and 3rd Batts. Rifle Brigade; Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers, also the 2nd Hussars of the King's German Legion.
The British had been under arms for twenty-four hours, and fought the battle with Lapeña and his men acting the part of spectators, except for the Spanish Walloon Guard and the regiment of Ciudad Real, who joined in the fray "impelled by the instinct natural to brave men." Napier, in comparing the two leaders at Barrosa, states: "The contemptible weakness of Lapeña furnished a surprising contrast to the heroic vigour of Graham, whose attack was an inspiration rather than a resolution—so wise, so sudden was the decision, so swift, so conclusive was the execution."
SPANISH CROSS FOR ALBUHERA.
